That Frog Kurtis (also called T.F. Kurtis or That Pimp King Kurtis) is the host of The Puppet Show and the antagonist of the pilot episode of Black Dynamite.
Description[]
That Frog Kurtis is small, sender frog puppet with a noodly build, a long tongue, bulging eyes, and a head that flops around while he talks. He's also shown to have a very long penis, which he sometimes uses to slap people. Seemingly carefree and silly on the surface, he's actually a cunning, manipulative, stone-cold pimp who has no problem hurting, extorting, or killing who he wants to get his way.
When originally hosting The Puppet Show, Kurtis would wear an orange and yellow striped sweater. But after becoming a pimp, he switched to a white suit with a fur-lined purple jacket and a large, ornate crown. He also adorned himself with numerous rings, gold grillz on his buck teeth (emblazoned with the letter K), a gilded cane, and platform shoes with a live tadpole in the heels.
History[]
Early Life[]
For the last 30 years, T.F. Kurtis has worked as the host of The Puppet Show on public broadcast TV. For at least 15 of those years, he was funded by the Central Intelligence Agency as a way to compensate for the poor state of American schools by providing supplementary elementary-level education in art, math, and other disciplines.
Kurtis grew increasingly resentful of his job, and began looking for alternate sources of income. Acutely aware of how much influence he had over his child audience, he began recruiting children, whether to pimp them out as prostitutes or use them as drug dealers and couriers. He began referring to himself as "That Pimp King Kurtis" turned his fellow castmates, such as Crenshaw the Slime, into his lackeys and enforcers. At some point, he fathered numerous tadpoles.
During the 1970s, he started plotting a far greater scheme than anything he attempted before: using his show to tell millions of children nationwide to steal money from their parents and send it to him. However, the CIA caught wind of his plot.
Events of the Series[]
In a flashback, eight year old Black Dynamite is shown watching T.F. Kurtis on The Puppet Show while his father walks out on him and his mother.
In the present day, Dennis Flynn visits Black Dynamite and informs him that Kurtis is plotting something sinister. Black Dynamite and his crew travel to Puppet Street to investigate, but are captured by Kurtis's puppet henchmen. He slaps Cream Corn in the face with his dick, berates a child prostitute for bringing his money "rolled-ed" instead of folded, and sings a song ("That Frog's A Pimp") explaining his goals and motivations. He goes to start the broadcast and orders his henchpuppets to kill them after he's done.
While in the middle of the broadcast, Black Dynamite shows up on stage and tries to kill Kurtis. Kurtis begs for mercy, saying he was there for Black Dynamite when his own father wasn't, and that they're kindred spirits who are both victimized by The Man. However, it turns out he was just buying time to reach for his knife, but Black Dynamite stops him and brutally kills him on stage. He puppets Kurtis's corpse and tells all the children to stand down and not bother with the robbery.
Legacy[]
With his death and the revelation of his plot, The Puppet Show goes off the air, and the old studio is left to languish. It's later taken over by his son, That Bastard Kurtis, who uses it as a base to plot his upcoming revenge against Black Dynamite. A statue memorializing That Frog Kurtis is erected in LA, where That Bastard Kurtis and his other brothers, The Frogs of Incense, go to pay tribute to their father.
Trivia[]
- That Frog Kurtis is a parody of Kermit the Frog from The Muppet Show, from his slender build to his habit of waving his arms in the air when excited.