I enjoyed writing Punchy Advice over a period of two years, from April 1995 to April 1997. Looking back now, some of the writing dates itself, but it still ranks among my works of which I'm most proud.
In 1990, I started a puppetry company called Punch & Brodie, which provided puppets and pupeeteers for corporate videos and events. In 1995, web browsers were still in their infancy, Netscape Navigator having been introduced only the year before. I decided to create a marketing site, including a "home page" for each of my puppet characters. Eventually this evolved into an advice column where the puppets would "write" their own advice according to their unique personalities.
The original version featured an input form where readers could submit their questions. To get it started, I wrote the very first question myself. I emailed the link for the site to friends and colleagues who had email addresses to further "seed" it. At first, the questions were goofy, but before I knew it, strangers -- mostly college students with access to the Internet -- started finding the site and posing questions seriously. Then one day in late May, a site called "Spider's Pick of the Day" (long gone by now) promoted my site, and the next morning my inbox was packed with questions! Starting then, I continually received enough questions to write a column nearly every day.
One aspect of writing the column that I enjoyed was exploring opposing replies to the same questions, depending on the puppet. I felt that Punchy Advice was richer in that respect than the usual advice columns written in a single voice.
I also enjoyed the opportunity to advance story lines here and there. Early on, Bradley divulged that he had an "Internet crush" on some woman in Canada. Four days later, he surprised every one including me by leaving to try and meet her.
Finally, I loved the interaction with the readers, especially those who followed and contributed regularly. They paid the highest possible compliment by genuinely engaging with the puppets as though they were real people. One of my favorite comments was "We were both really surprised to realize that it was just one person doing the answers." More comments.
-- Leo Brodie, November 24, 2024
Praise for Punchy Advice | Copyright 1995-99 Leo Brodie