Muppet parody puppets on Crank Yankers

There were replicas of Big Bird, Miss Piggy, and Kermit the Frog in Crank Yankers. Miss Piggy and Kermit were making love and Big Bird was hacking a cigarette outside a building named 321. Has anyone else seen this?--------------------
I've seen the Big Bird one last night! eek! He looked evil! It scared the dash dash dash dash outta me!

Hey gang,
First off, I think this thread is mistitled. These are not replicas, as such things are replicating the originals, not just imitating them. I got all excited about someone possibly owning one, or hearing news of Disney letting them get made or something. Anyways, as far as the Crank Yankers are concerned, I saw it, one day, with the 123 building, and realized it was a shot at Sesame, but then they had Kermit and Piggy. Besides not making sense, what occured would certainly not be considered "making love" by any stretch of the imagination. Either way, it was a really base-level obvious joke that any ten year-old could have come up with, not funny, and just being crude for the sake of crudity. The Simpsons' use, however, was funny and clever, and I think it does depend on how the joke is handled, for it to be rightly accepted by fans. Sure you can just act like everyone just needs to "take a joke", but seriously, jokes tend to be funny. Whether the Crank Yankers people like the Muppets or not does not justify such blatant, immature use of the characters' likenesses, especially when their show would never existed without Jim Henson, in that they entirely copy that puppeteering style. Sorry to rant, but just thought I'd speak my opinion. Thanks for listening.


-Squigiman

I already posted this over in the puppetry forum, but speaking of Muppet parodies/replicas ~ http://www.bear-town.com/backstage_pages/video_berniechess.htm (the video on the page may take a few minutes to load if you have a slow connection).

This is an old clip from something I was involved with back around `98.

With the new Henson-Disney deal you think this might happen (a little bit)
less? Then again, they make fun of Disney too...

In the Simpson episode, Big Bird was potrayed as danger Raptor like animal that could fly. Oscar: "Give Us The Money". Elmo: "Elmo knows where you live!". I love that line. Mmmph Line.

Hey that pig would really look like Peter Mansbridge if you were to get him suit coat and a few tufts of hair just over the ears. Post a pic or 2 of him when your done Buck. Pleeeeease

I personally like Crank Yankers, I like humor that goes over the line sometimes. I dislike overly politically correct humor, like Disney's. Muppet's have always gone a bit farther than them.

And parody is a form of flattery anyway.

Does anyone have screenshots of this? I'd love to see it. I only saw a few episodes and it isn't aired in the netherlands anymore.

Buck-Beaver has escaped!

lol Bernie and Bernie are hilarious!

Attempting a quote w/in a quote

Not me! I'm not going to sleep... Elmo'll eat me... can't sleep... Elmo'll eat me...

Thanks, I'm going to be putting pics of him and a slew of other puppets I've been doing up in the next little while. Right now there are a bunch (including the Peter Manspork puppet) that are 80-90% done. I actually haven't worked on him since I took that picture.

I saw those parody puppets on Crank Yankers, outside the doors of 321. The Kermit parody didn't even remotely resemble Kermit and the Big Bird parody looked like him, but was poorly designed -- you could SEE feathers falling off it.

*rolling on the floor laughing*


Maybe it was molting season?

It was a cool-looking frog though.

Did it ever cross your mind that the feathers falling off might have been part of the "gag"?

Hehe. It might be nice to point out that the man who made some of the Crank Yankers puppets has been known to check out these boards ocassionally. In fact, he's the same guy who made the puppets for Avenue Q, and has performed on numerous ocassions on Sesame Street.... hmmmmmmmm.

You can visit his website at www.ricklyon.com

*laughing even harder*


I was going to mention something like that, but decided to stay out of this one.

They also can't make the characters look *exactly* like Kermit for legal reasons.

Very nicely put. Do they even have writers for shows like this? I am REALLY sick of shows with a lack of thought behind them in which every other joke is dirty. Sixth graders could have come up with some of the stuff they do on this show. We need some imagination exercising on TV.

Actually yes they do. The writers write the premises for the calls. Also, they sit in the room (while the comedians are making the calls) with a dry-erase board, listening and scribbling ideas to help the comedians with the direction of the call. And when the call is finished they write all the puppet actions, posters, and any gags that take place. So yeah even thought all the crank calls are actual real calls, the writers play a big part.

And yes, Rick Lyon is indeed a phenomenal puppet builder, but he actually only built a handful of the puppets for Crank Yankers (the horse, monkey, gay frog, Niles Standish's head, and a few others.) The rest were built by a company called Den Design which does alot of stuff for SNL (and employs mostly former Henson employees), and some freelancers (also former Muppet builders). So it always makes me laugh when people say how badly made the Crank Yankers puppets are, because they were built by the same individuals, (using the same materials and methods) who have been building everyone's favorite frog for many many years.
-Artie

*clapping hands & laughing*


I love it! Well said!