Old School Lane's Nickelodeon Tribute: Interview with Marc Weiner

A tad bit late, I know. But still, better late than never. Our next interview is comedian/puppeteer Marc Weiner. Around the 70’s and 80’s, Weiner performed his kooky and creative puppets on Saturday Night Live, The Bizarre Show, The Jim Henson Hour, Laughs, The Joey Delux Show, and many more. For kids who grew up in the 90’s, he’s mostly known for his 1993 variety show Weinerville.



For kids who grew up in the 2000’s, he’s mostly known as the voice of Swiper and Map from the Nick Jr. program Dora the Explorer. Today he still does his standup show worldwide, he’s the founder and developer of The Empathy Labyrinth Center, and he’s currently working on putting new Weinerville videos on YouTube alongside his son Max.

Kevin and I had the chance to interview Marc, so I hope you enjoy it.

 

Patricia- What were your favorite cartoons/programs growing up?

Marc- Little Rascals, Three Stooges, Abbott and Costello, Red Skelton Show, and Laugh-in.

Patricia- Who are your comedic influences?

Marc- Red Skelton, Stooges, Abbott and Costello, Jerry Lewis, Jonathan Winters, Lucille Ball, Robin Williams, Ray Abruzzo and Marvin Silbermintz.

Kevin- What was it like doing your puppet show on The Bizarre Show?

Marc-  AMAZING! The producer of that show, Bob Einstein was and still is one of the funniest and nicest person I have ever met in show business. As well as John Byner, the host. Both John and Bob were very supportive of my work and gave me room to be funny. I will always be grateful to them.

 

 

Patricia- What funny stories can you tell us about your experiences being on Saturday Night Live?

Marc- It was after my first appearance on SNL that Joe Piscopo took me into the producer's office and made them hiring me for the following week. My head writer and dear friend Ray Abruzzo, wrote a rap song for my Afro-American puppet Weindulah to perform. We played it for Eddie Murphy and he said, "You white boys don't know how to write rap music" and re-wrote the song on the spot. It went over very well.

You can see these SNL shows on Netflix (Feb 1980)

 

Patricia-What made you decide to create half-human half-puppets?

Marc- I worked with a street puppeteer in Boston and then when I came to NYC, I joined the Bond Street Theater group. They asked me to make puppets for them and I just did it. I developed the Weinerville style puppet for my nightclub act because I wanted to be able to do many different puppets on stage without having to make the audience wait as I took off one and put on another. So I lined a series of puppets up each behind little closed door on my puppet set and I would put my head on one and open the door, do my routine close the door and move to the next one. It was quick and funny.

 

 

Kevin- How did you come up with the idea of Weinerville?

Marc- I was coming up with all these head puppet ideas and getting them on many different TV shows and a producer suggested that I could actually have my own show, I'll called it Weinerville.

Patricia- What were your inspirations to become a puppeteer?

Marc- When I first came to NY, I watch a street mime use his fingers to do a tight rope walking routine. I didn't just see his fingers but I saw a little man. So I sewed a little puppet outfit for my hand and asked a mask maker to help me make my first mask to fit around my wrist.  That's how I made my first hand Weinerette style puppet (Rocko and Socko).

Patricia- How did you come up with the ideas of your puppets such as Dottie, Boney, Socko, and Cocktail Frank?

Marc- Dottie, well, I think I put on a wig and just went with it and out she came. The idea for Boney came from a very funny man named Marvin Silbermintz, who was one of my writers on Weinerville. Marvin told me his idea, I came up with the voice, and puppet master David Jordon made the puppet. Socko is a younger version of my puppet Rocko from SNL. Cocktail Frank is living my dream of being a rock n roll star.

 

Patricia- What would be the process of getting an episode of Weinerville done?

Marc- Someone would pitch the premise for the episode, then I would ask them to add twice as much shtick and gags to it and then we would shoot it.

 

 

Kevin- If you could've had any guest on Weinerville, who would it be and why?

Marc- I never thought I could have guests on my show. The only reason a few guests appeared on the show was because they happened to be visiting Nickelodeon at Universal Studios in Florida. A PA would come running in and say so-and-so is on the Nick Tour, do you want me to ask them if they would appear on the show? Yes!!!!! Grab them and quickly get the writers.

Patricia- When Weinerville first came out, it had gotten many praises from viewers because there was nothing like it on TV. Even still to this day, there's no other show like Weinerville. What, in your opinion, makes Weinerville still a very unique show that still holds up today? Why do you think no one tried to replicate it?

Marc- I think Weinerville was kind of in the genre of The Soupy Sales Show and Pee-wee’s Playhouse: silly funny shtick for kids and adults.

Patricia- What was the audition process for voicing Swiper and Map on Dora the Explorer?

Marc- I knew the producers from working down in Florida and they just hired me.

 

Patricia- On January 2011, you made an announcement that you and your son Max were going to release new episodes of Weinerville on YouTube. How's the process coming along? When can we expect to see new episodes?

Marc- Max is very busy with his musical career and we hope to release a few short Boney shorts each year. We really appreciate all our YouTube fans.

 

 

Kevin- What was the nicest feedback you had ever received from a fan?

