The InkHole Hits LA: Go Inside ‘The HappyTime Murders’ World of Forbidden Felt
We go there because they go there. Don’t forget the syrup. (A NoPro Adventure)
As a child of the 80’s, I grew up with a certain type of puppet in my life. Wholesome and pure, if a bit wacky. Role models who taught us the values of friends, kindness, and — in some cases — basic numbers.
Brian Henson grew up with those meritorious puppets as well, only he literally grew up with those puppets, as he is the son of the great Jim Henson, whose work shaped more generations than mine. His take on the world of puppets reaches up, way up, into the forbidden realms of sex, drugs, and puppet on puppet violence. Which is what his forthcoming film, The Happytime Murders, is all about.
That world crosses over with our own this week in Hollywood, naturally, itself a bastion of iniquity. The team at Giant Spoon (backed by Mycotoo and ZH Productions, also their partners on SXSW’s Westworld experience) have converted the Houston Brother’s already excellent Madame Siam into The InkHole, a speakeasy of sin.
Here one may find all the delights of the felt for the low, low price of your attention.
Access to The InkHole is through a tattoo parlor where one brave guest must submit to getting inked up in order for the party to get the password to the joint. The group of press and industry people I was packaged up with on preview night were deer-in-the-headlights at this point, which meant it was up to me to jump in the chair. (Don’t worry, it’s an airbrush tattoo. Although it’s a lot more robust than I would have thought. I’ll be a walking ad for the movie for a few days. Glad I didn’t get it on my face.)
Once inside the converted Siam, mischief abounds. There’s the bar, of course, but the truly debauched will turn their attention to the syrup bottle service that’s available. Nothing but the finest Canadian candy juice here at The InkHole. Luckily, only puppets find the stuff addicting. For those who like to dance with Lady Luck, Jack is running a never ending game of Blackjack, next to the line for the back room.
To be honest, I’m not sure what’s going on in the backroom. The night I was there, the joint was so jumping that the line seemed never-ending. So I pulled up a spot at the Blackjack table and… started winning? At one point I was up $3,000. Sadly, it was only funny money, and this never, ever happens in Vegas.
I picked the right spot, because about ten minutes into my winning streak, Jack, a foulmouthed sugar- and sex-addict, started getting excited. He saw that Dr. Drew — as in Dr. Drew Pinsky of Loveline — was in the house, thanks to Twitter. He got his guys Pushups and Ace to lure Dr. Drew over.
And that, dear reader, was how I got to bare witness to America’s favorite addiction advice radio host talk with a puppet about “the guy with the mason jar” right over my head.
Just another night in Hollywood.
Here’s the thing: if you’re like me in the slightest, you’re going to wish this place was real. That there was a spot in Hollywood where you could always go to see a puppet MC argue with his puppet nightclub singer ex in between burlesque sets. A place where the standard greeting is “HEY, DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THOSE PUPPET MURDERS?” Where there’s a puppet sex shoppe just on the way back to street level. A den of ridiculous sin that pokes fun at humanity’s basest vices, while celebrating them all the same in its own weird way.
Those meritorious puppets were a reflection of our childhood souls, after all, teaching us that the world didn’t have to be so scary. Somehow there’s an odd kind of wholesomeness to The InkHole, showing us that even our dark sides are silly.
But don’t get it untwisted — this place isn’t for kids at fucking all.
Brian Henson sometimes has a show here in LA called Puppet Up, which is what the movie was based upon. The InkHole is a little glimpse at a world where that show was a permanent fixture. Like the true sugar addict I am, I want more, but we’re just going to have to settle for this pop-up… for now.
The InkHole runs through August 13th, 8pm to 12am. 1723 N. Hudson Ave., Hollywood, CA 90028. The experience is currently sold out. (Boooo! But whaddya gonna do, it’s PuppetTown, Jake.)
Disclosures: NoPro contributor KJ Knies is an employee of Giant Spoon.
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