Sifl and Olly
Encyclopedia
The Sifl and Olly Show is a comedy TV series that used sock puppet
s, animation, and music. Musicians Liam Lynch
and Matt Crocco
, friends since childhood, created and performed the series. The first episode aired on MTV
in 1997. The show was cancelled in 1999. The characters, along with new material, currently appear on Liam Lynch's podcast entitled Lynchland.
. Lynch left Kent State and the duo were separated for a few years, but they reunited in Nashville
, Tennessee
in the 1990s and recorded the comedy album Camp Sunny Side Up
on a 4-Track
. During this period they were also constantly recording random funny conversations, interviews, sketches, and songs. Soon after, Lynch moved to Liverpool
, England
to attend the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, but the friends continued to make funny recordings and send them to each other.
In 1995, while Lynch was still in Liverpool, he found some broken 4-Track tapes and repaired them. These tapes contained conversations and material intended for his and Crocco's second comedy album (which they never recorded). He decided to make something using these tapes as a Christmas
present for Crocco. Lynch had been inspired by a series of British commercials by Aardman Studios and had hoped to do stop-action clay animation, but he did not have the money or the equipment for it. Instead, he made puppets out of his own socks and a large plastic sunflower and recorded a video of himself acting out their tapes with the puppets. Lynch chose the name for the puppets from a fake commercial Crocco had made for one of their recordings, and Sifl & Olly were born.
Lynch sent copies to MTV and MTV Europe, and although MTV America rejected them, MTV Europe liked them. In 1996, MTV-UK began airing Sifl & Olly clips between music videos as "idents." The popularity of the clips led to MTV America offering a half-hour format called The Sifl & Olly Show in July 1998. The show aired late at night, but later on they were moved to the evenings.
In the first season, clips of Sifl and Olly were mixed with music videos. Whenever the show was aired again, the music videos would be removed, leaving only the comedy clips. The show gained a cult following, but it was cancelled after the second season. A third season was recorded, and MTV promised to release the episodes on the Internet
but never did. The lost episodes were eventually released on DVD.
Despite its cancellation, Sifl and Olly still appear along with some other characters in occasional episodes of Liam Lynch's podcast
, Lynchland. Most of these appearances are clips from Season 3.
The show was always very simple and low-budget. Most of the show's main characters were puppets, with background images or animations in the background via a chromakey. The two co-hosts often had a microphone in front of them. The show had an unscripted feel with the characters talking to each other in realistic, often meandering styles. Sifl and Olly would sing both original and classic songs throughout the show with an original song at the end. Though it featured puppets, the series was not intended for children. The humor often featured profanity, sexual references, drug innuendo, crude humor, bodily functions, and violence.
threats. An episode in the second season implies that he was once married to Olly's mom and is, in fact, Olly's father (despite also being childhood friends with Olly).
Olly : Voice by Liam Lynch. His body is a white sock with large, brown eyes and a dog-like nose. His hair is made from clippings of plastic sunflower petal and he wears a sweater, or more specifically, a sweater sleeve. Olly is emotional and prone to fits of violence, and prone to bouts of total insanity during Precious Roy ads. During the Precious Roy ads, Olly's grammar shows characteristics of the Central Pennsylvania dialect
. (He mentions both that a suit "never needs ironed" and that "the dog needs walked".) He is easily deceived and has difficulty with women. He has difficulty holding back his laughter at times, especially when he's talking with Chester. Olly originally performs My United States of Whatever, one of the most successful songs from Lynch's Fake Songs
CD. The song was performed in response to Sifl bringing several of Olly's ex-girlfriends to the show so they could make fun of Olly.
