Greg the Bunny was an
American sitcom that originally aired on
Fox in 2002. It starred
Seth Green and a hand puppet named Greg the Bunny, originally invented by the team of
Sean S. Baker, Spencer Chinoy and
Dan Milano. Milano and Chinoy wrote and co-produced the Fox show. In the show, Greg was the co-star of a children's television show called
Sweetknuckle Junction. Like
The Muppet Show,
Greg the Bunny treated puppets as though they were real creatures within the reality of the show, although in this show, they were treated as a racial minority, sometimes struggling against second-class citizenship. The show was spun off from
The Greg the Bunny Show, a series of short segments that used to air on the
Independent Film Channel, which were based on the cable access show called "
Junktape". Overall the show was moved or spunoff over three different networks.
History
"
Junktape" was a half-hour, bi-weekly cable access show created by
Sean S. Baker, Spencer Chinoy and
Dan Milano. The show aired on New York City's
Manhattan Neighborhood Network, Monday nights at 11:30 PM. Eventually, the show got the attention of the
Independent Film Channel and given its own series of regular segments starring one of Junktape's main characters, Greg the Bunny.
The Greg the Bunny Show on IFC involved Greg and other characters introducing independent films being screened by using skits that parodied the films.
The Fox show made its debut in March 2002 and its last episode aired in August 2002, with two episodes unaired. Its failure was largely ascribed to the
show runner and networks' seeming cluelessness as to the direction they wanted the show to take. The network promoted
Greg the Bunny as a puppet show for adults, but within the show itself, they insisted on toning down its edgier aspects. The creators felt these changes caused the show to lose something, and gave it much more of a traditional
sitcom feel. The show runner and network also wanted to focus the show more on the human cast, while the creators maintained that the puppets were the heart of the show. Despite these problems, the series acquired a significant cult following, and was eventually released on DVD in 2004 that is only available in
Region 1 format.
In August 2005, Greg the Bunny returned to the
IFC, in a series of short segments, both old and new spoofing movies such as
Annie Hall,
Miller's Crossing,
Barton Fink,
Fargo,
Blue Velvet,
Easy Rider and
Pulp Fiction. The cast for these segments primarily features puppets Greg and Warren Demontague, with appearances from Count Blah, new character Pal Friendlies, and returning character The Wumpus. Tardy the Turtle and Susan were unable to appear in the IFC series because they were the property of Fox.
Characters
There have been several puppets that have been used on the show.
Greg the Bunny is the title character of the show. On the show, he acts mostly as comic relief, and jokes are made at his expense (particularly by Warren) about how he cannot act and that he's just there to look cute. In the IFC series, he lives with
Spencer Chinoy and
Sean S. Baker. In the Fox series, he lives with a boy named Jimmy Bender (played by
Seth Green). Greg underwent many changes throughout the course of his career. The original Greg had buttons for eyes and did not have a mouth. In the Fox series, he was given a moving mouth, and, for the later episodes, plastic eyes. When Greg returned to IFC, his button eyes were restored and he lost his mouth. Greg the Bunny is performed by
Dan Milano.
Warren DeMontague is the second main character on the show. He is the only character who uses a separate character name on Sweetknuckle Junction, playing Professor Ape. He portrays himself as a veteran stage actor trying to make a new name for himself. He initially despises working with Greg the Bunny because of his lack of stage experience. He maintains several substance related vices throughout the series. He is performed by
Dan Milano.
Fredrick "Count Blah" Blah is another actor who had worked with Warren Demontague many years ago. He is a parody of
Count von Count of
Sesame Street fame, although he regularly claims that the Sesame Street Count stole his act and took away his fame ("Show me another vampire, especially a puppet vampire, that was working in the mainstream industry before I came along. Suddenly I find out some bearded hippie is looking for folks to be on his new children's program and that he was looking for a vampire. The next thing I know he's got some fucking OCD numerologist on the show, ugly purple skin, counting up and down, it was just disgusting, blah. He's not even Romanian, he's freaking Italian, and he knows it, blah"). He says "Blah" at the end of most of his sentences, although it sometimes comes out as "Bleh." In the IFC series, Spencer often asks Blah when directing to stop saying "Blah." This makes Blah very upset, as he insists that Blah is his gimmick. Blah was another puppet who underwent changes between series. In the IFC series, he has lighter skin and smaller eyes than he does on the Fox show. He is performed by
Dan Milano in the IFC show and by
Drew Massey on the Fox show. Count Blah is briefly forced to change his name to "Count A'ight", because the producers want to modernize the show. When the new edgy Sweetknuckle Junction fails to pan out, he becomes Count Blah again.
Tardy the Turtle is a character exclusive to the Fox show. He is portrayed as a slow turtle (hence his name), in the sense that he is regularly late as well as likely being mentally retarded, and often says very random things ("Crayons taste like purple," "... the green ones make me horny," "... drumsticks can also be chicken"), and he mainly serves as comic relief. Tardy also ends some of his sentences or when he is frightened with a high-pitched squeal much like
Leonardo DiCaprio's character, Arnie Grape, in
What's Eating Gilbert Grape. When Fox cancelled the series, the puppet was "stolen," and Fox claimed
copyright to it. Tardy did make an "appearance" on the IFC DVD in one of the pre-episoded audio introductions. He was portrayed by
Victor Yerrid.
The Wumpus is a character exclusive to the IFC show. He is a parody of
Sesame Street monsters, and is very clumsy. He is portrayed by
Dan Milano.
Pal Friendlies is a character exclusive to the IFC show. He is the
talent agent of all the puppets who work on the show, although he is a very ineffective one. He also doubles as a
lawyer in some episodes.
Appearances in other shows
Greg the Bunny made a guest segment on
Mad TV (episode 719, aired 2002): in it, Greg, the jaded pro, deals with an audition for a minor part from his psychotic first drama teacher.
Greg the Bunny appeared in an episode of
Duel Masters, portrayed as the world's second best duelist.
Peter also mentioned Greg the Bunny in the
Family Guy episode "
North by North Quahog", when he was mentioning the shows that
Family Guy was cancelled to "make room for" (shows that were cancelled and their entire run was between the original cancellation and return of
Family Guy). As he says "Greg the Bunny", he shoots a quick glance at Chris, referencing the fact that
Seth Green, one of the stars in
Greg the Bunny, also is Chris's voice actor.
An original Greg the Bunny short was created by Dan Milano for the 100th episode of the podcast
Star Wars Action News. While no other puppets were featured, the skit showed Greg playing with his favorite
Star Wars action figures. Creator
Dan Milano also was featured in a second, separate, video segment.
DVD releases
The original "Greg the Bunny: The Complete Series" DVD was released Oct. 19, 2004. The IFC series was partially released as "Greg the Bunny: Best of the Film Parodies" Oct. 24, 2006.
The remainder of the IFC series released as "The Passion of Greg the Bunny: Best of the Film Parodies, Vol. 2" May 6, 2008.
Cast
Episodes
Trivia
- Greg the Bunny originally had buttons for eyes and a stationary mouth. When Greg moved to Fox, he was given a moving mouth, but between episodes six and seven, he was given glass eyes, which were used to give Greg better expressions. However, the original Greg puppet was used again when he returned to IFC in August 2005.
- Singer Daniel Johnston and his band were approached to write the theme song, but it was rejected. The band Ween was also asked to write a theme, which was also rejected.
