'Puppet' masters bare all in Aussie performance art

It will tickle some and no doubt mortify others to learn that Australia's most intriguing claim to fame is that some Aussie men love to make funny shapes with their privates.

But there's no need to travel Down Under to investigate these priapic delights.

Two men are going down under for you, in the full-frontal comedy act "Puppetry of the Penis," a show dedicated to "the ancient art of genital origami."

If you have ever wanted to see men's reproductive organs twisted, stretched and squished into likenesses of hamburgers, bow ties and mushroom clouds, here's your chance.

Puppeteers David Friend, 34, and Simon Bradley, 27, will show off their protean middle regions starting tonight at The Moore Theatre.

As a business venture, "Puppetry of the Penis" is no joke.

Since 1997, the show's Australian co-founders, Simon Morley and Friend, have had sold-out performances all over the world, including acclaimed stints in London's West End and Toronto.

Today there are seven, yes seven, productions of the show touring the globe at any given time. Morley, who was recently performing in Edinburgh, Scotland, with another partner, is not scheduled to join Friend in the Seattle performances.

Yet the show can be viewed as one big joke, says Friend, who took a break in Washington, D.C., one of the stops on "Puppetry's" U.S. tour, to chat about his bizarrely lucrative craft.

First, he admits, genital origami isn't really an ancient art form. Second, the street term for what happens on stage is funnier and much more to the point, though the expression cannot be printed in these pages.

Friend said it's common for young men in Australia to perform parlor tricks with their genitals in locker rooms, at house parties and in pubs. It's a habit many guys pick up as kids, and it's often passed from brother to brother. That's how Morley learned his future trade.

Both Friend and Morley became famous in the mid-1990s by performing at parties around their hometown of Melbourne. They didn't join forces until later.

Soon they joined forces in what has become a fantastic phallic thrill ride.

"It's the little party trick that grew," said Friend, who's always on cue for a pun.

"There's no chance that anyone could've predicted it would take off like this," a bemused Friend said. "We certainly never thought we'd be playing in theaters all over the world. It's beyond our wildest dreams."

Friend said it was high time society removed the stigma attached to male genitalia. The mere sight of a penis in a film can garner an adults-only movie rating in the United States. Why not poke fun at the fleshy appendages instead?

Mild-mannered Seattle may not seem like an ideal stop for a tour that features guys who make their genitals look like the Eiffel Tower and a boomerang.

Women, who often attend the show in groups, make up a large portion of "Puppetry's" audience base. But Friend hopes men turn out, too, since the show is a bawdy homage to the manliest of body parts.

The show will deliver the full monty in high relief. Friend and Bradley will appear on stage draped in capes with nothing on underneath. The audience will be warned that they're about to see penises, just in case a few don't know that already.

"We've had people turn up at the wrong show," Friend said.

Then the show begins — 40 tricks, each lasting about a minute and a half and projected onto huge video screens.

That, plus a half-hour of stand-up comedy from a clothed local performer, sums up the show.

"They get an hour of penis tricks," Friend said, "which I think is just long enough."

Tyrone Beason: 206-464-2251 or tbeason@seattletimes.com