‘Director of Strange Cartoons and Puppet Shows’ Returns to Chabad.org

About four years ago I took a break from The Itche Kadoozy Show to work on a new project called Stick Figure Vignettes. Besides giving me a chance to move back to animation after a few years of puppetry, what I was really excited about was the more personal nature of these cartoons.

See, for years stick figures have lived in my sketchbooks, filling the pages with bizarre, wordless scenes that I myself couldn’t completely explain. What I loved about them was their ability to express so much with their little stick bodies and dot eyes. When I started to think about what I wanted out of a new series, those stick figures came back to me. What I wanted was a piece that presented an actual quote from real Jewish sources, but at the same time allowed that idea to be explored in a complex and limitless manner. A tall order, right? The answer—make a cartoon I didn’t completely understand.

Each Stick Figure Vignette is based on a specific quote, and conveys in some way some thought or personal insight or unique way of looking at that idea. But there are always elements in each one that I can’t completely explain. And the result has been some wonderful discussions in the comments. People tell me my cartoons mean something different from what I thought, and they could be right. The only one who knows for sure is the little stick person in the cartoon, and he’s not telling.

After 11 episodes, it got too hard for me to write them, and I got involved in another project. Over the years people have asked me when I’m doing more, and I didn’t have an answer. Luckily for them, my editor had an answer. He asked me to start making them again. So I enlisted the help of a good friend and talented writer, DovBer Naiditch, and together we are making strange new cartoons for you to watch, think about and discuss. The first one is called The Warehouse, and I like it a lot. Go watch it and make some noise in the comments.

And for all of you who have been part of the Stick Figure discussions in the past, thank you for giving me things to think about, and keep it up.

Dovid Taub,
Director of strange cartoons and puppet shows

10 Comments

  • Ex Yeshivah roommate/disgruntled fan

    Listen Taub
    You’ve been warned.enough sticks and cartoons
    We want more itchy kadoozy!!!

  • Australian kids need kadoozy!

    Yes yes! We want more itche kadoozy in Australia!!!!!!!
    Please dovid taub – bring itche gfish etc back to us!!!!!!

  • I was just going to say that

    BH

    look at the comments!!

    Itche Kadoozy will always be what you’ve done best. It seems that you might be as “random” as “jono” and can’t “stick” to it!

    Know your audience. The IKD Show MUST return

  • Simpson

    Hello. My name is Mr. , uhh, Schnubb. Yes, that’ll do, and I think we should put all of the resources back into that wonderful kadoozy power plant show..

  • jon lvz

    Animation can be much harder then puppetry and as Dovid says, these vignettes are also more personal. However, I still find the Itche Kadoozy show more engaging, if not more meaningful.

  • Charles Belcher

    Lets just say the stick figures might be a bit ahead of their time . . . IKDS works . . .

  • faigy

    ive had watched it ever since i was a little girl and it would be a pity if my sissters and brothers cant do the same

  • an artist cannot be bullied

    As an artist myself, I must inform all you kadoozians that all the pressure in the world cannot get an artist to do something is not “feeling.”
    Clearly, if the artist is not doing Kadoozy, it’s because he’s burnt out of it! So what does it help to tell him you don’t like the stix?! That will regenerate his kadoozy interest?
    Say goodbybe to Jono! Let go of Itche! They had a good run, and now…and now… : (
    PS PLEASE BRING BACK KADOOZY!!!