Funday PawPet Show
Encyclopedia
Funday PawPet Show is an Internet show that is cast by puppet characters. It was created by Randy "Yappy" Fox in November 1999 and is broadcast over the Internet on Sunday nights from 16:00 to 20:00 EST
from his home in Kissimmee, Florida
. Before November 25, 2007 the show aired from 19:00 to 23:00 EST
, but this was changed due to an increasing international audience. The show is also performed live at the Megaplex furry convention
, held in Kissimmee, Florida
, as well as at Anthrocon
, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Funday PawPet Show has sparked a few imitations, such as Fluff & Such Productions, PawPets West, and PawPet North Coast. Other puppetry events, such as Lionel Scritchie's Dormitory at Eurofurence
were partially inspired by the Funday PawPet Show.
Picture Captions: The viewers are asked to send in a suitable caption for a certain picture. The captions are broadcast near the end of the show.
Roll Call: One of the cast members or guests reads the nicknames of those in the show's IRC channel while the "Jarabe tapatío
" is played. For some broadcasts, such as ones with notable guests or upcoming holidays, a song matching the guest or holiday may be used instead. The verbal roll call was discontinued on episode 500; the chat room names are now listed in the show's closing credits.
Spits-or-Swallows: The cast eats or drinks something their viewers have sent in, often a food or drink that is generally viewed as displeasing to many.
Subservience: Inspired by Burger King's
The Subservient Chicken
, this segment consists of a cast member appearing on camera and performing actions based on suggestions from the audience. It usually features fursuiters, though there have been exceptions, such as Episode 315's Subservient Rasvar, Episode 362's Subservient Captain Jack Sparrow, and Episode 369's Subservient BassMan.
The Pink Flamingo Challenge: Show visitors are treated to some sort of pastry (preferably of a chocolatey nature) which they are encouraged to eat while viewing a short clip from the ending to the movie Pink Flamingos
(in which "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?
" is played, while Divine
chews and swallows dog feces). Since this portion of the film is disturbingly graphic, only the audience's reaction is shown to viewers. On some occasions, a substitute food item (such as a burrito) is offered; on rarer occasions, such as a fursuit
ing guest, no item is offered.
Paw Tweets: Announcements, such as birthdays or shout-outs, sent in by viewers up to 140 characters are read aloud. This usually takes place late in the show to allow time for submissions to be made.
Garrison Skunk's Top 60 Quotes of the Night: A weekly listing of the current episode's funniest/oddest statements is read by Poink, who alternates even/odd numbered quotes with others, including Simba, Yappy, Ezra and Liesel. The feature was begun by long time viewer and contributor Garrison Skunk who wanted to preserve some notable quotes when it was announced that episode 324 was not being taped due to a machine error. As a joke, the feature retains the number 60 in its title despite growing to over 80 quotes a week, although there have been two alterations. In honor of episode 350, the name was changed to 'Top 350 Quotes of the Night', leading Ezra and Poink to rush through the first page's quotes 350 – 342, only to find that quotes 341 – 61 consisted of a picture of cast member Eaglebeagle saying "Bloop!", with page 3 continuing as normal. The second time this occurred was after the cast took a three-week hiatus, when Garrison presented the 'Top 20 Things Said in Channel Over the Past Three Weeks'.
to interview many of the guest celebrities. The cast has done interviews with the children (now grown up) from the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
. In that show, "Mutt" keeps getting thrown from one star to the next for asking them "stupid questions". Other celebrities that have been interviewed on the show include: Jason Marsden
(Max Goof from A Goofy Movie), Jay North
(Dennis the Menace), Jeremy Bulloch
(Boba Fett from Star Wars), and Noel McNeal (Bear from Bear in the Big Blue House
). The show also has "bumpers" or intros done by various individuals including the a cappella group Toxic Audio.
The show has many recurring gags. On the Easter shows, the viewers are challenged to find new and creative ways to destroy chocolate rabbits in "Chocolate Bunny Deaths". During the Christmas and Christmas in July shows, the cast takes part in white elephant gift exchange
s on the air, from which some cast members have gone home with things like edible underwear, half of a sub sandwich, and a 5 pound container of lard. A Halloween show featured video of purple monsters attempting to scare the Trick or Treaters that appear at the front door of the house where the show is filmed.
