Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato recently celebrated their 30th birthday.
It was on December 21, 1993, that Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki, under Big Idea Entertainment, introduced the world to VeggieTales.
In the series, Bob and Larry lead a variety of fruit and vegetable characters on adventures. They retell stories from the Bible while also biblically teaching life lessons.
The first episode of VeggieTales, 'Where's God When I'm S-Scared?" was released as VHS tape in Christian bookstores in 1993. It was later released on DVD and Blu-ray.
"30 yrs ago this week, Mike Nawrocki, Robert Ellis, Chris Olsen, and I packed 500 copies of VT #1 in Robert’s station wagon and drove them to the post office - barely in time for Xmas! And Bob and Larry entered the world!" said Phil Vischer in a post on X.
Thanks Rachel! Yep, 30 yrs ago this week Mike Nawrocki, Robert Ellis, Chris Olsen and I packed 500 copies of VT #1 in Robert’s station wagon and drove them to the post office - barely in time for Xmas! And Bob and Larry entered the world! https://t.co/fmMJ3N0zJC
— Phil Vischer (@philvischer) December 21, 2023
The success of VeggieTales led to several television series spin-offs, a Netflix series and two films, as well as a franchise of related media, including books, music and video games.
Since its debut, the series has sold over 16 million books, 7 million music CDs, and 235 million music streams.