Shell Game: Who is Marcel the Shell?

>>> two years ago, if you sat down with a network executive and pitched them the idea of a new tv show about a hermit crab shell with two pink shoes and one plastic eye that was shot on home video in your apartment, that network executive might just laugh you out of the room. but fast forward to now. if you pitched that same show idea today, you'd have a deal. they'd say, where do i sign? that's because marcel the shell with shoes on, that's what he's known as, marshall the shell with shoes on, has become the biggest small star of the comedy world on the web. and that's because his parents were behind him all the way. and they were there for him, in the rough and tumble shell game of show business .

>> my name is marcel and i'm especially a shell as you can see. i also have shoes. so i like that about myself. and i like myself and i have a lot of other great qualities as well.

>> reporter: like the best animated films from hollywood, it has something for adults to love and something for children to love. but unlike those films, marcel the shell with shoes on is done on this computer in this brooklyn apartment, by this nice couple who live with this nice dog and a small shell that talks.

>> guess what a wear as a hat? a lin tell. one time i nibbled on a piece of cheese and my cholesterol went up to 900. guess what i use to tie my skis to my car? a hair.

>> reporter: the story of marcel begins one night two years ago.

>> jenny slate!

>> reporter: she was a new cast member in her first season on "snl" and it was her dream. jenny slate, ivy league educated, 27 years old, was already a well-known figure in the new york improv and sketch comedy world. the sketch she wrote that night was about two women bikers and during rapid-fire dialogue that called for a substitute word, she dropped the f-bomb.

>> you know what? you stood up for yourself and [ bleep ].

>> reporter: you could see it on her face. she realized her mistake and so did those watching in disbelief. her first season on "snl" was her last and soul-searching began.

>> i was feeling like, i'm not sure if i'll go back to "saturday night live" and i feel like maybe i should sit still and be quiet until someone tells me what the verdict is on me. and i think that that began to make me feel feelings that were negative about myself. and it began to start to sort of taint this experience that i loved.

>> guess what i use as a pin? i use a pin but it takes a whole family.

>> reporter: in the comedy business when the going gets tough, the tough make the best of what they can find around the house. and luckily for jenny and her fiance filmmaker dean, they already had a shell collection, one eye, plastic shoes and jenny's newly discovered comedic little boy voice.

>> do you want to hear some?

>> reporter: and a star was born. while marcel is the schecky of the shell community, as funny as it sounds it can be poignant.

>> my one regret in life is i never had a dog. but sometimes i tie a hair to a piece of lint and i drag it around. i love you. come with me. come, come.

>> reporter: the close-up painstaking stop-action animation forced the couple to look more closely at their apartment as a sound stage , including sneakers, a slipper and the dog who scares marcel half to death.

>> oh, god, i can smell his face.

>> reporter: look closely at something else. look at the number of times marcel has been seen on youtube. a lot of network primetime shows would kill for 14 million plus viewers. installment hit the web, it had more viewers by its first night than a lot of popular cable news shows, and it's already up to over 3 million. marcel 's parents are proud and amazed. they've already written a book and they're in talks to turn it into a tv show , which is the next logical step.

>> it's fun.

>> yeah.

>> as long as it's fun.

>> i agree. it's nice for us to do together because it's well-intentioned but it's not pushing anything. also i like talking as marcel because as a person i can be sort of spastic and i get flustered and -- like what i'm doing now. but marcel speaks very clearly.

>> reporter: then toward the end of our interview, marcel joined the conversation. and he came ready to play. ye affected you in any way?

>> has having one nose affected you in any way, brian?

>> reporter: fair point, marcel .

>> yeah. i like to keep it fair. i'm a straight shooter.

>> reporter: touche.

>> indeed. ha ha ha .

>> little guy gives as good as he gets. and by the way, tonight on our website, more of our interview with marcel 's parents, jenny and dean, including a frank discussion of his gender. that is "rock center" for tonight. for all the good folks who work so hard to bring this broadcast to you, thank you for being here with us. and by the way, special thanks as well to chelsea clinton and ted koppel , our newest colleagues around here. we sure look forward to bringing more of their work to you on this broadcast very soon. i'll see you tomorrow evening from this very studio. for "nbc nightly news." for now from all of us good night from new york. your late local news begins now. .