"The Ferret Takeover Show": Inspired by the film Being John Malkovich
, the cast one by one enter a strange back door in the stage and transform into ferrets.
"The Drunk Show": Inspired by an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati
and intended to celebrate the show's 21st episode (the drinking age in Florida, although for various reasons the topic was ultimately pushed back to the 23rd show), the cast (all of whom agreed to give up their car keys and spend the night in the studio) took one shot of Rumple Minze for every half hour of broadcast time. This show is considered a somewhat controversial episode of PawPets.
"The Sinkhole Show": This was another controversial show. This Halloween show ran a quick disclaimer at the very beginning of the broadcast stating that "the show is a dramatization." The disclaimer was run only once. During the course of the broadcast, cast members began talking about a sinkhole that had really formed elsewhere in Orlando. Later, the cast began to describe a fictitious sinkhole forming in the front yard of the house that was threatening to destroy it. At the end of the program, the cast tipped over the stage and severed all connections and feed lines, making it appear as if the house had indeed fallen into a sinkhole.
Portions of this episode were repeated in show # 352 (November 4, 2007) where Mutt explained "Yappy had literally ripped all of the plugs and power out of the wall (except for one in the bedroom) so no matter how techie you were, it looked like the entire show just dropped, there was no server, there was no nothing."
Ezra: "JR and I tipped the stage forward, Rasvar moved the lighting truss and Simba dropped a piece of drywall and a couple other things in front of the stage to make it look like everything was happening. Yappy had every single connection in the house yanked out of the wall, except for one, and that was the one that we had in the kitchen, and we were all huddled around one laptop, watching everyone's reaction when everything went dark."
Ezra continued: "Within about two minutes, every cellphone in this house started ringing, asking us how we were doing."
Poink: "They were pissed for weeks."
Mutt: "But about a month later, that was voted the best show ever."
"The Arthur Awards": Named after the PawPet Show character Arthur Bronswager, this is a parody of the Oscars held on the Sunday night closest to the show, and features categories such as "Best Running Joke" and "Best Song they Never Play on the Show Anymore". Topics are selected about two months prior to the show, and viewers were able to vote on them from the PawPet Show's website.
"9/11 Special": On the night of September 11, 2001 the cast quickly assembled for an impromptu show to help calm people and find out who in the community was directly affected by the 9/11 attacks. This is the only show that was intentionally never made available for the weekly download. Viewers sent the cast thank-you letters and awards for their efforts.
"2007 Telethon": On November 11, 2007, the show raised $10,052 by the end of the show. This count does not include the auctions that were still going on or the donations being sent in via mail. The goal for this years telethon was $6,000. Also, a new audience record was set with 225 viewers in the chat room.
Eastern Standard Time
Eastern Standard Time may refer to:*North American Eastern Time Zone, UTC-5*Australian Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10*An album by Hip Hop group Kooley High...
from his home in Kissimmee, Florida
Kissimmee, Florida
Kissimmee is a city in Osceola County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 59,682. It is the county seat of Osceola County...
. Before November 25, 2007 the show aired from 19:00 to 23:00 EST
Eastern Standard Time
Eastern Standard Time may refer to:*North American Eastern Time Zone, UTC-5*Australian Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10*An album by Hip Hop group Kooley High...
, but this was changed due to an increasing international audience. The show is also performed live at the Megaplex furry convention
Furry convention
A furry convention is a formal gathering of members of the furry fandom — people who are interested in the concept of fictional non-human characters with human characteristics. These conventions provide a place for fans to meet, exchange ideas, transact business and engage in entertainment and...
, held in Kissimmee, Florida
Kissimmee, Florida
Kissimmee is a city in Osceola County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 59,682. It is the county seat of Osceola County...
, as well as at Anthrocon
Anthrocon
Anthrocon is the world's largest furry convention, taking place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania each June or July. Its focus is on furries: fictional anthropomorphic animal characters in art and literature...
, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Funday PawPet Show has sparked a few imitations, such as Fluff & Such Productions, PawPets West, and PawPet North Coast. Other puppetry events, such as Lionel Scritchie's Dormitory at Eurofurence
Eurofurence
Eurofurence is a furry convention held in changing places in Europe every year. It was originally started in 1995 as a private gathering by nineteen European furry fans who met on the Internet. Attendance has been steadily rising since then, to 1066 at Eurofurence 17 , making it the largest furry...
were partially inspired by the Funday PawPet Show.
