Looking for an independent film from the late 1990s

Hello, in 1998 I saw a movie on the IFL channel. It was about a guy who kidnaps a children’s TV show puppet and the puppet comes to life (like a Barney character). At the end, he reveals he is dying from HIV/AIDS. One of the last lines of the film is they are doing the alphabet and for A he says “ashes, when then come tell them I want to be ashes”. Thank you