I was sad to learn that the Grogs (see previous posts) have apparently shut down. Founded by talented childhood friends Jamie Shannon and Jason Hopley, the Grogs – which was both the name of their company and the original group of puppets that they performed – were fixtures in the Canadian television puppetry scene for close to 20 years. Jason and Jamie’s characters first appeared on Canadian TV in the early `90s improvising segments on YTV and after several years of hosting duties went on to create series like Mr. Meaty, Big and Small, Swarmi Jeff and the beloved preschool series Nanalan’, which you can see an installment of above.

Despite the apparent end of their creative partnership, there’s little doubt more wonderful stuff is ahead for both Jamie and Jason. Jamie in particular sounds busy. Last year he created the lion in the Spike Jonze-produced Higglety Pigglety Pop and has a great, new-ish personal website that includes lots of information about his career and lots of great video clips, including rare ones from the Grogs’ early days on YTV.