''Greg the Bunny'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on Fox in 2002. It starred

Seth Green Seth Benjamin Green ( ''né'' Gesshel-Green; born February 8, 1974) is an American actor, producer, and writer. Green's film debut came with a role in the comedy-drama film '' The Hotel New Hampshire'' (1984), and he went on to have supportin ...

and a hand puppet named Greg the Bunny, originally invented by the team of Sean S. Baker, Spencer Chinoy and

Dan Milano Daniel Milano (born September 10, 1972) is an American voice actor, puppeteer, writer and director. He was one of the creators of the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox sitcom ''Greg the Bunny'' and performed the title character Greg as well as Warre ...

. Milano and Chinoy wrote and co-produced the Fox show. The show was spun off from ''The Greg the Bunny Show'', a series of short segments that aired on the

Independent Film Channel IFC (formerly known as the Independent Film Channel) is an American basic cable channel owned by AMC Networks, originally launching in 1994 as a TV channel devoted to independent films. The Independent Film Channel originally operated as a com ...

, which were based on the Public-access television cable TV show ''Junktape''. A show spin-off, called ''

Warren the Ape ''Warren the Ape'' is an MTV reality show parody which ran from June 14 to August 30, 2010 and aired at 10:30 p.m. The series is a spin-off of the IFC and Fox TV show '' Greg the Bunny'', and follows the titular character's life as he trie ...

'', premiered on June 14, 2010, on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

Plot

In the FOX show, Greg was the co-star of a children's television show called ''Sweetknuckle Junction''. Like ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as ...

'', ''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 (who prefer to be called by the politically correct term "fabricated Americans"), sometimes struggling against second-class citizenship.

Characters

Humans

* Gilbert "Gil" Bender (played by

Eugene Levy Eugene Levy (born December 17, 1946) is a Canadian actor and comedian. From 1976 until 1984, he appeared in the Canadian television sketch comedy series '' SCTV''. He has also appeared in the '' American Pie'' series of films and the Canadian ...

) – The overwhelmed TV producer and director of ''Sweetknuckle Junction'' and the father of Jimmy Bender. He expects Jimmy to succeed in his life. * Jimmy Bender (played by

) – The human roommate of Greg the Bunny and the son of Gil Bender. He was a former pool man before he started working with his father where he hooked Greg up for a part on ''Sweetknuckle Junction''. After Greg lands the part on the show, Jimmy becomes the production assistant to his father. In "SK-2.0," Jimmy temporarily became a creative consultant to help modernize the show. He went back to his production assistant job after "SK-2.0" caused the test audience children to have seizures and the network getting lawsuits from the parents of the children. * Alison Kaiser (played by Sarah Silverman) – The network executive that Gil Bender works for. She used to work at PBS. * Jack Mars (played by Bob Gunton) – An actor and

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

veteran who plays Junction Jack, the

railroad engineer A train driver, engine driver, engineman or locomotive driver, commonly known as an engineer or railroad engineer in the United States and Canada, and also as a locomotive handler, locomotive operator, train operator, or motorman, is a pers ...

host of ''Sweetknuckle Junction''. Even though he has a distaste for puppets off-camera, Jack is the drinking buddy of Warren DeMontague and Count Frederick Blah. In "SK-2.0," Jimmy's filming of the alter-ego of "Sweetknuckle Junction" called "SK-2.0" had Junction Jack converted to a

cyborg A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.

named Cybo-Jack who also wears a rocket pack. After the viewing of "SK-2.0" by the test audience children caused them to have seizures and their parents to file lawsuits against the network, Jack started playing Junction Jack again. In "Jewel Heist," it is revealed that Jack grew up on a farm where his job was to castrate the bull cattle. In "Surprise," it is revealed that Jack can shoot better when he dresses like a woman. In "Sock Like Me," Jack's reason for his puppet distaste is because his mother had an affair with a puppet while he was a child. This led to Jack's mom leaving Jack and his dad where she ran off with the puppet. * "Dottie" Sunshine (played by Dina Waters) – An actress who is the beautiful human co-host of ''Sweetknuckle Junction''. She is more comfortable around most puppets than any other person. In "SK-2.0", Dottie wore a sexy outfit. When "SK-2.0" fails to pan out where it caused the children test audience to have seizures and the network getting lawsuits from the parents of the children, Dottie goes back to her original outfit. In "Jewel Heist," it is revealed that Dottie is allergic to

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfami ...

s. In "Greg Gets Puppish," it is revealed that Dottie had a puppet best friend growing up where Dottie later confesses that the puppet in question was her maid growing up.

Puppets

There have been many puppets that have been used on the show. The ones who are exclusive to the show have been designed and built at Animated Engineering McAvene Designs. Several of these puppets that appeared on the FOX show were reused from the children's direct-to-video series ''

The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth ''The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth'' is an American direct-to-video musical puppet series produced by Bomp Productions and MCA/Universal Home Video. The episodes were released from 1994 to 1996. Production The series was created by puppeteers ...

'' like some members of the Gingivitis Gang appearing as background crew members. * Greg the Bunny (performed by

) – A rabbit who is the title character of the show. 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 plastic eyes for the later episodes. When Greg the Bunny returned to IFC, his button eyes were restored and he lost his moving mouth. 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 Jimmy Bender. Jimmy was the one who got his father Gil to give Greg a job on ''Sweetknuckle Junction'' where he portrayed himself as the nephew to the former character Rochester Rabbit co-starring alongside Junction Jack, Dottie, Count Blah, and Warren DeMontague. In "SK-2.0," the ''Sweetknuckle Junction'' alter-ego "SK-2.0" had Greg the Bunny playing "G. the B." When "SK-2.0" fails to pan out where it caused the children test audience to have seizures and the network getting lawsuits from the parents of the children, he becomes Greg the Bunny again. In "Greg Gets Puppish," Greg gets the Puppish name of Bizzleburp from Hurbada Hymena. In the MTV series spin-off "Warren the Ape," Greg makes an appearance when Warren spends time with him to become sexually abstinent. However, it ends up with the clueless Greg being arrested as a pedophile and losing his virginity while in jail. He was built by Paul McAvene. * Warren DeMontague (performed by

) – A helmet-wearing ape who is the second main character on the show later starring in his own series ''

''. 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 while having several substance-related vices. He initially despises working with Greg the Bunny because of his lack of stage experience. Warren has an agent named Maury who Warren tends to call up for any acting opportunities. In "SK-2.0," there were fat jokes made about Warren which caused him to strangle the test audience child that insulted him enough for Gil and Alison to break it up. Jimmy's plans for the alter-ego of "Sweetknuckle Junction" called "SK-2.0" had him telling Warren to shed some pounds. During the filming of "SK-2.0" under Jimmy's supervision, Warren had to operate as "Prof Meister Ape" with Gil eventually telling him to say his lines with feeling or else he'll rip the stitches that were placed in his rear and suck out the fat with an industrial vacuum. When "SK-2.0" fails to pan out where it caused the children test audience to have seizures and the network getting lawsuits from the parents of the children, he portrays Professor Ape again. In "Jewel Heist," it is revealed that Warren had a relationship with

Farrah Fawcett Farrah Leni Fawcett (born Ferrah Leni Fawcett; February 2, 1947 – June 25, 2009) was an American actress. A four-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee and six-time Golden Globe Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she played ...

. * Fredrick "Count Blah" Blah (performed by

in the IFC show,

Drew Massey Drew Massey (born April 4, 1972) is an American voice actor, puppeteer and director for Nickelodeon and the Jim Henson Company. He has worked extensively with the Muppets and has performed in many films, television series, and commercials. He ha ...

on the FOX show) – A

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

who is another actor that had worked with Warren DeMontague many years ago. He is a parody of

Count von Count Count von Count (known simply as the Count) is a Muppet character on the PBS/HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street.'' He is meant to parody Bela Lugosi's portrayal of Count Dracula. He first appeared on the show in the Season 4 premier ...

of ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...

'' fame, although he regularly claims that Count von Count stole his act and took away his fame. 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 and his hands are those of the assistant puppeteers. * Tardy Turtle (performed by Victor Yerrid) – A turtle who is 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 handicapped and often says very random things ("Crayons taste like purple," "... the green ones make me horny," "... drumsticks can also be chicken") in the manner of Ralph Wiggum from ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...

''. 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 ''What's Eating Gilbert Grape'' is a 1993 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Lasse Hallström and starring Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis and Darlene Cates. It follows 25-year-old Gilbert (Depp), a grocery store cle ...

