Hogtown Mascots and The Colbert Report

Press Release

Celebrity satirist Stephen Colbert uses mascot on April 27th edition of ‘The Colbert Report’.

· Toronto, ON, April 28, 2010: Hogtown Mascots (www.hogtownmascots.com) recently selected comedian Stephen Colbert as the next recipient on its mascot ‘hit list’, following the success of the ‘Big Ellen’ mascot campaign in April 2008, in which celebrity talk show host Ellen DeGeneres also received a mascot of herself as a gift. According to company founder John Kernaghan, DeGeneres and Colbert were selected because of their quirky humour, self-deprecating style and wide audience appeal. “Both Stephen and Ellen are very entertaining, so sending them caricatures of themselves is as much a thank you from me as it is an opportunity for them to script the characters in a way that is consistent with the vibe of their shows.”, said Kernaghan. In last night’s edition of ‘The Colbert Report’, the Colbert mascot first appeared wielding a t-shirt cannon which it fired off into the audience. It appeared again at the close of the show, when Colbert personally thanked Hogtown Mascots on air, after which he put the head on and begin dancing with his harem.

· In the case of the ‘Big Ellen’ mascot, not only did it appear when she first revealed it to her audience during the letters segment, but the mascot continued to appear throughout the rest of the season rolling out gifts, participating in games and interacting with the public both in and out of the studio. It garnered enough attention to warrant a photo and caption in the April 2008 edition of In Touch magazine. Kernaghan is confident that based on past success with the Ellen show and because Colbert’s demographic is mostly college-age American youth, ‘Big Stephen’ will enjoy an equally colorful career.

· Hogtown Mascots not only gifts mascots to worthy celebrities, but it often chooses to partner with a worthy charitable organization once a year to receive a free mascot to help with fundraising efforts. In 2009, a mascot was donated to Gabbie’s Wish which raises money for Cystinosis research. Cystinosis is an extremely rare metabolic disease affecting children, which slowly destroys the organs in the body including the kidneys, liver, eyes, muscles and the brain.

· For further information, contact John Kernaghan or George Civello at Hogtown Mascots – 1-877-622-8422 or via email info@hogtownmascots.com