Guignol is a French puppet show created by Laurent Mourguet who was born in year 1769. Laurent entered dentistry as a profession, which at the time involved painful procedures. To help patients relax, Laurent began to put on puppet shows in front of the dentist chair. As the popularity of his puppet shows grew, Laurent left dentistry altogether, and became a professional puppeteer. In 1808, he created the character Guignol, a character that would later have an entire show named after it.