By David Hurtado
When people think of joke telling puppets, the Muppets or Sesame Street immediately comes to mind. Add a little bit of uncensored mayhem and you have got the Henson Alternative Miskreant puppets.
Stuffed and Unstrung- Henson Alternative is an upcoming improv show at the college that uses puppetry and dirty humor to entertain a primarily adult audience. Not to be confused with the Muppets, Stuffed and Unstrung relies heavily on improvisation and suggestions from its viewers.
“Everything is written for the Muppets,” said Patrick Bristow, co-founder of Stuffed and Unstrung. “Miskreant Puppeteers will come up with their own lines, which are more adult geared.”
The Muppets are no longer owned by The Jim Henson Company. All Muppet copyrights and trademarks are now under the ownership of The Walt Disney Company. The deal, which was brokered in 2004, did not include the Sesame Street characters which are privately owned by Sesame Workshop.
The show, which was created in 2010, began as nothing more than an improvisation class when Bristow was asked to teach it by Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets. Although Stuffed and Unstrung has only been around for a few years, it has been performed at Las Vegas, Edinburgh, Sydney, and has been nominated for a Drama Desk Award.
Still, the show is not as well known in America as the Muppets are. Emily Behrmann, general manager of the colleges Performing Arts Series, said the primary reason is the amount of time between the creation of the Muppets and the Miskreants.
“The Muppets have been performing a lot longer than the Miskreants have,” Behrmann said. “It makes sense people would know the Muppets better.”
In addition to the decades between the two creations and the relative newness of the Miskreants, Bristow also said Stuffed and Unstrung is not advertised that much.
“It’s typically pretty much a word of mouth show,” Bristow said. “People hear about it from others who have seen it.”
What sets the show apart from other comedy troupes though is that each show has something different about it from the last one. Bristow said that as the MC of the show, he asks the audience for suggestions to get the show started; there are no old gags or preplanning involved.
Of course, there will always be that one person in the audience who shouts out something rather distasteful. Bristow said that it does happen, but very rarely.
“Occasionally someone shouts out something so dark or forbidden, it creates an unpleasant atmosphere,” Bristow said. “When that happens I’ll ask the audience for another suggestion and we will put the two up for a vote and let the audience decide by applause.”
Josh Mills, student, said Stuffed and Unstrung sounded like something he would be interested in watching.
“I’m big into theater,” Mills said. “I love improv so this would probably be enjoyable for me.”
Although the college has had comedy routines at the college in the past, not one of them has been a puppet show, according to Behrmann.
The Henson puppeteers will be available after the show for questions from the audience. Stuffed and Unstrung will take place on February 18th, at 8:00 p.m. at Yardley Hall in the Carlson Center. Students with questions regarding the show should contact the box office at 913-467-4445.
Contact David Hurtado, reporting correspondent, at dhurtado@stumail.jccc.edu.