The Donut Man is a Religious Edutainment series created by Rob Evans. It first started in 1981 as "The Donut Repair Club" from a series of music albums and live tours, but it wasn't until the 1990s that it was turned into a series of home video specials.
The series is about the Donut Man who runs the Donut Repair Club which consists himself, his friend Duncan (a talking donut) and a group of kids (some of them are Rob Evans' real children). Their job is to help others who are need or help or just down, as the donuts are used to represent life without God and Jesus (due to the fact they have holes in the center). Each episode either revolves the club helping those in need, or someone within the club.
The series lasted up until 1997 after the last video was "Duncan's Greatest Hits", which was a clipshow of Duncan talking about himself. It wasn't until 2017 the series was revived as "Massterpiece Donut Shop" on EWTN. In this series, the Donut Man and Duncan are running the Massterpiece Donut Shop. Unlike the original videos where they're made for any form of Christianity, "Massterpiece" focuses more on Catholicism (Rob Evans converted in 2006). Also the series is mainly set in a few locations unlike the original where they go to different locations (this is more in line with the first "Donut Hole" videos). Despite the changes, the videos still give out the same message about God's love.
This series provides examples of:
- Baseball Episode: "The Donut All-Stars" has the Donut Man and the Repair Club getting ready for a baseball game.
- Camping Episode: "Camp Harmony" has the Dount Man and the Repair Club coming over to said camp to have a fun time and help others.
- Clip Show:
- "Quiet Time Songs" and "Active Songs" are just collections of certain songs from the videos up to "The Donut All Stars"
- "The Donut Repair Club Video Sampler" is a small clip show of the Donut Man recapping videos from "The Adventures of the Donut Repair Club on Tour" to "The Resurrection Celebration" and featuring a song from each video (with the exception of "Barnyard Fun" as that has two).
- "Duncan's Greatest Hits" has Duncan talking about his favorite moments and uses clips from "The Adventures of the Donut Repair Club on Tour" to "After School". Unlike the other clip shows, new scenes of Duncan are filmed.
- Detention Episode: "After School" has the Donut Man, his daughter Mary and Duncan helping out some children at a Christian school as they got detention for their bad behavior.
- Divorce Assets Conflict: Part of the conflict in "The Donut All-Stars" deals with Matt's parents being divorce. His dad was suppose to help coach the team, but he moved away, which Matt feels upset and tells the Donut Man the truth. The latter understands as his parents were divorced at the same age (Rob Evans stated this happened to him in real life) and assures Matt that God will still love him no matter what.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The first two videos "The Donut Hole" have some differences compare to the later videos in the 1990s.
- "The Donut Song" has the lyric "Life without God's Love" instead of "Life without Jesus".
- The Dount Man ran a donut shop and the setting is mainly one location, unlike the later ones where the characters go to other locations.
- Edible Theme Naming: The series revolves around doughnuts. Rob Evans states that doughnuts are used to represent lives without God and Jesus, and the club is there to help fill the empty hearts with love and passion.
- Iconic Sequel Character: Loafer is a popular character from the series thanks to Internet memes, but he wasn't introduced until much later in the series.
- Later-Installment Weirdness: A majority of the episodes were filmed in Texas, but the last video "After School" was filmed in Nashville, Tennessee.
- Revisiting the Roots: "Massterpiece Donut Shop" is more in line on how the first two "Donut Hole" videos were done on stage, unlike the videos after the live tour where they're on location.
- Written-In Absence: "After School" is the only video to only feature just one kid from the Donut Repair Club, as the Donut Man tells Duncan that the rest of the gang are meeting others. Considering that the three are trying to help convert the troubled kids at detention as a new Donut Repair Club, this is understandable.