Cast and characters
- K.P. as Ezra (sheepdogOld English SheepdogThe Old English Sheepdog is a large breed of dog which was developed in England from early herding types of dog. The Old English Sheepdog has very long fur covering the face and eyes...
), Tod Ferret (ferretFerretThe ferret is a domesticated mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo. Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females. They typically have brown, black, white, or mixed fur...
), and Spoiler (donkeyDonkeyThe donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...
) - Yappy Fox as Rummage (raccoonRaccoonProcyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
) G.O.F Grey Old Fox (silver foxSilver FoxSilver Fox is a fictional character, a human in the Marvel Comics universe.- Fictional character biography :Silver Fox is a lover of Wolverine who first appeared in Wolverine vol.2 #10, where she is killed by Sabretooth...
) BAWWK! (chicken), and Randy Fox (fox) - J.R. as Poink T. Ferret (ferret), and Hugh manatee (manateeManateeManatees are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows...
) - Brace Bear as Ying Yang (border collieBorder CollieThe Border Collie is a herding dog breed developed in the Anglo-Scottish border region for herding livestock, especially sheep. It is the most widespread of the collie breeds....
), and JR Schnauzer (SchnauzerSchnauzerA Schnauzer is a German dog type that originated in Germany in the 15th and 16th centuries. The term comes from Schnauze , the German word for "snout", because of the dog's distinctively bearded snout. The word Schnauzer also means moustache in German; some authorities, such as Encyclopædia...
) - Simba as Crappy Doo (sheepdog), Spider (cow), Cow (spider), Arthur Braunsweiger (bobcatBobcatThe bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...
), Carrot (vegetable), JavaFrog (frog), and Creepy - Herbie as Mutt (sheepdog), Scream Guy (phantomGhostIn traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
), and Forrest (twig) - Liesel as Puddin' Shorts (sheepdog), Lilly Voop (fox), and Audrey (eweDomestic sheepSheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...
) - Bandit, (a real Border Collie owned by the show's creator, Randy "Yappy" Fox) as himself
- Devin as Nerdferret (FerretFerretThe ferret is a domesticated mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo. Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females. They typically have brown, black, white, or mixed fur...
) and Mini-Randi (Annoying Fox)
Frequently occurring show activities
ArtJam: The viewers are asked to contribute some self-made artwork on a chosen theme. The Funday PawPet Show's website has an archive of all art submitted since 1999.Picture Captions: The viewers are asked to send in a suitable caption for a certain picture. The captions are broadcast near the end of the show.
Roll Call: One of the cast members or guests reads the nicknames of those in the show's IRC channel while the "Jarabe tapatío
Jarabe tapatío
The Jarabe Tapatío dance in its standardized form was first choreographed by the Mexican, in the early twentieth century to celebrate a government-sponsored fiesta that commemorated the successful end of the Mexican Revolution....
" is played. For some broadcasts, such as ones with notable guests or upcoming holidays, a song matching the guest or holiday may be used instead. The verbal roll call was discontinued on episode 500; the chat room names are now listed in the show's closing credits.
Spits-or-Swallows: The cast eats or drinks something their viewers have sent in, often a food or drink that is generally viewed as displeasing to many.
Subservience: Inspired by Burger King's
Burger King
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
The Subservient Chicken
The Subservient Chicken
The Subservient Chicken is an advertising program created to promote international fast food restaurant chain Burger King's TenderCrisp chicken sandwich and their "Have it Your Way" campaign...
, this segment consists of a cast member appearing on camera and performing actions based on suggestions from the audience. It usually features fursuiters, though there have been exceptions, such as Episode 315's Subservient Rasvar, Episode 362's Subservient Captain Jack Sparrow, and Episode 369's Subservient BassMan.
The Pink Flamingo Challenge: Show visitors are treated to some sort of pastry (preferably of a chocolatey nature) which they are encouraged to eat while viewing a short clip from the ending to the movie Pink Flamingos
Pink Flamingos
Pink Flamingos is a 1972 transgressive black comedy film written, produced, composed, shot, edited, and directed by John Waters. When the film was initially released, it caused a huge degree of controversy and thus became one of the most notorious cult films ever made. It made an underground star...
