Sifl and Olly

The Sifl and Olly Show is a puppet show that used sock puppets and animation. Musicians Liam Lynch and Matt Crocco, friends since childhood, created and performed the series. The show's first episode aired on MTV in 1997 and was cancelled in 1999. Marked by cheap production and bizarre humor, the series only aired two seasons, but became a cult favorite.

History

The Sifl & Olly Show started when Crocco and Lynch were kids taping funny conversations with tape recorders. Throughout the years, they would play the tapes for family and friends. In the early 1990s, while attending college in London, Lynch found some of their old tapes again. He videotaped himself acting out the tapes with sock puppets he named Sifl and Olly. He sent some of the tapes to Crocco as a Christmas present, but also sent copies to MTV and MTV Europe.

Related Topics:
1990s - London - Christmas - MTV

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Although MTV America rejected them, MTV Europe liked them. In 1996, MTV-UK began airing Sifl & Olly clips between music videos as "idents." The popularity of the clips led to MTV America offering a half-hour format called The Sifl & Olly Show in July 1998. The show aired late at night, but later on they were moved to the evenings.

Related Topics:
1996 - 1998

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In the first season, clips of Sifl and Olly were mixed with music videos. Whenever the show was aired again, the music videos would be removed, leaving only the comedy clips. The show gained a cult following, but was cancelled after the second season. A third season was recorded and MTV promised to release the episodes on the Internet, but never did. The lost episodes were eventually released on DVD.

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