The Greatest Showman is the 240th episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr and Dan Murrell and narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It parodies the 2017 American musical drama film The Greatest Showman, the film inspired by the story of P. T. Barnum's creation of the Barnum & Bailey Circus and the lives of its star attractions. The video takes the format of a musical episode and includes several musical numbers with parody lyrics that offer a humorous, but more historically accurate account of the life of P.T. Barnum.
The Greatest Showman Honest Trailer was first published on April 10, 2018 to coincide with the release of the film on home video and Blu-ray. It is 5 min 36 seconds long and has been viewed over 3 million times.
Watch Honest Trailers - The Greatest Showman on YouTube
"March to the beat of your own drum with this upbeat, inspiring musical about a really shady, cruel historical figure." ~ Honest Trailers - The Greatest Showman
Script[]
In an age where average comic book movies make tons of money, and average sequels rake in the dough, theater nerds finally get something average to blow their wads on too:
The Greatest Showman
From the musical geniuses behind La La Land and Dear Evan Hansen (Benj Pasek and Justin Paul), comes a film full of pretty visuals and catchy hits just begging for an overly sincere YouTube cover video. (Shows cacophony of multiple videos covering a song from the film.) As you sing along to nine teen friendly jams wrapped in a story that will make you wonder: When does the next song start?
Charity: The bank. They're evicting us.
I'm so not here for the talky bits. (fast-forwards to the next song.)
Circus Troupe: (singing) And we will come back home/And we will come back home...
Ahh... that's better.
Meet P.T. Barnum: The boy who grew from wishing he owned his own top hat to the man who owned all the top hats, played by noted top hat enthusiast Hugh Jackman. (Shows various pictures and clips of Hugh Jackman wearing a top hat.) M'Logan. Follow along on P.T.'s lifelong dream to open a weird murder museum -- but when that doesn't pan out, he'll roll with his backup plan: a scam freak show, paid for by fraud, that he abandons his wife and kids for, and ditches the second he has a chance to join high society.
P.T.: Okay, have a great show.
Lettie: Wait-- (P.T. shuts the door on them.)
But after a series of show stopping musical numbers, this social climbing con man will be met with... lifelong success and happiness?
Lettie: Maybe you are a fraud. Maybe it was just about makin' a buck.
Uh oh, they're on to you. Quick, do a hat trick! (Shows clip of P.T. doing a hat trick followed by the circus troupe laughing.)
Witness this real-life Willy Wonka but instead of selling kids candy, he's selling kids tickets to laugh at the Oompa Loompas. Where the tragedy of these people's exploitation is brushed aside...
P.T.: Well, they're laughing anyway kid, so might as well get payed.
...to spend more time with two perfect physical specimens. Feast your eyes on a forbidden romance subplot where Zac Efron is rich and white but Zendaya is poor and usually a body double. And while the circus performers have to live with being literally beaten in the streets...
Angry Man: You freaks!
...Efron and P.T. will get way more sympathy for having -- (gasps) -- snobby parents.
Mr. Carlyle: Have you no shame?
Mr. Hallett: Thank you... for your honesty. (loud slap)
And (gasps) even snobbier critics.
James Gordon Bennett: I never liked your show.
So march to the beat of your own drum with this upbeat, inspiring musical about a really shady, cruel historical figure. But since too much honesty doesn't sell, we've gotcha covered with a more accurate P.T. Barnum musical. With songs like, the "he wasn't a good guy song"...
(sung to the tune of "The Greatest Show")
Circus Troupe and Barnum: No, no, no, no, nooooo/Ladies and gents, I'm not a guy that's worth cheering for/This ain't historical!/I owned a slave I killed six whales/gave a monkey a fish tail/the whole movie's untrue/plus I don't look like Hugh (shows comparison of P.T. Barnum and Hugh Jackman)/No! He was an average Joe!
..."The made up affair song"...
(sung to the tune of "Never Enough")
Jenny Lind: Happy endings are just too little/affairs can add some spice, so they will say we were in love/but we never were in loooooove(highlighted text reads "the Jenny Lind story was totally skewed...she reportedly didn't care for Barnum much.")/never in loooooove(highlighted text reads "fictionalized relationship between Lind and Barnum.")/never in loooooove(highlighted text reads "Relationship in real life was much different.")/never in loooooove(highlighted text reads "there was absolutely no romance between Jenny and Barnum.")/not me(highlighted text reads "cons the audience")/not me/not me.
