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Q&A week

June 25, 2016 //
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Mouse had a very long conversation with Granddad Max after the show yesterday. She was so happy to have found someone who was prepared to listen. Quite often the others are more interested in talking and telling Mouse what to do. And Mouse just works and shuts up. But like many of our Instagram followers she reckons listening is a very rare skill.

Anyway, the week has gone so fast again and Mouse has forgotten to remind everyone that next week is Q&A week. The contestants will have to answer questions the readers post. So far we have not had a single question asked. We are sure there are readers out there who want to know more about the contestants, so Mouse drew up a sign to remind everyone. The Dedes are really curious to find out what the readers would love to know about them. And according to the rulebook they are obliged to answer as honestly as possible. So don’t be shy :)

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Competition, contest, dada, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Social Network

The secret of a bitch

June 23, 2016 //
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lapdog on devils lap

Today Lapdog skipped on stage and announced “I don’t know exactly what I’m doing, but I seem to have a special skill. Maybe you can tell me.” Without further hesitation and a cajoling smile she hopped on Devil’s lap. “It’s working very well for me. I get toys, I get the most expensive dinners and have the most comfy bed. I have everything I need and more!” Then she put her paw on Devil’s cheek. It obviously made him a little ill at ease and he didn’t know where to look. If he recalled correctly, in the rulebook it said he shouldn’t fraternise with the contestants. But Lapdog just ignored Devil’s unease and continued chatting away.  “All I need to do is sit still and let people put their hands all over me. And if they don’t want to at first, I just wiggle my tail a little and they’ll come right!” Devil, too, relaxed a little and even patted her on the head. “You seem to be quite good at it. Yes, it is definitely a skill!”

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Competition, contest, dada, film, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships

What a clown can do

June 22, 2016 //
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clown headstand

Snippedy bounced on stage and explained to Devil that he has plenty of skills and it was difficult to decide what to show. He could juggle all sorts of things, much more than Chambermaid, obviously. He could also laugh out loud, not a skill many have. Unfortunately none of his capablilities seem to make a huge impact on the world. Therefore, he has recently started standing on his head. He had hardly spoken the words when he turned up side down. “You should try it one day” he recommended to the audience. “You get a totally different perspective!”

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Competition, contest, dada, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Those old buns

June 21, 2016 //
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devil bun

Milky Bar Devil is a caring sort of guy. He loves to work in the kitchen, cooking, baking, and of course making a mess. So for his skill performance he baked his famous hamburger buns and brought them to the stage. They are so easy to make and take all of 40 mins from start to finish. He has done them so many times and they always have been popular. Devil, the MC, was not impressed: “That is such an old hat” he said sneeringly “We all know you were the poster boy of the Artist’s Survival Cookbook*.” Milky Bar Devil was surprised “No one told me it needs to be a new skill!”

Ah well, the others ate the buns and didn’t complain.

*The Dedepuppet cookbook with recipes from flour and water is available from Amazon.com

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Categories Absurd, Art, Books, Comedy, Competition, contest, dada, Hand Puppets, Life, workshop

Management retreat

June 19, 2016 //
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The first week of the competition had taken it’s toll. Devil desperately needed a sleep-in on his day off. He is a little disappointed about the calibre of the contestants this time. In the last Super Dede Competition the contestants were much more willing to talk about themselves. This bunch here seems to be quite withdrawn. Devil had to find out the hard way, that the job of MC is much more demanding, when the contestants are not forthcoming. So yesterday he put his sleeping mask on and stayed in bed all day, not caring what else happened in the world.

Mouse on the other hand wants to make the competition a success. Instead of taking it easy on her day off, she spent all day yesterday to organise a retreat for the management team. It was rather short notice, but Mouse thought the three should learn from the first week and apply their findings to the second week. She was overjoyed, when she managed to secure the external consultant Millie. Millie was hanging around a dysfunctional workplace for a long time and had observed the most outrages things there. She was bound to offer invaluable and unbiased advice from the outside.

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They met in the dining room. “Look a the contestants” said Devil to fill the cow in “There is a clown hiding behind his mask, a gender-fluid little dog, a sick old codger, a too gentle devil and an undervalued servant.” Millie listend, swaying her head a little and said “What’s wrong with that? That should make for a very interesting competition.”  Then she focussed on Devil and said after looking straight into his eyes for a tad too long. “Can I have a look at your neck, is it by any chance red?”

