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Mallory Lewis with Lamb Chop
Lamb Chop is a sock puppet sheep created by late comedian and ventriloquist Shari Lewis. In 1957 the character, a female lamb, first appeared with Lewis on Hi Mom, a local morning show that aired on WNBC in New York.
Creation
Lamb Chop has been described as a "6-year-old girl, very intuitive and very feisty, a combination of obstinacy and vulnerability...you know how they say fools rush in where wise men fear to go? Well, Lamb Chop would rush in, then scream for help." Lamb Chop, in all her shows, had referred to her close friend, a girl named Lolly Pincus.
From 1960 to 1963, Shari Lewis had her own musical-comedy network television show called The Shari Lewis Show. After children's programming turned to animation, she continued to perform in a wide range of venues. In 1992, Lamb Chop and Shari began their own PBS children's show, Lamb Chop's Play-Along, an Emmy Award winner for five consecutive years. The show lasted approximately 25 minutes per episode. On PBS, it premiered September 10, 1992 and was last shown on January 1, 1997. It has been shown on Qubo since then.
Shari Lewis died in 1998 from pneumonia while being treated for uterine cancer. Two years later, her daughter, producer and writer Mallory Lewis (formerly Tarcher) decided to perform with Lamb Chop. Mallory had worked closely with her mother when producing the PBS program. Ms. Lewis has this to say about her mother and Lamb Chop:
| “ | My mom was one of the world's greatest entertainers. I don't want to challenge that. I don't think it's wise to go there. But I do want to do everything that I can do for Lamb Chop. I'll help keep her going. | ” |
Shari Lewis' other puppet, Hush Puppy, made its comeback at the Iowa State Fair in 2010.
Lamb Chop currently performs with Shari Lewis's daughter, Mallory, mainly for the US Military. Lamb Chop is a three-star general. She was given a field promotion by Lt. Gen. Tom Conant, deputy commander of the Pacific for the Marines.
In the first year's collection of 9 Chickweed Lane dailies, Out Whom Shall We Gross? the August 31st, 1993 strip quotes Lambchop as saying, "A virtuous man's honesty exists only in proportion to the pyre upon which he atones for it."
Mallory described Lamb Chop's values as a "liberal Jewish Democrat."