美国国家公共电台 NPR A New Addition To The Long Tradition Of Puppets Behaving Badly

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

So what do you do when bad things happen to good puppets? Well, that's what Melissa McCarthy is investigating in a new movie called "The Happytime Murders." She plays a detective trying to solve a string of puppet killings¹.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS")

BILL BARETA: (As Phil Philips) This wasn't a robbery. This was a hit.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As unidentified character) What the...

BARETA: (As Phil Philips) Someone out there is killing² puppets.

GREENE: Oh, my. "The Happytime Murderers" - it is rated R, and, in this case, the R might stand for raunchy. It's inappropriate for both children and morning radio. So just a fair warning - this piece contains some clips that some listeners might find very disturbing. They certainly disturbed NPR's Barry Gordemer.

BARRY GORDEMER, BYLINE³: "The Happytime Murders" is packed with violence...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) What the...

GORDEMER: ...Foul⁴ language...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS")

MELISSA MCCARTHY: (As Connie Edwards) Well, if the shoe fits...

BARETA: (As Phil Philips) [Expletive] you.

MCCARTHY: (As Connie Edwards) Yeah, [expletive] you, too.

BARETA: (As Phil Philips) [Expletive] you more.

GORDEMER: ...And graphic⁵ puppet sex.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS")

BARETA: (As Phil Philips) This is not a good idea.

DORIEN DAVIES: (As Sandra) What's it going to be, Phil?

GORDEMER: The problem is I can't play any clips that really demonstrate just how raunchy this movie is.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) When did you get so squeamish?

BARETA: (As Phil Philips) I'm not squeamish.

GORDEMER: Brian Henson, what would Jim Henson say about this movie?

BRIAN HENSON: I don't know. My dad would probably have said, oh my God. That's outrageous⁶, Brian. But I also think he would have enjoyed it.

GORDEMER: That's Brian Henson, son of "Muppet" creator Jim Henson. Brian directed "The Happytime Murders."

HENSON: This is really the raunchiest I've ever gone with puppets. I thought, well, maybe I should do something that's sort of PG-13, but I didn't want to accidentally invite a family audience into this movie. I wanted to make sure it was very, very clear that this is for adults only. So in a lot of ways, that also became a license⁷ to go even further than our instincts were to go.

GORDEMER: "The Happytime Murderers" is the latest example of adult puppetry that leans heavily on the scatological. In the early 2000s, Comedy Central brought us "Crank Yankers" where puppets lip synced to lewd⁸ and crude crank phone calls.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "CRANK YANKERS")

UNIDENTIFED PERSON: Thank you for calling SST Towing. How may I help you?

WANDA SYKES: (As Gladys) I just picked up my '92 Accord from your lot, and there is a huge turd in the back seat.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: And there's - there's what in the back seat?

SYKES: (As Gladys) A turd.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Ma'am, if you want to bring that car back, we'll take a look at it.

SYKES: (As Gladys) Oh, you want to take a look at it.

GORDEMER: The creators of "South Park" brought us the all-marionette movie "Team America" where an elite⁹ group of commandos vanquish¹⁰ terrorists and good taste.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE")

DARAN NORRIS: (As Spottswoode) All right, I'll trust you. But only if you [expletive].

TREY PARKER: (As Gary Johnston) You can't be serious.

NORRIS: (As Spottswoode) Oh, I am serious. This is my serious face.

GORDEMER: Puppets behaving badly isn't new. In fact, over the centuries, raunch has been the rule rather than the exception.

EILEEN BLUMENTHAL: Puppetry around most of the world until the 19th century wasn't for children. In fact, a lot of it was pretty shocking.

GORDEMER: Eileen Blumenthal is a theater professor at Rutgers University and author of the book "Puppetry: A World History."

BLUMENTHAL: In the middle ages, one specialty¹¹ of puppets became sex and violence.

GORDEMER: The classic puppet show "Punch And Judy" was topical, political and very racy. It was a good way in the 17th century to poke¹² fun at the crown and the church without getting your head chopped off.

BLUMENTHAL: Puppets have always been able to get away with things that live actors can't.

GORDEMER: Brian Henson looks forward to seeing what he can get away with in the future.

HENSON: This is a direction that I'm experimenting with, but it's not at all exclusively where I plan on being. But people really sort of delight in puppets going really too far.

GORDEMER: Just don't tell the kids. Barry Gordemer, NPR News.