Happy Monster Band is an American animated children's television series that originally aired on Playhouse Disney from October 1, 2007, until October 26, 2008 and is produced by Kickstart Productions. The series was created by Don Carter. The show is about a group of monsters that performs songs about friendship, love, exercising, chores, and other preschool related themes.
Characters
Main
There are four monsters that make up the Happy Monster Band: Ink, Bluz, L.O. and Frred. All of the monsters' names echo their colors: Ink’s trademark color is pink, Bluz’s is blue, L.O.’s is yellow and Frred’s is red, The main characters were designed by Don Carter. All four of the band members are kids, but when they sing their voices are that of Tally Hall. However, in the UK version of the show, when they sing they maintain their children voices.
Frred is the band's vocal output who plays electric guitar and is red, referring to his name. While Ink may appear to be the leader, many fans often tend to view and consider that Frred himself is the actual leader. He is also voiced by Rob Cantor and Kurt Doss.
L.O. voiced by Zubin Sedghi and Nathan Simpson is the other lead singer and plays bass guitar. L.O. is the only monster in the band that goes against traditional thinking, preferring to paint and draw instead of scaring and happens to be viewed and considered a shy introvert, although he sometimes can be quite successful in that. He is the oldest in the band.
Bluz is the band's keyboardist and has four legs. He often contradicts L.O.’s opinions, stating that monsters should scare and not care about art. He is blue. During the World Tour, he doesn't know about foreign languages, making him almost ditzy, though he is not fully air-headed and also naturally hates seeing others frustrated, down or in a conflict, even if they are his friends in fact. He is also the youngest in the Happy Monster Band. He is also voiced by Joe Hawley, Jonah Lees and Jake T. Austin.
Ink is the band’s drummer. She has three eyes and is pink. Unlike the other band members, she only sings in choruses. However she did get a solo verse in “Do the Monster Stomp”. During the World Tour she carries a globe and is fluent in several languages. She is voiced by Hannah Leigh.
Supporting
The first season introduced several characters.
Roc and Raoul are a two-headed purple monster that are the shows hosts, who speak in rhyme, except while backstage and are also in season 2.
La, Dee, and Da are the show's judges, who are only shown in the first season and are all bright green, They are based on Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell.
Dwight is a giant monster in Italy who is often hungry and is used as a comedic explanation for the Tower of Pisa leaning and the Colosseum missing a large portion of its wall.
Ravi is a 4-year-old boy who is energetic.
The Rancher is an introducer.
Johnny and Franklin are the guys who were introduced in the World Tour episode The Monster Tangle.
The actual music and vocals were written and performed by Tally Hall, an American rock band. The characters and concept for the show were created by children's book author/illustrator, Don Carter. Judy Rothman Rofé wrote all the episodes in Season 1 and five of the episodes in Season 2.
Broadcast
In the United Kingdom, the show was shown on Playhouse Disney from October 5, 2007 to January 20, 2010