P&S Timeline

• 1974

  First appearance of Puke & Snot at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, under the names Mouldy & Wart. Shows were ten minutes in length, largely improvised, always in the paths and lanes, never onstage.

• 1975

  Name change to Puke & Snot, joined at the Minnesota Festival by Penn & Teller

• 1978

  Puke & Snot branch out to Maryland and Texas Festivals, perform for president's daughter Amy Carter and classmates at Friend's School in Washington, DC

• 1979

  First Comedy club appearances in Minneapolis at the Comedy Cabaret. First appearance of signature vegetable, handed to Puke by audience member as show begins. (see photo of actual First Vegetable)

• 1980

  Penn and Teller join P & S as their opening act at Comedy Cabaret, marking the first public performances of Penn and Teller as a comedy-magic duo. Cabaret show features P & S and P & T performing original songs to open and close each show. Puke & Snot cross the border to entertain Canadians at Canada's Wonderland in Toronto

• 1981

  The Colorado Festival becomes an annual venue. Florida also gets its first taste of P & S at the Sarasota Medieval Fair

• 1982

  Comedy clubs in Denver and Los Angeles experience the costumed weirdness of P & S. Clones begin to appear in Kansas City and Maryland. Festivals in Miami and San Diego added to schedule

• 1983

  Crowds at festivals become too large for street performances, P & S move exclusively to stages. Drunks now must actually come up on stage to interfere with show

• 1985

  P & S leave the Texas Renaissance Festival, start appearances at the Kansas City show. Bible Belt is outraged by double entrndres, but crowds number in thousands

• 1986

  Back to Canada, Summerfest in Edmonton and two weeks as featured U.S. comedy at the World's Fair in Vancouver, sharing stages with the first season of Cirque du Soleil

• 1987

  College appearances escalate, P & S win Best Comedy Showcase at Western Regional NACA Conference in San Jose, beating out Sinbad and a variety of "known" performers, resulting in a 22 college booking throughout California, Arizona and Utah

• 1988

  Six weeks of performances at Disney World in Orlando, no lawsuits. More comedy club appearances in Minneapolis, Denver and Colorado Springs. Legendary professional golfer Tom Watson flies P & S to Kansas City to perform at his 40th birthday party. Guests are puzzled but amused

• 1989

  Corporate America discovers that men in tights are funny, P & S travel to St. Thomas VI and other exotic locations, selling their souls for a paycheck and an expense account. Young women who used to approach P & S after each show and say "We really love you guys" are now saying "Our moms really love you guys."

• 1990

  Festivals now booked for 25 weeks annually, Puke & Snot merchandise selling out everywhere. Snot hospitalized with kidney stones, Puke performs solo at Minnesota festival, does five shows, "auditioning" potential Snots by getting them to read most popular sketches with him onstage. Snot returns for Sunday shows, minus stones

• 1991

  First appearances on the Legend Stage at the Minnesota Festival, a gigantic three masted frigate slapped down next to the parking lot. Crowds number over 2500 at most shows. Release of first P & S album, PUKE AND SNOT VS. THE BARD: "Slipping Between The Cracks"

• 1992

  P & S star in award winning video "The Legend of Luthario" for Lutheran Brotherhood. Two week run of THE KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS CIRCLE OF DEATH FAMILY FUN SHOW at Scott Hansens's Comedy Gallery in Minneapolis features Jonny Fox, Arsene Dupin and Puke & Snot, huge crowds

• 1993

  20th Anniversary of first appearance at Minnesota Festival 1994 Corporate shows for Fortune 500 companies in California and Florida further legitimize mindless lunacy of P & S. Release of second album, PUKE AND SNOT VS. THE BARD: "Vowel Obstruction"

• 1996

  Puke experiences "cardiac incident," undergoes angioplasty in May. Later that month P & S are doing five shows a day at Scarborough Fair in Dallas

• 1997

  Release of award winning PUKE & SNOT'S COMICAL BUM, rip-roaring full length tale of treachery and revenge, featuring the late Lee Walker as Sir Anthony Bludgington