(in which "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?
(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?
" That Doggie in the Window?" is a popular novelty song written by Bob Merrill and Ingrid Reuterskiöld in 1952. The best-known version of the song was recorded by Patti Page on December 18, 1952 and released by Mercury Records as catalog number 70070, with the flip side being "My Jealous Eyes". It...
" is played, while Divine
Divine (Glen Milstead)
Divine , born Harris Glenn Milstead, was an American actor, singer and drag queen. Described by People magazine as the "Drag Queen of the Century", Divine often performed female roles in both cinema and theater and also appeared in women's clothing in musical performances...
chews and swallows dog feces). Since this portion of the film is disturbingly graphic, only the audience's reaction is shown to viewers. On some occasions, a substitute food item (such as a burrito) is offered; on rarer occasions, such as a fursuit
Fursuit
Fursuits are animal costumes made from various materials. They range from simple tails and ears to full costumes cooled by battery-powered fans. Fursuits can be worn for personal enjoyment, work or charity....
ing guest, no item is offered.
Paw Tweets: Announcements, such as birthdays or shout-outs, sent in by viewers up to 140 characters are read aloud. This usually takes place late in the show to allow time for submissions to be made.
Garrison Skunk's Top 60 Quotes of the Night: A weekly listing of the current episode's funniest/oddest statements is read by Poink, who alternates even/odd numbered quotes with others, including Simba, Yappy, Ezra and Liesel. The feature was begun by long time viewer and contributor Garrison Skunk who wanted to preserve some notable quotes when it was announced that episode 324 was not being taped due to a machine error. As a joke, the feature retains the number 60 in its title despite growing to over 80 quotes a week, although there have been two alterations. In honor of episode 350, the name was changed to 'Top 350 Quotes of the Night', leading Ezra and Poink to rush through the first page's quotes 350 – 342, only to find that quotes 341 – 61 consisted of a picture of cast member Eaglebeagle saying "Bloop!", with page 3 continuing as normal. The second time this occurred was after the cast took a three-week hiatus, when Garrison presented the 'Top 20 Things Said in Channel Over the Past Three Weeks'.
Memorable shows
The Funday PawPet Show has had many shows with unusual or memorable topics. Frequently, themed shows celebrate major holidays such as Christmas, New Year's, Halloween, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July, and Christmas in July. On many occasions, the cast has gone out to various sites to film sequences. Some of the most notable of these shows include trips to conventions such as Fx and MegaConMegaCon
MegaCon, short for Mega Convention, is a large convention that caters to the comic book, sci-fi, anime, fantasy, gaming, and multi-genre community, occurring between late February and early March at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, USA.An attendee will find over of exhibit...
to interview many of the guest celebrities. The cast has done interviews with the children (now grown up) from the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 musical film adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. The film tells the story of Charlie Bucket as he receives a golden ticket and visits Willy...
. In that show, "Mutt" keeps getting thrown from one star to the next for asking them "stupid questions". Other celebrities that have been interviewed on the show include: Jason Marsden
Jason Marsden
Jason Christopher Marsden is an American screen and voice actor who has done numerous voice roles in animated films, as well as various television series.-Early life:...
(Max Goof from A Goofy Movie), Jay North
Jay North
Jay North is an American actor. Beginning a prolific career as a child actor at the age of six, North became a household name during the early 1960s for his role as the well-meaning, but mischievous, Dennis Mitchell on the CBS situation comedy Dennis the Menace, based on the comic strip created...
(Dennis the Menace), Jeremy Bulloch
Jeremy Bulloch
Jeremy Bulloch is an English actor. He is best known for the role inside the costume of the bounty hunter Boba Fett in the original Star Wars trilogy, though he did not voice the character...
(Boba Fett from Star Wars), and Noel McNeal (Bear from Bear in the Big Blue House
Bear in the Big Blue House
Bear in the Big Blue House is a television program for young children produced for the Playhouse Disney channel by Mitchell Kriegman and The Jim Henson Company. It first aired in 1997, and re-runs of the show continue to air on Playhouse Disney . It is produced by The Jim Henson Company and Shadow...