 

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Competition, contest, dada, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships, workshop

Make it quick

June 17, 2016 //
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chambermaid

Today was Chambermaid’s turn. She entered the competition with the most votes and Devil was confident this would be a good day. Chambermaid had repeatedly assured him she wanted to make the talent show work for her as she is sick of tidying up after others. She is actually not that stupid, I think she even has a degree in something.

Chambermaid always looks pretty and she had even put some nice jewellery on to make her extra beautiful. “You look very nice” said Devil to get started. “Phew,” said Chambermaid. “I so want to be in this competition but today is not a good day for me.” Then she told the audience that the Dedes are having a party tonight and of course they want the house spick and span. Who has to tidy up? Chambermaid of course! She had to start early this morning, then had to rush to spruce herself up and run on stage. When she is done here, she will grab a bite to eat and continue with the cleaning. “You know”, she said, “I would love to explore my creativity, but when you work for two dollars fifty an hour, you have to work long hours to get the food on the table. There is not much time left be creative. I am buggered at the end of the day.”

Then she excused herself so she could continue with her duties.

 

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Competition, dada, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Devil, devil

June 16, 2016 //
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devil day

It seems to be the day of the devils. At first light, lil’Devil, the the Super Dede Competition cheerleader, was dancing around the house like there is no tomorrow. We were all wondering if the competition had finished early or what. Turns out it was the regram contest that had finished. Last week in the post working hard on it the management team decided to make lil’Devil the cheerleader for the Super Dede Competition. While he was chuffed about the honor he soon found out that he would have to leave home if someone reposted the picture. For a week he was holding his breath, a hard thing to do for any devil. His job performance wasn’t that great either. You can barely see him in the pictures of the competition holding up the signs with the names of the contestants. Anyway, the offer is off the table now and no one took it up. That means the lil’Devil can stay with us. And while he will be a bit upset with the management team for some time, he will survive and happily do his job for the rest of the competition.

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Today’s contestant is also a devil, Milky Bar Devil. He skulked on stage and didn’t know what to say.  In the end the MC prompted him. “You said in your statement that you want to be in the competition to learn about how to become ruthless. Isn’t that a strange thing to say?” Milky Bar Devil looked surprised. “You of all Dedes should know what is expected of a devil, but it simply doesn’t come naturally to me.” Then he told the audience that he is studying hard and reads all the books. But when he applies all the devilish things he learned in theory, everybody just laughs at him. “I am such a useless devil! I will never fulfill the expectations of my parents. I will never be a success in their eyes.”

“Mhm” said Devil, “not sure if this competition is the right therapy for you.”

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, contest, dada, Hand Puppets, Life, recipes, Social Network

Granddad is sick

June 15, 2016 //
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I couldn’t sleep last night because it was Granddad Max’s turn today. I was so excited that the old guy had a chance to talk. It is a bit personal as I have the feeling that the world is indeed ageist. So, I had pinned so much hope on the old fellow. And then he called in sick! What a let down. I do have to understand, he didn’t want to come on stage and share his virus around. He issued a statement about his life lessons though and sent it to Devil to read out aloud: “The young ones will be old in due time & there are more shades of love than hate.” After he had read it, Devil looked around and asked, “Does this make sense or is the fever speaking here?” Our Instagram friend wizened_gnome  swiftly send us a translation of what Granddad said. “Hate is uncompromising, while love acknowledges imperfection.” So, true.

We wish Granddad Max a speedy recovery and he was right to stay in bed.

With the cancellation of Granddad’s appearance Mouse had a bit of time on hand and she used it to find out more about Lapdog. Mouse never really engaged with the little dog as she thought it is just a pretty little thing that hasn’t much grey matter between her two oversized ears. To learn more she looked on the character page yesterday only to find there is no description for Lapdog either. (Apologies: the puppets without descriptions were originally made for an exhibition and to sell. Once I develop their story I have trouble letting them go. But since I am not selling at this stage, I might as well tell their story).

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So Mouse spoke to Lapdog at the stage door. Her main concern was what personal pronoun she should use when she refers to Lapdog. The little dog laughed and said, “When you talk to me, you use you. Like you would with any other person. If I am not around, you can say he, she or it. I don’t mind as I don’t hear it. You even could say the bitch, that would be right too, as I am Lapdog.” The dog is certainly not short of confidence. Good on it.

