And I fancy myself an entertainment editor? Where in God's name have I been? This mild rant from the editor of Variety led me on a hunt:

It's tough to take the pulse of the global TV market.

I never thought "Puppetry of the Penis" would work as a TV show, but it's found some foreign buyers here at the Mipcom market. For that matter, I never figured Anna Nicole Smith would be a grabber, but E! Entertainment made some deals, albeit sheepishly.

Perhaps it's the angst surrounding the TV business that accounts for all this. The suits here in Cannes were complaining last week about declining revenues and cutthroat dealmaking, but buyers still turned out and deals were being cut.

Puppetry of the Penis was conceived by Simon Morley in 1996 as the title of a classy, highbrow art calendar, showcasing twelve of his favourite dick tricks. Years before, Simon's youngest brother had shown him his first dick trick, The Hamburger'. Natural sibling rivalry with their two other brothers resulted in the evolution of a healthy repertoire of genital gesticulations.

It was on New Year's Eve in 1997, with a garage full of calendars to shift and burgeoning requests for live demonstrations, that Simon finally decided to unleash his talent on the world.

The natural choice of performing partner was David 'Friendy' Friend, whose reputation as the life of any party was quickly growing. As a young boy, Friendy began his dick trick career in the bath and developed his skills further when he discovered beer at university in Byron Bay. After completing his degree in Computing, he returned to Melbourne with his own highly individual collection of hanging art. Together, Simon and Friendy became Puppetry of the Penis.

Their debut season at the 1998 Melbourne International Comedy Festival was a huge hit. Simon and Friendy then embarked on a national tour, circumnavigating Australia. This took eight months, covered 20,000 kilometres and was captured in all its glory in the documentary Tackle Happy.

Subsequent sell-out seasons in Sydney and Melbourne encouraged the boys to take their wares to the 2000 Edinburgh International Fringe Festival, where they were humbled by yet another sell-out season.

Prominent West End producers, David Johnson and Richard Temple realised the full potential of the show after attending a performance where the woman sitting next to them had wet her pants laughing. Contracts and mops were brought out, and a deal was made on the spot.

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