). The show also has "bumpers" or intros done by various individuals including the a cappella group Toxic Audio.
The show has many recurring gags. On the Easter shows, the viewers are challenged to find new and creative ways to destroy chocolate rabbits in "Chocolate Bunny Deaths". During the Christmas and Christmas in July shows, the cast takes part in white elephant gift exchange
White elephant gift exchange
A white elephant gift exchange is a popular holiday party game found primarily in North America. It has many variations in both the name and the game play. Generally, white elephant parties need a minimum of six participants. With a larger group, game play may be more protracted...
s on the air, from which some cast members have gone home with things like edible underwear, half of a sub sandwich, and a 5 pound container of lard. A Halloween show featured video of purple monsters attempting to scare the Trick or Treaters that appear at the front door of the house where the show is filmed.
"The Ferret Takeover Show": Inspired by the film Being John Malkovich
Being John Malkovich
Being John Malkovich is a 1999 American black comedy-fantasy film written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze. It stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, and John Malkovich, who plays a fictional version of himself...
, the cast one by one enter a strange back door in the stage and transform into ferrets.
"The Drunk Show": Inspired by an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati
WKRP in Cincinnati
WKRP in Cincinnati is an American situation comedy that featured the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson and was based upon his experiences working in advertising sales at Top 40 radio station WQXI in Atlanta...
and intended to celebrate the show's 21st episode (the drinking age in Florida, although for various reasons the topic was ultimately pushed back to the 23rd show), the cast (all of whom agreed to give up their car keys and spend the night in the studio) took one shot of Rumple Minze for every half hour of broadcast time. This show is considered a somewhat controversial episode of PawPets.
"The Sinkhole Show": This was another controversial show. This Halloween show ran a quick disclaimer at the very beginning of the broadcast stating that "the show is a dramatization." The disclaimer was run only once. During the course of the broadcast, cast members began talking about a sinkhole that had really formed elsewhere in Orlando. Later, the cast began to describe a fictitious sinkhole forming in the front yard of the house that was threatening to destroy it. At the end of the program, the cast tipped over the stage and severed all connections and feed lines, making it appear as if the house had indeed fallen into a sinkhole.
Portions of this episode were repeated in show # 352 (November 4, 2007) where Mutt explained "Yappy had literally ripped all of the plugs and power out of the wall (except for one in the bedroom) so no matter how techie you were, it looked like the entire show just dropped, there was no server, there was no nothing."
Ezra: "JR and I tipped the stage forward, Rasvar moved the lighting truss and Simba dropped a piece of drywall and a couple other things in front of the stage to make it look like everything was happening. Yappy had every single connection in the house yanked out of the wall, except for one, and that was the one that we had in the kitchen, and we were all huddled around one laptop, watching everyone's reaction when everything went dark."
Ezra continued: "Within about two minutes, every cellphone in this house started ringing, asking us how we were doing."
Poink: "They were pissed for weeks."
Mutt: "But about a month later, that was voted the best show ever."
"The Arthur Awards": Named after the PawPet Show character Arthur Bronswager, this is a parody of the Oscars held on the Sunday night closest to the show, and features categories such as "Best Running Joke" and "Best Song they Never Play on the Show Anymore". Topics are selected about two months prior to the show, and viewers were able to vote on them from the PawPet Show's website.
"9/11 Special": On the night of September 11, 2001 the cast quickly assembled for an impromptu show to help calm people and find out who in the community was directly affected by the 9/11 attacks. This is the only show that was intentionally never made available for the weekly download. Viewers sent the cast thank-you letters and awards for their efforts.
"2007 Telethon": On November 11, 2007, the show raised $10,052 by the end of the show. This count does not include the auctions that were still going on or the donations being sent in via mail. The goal for this years telethon was $6,000. Also, a new audience record was set with 225 viewers in the chat room.
External links
- Official web site
- Official LiveJournal
- Poink's LiveJournal
- Tod's LiveJournal
- Press coverage
- You Tube Page Unofficial
- Folkmanis, Inc. (Maker of most of the puppets on the show.)
- PawPet Song, an original song composed for the cast of Funday PawPet Show by 2, The Ranting Gryphon in 2003.
- PawPet Timeline Index, features timelines of several episodes.
- Funday PawPet Show at WikiFur