In my last blog, I explained my history as a tween webmaster in the late ’90s and early aughts and how it related to my nerdy tastes. When I left off, I had created a fan site for the MTV show, The Sifl and Olly Show.
But before that, I was part of the fan community of the show. This was long before social media, but the folks across the internet who found common ground in a show about sock puppets managed to come together.
If you’re not familiar with Sifl and Olly, you can watch a few episodes in blurry bootleg quality on YouTube – or buy the series on Amazon Video.
I remember seeing the first promos for S&O before it premiered, as I was a satellite TV latchkey kid. Growing up in rural West Virginia, there was only an easy option for cable TV once a satellite company called Primestar rolled around. That became my outlet for so much art that blew my fragile mind. Once that satellite dish hit our yard in 1995, I devoured the airwaves for anything appealing to my 8-year-old brain.
The promos that debuted in 1997 or 1998 fit right into what would intrigue a kid who stayed up late to mine the depth of cable TV programming far beyond my age range. They began as regular MTV incidents but would gradually distort and become seemingly nonsequitur clips of two sock puppets talking, singing, and beatboxing.
I didn’t know what I was in store for, but I knew it was time to stay up until the obscenely impossible to catch weeknights at 12:30am to see it. It wasn’t too bad, though: it fit right after reruns of Batman: The Animated Series on Cartoon Network.
Thankfully, it was summer. What kid needs outdoor fun and waking up before noon when they have sock puppets and solid DC comics adaptations?
I was immediately hooked on S&O. The show had a super chill vibe and a childlike sense of humor. It felt like two best friends making a show in their basement to make each other laugh with sock puppets more than a polished TV show.
It’s easy to understand since that’s essentially what the show was.
Who the hell were Sifl and Olly?
As an avid fan of Sifl and Olly, I can tell you that this show was indeed one of a kind.
Created by Liam Lynch and Matt Crocco, the show resulted from comedy tapes made by the two childhood friends. Growing up in Kent, Ohio, there wasn’t much to do for two imaginative kids. That’s what led the young Lynch and Crocco to start taking tape recorders to make sketches and songs to amuse each other.
When Lynch was in Liverpool studying under Paul McCartney at the Liverpool Institute of the Arts (!), he wanted to send Crocco a birthday card. He had found a broken cassette tape and repaired it, only to discover it had some sketches they had recorded on a 4-track together before he had left.
Lynch threw together some sock puppets and borrowed a VHS camcorder to add visuals to the audio. The video was mailed to Crocco, but the craft-store creations were destined for more.
The video became a pitch for a successful series of idents on MTV UK. Dozens of short clips made it to air and were successful enough that MTV brought Lynch and Crocco’s creations to the US as a half-hour show. They were joined by a team of MTV production designers and NewTek video software engineers to create the first season. Instead of a luxurious studio, the crew produced the entire series in a house in Nashville.
At its core, Sifl and Olly was a variety show hosted by the two titular sock puppets and their seemingly endless supply of weird and wonderful guests. They were joined by their spaced-out friend and announcer Chester – who quickly became the show’s fan-favorite… at least for me.
The show also featured musical performances by Sifl and Olly, who would perform original songs in various styles. Much of the music orignated from demo tapes Lynch and Crocco made together in the past. Most notably, many songs were conceived on a tape the duo made for friends titled Camp Sunny Side-Up. The entire album – plus new bonus tracks and samples of Liam’s upcoming Fake Songs album – was later released on CD.
One of the Fake Songs tracks also found its way to Sifl and Olly, but became famous in its own right: “United States of Whatever,” a catchy, punk-inspired anthem. Pulled from early demos to fill out the music roster of the second season, “Whatever” later rose out of the cancelation of S&O to tear up the UK charts as a Lynch solo single. Continuing Beatles connection, Ringo Starr was instrumental in releasing the single and a revised edition of Fake Songs in the US.
“Sifl and Olly” was a show that pushed the boundaries of what was possible on television. Its blend of irreverent humor, bizarre characters, solid music, and a tone that felt like you were in on an inside joke made it perfect for weirdos up late enough to catch where MTV buried it on the schedule.
And we all found each other thanks to an email list service called Egroups – later bought by Yahoo! It also doesn’t exist any longer, which is far from surprising in the day of social media. Who even uses email anymore? (Side note: My contact form is here.)
Who the hell were the Sockheads?
Shortly after the show hit the air, a Sifl and Olly fan named Marybeth started an Egroups list to find other fans. Because she was a Dave Matthews Band fan and their fans were known as “Daveheads,” she quickly picked a similar appropriate name: Sockheads.
From there, the list grew to include fans from across America and worldwide. Eventually, the creators, Liam Lynch and Matt Crocco, turned up to share details. The show’s production designer, Patty Whisenhunt, also joined to share what she did on the show.
The group was one of the first S&O things I found when searching for the show on an early version of Yahoo! when I found time at the library or school. I remember the minute I created my first Hotmail account, I was ready to join the Sockheads.
Once I had my first real internet-accessible computer, I could finally read all the emails piling up in that Hotmail account. But more importantly, I could reach out to these folks, which was huge for an 11-year-old finally finding people with the same kind of taste as them.
I can completely understand how parents reading that last sentence would cringe in absolute fear – and they’re right to do so. But what can I say? As a kid on the internet, I was very fortunate – and anyone who was not as lucky gets all of my sympathy and support.
But I found an incredibly nice and supportive group of people who had no problem with a random kid showing up to talk about the weird sock puppet show they all liked on cable TV.
However, we were also a lot of creative people. Unsurprisingly, we would all eventually find an outlet for our creativity and love for the show. All it would take is a little push from a precocious kid.