• 1998

  25th Anniversary of P & S at Minnesota Festival

• 1995 -1999

  Festivals in Sarasota, Colorado, Minnesota and Maryland are now the primary venues each year, although comedy clubs, colleges and corporate shows continue to bring P & S indoors and out of the rain 2000 A return to the magic of the Mouse: in April, the Magic Kingdom at Orlando's Disney World features P & S as "Perry & Slice," two crotchety pirate buccaneers performing daily at the Adventureland Plaza near the Pirates of the Caribbean ride

• 2001

  Release of first P & S video, HERE, HOLD THIS, featuring the best of the classic P & S sketches. Young women now approaching P & S after each show saying "My grandmother really loves you guys."

• 2002

  P & S leave Minnesota Festival after 28 years of five shows per day, 75 shows per season, establishing some kind of record: only one half hour show cancelled in 28 years, occurring when Puke is hauled off in an ambulance and treated for dehydration at a local hospital. Maryland Festival welcomes P & S for full nine week season.

• 2003

  The astounding return of P & S to the Minnesota festival after a year’s sabbatical caused nary a ripple of excitement in the Twin Cities press. And that’s as it should be. One too many pat-downs at the Baltimore airport by rough-handed NSA personnel convinced the boys that home is where the heart is.

• 2004

  Tampa Bay is added to the schedule for an April-May run right before the Colorado festival. The release of SHIP OF FOOLS, the long-awaited fourth CD in the mind-numbing series of Puke & Snot audio discs caused small lines to form after shows throughout the season. The CD features the new “Puke Runs For Office” piece, written by long time P & S writer Michael Levin, a timely sketch just in time for the ’04 elections.

• 2005

  Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happens.

• 2006

  Tampa falls off the schedule, it’s way too hot in May to wear tights. Sarasota is added in November. This new Florida show is produced by a 19 year old phenomenon who demonstrates the chops to stage a festival that just might be a big one some day. P & S win “best theatrical show” honors, humbly accept on behalf of their families and all the little people who they’ve stepped on to get where they are today: working in a tent ten miles east of Route 75.

• 2007

  The Pittsburgh Festival saw the debut of the latest P & S clone duo, John Gamoke and Rook. Gamoke is an old friend of the boys, he's a working actor in the Twin Cities who occasionally pops up in quirky little independent films like SWEETLAND. The regular schedule of Colorado, Minnesota and Maryland goes off without a hitch, unless you count the incident with the family of Mormons who took offense to a line in the "politics" sketch.

• 2008

  On August 11th, Thomas Snot left us. The show will go on, as he wanted it. The laughs will continue. There's a fine line between comedy and tragedy. We will walk it. The Minnesota and Maryland festivals will feature John Gamoke as Snot Jr. See the show if you can. It's not your father's Puke & Snot, but it's still damn funny. And send the memorial fund a few bucks, Joe's daughter will be going to school this fall and she could use the help.
  VISIT THE JOE KUDLA MEMORIAL PAGE

• 2009

• John Gamoke simply nailed the show from Day One last season when he walked out in front of a thousand curious and excited onlookers in Shakopee and showed everybody they had nothing to fear: terrible acting, bad comedy and cheap jokes were still available in abundance at the Puke & Snot Show. Puke wrote a book in ’09. And the generosity of the fans enabled us to get Joe’s daughter Angela through school and launched into the world as an educated, working woman.
  Thanks to all of you!

• 2010

  The regular schedule of Colorado/Minnesota/Maryland continued apace as owners and fans realized immediately that there was no dropoff in yucks with the addition of our new, nicely rounded Snot Jr. The publication of CALL ME PUKE, Puke’s autobiographical epic, created long lines at the shop after each show and when the book won the Midwest Independent Publisher’s Award for Best of 2009 in the Humor Category, and sales went through the roof. Over 6000 books sold to date. Thanks again!

• 2011

  Nothing remarkable happened. A good year. Puke got some new tights.

