Feature
PUPPETS WHO KILL
Comedy Network
Fridays at 11 p.m.
Calgarian Bruce Hunter is a long way from his roots as one of Loose Moose Theatre’s early improvisational actors – he’s now living in Toronto, working with his hands.
In the Comedy Network series Puppets Who Kill, he plays Rocko, a two-foot-tall puppet who comes across as a chain-smoking doppelganger to Mr. Dressup’s Finnegan.
The premise of the show is simple enough – four puppets-gone-bad live as parolees in a halfway house run by human social worker Dan Barlow (Dan Redican). Other human actors appeal throughout the series, but it’s the puppets who serve up the best lines.
Puppets Who Kill is in no danger of appealing to everyone. The humour is definitely more South Park than Frasier – one episode focuses entirely on the theft of testicles.
Hunter, who has also appeared in The Red Green Show and Canadian Bacon, doesn’t mind taking a back seat to his furry alter-ego.
"I think it’s one of the best jobs that I’ve ever done," he says. "I wouldn’t be able to play this character on TV because I don’t look like this guy."
Along with Rocko, there’s Bill (Gord Robertson), a flushed and sweaty ventriloquist’s dummy, Buttons (Jim Rankin), so named for his one bad eye, and Cuddles (Bob Martin), a floppy and suspiciously genderless comfort doll.
The series is an extension of a one-man Fringe Festival show created by John Pattison. For years, Pattison has been attempting to get the show off the stage and into the box. At one point, Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander was interested in the project, but creative differences scuttled the collaboration. In the end, full control fell back into the hands of Pattison and series co-creator Steve Westren.
"When a big name leaves, so does the money, usually," says Hunter. "But I think it was a blessing in disguise because John got to do it the way he wanted to do it."
A pilot aired in October 2001, and more than a year later, the series was finally commissioned for 13 episodes with a budget close to $2 million. Along with co-star Bob Martin, Hunter brought comedy and improve skills to roles usually reserved for seasoned puppeteers. He admits there was a bit of a learning curve.
"When John did the pilot, he did it on two cents and a handful of buttons," Hunter says, laughing. "When I first saw it, I thought the pacing was little slow because we were trying things out at that point. But now I think the show moves along really nicely."
Hunter didn’t come to the role completely unprepared for the hand flapping and stick-grappling required to bring his character to life. Along with much of the cast and crew, he worked at one time with Muppet creator Jim Henson.
But Hunter says Puppets Who Kill is different that any other show based on puppets. For starters, it’s much more down to earth – literally.
"It’s a different show than a regular puppet show," he explains. "Even with the Henson productions, they would build sets on stilts so the puppeteers could stand and do their characters.
"We’re kind of stuck under couches, wrapped around corners, anywhere we can disguise ourselves. You have to be a bit of a contortionists to do some of the performances."
Cold countryside shoots and hours lying on the floor are gruelling enough, but the puppets have limited ways of expressing themselves, which was an added challenge for Hunter and the rest of the crew.
"I thought at first, ‘OK, this is going to be a little more difficult,’" he says. "’I’m going to have to adapt.’ That’s why I chose that voice for him and I wanted him to smoke.
"The characters are Muppet-like and it’s kind of a shock to see these characters smoking. You just don’t see that normally... little puppets killing people and doing weird things."
And weird things abound in the series. One of the plots sees the CBC storing the brains of dead Canadian celebrities. Another is a take-off on the classic short story "The Most Dangerous Game," in which puppets are hunted for sport on an island owned by mad children’s entertainer Skip-A-Long Pete.
But when a line like "Flesh upon fur, mingling tongues dancing, a synthesis of souls," is cried out from a satisfied puppet lover, it’s impossible not to laugh.
And with record numbers for the Comedy Network’s series premier and plans for more episodes, it’s obvious the show is making a killing where it counts. |
