Yakkity Yak
Yakkity Yak is an Australian–Canadian Flash animated television series produced by Studio B Productions. It was created by Mark Gravas and aired on Teletoon in Canada and on Nickelodeon in Australia from November 9, 2002 to December 12, 2003. The story centers around an anthropomorphic yak named Yakkity who aspires to become a famous comedian and his friends, Keo (an anthropomorphic pineapple) and Lemony (a young human girl).[1]
Yakkity Yak | |
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Genre | Comedy |
Created by | Mark Gravas |
Developed by |
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Directed by |
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Creative director | Mark Gravas |
Voices of | Lee Tockar Brian Drummond Andrea Libman Pam Hyatt Ian James Corlett Michael Daingerfield Jason Schombing |
Composers | Hal Beckett Michael Richard Plowman |
Country of origin |
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Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 26 (52 segments) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producers | Kathy Antonsen Rocchio Jamie Turner Sandra Walters |
Running time | 22 minutes |
Production companies | Studio B Productions Kapow Pictures |
Release | |
Original network | Teletoon (Canada) Nickelodeon (Australia) |
Original release | November 9, 2002 – December 12, 2003 |
The copyright to the show is owned by WildBrain, which bought Studio B Productions in 2007.[2]
Theme song
A modified version of the 1958 soul song Yakety Yak by The Coasters (in which children and some cast members sing some portions) is used as the series' theme song.
Characters
- Yakkity Yak (Lee Tockar): A yak student (aged 12) in Onion Falls Junior High School and the school's mascot who wishes to be a comedian. Yakkity works as the school mascot since his grandfather also served as mascot when the football (rugger) team won the state championship in 1925. The football team, instead of the mascot, got all the glory (despite having not won a match since 1925), much to Yakkity's distaste. Yakkity now lives with his Granny and her boarder Professor Crazyhair. He wears a coat over his bare body. His closest friends are Keo (who lives next door) and Lemony. Over the course of the series, his parents have never been seen or mentioned.
- Keo (Brian Drummond): An anthropomorphic pineapple who is actually a human with a pineapple for a head. He is very intelligent but is camera shy and has stage fright. He has rivalries with his father who is only a pineapple, but deep down, he loves him.
- Granny Yak (Pam Hyatt): Yak's grandmother. While she is a good sounding board in a parental way, she also has some of Yakkity's impulsive genes.
- Lemony (Andrea Libman): A blond-haired human girl who has a vivid imagination.
- Reginald Highpants (Ian James Corlett): The town's leading vendor of candy and all things with sugar. He also runs many small businesses.
- Trilo (Jason Schombing): Yakkity's trilobite agent and former circus performer who owns his own Entertainment Agency, does children's parties for the characters, and is always looking for money. His clients are Yakkity, Fairy Wanda and Chuck Damage, who he uses for parties.
- Professor Crazyhair (Scott McNeil): A scientist and teacher at Onion Falls High whose hair changes colour like a mood ring, hence his name. He lives in Yakkity's basement, where he built a laboratory.
- Penelope (Tabitha St. Germain): A robot who is Lemony's best friend and works as Professor Crazyhair's assistant but lacks any social skills or confidence. Whenever she's embarrassed, her face turns red and she squirts out fire fighting foams from her arms transforming into fire hoses, squirting everything around her.
- Rondo (Ian James Corlett): Lemony's football (rugger) playing brother who is a senior in high school. He is one of Yakkity's main antagonists often competing for the spotlight.
- Keo's Dad (Michael Daingerfield): A pineapple who can be bossy and rude at many times, and Keo's father. The identity of his wife (Keo's birth mother) is unknown and never explored; it can be assumed that she either died or got divorced before the events of Yakkity Yak. He's only a disembodied pineapple head; as the only time he ever had a body with limbs was in "My Dad the Robot".
- Wanda Harper (Brenda Crichlow): a fairy who works as Onion Falls High's librarian.
- Jackie Pachyderm: An elephant comedian and successful movie star who is Yakkity's idol.
Broadcast
Yakkity Yak debuted on Teletoon in Canada on January 4, 2003,[3] with the last episode airing on January 28, 2004.[3] It also aired on BBC Kids. In the UK it aired on CBBC. In the United States, it briefly aired on Nickelodeon from November 26, 2003 until March 28, 2004. It was later run on the Nicktoons channel starting from May 22, 2004 until September 23, 2007.
