Puppet History

Puppet History is a educational game show created by Shane Madej. The show features The Professor (played by Shane), a puppet who teaches co-host Ryan Bergara and a special guest about history. Guests compete to win history points by answering questions correctly; if they have the highest score, they are crowned the "History Master."

The first episode of Puppet History, Life During the Black Death Pandemic, aired on January 10, 2020, and was the first Watcher show ever released.

Episode Format[]

Every episode of Puppet History begins with the introduction of The Professor, Ryan Bergara, and a special guest.

Most of the episode consists of The Professor giving a lecture on a historical figure or event, with guest commentary. Periodically, contestants must answer questions and provide theories: every right answer is worth one "history point," or "jellybean." After the last question has been answered, a new puppet performs a musical number.

When the song concludes, The Professor announces the victor, who is deemed History Master and recieves a prize.

Series Overview[]

Season		Episodes	Originally Aired
Season		Episodes	Season Premiere	Season Finale
	1	4	January 10, 2020	May 22, 2020
	2	8	Aug 14, 2020	Oct 2, 2020
	N/A	1	Dec 25, 2020	Dec 25, 2020
	3	6	Mar 12, 2021	Apr 23, 2021
	4	6	Aug 27, 2021	Oct 3, 2021
	N/A	1	Dec 24, 2021	Dec 24, 2021
	5	6	Nov 11, 2022	Dec 16, 2022
	6	6	Jul 7, 2023	Aug 11, 2023

Episodes[]

Season 1 (2020)[]

No.	Title	Air date	Special Guest	History Master	Musical Guest
1	Life During the Black Death Pandemic	January 10, 2020	Steven Lim	Steven Lim	Death
Let's talk about death. With puppets!
2	Stealing the World's Most Expensive Necklace	September 30, 2022	Kate Peterman	Tie	Pile of Diamonds
Is this history's greatest grift? YOU DECIDE.
3	Surviving The Titanic: History's Luckiest Woman	April 10, 2020	Jenny Lorenzo	Jenny Lorenzo	Britannic Propeller
Surviving that fateful disaster was only the beginning...
4	The Dancing Plague	May 22, 2020	Jermaine Fowler	Jermaine Fowler	God
Finally, the true story of those people in France who danced until they died.

Season 2 (2020)[]

No.	Title	Air date	Special Guest	History Master	Musical Guest
1	How America's First Female Detective Saved Abe Lincoln	August 14, 2020	Kate Peterman	Kate Peterman	Train That Was Supposed to Take Lincoln to Baltimore
The OTHER (less successful) plot to kill Abe Lincoln.
2	The Terrifying Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius	August 21, 2020	Matt Real	Matt Real	Mount Vesuvius
RUN FOR YOUR LIVES. (And bring a pillow.)
3	Hatshepsut: The Forgotten Pharaoh	August 28, 2020	Ryann Graham	Ryann Graham	Mummified Goose from Hatshepsut's Tomb
Her legacy was erased. But WHY?
4	The Disastrous 1904 Olympic Marathon	September 4, 2020	Kristin Chirico	Kristin Chirico	The Olympic Torch
On your marks! Get set! Ugh.
5	Isaac Newton's Nemesis	September 11, 2020	Keith Habersberger	Keith Habersberger	A Clipped Coin
Choose your foes carefully.
6	The World's Greatest/Rudest Samurai	September 18, 2020	Garrick Bernard	Garrick Bernard	Oars from Musashi's Boat
Meet your new favorite a-hole.
7	Policarpa: The Revolutionary Teen Spy	September 25, 2020	Curly Velasquez	Curly Velasquez	Policarpa's Sewing Spool
Snitch on the rich!
8	The Grisly Journey of the Donner Party	October 2, 2020	Joyce Louis-Jean	Joyce Louis-Jean	Snowman from Donner Lake
Now this is a story all about how a bunch of people ate each other in the mountains.

Holiday Special (2020)[]

Video Thumbnail	No.	Title	Air date	Special Guest	History Master	Musical Guest
	1	The Story of St. Nicholas	Dec 25, 2020	Kate Peterman	Kate Peterman	The Bones of St. Nicholas
	Music, merriment, murderous butchers!

Season 3 (2021)[]

No.	Title	Air date	Special Guest	History Master	Musical Guest
1	The Beast of Gevaudan	March 12, 2021	Sara Rubin	Sara Rubin	The Beast of Gevaudan
THERE'S A MONSTER IN THEM THAR WOODS!
2	The War of the Golden Stool	March 26, 2021	Kate Peterman	Kate Peterman	The Golden Stool
N/A
3	Ziryab: The World's First Rock Star	April 2, 2021	Zach Kornfeld	Zach Kornfeld	Ziryab's Oud
N/A
4	The Affair of the Poisons	April 9, 2021	Garrick Bernard	Garrick Bernard	Two Murderous Bottles of Poison
France is at it again.
5	Ching Shih: The Pirate Queen	April 16, 2021	Joyce Louis-Jean	Joyce Louis-Jean	Ching Shih's Flower Boat
N/A
6	The Great Molasses Flood	April 23, 2021	Garrett Watts	Garrett Watts	Bostonian Horse
F.M.E.

