'MEATY' MATTERS NICKELODEON PUPPETS GIVE MALL CULTURE A GOOD GRILLING.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski

Staff Writer

Amid a programming block brimming with uncommonly attractive and quick-witted teens, Nickelodeon's hit Teen Nick show "Mr. Meaty" is a fresh serving of realism.

Never mind that its stars are a couple of pimply faced puppets.

The painted-foam teens, named Josh Redgrove and Parker Dinkleman, share plenty of common ground with their fans. They're the unkempt minimum-wage staff of a fat-licious food-court stall in the Scaunchboro Mall, slinging greasy meals, mops and barbs at passers-by and, once in a rare while, pearls of wisdom at each other.

Contrast this with the young stars of "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide," "Zoey 101," "Drake and Josh," "Unfabulous" and "Just Jordan" -- kids who command an arsenal of snappy comebacks and have a rare knack for getting into and then out of deep trouble on a regular basis.

"There's nothing like puppets to help you figure out and tell emotional stories," said Jamie Shannon, "Mr. Meaty's" co-creator, who plays the lanky Josh. "They're the meaty heart of a shallow, very fake sort of mall, (with) fake plants and fake people and fake stores."

Josh is an aspiring 16-year-old filmmaker who expects to hit pay dirt and become an instant babe magnet when his zombie movie gets distribution.

Parker (played by co-creator Jason Hopley), 15, works the fryer, hauls trash and

is behind almost anything going on at

Mr. Meaty that would make a viewer say "eeewww!" He hopes to help Josh make his movie and one day talk to a girl without sounding like a complete doofus.

Regular guests in the food court include Ashley and Ashley 2, who sample everything at the department store makeup counter, and Brittany, who is neither vacant nor shallow enough to be an Ashley but is willing to fake it to fit in.

Real puppet people 

Hopley says the characters were inspired by real people he and Shannon observed.

"I never intended it to be, but Parker looks a lot like my nephew," Hopley said.

"Josh is sort of like an unmade stereotype," Shannon said. "I don't know why, because that kid is everywhere, with the hair in front of his eye. But for some reason there's never really been that character in a cartoon or a movie.

"New undiscovered archetypes -- that's what we're doing," Shannon said.

The show is produced in Toronto, but Hopley and Shannon recently spent a couple of days at the Nick on Sunset studios in Hollywood, shooting cut-ins for the network's "Mr. Meaty Takes Over Nick" day, set for April 28.

Their set was a vibrant Nick-orange couch where the puppets introduced upcoming programs and mingled with such teen celebs as Miranda Cosgrove of "Drake and Josh" and pop heartthrob Jesse McCartney.

Hopley and Shannon, both 35, hunkered down behind the couch or under a coffee table and watched on monitors as their hands brought Josh and Parker to life.

The stars got wiped and powdered between takes. They also got beheaded and stuffed.

Their makeup and wardrobe table included items commonly found on any set -- a hair dryer, straight pins and cotton swabs -- but also a "zit kit" for adding blemishes instead of covering them up.

The scripts for these programming tidbits had no prescribed dialogue for the puppets. Hopley and Shannon like to wing it now and then, as they did when responding to a query about which sports Josh and Parker enjoy.

"Is wrestling Komodo dragons a sport?" Josh asked.

"Do you think mopping would be considered a sport?" Parker lisped. "I do a lot of that."

The stars will need to stick to their scripts and songbooks, though, for an upcoming episode, titled "Mr. Meaty: A Greasy Musical," in which Josh finds himself transported to the mythical Land of Song after refusing to take part in the mall karaoke night.

Hopley said that on his way down to L.A., he pondered his unusual career choice.

"I was thinking, I never, ever thought I'd be a puppeteer. I made puppets, and I loved them a lot, but I was never clued in that I could be a puppeteer," he said.

Just gross enough

"It's a rare career with very little competition, not because there isn't talent (out there), but because nobody does it," Shannon added.

Hopley's background as an actor is clear in how he works with the Parker puppet. One scene they taped had Parker accepting a viewer's dare to eat purple mayonnaise and pork rinds. As Parker plunged his face into the bowl, Hopley made gagging and snorting sounds beneath the table. It showed Hopley's and Shannon's understanding of the slime-happy Nick audience -- and their ability to tap into the silly side of the teen years they spent together.

They met as sixth-graders at an arts magnet school in Canada, where they focused on visual arts. By the time they were enrolled in the same university -- Shannon for film and Hopley for theater -- they decided to create a kid-friendly puppet show for the neighborhood library to earn a few bucks.

"We made this one walk-around puppet where you'd get inside it and move around," Shannon recalled. "We thought it would be funny to have it just sit there and have one of us be in it -- and have it come to life.

"One of us was hosting, and one of us was in the puppet, and every time the host would walk away, the puppet would move a little bit. And every time this giant 8-foot monster moved, I remember the kids going, like -- gasp! -- and you could see that wave of terror across their faces.

"It seems like clearly a bad idea now," Shannon said.

"We were definitely destined for television," Hopley added.

Valerie Kuklenski, [phone]

[e-mail]

MR. MEATY

Where: Nickelodeon.

When: 9:30 p.m. Saturdays, 11:30 a.m. Sundays.

It's irony, people - no bones about it

'Mr. Meaty" has its fans among American kids and its detractors in the activist vegetarian community.

More than one online petition chides the comedy series for making fun of vegetarians and "brainwashing" kids that "animals were meant to be eaten."

The most serious beef seems to be over an episode in which starring puppets Parker and Josh make a monster costume out of animal parts and get beaten up by a vegetarian wearing a "Meat Is Murder" T-shirt.

"I think they should take some irony supplements," show co-creator Jamie Shannon told Maclean's, Canada's weekly current affairs magazine, in response.

With one quick look at Mr. Meaty's menu, it seems this show is pointing out our unhealthy fast-food habit instead of glorifying it.

In fact, the offerings at this mall-based food-court stall ("All God's creatures, fresh off the grill," according to the jingle) are made extra unsavory to put off even those who think a six-day-old corn dog makes a good snack.

Appetizers include guinea pigs, soups include a "ladle from the grease trap" and "hot dog water," and the seafood menu features "sea-horse crunch" and "filet-o-seal."

Bon appetit.

-- V.K.

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) 'Meaty' men

How two friends went from library puppet shows to the big time at Nickelodeon

(2 -- color) Under the counter on a Hollywood set, Jason Hopley, left, and Jamie Shannon work their "Mr. Meaty" puppets Parker and Josh for some special segments that will air when the usually Canada-based show has its "Mr. Meaty Takes Over Nick" day on April 28.

(3 -- color) The girls, guys and, um, others of the fictitional mall where Nickelodeon's "Mr. Meaty" takes place get their puppet selves together for a group photo.

(4 -- 5 -- color) Above, if there's one thing Parker Dinkleman and Josh Redgrove of "Mr. Meaty" know, it's grease and its many uses in the world of mall food. At right, even puppets need a little help from the makeup department.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

Box:

It's irony, people - no bones about it (see text)