Mr. Prokouk (Czech: Pan Prokouk) is a character created by Karel Zeman for a series of Czech animated short films in the 1940s and 1950s.
Prokouk, a stop-motion animation puppet made of wood, is a sympathetic, irrepressible everyman character with a bristling mustache, a long nose, and a pork pie hat. The French newspaper Le Monde described the character as an "animated cousin" of Jacques Tati's character Monsieur Hulot, and the catalogue of a 2001 Karel Zeman retrospective at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive suggested that Prokouk might be taken as Zeman's alter ego. The short films in which he appears are comic with a didactic touch.
The character first appeared in the 1946 short Podkova pro štěstí ("Horseshoe for Luck").
Prokouk became the most well-known character in Czech animated cinema and a familiar figure in Czech culture. The films were especially popular with young audiences.
The following table is based on information from the Karel Zeman Museum's filmography.
| Year | Czech title | English title | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1, 1946 | Pan Prokouk: Podkova pro štěstí | Mr. Prokouk: A Horseshoe for Luck | |
| June 17, 1947 | Pan Prokouk ouřaduje | Mr. Prokouk, The Office Clerk | |
| September 1, 1947 | Pan Prokouk v pokušení | Mr. Prokouk in Temptation | |
| 1947 | Pan Prokouk na brigádě | Mr. Prokouk, The Volunteer | |
| January 1, 1948 | Pan Prokouk filmuje | Mr. Prokouk, The Filmmaker | |
| July 23, 1949 | Pan Prokouk vynálezcem | Mr. Prokouk, The Inventor | |
| 1955 | Pan Prokouk, přítel zvířátek | Mr. Prokouk, The Animal Lover | |
| August 28, 1957 | Pan Prokouk detektivem | Mr. Prokouk, The Detective | |
| 1959 | Pan Prokouk akrobatem | Mr. Prokouk, The Acrobat |