The Munchies are animated puppets created by Charlie and Miki — their real names are Sebastian (Charlie) and Michele (Miki), brothers — and by Giampietro Cutrino, who acted as leading characters for two television series produced by The Munchies Movies Production for Italia 1 channel, and a third series produced for MTV Italia channel. The music of the program was edited and composed by Paolo Andriolo and Gianluca Ballarin, who created the music for the program, including the initial theme Let the Munchies Play and nine original songs performed by Daniele Concina.
The leading protagonists, a, naturally puppet characters, make up the imaginary Catozzo family, whose members are Pasquale, the father, who is originally from Naples but moved to the North, in the Veneto region, Miki, his son, a fake student involved into some pretty bad stuff and Nonna Yolanda, a sweet old Apulian woman who is often into rather nonconformist stuff. Many other characters are part of the Catozzo family daily life and contribute to enrich the fiction with new improbable nuances.
The creators Charlie and Miki give voice to Pasquale and Miki, while Nonna Yolanda is dubbed by their real grandmother.
In the three series, created starting from 2003 and broadcast in that same year on Italia 1 and MTV Italia channels in the late evening, the puppets are shown while making prank calls to real and unaware victims, ranging from TV characters to singers, from employees of public offices to the Carabinieri (police force), with ironic and humorous tones. In-between the prank calls, mini sit-come and musical interludes are shown.
In 2010 Eve and The Munchies appeared, a spin-off of the original program, presented in a new format and broadcast on Italia 1 channel. In this series, the puppets act together with actress Evelina Manna and they are no longer dealing with prank calls, but are committed to saving the Earth from an imminent destruction by the Maya people. In order to do this, they have to overcome the space-time limits and recover the six elements of the Munchies Code, the only possibility of salvation for the human race. In the series, together with some enemies, several well-known puppet characters appear, including Bob Marley, Marilyn Monroe and even Adolf Hitler and Satan, with the events commented by Alfred Hitchcock, also played by a puppet but voiced by the real Hitchcock’s dubber.
The characters of the Munchies have also come to life in the production of music videos such as Italiano Medio by Articolo31, Goldrake al ristorante by GemBoy and, as previously said, Let the Munchies Play, the original theme of the program. Moreover, the Munchies have been guests of television programs such as Top of The Pops, a musical program broadcast on Italia 1 channel, and the program TRL, broadcast on MTV Italia channel. The character of Pasquale Catozzo also appears as co-host of Enrico Papi’s Papirazzo program.
In 2011 the latest project saw them involved in the realization of a pilot episode for the American market, filmed between Italy and the United States, in which the Munchies act again alongside real professional actors and well-known faces of American TV series.
They are currently preparing for a return to the show biz and to the web world, through social networks, with new surprises.
