Zig and Zag (puppets)

Zig and Zag
Dempsey's Den character
Zig and Zag on Tubridy Tonight, 8 November 2008
Zig (right) and Zag (left) on Tubridy Tonight, 8 November 2008[1]
First appearanceDempsey's Den, 22 September 1987
Created byCiaran Morrison and Mick O'Hara
In-universe information
SpeciesExtraterrestrial aliens
GenderMale
NationalityIrish

Zig and Zag are an Irish puppet duo, featured on RTÉ, performed by Ciaran Morrison and Mick O'Hara.

The characters are a pair of furry extraterrestrial twins from the planet Zog. They made their television debut on 22 September 1987 on RTÉ's Dempsey's Den. Two years later they won a Jacob's Award for TV Personalities of the year.[2] In 1992, Zig and Zag found fame in the UK when they joined the team of the Channel 4 breakfast show The Big Breakfast. During the 1990s the characters spawned a merchandising range of comic books, videos and embarked on a recording career – scoring a UK top-five single with "Them Girls Them Girls".

In 2010, the characters saw a resurgence in their popularity as they joined the Big Brother's Little Brother[3] team and in October 2010 they were commissioned to host a flagship Saturday morning radio show on 2FM called Smells Like Saturday.[4] A brand new TV bloopers show hosted by Zig and Zag entitled Zig & Zag's Superbloopers[5] was announced on the RTÉ TV website. In April 2015, it was announced that the duo would return in 2016 with a 26 episode animated series Zig and Zag commissioned by RTÉ and the BBC.[6] On 22 September 2020, RTÉ confirmed the return of The Den as a weekend family show reuniting Zig and Zag, Ray D'Arcy and Dustin the Turkey. The show returned on 8 November 2020 on RTÉ One whereas previously, the slot was on RTÉ 2.[7]

  1. ^ "Zig and Zag on Tubridy Tonight". RTÉ. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
  2. ^ "Jacob's Award for Zig and Zag | 1989". RTÉ Archives. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  3. ^ Joanne McCabe (28 June 2010). "Big Brother 2010 Puppet Task". Metro. Archived from the original on 30 June 2010. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  4. ^ "Smells Like Saturday with Zig and Zag". RTÉ. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  5. ^ "New Zig and Zag TV show 2011". RTÉ. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  6. ^ "Zig and Zag set to reunite on RTÉjr". RTÉ.ie. 15 April 2015.
  7. ^ "Den and now: Ray, Dustin and Zig & Zag to reunite". RTÉ TEN. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2020.