Marc- I think it was when a fan wrote to us saying that they had been watching Weinerville on TV in their family play room instead of playing in the front room of his house. All of a sudden, a car crashed into that front room of his house. If he hadn't been watching Weinerville, he would have been in that front room and would have been killed. Now that's great fan mail!

Patricia- Whenever you're out and about, do people stop and say "Oh my god, you're Marc Weiner. I was a huge fan of Weinerville when I was a kid. You're awesome!"

Marc- Back in the day.  Now it's just when I look in the mirror.

Patricia- What are your upcoming projects?

Marc- Finishing up our 8th season of Dora, teaching children and adults how communicate more compassionately with each other via my Empathy Labyrinth, touring with my stand up show, and trying to be the most empathic and loving father I can be to my children.

Patricia- That’s all the questions. Marc, thank you so much for taking the time to interview us. It has been an honor.

Marc- Thank you very much for this interview. Happy holidays.

To learn more about Empathy Labyrinth, you can check out the website at www.el4peace.com. For more information about Weinerville, check it out at weinerville.com. Also follow him on Facebook and Twitter at facebook.com/Weinerville and @WeinervilleTV.

That’s all for now. Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia and Kevin

 

Old School Lane's Nickelodeon Tribute: Dora the Explorer

As of 2000, Blue's Clues was still the most popular preschool program on television. During its 4 years, it had the most ratings compared to the majority of the preschool programs of the time such as Teletubbies and Sesame Street. Even in 2002, Sesame Street took notes from Blue's Clues and changed their format from a magazine format to a narrative format. Around the late 90's, preschool shows were beginning to improve their quality of programming having both kids and adults enjoy it. Shows such as Blue's Clues, Bear in the Big Blue House, and Zooboomafoo were highly praised.

In our last review, The Brothers Garcia was the very first show that featured a Hispanic cast in an English channel. It had led to many other shows since then such as The George Lopez Show and The Ortegas. So on August 14, 2000, one preschool show that starred a Hispanic and taught kids about the Spanish language aired on Nick Jr. That show was Dora the Explorer. 

The show starts in a computer where a Hispanic eight-year-old named Dora Marquez would greet the viewers. Then her best friend Boots, a monkey with red boots, would greet them as well. Then they would have a problem or a place they need to go to meet up with their friends. Then she would tell the viewers that she needs her map to find out where they need to go. In order for the map to appear, they say "Map". The map would come out and sing a song.

Then afterwards Dora and Boots walk from place to place solving problems, doing puzzles, counting numbers, finding shapes, and meeting up with their friends along the way. Friends such as Isa the Iguana, Tico the Squirrel, Benny the Bull, the Big Red Chicken, and Azul would have a problem and Dora and Boots would help them out. Similar to Steve from Blue's Clues, Dora asks the audience for help to do these tasks so they can continue on their journey. 

From time to time, a sneaky fox named Swiper would try to swipe Dora's stuff. The only way to stop Swiper from swiping things is to say "Swiper, no swiping" three times. Then Swiper would snap his finger saying "Aw, man." Then he would run away. 

Then they would reach their destination, do their fun tasks, and sing and dance.

Then Dora and Boots would talk about their favorite part of their adventure and would conclude with them saying goodbye. 

The show was created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh Valdes, and Eric Weiner, the creator of the Nickelodeon variety show Weinerville. Originally they wanted Dora to be a blonde girl from European descent inspired by one of the creator's niece, but decided to go for a Latina girl. When the show aired, it became an instant success! Millions of kids tuned helping Dora along the way in her journey and learning numbers, shapes, and the Spanish language. In a time in which the Hispanics were gaining a huge amount of popularity in the media such as The Brothers Garcia, Antonio Banderas, Selma Hayak, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias, and Marc Anthony, Dora the Explorer came out at the right place at the right time. 

The show had made millions of dollars due to their toys, books, VHS/DVD releases, stage shows, computer games, and accessories. At the time, it was the 2nd most popular preschool program on Nick Jr. and still to this day one of the most highly rated kids' shows of all time. 

Overall, I find the show to be a tad bit overrated. Now don't get me wrong, I understand why this show is popular and why it's still going on today, but I feel that it's a bit redundant and monotonous. The show follows the exact same formula in every episode. Dora and Boots greets the viewers, a problem occurs, they check the map to find out how to get there, they journey to the location, they meet up with someone who has a problem, they solved the problem, Swiper shows up, they continue on their journey, they find another problem along the way, they solve that problem, they finally reach their location, they accomplish their goal, they sing and dance to celebrate, and they close it off by saying what their favorite part of their journey was. Sure they tried to mix it up a little bit by including Dora's cousin Diego, an animal lover, and they introduce the goal of catching stars and putting it in the star catcher, but that's not enough to change the same mundane formula.

However, I do appreciate that they included teaching kids to speak Spanish. I'm a Hispanic myself and I'm proud of my culture. So seeing a preschool show representing a culture is always a plus for me. It does an even better job of representing the culture than Gullah Gullah Island. At least they teach you words and they actually have songs and celebrations emphasizing the culture. There's not enough of it, in my opinion, but at least it's there. Overall, despite my criticisms, I'd say check it out. It's a really nice show that knows what it wants to be, but expect to be a bit tired of it after a while. 

That's all for now. Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia