The Barretta Brothers: Recent Episodes
thebarrettabrothers
Official Podcast of The Barretta Brothers. Join them and many great guests from The Muppets, Movies, TV, and more.
Bill has been a director, writer, producer and core performer with The Muppets for nearly 30 years. Gene is an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books. He has also animated and illustrated for Sesame Street, Between The Lions, and The Jim Henson Company.
But Wait! It’s a Podcast and a Vodcast! You can Listen or Watch. For the Vodcast go to: www.thebarrettabrothers.com
New Podcast episode posts every Friday.
Highlights from the Muppets Take Mahoning 4 event at The Mahoning Drive-In Theater. Q&A with Fred Buchholz (Muppet Tech & Special EFX artist/puppet stunt coordinator) and Joe Hennes (Editor-in-Chief of ToughPigs.com. Plus our Rainbow Connection Sing-Along!
Our 4th event at The Mahoning Drive-In Theater was held on 08-01-26. Joining us were Dave Goelz and Frank Oz!
We did have some unfortunate audio issues in this episode, so please bear with us.
Bobby Moynihan is back to challenge our fan, Sherwin Rackal, a puppeteer from Trinidad and Tobago. But wait, who shows up as a third contestant? Dave Goelz!!!
Featuring three live events during a Muppets Take Mahoning #3 event at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater on May 3, 2025. Hosted by the Barretta Brothers Vodcast/Podcast. Gene Barretta leads a Q&A and Prop Show & Tell with Fred Buchholz, who is a Special Effects artist, Technical Effects artist, Pyro-Technician, Propmaster, and Puppet Designer for The Muppets, as well as many other TV and Film projects. That is followed by a Puppet Contest and a Costume Contest. Several other activities took place before the double-feature of Muppets Take Manhattan, and Muppet Treasure Island.
This live episode of The Barretta Brothers is the third time they've hosted a Muppet event at The Mahoning Drive-In Theater in Lehighton, PA on May 3, 2025. The name of the evening is Muppets Take Mahoning 3. They showed a double feature of Muppets Take Manhattan and Muppet Treasure Island, plus lots of other fun activities. Unfortunately, the audio for the costume and puppets contests is shaky. But we have posted those events separately on our Youtube Channel.
Audience contestant Gregory Di Bruno goes head to head with actor/comedian Bobby Moynihan with Muppet Christmas Trivia #05. Santa Claus also pays a surprise visit.
We celebrate the 55-year career of Frank Biondo, The A-Cameraman on Sesame Street since Day One 1969! With over 40 surprise guests from the show's 55 season run.
This live episode of The Barretta Brothers is recorded at The Mahoning Drive-In Theater in Lehighton, PA on May 18, 2024. It is the second night of an event called Muppets Take Mahoning. Our special guest is Puppeteer, producer, and director, Matt Vogel. Along with this live recording, the IN-PERSON event includes a special 35mm double-feature of Muppets Most Wanted (2014), and Labyrinth (1986) - on night one, the double-feature was The Great Muppet Caper (1981), and The Dark Crystal (1982). The event also includes Video Greetings by Muppeteers, Louise Gold, Bill Barretta, Matt Vogel, Peter Linz, Alice Dinnean, also Danny Trejo, and Ricky Gervais. There were Muppet Collectible Vendors; Muppet DJ Set & Book Signing w/ Gene Barretta; an Open Mic/Talent Show; Costume Contest, Puppet Contest; Mahoning Merch; Mahoning Raffle; Muppet-themed Snacks: Mahna Ma-Nachos and Puppet Punch; Photo Ops; and an Intermission Sing-A-Long!
Gene & Bill Barretta take a glimpse behind the scenes with lots of great stories from Directors: Matt Sohn, Kimmie Gatewood, Rob Cohen; Director of Photography: Craig Kief; 1st AD: Ross Novie; Production Designer: Denise Pizzini; Key Grip: Bodie Hyman; Puppet Heap Puppet Designer: Paul Andrejco; Muppets Coordinator: Danielle Obinger; Designer, builder/Prod. Coordinator: Peter McKennan; Props: Bethany Barton; Puppet Wranglers: Jürgen Ferguson, Russ Walko, and Rachel Burson.
In Part Three of Meet the Muppets Mayhem, we meet Muppets Galore! Michelin Sisti, Matt Vogel, Nicolette Santino, Bruce Lanoil, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, David Bizzaro, Donna Kimball, Tim Lagasse, David Rudman, Art Vega, Drew Massey, Eric Jacobson, Jackson Barretta, Bradley Freeman, Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Alice Dinnean.
In Part Two of Meet the Muppets Mayhem, we meet the writers! Adam F. Goldberg, Bill Barretta, Jeff Yorkes, Crystal Shaw, Gabrielle Rodriguez, Hannah Friedman, and Donielle Muransky.
The Barretta Brothers begin their series on The Muppets Mayhem, joined by Muppet Performers, Dave Goelz and Peter Linz. Plus, series actors, Tahj Mowry, Saara Chaudry, and Anders Holm.
We celebrate Dave Goelz's 50-year career with The Muppets with a cavalcade of guests! Guests: Jackson Barretta, Ben Goelz (with girlfriend Felicia), Amy Goelz, Debbie Goelz, Dave Goelz (guest of honor), Frank Oz, Lucy Baker, Martin Baker, Jill Colley, Louise Gold, Andy Nyman (with Sophie Nyman), Nigel Plaskitt, Keith Radack, Lark Baskerville, Mark Waxman, Ernie Patterson, Heather Henson, Brian Henson, Lisa Henson, Cheryl Henson, John Lovelady, Bonnie Erikson, Rollie Krewson, Calista Hendrickson, Amy Van Gilder, Karen Prell, Kevin Clash, David Rudman, Fran Brill and husband, Jan Nelson, Rita Peruggi, Lawrence Mirkin, Alexandra Rockwell, Tom Newby, Ed Christie, Polly Smith, Jane Gootnick, Fred Buchholz, Craig Shemin, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Jim Lewis, Ed Mitchell, Charles Rivkin, Joel Behr, Karen Barnes, Adam Savage, Bobby Moynihan, Peter Friedman, Michael Giacchino, Peter Doctor, Leigh Slaughter, Michael Steinbach, Matt Vogel, Kelly Vogel, Caren Rudman, Eric Jacobson, Mary Jacobson (and children), Peter Linz, Alice Dinnean, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, Jocelyn Stevenson, Barb Caswell, Chris Caswell, Duncan Kenworthy, Danny Trejo, Kirk Thatcher, Mike Quinn, Paul Williams, Ricky Gervais, Bill Prady, Dave's Glam Squad, Brad Freeman, Peter McKennan, Chris Neely, Allan Trautman, Jeff Yorkes, Adam F. Goldberg, Chelsea DeVincent, Donna Kimball, Michelan Sisti, Pat and Barbara Contini, Lynne Hale, Patricia Ulrich, Hillary Bradley, Bruce Lanoil, Laura Lanoil, Dani Iglesis, Richard Leonard, Drew Massey, Nicolette Santino, Andrew Williams
This episode of The Barretta Brothers is recorded live at The Mahoning Drive-In Theater in Lehighton, PA on May 20, 2023. Their special guest is Ed Christie (Ex VP/General Manager of NY Muppet Workshop, with a surprise guest, Brian Henson. This special event centered around a special 35mm double-feature of The Muppet Movie (1979), and The Muppets (2011). Other in-person experiences included - Movie Greetings by Muppeteers, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, Matt Vogel, Peter Linz, Eric Jacobson, and David Rudman; Muppet Trailers; Muppet Collectible Vendors; Costume contest; Muppet DJ Set & Book Signing w/ Gene Barretta; Mahoning Merch; Mahoning Raffle; Muppet-themed Snack: Mahna Ma-Nachos; Photo Ops; and an Intermission Sing-A-Long - RAINBOW CONNECTION!
Gene and Bill discuss the new series, The Muppets Mayhem, with Bill’s co-creators & co-writers, Adam Goldberg (of The Goldbergs), and Jeff Yorkes. Plus, Executive Producers, Michael Bostick, and Kris Eber.
Contestants, Adrienne H. Lee, and Henry Greenberg compete to see who knows more about their favorite subject - The Muppets! Ben Barretta sits in with his Dad, Gene. A visit by Santa Claus. And to top it all off, Muppet performers, Dave Goelz, Peter Linz, Matt Vogel, and Eric Jacobson, join Bill and Gene for some holiday Q&A and stories.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers talk about Muppets Haunted Mansion. Special guests Matt Vogel, Dave Goelz, Peter Linz, Julianne Buescher, Alice Dinnean, Bruce Lanoil, Michael Steinbach, and Kelly Younger.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome actress, singer, and Muppet performer, Louise Gold.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Louise Gold
Louise trained as an actor at Arts Educational School but very early in her career she got a job with Jim Henson as one of the Muppet Performers on The Muppet Show (filmed at Elstree Studios) From then on, she has combined both acting and puppeteering. Most recently she played Yente in Trevor Nunn’s acclaimed production of "Fiddler on the Roof' at The Menier Chocolate Factory and the Playhouse Theatre London. Directly before that she was one of the core performers on The Netflix prequel series to the film, The Dark Crystal, 'Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance'. She was one of the original team that started Spitting Image, doing voices and puppeteering, worked on the recent Cbeebies show ‘The Furchester Hotel ‘playing Funella Furchester. She has appeared in many West End Shows as an actress including Mamma Mia, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Assassins, The Cherry Orchard with the RSC and TV, Film and Radio.
In lockdown she was part of GLOP (Glorious ladies of Puppetry)
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome actor, comedian, writer, and SNL Alumni, Bobby Moynihan.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Bobby Moynihan
Bobby Moynihan is an actor and writer, known for Saturday Night Live, DuckTales, Secret Life of Pets, and the upcoming Mr. Mayor. He has worked with the Muppets when he hosted the Muppet Show Live at the Hollywood Bowl and the O2. He is a happy boy.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers take questions from the Live Youtube chat, while they watch old projects, home movies and TV sabotage videos. They welcome their life-long friend, musician, Ben Chatrer.
ABOUT OUR HOSTS:
Gene Barretta & Bill Barretta
“What are they up to now?” That was the popular question around their house and neighborhood while growing up. It was not unusual to see Gene and Bill dressed up in homemade costumes – filming Super 8mm dramas – attempting risky stunts in the ravine – animating GI Joes and weird-looking clay figures – building and performing clunky puppets – drawing offbeat comics, - and imitating The Beatles.
Today, life isn’t very different. In addition to personal projects and various acting roles, Bill has been a director, writer, producer and core performer with The Muppets for nearly 30 years. Gene is an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books. He has also animated and illustrated for Sesame Street, Between the Lions, and The Jim Henson Company.
The best part of their careers is that they occasionally get to work together! Unfortunately, no one will pay them to imitate The Beatles.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Ben Chatrer
Ben Chatrer has played his eclectic songs on The Gong Show, The Uncle Floyd Show, and Japanese T.V. More recently, he's opened for Foxygen. Andy Partridge of XTC is a fan. Dean Ween guests on his three CDs.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Santa Claus! They also hold the third Muppet Trivia contest, featuring contestants, Joseph Deply and Mike Mroz.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Santa Claus
Yup. The real one. Thank you to actor, Chuck Gill for arranging the visit.
Joseph Deply
Joseph Debly is a young actor, singer, and puppeteer from New Brunswick, Canada. He has been a Henson fanatic since he was very young and is a dedicated Barretta Brothers viewer.
Mike Mroz
Convinced from the age of four that Fraggles were real creatures, 30-year old Mike Mroz lacks no whimsy in his everyday life, apparent in his childlike love of the Muppets and all things Jim Henson. His current endeavor is acquiring the complete Muppet Palisades figure collection.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome actor, comedian, Kevin Bishop.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Kevin Bishop
Kevin Bishop is a stalwart of the contemporary British TV comedy scene. He is best known for Star Stories on Channel 4; his own series The Kevin Bishop Show (Channel 4); The Tracey Ullman Show; and the BBC1 reboot of Porridge, playing Ronnie Barker’s grandson, Nigel Fletcher AKA “Fletch”.
Kevin starred as Nigel Farage in the BBC2 mockumentary "Nigel Farage Gets His Life Back," and played Barry Hearn in the critically acclaimed "Rack Pack.”
Kevin is soon to appear in the new series of Inside No. 9; and the movie, Kung Fury II alongside Michael Fassbender and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Muppet Fan and Musician/Producer, Mark Read, plus Muppet Fanatic Chris Stulz. They both present their best Muppet Collectibles.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Mark Read
Mark achieved global success with UK/Norwegian 90s/00s boyband A1, releasing 5 studio albums and a string of UK and international top 5 hits, reaching the coveted no. 1 spot with ‘Same Old Brand New You’ and their cover of A-ha’s classic ‘Take On Me’.
Their critical and popular acclaim led to numerous awards including MTV, Smash Hits, Disney Channel and the prestigious Brit award for Best Newcomer. The band split in 2002 after 4 years of chart-topping success but joined forces once again (this time as a 3-piece with Mark, Ben and Christian) in 2014 for ITV’s hugely popular documentary series The Big Reunion. The candid programme gave fans an insight into the highs and lows of the group’s history culminating in a major UK arena tour and a renewed surge of appetite from their loyal fanbase. In 2018, A1 announced that original member Paul would be reuniting with the band for the first time in 15 years for a huge 20th anniversary tour.
Away from the band, accomplished musician and songwriter Mark has written for international artistes including Michael Bolton, Boyzone, The Hollies, John Barrowman and Charlotte Church.
Mark has also established himself as a confident musical theatre performer. In recent years he has had lead roles in many productions including Cinderella and Aladdin and enjoyed a successful run of hit show Spoonful of Sherman and also appeared as Corny Collins in Hairspray, alongside Russell Grant as Edna. Mark also co-wrote and produced the score for Noah a Musical Adventure which toured across the UK for 2 years.
Chris Stulz
Chris Stulz’s obsession with all things Jim Henson started with hand-me-down toys from Sesame Street and The Muppet Show and has continued into adulthood, encompassing all kinds of Henson related items including Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and, of course everything Muppets!
Since 2012, Chris has run the Muppet Stuff blog where shares news and other information about all kinds of Jim Henson related productions and merchandise.
His award-winning collection, aptly named The Muppet Stuff Museum, consisting of over three thousand items, was featured on MeTV’s Collector’s Call.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome TV Host, producer, and actor, Tom Bergeron. As well as writer/producers, Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Tom Bergeron
Tom is an award-winning TV host, producer and actor, known for Dancing with the Stars, Hollywood Squares, America’s Funniest Home Videos, The Jerry Lewis Telethon, occasional appearances with The Muppets, and more recently as a Masked Taco on The Masked Singer. He has been married to Lois Harmon since May 22, 1982. They have two children.
Marl McCorkle & Bob Schooley
Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley met at Sesame Place in 1981 and after working together on projects there, they moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in animation where they have produced such shows as “Kim Possible,” “Penguins of Madagascar,” “Big Hero 6,” and wrote the feature film, “Sky High.”
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Muppet Fan Artists, Stuart Reeves, David R. Hulteen, James V. Carrol, and Kenny Durkin.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Stuart Reeves
In 2009 Stuart opened his own studio after working in-house at one of the U.K’s largest privately-owned companies as Senior Creative since 2001, where he developed a collaborative expertise with the immensely talented creative team there and passionate belief that integrating digital techniques and photography often results in the most successful imagery. His approach has resulted in a number of national design awards, global magazine covers and professional accolades.
Since opening the door to freelance, Stuart has had the opportunity to work on a number of global brands such as Lego, Disney, Warner Bros., Mercedes, Universal Pictures, Pizza Hut and The North Face. His work has spanned the fields of automotive, fashion, concept design, storyboards, character design and development.
David Hulteen
For the last 15 years he has worked for The Salvation Army as a publications specialist, editor, writer, graphic designer, illustrator, and art director in New York. He has also done freelance work for the Jim Henson Company, the American Broadcasting Company, Clear Channel Communications, SModcast Internet Radio, the Gramercy Brass Orchestra of New York, and Imperial Brass.
Dave has been fortunate to do commissioned work for Bill Barretta, Paul Rudolph, and Matt Vogel among other family members of Muppet performers.
"I have a beautiful wife and daughter and we are all a bunch of Jersey kids."
James V. Carroll
James V Carroll is a San Francisco-based, freelance graphic artist. Over the past decade his creative endeavors have included everything from promotional billboards and illustration to multimedia and product design. He is an avid moviegoer and known contributor to the Muppet fan community. His passion for Jim Henson’s characters led him to collaborate with Palisades Toys for many of their classic action figure designs. He also has contributed illustration work for licenses such as Fox and Disney.
Kenny Durkin
Kenny Durkin is a Florida-based cartoonist/caricature artist who has illustrated children's books, designed everything from plush toys to garden gnomes, self-published his own comic books, and had his cartoons on apparel for AMC's Duck Dynasty, Disney's The Muppets, and The Jim Henson Company. He's designed numerous company logos and has illustrated the posters and playbills of several off-Broadway musicals. He writes and illustrates his own online comic strip Father of the Brood.
He has performed live caricature entertainment at events across the United States for over 20 years. He's drawn caricatures at Walt Disney World retail locations and special events for 15 years.
He is a proud member of the prestigious National Cartoonists Society and an award-winning Gold Member of the International Society of Caricature Artists.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome puppeteer, writer, producer, and Muppet performer, David Rudman.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
David Rudman is an Emmy-nominated writer, producer, and performer.
On Sesame Street, David performs Baby Bear, Cookie Monster, and half of Two-Headed Monster.
He has performed in numerous television shows and specials including Saturday Night Live, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The 42nd Annual Kennedy Center Honors and the recent Disney Plus series Muppets Now.
With the Muppets, Rudman performs Scooter, Janice, and Beaker. His film credits include The Muppets Take Manhattan, Labyrinth, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, A Muppet Christmas Carol, Elmo in Grouchland, The Muppets, and Muppets Most Wanted.
Rudman is co-owner of Spiffy Pictures, where he co-created, executive produced, directed, and performed in the Emmy nominated series Jack’s Big Music Show (Nick Jr.), Bunnytown (Disney Junior), Nature Cat (PBS), Frankie and Frank (Nick Jr. Global) and the upcoming series Donkey Hodie (PBS).
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers take questions from the Live Youtube chat, reflecting on the first 30 shows, and more.
ABOUT OUR HOSTS:
Gene Barretta & Bill Barretta
“What are they up to now?” That was the popular question around their house and neighborhood while growing up. It was not unusual to see Gene and Bill dressed up in homemade costumes – filming Super 8mm dramas – attempting risky stunts in the ravine – animating GI Joes and weird-looking clay figures – building and performing clunky puppets – drawing offbeat comics, - and imitating The Beatles.
Today, life isn’t very different. In addition to personal projects and various acting roles, Bill has been a director, writer, producer and core performer with The Muppets for nearly 30 years. Gene is an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books. He has also animated and illustrated for Sesame Street, Between the Lions, and The Jim Henson Company.
The best part of their careers is that they occasionally get to work together! Unfortunately, no one will pay them to imitate The Beatles.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Bran Henson, as well as cousins, Gary Giordano, and Nancy Woloszyn.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Brian Henson
Brian is Chairman of the Jim Henson Company, a puppeteer, director, and producer.
Gary Giordano
Gary Giordano is a first cousin to Gene and Bill. He is an Artist, Gallerist, and Curator, living in Lambertville New Jersey. His Gallery and shows have been written up in Structure and Imagery, White Heat Magazine, The New York Optimist and Arte Fuse. His work is on display and sold at Gallery Gary Giordano, in New Hope, PA.
Nancy Woloszyn
Nancy is a first cousin to Gene and Bill. She has been a school nurse for seven years at Red Bank Charter School in New Jersey where she is affectionately known as Nurse Nancy. She is Aunt Nancy to many nieces and nephews and has earned the title of Queen to our generation of cousins. Her most important title is Mom, to her children, Noelle and Paul. Nancy loves living at the Jersey Shore.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers take questions from the Live Youtube chat, ahead of the Dinosaurs 30th Anniversary Show.
ABOUT OUR HOSTS:
Gene Barretta & Bill Barretta
“What are they up to now?” That was the popular question around their house and neighborhood while growing up. It was not unusual to see Gene and Bill dressed up in homemade costumes – filming Super 8mm dramas – attempting risky stunts in the ravine – animating GI Joes and weird-looking clay figures – building and performing clunky puppets – drawing offbeat comics, - and imitating The Beatles.
Today, life isn’t very different. In addition to personal projects and various acting roles, Bill has been a director, writer, producer and core performer with The Muppets for nearly 30 years. Gene is an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books. He has also animated and illustrated for Sesame Street, Between the Lions, and The Jim Henson Company.
The best part of their careers is that they occasionally get to work together! Unfortunately, no one will pay them to imitate The Beatles.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers are joined by 40 cast and crew members to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the TV show, Dinosaurs.
The highly popular TV series Dinosaurs, produced by Jim Henson Productions and Walt Disney Television, premiered on April 26, 1991. Four seasons originally aired until October 19, 1994.
It's been 30 years since the show began development. Our episode will take you on a chronological journey from its inception to its premiere, featuring over 40 key members of the cast and crew.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers take questions from the Live Youtube chat with guest visits by their sons, Jackson Barretta and Ben Barretta.
ABOUT OUR HOSTS:
Gene Barretta & Bill Barretta
“What are they up to now?” That was the popular question around their house and neighborhood while growing up. It was not unusual to see Gene and Bill dressed up in homemade costumes – filming Super 8mm dramas – attempting risky stunts in the ravine – animating GI Joes and weird-looking clay figures – building and performing clunky puppets – drawing offbeat comics, - and imitating The Beatles.
Today, life isn’t very different. In addition to personal projects and various acting roles, Bill has been a director, writer, producer and core performer with The Muppets for nearly 30 years. Gene is an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books. He has also animated and illustrated for Sesame Street, Between the Lions, and The Jim Henson Company.
The best part of their careers is that they occasionally get to work together! Unfortunately, no one will pay them to imitate The Beatles.
Guests:
Jackson Barretta: Bill's son
Ben Barretta: Gene's son
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome the gang from puppet design and fabrication company, Puppet Heap.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Paul Andrejco
Paul Andrejco is the founder of Puppet Heap, an internationally recognized character design studio in Hoboken, NJ.
Working alongside top artists in his field, he creates characters for a wide variety of media including film, television, theater, and all kinds of new media. Puppet Heap's clients and partners include such names as the Walt Disney Company, Fox Television, and Sesame Workshop.
Michael Bush
Puppet builder, wrangler, and puppeteer with Puppet Heap since 2009.
Danielle Obinger
My title is Muppets Coordinator.
I like to think of myself as an air traffic controller - know where everything is, keep all the planes
in the air and don't let anything crash! The most important thing is to keep the information flowing between Disney and the puppet builders, costumers and prop makers. I coordinate most closely with Peter MacKennan, the Production Supervisor. Peter is much! more is savvy about on-set needs, puppet protocols and idiosyncratic puppet issues. He is often on-set and I remain at PH, but we are in constant contact.
A big part of my job is maintaining and updating the database of Muppet "assets". There are more than 2,200 boxes stored off site and the contents need to be accessed quickly and efficiently.
I started working with the Muppets in 1980. I was hired, sight unseen - resume unseen, to build costumes for The Great Muppet Caper. I soon became the Photo Stylist and later the Photo Librarian (while continuing to do the occasional photo shoot). Iconic Muppet images I helped to create include: Hallmark cards, Sesame Street Viewmaster reels, most of the Miss Piggy calendars, The Kermitage Collection, Muppet Magazine, Got Milk? ads (both Kermit and Cookie Monster),Miss Piggy's Baked Lay's Potato Chip print ads (photographer: Richard Avedon!) and thousands of other photos.
Peter MacKennan
Puppet Heap Senior Artist - Production Supervisor
Peter has worked for over three decades in the fields of visual arts & entertainment, almost always with character based properties and puppets.
He has held positions at Great Jones Studio, Jim Henson Productions, Sesame Workshop, HIT Entertainment and Puppet Heap.
Peter has worked in pre-production and on set on numerous Muppet appearances, television and feature films including Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island, The Muppets!, and Muppets Most Wanted.
He is the recipient of 2 Emmy Awards for his work on Sesame Street (seasons 19-25)
Peter holds an MFA in Painting and printmaking from Yale University. For more on his personal artwork follow him on Instagram.
Daniel Martin
General Manager
Starting at Puppet Heap 5 years ago with a creative and technical background, Dan runs day to day operations and has helped implement new technologies such as 3D by design, 3D printing and laser cutting into the generally traditional field of puppet building.
Mary Brehmer
Mary started her creative career at the Michigan Thanksgiving Parade, working on floats and designing and building inflatables.
After moving to New York, she supervised the sculpture department at Spaeth Design for 5 years before starting to freelance.
For the past 25 years Mary has freelanced for The Jim Henson Company, Puppet Heap, Laika, SNL, Parsons-Meares, and Spiffy Pictures, building and wrangling puppets and building costumes. She has credits in 9 feature film, several television series, and has received 4 Emmy award nominations.
She is happy to now work full time at Puppet Heap but can’t resist an extra freelance project now and then.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers take questions from the Live Youtube chat, with illustrator and author, Jay Fossgit.
ABOUT OUR HOSTS:
Gene Barretta & Bill Barretta
“What are they up to now?” That was the popular question around their house and neighborhood while growing up. It was not unusual to see Gene and Bill dressed up in homemade costumes – filming Super 8mm dramas – attempting risky stunts in the ravine – animating GI Joes and weird-looking clay figures – building and performing clunky puppets – drawing offbeat comics, - and imitating The Beatles.
Today, life isn’t very different. In addition to personal projects and various acting roles, Bill has been a director, writer, producer and core performer with The Muppets for nearly 30 years. Gene is an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books. He has also animated and illustrated for Sesame Street, Between the Lions, and The Jim Henson Company.
The best part of their careers is that they occasionally get to work together! Unfortunately, no one will pay them to imitate The Beatles.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Jay Fossgit
Jay P. Fosgitt has created comics for many familiar properties, such as SESAME STREET and DREAMWORKS ANIMATION (Ape Entertainment), MY LITTLE PONY, G.I. JOE, MICRONAUTS, TRANSFORMERS (IDW/HASBRO), POPEYE (KING FEATURES), ADVENTURE TIME, THE AMAZING WORLD OF GUMBALL, JIM HENSON'S LABYRINTH, THE DARK CRYSTAL and FRAGGLE ROCK (Boom/The Jim Henson Company), BETTY AND VERONICA and LITTLE SABRINA (Archie), and ROCKET RACCOON AND GROOT, AVENGERS, GWENPOOL, WEB WARRIORS, CHAMPIONS, DEADPOOL, JESSICA JONES, NOT BRAND ECHH. LOCKJAW AND SPIDER-GEDDON (Marvel), and Jay has illustrated YOUNG DONALD books for Disney Publishing, and drawn for RANGER RICK MAGAZINE (National Wildlife Federation).
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Muppet performer, puppeteer, Eric Jacobson. Also the second edition of Muppet trivia with contestants, Madison Mantas, and Tyler Partnow.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Eric Jacobson:
Eric Jacobson was born on January 15, 1971 in Fort Worth, Texas, USA as Eric Norman Jacobson. Eric performs many iconic characters including, Fozzie, Miss Piggy, Bert, Oscar the Grouch, and Animal.
Among his long list of credits: Muppets Now, Sesame Street, Bear in the Big Blue House, The Muppets, Saturday Night Live, Between the Lions, The Book of Pooh: Stories from the Heart, and Take Two with Phineas and Ferb
Madison Mantas:
Madison Mantas is a life-long Muppet fan residing in the Milwaukee/Chicago suburbs. She grew up with dance, theater and improv comedy backgrounds and a love for pop culture who she would like to thank her parents and brother for bringing into her life. Most recently, she was a Skipper at Walt Disney’s World-Famous Jungle Cruise in Florida telling crappy dad jokes on boats and loved every second of it.
Tyler Partnow:
Tyler is a life-long Muppet fanatic, a musician, writer, artist, and puppeteer.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers take questions from the Live Youtube chat, with special surprise visits by Muppet performer, puppeteer, producer, and director, Kevin Clash. Plus, actor, voice actor, Muppet performer, puppeteer, Tyler Bunch.
ABOUT OUR HOSTS:
Gene Barretta & Bill Barretta
“What are they up to now?” That was the popular question around their house and neighborhood while growing up. It was not unusual to see Gene and Bill dressed up in homemade costumes – filming Super 8mm dramas – attempting risky stunts in the ravine – animating GI Joes and weird-looking clay figures – building and performing clunky puppets – drawing offbeat comics, - and imitating The Beatles.
Today, life isn’t very different. In addition to personal projects and various acting roles, Bill has been a director, writer, producer and core performer with The Muppets for nearly 30 years. Gene is an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books. He has also animated and illustrated for Sesame Street, Between the Lions, and The Jim Henson Company.
The best part of their careers is that they occasionally get to work together! Unfortunately, no one will pay them to imitate The Beatles.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Kevin Clash:
Kevin Clash is best known for Elmo (Sesame Street) 1979-2012. He also was part of Labyrinth (1986), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1 (1990) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (1991), Happy Time Murders (SFX) 2018, and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Netflix) 2019. In addition to Elmo, Clash is also known for performing Splinter (TMNT) Baby Sinclair (Dinosaurs), and Clifford (Muppets Tonight).
Kevin Clash has won 29 daytime Emmys, over one hundred fifty -six performing title credits, thirty- one producing title credits and twenty- seven directing title credits. In 2011, his documentary, Being Elmo, was awarded the Special Jury Prize at Sundance. He has appeared in numerous television specials, commercials, feature films and direct-to-video products.
During his career, he has worked with great innovators who founded the classic puppet television industry including Kermit Love, Frank Oz, and Jim Henson.
Clash has recruited, auditioned, and trained puppeteers from all over the world. He was the senior puppet coordinator, and was also a director, co-producer and senior creative adviser on Sesame Street. Kevin was essential to the success of Elmo’s World and the creative branding powerhouse of Elmo. Business Insider states that in 1996 the toy company Tyco saw their sales grow from $70 million to an astounding $350 million thanks to the Tickle Me Elmo Doll.
Clash’s most recent project, Earth to Ned, will be airing on Disney+ this Fall and he currently has several projects in development.
Tyler Bunch:
Tyler’s work as a puppeteer has appeared in productions like Sesame Street, Bear in the Big Blue House, Between the Lions, and Crank Yankers. As an actor, he has appeared in The Electric Company, Law & Order “Criminal Intent” and “Special Victims Unit.”
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Muppet performer, puppeteer, and actress, Stephanie D’Abruzzo. Plus, writer, and producer, Craig Shemin.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Stephanie D’Abruzzo
Stephanie D’Abruzzo has been a Muppet Performer since she joined Sesame Street in 1993. Since then, she has performed hundreds of various characters (including Prairie Dawn since 2015). Her vocal performance in R.E.M.’s “Furry Happy Monsters” is a career highlight. She has worked on dozens of Sesame Street home videos and specials, and played “Grizzy” in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.
She also plays Cody in Helpsters for Apple TV+ (and Helpsters Help You, a series of short videos shot in her apartment during the COVID-19 quarantine). Other major puppetry projects include the upcoming Donkey Hodie ("Duck Duck” and “Harriet Elizabeth Cow"), Julie’s Greenroom (“Peri”), Scooby Doo Adventures: The Mystery Map (“Velma”), Oobi (“Uma,” “Inka”), Jack’s Big Music Show, and The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss. She played “Jan S. Port” in The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and has also performed in multiple episodes of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver as various puppets, mascots, and even a Sesame Street penguin.
D’Abruzzo guest-starred in the musical episode of NBC’s Scrubs, and returned twice during its ABC run, in a cameo in “My Finale,” and as a Sesame Street Muppet patient in “My ABC’s.”
She has lent her voice to Nature Cat, Bug Diaries, Welcome to the Wayne, Wallykazam!, The Wonder Pets!, Sheep in the Big City, and The Book of Pooh, as well as many commercials, promos, video games, interactive products, demos, industrials, and audiobooks. She has also written several episodes of Nature Cat and Donkey Hodie.
D’Abruzzo received Tony- and Drama Desk Award nominations – as well as a Theater World Award and a special Outer Critics Circle Ensemble Award – for originating her roles in Avenue Q. She has graced the New York stage in scores of productions, benefits, readings, and concerts, and has sung at Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. Her roles in I Love You Because and Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical were also preserved in original cast recordings.
A Pittsburgh native and a graduate of Northwestern University, she is a former Burger King Employee of the Month who has been married to Craig Shemin since 1995.
Craig Shemin
Craig Shemin is a freelance writer-producer in all media and the President of the Jim Henson Legacy, a non-profit organization dedicated to celebrating the work of Jim Henson. Shemin is the author of The Muppets Character Encyclopedia and an upcoming book about Henson’s first television series, Sam and Friends. A noted Henson historian, he produced and directed the award-winning documentary Behind the Scenes in Frogtown Hollow, about the making of Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas and curates the Henson screening events at Museum of the Moving Image.
His television work includes the current PBS/Amazon series Clifford the Big Red Dog and Nick Jr.’s Abby Hatcher. He created and wrote Disney’s Lou and Lou: Safety Patrol, and wrote the Emmy-nominated Tasty Time with ZeFronk, also for Disney. He writes and directs the L.O.S. Kids live concert series (and its current virtual version) for New York City’s Little Orchestra Society. His adaptation of Babes in Toyland has played Lincoln Center for three holiday seasons and his updated version of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel made its debut there in 2014.
His credits also include Nick Jr.’s Dora and Friends: Into the City, Oobi and Gullah Gullah Island and the Cartoon Network series Courage the Cowardly Dog.
He began his career at The Jim Henson Company, where he wrote for Telling Stories with Tomie DePaola, Donna’s Day and The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss (WGA nomination). He also wrote Muppets Inside, the award-winning computer game, co-wrote the Webby-nominated web series The Muppets Kitchen, assisted Miss Piggy with her cookbook, In the Kitchen With Miss Piggy and worked on numerous Muppet TV appearances. His more recent Muppet work includes Carnegie Hall’s Jim Henson’s Musical World and The Jim Henson Retrospectacle In Concert in New Zealand.
He is married to the delightful Stephanie D’Abruzzo.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers take questions from the Live Youtube chat.
ABOUT OUR HOSTS:
Gene Barretta & Bill Barretta
“What are they up to now?” That was the popular question around their house and neighborhood while growing up. It was not unusual to see Gene and Bill dressed up in homemade costumes – filming Super 8mm dramas – attempting risky stunts in the ravine – animating GI Joes and weird-looking clay figures – building and performing clunky puppets – drawing offbeat comics, - and imitating The Beatles.
Today, life isn’t very different. In addition to personal projects and various acting roles, Bill has been a director, writer, producer and core performer with The Muppets for nearly 30 years. Gene is an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books. He has also animated and illustrated for Sesame Street, Between the Lions, and The Jim Henson Company.
The best part of their careers is that they occasionally get to work together! Unfortunately, no one will pay them to imitate The Beatles.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Creative Director of Character Design for Sesame Street, Louis Henry Mitchell. Plus, Gene discusses his Sesame Street animation.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Louis Henry Mitchell
As Creative Director of Character Design, Louis Henry Mitchell directs and oversees all aspects of character art for Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization behind Sesame Street.
From designing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons and floats to directing Sesame Street Muppet photo shoots, Mitchell has been at Sesame Workshop for 20 years.
Prior to that, Mitchell freelanced for the organization since 1992. Most recently, Mitchell designed the character Julia, the first Sesame Street character on the autism spectrum. Julia was first designed exclusively as an illustrated character for an autism outreach book and then Mitchell expanded his design and art directed the Jim Henson Company in building the actual Muppet, and her family, for the show. He continues to be the chief Sesame Street Muppet designer along with his other duties as creative director of character design.
Before his successful ongoing work for Sesame Workshop Mitchell began his artistic career at 17 years old working for Neal Adams, one of the top comic book and sequential artists in the world at that time. Mitchell continued his career through illustrating children’s books, designing characters and toys as well as teaching and lecturing internationally. Among the skills he uses to accomplish his work are drawing, painting, and sculpting. In addition, he creates and art directs in traditional and digital media.
Mitchell attended The School of Visual Arts, and The Art Students League.
Mitchell resides in Rego Park, Queens, with his wife Yvonne.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Actress, Muppet performer, voice actress, Julianne Buescher AND puppeteer Alice Dinnean.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Julianne Buescher
Julianne Buescher is a whimsically versatile, classically trained actor, voice-over artist and Muppet Performer…whose new Muppet character Beverly Plume can be seen in “Muppets Now!” on Disney+!
Follow Julianne on IG at @juliannebuescher and see all her credits at IMDb.me/juliannebuescher
Alice Dinnean
Alice Dinnean interned at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, GA. Alice has performed in several Muppet/Henson productions, such as Sesame Street, Muppets Tonight, Muppets Take the Bowl, and non-Muppet projects like Men in Black II, Crank Yankers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Cook, and TV personality, Alton Brown. Plus, Muppet Supervisor, designer, puppet builder, sculptor, Ed Christie, AND designer, Creative Director, sculptor, and Visual Arts Educator, Ed Eyth.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Alton Brown
In his words . . . “cook.”
Ed Christie
During his 35 years working with the Jim Henson Company, Ed Christie worked on almost all of Henson’s TV and film productions, including The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, The Jim Henson Hour, all of the Muppet movies as well as the 2 Sesame Street films, Follow That Bird and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.
For 25 of those years he built & designed major and minor characters for Sesame Street as well as for 23 of its international coproductions (including South Africa, China, Japan, Russia, Mexico, Bangladesh, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Northern Ireland, England and The United Arab Emirates). He was the Muppet Supervisor for the domestic Sesame program for many years and then finally moved on as the VP/Muppet Workshop Manager.
Outside of Henson, has designed and created puppet characters for Broadway (Doonesbury: The musical) and regional theater (The Kennedy Center production of the musical, Carnival), as well as for foreign television kid shows and commercials.
Ed is now a mixed media sculptor, art gallery co-owner and craftsperson living on Cape Cod.
Ed Eyth
Edward Eyth is a designer, creative director, sculptor, and visual arts educator. He has provided creative concept & design for such films as Back to the Future II, The Rocketeer, Hook, Men in Black, and Happy Time Murders. His client list includes Columbia Pictures, the Disney Company, the Jim Henson Company, MPC Film, Paramount Studios, Smithsonian Institute, Marvel Comics, Mattel Toys. As an Advanced Visual Communications instructor at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena he received the “Great Teacher” award for outstanding contribution to education. He served as a Professor of Digital Art at Monterey Peninsula College and has lectured at UCLA, Parsons School of Design, New York, the School of Visual Arts, New York, the Society of Illustrators, the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Boston Museum of Science, Arizona Science Center and for various other colleges and organizations. He was awarded the 2013 Sport Artist of the Year Award by the American Sport Art Museum and Archives, and has taught figure sculpture workshops at locations across the country, including annual workshops at the Scottsdale Artists School in Arizona. He currently resides in Savannah, Georgia with his wife and two sons and is a Professor of Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design. He can sing the entire Spongebob theme song, but has suffered with dry flakey scalp for most of his adult life.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome actor, voice actor, and comedian, Stuart Pankin.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Stuart Pankin
Stuart Pankin: five time nominated, CableAce Award winning actor for HBO's Not Necessarily The News. Master's Degree in Theatre from Columbia University. Performed with the New York Shakespeare Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music Repertory Company, American Place Theatre, Lincoln Center, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Odyssey Theatre, Musical Theatre West, Reprise LA!. Starred in over seventy Off Broadway, summer, and regional theatre productions; Starred and/or featured in such movies as The Artist, Fatal Attraction, Arachnophobia, Life Stinks, Honey We Shrunk Ourselves, The Hollywood Knights, Irreconcilable Differences, and Striptease. Series regular on nine prime time television shows and pilots; Guest starred and recurred in over 350 television productions, including MOWs, Web series; voiced numerous cartoons including the award-winning Dinosaurs.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Benjamin Franklin, as well as their first Muppet Trivia Contest with contestants, Jesse Oliver and John Papovich.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Benjamin Franklin (Bill Ochester)
Printer, Statesman, Scientist, Inventor, Humanitarian, Cartoonist, Humorist, Musician, Diplomat, and Founder of The Unites States of America. Close, personal friend of Bill Ochester. www.bfranklinprinter.com
Jesse Oliver
Jesse Oliver is an animator and illustrator living in Maryland. www.oliverstwistedcartoons.com
John Papovich
John Papovitch works in film production. He once ran the Instagram page for The Muppet Mindset. He lives in New York state.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers answer questions from the Live Youtube Chat during their 10th episode.
ABOUT OUR HOSTS:
Gene Barretta & Bill Barretta
“What are they up to now?” That was the popular question around their house and neighborhood while growing up. It was not unusual to see Gene and Bill dressed up in homemade costumes – filming Super 8mm dramas – attempting risky stunts in the ravine – animating GI Joes and weird-looking clay figures – building and performing clunky puppets – drawing offbeat comics, - and imitating The Beatles.
Today, life isn’t very different. In addition to personal projects and various acting roles, Bill has been a director, writer, producer and core performer with The Muppets for nearly 30 years. Gene is an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books. He has also animated and illustrated for Sesame Street, Between the Lions, and The Jim Henson Company.
The best part of their careers is that they occasionally get to work together! Unfortunately, no one will pay them to imitate The Beatles.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Director, Puppet Designer, Emmy-Award-Winner Puppeteer, and Co-Founder of DillonGale.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Ryan Dillon
Ryan Dillon is the performer of Sesame Street’s Elmo. Inspired by the Muppets since childhood and encouraged by his family and teachers, Dillon did shows wherever he could. In his senior year of high school, he was asked to join the cast of Sesame Street and has been a Muppet Performer for the past fifteen years.
Ryan’s Daytime Emmy winning work as Elmo can be seen globally on television and the internet, with appearances on morning and late-night talk shows, CBeebies' The Furchester Hotel, as well as in toys, apps, live Sesame Street touring shows, and more. In addition to performing Elmo, Dillon has taken on performer duties for Sesame fan favorites Don Music, and Lefty the Salesman, as well as countless Anything Muppets.
When he’s not working on the Street, Dillon is a puppet designer, director, and puppet consultant. His work can be seen in national commercials and other television shows including work for The Jim Henson Company and Disney’s Muppets. Dillon built and performs several original puppet characters, and with his creative partner Mark Gale, produces online puppet content for DillonGale (IG : dillongaleidiots)
The Blasucci Family Show Notes
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Writer/Producer, Dick Blasucci. Writer/Producer Anthony Blasucci. And Writer/Producer, Actress, Maria Blasucci, to discuss their work on shows like Family Guy, SCTV, Muppets Tonight, Ghost Ghirls, and Drunk History, just to name a few.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Dick Blasucci
Dick Blasucci began his career writing for “SCTV” the NBC late night sketch comedy show. While on SCTV he won two Emmy Awards for Best Writing and was nominated nine times.
Other writing and producing credits include: “MadTV” “The Larry Sanders Show” “Tracey Ullman Show” comedy specials for HBO including “I, Martin Short Goes Hollywood” “Billy Crystal: Don’t Get Me Started” and “Muppets Tonight” which won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program.
He is currently writing and producing the SCTV Anniversary Special for Netflix and teaching classes in sketch comedy writing at Pepperdine University and the Harold Ramis Film School at The Second City in Chicago.
Anthony Blasucci
Anthony is an Executive Producer, Writer, and Story Editor on Family Guy
Maria Blasucci
Maria Blasucci is an actor, producer, and comedy writer. She is best known for her roles on shows such as HBO’s Family Tree and Ghost Ghirls on Yahoo Screen. She was an associate producer on the 2016 film Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. She currently stars in the Comedy Central series Drunk History and can also be seen on Netflix in the films Mascots and Patchwork. She and Amanda Lund co-host the weekly podcast The Big Ones and is the co-founder of the podcast network, Earios.
Jim Lewis Show Notes
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Emmy Award-winning writer/producer, Jim Lewis to discuss his decades of work with The Muppets, The Jim Henson Company, and much more.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Jim Lewis
JIM LEWIS is an Emmy Award-winning writer/producer, who has been writing for frogs, pigs and other Muppets since 1985, where he worked with the late Jim Henson.
At The Jim Henson Company and later at The Walt Disney Company, Jim Lewis has written for, produced, consulted on and otherwise aided and abetted Muppet ventures in television and movies (e.g. Muppets Tonight!, A Very Merry Muppet Christmas) , theme parks (e.g. MuppetVision 3D, Great Moments In History…But Mostly America), as well as consumer products, live performances (e.g. The Muppets Take The Hollywood Bowl, The Muppets The O2) and media appearances, public relations and marketing. He has ghostwritten books for Kermit the Frog (“Look Before You Leap”), Miss Piggy (“The Diva Code”) and Pepe the King Prawn (“It’s Hard Out Here For a Shrimp”). He also developed and wrote a Muppet feature script with Frank Oz, “The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever”. He still believes this should be the next Muppet theatrical feature.
In addition to his Muppet work, Jim was also executive producer of the Hallmark Channel series Telling Stories with Tomie dePaola, wrote the theater production G2K R&H: Getting To Know Rodgers & Hammerstein for the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, has penned scripts for VeggieTales, Sid The Science Kid, Barney & Friends, etc, Las Vegas ventriloquist/impressionist Terry Fator, as well as done comedy “punch up” on Disney Executives (which is more fun than you can imagine).
Prior to purveying mirth and myth, Lewis was a newspaper reporter, magazine editor and worked at Lewis & Carey, his family’s New Jersey funeral home. This explains a lot. Jim lives in Burbank, California with his wife, Judy, and son Danny. His daughter Mary Grace is at UC Berkeley and currently has green hair. No doubt a vestige of her living with a parent who has spent his life writing for a frog.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers celebrate the TV show Dinosaurs and welcome the people behind the Unisaurus and Hand Puppet Characters.
Episode Outline:
07:200mins: Conversation with Julianne Buescher, Michelan Sisti, John Kennedy, Rickey Boyd, and Jake Tate
33:30mins: Conversation with Julianne Buescher, Michelan Sisti, John Kennedy, Rickey Boyd, Jake Tate, Bruce Lanoli, Pons Maar, and Terri Hardin
35:50mins: Conversation with Allan Trautman, Terri Hardin, Bruce Lanoil, Tom Fisher, and Pons Maar.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Allan Trautman
Allan Trautman was born in Brooklyn, NY and moved to Miami Beach with his family at the beginning of 9th grade. He began acting in Miami Beach Senior High under the direction of famed drama teacher Jay Jensen. He spent four years in St. Louis at Washington University, earning a BA in Physics and Drama. He then earned an MFA in Acting from the California Institute of the Arts, where he met his wife, Diane.
While in St. Louis, he began his puppetry career working on The Letter People at public TV station KETC. He performed in all 60 15-minute episodes, each one shot on a Friday (he skipped classes).
Two years after graduating from CalArts, while working full-time at Leo’s Stereo in the San Fernando Valley, a friend told him about an audition notice for a “puppet school” sponsored by Sid and Marty Krofft. Allan spent the summer of 1980 at what were a series of workshops under the direction of Tony Urbano. There he met other young puppeteers who all became lifelong friends—Bruce Lanoil, Kevin Carlson, Tim Blaney, and others.
Much of the 1980s were spent working on projects for the Kroffts and for Dave Pavelonis and his Peppercorn Productions, as well as pursuing his acting career. During this time he was sent on an audition for Return of the Living Dead, and was cast as the Tarman, who went on to become an iconic zombie film character—among the first to ask specifically for “Brains!”
In 1990, as part of the then-pending purchase of The Muppets by the Walt Disney Company, Jim Henson came to Los Angeles to direct Muppetvision 3-D, an attraction for Disney’s theme parks. Again, a friend was able to get Allan into the audition, and this was the beginning of Allan’s career with The Jim Henson Company and the Muppets.
In 1991 Allan joined the cast of the ABC-TV series Dinosaurs as the animatronic puppeteer for Fran Sinclair. That show remained in production for 65 episodes, until the end of 1993, introducing Allan to sophisticated animatronics. This experience continued with movies like Babe, Men in Black, Doctor Dolittle, Jack Frost, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, Monkeybone, Cats and Dogs, Men in Black II, and The Country Bears.
After Dinosaurs, two producers on that show requested his presence on their next show, Unhappily Ever After, a sitcom on the brand-new WB Network. Allan puppeteered Mr. Floppy, the lead character’s wise-cracking (imaginary) talking bunny, voiced in front of a live audience by Bobcat Goldthwaite.
In the meantime, Allan’s work with The Muppets included videos such as It’s Not Easy Being Green and Muppet Classic Theatre, the movie Muppets from Space, and, for TV, Muppets Tonight, It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, and The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz.
In the summer of 2005, Allan became a founding member of Puppet Up!—Uncensored, Henson Alternative’s puppet/improv show. He performed in the show off-Broadway, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, on tour throughout the U.S., and on the historic Chaplin Stage on The Jim Henson Company lot. He also acted as puppetry technique instructor.
He was one of three on-set puppeteers during production of The Jungle Book (2016), and was a core puppeteer on The Happytime Murders. Allan continues to work in physical as well as digital puppetry, in shows such as Splash and Bubbles for PBS Kids, and has moved into directing for that show and others.
Julianne Buescher
Julianne Buescher is a whimsically versatile, classically trained actor, voice-over artist and Muppet Performer…whose new Muppet character Beverly Plume can be seen in “Muppets Now!” On Disney+! Follow Julianne on IG at @juliannebuescher and see all her credits at IMDb.me/juliannebuescher
Jake Tate
Jack Tate is an actor/puppeteer/voiceover guy. Mostly, he’s retired, but he’d work if someone asked. He was in movies: The Right Stuff, Monster in the Closet, Interview with an Assassin and many others. On TV, he did a lot of day-player roles: Fresh Prince, Frazier, Hotel, Murder She Wrote and many others, before he landed on Dinosaurs, as a regular player, a Unisaur, appearing as many of the characters interacting with the family. Another show he was a regular on later, was The Journey of Allen Strange, for Nickelodeon. He was more successful in commercials than TV or movies, doing pretty near 1000 of them, many as a spokesman for AT&T, Pepsi, Bud Light, Ford Mercury and played, for 20+ years, the character Jack in the Box. Dinosaurs was easily his career favorite.
Michelan Sisti
Michelan began his performing journey as a musician, then an actor with multiple Broadway roles, which directly led to him becoming a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle in the original live action movies (Michelangelo). Being Mikey, evolved into our ultimate animatronics show, “Dinosaurs”. The coolest suit show EVER! Since then, Mich has enjoyed 26 more years of Muppets and other neat things with puppets and motion capture. He has loved every minute of the trip.
Rickey Boyd
Rickey’s interest in animation and puppetry began at an early age. At eleven, he and one of his friends produced their own crude TV puppet shows at a local cable access station and experimented with 8mm animated short films. During High School he continued designing and building his own puppet characters.
Later, he attended Shorter College in Rome, Georgia where he majored in art and theater. During an internship at a local cable station he worked with college classmates Keith Thomas and Jeff Brown to produce two children’s shows that featured his creations. This provided valuable monitor experience as well as enough footage for a demo reel. That reel would land him an audition with the Muppets.
In 1988 he was interviewed by Jane Henson then met and auditioned for Jim Henson himself. He was asked to continue working with Jim Henson Productions as both an assistant and as a featured performer on various productions.
He went on to performed various background characters on Sesame Street, The Abby in Wonderland special, Grandma Cookie Monster for Sesame Workshop’s “Sesame Beginnings” project, Scooter and Crazy Harry in “Muppet’s Wizard of Oz”, and Waffle in “Animal Jam”. Other projects include “Muppets From Space”, “Dinosaurs” the series, “Muppetvision 3D”, “Muppets at Disney World”, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, The Jim Henson Hour’s “Dog City” and “Song of the Cloud Forest”. Aside from Henson Productions, Rickey has performed lead characters for The Nashville Network’s Peppercorn Productions. Most recently he continues to puppeteer as Doug the Slug in “The Slugs and Bugs Show” for RightNow Media, and as “George” in the web series “Wondermore” for In Touch Ministries.
In addition to performing Rickey is an Emmy winning Creative Director for Magnetic Dreams Animation Studios in Nashville, Tn. There, he designs and directs animations for clients such as “Sesame Street”, among others.
He lives outside Nashville with his wife Judy and their children Emily and Andrew.
John E. Kennedy
John E. Kennedy is a lifelong puppeteer who began performing at age three and met and worked with Jim Henson at the age of 22. He has been a member of Sesame Street since 1994, and currently performs The Amazing Mumford, a character originated by Jerry Nelson. John has also been a Muppet™ performer on projects such as Muppets From Space, The Muppets Wizard of Oz, The Muppets Take the Bowl, and The Muppets Take the O2. He has authored two puppet-making books (Puppet Mania and Puppet Planet), and has been a puppet captain, a choreographer, and a musician.
As a puppet builder, Kennedy has represented Jim Henson's exhibits around the world with his puppet kits; he has also instructed young puppeteers on cruises, camps, and festivals. He lives in Ocoee, Florida with his wife, Julie, and creates custom puppet characters for theme parks and performs music with his band, Johnny K Band.
Bruce Lanoil
Bruce ”B” Lanoil, spawned in Brooklyn N.Y., raised on steady diet of Saturday morning Cartoons, Sugary cereals, Mad Magazines, Jerry Lewis and Classic Star Trek, is today, a proud and grateful 30 year veteran Muppeteer,.. Oh, the beaten path was never in the mix!
As a Theater major at Cal State Northridge, a vaudevillian improvisational clown at heart, fate truly lent a “hand” when Master Puppeteer Tony Urbano chose Bruce from hundreds, for Sid and Marty Krofft’s exclusive 1980 workshop. Many Commercials and videos followed, furthering his performance skills with Master teachers, Paul Sills, Avery Schreiber, (Spollin Theater Games), and Harvey Kalmanson (V.O.).
Destiny and Jim Henson came knocking when Brian Henson cast Bruce as “Charlene Sinclair”, in TV’s DINOSAURS for five glorious seasons on ABC/Disney (1990-93). Animatronics and Facial Puppeteering was a specialty as Bruce traveled the world complements of the incomparable Jim Henson Creature Shop, both in Films, Dr. Doolittle (1998), Adventures of Pinocchio (1996), Jack Frost (1998), Cats and Dogs 1 & 2, (2001 2010) and Television, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss as The Cat in the Hat, Nickelodeon Season one (1996). Bruce helped pioneer Real-time CG animation with Henson’s HDPS-Digital Puppetry System, Are We There Yet (2005), Francis (2008), Sid the Science Kid Movie (2012) and partnered with Dave Barclay Studios Where the Wild Thing Are (2009), and Ice King (2017).
Muppet madness included MuppetVision 3D (1991),The Muppets Live at the Hollywood Bowl (2016),The O2 (2018), recent FEATURE FILM/TV reboots, The Muppets (2011) and Muppets Most Wanted (2014), and Muppets Tonight (1996), Muppets (2017). Live-action Reference Puppetry, Mon- keyBone (2001) Henry Selick Dir.,and Looney Tunes-Back in Action (2003) Joe Dante Dir., and nu- merous V.O. gigs, including voicing Lion King’s TIMON (SAFTY SMART! video series) for Disney.
Bruce is extremely grateful for lifetime of collaborative joy and laughter, and believes, that Everyone
deserves to give themselves the Inner Permission to pursue their truth and passion freely, with an open heart. As a Teaching Artist, his quest is to release fear and doubt, allowing each learner and Artist the opportunity to connect, to share, to Soar! We stand upon the shoulders of all creative souls before us, that enables every single voice to tell Their story, their version, of life’s unpredictable magnificent journey, while illuminating all our lives with the Magical Gift of Play :)
Pons Maar
Pons Maar trained as a visual artist in Florida, (yep, a Florida Man) then studied various performance disciplines in the SF Bay Area and, as a ‘performance artist’, created and toured his solo shows. He somehow ended up with a career in film and television appearing in; Return to Oz, Golden Child, The Blob (1988), Dead Heat, Masters of the Universe, Teddy Rex, George of the Jungle, Monkeybone, and Dinosaurs TV series.
Beginning with Return to Oz Pons also acted as Movement or Creature Coordinator on various productions.
Terri Hardin
Terri has been performing and creative all her life. She started earning a living doing art and acting at age 8.
Known as Walt Disney’s Legendary Imagineer, she has designed and created attractions for Disney Theme Parks all over the world and is best known for creating the Dragon’s Lair in Paris Disneyland where you can see a 35’ dragon come to life before your very eyes.
She is also an accomplished actress, Puppeteer and Voice Talent. Her work can be seen in over 45 different films and television including GHOSTBUSTERS, MEN IN BLACK I & II, THE COUNTRY BEARS and CAPTAIN EO w/ Michael Jackson, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola.
She became a MUPPETEER with the Jim Henson Company in 1989 after meeting Jim in New York. Terri Hardin has worked on MUPPET 3D THEATRE, MUPPET MINI CLASSICS and DINOSAURS where she played BABY SINCLAIR’S arms.
Other projects include the FOSTER FARMS CHICKENS where she designed the Original concept and has played the PASSENGER CHICKEN since 1993.
Her career has given her many opportunities to work with a multitude of celebrities like Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Whoopie Goldberg and Guillermo Del Toro.
A fully TRADEMARKED artist and sculptor Terri’s work can be seen Internationally. Fine collectables, commissions and prototypes of all kinds she creates for clients DISNEY, MATTEL, G DEL TORO and MORE.
She has even had her sculpture featured in LACMA, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Her Company is TERRI HARDIN DESIGNS, INC.
Tom Fisher
No bio provided
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers celebrate the TV show Dinosaurs and welcome the people behind the characters, Roy, Monica, and Spike.
Episode Outline:
05:50mins: Conversation with Pons Maar about casting the show.
13:30mins: Conversation about the character Roy.
Pete Brooke, Julianne Buescher, Pons Maar.
30:50mins: Conversation about the character Monica.
Jack Tate, Julianne Buescher, and
55:00mins: Conversation about the character Spike.
John Kennedy, Lisa Rocco
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Pons Maar
Pons Maar trained as a visual artist in Florida, (yep, a Florida Man) then studied various performance disciplines in the SF Bay Area and, as a ‘performance artist’, created and toured his solo shows. He somehow ended up with a career in film and television appearing in; Return to Oz, Golden Child, The Blob (1988), Dead Heat, Masters of the Universe, Teddy Rex, George of the Jungle, Monkeybone, and Dinosaurs TV series.
Beginning with Return to Oz Pons also acted as Movement or Creature Coordinator on various productions.
Julianne Buescher
Julianne Buescher is a whimsically versatile, classically trained actor, voice-over artist and Muppet Performer…whose new Muppet character Beverly Plume can be seen in “Muppets Now!” On Disney+! Follow Julianne on IG at @juliannebuescher and see all her credits at IMDb.me/juliannebuescher
Jake Tate
Jack Tate is an actor/puppeteer/voiceover guy. Mostly, he’s retired, but he’d work if someone asked. He was in movies: The Right Stuff, Monster in the Closet, Interview with an Assassin and many others. On TV, he did a lot of day-player roles: Fresh Prince, Frazier, Hotel, Murder She Wrote and many others, before he landed on Dinosaurs, as a regular player, a Unisaur, appearing as many of the characters interacting with the family. Another show he was a regular on later, was The Journey of Allen Strange, for Nickelodeon. He was more successful in commercials than TV or movies, doing pretty near 1000 of them, many as a spokesman for AT&T, Pepsi, Bud Light, Ford Mercury and played, for 20+ years, the character Jack in the Box. Dinosaurs was easily his career favorite.
