Boo Already and Fillup Munkee the Monkey Puppet

Her monkey puppet videos have a cummulative effect. Miss Mayweather hooked her laptop up to the tv and we watched  them all in a row. She had found the episode where Fillup Munkee and ‘the Lady’ take a trip to Chicago and sent it out in the morning link roundup she sends around to the Port Awesome crew. I thought it was delightful, and tonight she made dinner and we watched the sixteen episodes in chronological order. I am quite smitten by Fillup and the Lady.

Teh internets scare the hell out of the big media companies, and they should. Without much more effort than it takes you to read this you can find all sorts of brilliant things to amuse and divert you. Instead of watching any of the crap blaring from the networks, we sat in front of the telly and fell in love with Fillup Munkee; a sweet and innocent soul exploring the wide strange world. It is handmade, but Boo Already transcends all of the amateur cliche’s while embracing them. The premise is stunningly simple; Fillup Munkee is a monkey puppet that talks to the camera. Fillup is aware of his puppethood, but this makes him no less alive. It is a conceit that allows for several hilarious moments; the shot of Fillup watching a Punch & Judy show on Michigan Avenue is priceless.

One of the reasons it works is because Boo doesn’t push the jokes. She does not fester to impress us with cleverness but rather lets the funny happen. There’s no single breathtakingly funny moment but rather a steady flow of amusement. It really is more of a character study of an innocent monkey puppet exploring the world. It’s not really like a children’s show, though Fillup could be a delightful children’s show host; it’s not quite like anything I’ve ever seen though I’ve seen things like it a million times.