..."The these two people didn't even exist song"...
(sung to the tune of "Rewrite the Stars")
Philip Carlyle and Anne Wheeler: Writers just made up our parts/to make these actors sign/They needed scenes with more stars/cause Zac is a hunk/and we're both super fine/That's why they wrote these two parts/so all of your cash would be ours.
...and "the rampant cruelty song".
(sung to the tune of "This is Me")
Circus Troupe:He said that elephants could not feel pain(that's not true)/(that's not true) Used deformities for financial gain/(ay-ay-hole) they got hurt/they got used/by now you should start to see/that's P.T./Look out cause he's not done/(Oh dear god, what is next) cause his freaks got whipped, beat, and caged for fun/(Google it, that's all true) he was not/Wolverine/or the guy in this movie/Not P.T.!
Starring Hugh Jazzhands (Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum); Young Man Logan (Ellis Rubin as young P.T. Barnum); A Disapproving Wife Character (Michelle Williams as Charity Hallett Barnum); A Disapproving Critic Character (Paul Sparks as James Gordon Bennett); Old School Musical (Zac Efron as Phillip Carlyle); (Sung to the tune of the Spiderman theme song) Can She Swing From A Thread? Take A Look Overhead! (Zendaya as Anne Wheeler); Lipsync Impossible (Rebecca Ferguson as Jenny Lind); and Hairy Elsa (Keala Settle as Lettie Lutz).
Honest title for The Greatest Showman - Jerk Du Soleil. Titles designed by Robert Holtby.
Jerk Du Soleil
Laugh all you can, Barnum, an elephant never forgets. (Zooms in on Elephant in red light with dramatic music,)
Trivia[]
Honest Trailers Commentary - The Greatest Showman
- The singing chorus was made up entirely of Defy Media personnel from both Screen Junkies and Smosh Games, including Joe Starr whose voice is weirdly prominent. Stand a bit further back from the microphone next time, dude! Apparently, Roth Cornet was rather annoyed when she was cajoled into singing. Dan Murrell, conveniently, had just undergone dental work so managed to avoid the entire situation.
- Screen Junkies have produced Honest Trailers for several other musicals including A Star is Born, Mary Poppins, Frozen,The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, La La Land, Les Miserables, and many, many more. They also included parody songs in the Honest Trailers for The LEGO Movie, Fifty Shades of Grey, Toy Story and Honest Retro TV Themes! See the musical episodes page for more.
Watch the full commentary on YouTube
Reception[]
Honest Trailers - The Greatest Showman has a 96.2% approval rating from YouTube viewers. Slash Film praised the Honest Trailer for reminding viewers that The Greatest Showman is a "fabricated celebration of a man who was a total prick who owned a slave, abused animals, and exploited people for his own financial gain." Slashfilm appreciated Screen Junkies parody musical numbers, saying the songs were "not only funny," but also "accurate." On the other hand, CinemaBlena argued The Greatest Showman "was never meant to be a true biopic of P.T. Barnum." However, CinemaBlend did agree with the Honest Trailer's point that "you almost get to a point in The Greatest Showman where you want characters played by Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams to STOP talking so that we can get to the next winning musical number." Nerd Reactor described this Honest Trailer as "another true to form specimen of hilarity." Nerd Reactor said Screen Junkies had crafted a "poignant yet comical take" on the movie.
Production credits[]
Video thumbnail for Honest Trailers - The Greatest Showman
Original Music By Matt Citron
Voiceover Narration by Jon Bailey
Title design by Robert Holtby
Producers - Dan Murrell, Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, and Max Dionne
Written by Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, Dan Murrell
Edited by Kevin Williamsen and TJ Nordaker
Supervising Producer: Warren Tessler
Production Coordinator: Tina Choi
Edited by Kevin Williamsen and TJ Nordaker
Post-Production Supervisor: Gracie Hartmann
Post-Production Coordinator: Carolyn Croce
Assistant Editor: Emin Bassavand
External links[]
- ‘The Greatest Showman’ Honest Trailer: P.T. Barnum Was Actually a Huge Jerk - SlashFilm article
- The Greatest Showman Honest Trailer Reminds You How Great The Songs Are, How Lame The Story Is - CinemaBlend article
- An Honest Trailer for The Greatest Showman - Neatorama article
- The Greatest Showman gets an Honest Trailer - Nerd Reactor article