Anyone who has seen a trailer for The Happytime Murders likely already knows that it's a far cry from Sesame Street or The Muppets. The film has been built from the ground up to embrace the grittiness of the R-rated buddy cop genre, but even by that standard, not every joke could make it into the final cut. With that in mind, CinemaBlend visited the set of The Happytime Murders along with several other outlets last year, and director Brian Henson opened up to us to talk about one specific joke involving a singing penis that won't be featured in the final cut. Henson explained:
We did have a bar scene, with a bartender puppet that had a singing penis, which was a very funny joke that we decided not to do. That one won't make it in the movie. We probably have stepped over, in a couple of places, that I'll learn as I get it all cut together, and then maybe will pull it back a little bit, but the idea is that it really is uncensored. It really is quite dirty, but it's mostly language and implied sexuality. It's not graphically sexual.
That's definitely a joke that we don't see very often, and it highlights the strengths of the puppet storytelling format. In the early versions of The Happytime Murders, Brian Henson and his team toyed with a scene involving a bartender with a singing penis, but in the end, they decided that was a specific moment that "stepped over" in terms of its content.
Of course, one of the most interesting things to note about Brian Henson's remarks during that discussion is the fact that The Happytime Murders won't necessarily be graphically sexual in most scenes. The red band trailer for the film has already shown off some insanely risqué moments, but the film will mostly rely on an "implied" raunchiness to deliver many of its laughs. Watch the trailer one more time to see what we mean:
Nevertheless, that doesn't change the fact that The Happytime Murders is still R-rated. Even insiders like Melissa McCarthy don't plan on showing the film to kids, and you should probably consider the same level of restraint when you're thinking about buying tickets for the whole family.
The Happytime Murders takes place in a fictional version of Los Angeles in which humans and puppets live side-by-side. Centering on a series of murders that take place in the puppet underworld, the film follows two detectives (one human and one puppet) as they immerse themselves in a dangerous and deadly conspiracy.
Though The Happytime Murders won't feature that delightfully raunchy scene involving the singing penis when it finally hits theaters, we can look forward to plenty more grotesque and dirty humor when the film ultimately does premiere. The Happytime Murders will premiere on August 24, so make sure to mark down your calendars and check out our 2018 movie premiere guide!
