Maxed Out Puppetry

Maxed Out Puppetry has been performing original puppet comedy throughout the state of Utah for nearly a decade. We're based in Orem, Utah. Call us J. Max, Rus, Sean, Patrick, Kelly, Dave, and Caitlin. Caitlin is single! She's a Leo!

Incidentally, "Maxed Out Puppetry" is an anagram for "Extra pumped-up toy."

About the Puppets

Most of our people puppets, the ones who look like Tyson and Mary-Jane, were created by Puppet Partners (www.puppetpartners.com). Many of our favorite animal puppets are made by Folkmanis (www.folkmanis.com).

Rupert (aka The Big Bad Chicken) was once a stuffed animal. We found him in a thrift store just begging to come alive. So Rus ripped a hole in him, tore out his stuffing, and shoved up a sock. It's not as bad as it sounds. But still, we do not recommend performing this procedure on your brother or sister. Or spouse.

Renault MacClucky was made by from a pattern made from Rupert. Then we added different eyeballs and that cute little necktie. And no, we don’t know which is the evil twin. We was going to use a Rorschach test to find out, but we left our inkblot cards in our other pants.

Skyzzard, the green monster in the logo at the end of every video, was designed by J. Max. The body is made of fuzzy fabric sewn over slabs of foam. The eyes are made of bare styrofoam balls. The pupils are made of magic marker marks. The yarn is made of yarn.

The Puppetware (in "The Turkey Tetrazzini" sketch) were made from some kind of brand-name plastic food container. Caitlin made the faces by covering wads of newspaper with masking tape, then painting them. Then she inserted two pieces of PVC pipe through each puppet. The first piece of pipe was attached to the container but not the lid. The second piece was attached to the lid but not the container. The puppets can be controlled by holding the first pipe steady while moving the second one up and down. The whole process of making a Puppetware container takes less than an hour. Try it! It's easy and fun!