''. In the opening credits, it's said that he graduated from Harvard at the head of his class, indicating that there is a possibility that he is a

Savant Savant syndrome () is a rare condition in which someone with significant mental disabilities demonstrates certain abilities far in excess of average. The skills that savants excel at are generally related to memory. This may include rapid calc ...

. When FOX cancelled the series, the puppet was "stolen" and FOX claimed

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

to it. Someone that resembled Tardy makes an appearance on the IFC DVD in one of the pre-episode audio introductions. * Susan

Monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

(performed by James Murray) – A full-bodied furry purple monster with six breasts and a male voice who is exclusive to the FOX series. She works as an office worker at the network where ''Sweetknuckle Junction'' is filmed. In "Welcome to Sweetknuckle Junction," Susan was among the puppets who auditioned for Rochester Rabbit's part. In "Surprise," Susan is revealed to have a habit of eating stray cats. When FOX cancelled the series, they claimed copyright to Susan Monster's puppet. * Rochester Rabbit (performed by James Murray) – A gruff rabbit born in 1946 who was the previous puppet host of ''Sweetknuckle Junction'' for 15 years until he was fired due to forgetting his lines at his age and was replaced by Greg the Bunny. He is mentioned to have 43 kids. After Greg the Bunny landed Rochester's part on ''Sweetknuckle Junction'' as Rochester's nephew, Rochester crashed the filming of the show and threatened to cut him up with scissors only for him to be knocked out by Jimmy during the on-set skirmish between Warren and Jack. In "Rabbit Redux," Greg's recurring nightmares of Rochester burying him alive causes Greg to want to patch things up with him. Greg and Jack find Rochester selling Stars Maps with Jack hoping to get back the meatloaf pan that Rochester borrowed from him. Rochester rants about how Greg stealing his part on ''Sweetknuckle Junction'' caused him to lose his home and go broke. Greg convinced Gil to rehire Rochester which resulted in Rochester behind hired as a

janitor A janitor (American English, Scottish English), also known as a custodian, porter, cleanser, cleaner or caretaker, is a person who cleans and maintains buildings. In some cases, they will also carry out maintenance and security duties. A simil ...

. Greg even fakes an injury so that Rochester can get a part on the

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

episode of ''Sweetknuckle Junction'', where he dances during one of the musical numbers until he suddenly dies from a heart attack. During the memorial service/

roast Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelizatio ...

, some jokes are made about Rochester followed by a presentation where Rochester got hurt during each episode. When it came to Warren's talk about Rochester, the cigar that was placed in Rochester's dead mouth started to burn Rochester's dead body. * Cranky (performed by Victor Yerrid) – A crew member who is often annoyed at things. He is a recycled version of Cavity Goon from ''

''. * Dr. Aben Mitchell (performed by

) – Aben is the leader of the Pro-Puppet Movement and an advocate on Puppet Rights. Being a Live-Hand Puppet, Drew Massey is assisted in performing him by James Murray. * Gay Bear (performed by

) – A bear that acts gay. He was among the puppets that auditioned for Rochester Rabbit's part on ''Sweetknuckle Junction'' in the episode "Welcome to Sweetknuckle Junction." * Mr. Hygiene (performed by Victor Yerrid) – * Hurbada Hymena (performed by

) – The leader of the militant puppet group called International Puppets Alliance. ** Mushma and Ratagaba (performed by James Murray and

) – Two members of the International Puppets Alliance that work for Hurbada. Mushma is a furry one-eyed monster and Ratagaba is a tall-headed goat-like creature. * Crippled Writer (performed by Victor Yerrid) – A leg brace-wearing writer at the network who is exclusive to the FOX series. In "The Singing Mailman," the Crippled Writer's forearm crutches were once stolen by Leo Kornelly after he had a fall and nobody has come to help the Crippled Writer up. * Jamaican Guy (performed by James Murray) – A Jamaican puppet who provides the piano music for ''Sweetknuckle Junction''. Similar to Count Blah saying "Blah," Jamaican Guy says "Mon" at the end of his sentences as seen in "Dottie Heat" during their card game with Warren, Jack, a dog puppet, and an unnamed crew member. * The Wumpus (performed by

) – A

monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

character exclusive to the IFC show. He is a parody of the ''

'' Monsters and is very clumsy. The Wumpus, created by

Chris Bergoch Chris Bergoch ( ) is an American screenwriter and producer, known for having co-written the films ''The Florida Project'', ''Tangerine'' and ''Starlet'' as well as writing on the television shows ''Greg the Bunny'' and '' Warren the Ape''. Bergo ...

