Puppet History

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* S3
* S4
* S6

***Puppet History*** is a educational game show created by Shane Madej. The show features The Professor (played by Shane), a puppet who teaches co-host Ryan Bergara and a special guest about history. Guests compete to win history points by answering questions correctly; if they have the highest score, they are crowned the "History Master."

The first episode of *Puppet History,* Life During the Black Death Pandemic, aired on January 10, 2020, and was the first Watcher show ever released.

The puppets for seasons 4, 5, and 6 were made by Puppets By Madison.

## Episode Format

Every episode of *Puppet History* begins with the introduction of The Professor, Ryan Bergara, and a special guest.

Most of the episode consists of The Professor giving a lecture on a historical figure or event, with guest commentary. Periodically, contestants must answer questions and provide theories: every right answer is worth one "history point," or "jellybean." After the last question has been answered, a new puppet performs a musical number.

When the song concludes, The Professor announces the victor, who is deemed History Master and recieves a prize.

## Appearance & Production

In a public Patreon post, Shane said that the original concept for having puppets in a history show came from the lack of time to do full-time animations. As he disliked the idea of appearing personally on the show, only to act as a puppet, he decided that there "had to be a puppet host." When sharing the idea with Ryan, Ryan was apparently confused and didn't know if it was a good idea.

In the same Patreon post, Shane said that he ordered the Professor puppet online from Amazon. Then, he added eyebrows, glasses, and the Professor's iconic clothing to the puppet. (Of his building of the theater, he described it as "truly insane.") The room in which *Puppet History* was shot in is part of a downtown Los Angeles cultural center.

In a public Patreon post, Shane remarked of the music:

> I actually didn't intend to include music tracks in the series originally. Death was going to show up at the end and answer any questions that Steven and Ryan had for him and that was gonna be that. But the night before we shot the first two episodes, I thought, "Hey, this needs songs." So I sat down on the couch, found some tracks that felt right, and hammered out the lyrics. I then recorded the vocals in my bedroom closet. As ya do.
>
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## Lore

Originally a educational game show, the show developed deep lore over time.

In season 1, the possibility of a genie existing was first included in multiple-choice answers in Surviving the Titanic: History's Luckiest Woman. As well, it was noted that Ryan never won the show, due to the other guest being awarded frivolous points.

In season 2, the "genie" answer continued appearing randomly in multiple-choice answers, like in How America' First Female Detective Saved Abe Lincoln. Several comments and photos implying that the Professor had time-traveled were scattered throughout the series.

As well, a photo of the Professor in the mid-1800s was shown, and then hastily dismissed, implying that the Professor had time-traveled.

The Professor has mentioned that he is an alumni of Puppet University (PU). He often emphatically insists that he has never met the historical figures being discussed, which has led some fans to speculate that he may be immortal, although new evidence in the Policarpa episode suggests he is a time traveler, gaining his abilities from a genie. He has a fraught history with this genie, parts of which are sometimes revealed to the audience via long tangents (inserted as an optional answer in certain multiple choice questions), accompanied by flashbacks. The Professor has also shown to have some aversion to cats.

The Professor's full name is unknown, despite frequent guesses from Ryan Bergara. However, he does respond to "Professor McNasty" as a nickname.