Puppets who swear - The (R) rated Puppets

[aaronmojo]

Can I chime in? I think, nine times outa' ten, swearing is used as a crutch for a lack of cleverness. Look at "adult" humor -- movies, radio and cartoons -- from the 1940s, 50s and 60s -- and the Muppet stuff from the 70s and 80s. Much of it is very adult-oriented, that is to say, sophisticated, without ever resorting to profanity or vulgarity.

Sometimes vulgarity has its place, perhaps for character development, but something like (to use a popular modern-day example) the Simpsons humor almost always relies on character or situations, with an occasional sprinkling of PG profanity.

Personally I don't care if puppets swear or not, but I never watch the stuff with swearing puppets because it's rarely well-written, and the vulgarity is usually just added for that shock value.

 

[puppetsmith]

Can I chime in? I think, nine times outa' ten, swearing is used as a crutch for a lack of cleverness. Look at "adult" humor -- movies, radio and cartoons -- from the 1940s, 50s and 60s -- and the Muppet stuff from the 70s and 80s. Much of it is very adult-oriented, that is to say, sophisticated, without ever resorting to profanity or vulgarity.

Sometimes vulgarity has its place, perhaps for character development, but something like (to use a popular modern-day example) the Simpsons humor almost always relies on character or situations, with an occasional sprinkling of PG profanity.

Personally I don't care if puppets swear or not, but I never watch the stuff with swearing puppets because it's rarely well-written, and the vulgarity is usually just added for that shock value.

Very well said, aaronmojo.

Whether puppets use profanity or not will not determine the longevity of the show. That's determined by the writing and the characters.

I do think that the puppets' use of profanity limits your audience. Take Seinfeld, for example. Very "adult" themes were approach on the show but in a way that actually muffled the shock value and did not limit the show's audience. The writing was excellent and the characters were great. The writers could cleverly say what they wanted to say without losing their audience.

Unless you are purely creating a puppet show for your own enjoyment, you have to consider and play to your audience. Who will your audience be? You decide! That's showbiz!

 

[RottenPuppets]

i don't see a problem with puppets swearing at all. the biggest problem like many others have touched on already is the fact that most people are not comedy writers. so you end up with a poorly written script laced with profanity. bottom line it's still a poorly written script.

in the right places it can be fantastic tho. it's just a matter of having that innate comedic timing with the puppets and the vulgarity.

 

[mrhogg]

I agree with you, aaron, that swearing is most often used as a crutch. Most uses of most things are crutches, to an extent. Swearing can be used very effectively with puppets as it can with human performers -- to show tension, anger, to present character, to do many, many things. (In dotBoom, Diab swears a fair bit, but that's who he is: he *is* trying to shock people. When Jason swears at Diab in a meeting in episode 1, it's meant as a sign of how upset he is)

I am curious to know, aaron, if you really mean that you just won't watch a puppet show if you learn it has swearing. Do you? Will you not even give it a chance? While swearing can be used as a crutch, its mere presence in a show shouldn't stop you from watching it at all.

 

[gfarkwort]

When I watch any show that has 3 or more swear words in it within the first few seconds of my viewing...I generally turn it....

mrhogg...I have to admit that I did not get too far into your production...

 

[RubbeRoomStudio]

mrhogg

you're right about going from kids show to adult humor... i do watch sesame and muppet show; i never got the adult humor until i was an adult, you know... i'm watching season 1 muppets now...
i really was thinking way too much into it... i always deal with the bad what ifs and kinda forget about the good ones.

 

[ChinoXL]

Due to the response on our first episode, good and bad, we decided to make our 2nd episode without swear words. Bad words would suit our characters since none of them like living with each other. The concept of our show is how three characters co exist together even though they strongly dislike each other. It is true that swearing does disguise a poorly written script and we would rather not take that road. Instead we are going to work on our writing and make Puppet Television more universal but still a mature comedy.
Also remember that Puppet Television is supposed to be random and hence, the humour will suit those who can appreciate random occurences.
Thanks for all of your input. It has been absolutely great!

 

[puppetsmith]

Hey ChinoXL...one word...



...euphemisms.

 

[ChinoXL]

In our last post, we were referring to our own work, not anyone else's. It may have come off like a subliminal shot, but it was not intended to be taken and applied to other shows.

 

[aaronmojo]

MrHogg, I'll give anything a fair shot once, but usually only once. I'll never not watch something simply because of profanity or vulgarity, but I'll turn it off if it's more vulgar than it is entertaining (i.e. I can enjoy South Park and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, but not Squidbillies).

I should mention that I'm a fairly vulgar guy myself when I'm not in mixed company, and there are plenty of wildly profane things I do find pretty amusing (Wu Tang Clan member ODB's album N***a Please, for example), but not necessarily for the "right" reasons.

The funniest swearing I can remember is the dad in the ubiquitous "A Christmas Story." If you don't remember it, see if you can find a copy and check it out. Darren McGavin has a way of making nonsense sound more vulgar and profane than actual profanity.