Podge and Rodge
Podge and Rodge are the two characters from A Scare at Bedtime, an Irish adult comedy televised puppet show. The characters were created and are produced by Ciaran Morrison and Mick O'Hara, who also voiced the characters of Zig and Zag.
Origins
Podge originally appeared on The Den, as a decidedly evil little character. At first, he was introduced as nothing more than a puppet Zag (of Zig and Zag) had found in a box amongst the rubbish behind a magic shop, and used him to practise ventriloquism, eventually performing a few dire shorts that showcased Zag's lack of skill. Zig was particularly jealous of the attention Podge was receiving.
Things took a sinister turn, however, when one day, during one of these shorts, a mysterious voice said to Zag, "aren't you a smelly stupid ugly alien". With the pieces in place for the revelation, Podge made himself fully known to the audience - alone with Zig at the conclusion of the broadcasting day, he moved and spoke on his own, bullying Zig, telling him he would be his friend if he stole the bike presently being offered as a competition prize. Zag and presenter Ray D'Arcy remaining oblivious to this as Podge would occasionally move in the background or be seen scheming on his own, and letters and pictures would pour in from the viewing children trying to let them know that Podge was evil. Eventually, after Zig finally spilled the beans, Podge made a power play and took over the programme for a day, revealing that he had been brought to life by a magician, but then sealed away when he turned evil. Podge also possessed some magical powers of his own that he'd learned from the magician, and turned one of the crew members into a teapot. He was finally dealt with when the magician arrived at the end of the programming day, hypnotised Podge, and took him away.
Not that that stopped him.
The Den
Podge would continue to reappear in disguise - be it as a postman, a leprechaun, a trick-or-treater, a health inspector or a taxi-driver, and once, he locked Dustin the Turkey, with whom he shared a history of physical violence, in the cupboard under the stairs and attempted to take his place by means of disguising himself with a few feathers and a coffee cup for a beak. His most daring schemes would come around the holidays - in his first Christmas-ruining scheme, he tried to ensure that Zig would receive no presents from Santa Claus, using his postman disguise to enter their home, break one of the presents, for which Zig would be blamed, and also make off with a bottle of Scent of Man, a cologne which he would develop a great fondness for, which would often give away his identity. Zig was able to prove his innocence, but Podge was still intent on ruining Christmas, taking the gang's Christmas letters and not delivering them to Santa. When the Den crew set out to do the job themselves, Podge kidnapped Kris Kringle and took his place, only to be thankfully thwarted in a scuffle with Ray.
Eventually, after the departure of Zig and Zag from the show, Podge was finally well and truly caught by the Den gang, only to be freed by his never-before-seen twin brother, Rodge, posing as a policeman, who escorted him away. The Dastardly Duo continued to make trouble for the gang, mostly on the holidays, often seeking to eat Zuppy - Podge had the little creature to blame for being caught out in several of his schemes before, and seemed to have developed a taste for dog. Rodge's precise origins were never gone into (Podge's introduction, after all, happened many years before Rodge first appeared, and since young children were the target audience, and none of them would have been around for Podge's origin, it didn't really matter), but it did appear that he possessed some magic powers like Podge, as the duo were capable of vanishing into thin air. They had particular contempt for Echo Island, especially the version broadcast in Irish.
A Scare At Bedtime
The duo's increasingly regular use of profane language and sexual innuendo made them unsuitable for a children's television show (one particular line occurring at approx. 4 p.m the utterance of "Dustin smells like shit", which Dustin covered quickly with "I'm not wearing a hat!"), so, they were moved to a close to midnight slot, in the programme, A Scare at Bedtime. This show took its name from the nightly RTÉ show called A Prayer at Bedtime, which overlaid the text of a Roman Catholic prayer over serene images with choral music playing. A Scare at Bedtime, first aired in 1997, is close to being the polar opposite of this, with extremely adult content, lewd jokes and slightly obscene anecdotes being related by the two puppets. Their origins on the Den are largely ignored, as the backstory gradually established on A Scare at Bedtime, presents them to be both in their fifties (although they don't look any different from how they used to), and living in Ballydung Manor, a converted insane asylum for most of that time, with a lunatic nurse that they call "Granny". They have been given full names also: Padraig Judas O'Lepracy and Rodraig Spartacus O'Lepracy.
Each episode follows the same pattern: Rodge, the dumber of the two, arrives home. Originally the pair would get into bed but in recent seasons they sit at the kitchen table. They talk about what Rodge was doing, with Podge usually insulting him. This leads Podge on to telling a story (acted out by live actors) about some people (whose names are usually sexual innuendos, e.g. Chris Peacock, Ulick McGee) who inevitably come to an unpleasant end. Rodge interrupts the story with stupid comments and/or reference to masturbation. It ends with Podge punishing Rodge for no reason. A Scare At Bedtime remains one of RTÉ's funniest programs and has run to ten series as of 2005, with the first three on sale on DVD. The programme frequently airs on the Paramount Comedy Channel in the UK. It won an IFTA for Best Entertainment Programme in 2000.
The Podge and Rodge Show
Main article: The Podge and Rodge Show
First aired on 6 February, 2006, The Podge and Rodge Show gave the duo their first chatshow, co-hosted by Lucy Kennedy. It airs at 22:50 on Monday and Tuesday nights on RTÉ Two and features celebrity interviews and humorous features such as quizzes (e.g. Lady or Ladyboy?) and race nights that so far have featured hamsters and ferrets, sheep shearing, "Kitten Roulette", mice and eating contests.
Recently featured on the show was Áine Chambers, the creator of sligozone.net, a website promoting her native County Sligo in her own unique way.
The show has been a phemomonal ratings success, regularly getting over 400,000 viewers a show, peaking at 440,000 for the week beginning April 9th 2006. It regularly has more viewers than Desperate Housewives and Lost, both of which are also shown on RTÉ Two. It is catching up to RTÉ's flagship show—The Late Late Show—which airs on Friday nights on RTÉ One, and has approximately half a million viewers.
The Podge & Rodge Show won Favourite Irish TV Show at the 2006 TV Now Awards held in Dublin on April 29th 2006. The first series of 13 weeks ended on May 2nd with the guests Amanda Brunker and Johnny Vegas. This final show had the highest viewing figures of the entire series of 450,000 and a 40% audience share. A second series is sheduled for September.
Live Show
In April 2006, radio ads played on RTÉ Radio stations revealed that Podge and Rodge will be appearing in their first ever live stage show entitled 'Desperate for Housewives' in Vicar Street in Dublin. The show will take place in Autumn 2006 for an initial run of 12 dates. The tickets for the first six dates sold out in a record hour and a half on the day of release. The second six dates followed and sold out as quickly. The venue owners say it is the fastest selling comedy gig ever.
A Politically Incorrect Broadcast by Podge & Rodge
Podge and Rodge have a page published weekly in 'The Irish Star' newspaper. Every Wednesday the pair write about everything from Summer Holidays to Sexy ladies.