Pete Brooke
Peter Brooke is the Creative Supervisor for the Academy Award®-winning Jim Henson's Creature Shop™ and is responsible for the conception, design and sculpt of each character and creature brought to life at the Shop's Los Angeles location. His work can be seen in such films as the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, George of the Jungle, Cats & Dogs, Dr. Dolittle, and Where the Wild Things Are, as well as the television projects Dinosaurs, Jim Henson's The Storyteller, and most recently, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.
Brooke works closely with the director and creative team of each project to guarantee that their vision is realized in the character he creates. He also liaises with the Shop's builders and supervises characters on set to ensure that the original concept and design style is maintained throughout the build and performance.
Brooke began his relationship with The Jim Henson Company in 1988 as a graduate of the film school at Manchester Polytechnic. His first project was Jim Henson's The Storyteller as a sculptor of the series' various fantasy and folklore characters. When the Company began production in Los Angeles on Dinosaurs in 1991, Brooke relocated to the United States as a sculptor and designer on the technically ambitious comedy starring an entire cast of animatronic full-body dinosaurs.
Brooke’s own fine art sculpture has been featured in galleries and museums across the country for the past 25 years.
He is a recipient of the Gold Medal for Best Sculpture from the California Art Club and the Award of Excellence from the Society of Animal Artists. His work has been featured in several magazines including Southwest Art, Art Talk, Art Revue and Wildlife Art News.
John E. Kennedy
John E. Kennedy is a lifelong puppeteer who began performing at age three and met and worked with Jim Henson at the age of 22. He has been a member of Sesame Street since 1994, and currently performs The Amazing Mumford, a character originated by Jerry Nelson. John has also been a Muppet™ performer on projects such as Muppets From Space, The Muppets Wizard of Oz, The Muppets Take the Bowl, and The Muppets Take the O2. He has authored two puppet-making books (Puppet Mania and Puppet Planet), and has been a puppet captain, a choreographer, and a musician.
As a puppet builder, Kennedy has represented Jim Henson's exhibits around the world with his puppet kits; he has also instructed young puppeteers on cruises, camps, and festivals. He lives in Ocoee, Florida with his wife, Julie, and creates custom puppet characters for theme parks and performs music with his band, Johnny K Band.
Lisa Rocco
No bio provided
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers celebrate the TV show Dinosaurs and welcome the people behind the characters, Charlene, Robbie, Baby, and BP Richfield.
Episode Outline:
03:15mins: Conversation about the character Robbie Sinclair.
Day Murch, Steve Whitmire, Leif Tilden, and Lisa Rocco join Gene & Bill.
25:27mins: Conversation about the character BP Richfield.
Jane Gootnick joins Day, Steve, and Leif.
40:30mins: Conversation about the character Charlene.
Bruce Lanoil, MIchelan Sisti, and Jill Thraves join Gene & Bill.
1:07:00mins: Conversation about Baby Sinclair.
Kevin Clash, Terri Hardin, John Kennedy, and Jane Gootnick join Gene & Bill.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Jane Gootnick
With college degrees in both acting and set design Jane first moved to Europe working in Belgium and London. In the mid-70's she moved to NYC working with alternative theatre groups (LaMama, Joe Papp's Public Theatre). Jane became head sculptor at Brooks Van Horn Costume Co. making props, masks and creatures for a large variety of venues: Broadway shows (Sweeney Todd, Dracula, Peter Pan), feature films (The Wiz, Hair), Warner Bros walkarounds, commercials, Ringling Bros Circus, and the first four seasons of Saturday Night Live.
In 1978, the costume designer for SNL mentioned that the Jim Henson Company was looking for sculptors for a film called The Dark Crystal and suggested she interview. Jane was offered three weeks work to build a prototype support harness for the Skeksis they were developing. So, she left her three-year full-time job for three weeks of work at Henson's and stayed 40 years!
Jane has worked in both the New York puppet shop and the London Creature Shop throughout the years. Designing/building puppets and creatures, supervising builds, and running workshops on location for Muppet/Henson films and TV series, (Dark Crystal, Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, The Storyteller, The Witches, Ninja Turtles, Dinosaurs, Muppets Tonight, The Muppets, etc.). She has also worked on a variety of talk shows, game shows, and awards shows (Oscars, Grammys, Hollywood Bowl and many more).
Jane is an art director for print and media photoshoots, film posters and endless fashion shoots with Miss Piggy with Louis Vuitton, Prada and other diva designers.
Steve Whitmire
Jim Henson invited Steve Whitmire to join his team in 1978 during the height of the popularity of The Muppet Show, and Whitmire had a hand in virtually every Muppet project for nearly four decades.
He originated such characters as Rizzo the Rat, Lips the Trumpet Man, Miss Piggy’s dog Foo-Foo, and Bean Bunny, and also sustained Richard Hunt’s characters, the hapless lab assistant Beaker and codger Statler after Hunt’s death in 1992.
Upon Henson’s death in 1990, Whitmire accepted the duty for the continuation of several of Jim’s characters and is best known for his 24-years as Ernie and his 27-years as Kermit the Frog.
Projects include Sesame Street and non-Muppet films such as The Dark Crystal, The Witches, Dreamchild and Labyrinth, as well as the popular sitcom Dinosaurs and the classic 1980’s television series Fraggle Rock in which Whitmire originated Wembley Fraggle and Sprocket the Dog.
After 19 films, 8 television series, numerous specials, multiple sound recordings, and volumes of unique live appearances, Whitmire carries forth the essential principles of the lineage as the foundation for a progressive approach to the art of puppetry in today’s world and looks forward to sharing that spirit in his future endeavors.
www.stevewhitmire.website
Leif Tilden
Leif Tilden watched his mother drink herself into a deep depression while living with her in Berkeley California during the late 60’s free love movement. After her suicide he moved to Boston Massachusetts where he grew up in a segregated environment where the Irish, Italian and black neighborhoods beat each other up daily.
Eventually he would find himself studying experimental theatre in New York City where he discovered his vulnerability through movement and the incredible falafel sandwich.
Soon after that, which to him seems like a dream, he found himself inside the soul of a Teenage mutant ninja turtle. Life was good.
Soon after that he drove across country for a minimum wage job on a tv show entitled, Dinosaurs for Disney. Life was not good and Leif will explain the details as to why on the show.
Day Murch
Day worked in the theatre for many years, as a performer in Liquid Theatre, with Stomu Yamashtas Red Buddha Theatre, and the Young Vic, with appearances in provincial rep and the West End, gradually commuting a hobby of designing and making clothes into a career. An early introduction on Time Bandits to the Monty Python team led to a specialist interest in the care and presentation of difficult costumes, with work on The Meaning Of Life, Greystoke, Legend and Fifth Element and several projects for Jim Hensons London Creature Shop. This led in time to making this type of costume and he headed the Fabrication Unit for Nick Dudmans Department of Magical Creatures for the initial Harry Potter Movies, building Hagrid and other fantasticals. In children’s television he helped create characters for In The Night Garden , BoohBahs and Zingzillas. He enjoyed a longterm association with the Batman franchise as Batsuit Wrangler with all the Caped Crusaders except Adam West! Now happily retired with his life partner in Wales, he doesn’t miss show business.
Bruce Lanoil
Bruce ”B” Lanoil, spawned in Brooklyn N.Y., raised on steady diet of Saturday morning Cartoons, Sugary cereals, Mad Magazines, Jerry Lewis and Classic Star Trek, is today, a proud and grateful 30 year veteran Muppeteer,.. Oh, the beaten path was never in the mix!
As a Theater major at Cal State Northridge, a vaudevillian improvisational clown at heart, fate truly lent a “hand” when Master Puppeteer Tony Urbano chose Bruce from hundreds, for Sid and Marty Krofft’s exclusive 1980 workshop. Many Commercials and videos followed, furthering his performance skills with Master teachers, Paul Sills, Avery Schreiber, (Spollin Theater Games), and Harvey Kalmanson (V.O.).
Destiny and Jim Henson came knocking when Brian Henson cast Bruce as “Charlene Sinclair”, in TV’s DINOSAURS for five glorious seasons on ABC/Disney (1990-93). Animatronics and Facial Puppeteering was a specialty as Bruce traveled the world complements of the incomparable Jim Henson Creature Shop, both in Films, Dr. Doolittle (1998), Adventures of Pinocchio (1996), Jack Frost (1998), Cats and Dogs 1 & 2, (2001 2010) and Television, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss as The Cat in the Hat, Nickelodeon Season one (1996). Bruce helped pioneer Real-time CG animation with Henson’s HDPS-Digital Puppetry System, Are We There Yet (2005), Francis (2008), Sid the Science Kid Movie (2012) and partnered with Dave Barclay Studios Where the Wild Thing Are (2009), and Ice King (2017).
Muppet madness included MuppetVision 3D (1991),The Muppets Live at the Hollywood Bowl (2016),The O2 (2018), recent FEATURE FILM/TV reboots, The Muppets (2011) and Muppets Most Wanted (2014), and Muppets Tonight (1996), Muppets (2017). Live-action Reference Puppetry, Mon- keyBone (2001) Henry Selick Dir.,and Looney Tunes-Back in Action (2003) Joe Dante Dir., and nu- merous V.O. gigs, including voicing Lion King’s TIMON (SAFTY SMART! video series) for Disney.
Bruce is extremely grateful for lifetime of collaborative joy and laughter, and believes, that Everyone deserves to give themselves the Inner Permission to pursue their truth and passion freely, with an open heart. As a Teaching Artist, his quest is to release fear and doubt, allowing each learner and Artist the opportunity to connect, to share, to Soar! We stand upon the shoulders of all creative souls before us, that enables every single voice to tell Their story, their version, of life’s unpredictable magnificent journey, while illuminating all our lives with the Magical Gift of Play :)
Michelan Sisti
Michelan began his performing journey as a musician, then an actor with multiple Broadway roles, which directly led to him becoming a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle in the original live action movies (Michelangelo). Being Mikey, evolved into our ultimate animatronics show, “Dinosaurs”. The coolest suit show EVER! Since then, Mich has enjoyed 26 more years of Muppets and other neat things with puppets and motion capture. He has loved every minute of the trip.
