ROCK!The Sifl and Olly Show was a comedy show on
MTV with sock puppets, animation, and music. Created and performed by musicians Liam Lynch and Matt Crocco, friends since childhood. The first episode aired in 1997, and the show was canceled in 1999.
The two main characters are a black sock puppet named Sifl and a white sock puppet named Olly. Sifl is the calmer (though less responsible) leader of the show, while Olly is excitable and often breaks into crazed furies. Their assistant Chester is
shy and often incoherent, and claims to be great at everything. Only puppets appear on the show, except during Precious Roy's hamster sale.
The show is always very simple and low-budget, showing only the characters and
background images or animation. The two co-hosts often have a microphone in front of them. The show has an unscripted feel, with the characters talking to each other in a realistic, conversational style. Sifl and Olly sing both original and classic songs throughout the show, with an original song at the end. Though it featured puppets, the series was not intended for children. The humor often featured profanity, sexual references, drug innuendo, crude humor, bodily functions, and violence.
Regular segments included
"Precious Roy's Home Shopping Network", where Olly would briefly lose what sanity he had left to sell very dangerous or impossible products to people; "
Calls From the Public", which is
exactly what it sounds like; "
A Word with Chester" (later
"Letters To Chester") where Olly would spend a little time talking to Chester, since he wanted to give him a spot on the show; and finally "
And Now...ROCK!" where the duo would sing a song, many of which were recycled into the "
Kickin' It Old School" segments of season 2.
Starting in September 2012, the show has been revived as a "review" show on
YouTube. The first "season" was on Machinima's account, but now the second has started on the
Nerdist channel.
Watch the initial trailer here.
Olly seems to be the leader this time around, but time will tell how long that lasts.
- The Ace: Zafo. Musician extraordinaire. Able to play 15+hour shows (on top of Mt. Rushmore!) without batting an eyelid. His voice itself is musical (he talks Vocoder/electric-guitar-like). When he calls the show, the boys can only bask in his awesome in fanboyish glee. He is so awesome, the Earth has been saved from destruction (twice!) by the mere mention of his name.
- Anthropomorphic Personification: Many of Sifl and Olly's guests. One notable occasion was when they interviewed an orgasm and his sidekick the G-spot.
S&O: "So...How do you feel?"
Orgasm: "Man, how do you think I feel?"
S&O: "...probably pretty damn good."
- Berserk Button: An odd running joke where the answer to the rock trivia question is (falsely) "Bjork", leading Olly to lose his head over the impugning of Bjork's reputation. Evidently he's a fan.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: When it became apparent that MTV didn't give a damn about the show.
- Body Horror
- Breakaway Pop Hit: If you haven't heard of the show, you've probably heard of this.
- Butt Monkey: Olly.
- Catch Phrase:
- "That's so Crescent Fresh," discussed and introduced with a song
- Precious Roy concludes all of his segments by shouting, "Suckers!" at the screen.
- Clone Degeneration: The first couple of clones which come out of Sifl's cloning machine are fine, but it quickly begins pumping out very substandard models.
- Cloudcuckoo Lander: Primarily Chester, but both Sifl and Olly have their moments as well. Precious Roy is an extreme case, since he primarily shouts gibberish.
- Everything's Better with Monkeys Well... at least in theory anyway.
- Eye Beams: Olly's got laser eyes, and he knows what you're thinking.
- The Grim Reaper: Shows up in person once or twice. Pretty nice guy. Little bit eccentric.
- Grotesque Gallery: The fact that they're almost all sock puppets doesn't change this in the slightest.
- Hand Puppet: Every character.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Sifl and Olly, since childhood.
- Honest John's Dealership: The "Precious Roy" ads, which are always ridiculous, either because they're obviously fake (chicken-flavored air conditioning - a fan with a chicken wing on the front), or because they rationally should not exist, but do. (A bottomless swimming pool.)
- Hot Blooded: Olly, particularly during Precious Roy segments.
- I'm a Humanitarian:
- Olly has contemplated eating Sifl at times.
- Also during one Aesop Jones segment, a kitchen accident turns his brains into mashed potatoes which his co-host eagerly devours.
- Jerk Ass: Just about everyone.
- Kavorka Man: Somehow, off-screen, Olly hooks up with beautiful, interesting women...uh, sock-women...who dump him after he makes their lives utterly miserable.
- Lethal Chef: Aesop Jones - though he's always the only one who ends up dying.
- Little Known Facts:
- Deuce Loosely, a panda-obsessed Recurring Character is fullof these. He's drunk on panda mystery.
- See also the "Rock Facts" bumpers, which the on-screen text would promptly debunk. No, the Great Pyramids of Egypt were not built in anticipation of David Bowie.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Sifl pulls this on Olly, but it's likely just a throwaway gag.
- Mad Libs Catchphrase: During the "Precious Roy" segments...
Sifl: "You know the problems I've been having with [BLANK]."
Olly: "Sifl, you got some serious-ass [WHAT SIFL SAID] problems!"
- Mad Scientist: Sifl, sometimes.
- Mushroom Samba: Thanks to a friendly mushroom who shows up as a guest.
- Noodle Incident: Why Chester looses it when he sees bubbles is never explained, only that it involved a kid who blew bubbles on the school bus he used to ride.
- The Power of Rock
- Real After All: During one "Precious Roy" segment, Olly claims to have power over lightning, Sifl disparages this until Olly actually fries one of the callers. Sifl is appropriately horrified.
- Really Gets Around: The aptly-named Sex Girl. About the only person who can't score with her is Olly. Amazing, considering the quality of his pick-up lines:
Olly: Baby, everything I'm about to do to you, I learned at Seaworld.
Sex Girl: What!?
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Sifl is Blue, Olly is...VERY Red.
- Runningag: The Precious Roy segments are filled with the same jokes, including the "Sold" counter running down instead of up, and Precious Roy's shouted non-sequitors, followed by his catchphrase, "Suckers!"
- Sanity Slippage: Olly always loses his cool while describing the Precious Roy products, often for no apparent reason.
- Screwed by the Network: The show aired two seasons. The third, un-aired season is available on DVD.
- Seinfeldian Conversation
- Show Within a Show: Peto and Flek.
- Sleeper Hit: The song "The United States of Whatever," which first appeared on the show in 1999, suddenly became a big radio hit on 2002 when singer Liam Lynch released it as a single.
- Stoner Flick: A surreal sock puppet show airing late on MTV. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who the intended audience was.
- Straight Man: Usually Sifl.
- Strictly Formula: Each episode featured the same set of segments, all announced beforehand, including "Calls from the Public" and "Precious Roy." Precioud Roy segments would also follow the same formula: Sifl and Olly would introduce the product, during which time Sifl would admit to having a specific problem. Sifl would agree that Sifl has "serious-ass _____ problems" that the product would solve. They'd take some calls and Sifl would lose his temper, then they'd hear from Precious Roy, who would spout a non-sequitor and finish with his catchphrase, "Suckers!"
- Talking to Plants: And plants are more than willing to talk back. And cuss you out. And throw bricks through studio windows.
- Throw It In: Liam Lynch as Olly has a tendency to crack up.
- Title Theme Tune: "Sifl... and... Ol-ly! Sifl and Olly Show! (ROCK!)"
- The Unfavorite: Olly's mom favors Sifl, who's not even her son.
- With Friends Like These: Sifl and Olly, frequently.
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