Season 4 (2021)[]

No.	Title	Air date	Special Guest	History Master	Musical Guest
1	The Great Emu War	August 27, 2021	Kate Peterman	Kate Peterman	Piece of Wheat & an Emu
Welcome one and all to Puppet History Season 4!
2	Mansa Musa: The Richest Man Who Ever Lived	September 3, 2021	Ify Nwadiwe	Ify Nwadiwe	Part of Musa's fortune
N/A
3	America vs. Smallpox: How Vaccines Saved The Nation	September 10, 2021	Jermaine Fowler	Jermaine Fowler	Scabs and Pus
N/A
4	José Rizal: The Philippines’ Reluctant Revolutionary	September 17, 2021	Josh Weinstein	Josh Weinstein	José Rizal's Book
N/A
5	The Bloody Revenge of Saint Olga of Kiev	September 24, 2021	Selorm Kploanyi	Selorm Kploanyi	Two Birch Trees
N/A
6	The Demonic Possessions of Loudun	October 3, 2021	Sara Rubin	Sara Rubin	Asmodeus
Class dismissed!

Holiday Special (2021)[]

Video Thumbnail	No.	Title	Air date	Special Guest	History Master	Musical Guest
	1	The Puppet History Holiday Spectacular!	Dec 24, 2021	N/A	N/A	Oars from Musashi's Boat, All Puppets
	N/A

Season 5 (2022)[]

No.	Title	Air date	Special Guest	History Master	Musical Guest
1	How Hippo Meat Almost Saved America	November 11, 2022	Sara Rubin	Ryan Bergara	Hippo Who Wants to be Eaten
This one's got it all! Hippos! Sworn enemies! TNT! Yes sir, it's an absolute rip-roaring start to yet another perfectly normal season in which everything is exactly as it seems.
2	The Defenestrations of Prague	November 18, 2022	Brian David Gilbert	Ryan Bergara	Stained Glass Window
N/A
3	The Vietnamese Sisters Who Fought An Empire	November 25, 2022	Maya Murillo	Ryan Bergara	The White Tiger
N/A
4	America's First Black Aviatrix	December 2, 2022	Ryann Graham	Ryan Bergara	A cloud
Let's learn about this badass lady!
5	The Bloody Life of England's Fastest Surgeon	December 9, 2022	Aria Inthavong	Ryan Bergara	N/A
N/A
6	The Dreadful Demise of the Dinosaurs	December 16, 2022	Tyrannosaurus and Pterosaur Puppet	N/A	N/A
A little family lesson.

Season 6 (2023)[]

No.	Title	Air date	Special Guest	History Master	Musical Guest
1	The Unkillable Weirdo Who Invented The Saxophone	July 7, 2023	Steven Lim	Steven Lim	Adolphe Sax's Failed Instrument Prototype 73
Now they are friends.
2	The Mistress Who Murdered Her Way To The Throne	July 14, 2023	Joyce Louis-Jean	Joyce Louis-Jean	The Magical Dragon That Had Sex with Wu's Mother
Friendship continues.
3	The Fiery Sports Riot That Nearly Destroyed Constantinople	July 21, 2023	Ricky Wang	Ricky Wang	The Hippodrome
They're still friends!
4	The Scandalous Life of France’s Bisexual Opera Icon	July 28, 2023	Kwesi James	Kwesi James	Cupid
They're still the best of friends!
5	How a Pope's Nepobaby Became One of the Worst Tyrants in History	August 4, 2023	Zach Kornfeld	Zach Kornfeld	A Pope's Hat & God
They're besties! Yay!
6	The Deadly Race To The South Pole	August 11, 2023	Sara Rubin	Sara Rubin	The Continent of Antarctica
We made it to the end! The PH family is still together!

Appearance & Production[]

In a public Patreon post, Shane said that the original concept for having puppets in a history show came from the lack of time to do full-time animations. As he disliked the idea of appearing personally on the show only to act as a puppet, he decided that there "had to be a puppet host." When sharing the idea with Ryan, Ryan was apparently confused and didn't know if it was a good idea.

In the same Patreon post, Shane said that he ordered the Professor puppet online from Amazon. Then, he added eyebrows, glasses, and the Professor's iconic clothing to the puppet. (Of his building of the theater, he described it as "truly insane.") The room in which Puppet History was shot in is part of a downtown Los Angeles cultural center.

The puppets for seasons 4, 5, and 6 were made by Puppets By Madison.

In a public Patreon post, Shane remarked of the music:

I actually didn't intend to include music tracks in the series originally. Death was going to show up at the end and answer any questions that Steven and Ryan had for him and that was gonna be that. But the night before we shot the first two episodes, I thought, "Hey, this needs songs." So I sat down on the couch, found some tracks that felt right, and hammered out the lyrics. I then recorded the vocals in my bedroom closet. As ya do.

Lore[]

Originally a educational game show, the show developed deep lore over time.

In season 1, the possibility of a genie existing was first included in multiple-choice answers in Surviving the Titanic: History's Luckiest Woman. As well, it was noted that Ryan never won the show, due to the other guest being awarded frivolous points.

In season 2, the "genie" answer continued appearing randomly in multiple-choice answers, like in How America' First Female Detective Saved Abe Lincoln. Several comments and photos implying that the Professor had time-traveled were scattered throughout the series.

As well, a photo of the Professor in the mid-1800s was shown, and then hastily dismissed, implying that the Professor had time-traveled.

The Professor has mentioned that he is an alumni of Puppet University (PU). He often emphatically insists that he has never met the historical figures being discussed, which has led some fans to speculate that he may be immortal, although new evidence in the Policarpa episode suggests he is a time traveler, gaining his abilities from a genie. He has a fraught history with this genie, parts of which are sometimes revealed to the audience via long tangents (inserted as an optional answer in certain multiple choice questions), accompanied by flashbacks. The Professor has also shown to have some aversion to cats.

The Professor's full name is unknown, despite frequent guesses from Ryan Bergara. However, he does respond to "Professor McNasty" as a nickname.