Episodes
Episode # | Title | Outline | |
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1a | "Hypnotic Yak" | Yakkity hypnotises everyone into thinking he's funny. | |
1b | "As the Worm Turns" | Yakkity finds a magical talking ventriloquist dummy. | |
2a | "The Yak and the Hat" | Yakkity goes on a TV quiz show with Keo providing answers from within Yakkity's hat. | |
2b | "Cowinator III" | An historic grass-eating competition between Yakkity's grandfather and "The Cowinator" is replayed between Yakkity and the grandson of "The Cowinator". | |
3a | "3 Cheers for Penelope" | When Professor Crazyhair makes a robot girl, Lemony coaches her to improve her social skills. | |
3b | "My Dad the Robot" | Professor Crazyhair builds robot legs and arms for Keo's father. This episode is rumored to be similar to "My Name is Robbie" from The Oblongs. | |
4a | "A Tree Grows in Onion Falls" | Yakkity moves out of home and into a treehouse. But now he must save his family from a thief masquerading as a little boy. | |
4b | "Spring Cleaning" | Yakkity and Keo makes a mess in Professor Crazyhair's laboratory, and so must do some house cleaning to make amends. But soon, they turn everyone into zombies. | |
5a | "Dial-a-Yak" | When Yakkity breaks Rondo's war robot, Yakkity must take its place. He wears a phone for communication with Rondo. | |
5b | "Darn-It Dog" | Yakkity does not want to return a library book he borrowed when he was 5. So he tells Wanda he never took it out. Soon, he uses lying to get what he wants at least until he gets a taste of his own medicine. | |
6a | "Yakstravaganza" | Yakkity encourages Keo's dad to relive his showbiz days and join his new show. | |
6b | "Curly Top" | Yakkity's fur turns pink while experimenting with one of Granny Yak's hair products. | |
7a | "I Want My Yak TV" | Yakkity's new antler braces start picking up cable TV channels - a rare feat in Onion Falls. Yakkity becomes a popular stage act. | |
7b | "Election Dysfunction" | Keo runs against Lemony for school president, but will he promise more than he can deliver? | |
8a | "And That's the Weather" | Yakkity becomes an accurate weather forecaster thanks to Granny Yak's weather-predicting bunions. Complications arise, however, when Granny has her bunions removed. | |
8b | "Pineapple Upside-Dead Cake!" | When Keo's dad goes missing and everyone starts acting odd, Yakkity thinks that aliens have taken them. | |
9a | "A Yak and His Fish" | Yakkity's new pet fish likes to eat a variety of foods. | |
9b | "Regarding Chuck" | Yakkity accidentally gives Chuck Damage amnesia. | |
10a | "Double Double Oil and Trouble" | In a school project, Yakkity and friends try to improve the odor in Onion Falls. | |
10b | "High Fashion Yak" | Yakkity and Keo become fashion gurus thanks to Granny Yak's knitting skills. | |
11a | "Nerds Are People Too" | Yakkity unexpectedly excels in a test and is invited to a camp for teenage geniuses. But this is all a trap by Gary. | |
11b | "The 10% Solution" | When times get tough, Yakkity's agentm Trilo claims 10% ... of everything Yakkity receives which is everything in his life. | |
12a | "National Day of Yakking" | It is the Onion Falls' centenary and a parade is announced. Yackity would like a float built to celebrate his idol - comedian Jackie Pachyderm. | |
12b | "Fairy Yakkity" | After Trilo asks Yakkity to disguise himself as Fairy Wanda, Rondo finds 'Victoria' strangely attractive. | |
13a | "3 Minutes and Funny" | The people of Onion Falls partake in a video competition where the most popular video featuring an onion will win. Yakkity favours a comedic genre. | |
13b | "Nature Calls" | Keo and Lemony are concerned when Yakkity starts behaving oddly. Has it something to do with the pimple on his nose? | |
14a | "Fount Onion" | Keo reveals Yakkity's secret swimming hole. | |
14b | "Ice Scream, You Scream" | Yakkity becomes a bike riding ice cream salesman. But he starts eating all the merchandise (which counts as stealing) in order to get free stuff. | |
15a | "Cabin Fever" | Keo, Keo's dad and Yakkity go camping, but seem to forget to pack vital items. At least Yakkity brings some marshmallows. | |
15b | "Due Back Tomorrow" | Keo and Yakkity find work in a video shop. Yakkity recommends all of Jackie Pachyderm's funny movies, except for A-Pach-Alypse Now. | |
16a | "End of the Line" | A nature documentary explains that yaks are an endangered species. Keo and Lemony must place Yakkity and his grandma inside a glass bubble in order to save them. | |