• 2012

  Another good year was clouded by the loss of our good friend and stage manager Dave Albright, one of the kindest and most thoughtful and creative people we’ve ever had the privilege of working with in this weird business.
  Thanks, Dave, you were a blessing.

• 2013

  Puke’s son Pat came along to Colorado to stage manage and run the merchandise business. The release of EXTREMELY PUKE and INCREDIBLY SNOT, recorded live at the Pirate Ship Stage in Colorado, marked the fifth CD from the boys. 2013 also became the final year of Puke & Snot in Colorado, and the crowds showed up in the thousands to thank us and buy all sorts of Puke & Snot crap. We should retire from every festival at least once every four years.

• 2014

  This year marked the 40th year of Puke & Snot, as far as we know the longest running festival comedy act anywhere. Another strong season, featuring the debut of Pat O’Brien and Chris Carlson performing P & S: SEND IN THE CLONES in Colorado. Crowds were large, but they seemed to miss the originals more than we thought they would. John and I determined not to hand off the show again until permanent retirement was in the offing. With his total knee replacement, Puke should be good to go till at least 2030. Right.

• 2015

  Completely lost track of 2015. It might not have even happened. Hello? Anybody?

• 2016

  The boys happily returned to the Ship in Colorado for the final three weeks of The Colorado RenFest’s 40th Anniversary Season, much to the delight of the hard core mountain fans who apparently REALLY missed us. Also added to the schedule: the Sarasota Medieval Faire for two weekends in November. Surprised how many people from across the country heard we were there and showed up.

• 2017

  We didn’t know when the season started that Thomas Snot Jr would be wrapping up his Puke & Snot career with these final performances in Minnesota and Maryland. Ten years is a good run, and long time fans will miss the jolly John next year. His amazing takeover of the role a week after Joe left in 2008 was only topped by his making it completely his own after that. He will be forever known as The Man Who Saved The Franchise.

• 2018

• Audiences were delighted with the addition of Snot Version 3.0 in the person of Scott Jorgensen. Scott is a long time Twin Cities actor with a large resume, you’ve seen him in some off the wall TV spots, and he’s got a legendary YouTube presence in a four part series shot in 2006 entitled FEAR OF GIRLS. Check it out. Scott will be on board for the 2019 season and beyond as the Boys return to their favorite stages in Minnesota and Maryland.

• 2019

  Crowds thickened this year as a result of the rave reviews that poured in regarding the performance of Snot Version 3.0, the improv aspects of the show took on a sharper edge, the addition of the “Garden” sketch added another layer of not-so-sly double entendre, and even though the rains came down hard in Maryland, it didn’t dampen the spirits of the hardy patrons who donned their slickers and stood in the mud to get their annual dose of cheap laughs. Let’s see what happens in 2020.

• 2020

  OH. MY. GOD. Upon hearing the festival would be closed in 2020, all the royals were flushed, all the knights went into mourning, all swordsmen were cut, all jugglers were dropped, all the mimes were speechless, all ropewalker were suspended, all musicians were disbanded, all magicians were disillusioned, Puke and Snot were expelled, all pillagers were sacked, all pottery makers were fired, all cobblers got the boot, the heralds were crestfallen, the armorers forwarded their mail, the weavers knew this was looming, the fortune tellers didn’t see it coming, and all the ladies in waiting…kept on waiting. See you in 2021.

• 2021

  Now that the Plague Year is behind us, we completely understand why Italian Renaissance paintings are full of large naked people lying on couches. People poured out of their homes and caves and trailers, swarming the ticket booths and demanding seats at the shows that have, for better or worse, become an integral part of their lives. The Puke & Snot Show definitely seems to be one of those. A big year, large crowds, fresh material (the “Who’s On First” parody got long ovations whenever the boys nailed it), and the prospects for an even bigger 2022 are bright.

SNOTS THROUGH TIME

If you’ve been following the progress of the show since its inception in 1974, you know that although the Original Puke is still anchoring the act, there has been a progression of Snots. Consider this a historical document tracking The Three Snots from their first appearance to the present day. Start the DeLorean.