The Fu Transformed Into Puppets For New Kids’ Show ‘The FuZees’ [INTERVIEW]

Jacob and Josh Fu may be famous for their musical prowess, but the duo is branching into new territory. The brothers (known as The Fu to more than 100,00 YouTube subscribers across two channels on YouTube) just debuted a new original web series called The FuZees.

With a kid-focused, family-friendly attitude, the 16-episode series was filmed entirely at YouTube Space LA and launched on November 8, 2014. The FuZees features puppet adaptations of the Fu brothers that sing and dance with collaborators (who are in their human forms) like Lana McKissack, Brizzy Voices, Brock Baker, and more.

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We sat down with Jacob and Josh to discuss the inspiration behind the show, the decisions the brothers made before and during production, and the possibility of future puppet collaborations with other YouTubers.

Tubefilter: Who came up with the idea for FuZees? What will the show be about?

Josh & Jacob Fu: In 2011 we built homemade puppets to cover “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets movie and a seed was planted for The FuZees. Since then, it’s been an idea for a kids puppet show in the back of our minds but never felt like we had the right opportunity to work on it. If we did it, we wanted to be sure to do it right! Earlier this year, all the pieces seemed to fall in place and we started bringing life to The FuZees!

The FuZees is a fun online show utilizing music, arts, and dance to teach kids about behavioral, social, and emotional topics. Ultimately, they are YouTubers themselves and hope to connect with their audience like other YouTubers do!

TF: Why a children’s show as opposed to something for older audiences? And in a similar vein, why puppets?

JJF: Puppets are fun. Growing up, we used to watch Sesame Street all the time and loved the characters. There’s something more real and tangible about them. Lately puppets have been used more and more but a lot of times for older audiences, which is great, but we want to bring that love and imagination back to what we grew up on. We’ve always wanted to be responsible with any sort of voice we have in the YouTube space and create content that is family friendly. The FuZees ended up being the perfect fit for it!

TF: How did you find/choose Christian Anderson to make the puppet versions of yourselves?

JJF: We started looking into building our own puppets when we moved to LA in 2013 and met Christian through our YomYomF family. Although we couldn’t pull the trigger then, we knew that when we started working on the show, we would want to bring him on board! When you talk to Christian, you can see how much he loves building puppets and puppeteering and knew that passion would be seen when bringing out characters to life.

TF: How did you pick which collaborators would appear on the show?

JJF: We want to bring on YouTubers that believe in bringing quality family content to YouTube, and specifically content for kids. All of the guests that have come on The FuZees are excited to see The FuZees come to life and reaching out to a younger audience.

TF: Which episode has been your favorite to create, and why?

JJF: It’s really hard to pick just one! But if we had to, it would probably be the first episode. It’s the first one where we get to see the entire world become reality and introduces the show and main characters!

TF: What is the one idea/message you want viewers to get out of this show?

JJF: For kids, we want them to connect with the characters and know that there are others dealing with what they are dealing with as 3-5 year olds. Things like learning to make friends, their own identities, how to help around the house, or what to do when they are scared.

For the older audience, we want to have a fun show where they can see their favorite YouTubers interacting with The FuZees. We want to make them smile and remind them what they used to love as kids.

For parents, we want to create a show that they can play for their kids and know they don’t have to worry about what they are seeing and hearing. And of course, that they can watch, sing, and dance along to as well!

TF: As of now, how does the future of The FuZees look in terms of more seasons?

JJF: The first season will have 16 episodes and launches on November 8th with new episodes every Saturday! We look forward to bringing out new partners and bringing more episodes in the future. In the meantime, The FuZees may put on other “traditional” YouTube videos like Q&As, vlogs, or even challenges.

TF: Do you have any more puppet collaborations lined up?

JJF: We’re hoping to build a FuZees family that continues to grow, both in puppets and humans! We plan to have The FuZees collaborate with other YouTubers on their channels and definitely hope to bring on more to theirs!