The wonderful world of hoops&yoyo, part 2

September 30, 9:16 AMParenting Humor ExaminerAnnette van de Kamp

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"They're just making fun of us because we work hard."

  When I recently had the opportunity to interview Bob Holt and Mike Adair, the creators of hoops&yoyo, I also grabbed the chance to talk to hoops&yoyo themselves. After all, they are the stars. Since its 2001 inception, hoops&yoyo has grown to more than 200 online animations; www.hoops&yoyo.com generates over 250,000 visitors per month. Almost 50 million free e-cards have been sent since 2004; high time to get some questions answered by the characters themselves.

Not only did hoops&yoyo give their full cooperation; piddles (another Holt and Adair brainchild, voiced by Bev Carlson) was kind enough to conduct the interview for me. What follows is a fascinating transcript.

Q: You’ve developed quite a fan base (yes, you have).  How do you handle the fame?

Both: “Fame and fortune, fame and fortune (singing) we love our fans we do”.

H: “I think that answers it: we handle it with singing. You can handle anything with song”.

Y: Oh yes, we handle it with great humility, and patience, and lots of enjoyment”.

Hoops: “And care.”

Y: “And we try not to pick at, like monkeys, we try not to pick at their hair.

H: “yeah, like baboons.”

Q: Question number two: Pardon the expression, but you two work like dogs. Are you ever tempted to just walk away, and become someone’s house pet?

Both: “What?” (gasping in horror)

Y: “I don’t get the question. Why would we want to be somebody’s house pet?”

H: “Oh, they’re just making fun of us because we work hard.”

Y: “We don’t work that hard.”

H: “No. We like what we do!”

Y: “We’re barely hanging on to our jobs, really. If I had fingernails, I’d be hanging on by my fingernails.

H: “See, in these economical times, you should just be happy that you have a job, and not wish for other things. And besides, have you ever seen a dog work? Unless you’re a husky; or something that ferrets out weasels”.

Y: “Usually they’re just laying around. Barking. Dogs sleep like twenty hours a day. That’s working like a dog?”

H: I’ll take that job.”

H: (barks)

H: “In a heart beat”.

H: “That job would only last for seven years”.

Y: “Yeah, our career would be much shorter.”

H: “Seven dog years, I’d be retired. And on the Love Boat.” (makes boat noises)

Q: Does either of you think there’s a place for you in Hollywood?

H: “Yes!”

Both:  Break out in Hollywood song

Y: “I’m, sure there’s some cheap hotels we could stay.”

H: “Yeah, there will be a place for us. We’re small.”

Y:”Little.”

H: “Maybe in an alley somewhere.”

Y: “Hm hm.”

Q: Question number four: Are you ready?

H: “Yes.”

There were some nasty rumors in the tabloids about fleas; do you have any comment?

H: “I don’t think I saw that.”

Y: “I didn’t see that.”

H: “Were they like killer fleas from South America or something? They were swarming?”

Y: “Africanized fleas?”

H: “Wow, is this for some pet magazine? ’Cause I’m…there’s like a theme here. Dogs, fleas…”

Y: “I know; a lot of pet/dog stuff going on.”

H: “I don’t have fleas.”

Y: “We don’t have fleas because we bathe daily.”

H: “Yeah. And plus, there’s a little thing we go through to get to work every morning, that covers us with lice. I mean…”

Y: (laughs)

H: “Lime!! No, no…what is it? That they put you…they de-flea you…”

Y: “I have no idea. I’ve never been de-flead.”

H:” We don’t have fleas because we’re covered with lice!!”

Y: “There’s a battle going on on top of us! And the lice always win.”

H: “It’s a wild ride.”

Y: “They’re tenacious.”

H: “It’s fun. You dancing? No, it’s prime time for the lice and the fleas, they’re battling it out.”

Y: “We’re hoping for bed bugs later on.”

H: “Battle of the network pests. I’m the host.”

Q: Okay, you crazy kids; here’s number five:

H: “Hit it.”

Any advice for animated characters who haven’t made it to the big time yet?”

H: “Wow.”

H: “Are we animated characters?”

Y: “Yes”.

H. “Oh. Well, eh, keep your nose clean.”

Y: “Yeah.”

H: “Hang by your thumbs.”

Y: “Get a good producer.”

H: “Call your mom once a week.”

Y: “Yeah.”

H: “Eat well, live cleanly,”

Y: “And be careful who you hang out with. That can get you into a lot of trouble.”

H: “You want to be associated with good people, I guess.”

Y: “Yeah, bad people might use bad words. You really have to watch who you hang out with. Peer influence is a driving force when you’re going to the dark side.”

H: “Yeah, if we’ve learned anything from Star Wars…”

Y: “Yes.”

H: “…it’s who you hang out with is who you become. Because let’s say you hung out with Darth Vader every day, I mean, pretty soon you’ll be doing that thing where you’re choking people, just with your hand.”

Y: “Yeah.”

H: “It’d rub off on you. At least you’d have a bad breathing problem. In the first couple of weeks.”

Y: (laughs)

H: “I wonder how gradual it is. It starts with the breathing, it starts with the choking..”

Y: “Yeah…and then of course you get grumpy and you get the bad attitude. You start picking on people smaller than you.”

H: “You get a badditude.”

H: “And we don’t do that. We hang out with quality people. Good people.”

H: “Well…except Marshy.”

Y: “We feel sorry for Marshy.”

H: “I don’t.” (H snorts, everybody laughs)

Y: “Does that answer the question?”

I think so. And thank you for your cooperation!

Y: “And thank you for your interviewing technique. You’re like Connie Chung.”

H: “You’re a little bit bigger than her.”

Y: Wasn’t there a song about that? Wang Chung tonight?” (both start singing)

For more on hoops&yoyo, see my interview with co-creators Bob Holt and Mike Adair