This bite-sized suite has not been heard outside of Williams Street, which has always bummed me out. Because, damn, I love this failed project and wish we created more of it.

Backstory: Matt Maellaro, co-creator of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, was pitching ideas in Mike Lazzo's office and blurted out the name Penguino, with only a vague idea of what that might be. When Lazzo pressed, Maellaro answered, "It'd be a violent musical, a cross between Barbara Streisand's Yentl and Iron Maiden." Classic Maellaro.

"Now THAT sounds interesting," Lazzo replied. Classic Lazzo.

Matt was collaborating with Doc Matysiak, who suggested asking if I could help pull this off. (Doc and I had only just started making FishCenter songs; I still felt quite green in the gills.)

Matt came to my desk and described his vision: two roommates – the titular Penguino and Tyrell, a buff, shirtless man on roller skates – sing about their mundane adventures: the farm, hairdresser, Best Buy. Oh, plus they kill people – lots of people – with their bare hands and flippers, weapons, even a mystical, gleaming rake that turns "piles of flesh into even tinier piles of flesh."

Taking the 'Yentl meets Iron Maiden' hook sincerely, I wrote 'Tyrell's Lament/Penguino's Retort' and 'The Rake of the Rakener'. Within hours, I stepped into the booth and sang all the words and melodies a cappella – a weird experience, but thankfully my Streisand-aspiring voice soared that day. We knew we had . . . something.

That's when genius sound designer Brent Busby stepped in. Taking my raw performances, he orchestrated all the fantastic music. Paul Painter joined the fun and performed as Penguino. Paul was apologetic over his lack of singing skills but I think he sounds marvelous.

The songs came out so well I kept writing new ones for potential future episodes:

'The Blood-Off Song' is a fun duet as lyrically good as anything I've ever written.

'Look At Them' and '(Succumb To The) Doorbuster' were for the Christmas – or more specifically – Black Friday episode. Penguino and Tyrell are looking down on folks lined up for Black Friday "doorbuster" specials. Somehow they kill the shoppers by blasting them into deep space.

'Evening's Come' sweetly caps off a day of murder and befriending a cow.

We made the pilot, and though the songs were well-received, Lazzo passed. (Bears noting that Lazzo hated my voice acting as Tyrell. "You should never be in front of a camera or behind a mic – except for your SONGS, of course," he said – two years before I started a thousand shows for Stupid Morning Bullshit. "You're actually pretty good at both," he would later concede.)

Anyway I remain proud of Penguino! and can only wonder "what if" when revisiting it. Can you imagine a full season? Alas, we only got this far. So after all this time, I just want Penguino and Tyrell out there, singing of their love for blood, forevermore.

Special thanks Matt, Doc, Brent, and even Lazzo.