After Kad & Olivier sign off and the Satisfaction production logo fades, viewing audiences are oftentimes treated to a cold open of an empty talk show set... one that quickly becomes the impromptu dance floor for a shameless Frenchman making an absolute giddy fool of himself while lip-syncing pop songs alongside a menagerie of...
wait, *what*?! That's right.
The Late Late Show's Craig Ferguson appears to have
a not-so-secret French admirer -- one who's not above ripping off both his opening titles and
his signature dance sequences (including
the iconic animal puppets):
"ABC" by The Jackson 5,
"Flashdance" by Irene Cara,
"On the Floor" by Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull,
"Waka Waka" by Shakira,
"Men in Black" by Will Smith,
"Let's All Chant" by the Michael Zager Band,
"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!,
"It's Raining Men" by The Weather Girls, and
"Vive Le Vent (Jingle Bells)" by Tino Rossi.
Luckily, Ferguson's sense of showmanship is
more prodigious than litigious -- he responded to Arthur's "
homáge" by booking a pair of translatlantic crossover shows, with Arthur visiting LA that week and Ferguson flying out to Paris just last month. Video of both shows (plus lots more) inside!
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Jul 11, 2011 -
12 comments
In the summer of 1968, Jim Henson met Johnny Hart, the co-creator
The Wizard of Id. The comic had been syndicated in US papers since 1964, and Henson and Hart discussed making a TV show based on the comic, featuring puppets by Henson and co. In early 1969, a short test pilot was shot and shopped around the TV networks. Over a year later, ABC supported the idea of a feature-length film, but by this time, Henson was busy with
Sesame Street and other Muppet productions, so the program was scrapped. Earlier this month, the
Henson Company posted
the short test pilot on YouTube.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Mar 28, 2011 -
44 comments
After a viral pandemic struck the world a few years ago, scientists had to scramble to stop the spread of the virus but they could do nothing for those who had already been infected. Now those who were exposed face their biggest challenge yet....
High School. [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue
on Dec 2, 2010 -
10 comments
In a
wonderful 15-minute video from 1969, a young Jim Henson shows you how to make puppets out of ordinary things. Yes, it's SLYT, but it's a really
good SLYT, so I beg forgiveness.
posted by cerebus19
on Sep 16, 2010 -
43 comments
"
The TV Wheel was a television experiment created by and starring
Joel Hodgson, of
Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame. Cable network HBO ordered a pilot, but ultimately passed on picking up the show. The pilot episode eventually aired once on Comedy Central as a special presentation following the last new episode of MST3K to be broadcast on that network."
*
The pilot, bookended by introduction segments, is right through this door:
[more inside]
posted by item
on Aug 11, 2010 -
41 comments
Kuky just wants to go
home. Directed by Academy Award
winning Czech director
Jan Sverak, this yet to be released film is loosely based on stories of the flooding of
Bohemia in 2002. With design elements reminiscent of the
beautiful flash games created by
Amanita Design, it is visually stunning. No word on any North American distribution (boo), but opening on May 20 in the Czech Republic (yaay!).
posted by Ohdemah
on May 15, 2010 -
10 comments
December 9, 2001, at a singular event called
Muppet Fest, Muppet performers and special guests came together to perform a very special edition of The Muppet Show -
a live performance. Until now, those of us who could not attend were only able to
read the script, but recently a (slightly edited) video of this unique performance has turned up on YouTube:
Part 1 [more inside]
posted by anastasiav
on Apr 15, 2010 -
32 comments
The puppets Pat and Mat are beloved everywhere their Rube Goldbergian antics have been shown on TV. A couple of inventive handymen they consistently solve simple problems in outlandish fashion. Pat and Mat traveled far afield from their Czechoslovakian origins thanks to their short running time and silence, which made translation unnecessary. Considered ideologically impure by Czech authorities, creators Lubomír Beneš and Vladimír Jiránek were allowed to make around 30 episodes by the Slovakian arm of the state television corporation. They continued making new episodes after Communist rule ended and production was kept going after they passed away. First, let me present my sentimental favorite,
Wallpaper. Below the cut are all the episodes I could find online.
[more inside]
posted by Kattullus
on Sep 7, 2009 -
27 comments
"Food Party is a (would-be) TV cooking show with a spicy saigon kitchen-witch as your hostess, a cast of unruly puppets as culinary advisors, and a cavalcade of hip-hop/sports world celebrities as surprise dinner guests. Shot on location in a technicolor cardboard kitchen, each episode will instruct you on how to prepare wild gourmet multi-course meals with ingredients you probably have on hand in your kitchen already, such as pretzel rods, cheese puffs, eggs, sugar, secret ingredients, and pizza. After all, you never know who might show up for dinner."
[more inside]
posted by cog_nate
on Jul 1, 2008 -
14 comments
Are you Lonely? Curious? Depraved? Do you have questions that are just too risqué for AskMe?
Live Hot Puppet Chat has got your answer.
Yeah baby! Now you can experience sizzling raw, uh, pleasures.
[NSFW]
posted by carsonb
on Aug 4, 2007 -
13 comments
It's Comcastic! Manipulate and record messages with digital flash-based puppets. All the fun of real marionettes, but without the pesky strings. (The site also features some dexterity tests/games for your mad mousing skillz)
posted by Robot Johnny
on Oct 27, 2005 -
22 comments
Lejo is perhaps the greatest actor I've ever seen perform, and he does it all without dialogue. Click on "videos" (or
"filmpjes"). Jim Henson would be proud.
posted by Robot Johnny
on Feb 17, 2005 -
14 comments
They're not just puppets, they're gay puppets! Orbitz.com, the travel site that is the
#2 pop-under advertiser on the Web recently launched a series of
TV commercials obviously inspired by
the marionettes on "Thunderbirds", complete with a
related 'microsite' warning: flash animation and characters whose eyes follow your mouse. Now, in order to promote their "gay travel" sub-site, they've slightly altered one of their ads to change who's eye-ing the "eye candy". Enough of a shock to make me reverse my Tivo, but a welcome change from the "gay panic" themes of recent spots for alcoholic beverages, like
Bailey's Irish Cream and
Smirnoff Triple Black Ice ("The Brad" ad is particularly weird to me, since among us old skool bloggers, The Brad was pointing out "gay panic" in TV ads back in August 2000.
posted by wendell
on Jun 25, 2003 -
19 comments
