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The wonderful world of hoops&yoyo, part 1
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Any parent knows: what’s funny to our kids isn’t always funny to us. Case in point: my 8-year-old daughter rolls on the floor when reading yet another Captain Underpants book, but when I turn the TV channel to Colbert, she regards me as if I’m a little bit brain dead. My 4-year-old son Mendel watches a documentary about wasps eating cockroaches, and thinks it’s the most hilarious thing he’s ever seen, while I retreat to a different room, gagging all the way, wondering: what’s so funny?
When it comes to humor, we don’t often see eye-to-eye.
Fortunately, we have found common ground in the wonderful animations of Bob Holt and Mike Adair. They are the creators of hoops&yoyo, two energetic characters who populate the Hallmark universe. If you regularly send Hallmark e-cards, you’ve most likely come into contact with hoops&yoyo at some point; if not, you don’t know (yet) what you’re missing.
Hoops&yoyo stands for hoops, a pink cat, and yoyo, a green bunny. They scream a lot, they are emotional, impulsive, and passionate; in fact, they’re not that different from my children. Like many famous characters, they go by their first name only; kind of like Prince, but without the capitalization. Recently, I had the opportunity to interview the creators, so according to my kids, I am now (temporarily) the coolest mom ever.
Bob Holt, who voices yoyo, and Mike Adair, the voice of hoops, had worked on a variety of animated characters when they realized the cat and bunny combo struck a chord with the public: “After hoops was introduced, as an e-card only in 2001, we started hearing from fans who told us how much they liked the character,” Holt says. “We were getting emails and started to notice the e-cards were getting a lot of attention. Soon after, we introduced hoops’ friend yoyo, and added voices to both characters. The rest is history!”
Mike Adair adds that people began sending gifts, like a box of BBQ from one Wisconsin teacher, and started writing regularly: “We’ve had a Russian pen pal for years who has sent us tea cakes. Eventually the characters started getting so much traffic, they were given their own website at Hallmark. It’s neat to hear the fans’ experiences with the characters, and which cards have become their favorites.”
Each creation is a team effort, according to Holt: “We really bounce off of each other’s personalities to make it work. In the beginning, I created a little green bunny at home, but wasn’t sure how I’d eventually use it. When Hallmark asked me to come up with an animation for a 4rth of July project, I brought the bunny out. It was transformed into a pink kitty with huge eyes, renamed hoops; when we later needed a friend for hoops, the green bunny re-emerged as yoyo”.
“Every Tuesday I record with Bob,” Adair says. “Sometimes the process is a simple matter of finding which recording session cracks us up the most; usually, that is a good sign there may be something there. Sometimes riffing on the same themes helps us uncover great material.”
However, what may be funny in private does not always translate to the public at large; what one thinks is funny, another thinks is in bad taste, or even boring. How do two obviously talented animators manage to tap into the public’s sense of humor on such a regular basis? Holt thinks their success is partially due to working within certain guidelines: “Hallmark keeps the likes and dislikes of consumers in mind for holidays, birthdays, and other days they know people will react positively to. Beyond that, they trust us to experiment, and deliver humor in non-controversial ways. They allow us to be as creative as we can be under the deadlines, and to improvise, which has proven to be very successful. We don’t plan to change that method.”
Mike Adair credits the inspiration they both get from everyday people: “Our slice of life humor is something we know others can relate to. Some themes emerge because of situations happening in our own lives, and much of what we do is stream of consciousness. Sometimes it’s just a matter of deciding which gag does the best job; we hear from fans all over the world on a daily basis, so we know what we’re doing is working.”
Nowadays, hoops&yoyo are more than e-cards; Holt and Adair have added a multitude of animated shorts to their repertoire, and are brimming with plans for more: “We just expanded into all K-Mart stores with hoops&yoyo pajamas, but I think hoops&yoyo could eventually rule the world. Why not? Maybe some day, you’ll wake up to breakfast with hoops&yoyo on your Saturday morning tube,” Holt says. “I’ve always wanted to see them as popsicles,” Adair adds, “but during the last few years my dreams have grown. I think they could star in their own movie someday, or be on TV in their own series, or holiday special.”
The hoops&yoyo website currently runs a series of manners videos, with topics such as ‘washing your hands after using the bathroom’ and ‘cell phone etiquette’. They are short, funny animations, that deliver necessary messages in a lighthearted way. And I have to add: they are remarkably un-annoying. You know that feeling you get after your child watches the same cartoon fifty times in a row, and you start thinking that maybe tossing the entire TV set into your backyard pond is a great idea? That never happens with hoops&yoyo; they are every bit as funny the tenth time as the first time. Whatever comes next, my kids and I will be watching. I hope you will do the same.
See also my interview with the hoops&yoyo characters, in which they explore the world of fame, fortune, and explain away those nasty flea-rumors.
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