Chester : Voiced by Matt Crocco. Chester was born in Los Angeles, raised by a tap dancing tribe (S1E1). His head is an inverted rubber mould for a Buddha
figurine, his eyelashes are plastic sunflower petals, and a sweater sleeve composes most of his body. This gives him a distinct shape, resulting in a vacant smile and the appearance of innards in his mouth. His eyes are the same as Olly's, with the addition of large, petal-like eyebrows. Chester announces the beginning of the show, though he is not skilled at the task, occasionally referring to Sifl & Olly by the wrong names (such as Starsky and Hutch
), or simply refusing to perform the announcement. Usually laughs softly as he talks. Chester considers himself a Don Juan
, though the other characters imply that Chester has never been with a woman. He is very forgetful, often forgetting that he lives in the studio, that he is on a television show, or that the fans in the "Letters to Chester" segments aren't in the studio. He is obsessed with cereal, and it is implied that he eats it constantly, though he is rarely seen doing so on screen. He collects water, which he proudly proclaims to possess the entire set of (in the form of ice, steam, and regular water). He occasionally wanders into other skits, usually while eating a sandwich, and often doesn't realize that the skits aren't real (such as thinking that he had wandered into space while entering the set of a Star Wars
parody). He is occasionally sold or traded by Olly, such as being sold to a freak show
for $20 or used to pay Sifl's debt to the mafia.
Precious Roy : Also voiced by Crocco. His body is a green sock with enormous eyes (pointing in different directions) and a pair of wire glasses. The puppeteer's hand is positioned awkwardly within the sock, adding to Precious' bizarre persona. He is the owner of the Precious Roy Home Shopping Netwerk, which Sifl & Olly are spokesmen for. He speaks in non sequiturs
, seems unaware of what his products actually are, and punctuates his last sentence of the segment with "suckers!".
Cody : Voiced by Liam Lynch. A friend of Sifl and Chester, but not so much Olly. Often Cody will stop by the show to confirm plans with Sifl for later; usually involving hookers or other unseemly behavior.
Stealth : Voiced by Liam Lynch. A violent degenerate with a grudge against Olly (Olly drove a golf cart through his bar mitzvah dressed in a beaver costume). Sifl and Olly eventually defeat him by singing Twisted Sister
's "We're Not Gonna Take It", which somehow sends Stealth into space in a spinning square resembling the Phantom Zone
in Superman II
. Is perpetually smoking a cigarette.
Julio : A small child who calls the show, usually to ask for advice. Liam Lynch mentioned on the "sockheads" list that Julio was voiced by a real 3-year-old named Julio.
Zafo : Voiced by guitarist/producer "Chris Tench". He spoke in an electronically distorted voice which sounds like a person speaking through a vocoder
or a talk box
. He is idolized by Sifl and Olly as well as a number of other characters in the show. On more than one event the world has been marked for destruction by a creature or object from space that was using the shows "Call from the public" forum to announce a final warning only to be left with a "big decision to make" when they discovered that Zafo had a show that night.
Peto and Flek : The main characters of Sifl and Olly's favorite show from their childhood. Peto is portrayed as being rude and vulgar, while Flek can only speak by saying the sound "guh-guh-guh-guh".
Jimmy : Voiced by Mike Taylor. Sifl & Olly's camera man, his dialogue usually cannot be heard clearly and he rarely appears on screen.
The Landlord : Voiced by Liam Lynch. The landlord for Sifl & Olly's apartment (some episodes, however, imply that the duo actually live in their studio. It is possible that they simply tape their show in their apartment, but some segments clearly imply that the two are "not home" during taping). He is made out of an opaque brown stocking with grey yarn hair and eyebrows. He also has a tattered white sleeve covering most of his body, giving him a disheveled appearance. This is enhanced by the puppeteer, whose knuckles are positioned prominently in the puppet, increasing its aggressive appearance. The Landlord frequently calls during the "Calls to the Public" segments to yell at Sifl and Olly about something they're doing on his property, such as breeding monkeys or building a water slide. He threatens to kick them out regularly, but the duo has already built a moat around their apartment filled with crocodiles and guarded by archer monkeys.
Champs 1 Team : A group of students, led by "John from Ohio University
," who won the "Sifl & Olly: Free Access to the Moon" contest, in which they were launched in a space ship to the moon for a three-year mission. However, they weren't given any tasks to perform during their mission, and Sifl & Olly assumed the team would simply enjoy the freedom of being on the moon, such as the fact that there are no police on the moon. Before long all of the crew has died but one member, who eventually dies after the robot chicken pecks at a wrong button and sends the ship into the sun.