 

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, contest, dada, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships, Social Network

Sorry, lady

June 14, 2016 //
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This week the contestants have to talk about themselves and Snippedy had a rather bad start. When Mouse took the rubbish out she found the clown lolling about with a bottle of schnapps behind the theatre . “You know,” Mouse said to console him, “it’s okay, not everyone wants to talk about themselves.” But Snippedy felt sorry for himself. “Yes they all do” he said recalcitrantly. “I am the only one who can’t. I stuffed up big time” and he took another gulp from the bottle.

“Well” said Mouse resolutely “this is certainly not the solution!” She grabbed the bottle and chucked it into the bin together with her other rubbish and left a gobsmacked Snippedy standing there.

Lapdog intro

Meanwhile, in the theatre Devil had to figure out who is next. There were two contestants with equal numbers: Lapdog and Granddad Max. Devil didn’t put much thought in it. “Okay, ladies first” he said and made a gesture towards Lapdog. Lapdog looked around first and then came up to the stage. “I guess you mean me” she said to Devil. “If you want me to go first, I would have appreciated it if you’d said beauty before age or something.”

Devil looked at her in astonishment. “Aren’t you a lady?” he asked.

“No I am not,” she said quite bruskly.  “Just because I’m pretty doesn’t mean I’m female.” Devil didn’t know what to say and looked her up and down. “Well” he said quietly and hoped the contestant wouldn’t hear it “we Dedes are heads only, so I can’t look into your pants.”

Lapdog has obviously had this discussion before. “We Dedes still have a gender and I consider myself gender fluid.”

“What is that supposed to mean? God only made two genders” said Devil at a loss. Lapdog laughed out loud. “That is too much to discuss here in a talent show” she said. “All I can say is that in my profession it is very beneficial to be able to emphasise with both genders equally. And I can.”

“Okay we’ll leave it then” said Devil, happy to conclude the subject. After all the Dedes embrace diversity. “Can you tell us something about yourself then?”

“I thought I just did!”

 

 

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, contest, dada, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships, Social Network

Here we go

June 13, 2016 //
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Due to the complaint fromTop Dog the opening of the Super Dede Competition was a little subdued last night. The Competition is supposed to be plain old good fun. There is no ulterior motive, except, maybe, that everything will be turned into a dede book later. The management team asked the artist what they should do in regards to the complaint. No readers seemed to be concerned. Ah well, they don’t have to live with Top Dog :).  Together they nutted out an official statement that Devil read out at the opening: “We, the community of the Dedepuppets, are extremely happy that our friends did not vote for a narcissistic self-promoter. The complaint is rejected.”

Then Devil called Snippedy, the clown, on stage. He  had the lowest number of votes so he is first up to perform.

Snippedy couldn’t wait to go on. After all, in the last competition a few years back he didn’t get any votes at all. What a success it is for him to be here. And he is a performer anyway. Before Devil could say anything Snippedy turned to the crowd, lifted his arms and called: “Thank you, thank you, thank you for your confidence. I won’t disappoint you!” Then he turned to Devil with exicited anticipation to see what happens next.

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Devil explained that in the first round the five contestants have to say something about themselves. You really could see Snippedy’s face drop. “About myself?’ he asked with disbelief. “But I am a clown, I wear a mask, I don’t talk about myself!”

“Sorry mate, that is the rule!” said Devil. “You have to do it!”

Snippedy stared at the floor. “I tell jokes” he said. “I make people laugh. That’s pretty much it. Nothing more.” That was it. He wasn’t going to say anymore. Then after a while he had an idea. “I can tell you a joke about the clown!” he said brightly.

Devil sighed. “Phew. Okay then, tell us a joke.”

Snippedy’s eyes lit up and his voice regained confidence. “Why didn’t the clown cross the road?” He looked into the audience and enjoyed the silence for a brief moment. Then he answered “because he wasn’t a chicken! ha, ha, ha!” Nobody responded. “C’mon” he said, “that was funny. Laugh, guys laugh!”

“Okay, give a big hand for our first contestant” said Devil and nudged Snippedy in the side. The clown loafed off and I think we could all see a tear glisten in his eye.

 

 

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Categories Absurd, Art, Books, Comedy, Competition, contest, dada, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Promotion
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