Episode 40

A jealous Penny steals a plant intended for Hermie that was delivered to the stage door, but she soon realizes that this is no ordinary plant!

Episode Breakdown:
-Cast:
Avery Jones: Narrator, Hermie, Hare, Zeke, Plant, Rory, Scooter, Turtle, Lexi
Alex Hubbard: Penny, Trixie, Jen the Hen, Calliope
Hannah Tarleton: Audrey 'O Malley
Hadley Gilpatrick: Squishy
Nick Garcia: Rock, Orange Cat, Bubba
Benjamin Johnston: Zora, Plant assist., Hermie assist., Bob the Rooster, Trixie
Becca Smith: Pink Meep

Calliope & Zora Intro/Outro: This is, by far, one of the strangest pairings of characters we've done to date. Originally, this episode had no Intro/Outro so we could focus on truly ripping off- ahem, spoofing "Little Shop of Horrors". But upon editing the show I discovered this episode was too short, and needed more material, so this wacky duo (who were already part of a Season 5 episode) found a new home.


How to be Hot: I'm starting to believe that these two can't give real advice on anything....

The Plant: In October of this year, I had the privilege of designing, building, and puppeteering Audrey II for Springer Opera House's production of "Little Shop of Horrors". The plant used in this episode was/is my prototype (protoplant?), used to convince myself, and Little Shop's producers, that I was capable of building this monster of a puppet. In fact, even the line drawing of the plant featured in this episode's credits was a piece of concept art used in developing the look for "Little Shop" I've always felt as though The Puppet Improv is, in a sense, my video journal. A lot of important moments, trips, and people have been featured in a way that's very special to me, and, hopefully entertaining to our audience. Even though we shot 95% of this episode before we even began production on "Little Shop", it still stands, in my mind, as a great reminder of the experience.


Calliope's Advice of the Day: We've heard Calliope reference "The Turtle of Wisdom" on several occasions, and we just thought it was some more of her delusional babbling. But, it turns out, that there is an actual turtle... whether he's wise or not is another issue entirely.

Joke of the Day: Yes, we stole Family Guy's joke, too.

Daily Dose of Cute: Okay, kid... we get it, you're cute.

Penny's Confessions: This segment doesn't have anything to do with Penny's story line in this episode, but this too was something used to extend the run-time of the episode

The Young and the Stupid: What's the worse thing Zeke could ever tell Trixie... or Angela... or Paige? This wasn't originally intended to be a YATS story line, but we were one plot short for this season's soap operas, so the idea was re-invented into what you see now.

So kids, what's the moral of this story?
Don't talk to the greenery, and that you don't always have to know how your show is going to end before you start. Where's the fun in that?

Avery Jones, Creative Director of The Puppet Improv