Grout : Voiced by Matt Crocco. A black and white striped long stocking with round yellow eyes on what look like black pipe cleaners. He is a self-proclaimed space expert who shows up as a guest or as host of his game show, trivia trapezoids.
Paul Rogers : Voiced by Matt Crocco. Disgruntled host of 'Functions of the Family', "Your 8000 step plan to better living". Intended as a self-help plan, he apparently went through some bad events recently. As such, his show generally devolves within seconds to him crying about his current situation in life, (specifically "I DON'T HAVE A FAMILY!") and screaming at his unseen announcer, Dale. The typical episode ends with Dale quitting. Paul is one of the few non-sock puppet characters, played by a plastic elf hand puppet.
Aesop Jones : A television chef, and another of the few non-sock characters (he is simply a doll dressed like a chef). Aesop's speech is incomprehensible. All his cooking endeavors seem to involve him actually cooking himself, somehow transforming his actual body into whatever it was he was supposed to be cooking (such as covering himself in dough, dipping his head into a vat of lard, and emerging with his head as a perfect, chocolate frosted doughnut
). In the second season he has a female assistant (made out of a sock) whom he is romantically involved with.
Jargon Scott : A salesperson who often turns up on the "Calls From the Public" portion of the show to try and sell legless dogs to Sifl and Olly. Jargon constantly tries to explain to them the benefits of owning legless dogs, such as: they never run away, you never have to walk them, they're safe around children, etc. When this doesn't convince them to buy, he often enlists the help of a telemarketer named Cindy to use typical telemarketing fast talk and special offers to trick them into buying his "hot, legless dogs." The call usually ends with Jargon interrupting Cindy, exclaiming "You guys don't know what you're missing...I got legless dogs here!"
Eddie from Jersey : Frequent caller during the "Calls To The Public" segment of the show. Eddie can be seen wearing a S&M-style mask and always makes it a point to insult Sifl, usually by calling him a variation of the term "egg-ass" (i.e. "Hey Sifl, you're a rotten, slouched-back, egg-ass!"). Once he is reminded that he can be seen, he usually attempts to hide or change his story.
Sex Girl : Voiced by Terry Hudson. A female prostitute who occasionally shows up in the Interview section of the show. After a brief talk, usually Sifl and Olly decide to make out with Sex Girl. Sifl usually goes first, making awkward noises and distracting Olly, while Olly always blows his chance with Sex Girl giving lines such as "Everything I'm about to do to you baby, I learned at Seaworld
."
called Socks 2001.
Cartoonist Aaron McGruder
is a fan of the show. On one episode of his TV show The Boondocks
, Huey exclaims to his Grandfather's girlfriend that he is doing "prostitute laundry", which could be a direct reference to Sifl and Ollys song of the same name. A strip published on 4/28/00 also references the show, where character Michael Caesar is seen lamenting its cancellation. Award-winning writer J. Michael Straczynski
was also a noted fan of the show, and at one time Lynch and Crocco were planning a sock puppet character voiced by Straczynski until the show was cancelled.
Sock puppet
A sock puppet is a puppet made from a sock or similar garment. When the manipulator fits a hand into the closed end of the sock, the puppet can be seemingly made to "talk". The puppet's mouth is formed by the region between the sock's heel and toe, with the puppeteer's thumb forming a jaw...
s, animation, and music. Musicians Liam Lynch
Liam Lynch (musician)
Liam Lynch is a musician, puppeteer, writer and director. He co-created, co-wrote, played the music for, directed, and produced MTV's Sifl and Olly Show....
and Matt Crocco
Matt Crocco
Matt Crocco, born , is a musician, writer, and producer. He co-created, composed music for, directed and produced MTV's Sifl and Olly Show.Crocco also composed music for MTV animated series Clone High and also for ESPN Classic show "Cheap Seats" as well as music cues for the Cartoon Network film...