, first appeared in the early nineties in a Bergoch short."Beyond using progressive filming techniques and casting, Tangerine is expressive and warm"
. ''Nashville Scene'', By Jason Shawhan * Pal Friendlies (performed by

) – A character exclusive to the IFC show. He is the

talent agent A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, and other professionals in various entertainment or sp ...

for all the puppets who work on the show, although he is a very ineffective one. He also doubles as a lawyer in some episodes. *

Elephant Man Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890), often erroneously called John Merrick, was an English man known for having severe deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "the Elephant Man" and then wen ...

(performed by

Paul McGinnis Paul McGinnis (born 1973) is an American puppeteer for ''Sesame Street'' and The Muppets. He has also performed in various non-Muppet television productions such as ''The Book of Pooh'', '' Julie's Greenroom'', ''The Wiz Live!'', ''Crash & Bernste ...

) – A puppet character that is modeled after Joseph Merrick who is exclusive to the IFC show.

Background and production

''Junktape'' was a half-hour, bi-weekly Public-access television show created by Sean S. Baker, Spencer Chinoy and

. The show aired on New York City's

Manhattan Neighborhood Network Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) is an American non-profit organization that broadcasts programming on five public-access television cable TV stations in Manhattan, New York City. The country’s largest community media center, MNN operates tw ...

, Monday nights at 11:30 pm. Eventually, the show got the attention of the

and given its own series of regular segments starring one of the main characters from ''Junktape'', 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. In August 2005, Greg the Bunny returned to the IFC, in a series of short segments, spoofing both old and new movies such as ''

Annie Hall ''Annie Hall'' is a 1977 American satirical romantic comedy-drama film directed by Woody Allen from a screenplay written by him and Marshall Brickman, and produced by Allen's manager, Charles H. Joffe. The film stars Allen as Alvy Singer, w ...

'', '' Miller's Crossing'', '' Barton Fink'', '' Fargo'', '' Blue Velvet'', ''

Easy Rider ''Easy Rider'' is a 1969 American independent drug culture road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda, and directed by Hopper. Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel through the American So ...

'' and ''

Pulp Fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Vin ...

''. 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.

Episodes

The episodes appear in production code order on the DVD release.

Unaired pilot

Series (2002–2004)

IFC shorts (2005)

''Greg the Bunny'' returned as a series of 12-minute shorts that aired on IFC, starting in August 2005.

IFC shorts (2006)

Home media

The original "Greg the Bunny: The Complete Series" DVD was released October 19, 2004. The IFC series was partially released as "Greg the Bunny: Best of the Film Parodies" October 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.

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 the '' Duel Masters'' episode "Kokujo Strikes Back." He was portrayed as the world's second best duelist. * Peter also mentioned ''Greg the Bunny'' at the beginning of the ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ch ...

'' comeback episode "

North by North Quahog "North by North Quahog" is the fourth season premiere of the animated television series ''Family Guy''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 1, 2005, though it had premiered three days earlier at a special screening a ...

", when he was listing the shows that ''Family Guy'' was cancelled to "make room for" (roughly 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 moves his head toward Chris, referencing the fact that

, one of the stars in ''Greg the Bunny'', is also Chris' 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 ''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...

action figures. Creator

also was featured in a second, separate, video segment. Star Wars Action News' 100th Episode *Footage of the show can be seen in Sean Baker's '' Starlet'' and '' The Florida Project''.

References

External links

*
Warren the Ape on MTV

*
Greg the Bunny Independent Film Channel page

Official Myspace page

Greg the Bunny page
from ''

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

''
Interview with Greg, Warren and co-creator Dan Milano, by David Salcido
{{IFC programming 2002 American television series debuts 2005 American television series endings 2000s American sitcoms 2000s American workplace comedy television series American public access television shows American television series revived after cancellation American television shows featuring puppetry English-language television shows Fox Broadcasting Company original programming IFC (American TV channel) original programming Television shows about apes Television series about rabbits and hares Television series about television Television series about turtles Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television shows set in Los Angeles