mascots like to move it, move it

Where do I begin to describe the euphoria I'm feeling right now? The excellent site TVSquad.com had an item that piqued my interest. It was about a local morning news show in Philadelphia that features dancing mascots every Monday. I clicked through to a YouTube page and watched so many of the Mascot Monday videos that I gave myself a headache from laughing. I love the pure silliness of it.

I've previously written about some friends of mine who wore the mascot costume at George Mason University. More recently I wrote about the guy who no longer wears the mascot costume for a local radio station. Despite my obvious appreciation for the art of mascotting, it's actually the Fox 29 "face character" who has grabbed my attention. Her name is Jennaphr Frederick. I kept watching one Mascot Monday video after another to hear her say stuff like "this is a news-oriented program" or "I smell an Emmy" while dancing with a costumed character called "Stressball Sally." In these very short clips, Jen's personality seems absolutely perfect for morning television. She is 100% committed to the bit and her earnest dance moves crack me up. Jen somehow manages to be not at all self-conscious while still fully self-aware. I wonder if the choppiness of the YouTube stream improves the whole experience by giving a strobe-like effect to the dancing.

Mascot Monday is an idea worth stealing by one of our local stations. I would certainly set my TiVo to watch Tearsa Smith, Abby Ham or Stacy McCloud dance with local mascots like Smokey, Diamond & Slugger and Discount Dave.