, friends since childhood, created and performed the series. The first episode aired on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
in 1997. The show was cancelled in 1999. The characters, along with new material, currently appear on Liam Lynch's podcast entitled Lynchland.
History
The origins of The Sifl & Olly Show go back to the 1980s. As children, Crocco and Lynch would create and perform funny songs and sketches to entertain themselves. They remained friends through high school and college, even though they saw little of each other while they attended Kent State UniversityKent State University
Kent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...
. Lynch left Kent State and the duo were separated for a few years, but they reunited in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
in the 1990s and recorded the comedy album Camp Sunny Side Up
Camp Sunny Side Up
Camp Sunny Side Up is a comedy album by Liam Lynch and Matt Crocco, which contains 35 songs.The tracks "Sunny Side Up", "Performance Art", "Oh, When I'm Dead", "Trucks and Cars", and "Prostitute Laundry" later appeared on Sifl and Olly episodes in re-recorded form, which Lynch and Crocco also...
on a 4-Track
4-track
4-track or 4-track tape may refer to:* The 4-track cartridge as an analogue music storage format popular from the late 1950s* A 4-track tape used in professional recording studios for multitrack recording...
. During this period they were also constantly recording random funny conversations, interviews, sketches, and songs. Soon after, Lynch moved to Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to attend the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, but the friends continued to make funny recordings and send them to each other.
In 1995, while Lynch was still in Liverpool, he found some broken 4-Track tapes and repaired them. These tapes contained conversations and material intended for his and Crocco's second comedy album (which they never recorded). He decided to make something using these tapes as a Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
present for Crocco. Lynch had been inspired by a series of British commercials by Aardman Studios and had hoped to do stop-action clay animation, but he did not have the money or the equipment for it. Instead, he made puppets out of his own socks and a large plastic sunflower and recorded a video of himself acting out their tapes with the puppets. Lynch chose the name for the puppets from a fake commercial Crocco had made for one of their recordings, and Sifl & Olly were born.
Lynch sent copies to MTV and MTV Europe, and although MTV America rejected them, MTV Europe liked them. In 1996, MTV-UK began airing Sifl & Olly clips between music videos as "idents." The popularity of the clips led to MTV America offering a half-hour format called The Sifl & Olly Show in July 1998. The show aired late at night, but later on they were moved to the evenings.
In the first season, clips of Sifl and Olly were mixed with music videos. Whenever the show was aired again, the music videos would be removed, leaving only the comedy clips. The show gained a cult following, but it was cancelled after the second season. A third season was recorded, and MTV promised to release the episodes on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
but never did. The lost episodes were eventually released on DVD.
Despite its cancellation, Sifl and Olly still appear along with some other characters in occasional episodes of Liam Lynch's podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
, Lynchland. Most of these appearances are clips from Season 3.
Premise
The two main characters are a green sock puppet named Sifl and a white sock puppet named Olly. Sifl is the calmer leader of the show, while Olly is more excitable and often breaks into crazed furies. Their assistant, Chester, is a mumbling, often nonsensical character who still claims to be great at everything. No real living people or animals ever appeared on the show (except the hamster during Precious Roy's foot long hamster sale), only puppets.The show was always very simple and low-budget. Most of the show's main characters were puppets, with background images or animations in the background via a chromakey. The two co-hosts often had a microphone in front of them. The show had an unscripted feel with the characters talking to each other in realistic, often meandering styles. Sifl and Olly would sing both original and classic songs throughout the show with an original song at the end. Though it featured puppets, the series was not intended for children. The humor often featured profanity, sexual references, drug innuendo, crude humor, bodily functions, and violence.
Regular segments
Often preceded by familiar intro screen and a short theme song, the segments included:- Precious Roy's Home Shopping Netwerk - a parody of the Home Shopping NetworkHome Shopping NetworkHome Shopping Network or HSN began in 1977 as a 24-hour/7 day a week home shopping television network televised via cable, satellite, and some terrestrial channels in the Philippines. HSN can also be shopped online at hsn.com...
with bizarre products like Civil WarAmerican Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
corpses, CAT scan glasses, chicken flavored air conditioning, and a bottomless swimming pool. The network was run by Precious Roy who would yell random unrelated lines, ending with "...Suckers!". The slogan of Precious Roy was "making lots of suckers out of girls and boys." Sifl and Olly were employed as salesmen for the Network, and Olly inexplicably seemed to go progressively insane during these segments, often yelling crazed accusations at callers. - Calls from the Public - Sifl and Olly would take calls from random and often bizarre characters (usually sock puppets) who would call with problems or complaints. The most common calls coming from the pair's landlord, who would complain about one or more of their antics, often involving monkeys.
