For two years, Stephanie Huffman was an integral part of Portland-based radio comedy trio Puppet Radio Theater. In addition to playing 1/3 of the titular Puppet Radio Theater Trio as Hazel, a pink hand-puppet with a distinct voice, Stephanie also voiced several reoccurring characters in various sketches. Most Puppet Radio Theater sketches were co-written by Joshua Samuel Brown and Stephanie Huffman and produced by Joshua Samuel Brown at KBOO Studios, Portland.
Below are some examples of sketches with Stephanie as star player. Warning: Many NSFW.
Hazel was a top KBOO fundraiser as well
Clarissa Rothminder
A caustic, embittered film critic who’s seen a surprisingly limited number of films.
Cinema Analysis: Clarissa berates a clearly unprepared Martin Freeman about his film choices, height and various other factors. Featuring Stephanie Huffman as Clarissa Rothminder and Sam K’Boo as Martin Freeman.
Media Analysis: Having lost her previous show due to “creative differences,” Clarissa is back for a surprisingly sympathetic (and somewhat Meta) interview with Floyd Rosewater, founder of Puppets Against Puppet Persecution (himself a puppet) concerning Mel Gibson’s abuse and subsequent puppet murder in the film The Beaver. Featuring Stephanie Huffman as Clarissa Rothminder and Joshua Samuel Brown as Floyd Rosewater.
Doctor Opal Lovejoy
A sympathetic therapist with an interesting roster of clients.
Eddie Vedder Therapy Sketch: Completely ad-libbed and based solely on the fact that our friend Dan Zinder does a spot-on impersonation of Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder. Featuring Stephanie Huffman as Dr. Lovejoy and Dan Zinder as Eddie Vedder.
Family Counseling With The Miser Brothers: Based on the idea of “what if Heat Miser and Cold Miser from that old sixties Christmas Cartoon went to family counseling?” Featuring Stephanie Huffman as Doctor Lovejoy, B. Seth Brown as Heat Miser and Joshua Samuel Brown as Cold Miser.
Patchouli Moonbow: Hippie Time Traveler
Just your average time-traveling hippie chick.
Patchouli Goes to Warsaw Kind of a grim one, this was our first sketch (hence the poor sound quality; we’d not yet really figured out how to use the studio). Patchouli travels to a Warsaw bunker during the Warsaw uprising. Featuring Stephanie Huffman as Patchouli, B. Seth Brown / Joshua Samuel Brown / Olga Sanchez and others as random resistance fighters way too busy for Patchouli’s nonsense.
Patchouli Meets Confucius: After a tense conversation with her partner, River, Patchouli travels to Ancient China for a brief jam session with philosopher Confucius. Featuring Stephanie Huffman as Patchouli, Joshua Samuel Brown as River/Confucius, B. Seth Brown and Shawn Sorenson as Disciples of Confucius.
One-off sketches with lots of Stephanie
Talking Tunes with Terra Berkeley A left-leaning radio host slowly discovers that the groovy folksinger she’s booked on her show has turned to the dark side. Featuring Stephanie Huffman as Terra Berkeley and original songs by the always-amazing Dan Zinder including “Frack it Up”, “Just a Number” and “Uberhund”.
That Seventies Sketch: “Galinda is a spunky, liberated seventies gal with her finger on the pulse of now.” Featuring Stephanie Huffman as Galinda.
Khmer Brewge Coffee “I’m drinking Pol Pot’s Cremated Remains?”
This one was just…so wrong. So very, very wrong. All female voices voiced by Stephanie.
Enya: Behind the Sound (With Puppet Banter): This one has a pretty long intro and outro of Floyd and Hazel (Stephanie’s puppet) riffing about the sketch, which Josh and Stephanie co-wrote. Stephanie’s voice contribution to the sketch itself is of Enya’s terrified personal assistant.
More sketches to follow…Watch this space!
