The show's creator, stand up comedian Mark Allen, pitched the project as a way to showcase the life story of semi-known up and coming comedians. The documentary format of the show allowed editors to inter-cut interviews with stand up material and recreations. Late in development a friend of the network president pitched a puppet show featuring puppets made from popsicle sticks. Thrilled with the comedy potential of the puppets Network Management notified the production staff of Inside Joke that their new, serious, documentary would now feature popsicle stick puppets as the hosts of the show.
Season 1 of Inside Joke was SiTV's highest rated show in the history of the network.
The puppet segments were the lowest rated segment in the history of the network.
Public opinion said the puppets and the documentary interviews and archival footage simply didn't mix. In order to maintain series continuity the Puppets were not completely removed from the show, they were redesigned and reformatted for season 2 to a drastically cut down format. Rather than being part of a talk show 'Inside the brains of the comedians' they became simply a stand alone puppet host introducing the comedians for the episode.