- Rock Facts - At commercial breaks, the Rock Facts question would be asked and answered when they returned. The answers were nearly always lies (the only exception being the fact about Queen LatifahQueen LatifahDana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
) and often involved the singer BjörkBjörkBjörk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...
. This segment was dropped by the second season. - Interview Time - Guests interviewed included DeathDeath (personification)The concept of death as a sentient entity has existed in many societies since the beginning of history. In English, Death is often given the name Grim Reaper and, from the 15th century onwards, came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood...
, an atomAtomThe atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...
, and G-spotG-spotThe Gräfenberg Spot, often called the G-Spot, is a bean-shaped area of the vagina. Many women report that it is an erogenous zone which, when stimulated, can lead to strong sexual arousal, powerful orgasms and female ejaculation...
& OrgasmOrgasmOrgasm is the peak of the plateau phase of the sexual response cycle, characterized by an intense sensation of pleasure...
. Sometimes they would announce a famous person that was going to be interviewed, but it would always turn out that the guest was unable to attend (unless the guest was in fact an inanimate object). - S & O News - Sifl and Olly would pretend to report on the (generally surreal) news. Often Olly would sing nonsensical lyrics to accompany the lead in music (much to the chagrin of Sifl). Sifl, however, would break his professionalism during the segment to refer to his girlfriend, Serena AltschulSerena AltschulSerena Altschul is an American broadcast journalist, well known for her work at MTV News. She is the daughter of author Siri von Reis and Arthur Altschul, a former partner at Goldman Sachs.-Career:...
, either by sending her a message or by praising her. - A Word with Chester - Sifl and Olly would take a break from other show activities to speak with their friend Chester, who misinterpreted their questions and in general had difficulty focusing on any one subject for any extended period of time. Chester tends to laugh nervously, and sometimes sounds like he's a bit stoned. Olly took point in these segments, because Crocco, who provided the voice for Sifl, also provided the voice of Chester. In the second season, a new segment called "Letters to Chester" was added, which was essentially the same premise (including using the same theme music), with the addition of Olly reading a letter addressed to Chester at the start of the segment.
- And Now... ROCK - A song is performed by one or more of the characters
- It's Almost the End of the Show - Every episode ends with a song performed by Sifl and/or Olly, occasionally with vocal assistance by other characters.
- Kickin' it Old School - Introduced in the second season, a song from the "And Now... ROCK" or "It's Almost the End of the Show" segments is simply re-aired, occasionally with the pre-song banter cut out.
Characters
Sifl : Voiced by Matt Crocco. His body is a dark green sock with yellow, reptilian eyes and hair made out of green, plastic sunflower leaves. Sifl is often portrayed as the calm leader of the show. He is skilled at picking up women and is something of a technological wiz, capable of building and programming robots and somehow performing maintenance on a spacebound satellite without leaving the studio. Although childhood friends with Olly, he is subtly manipulative and often deceives Olly or uses him as a scapegoat. He is often shown to have wasted the show's budget on mysterious ventures that are never described on screen, resulting in everything from guests canceling to mafiaMafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
threats. An episode in the second season implies that he was once married to Olly's mom and is, in fact, Olly's father (despite also being childhood friends with Olly).
