Long-lost video clip: ‘Safety First’
I used to know a fellow named Scott Haycock, aka Puppet Guy, a talented puppet-maker and all-around creative type who was lots of fun at parties and who would sometimes freak people out. (It may be apocryphal, but I’m told he kept a small vial of his own blood in his refrigerator.) But who cares? He made me laugh.
For a short time in 2001-2002, he produced a children’s show, populated mostly by puppets, for Provo’s local cable channel. I do not remember the name of the show, or how many episodes were made, or whether it actually ever aired on television. But one time he asked me to appear as a guest on the show, singing a song about safety, which was evidently a favorite theme among the puppet characters. Scott wrote the song, setting it to the tune of the Mormon hymn “Choose the Right.” I revised some of Scott’s lyrics, jazzed up the music, and performed it with two of the puppet characters coming in on the choruses.
Scott subsequently sent me a digital copy of the performance, which has sat on my hard drive for more than four years, waiting for me to do something with it. It is now on YouTube, for all the world to see.
That’s Scott as “Li’l Scott” at the beginning; I don’t remember the name of the other puppet, nor of its puppeteer, nor of the cameraman. (Sorry.) I do remember that I had the lyrics taped to the far right side of the piano, just out of camera range, and that we did three takes, of which this was evidently the best (?) one.
The lyrics, in case you can’t make them out:
Safety first, everywhere you look there’s danger
Safety first, there’s peril all around
Safety first, there’s poison in the kitchen
Live through every day both safe and sound
Safety first! Safety first!
Let safety mark the way before
Safety first! Safety first!
Let zero accidents be your goal
Safety first, don’t drive faster than you’re supposed to
Safety first, don’t put salt into your eyes
Safety first, especially when handling chicken
“Danger is fun” is one of TV’s lies
Safety first! Safety first!
Let safety mark the way before
Safety first! Safety first!
Let living till you’re 90 be your goal
Safety first, the Drano’s not for drinking
Safety first, don’t try to touch the sun
Safety first, don’t leave the house at nighttime
It’s better to be safe than to have fun
Safety first! Safety first!
Let safety mark the way before
Safety first! Safety first!
Let not dying gruesomely be your goal
Let not falling into quicksand be your goal
Let not losing any fingers be your goal
September 25th, 2006 at 3:00 pm
The other puppet was named Monty. The other puppeteer was Curt and the Karen worked the camera. I am honored and delighted that this finally made it to the Internet.
September 25th, 2006 at 4:21 pm
Ah, Eric, you’ve made my day. I haven’t laughed that hard in awhile.
September 25th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
Brilliant! I will now proceed to show this entire video to every single person in my house, one by one, and probably multiple times.
September 25th, 2006 at 9:57 pm
Scott kept the blood in the fridge next to the butter dish. I should know — I was his roommate at the time. He put a little of it in the paint when we were touching up the house so there “would always be a little Scott in the house.” He also used it to paint a self-portrait entirely in blood, which he then sent to a dear friend as a Christmas present. He would also regularly invite female visitors to drink it.
Ah, the good old days. Mr. A. Scott Haycock remains my most valuable treasure trove of unbelievable-yet-true anecdotes.
September 27th, 2006 at 10:44 am
The name of the show was “Municipal Merve”. There are only two complete episodes, and they did air on Provo Channel 17 a few times. I ran that station for three years, and I assume the mayor and crew either didn’t see the show, or were simply humoring me by allowing it to air. Still, it was the brainchild of Scott, Curt, and myself and we’re all terribly proud of it. (It actually has an entry on IMDb, though I think Scott is the only one given any credit.)
September 28th, 2006 at 9:08 am
Wow. Just…wow. Such memories! Mostly fearsome ones.
Oh, and I, too can attest to the apocryphal blood in the refridgerator. I, as a female visitor, never drank it, despite many exhortations to do so. I never was as cool as Suvi.
September 29th, 2006 at 6:24 am
Very good. I love the Pythonesque build up.
October 2nd, 2006 at 10:15 am
I count myself lucky to have a DVD of both episodes of Municipal Merve. The first episode has a clip of Provo’s own “Mel Gibson” clip which would be especially timely today considering the star’s tarnished image. Very fine entertainment.
November 28th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
A couple updates:
1) The IMDb entry is for Scott, not the show, which explains why I thought what I thought.
2) You can now see both episodes of Municipal Merve and other stuff relating to it at http://www.maxcast.com/municipalmerve. The first four minutes are us learning about the camera and developing the characters, so you may want to skip that and just get to the show.
(And Stacia, it’s the second episode that features “Mel”.)