You may not have heard of Puppet What What before, but she’s a minor puppet celebrity.
Puppet What What is the alter ego of Canadian puppeteer Robin Polfuss (or “Socks” as What What likes to call her), What What is a curious, clever and sometimes slightly naughty little sock puppet that has been a staple of Toronto puppet slams and Canadian puppet festivals for over a decade. In fact, you could say that she’s one of Canada’s best kept puppetry secrets.
I was actually in the room when Puppet What What was born. She was made for an unproduced project at the Unraku Puppetry Collective (which both Robin and I helped co-found) in 2008. What What was originally intended for another puppeteer to perform, but as soon as Robin put What What on her hand it was obvious that a tiny woollen star had been born.
What What first cultivated a cult following on the early video streaming platform BlogTV in 2008. From there, she began popping up with “Socks” at puppet slams, festivals, art shows, and comic-cons all over. Over the years she’s had had some incredible adventures.
Puppet What What has traveled around the world:
Made friends at Comic-Cons…
She’s occasionally gotten herself in to a bit of trouble…
..and even met the Mayor!
If you’d like to see what Puppet What What gets up to next, she’ll be appearing in the Vancouver International Puppet Festival’s Fast and Furriest Digi-Slam online tomorrow night (Friday, July 31st). You can also subscribe to Puppet What What’s YouTube Channel and follow her on Facebook to keep up with all her latest adventures!