Olly : Voice by Liam Lynch. His body is a white sock with large, brown eyes and a dog-like nose. His hair is made from clippings of plastic sunflower petal and he wears a sweater, or more specifically, a sweater sleeve. Olly is emotional and prone to fits of violence, and prone to bouts of total insanity during Precious Roy ads. During the Precious Roy ads, Olly's grammar shows characteristics of the Central Pennsylvania dialect
Central Pennsylvania accent
Central Pennsylvania speech is closely related to Western Pennsylvania speech, which is generally referred to as Pittsburgh English, although the speech extends beyond just the city of Pittsburgh, and also is closely related to the Southern accent, spoken in the Southeastern United States...
. (He mentions both that a suit "never needs ironed" and that "the dog needs walked".) He is easily deceived and has difficulty with women. He has difficulty holding back his laughter at times, especially when he's talking with Chester. Olly originally performs My United States of Whatever, one of the most successful songs from Lynch's Fake Songs
Fake Songs
Fake Songs is an album created by Liam Lynch. It was released in 2003, and it features his best-known song "United States of Whatever", which was released as a single in 2002.- Background :...
CD. The song was performed in response to Sifl bringing several of Olly's ex-girlfriends to the show so they could make fun of Olly.
Chester : Voiced by Matt Crocco. Chester was born in Los Angeles, raised by a tap dancing tribe (S1E1). His head is an inverted rubber mould for a Buddha
Buddharupa
Buddharūpa is the Sanskrit and Pali term used in Buddhism for statues or models of the Buddha.-Commonalities:...
figurine, his eyelashes are plastic sunflower petals, and a sweater sleeve composes most of his body. This gives him a distinct shape, resulting in a vacant smile and the appearance of innards in his mouth. His eyes are the same as Olly's, with the addition of large, petal-like eyebrows. Chester announces the beginning of the show, though he is not skilled at the task, occasionally referring to Sifl & Olly by the wrong names (such as Starsky and Hutch
Starsky and Hutch
Starsky and Hutch is a 1970s American cop thriller television series that consisted of a 90-minute pilot movie and 92 episodes of 60 minutes each; created by William Blinn, produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions, and broadcast between April 30, 1975 and May 15, 1979 on the ABC...
), or simply refusing to perform the announcement. Usually laughs softly as he talks. Chester considers himself a Don Juan
Don Juan
Don Juan is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors. El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra by Tirso de Molina is a play set in the fourteenth century that was published in Spain around 1630...
, though the other characters imply that Chester has never been with a woman. He is very forgetful, often forgetting that he lives in the studio, that he is on a television show, or that the fans in the "Letters to Chester" segments aren't in the studio. He is obsessed with cereal, and it is implied that he eats it constantly, though he is rarely seen doing so on screen. He collects water, which he proudly proclaims to possess the entire set of (in the form of ice, steam, and regular water). He occasionally wanders into other skits, usually while eating a sandwich, and often doesn't realize that the skits aren't real (such as thinking that he had wandered into space while entering the set of a Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
parody). He is occasionally sold or traded by Olly, such as being sold to a freak show
Freak show
A freak show is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with both male and female secondary sexual characteristics, people with other extraordinary diseases and...
for $20 or used to pay Sifl's debt to the mafia.
Precious Roy : Also voiced by Crocco. His body is a green sock with enormous eyes (pointing in different directions) and a pair of wire glasses. The puppeteer's hand is positioned awkwardly within the sock, adding to Precious' bizarre persona. He is the owner of the Precious Roy Home Shopping Netwerk, which Sifl & Olly are spokesmen for. He speaks in non sequiturs
Non sequitur (absurdism)
A non sequitur is a conversational and literary device, often used for comedic purposes. It is a comment that, because of its apparent lack of meaning relative to what it follows, seems absurd to the point of being humorous or confusing....
, seems unaware of what his products actually are, and punctuates his last sentence of the segment with "suckers!".
Cody : Voiced by Liam Lynch. A friend of Sifl and Chester, but not so much Olly. Often Cody will stop by the show to confirm plans with Sifl for later; usually involving hookers or other unseemly behavior.
Stealth : Voiced by Liam Lynch. A violent degenerate with a grudge against Olly (Olly drove a golf cart through his bar mitzvah dressed in a beaver costume). Sifl and Olly eventually defeat him by singing Twisted Sister
Twisted Sister
Twisted Sister is an American heavy metal band from Long Island. Musically, the band implements elements of traditional heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, along with a style that is similar to early glam metal bands...