16b | "House Sitters" | Mr Highpants must attend a Confectionery Convention. He asks Yakkity and Keo to look after his hi-tech home, warning the boys not to touch any buttons ... and only to feed Mr Littlepants "Chimp-Chow". | |
17a | "Teachers Pet†" | Professor Crazyhair gives Lemony a high grade for her science project, but Keo believes that flattery had a lot to do with it. | |
17b | "Yakeo" | After failing to be picked for the football team, Yakkity and Keo invent their own sport. | |
18a | "Sharing Bear" | Yakkity still loves Sharing Bear - the children's television presenter, but Keo and Lemony think he is for babies. | |
18b | "Lucky Undies" | Everything is going right for Yakkity. Is it because of the underpants he has been wearing since last Tuesday? | |
19a | "Techno Prisoners" | When Grandma Yak turns against modern conveniences, Yakkity has to sneak off to the Techno-seum with his science class. | |
19b | "It's a So-So Life" | Yakkity leaves the services of Trilo to pursue a career as a headline act in the Circus Maximus. | |
20a | "Camp Onion" | The Onioneers are on winter camp, and Lemony is hoping to win all of the merit medals. But she and Mr. high pants get stuck on top of Mt. Onion. Now Yakkity, Keo, and Wanda must save them. | |
20b | "Snow Biz" | It is All Onions Eve, and the children of Onion Falls are getting ready to leave their boots of onion soup out over night for the Snow Cow to replace with chocolate milk. However Yakkity's friends no longer believe in the Snow Cow ... | |
21a | "The Fan" | Yakkity's cousin Jasper is a cute yak with a natural stand-up comedy style. But Yakkity becomes envious and ruins Jasper's show. | |
21b | "From Boom to Bust" | When Professor Crazyhair's experiments in the basement blow up the dining room a second time, Granny Yak evicts him from the house. | |
22a | "Rondo Reversal" | Granny Yak is in hospital, and Keo has Pineapple Pox, so Yakkity has a sleepover at Lemony's place. There he discovers some embarrassing secrets about Lemony's brother Rondo. When he reveals all at school, Yakkity assumes the position of the school bully. This soon causes everything to be out of whack. | |
22b | "The Damage is Done" | When Chuck Damage becomes Yakkity's personal trainer, Yakkity begins to use him as his body guard. However how will Chuck Damage fare against The Cement Mixer? | |
23a | "My Fair Crazy Hair" | Granny Yak has a new boyfriend - Chatterbox Ox, but Yakkity is suspicious, and Professor Crazyhair tries to win back Granny's affections. | |
23b | "Practically Funny" | Things go wild in Onion Falls after Yakkity receives the Jackie Pachyderm Practical Joke box, but someone else knows a few good practical jokes. | |
24a | "Onion Falls Most Wanted" | A robber is stealing from homes by blowing bubblegum bubbles and floating up to upstairs windows. Trilo is suspected, but is he really the Bubblegum Bandit? | |
24b | "Blue Rinse Test" | When Granny Yak moves to a nursing home, Yakkity moves in with her. | |
25a | "Daddy Uh-Ohs" | Keo is embarrassed by his old bike, but his father won't let him spend his film school money on a new one. With poor finances, will the family have to move to freezing Bergville? | |
25b | "Yaks A Plenty" | Yakkity keeps putting off study for a biology test due the next day. However an educational cartoon video featuring Alan Amoeba helps teach Yakkity about cellular replication. | |
26a | "Home School" | Yakkity and Keo leave school to be taught by Keo's dad. | |
26b | "The Onion Falls 500" | A soapbox race is announced, and the prize is a year's supply of Professor Crazyhair's Egg Salad. When Lemony forms a team with Keo, Yakkity eventually pairs with a peculiar new neighbor. The inclusion of an egg salad recipe is a tribute to Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily?. | |
†Previously known as "The Yakking".
Awards
The show was nominated for a Leo Award for "Best Musical Score" in 2004.
References
- Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 929. ISBN 978-1476665993.
- https://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=5&ti=1,5&Search%5FArg=Yakkity%20Yak&Search%5FCode=TALL&CNT=25&PID=wRATJ77RAL4AF4wzfiLumuYyPyRp&SEQ=20191215235545&SID=2
- "Television Program Logs". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. 2 March 2016. Alt URL
External links
- Yakkity Yak at IMDb
- Yakkity Yak at TV.com