Spiritually nutritious: 'Veggie Tales' seeks to nourish with biblical world view

When Mike Nawrocki and Phil Vischer took their puppet show on the road, children weren’t the only ones laughing.

The two students from St. Paul Bible College, a small denominational school outside Minneapolis, spent two years performing at area churches as part of their student ministry. Drawing upon common comedic influences, such as Jim Henson and Mel Brooks, the two struck up a friendship and creative collaboration.

“We infused a lot of that humor into the puppets that we did and ended up entertaining the adult Sunday School classes along with the kids,” Nawrocki said.

And they’re still at it. For 18 years, Nawrocki, known by most as Larry the Cucumber, and Vischer, aka Bob the Tomato, have been getting laughs with computer-animated vegetables. Their characters have worn shoes on their heads, sung about manatees and been pirates who don’t do anything.

But more importantly, “Veggie Tales” has conveyed a message that is rare in modern media.

“We want to tell stories from a biblical world view, a world view that assumes that there is a God who made us, who loves us and wants a relationship with us,” Nawrocki said. “Every story that we tell is told from that perspective.”

That’s the big idea at Big Idea Entertainment, founded by Nawrocki and Vischer in 1993. Its mission statement, which is on every desk at the studios in Nashville, Tenn., is “to enhance the spiritual and moral fabric of society through creative media.”

“That’s really behind why we do what we do,” Nawrocki said. “That gets to the core of why we come into work every day.”

“Veggie Tales” was grown at a video post-production house in Illinois. The creative duo had reunited there after attending St. Paul Bible College, with Vischer working on a filmmaking career and Nawrocki trying to earn money for pre-med studies.

One of their projects was to tell a half-hour animated story with a positive message for children. But with computer animation still in its infancy, a production of that length required the characters to be simple — no limbs, clothes or hair.

Vischer’s original model was actually a candy bar — that was, until his wife saw it and remarked, “I don’t think moms would appreciate their kids getting lessons from candy bars.”

“Vegetables just turned out to be a great character to have,” said Nawrocki, calling the decision “completely pragmatic.”