's "We're Not Gonna Take It", which somehow sends Stealth into space in a spinning square resembling the Phantom Zone
Phantom Zone
The Phantom Zone is a fictional prison dimension featured in the Superman comic books and related media published by DC Comics. It first appeared in Adventure Comics #283 , and was created by Robert Bernstein and George Papp...
in Superman II
Superman II
Superman II is the 1980 sequel to the 1978 superhero film Superman and stars Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Terence Stamp, Ned Beatty, Sarah Douglas, Margot Kidder, and Jack O'Halloran. It was the only Superman film to be filmed by two directors...
. Is perpetually smoking a cigarette.
Julio : A small child who calls the show, usually to ask for advice. Liam Lynch mentioned on the "sockheads" list that Julio was voiced by a real 3-year-old named Julio.
Zafo : Voiced by guitarist/producer "Chris Tench". He spoke in an electronically distorted voice which sounds like a person speaking through a vocoder
Vocoder
A vocoder is an analysis/synthesis system, mostly used for speech. In the encoder, the input is passed through a multiband filter, each band is passed through an envelope follower, and the control signals from the envelope followers are communicated to the decoder...
or a talk box
Talk box
A talk box is an effects unit that allows a musician to modify the sound of a musical instrument. The musician controls the modification by lip syncing, or by changing the shape of the mouth...
. He is idolized by Sifl and Olly as well as a number of other characters in the show. On more than one event the world has been marked for destruction by a creature or object from space that was using the shows "Call from the public" forum to announce a final warning only to be left with a "big decision to make" when they discovered that Zafo had a show that night.
Peto and Flek : The main characters of Sifl and Olly's favorite show from their childhood. Peto is portrayed as being rude and vulgar, while Flek can only speak by saying the sound "guh-guh-guh-guh".
Jimmy : Voiced by Mike Taylor. Sifl & Olly's camera man, his dialogue usually cannot be heard clearly and he rarely appears on screen.
The Landlord : Voiced by Liam Lynch. The landlord for Sifl & Olly's apartment (some episodes, however, imply that the duo actually live in their studio. It is possible that they simply tape their show in their apartment, but some segments clearly imply that the two are "not home" during taping). He is made out of an opaque brown stocking with grey yarn hair and eyebrows. He also has a tattered white sleeve covering most of his body, giving him a disheveled appearance. This is enhanced by the puppeteer, whose knuckles are positioned prominently in the puppet, increasing its aggressive appearance. The Landlord frequently calls during the "Calls to the Public" segments to yell at Sifl and Olly about something they're doing on his property, such as breeding monkeys or building a water slide. He threatens to kick them out regularly, but the duo has already built a moat around their apartment filled with crocodiles and guarded by archer monkeys.
Champs 1 Team : A group of students, led by "John from Ohio University
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...
," who won the "Sifl & Olly: Free Access to the Moon" contest, in which they were launched in a space ship to the moon for a three-year mission. However, they weren't given any tasks to perform during their mission, and Sifl & Olly assumed the team would simply enjoy the freedom of being on the moon, such as the fact that there are no police on the moon. Before long all of the crew has died but one member, who eventually dies after the robot chicken pecks at a wrong button and sends the ship into the sun.
Grout : Voiced by Matt Crocco. A black and white striped long stocking with round yellow eyes on what look like black pipe cleaners. He is a self-proclaimed space expert who shows up as a guest or as host of his game show, trivia trapezoids.
Paul Rogers : Voiced by Matt Crocco. Disgruntled host of 'Functions of the Family', "Your 8000 step plan to better living". Intended as a self-help plan, he apparently went through some bad events recently. As such, his show generally devolves within seconds to him crying about his current situation in life, (specifically "I DON'T HAVE A FAMILY!") and screaming at his unseen announcer, Dale. The typical episode ends with Dale quitting. Paul is one of the few non-sock puppet characters, played by a plastic elf hand puppet.
