Prompt: One Minute, first posted 23 November 2010
Title: Sixty Seconds of Fame
Universe: General
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama/Humour
Characters: Joker, unfortunate victims
Word Count: 497
Summary: The Joker is very jealous of his place on Gotham's stage, and he doesn't like sharing it with talent show wannabes
Sixty Seconds of Fame
The Joker found it somewhat disheartening that even with the rise of derisory "entertainment" such as Gotham's Got Talentand the other let-the-lemmings-show-themselves-up television spectacles, it was still always so difficult to get volunteers for the audience participation segments of his act.
He strode across the studio floor, bathed in the powerful lights from the gantry above, and shook his head in quiet despondency as two of the more burly hired help had to physically drag a volunteer out from the crowd of cowering contestants. The other wannabe-stars made no move to try to help the girl; shepherded as they were by more henchmen cradling automatic weapons.
His less than eager volunteer looked to be a college student; young, with long over-peroxided hair and poor skin from a diet of alcohol and cafeteria food, inadequately hidden beneath a heavy covering of makeup. If that hadn't been enough then then two-sizes-too-small pastel pink tee-shirt with a jumble of Greek letters across the chest that pledged allegiance to one of Gotham University's more "party-focused" fraternities was a clue that even one of the Dork Knight's bird-brained little apprentices could have figured out.
The Joker took the girl by the arm and propelled her to stand in front of him, reading the name on the laminated tag affixed to her wonderfully clichéd tee-shirt. "Give a big hand for Cindy, folks!"
There were a few nervous claps from the audience, but a sharp nod followed by a warning shot into the ceiling soon resulted in a healthy round of applause.
"Now, Cindy, I'm afraid we don't have time to hear whatever half-baked sob story you've concocted about your parents' divorce, the crushing costs of college tuition or the years you spent as a chubby teenager with braces."
Resting his hands on her shoulders, he felt the girl shaking as he half-turned her to face him. He offered her a paternal smile.
"You've most likely got some Whitney Houston number to murder, so I'll be brief."
Ignoring the confusion in her gaze, he twisted her back once more and addressed the audience, gesturing at the sheep-pen of contestants.
"You all fight tooth and nail to get on shows like this in order to win your fifteen minutes of fame. But y'know, with the pace of modern life ever-increasing, fifteen minutes is really just too long for you lemmings to be cluttering up the Gotham stage. So, I decided it would be much better for you to just have one minute each so we can conclude this nonsense asap."
The Joker handed Cindy across to a nearby henchman who dragged her to the duct-tape cross marked out on the centre of the stage. There she stood shivering and looking around in panic.
"To make the proceedings totally fair, I've got a stopwatch and this .357 Magnum revolver." He pressed the button of the stopwatch with a razor-sharp grin. "Cindy, you've got sixty seconds. Next up will be bratty kid with the dancing Labrador."
Fin
End note: I really hate talent/reality shows (that might come through a little here) and don't watch them except by accident, so apologies for glaring inaccuracies!