''Iris, The Happy Professor'' (also known as ''Iris'' and ''Professor Iris'' and in French as ''Iris, le gentil professeur'' or ''Professeur Iris'') is a Spanish-Canadian-French-produced television show that run for 156 episodes from 1992 to 1994, created by former Belgian-born comic book artist Henri Desclez and revolving around Professor Iris, a purple

ibis The ibis () (collective plural ibises; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...

who teaches a class of three students: Piano, Skeleton, and Plant. The Professor teaches a variety of subjects to his students and always wears a bowtie based on the topic of the lesson in each episode. A French-language version was made by Montreal's Cinélume Film et Vidéo (under the supervision of Vincent Davy for the first two seasons, uncredited on the first and credited on the second; then Christine Boivineau for the remaining episodes, with Joey Galimi for song adaptation).

Characters

* Professor Iris: played by Pier Paquette (English); Pierre Auger (French) – A purple

and teacher at the unnamed school that serves as the series' setting. He is knowledgeable, optimistic, and the series' protagonist. * Skeleton: played by

Frank Meschkuleit Frank Meschkuleit (born 1962) is a Canadian voice actor, puppeteer and comedian known for his role as Toopy on the Canadian television series ''Toopy and Binoo''. Early life Meschkuleit was born in Toronto to Anna (née Apke) and Siegfried Mesch ...

, Rob Mills (English); Jean Galtier (French) – A

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fra ...

of an

with

bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...

s laid over a red cardigan. * Piano: played by Tim Gosley (English); Élise Bertrand (French) – A pink piano who loves music. * Plant: played by Tim Gosley (English); Gilbert Lachance (French) – A whimsical flower in a flowerpot. * Ms. Principal: played by

, Rob Mills (English); Daniel Picard (French) – A yellow duck who is headmistress of the school. She often walks into the class to complain about the racket when it gets noisy. * Mr. Plumeau: played by Michel Lapointe (English); Edgar Fruitier (French) – A grey dog who serves as the school's janitor. * Kiwi: played by

Jani Lauzon Jani Lauzon (born September 29, 1959) is a Canadian director, and multidisciplinary performer from the East Kootenay region of British Columbia. For much of her career she believed her family to be Métis, and centered Métis themes in her wo ...

(English); Lisette Dufour (French) – A green frog who is Ms. Principal's niece.

International broadcasting

Aside from airing in its native Canada, ''Iris, The Happy Professor'' was one of the first six shows featured on

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

's ''

Ready Set Learn! ''Ready Set Learn!'' is a defunct American television block broadcast from late 1992 until 2010 across the Discovery Communications-owned TLC and Discovery Kids networks. A cable competitor to PBS Kids, PBS's children's offerings, it broadcast t ...

'' block during its 28 December 1992 debut. It has also aired in several countries and territories including France, Israel, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Latin America, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Scotland, Brunei and Jordan.

References

External links

Iris The Happy Professor Super Website
on

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

*
Information about the show on UNIS TV

Information about the French dub

1992 Canadian television series debuts 1994 Canadian television series endings 1990s Canadian children's television series 1990s preschool education television series Canadian preschool education television series Canadian television shows featuring puppetry Treehouse TV original programming Television shows filmed in Montreal Television series about birds Television series about educators Canadian English-language television shows Children's television series about talking animals {{Canada-kids-tv-prog-stub