Aesop Jones : A television chef, and another of the few non-sock characters (he is simply a doll dressed like a chef). Aesop's speech is incomprehensible. All his cooking endeavors seem to involve him actually cooking himself, somehow transforming his actual body into whatever it was he was supposed to be cooking (such as covering himself in dough, dipping his head into a vat of lard, and emerging with his head as a perfect, chocolate frosted doughnut
Doughnut
A doughnut or donut is a fried dough food and is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets...
). In the second season he has a female assistant (made out of a sock) whom he is romantically involved with.
Jargon Scott : A salesperson who often turns up on the "Calls From the Public" portion of the show to try and sell legless dogs to Sifl and Olly. Jargon constantly tries to explain to them the benefits of owning legless dogs, such as: they never run away, you never have to walk them, they're safe around children, etc. When this doesn't convince them to buy, he often enlists the help of a telemarketer named Cindy to use typical telemarketing fast talk and special offers to trick them into buying his "hot, legless dogs." The call usually ends with Jargon interrupting Cindy, exclaiming "You guys don't know what you're missing...I got legless dogs here!"
Eddie from Jersey : Frequent caller during the "Calls To The Public" segment of the show. Eddie can be seen wearing a S&M-style mask and always makes it a point to insult Sifl, usually by calling him a variation of the term "egg-ass" (i.e. "Hey Sifl, you're a rotten, slouched-back, egg-ass!"). Once he is reminded that he can be seen, he usually attempts to hide or change his story.
Sex Girl : Voiced by Terry Hudson. A female prostitute who occasionally shows up in the Interview section of the show. After a brief talk, usually Sifl and Olly decide to make out with Sex Girl. Sifl usually goes first, making awkward noises and distracting Olly, while Olly always blows his chance with Sex Girl giving lines such as "Everything I'm about to do to you baby, I learned at Seaworld
SeaWorld
SeaWorld is a United States chain of marine mammal parks, oceanariums, and animal theme parks owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. The parks feature captive orca, sea lion, and dolphin shows and zoological displays featuring various other marine animals. There are operations in Orlando,...
."
Fans
Fans of the show call themselves "sockheads." There is also an online group of Sifl and Olly video traders that are petitioning MTV to release the entire series on DVD. One group of fans even recorded a tribute CD recreating some of their favorite songs called Banging on Some Pots and Pans. They also organized a convention in NashvilleNashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
called Socks 2001.
Cartoonist Aaron McGruder
Aaron McGruder
Aaron McGruder is an American cartoonist best known for writing and drawing The Boondocks, a Universal Press Syndicate comic strip about two young African American brothers from inner-city Chicago now living with their grandfather in a sedate suburb, as well as being the creator and executive...
is a fan of the show. On one episode of his TV show The Boondocks
The Boondocks (TV series)
The Boondocks is an American animated series created by Aaron McGruder on Cartoon Network's late night programing block, Adult Swim, based on McGruder's comic strip of the same name...
, Huey exclaims to his Grandfather's girlfriend that he is doing "prostitute laundry", which could be a direct reference to Sifl and Ollys song of the same name. A strip published on 4/28/00 also references the show, where character Michael Caesar is seen lamenting its cancellation. Award-winning writer J. Michael Straczynski
J. Michael Straczynski
Joseph Michael Straczynski , known professionally as J. Michael Straczynski and informally as Joe Straczynski or JMS, is an American writer and television producer. He works in films, television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas. He is a playwright, a former journalist,...
was also a noted fan of the show, and at one time Lynch and Crocco were planning a sock puppet character voiced by Straczynski until the show was cancelled.
External links
- Lynchland - Sifl and Olly make appearances on the occasional podcast episode
- Official Sifl & Olly website - featuring merchandise and video clips (Wayback Machine archived version)
- Sockheads Wiki - A wiki dedicated exclusively to Sifl and Olly
- The New Sockheads.Net Features clips in streaming video
- Sifl & Olly Information Center
- Interview with series' creator, Liam Lynch
- Official website of the convention Socks 2001
- Sifl & Olly Archive
- Sifl & Olly Clips