| Live Hot Puppet Chat | |
|---|---|
| Format | Independent/College show |
| Starring | Tristan Newcomb (all the puppets), Jesse Chapo (as various Jesses), Brian Ugia (as Blinky the Robot), and H.L (as Carmen) |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | Six (plus several test & cameo segments). In broadcast order: Skiddles, Prickle, Al the Slug, Reducey-Risk Reindeer, Barry Bible, Dobo Disty |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Tristan Newcomb |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | SRTV (local broadcast cable channel) and worldwide via live online streaming |
| Original run | Sept. 2005 – Nov. 2005 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Live Hot Puppet Chat gained its initial popularity on a student-run college television station (SRTV) in the Fall of 2005 at the University of California, San Diego, with a series of shows they titled "Season 2" (never having really had a first season). The episodes were written and performed by Tristan Newcomb, and each episode had a different host: they were, in broadcast order, Skiddles, Prickle, Al the Slug, Reducey-Risk Reindeer, Barry Bible, and Dobo Disty (aka Nintendobo).
The theme of the show was that, in-between the scripted moments of puppet monologue, the students would telephone from their dorms and try to shock the puppets with as controversial a question as they could manage. The puppets would have varying reactions based upon their uncooperative or incompetent personalities,[1] then lead the callers into conversations that ranged from adult themes to surreal Kafkaesque confrontations, depending on the episode. Some students began to issue complaints with college officials. After episode six, the student-run television station was shut down upon charges of "obscenity", stemming from (it is believed) the blasphemous content of the Barry Bible episode, though there is also evidence that the administration was unhappy with a couple of scattered porn broadcasts on the student channel. This debate between what got the station shut down is now roughly equally divided among those who say it was the porn, which is what the press articles focused upon, and those who say it was the Barry Bible episode, which is the claim of several student council members who dealt directly with the school administration on the controversy.[2][3][4]
A retail DVD was released of all the 2005 episodes, with the satirical title Greatest Hits: Season 2. Afterwards, the puppet characters appeared in many clips around the web, often in spin-off series such as Executive Inbox, Carpe Diem in Fur and Nintendobo. The videos stopped being produced once the puppeteer, Tristan Newcomb, began doing theater pieces that simulated catastrophic software demonstrations.[5]
In August 2009, a Live Hot Puppet Chat movie was released, Sword of Digestive Calmness.[6] In June 2010, a second feature film with a Live Hot Puppet Chat character was released, Only Interstellar Pinball Lives Forever.[7]