Puppet History

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Puppet History is an American educational comedy game show YouTube series created by Shane Madej and produced by Madej, Ryan Bergara, and Steven Lim. The show premiered on January 10, 2020, on the Watcher Entertainment YouTube channel.^[1]

The show's premise sees a colorful puppet called the Professor presenting a game show about one or two distinctive persons or events from history.^[2] The two contestants answer questions, and the Professor gives them points; the contestant with the most points wins the title of "History Wizard" and a hat. Before season six, the contestant with the most points won the title of "History Master" and a small trophy.^[3][4]

The show received an Honoree Award at the 2022 Webby Awards for a Science & Education Channel.^[5]

In 2026, Puppet History videos were moved onto a new channel dedicated entirely to the show called Puppet History Inc. A series of shorter videos called History Contingency Tapes were uploaded on the new channel.

The show begins with the Professor, a blue puppet played by Shane Madej, greeting the guests from a puppet theater.^[6] The contestants are almost always Ryan Bergara and another special guest. The Professor then tells a story about a historical event or figure, stopping intermittently to pose questions with the contestants; whoever writes the correct answer on their dry-erase board, receives points (in the form of jelly beans).^[4][7]

The show presents parts of the story and answers to some questions through reenactments of scenes using paper cutouts of people from history.'^[8] The scoring is loose, and a contestant may be awarded less than one point or negative points ("rotten jelly beans") for their answer, as well as extra points being awarded on a whim.

The Professor is often more affectionate towards the guests than to Bergara, often awarding them points for telling jokes or making drawings. Before the end of the show, the Professor leaves to "tally the score", where other puppets come on stage and sing a song about the historical event.^[7] The process of declaring winner is often manipulated in some way to drive the plot of the show.

• Shane Madej as the Professor, various puppets, genie, and himself.
• Ryan Bergara as himself
• Joyce Louis-Jean as Dinosara (season 5–7), a Tyrannosaurus rex and mother of the Professor.
• Garrett Watts as Dinosir (season 5–7), a Pteranodon and father of the Professor.
• Sam Reich as Pythagoras (season 7)

In certain episodes in seasons 1 to 3, the Professor would sometimes reveal aspects of his life through wildly incorrect answers to the multiple choice questions. These answers detail the Professor's discovery of a magic lamp that had a fickle genie inside of it. He wished for the genie to turn a "seemingly ordinary household object," revealed to be the Professor's satchel, into a secret time machine. The genie did so, but was also "a total prick about it", chasing the Professor through time. Objects the Professor touched were transformed into the various musical puppets seen in the show.^[9][10][11]

In season 4, the Professor reveals he has placed a restraining order on the genie and there will be no genie lore. Throughout the season, previous puppets reappear on the "Jelly Telly" to pose questions and announce their plans to throw a party for the Professor. In the finale, the puppet party is suddenly invaded by the genie. The Professor is possessed by the demon Asmodeus, who forces him to wish to be transported to the Cretaceous period. The Professor falls through a portal and is eaten by a Tyrannosaurus rex, canonically dying. It is revealed that Ryan made a deal with Asmodeus, Satan, and the genie to banish the Professor to the Cretaceous period so he could win finally win the series. In the Puppet History Holiday Spectacular, the puppets killed at the party are trapped in a theatre in Purgatory and sing an elegy to the Professor.^[12]

In season 5, the Professor is somehow alive, and the puppet theater is connected to a mysterious electronic box. In the Cretaceous period, an egg birthed by the Tyrannosaurus rex hatches, revealing a much larger Professor who has been infused with dinosaur DNA.^[7] At Watcher Entertainment, the Professor reveals himself to be an evil hologram sent from Purgatory. He announces his plans of skinning Ryan and wearing his flesh in order to rub the genie lamp and wish for world domination.^[13] The Professor performs an episode to his dinosaur parents just before the Chixulub impactor is about to strike and kill them. Ryan fights with the hologram Professor and rubs the magic lamp to bring the Professor and his dinosaur parents to the modern day. Ryan kills the hologram by defenestration.^[14]

In season 7, the Professor replaces the prize with amnesiac pills named "Phorgedytol" due to a "sponsorship deal". A puppet named Dr. Hoagy Sprat. introduces himself to the Professor as from the Department of Puppet Safety. Estranged producer Shane is shown warning the Professor about "treacherous forces" that could threaten his life,^[15] before being "murdered in the street like a dog."^[16] The culprit is revealed to be Elmer Walter Williams, a horse who is attempting to marry Dorothy Ruth, widow of the deceased Stanley Melvin Murphy who drowned in the Boston Molasses Flood.^[17] The Phorgetydol leads Ryan and the Professor to forget about the murder of Shane.^[15][16] Dorothy Ruth meets Elmer and eats pasta laced with the drug, causing her to forget about breaking up with him and marry him. Ryan then discovers that the effects of Phorgedytol are reversed by taking the pill twice a day.^[16] The Professor and Ryan travel to the set of Ghost Files and speak to Shane's ghost, only to realize that he does not believe in ghosts and thinks he is still alive. Shane reveals his murderer was Elmer Walter Williams.^[17] Elmer is found with a briefcase full of money and is about to be drowned in molasses by Ryan and the Professor. However, Dr. Hoagy Sprat explains that Elmer Walter Williams was never alive and was a puppet he bought at a store. Hoagy Sprat reveals himself to be the puppet of the ancient mathematician Pythagoras, having uncovered the key to immortality via the power of mathematics. Envious of the Professor, he vowed to establish himself as a superior genius by taking over the show. Professor and Ryan are retired to Purgatory and Pythagoras takes over the show. While sifting through the garbage, a plague rat accidentally revives the evil hologram Professor.^[18]

• Official YouTube channel
• Puppet University Newsletter