Muppet parody puppets on Crank Yankers

You should really check out Puppets Who Kill. No US network will carry it because they say it's either "too Canadian" or "too vulgar" but it's really brilliant in a subversive kind of way, especially the second season. It's not for the faint of heart - there's no "full puppet nudity" or anything like that but it does make Avenue Q look like a G-rated movie.

I agree with Artie. What's so ugly about these puppets? I think they are actually very well done. And as for Rick's puppets, well, the Avenue Q puppets are possibly the most beautiful puppets I've seen in a very long time. The CY puppets are obviously built very well.

Actually Artie, I have it on very good authority that The Crank Yanker puppets were originally designed by a company called Funny Garbage - which is not known for it's puppet work but who's design style Jimmy Kimmel (one of the series' creators) liked and so they were asked to do the puppets despite knowing almost nothing about puppet construction (this happens a lot more in the business than you'd think).

F.G. pulled together an in-house shop to do most of the characters and "Crank Blanks". I don't know for certain that any of the staff specifically worked for Henson, but it's very likely since most of the experienced LA/NY "puppet people" in the industry have gone through the doors of the Muppet shop at some point in their careers.

Some of the puppet building work was sub-contracted to folks like Rick Lyon and it's entirely possible that was the case with Den Design. These other companies may have become more relied upon after the 1st season. I can't say for sure. It's pretty common for multiple companies to work on a show like this (that was done on Between the Lions too) which creates confusion. I am 99.5% certain Funny Garbage is the main company involved though.

Actually Artie, I have it on very good authority that The Crank Yanker puppets were originally designed by a company called Funny Garbage - which is not known for it's puppet work but who's design style Jimmy Kimmel (one of the series' creators) liked and so they were asked to do the puppets despite knowing almost nothing about puppet construction (this happens a lot more in the business than you'd think).

F.G. pulled together an in-house shop to do most of the characters and "Crank Blanks". I don't know for certain that any of the staff specifically worked for Henson, but it's very likely since most of the experienced LA/NY "puppet people" in the industry have gone through the doors of the Muppet shop at some point in their careers.

Some of the puppet building work was sub-contracted to folks like Rick Lyon and it's entirely possible that was the case with Den Design. These other companies may have become more relied upon after the 1st season. I can't say for sure. It's pretty common for multiple companies to work on a show like this (that was done on Between the Lions too) which creates confusion. I am 99.5% certain Funny Garbage is the main company involved though.

Actually, on the Lyon website if you go thru the photos of his work there are photos fo multiple puppets that he designed and built for Crank Yankers.


Regardless of who made them, I agree that the work is clever and well done in addition to the show being totally funny and a joy to watch.

Oh yeah, I browsed that website a while ago and thought the concept was funny as heck, but was annoyed that US TV wouldn't broadcast it. How can I get ahold of those episodes?

Actually I know the information I've provided to be 100% accurate, as I've been with the show since before we started production back in January 2002. In Season 1, I was a part-time puppeteer, builder, and wrangler, and in seasons 2 and 3, I've been a principal puppeteer.

That is absolutely true. Funny Garbage designed each and every character for the show. But Funny Garbage, run by Peter Girardi is purely a visual company (design work, websites etc..). They have no knowledge of puppet building, and as such have never built puppets for the show.

Jimmy does love their design work, but again at no time have they ever built any of the puppets. In fact I was there the day Special Ed (our first puppet)was delivered from Den Design, and Peter and Todd(one of FG's main artists) came to the set to see their drawing brought to life.

I can assure you that that was the case. In fact the very talented Eric Englehart, a former Henson builder, who designed and built Pepe the Prawn, also built Elmer Higgins, the character that I perform (voiced by Jimmy Kimmel).

Actually for 1st season Den Design built about 95% of them with the remainders built by BJ Guyer, Rick Lyon, Ron Binion, and myself. In second and third season (which we're working on right now) we used some freelance puppet builders, as well as a few full time builders that we hired to work on the lot.

-Artie

Rick is an incredibly talented Puppet Builder, but alot of the puppets he's holding on his Crank Yankers pages are characters he performed rather than built. I wish he had built more of them. His puppets are very finely crafted and much easier to manipulate than alot of the other ones.

-Artie

Thanks for clearing up that Artie...there has been some press and industry stuff that made it out like Funny Garbage actually ran the shop, which never made any sense to me - why hire them with so many capable builders and companies in LA? I suspected they either hired a lot of experienced freelancers or sub-contracted the work.

So who are in the principals in Den Design?

Exactly, there are so many skilled builders looking for work it would be ridiculous, but the press in general seems to always have their facts wrong when it comes puppet things as I'm sure you've experienced.

As far as who is at Den Design now, I'm not really sure. We shot the first season in NY, but the next two have been out here in L.A. A guy named Bob Flanagan was running things when we were there. He might actually be the owner..I was never sure.

-Artie

Ah, Ron Binion's site mentions Den I think. Should have caught that sooner. There's more pics from the set here too I see.

I'm assuming Rick did not do season 2 or 3 in LA?

No he didn't.

-Artie

Ahhh, now see, I had always thought that Rick Lyon built several of the crank yanker puppets! I got that impression from reading his website...... must have been one of those late night discoveries again. *laughing*

Looks like I'm the only one that hasn't seen the show
Anyone here has got a picture or a clip of the sketch? I'd like to see it, just for information. Tahnks,

See ya!

There's a few pics and some info at http://www.funnygarbage.com/client/case_study.php3?proj=32 and there is some video clips and behind the scenes stuff on Comedy Central's site at http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/crankyankers/

Crank Yankers parody

I just posted a new thread on this subject,didn't know someone else had(or had seen it).Yup,its pretty far out there(especially to have BB smoking w/ downward eyebrows to make him look mean).

NEWS FLASH
I just clicked threw the channels and I caught a piece of Crank Yankers just know and I see a spray painted Ernie & Bert on a brick wall, It had Ernie with a machine gun and on the bottom it said "R.I.P" And Some male puppet having a long kiss with Oscar, Then the guy left and Oscar said "ohhhhhh...." (in depression) (And It really sounded like him to) And Then he takes a tissue and cries. And Then they show a puppet woman with a cell phone walking down with a spray painted Sesame Street set in the background !
Man, I can't wait until that show is Canceled !!!!!!!!

dude whats up with you? not only do you hate crank yankers but you don't want anyone else watching it? and when you wrote a letter asking them to change the show, what did you want them to do anyways? make phone calls where they say "have a nice day, jesus loves you" or whatever? while YOU may think a show like that deserves an emmy, you gotta remember that there are people out there (like me) who think crank yankers is hilarious. so quit nagging, IT'S JUST A TV SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

does anyone have a pic of the crank yankers kermit? i wanna see what he looks like

Jesus loves you!

I can't say I care much for Crank Yankers either, which is why I don't watch it. Anyway, by the way, I just wanted to say, "Jesus loves you!" and He loves everyone!
I know punk 'n' puppets was trying to make a point, but remember that there are people who do love Jesus and would rather not have their faith denigrated.