Penguins, both funny and lovable, are all the rage these days

Penguins are anything but rare birds in Hollywood these days.

In the footsteps of March of the Penguins and Happy Feet, the wave continues with the recently released Farce of the Penguins spoof, the DVD release of 1995's animated The Pebble and the Penguin and the upcoming summer cartoon Surf's Up, about surfing penguins.

The penguins that instigated the action in Madagascar starred in their own cartoon short and are being developed as lead players for a cartoon TV show.

Even Robert Altman's final movie, A Prairie Home Companion, featured Garrison Keillor telling a droll joke about the birds: "Two penguins are standing on an ice floe. The first penguin says, `You look like you're wearing a tuxedo.' The second penguin says, `What makes you think I'm not?'"

When asked why the joke is funny, Keillor replies, "I guess because people laugh at it."

The same somehow holds for penguins. People laugh at them and love them unconditionally. Why? Just because they're funny and lovable.

"They're an anthropomorphic gift. A little kid dressed in too many winter clothes, walking around and falling in the snow," said Chris Jenkins, producer of Surf's Up, which hits theaters in June.