# Potter Puppet Pals Potter Puppet Pals is a Harry Potter parody puppet webseries created by Neil Cicierega, starting as a 2003 Flash animation called 'Bothering Snape' before jumping to YouTube in 2006[3]. Its March 2007 short 'The Mysterious Ticking Noise' pulled over 150 million views and turned a sing-song chant of 'Snape, Snape, Severus Snape' into one of the defining earworms of early YouTube. ## Origin Neil Cicierega, a web animator already known for his Animutation shorts, made the first Potter Puppet Pals video 'Bothering Snape' as a Flash animation in late 2003, hosted on the Flash portal Albino Black Sheep[3]. He shifted the concept to live-action felt puppets and posted the first YouTube episodes in late September 2006 under his own channel. The breakout came in March 2007 with 'The Mysterious Ticking Noise,' a short built around the character-name chant and a hidden bomb payoff[1]. It rode YouTube's early recommendation waves during the site's peak growth period, when the platform was barely two years old and viral hits mostly came from a handful of channels. - **Platform:** Albino Black Sheep (Flash) / YouTube (viral spread) - **Creator:** Neil Cicierega - **Date:** 2003 ## Overview The webseries stars felt hand puppets voiced by Neil Cicierega playing warped versions of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Snape, Dumbledore and Voldemort[3]. Episodes ignore the actual Harry Potter plotlines in favor of absurdist non sequiturs, deadpan cruelty from Snape and low-budget puppet slapstick, with recurring bits like Dumbledore's naked entrances and Ron demanding food. 'The Mysterious Ticking Noise' is the installment most people know. The short builds a round out of each character chanting their own name in rhythm, 'Snape, Snape, Severus Snape... Dumbledore!', before the noise is revealed to be a bomb strapped to a book[1]. The tune became instantly quotable and got sung back at fan conventions, in comment sections and in countless copycat videos[2]. Beyond that single short, the series built a loose vocabulary of catchphrases that older Potter fans still trade, from 'Bothering Snape' to Neville's rat gag. Cicierega, better known online for his Animutation Flash videos, keeps the humor fast and cheap-looking on purpose, which is a big part of the appeal[3]. ## How to Use The 'Mysterious Ticking Noise' bit is typically quoted by chanting a name in the same singsong meter, most often 'Snape, Snape, Severus Snape,' whenever Snape or Alan Rickman comes up. The wider series is used as a shorthand reference to mid-2000s YouTube humor, with fans reposting clips whenever a new Harry Potter project is announced. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Potter Puppet Pals? A Harry Potter parody puppet webseries created by Neil Cicierega, best known for the 2007 short 'The Mysterious Ticking Noise'[3]. ### Where did Potter Puppet Pals come from? It started as a 2003 Flash animation called 'Bothering Snape' on Albino Black Sheep and moved to live-action YouTube puppets in September 2006[3]. ### What does Potter Puppet Pals mean? It refers to a puppet-based sendup of the Harry Potter cast built around absurdist gags and the sing-song chant 'Snape, Snape, Severus Snape'[1]. ### How do you use Potter Puppet Pals? People typically quote it by chanting the character-name melody from 'The Mysterious Ticking Noise' whenever Snape or Harry Potter comes up in conversation[1]. ### Is Potter Puppet Pals still popular? The series is treated as a classic of early YouTube; 'The Mysterious Ticking Noise' had crossed 150 million views by April 2014 and is still cited in retrospectives on 2000s web video[3]. ## References 1. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx1XIm6q4r4]() 2. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMAZz0EWyjE]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/potter-puppet-pals]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/potter-puppet-pals Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library