Agro

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Agro is a puppet character on Australian television, who describes himself as a 'talking bathmat'. He is operated by comedian Jamie Dunn. Agro is known for his love of Australian rugby league player Wally Lewis, demonstrated by the various songs written and sung by Agro. Agro is British slang for aggravated or aggravationit was also a Football chant heard on the terraces in the 1970's, sung by hooligans, "A.G, A.G.R, A.G.R.O, Agro! ". Agro is sometimes said to have the last name Vation, though the puppet is never formally credited with a surname.

He is credited with winning 3 consecutive Logie Awards for "Most Popular Children's Program" in 1988 - 1990 for his show Wombat, then another 7 consecutive awards in 1991 - 1997 for his following show Agro's Cartoon Connection. He also received a Penguin Award for "Best Presenter of Light Entertainment".

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[edit] Creation

Agro, the puppet itself, was created by BTQ-7 employee Garry Rhodes. There was some apparent in-fighting in the initial years as Jamie Dunn attempted to claim creative ownership of the puppet. BTQ-7 and the parties involved reached a closed-door settlement which allowed Jamie Dunn to retain the rights. In 2001 Channel Seven Productions enlisted Puppeteer and Puppet Builder, Warren Duxbury to rebuild Agro after noticing that the original Agro had deteriorated beyond repair.

[edit] History

Agro has hosted the following Australian television shows.


Agro has hosted as a guest presenter on Tonight Live with Steve Vizard on four occasions and appeared as a guest numerous others.

Agro has also appeared as a guest on the following television shows.

Over the years Agro has released four albums, a Game Boy game, an arcade game (Agro's Fantastic Arcade Game), and a range of commercial merchandise including, action figures, stickers, lunchboxes, children's clothing etc.

[edit] Modern times

Agro's on-camera roles became less frequent in the late 1990s. He moved to radio, co-hosting the breakfast show on B105 FM. Of course, when 'Agro' performed, Jamie Dunn would sit in the studio and provide the Agro voice without actually operating the puppet. After a period of time, the performances were credited to 'Jamie Dunn' himself. Dunn has become a very popular show-business personality in his own right. He still occasionally performs on radio as a kind of alternative, more disinhibited personality named 'Agro' (for example, when making prank telephone calls), but the puppet itself has been seldom seen in recent years.

Dunn has never appeared alongside Agro, as a typical ventriloquist might. When Agro appears, Dunn is always hidden, often by furniture. Agro's humour is rather adult, with much sexual innuendo, cursing and disinhibition. He would often appear with an innocent-acting female offsider, who would be subjected to mocking and sexual behaviour. His pre-taped performances in those shows intended for a juvenile or family audience were obviously vetted before broadcast, but in the adult-oriented shows (and in the Christmas tapes of Cartoon Connection) his antics are well-received. Unlike many characters, particularly children's puppets, Agro often "breaks the fourth wall" and makes references to the fact that he is a puppet, that his limbs do not move, and that a hand is up his back.

The Agro puppet is unusual in its construction. The puppeteer can open and close the mouth, and can also slide the 'eyebrows' back and forth. This allows Agro to make a sexually-suggestive 'leering' expression which he often uses. The eyes and limbs do not move. Interestingly, if you take the toy version of the Muppet Animal sold in the early 1980s and trim down its hair you have an identical puppet to the original Agro, complete with all the noted features. Later versions of Agro had a different nose.

In recent years Channel Seven Productions enlisted Puppeteer and Puppet Builder, Warren Duxbury, to rebuild Agro after noticing that the original Agro had deteriorated beyond repair. The new puppet was built for use on a new but unproduced season of Perfect Match.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

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