Ben,
I notice you use a store bought programmer for the show. Why not use the Arduino to program your micros?
You can use an Arduino Uno as ISP. All you need are a few parts, an Arduino Uno, jumper wires and a bread board. The rest you can find here: http://www.open-electronics.org/arduino-isp-in-system-programming-and-stand-alone-circuits/.
That was why I made the suggestion.
Typical misunderstanding. The problem is that I also had some difficulties programmig an ATtiny85 with an Arduino Ono as ISP with arduino code. Maybe therefore he used the standard tools like AVR Studio and AVRISP MkII.
