The Chiodo Brothers (Stephen, Charles & Edward Chiodo; /kiˈoʊdoʊ/; born in Bronx, New York) are an American trio of sibling special effects artists, specializing in clay modeling, creature creation, stop motion and animatronics. Known for their film Killer Klowns from Outer Space as well as creating puppets and effects for films such as Critters, Ernest Scared Stupid, and Team America: World Police. The Chiodo brothers created the claymation sequence for the Large Marge scene from Pee-wee's Big Adventure, as well as the stop-motion elements in the North Pole scenes from Elf.[1] They also created the mouse dioramas featured in the 2010 film Dinner for Schmucks,[2] as well as the stop-motion Stone Age creatures in the Cup Noodles ads from the mid-90s and were puppeteers on The Thundermans. In addition, they produced a puppet segment for the episode of The Simpsons "The Fight Before Christmas" (2010). The band Chiodos was originally named "The Chiodos Bros." after them, before modifying their title slightly.
Their studio has made clay animation segments for five episodes of The Simpsons:
A parody of Davey and Goliath for "HOMR" (2001).
Parodies of The California Raisins and Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town for "'Tis the Fifteenth Season" (2003).
A couch gag featuring Gumby for "The Girl Who Slept Too Little" (2005).
A parody of Wallace and Gromit for "Angry Dad: The Movie" (2011).
A nightmare sequence parodying Davey and Goliath for "Ned 'n Edna's Blend" (2012).
On August 23, 2019, it was announced that the Chiodo Brothers were developing a stop-motion animated adaptation of the book Alien Xmas,[3] written by Stephen Chiodo and Jim Strain,[4] for Netflix with executive producer Jon Favreau. The adaptation, also titled Alien Xmas, was released on Netflix on November 20, 2020.
