SDCC 2015: Sid and Marty Krofft’s Return From the Land of the Lost With ‘Mutt and Stuff’
The Kroffts are back.
Responsible for pop culture staples like H.R. Pufnstuf (ranked by TV Guide twice as one of the Top TV Cult Shows Ever), The Bugaloos, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, Land of the Lost (which saw a big-budget reboot starring Will Ferrel in 2009), Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (which is now seeing a reboot with YouTube stars Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart), and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, the Montreal-born brothers have made a living telling outlandish, bizarre stories that have captivated the imagination of children and adults alike.
But one story that captured my imagination when I interviewed them at San Diego Comic-Con? When they discovered their Wikipedia page.
“Oh, my God, I got chills,” Sid Krofft tells me in a quiet room away from the hectic convention. “I really didn’t realize all the stuff that we’ve done. Live shows and amusement parks and ice and circus shows. It just goes on and on.” Sid’s voice is soft and warm, like a grandfather ready to grant you wisdom if you ask politely. His older brother Marty, sitting next to him, comes off like the patriarch of a large, illustrious family.
The two brothers together are like a paradox. It isn’t a stretch to believe they’ve entertained children for decades with puppets and strange creatures, but if you saw them off the street and away from Comic-Con, it would probably surprise you.
“How long ago was the first time you saw your Wikipedia page?” I ask them.
“Three days ago,” Sid said. In preparing for the interview, I did my own research and, yeah, Wikipedia was the first thing I hit. “I saw your Wikipedia page before you did?”
Sid laughs. “You definitely did. It was amazing to me. It kept going and going and going. It never stops.”
After years away from TV, Sid and Marty Krofft have made their return to children’s television. Mutt and Stuff, airing now on Nick Jr., is about a father and son who run a canine school featuring real dogs and puppies (Awww) and gigantic puppets, a signature of the Krofft’s. Also typical of the Krofft’s are big moral lessons and themes with a bit more depth than a kiddie pool. Mutt and Stuff aims to teach adoption, responsible pet care, managing and dealing with emotions, and other important lessons to preschoolers (But we know adults could use those lessons too).
The series stars The Dog Whisperer‘s Cesar Millan with his real son, Calvin, both of whom I saw hanging out on the other side of the room. Tapping into the internet’s fondness for cute puppies (Cats can GTFO (jk)), the show could ensure the Krofft name lives on for the next generation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46IJf7b3oOI
You guys have already had a storied career, but now you’re returning to television after several decades. What inspired you to come back?
Marty: We got out of it because it was not fun anymore, with what’s going on with the business. We stayed with other things we were doing. We did the Land of the Lost movie, a number of things, but you have to find something at this time of our lives, it has to work.
I was over at William Morris with the head of it. He said, “What are you doing?” I said, “We’re trying to develop a new show.” He said, “I’ve got something for you. I want to put you with Cesar Millan.” I said, “The dog whisperer?” He said, “Yeah.” I said [to Cesar], “We’re interested in doing a kid’s show. Do you have any kids?” He said, “Yeah. I’ve got a son, thirteen. He’s never really done anything.” I said, “Hey, let’s meet the kid.” When we met him, he hadn’t done anything. I had no film on this kid. Nothing. We ultimately started a concept with dogs, kids, and puppets.
Sid: How can you go wrong with dogs, kids, and puppets? Before all this I had a puppet act when Marty joined me. I was the opening act for Judy Garland.
Really?
Sid: Puppets, I would get booked all the time because it was always a show stopper. Maybe the act wasn’t that great, but it’s like ratings on television. When the ratings are high, it doesn’t mean the show is great. It just keeps getting picked up. Marty and myself, we do have a lot of animals. We always had. We love animals. When they said dogs and kids and puppets, I mean, come on.
Marty: Basically, we knew it was dogs so we seized it. The bottom line is we made a deal with Cesar and we got on the air overnight. Four years. It took us four years to do this. We did two pilots. We got dropped after the first pilot. I wouldn’t give up myself, so I told Sid we’re not giving up on this. This is a great idea. Eventually we did the second pilot. I think we did a great job. I got Nickelodeon, [who] picked it up for twenty shows before the pilot aired.
We aired for the first time yesterday. We previewed yesterday at 10 o’clock on Nickelodeon. I think we have something real special. Twenty-three dogs, thirteen dogs and ten puppies, puppets and kids. And Calvin who’s Cesar’s son. I call him the puppy whisperer.
How many trainers?
Sid: Eight trainers. There isn’t a trainer onstage. When I was in vaudeville I worked with an act called The Bricklayers. The act lasted about thirty or thirty-five minutes. It was maybe twenty or thirty dogs that did the whole act without one trainer being seen. This reminded us of Bricklayers. They were the star of vaudeville.
Marty: The bottom line is, we’re back in the action. We are in the Guinness Book of Records as being the oldest producers to get a series going.
How does that feel?
