This is the kind of admission that makes me (and others) laugh. I like to think of myself as a fairly artistic person. I’m constantly coming up with new ideas covering a broad range of interests. In the creative realm, that mostly means turning videotaped family events into funny films, writing short stories, fleshing out screenplay plots, and the occasion poem or song parody.
This was a new one for me. I seem to remember reading up on those content producers making millions on Youtube and I was really inspired. A good number of them were just people doing what they love. Imagine making millions creating videos of yourself playing video games. Some people are making insane money doing that.
Others do unwrapping videos of toys or tech products, and then there’s just the characters we love to watch. I knew right away if I was ever going to do a video series, it would not be me in it. I’m not sure I’d fare well in front of the camera. I don’t think I’d have any kind of screen presence. I am no Jenna Marbles.
My fantastic, well thought out idea was to bring two puppets to life in their own web series. Yep, so I bought two puppets. I purchased one full body adult male puppet and one slightly larger purple monster puppet (both with arm rods). It was going to begin with a camera fixed on a box as it starts to shake until it’s revealed that the man was attempting to free himself from his cardboard jail.
The monster would either be one of those nanny cam dolls or have a GoPro strapped to him. The two puppets would eventually realize they could use the video for their own purposes. They would become the producers of their own show which would center around bringing the man puppet up to speed because he’s been packed away nose deep in Raggedy Anne’s soiled crotch for the last 25 years.
The first episode is a series/character introduction with the man puppet freeing himself from the box, becoming acquainted with the monster, and sharing a few tidbits about life in the 21st century. It becomes understood over time that the man was a child’s doll who is now a grown adult, which is why he was packed away all this time.
I had taken down some notes about topics that might be fun to discuss if one of them has been absent (or stuffed in a box) for a couple of decades. Certain things would be completely new. (internet, electric cars) Some things would be surprising. (Things becoming obsolete like VCR’s, public phones) And some things would be shocking. (OJ Simpson, 9/11, and ending the Curse of the Bambino)
So where are these puppets now? Partially true to the origin story, they are stuffed into the very box I planned to have the man puppet bust out of in the pilot. The arm rods are in a bin on my book shelf. I think part of my hesitation to start this series is, well, it’s puppets. Don’t you get this idea in your head about a person when you hear they play with puppets? I certainly do.
I didn’t exactly mention this idea to my girlfriend either. (most I don’t, that’s what you’re all here for) She doesn’t know I have them and I’m not about to go pulling them out suddenly to start playing with them in front of her. If I eventually do film a skit, it will definitely be when she’s not around.
Will I ever tell her? Only if I can simultaneously disclose a monthly advertising income statement that shows we could live comfortably from my labors of puppetry. I would suspect she might then embrace it, but until then I’m not taking that chance.