While their first successes were on stage, they are most famous for their satirical sketch comedy television show La Télé des Inconnus, which premiered in 1990 and remained popular throughout the early 1990s.
After the movie Les Trois Frères in 1995, the trio encountered contract problems with their manager Paul Lederman, which caused the group to split up, though they reformed in the early 2000s.
Les Cinq starred in the 1985 movie Le Téléphone Sonne Toujours Deux Fois ("The Telephone Always Rings Twice"), but shortly afterward Smaïn left the group to pursue his career as a solo act.
Their sketches parodied a number of French cultural icons, highly popular at the time, including musicians Richard Clayderman, Mano Negra, Indochine, Didier Barbelivien, Florent Pagny, and Patrick Bruel, as well as international stars like Sylvester Stallone (in the unlikely role of Jesus Christ in a mock film trailer), Jean-Claude Van Damme (a recurring character in unlikely roles like Jean Valjean from Les Misérables or Vicomte de Valmont from Les Liaisons dangereuses), Al Pacino, Robert De Niro; and television shows Club Dorothée, Bioman, Star Trek or Santa Barbara.
Bourdon and Campan starred in two other movies together, Le Pari ("The Bet"), L'Extraterrestre ("The Extraterrestrial"), before Légitimus rejoined them for their final film together, Les Rois Mages (The Magi), in 2001.