Sid: It’s really great to wake up every day. We’re both real creative guys. We love being in show business. We grew up [with it] as little kids.
Marty: We have more going than this. We have Sigmund and the Sea Monsters at Amazon as one of our shows. It was very successful. We’re doing a new pilot on that. We have Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. We’ve got the two girls from YouTube, Hannah Hart and Grace Hilbig. We shot that already in Canada. It’s eight, eleven, minute episodes that can get streamed as a picture. Electra Woman, when we initially did it was Deidre Hall who’s still on Days of Our Lives. Anyway, we’ve got three things going right now. We’re in the action.
Sid: I’d like to say they just cannot kill us off with a baseball bat. We’ve got a lot of stuff ready to go. [laughs].
Marty: The big thing about us, and it’s very hard, we never, ever, give up. We have an expression, if you give up on Tuesday there is no Wednesday, and Wednesday could have been the day. We’re not giving up. We try to tell everybody we know not to give up. It’s easy to give up.
What’s been the most stunning thing you’ve had to learn in doing Mutt and Stuff versus what you’ve done before? What was different about Mutt and Stuff?
Sid: When you’re dealing with live dogs. They work. They’re unbelievable. The brick wall never hit us. We never had a problem. It seemed like this whole crew … We have never, ever, worked with a crew like this, right down the line. They look forward to come in every single day because having a good time and that shows on the screen.
Marty: What I’ve learned is that nothing changes that much. It is not easy to do what we do. Dealing with egos, dealing with dog trainers.
Sid: That’s Marty’s job.
Marty: We have a full-time psychiatrist on staff.
Do you really?
Marty: No. [laughs]
You said you’re working on new pilots right now in addition to Mutt and Stuff. Will they also be targeted for all audiences?
Sid: Going way back to all of our properties, we never wanted the kids to sit in front of the television set and have the television be the babysitter. We always wanted to lure in the mom or the dad or both mom and dad. We always wrote up. If a kid sees mom or dad laugh at a joke that he or she doesn’t understand, they’re going to laugh with their parents. We never put the kids down. They’re in school five days a week, and they want to have a show that they own.
Marty: Where we are right now is this. We have the three projects going. Preschool is Mutt and Stuff, but we rise above that age somewhat because the parents are going to love it. Audience is kids. Sigmund was six to eleven when we did it, but kids are different now so we’re stepping that up a little bit. Electra Woman with the two girls from YouTube we’re definitely stepping up. We’re doing that with Legendary. It was hard to get all the profanity out of that thing. I had a big war about it. Ultimately they realized there shouldn’t really be much, or any, profanity. You don’t need it.
Sid: You know what? Kids are so hip to that. You watch MTV at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, and I cannot believe the things that they say.
I’m of that generation myself and even I can’t believe it.
Marty: There’s a reviewer that I read from one of these blogs who went to a movie and said if he heard the F word one more time, he was going to leave the theater. He couldn’t take it.
In your prolific career spanning back to the beginning, what’s the one thing that’s kept you going? You said you never give up. Where did that resilience come from?
Marty: Mostly, you don’t give up out of need and fear. The fear of doing nothing. Retiring and going home and watching daytime television could kill you in about a month. We’re not doing that.
Sid: What’s really, really, amazing to me. I was just given an iMac Apple. Huge. I’m always trying to create new things. I don’t want to be stuck in front of a computer. I feel that my hours are much more valuable. I love computers because it gives you a lot of information. The first thing that my teacher, or whatever you want to call him that was showing me how it worked, he turned on Sid and Marty Krofft. I haven’t looked at all those sites, believe it or not. Wikipedia came up. Oh, my God, I got chills because I really didn’t realize at that moment all the stuff that we’ve done. Live shows and amusement parks and ice and circus shows. It just goes on and on. I think we hit every point of show business almost.
Then [there’s] all the stuff that’s for sale. We have a fan in Seattle. He evidently is wealthy. He built a wing of his house, I haven’t seen it. I’ve seen pictures. He has more stuff. It’s all Krofft. More than we have. He called me the other day, and he said, “You know, I’m only fifty-four years old, but when I pass away I’d like to hear your wish. Where would you like all this stuff to go?”
Marty: Not in my house.
Sid: The Smithsonian. He’s a huge fan. Every week he sends me a package of stuff. Do you know what he just sent me?
What?
Sid: A picture of Winston Churchill’s daughter and Liberace sitting in London at a table in a club with me onstage performing. They were both watching my act.
Wow.
Sid: I never knew that picture even existed I don’t know where the hell he got it. He sends me stuff. He sent me old ads that were in Variety in 1946.
Do you happen to have that picture with you?
Sid: No. I don’t. Along with that he sent me a picture of me having lunch in Paris with Liberace. We worked with Liberace years later. I met Liberace because we were a Hilton act.
Mutt and Stuff is airing now on Nick. Jr. You can look forward to the reboots of Sigmund and the Sea Monsters on Amazon and Electra Woman and Dyna Girl on YouTube later this year.
