Black Rainbow: Journal Entry #002

Chapter 2: Something Muddy This Way Comes

This is the second entry in a multi-part series detailing my happenstance introduction to a community of artists, writers, and creatives who collectively make Metro-Detroit an interesting place to live.

CLICK HERE TO READ CHAPTER 1: ALL WOUNDS BLEED INK

It was a toasty July afternoon, my blue Chuck’s pounded the hot pavement with purpose, a sock puppet adorned my right arm. No, I had not just fled the aftermath of a children’s birthday party gone horribly awry, but that would be a great setup for such a story. It was summer 2013 and this seemingly odd behavior wasn’t altogether out of character for me at the time. In fact, it was shenanigans such as this that would introduce me to the vibrant Metro-Detroit art scene and the curio of characters that dwell therein.

See, my cousin, Ryan and I, had the year prior, began a YouTube-based, sketch comedy troupe lovingly referred to as the Mud Puppets or Mud Puppies or Pud Muppets — it really depended upon who you asked, but we definitely called ourselves the one that sounded like unattended toddlers dabbling in fecal matter. We had been at this for roughly a year and had recently taken the act to our hometown public access outfit.

Our YouTube videos were primarily self-contained sketches that skewered broad topics such as politics and religion, but also featured recurring characters like Porthole Pete, a pansexual pirate, and a quarrelsome couple affectionately known as the gay cavemen. The comedy style was absurd and playfully self-referential, but was, at its core, rooted in sarcasm, irony, and parody. That’s my description, and Ryan would probably agree. Others, however, simply called it gross, mean, and super, low-brow humor. To be fair, it was all true.

When we decided to add a public access element to the fold, we knew it would call for a different format. We treated this as a traditional, variety show that began with a monologue, followed by a (mostly) scripted desk segment, and then an interview with a guest. We had a lot of fun in the studio with our crew and even attracted some interesting guests, but we ached to stretch our legs and decided to branch out into the community with some classic man-on-the-street encounters.

Enter Munch, a crass, surly, drunken sock puppet who delighted in insults, glib commentary, and in one memorable sketch taunted wheelchair-bound, independent wrestling promoter Johnny Badd Wheels with such wanton indifference that the latter lost his cool and strangled Munch in full view of a live audience on the fictitious children’s show “Totally Kids,” that was, naturally, hosted by Munch. Got all that? It’s okay, neither did our family who often insisted that we’d burn in the fires of Hell in pursuit of our degenerate comedy.

However, on this day, we couldn’t blame the scorching temperatures on impending damnation, no, we had only ourselves to fault. In preparation of our tomfoolery, and perhaps due to my history of mental illness and penchant for creating a scene, Ryan and I reasoned that my personality was better suited to channel the asshole energy required to breathe life into an otherwise limp, gym sock. What can I say, kids? I heard the call of destiny and I was determined to answer with vigor. Armed with Munch, a less than quiet desperation, and a seemingly inexhaustible reserve of crude jokes, we plunged into the Wyandotte Street Art Fair utterly unaware of the ludicrous path we were primed to experience with this smart ass sock puppet.