Remember Alligator Boots? The 2007 show was a collaboration between Kanye West and Rhymefest that was described as a “hip-hop Muppets show.”
In the pilot, Kim Kardashian starred as Princess Leia in a Star Wars-themed sketch. She bailed on Storm Trooper Kanye for a puppet named Beary White.
Yes—this was a real show. But it never made it past its pilot, as the show, which was produced for Comedy Central, was sadly canceled after the filming of that initial episode. The show, which yielded the first meeting between Kim and Kanye, has become a legend of sorts.
Fortunately, Wired has hooked us up with an oral history of Alligator Boots.
The oral history features writers, puppeteers, and others who were involved in the show, including writer Jordan Peele of Key & Peele fame.
“It came at this very key moment in my career, when MadTV had ended and I had just started to think about what was next for me after sketch comedy,” Peele recalled. “And with the people involved, I really do think it could have been a very cool show.”
There are also details of a “surreal” sketch Peele wrote for Alligator Boots that parodied the “I Have a Dream” speech from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Others involved in the oral history: video director/animator Konee Rok, head writer Jon Kimmel, and director Tom Stern, among others. Read the full piece here.