Jill Thraves
After growing up in the countryside of Yorkshire and Derbyshire I moved to London to attend University. Got my degree in French and went straight into making clothes and cotumes for dancers, musicians, strippers, and royalty. Bill Wyman, David Bowie, Freddy Mercury, Jimmy Page, Princess Margaret, were some of the people I dressed. Through friends I started working in films and tv., Time Bandits, The Meaning of Life and Labyrinth were early jobs. Labyrinth led to Mother Goose Stories and an Emmy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and then Dinosaurs! So after 20 years I in London I came to Los Angeles. Since then I have worked on a lot of Superhero films, from Batman to Avengers and Guardians. I seem to have made a lot of capes! Batman to Thor and many in between.
Geoff Keighley Show Notes
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Video Game Innovator, Visionary, Muppet Lover, Geoff Keighley.
Episode Outline:
Gene surprises Billy with a puppet made by Jarrod Boutcher, based on Gene’s “Billy Puppet” sketch.
Geoff Keighley shows up and talks about:
- Growing up in Canada
- Visiting the set of Fraggle Rock
- His parents, who work in film/TV production, including producing some of the first IMAX movies.
- His childhood interest and involvement in video games
- Writing for video game magazines in his teens
- First TV video game hosting
- Talk about games as generational divides
- Origins of the Game Awards
- The format and success of The Game Awards
Jackson Barretta and Ben Barretta join the conversation
- They discuss the Fortnite Pro Am
- Gaming as the new sport or concert event
- How did he meet Phil Spencer and Reggie Fils-Aimé
- First games Geoff played
- Plans for future Game Awards during the pandemic
- What does it take to become a gamer/twitch streamer?
- Where did the nickname Dorito Pope come from?
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Geoff Keighley
Keighley's foray into video game reporting and presentation had been through Cybermania '94: The Ultimate Games Awards, the first video game awards show broadcast on television. Keighley was fourteen at the time but was brought in to help write lines for the celebrity hosts to read. The show was not considered successful, aimed more for comedy than celebration, but from it, Keighley was inspired to develop some type of equivalent of the Academy Awards for video games in his career.
In addition to GTTV, Keighley has been involved in many other video game-related projects on television. On Comcast's G4 network, he appeared as the network's lead anchor for its E3 press conference coverage, interviewing CEOs from companies like Sony and Electronic Arts. For MTV he created the concept and produced (with LivePlanet) "Gears of War: Race to E3" and "Gears of War: Race to Launch", two specials that took viewers inside the development of the hit Xbox 360 game from Microsoft. And in 2007, the Discovery Channel aired a five-hour documentary on releases including those of such companies as World of Wonder Productions, based on a treatment by Keighley, who also served as consulting producer. Geoff has also hosted and co-produced a number of video game launch specials for Spike TV, including "Madden NFL 08 Kickoff" featuring a performance by Ozzy Osbourne and "Halo 3: Launched!" featuring a performance by Linkin Park. He was also interviewed on what became a controversial Fox News' segment on Mass Effect and was later praised by gamers online for being the only one on the show who had actually played the game.
Keighley was invited by the producers of Spike's Video Game Awards program to help with the programming from 2006 onward. In 2013, Spike changed the format of the show and rebranded the awards as the VGX Awards. To Keighley, the format became more commercial and promotional rather than a celebration of video game achievements, and subsequently left the show. Through 2014, he funded his own efforts to put together a new awards show, gaining the support of Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo as well as major publications and industry leaders. Keighley thus established The Game Awards which were first presented in December 2014, and which Keighley remains the primary host.
Keighley is known for writing reviews and previews and going behind the scenes of the game industry for in-depth business profiles and lengthy feature pieces. While initially a writer at GameSpot from around 1998, Keighley wrote the site's column "Behind the Games". This column evolved into a series of articles "The Final Hours", where he has in-depth access to the various studios near the end of a development period and write in depth about the process as the game is nearing completion. In more recent years, these articles are released as mobile apps. In a July 2008 interview on The Jace Hall Show, Keighley spoke about the importance of this process, stating "There's such a lack of investigative journalism. I wish I had more time to do more, sort of, investigation. Really dig into some of these bigger issues, so I could look at like, the 'Red Ring of Death' problem. That's never really been properly reported about, like what really happens." However, he has faced criticism from some quarters for his willingness to positively present games to maintain exclusives, regardless of their actual quality, and to accept industry PR at face value in an October 2012 column published in Eurogamer.[12] In December 2016, Keighley was picked as a judge for the Viveport Developer Awards (VDAs).
Keighley had been a participant of E3, the annual video game trade show, since its start, and starting in E3 2017, Keighley had arranged and hosted the E3 Coliseum, a live-streaming event running over the course of E3 that brought in developers and publishers at E3 for interviews and other discussions. However, with the Entertainment Software Association making significant changes to the format of E3 2020 (prior to its cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Keighley stated he will not be organizing an E3 Coliseum event nor attending the show for the first time in 25 years.
With E3's cancellation among other several other trade shows and events like Gamescom from the pandemic, Keighley worked with several major publishers and video game industry leaders to launch the Summer Game Fest from May to August 2020. During this period, Keighley will help developers and publishers present game announcements and other presentations, along with Steam and Xbox to provide game demos during this period.
On this two-part episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Performer, Director, Producer, Kevin Clash - and Designer, Art Director, Puppet builder, Jane Gootnick.
Episode Outline:
Gene & Bill discuss Gene’s “Billy Puppet” sketch.
Jane Gootnick – 2:48-37:40mis
- Jane discusses Character Sal Minella
- Designing and building a perfect puppet character
- Sir Didymus and Brian Froud designs
- Dinosaurs
- Dog from The Storyteller
- Working with animatronic servos
- Fraggle Rock characters: Trash Heap, Philo and Gunge
- Storyteller Bunny
- Dark Crystal Creatures
- Andy Warhol and David Bowie stories
- Miss Piggy Photo Shoot
Kevin Clash – 39:10 – 1:23:00
- Kevin discusses the special The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson
- Clifford and Muppets Tonight
- Michelle Pfeiffer
- Sandra Bullock
- Splinter
- Muppets Go to Disney World and Jim Henson
- Arsenio Hall show along with Jim Henson
- Fat Blue and Jim Henson
- Baby from Dinosaurs
- Elmo and his Dad, Louie from Beginnings
- Gene, Bill, and Kevin work together on Fox & Friends
- Kevin assigning Gene and performer wives to do background characters on Muppet Treasure Island
- Muppet Treasure Island characters
- Happytime Murders
- Learning from other puppeteers
- The new Dark Crystal
- Earth to Ned
- Gene & Bill’s drag photos
- Bill tells Kevin how proud he is of him
- Getting a cab in NY
- The song/segment “Proud” from Families Stand Together and their funny recording session
Gene and Bill announce the winner of a viewer contest.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
JANE GOOTNICK
With college degrees in both acting and set design Jane first moved to
Europe working in Belgium and London. In the mid-70's she moved to NYC
working with alternative theatre groups (LaMama, Joe Papp's
Public Theatre). Jane became head sculptor at Brooks Van Horn Costume Co.
making props, masks and creatures for a large variety of venues:
Broadway shows (Sweeney Todd, Dracula, Peter Pan),
feature films (The Wiz, Hair), Warner Bros walkarounds, commercials,
Ringling Bros Circus, and the first four seasons of Saturday Night Live.
In 1978, the costume designer for SNL mentioned that the Jim Henson Company was
looking for sculptors for a film called The Dark Crystal and suggested she interview.
Jane was offered three weeks work to build a prototype support harness
for the Skeksis they were developing. So, she left her three-year full-time job for three weeks of work at Henson's and stayed 40 years!
Jane has worked in both the New York puppet shop and the London Creature Shop throughout the years. Designing/building puppets and creatures, supervising builds, and running workshops on location for Muppet/Henson films and TV series, (Dark Crystal, Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, The Storyteller, The Witches, Ninja Turtles, Dinosaurs, Muppets Tonight, The Muppets, etc.). She has also worked on a variety of talk shows, game shows, and awards shows (Oscars, Grammys, Hollywood Bowl and many more).
Jane is an art director for print and media photoshoots, film posters and endless fashion shoots with Miss Piggy with Louis Vuitton
KEVIN CLASH
Kevin Clash is best known for Elmo (Sesame Street) 1979-2012. He also was part of Labyrinth (1986), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1 (1990) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (1991), Happytime Murders (SFX) 2018, and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Netflix) 2019. In addition to Elmo, Clash is also known for performing Splinter (TMNT) Baby Sinclair (Dinosaurs), and Clifford (Muppets Tonight).
Kevin Clash has won 29 daytime Emmys, over one hundred fifty -six performing title credits, thirty- one producing title credits and twenty- seven directing title credits. In 2011, his documentary, Being Elmo, was awarded the Special Jury Prize at Sundance. He has appeared in numerous television specials, commercials, feature films and direct-to-video products.
During his career, he has worked with great innovators who founded the classic puppet television industry including Kermit Love, Frank Oz, and Jim Henson.
Clash has recruited, auditioned, and trained puppeteers from all over the world. He was the senior puppet coordinator, and was also a director, co-producer and senior creative adviser on Sesame Street. Kevin was essential to the success of Elmo’s World and the creative branding powerhouse of Elmo. Business Insider states that in 1996 the toy company Tyco saw their sales grow from $70 million to an astounding $350 million thanks to the Tickle Me Elmo Doll.
Clash’s most recent project, Earth to Ned, will be airing on Disney+ this Fall and he currently has several projects in development.
On this two-part episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Performer, Director, Producer, Kevin Clash - and Designer, Art Director, Puppet builder, Jane Gootnick.
Episode Outline:
Jane Gootnick – 07:50 – 34:00 mins
- Jane talks about her very impression family tree and the early years
- People who originally inspired her.
- Pre-Henson work in NY, including SNL.
- Her start with Sesame Street and The Jim Henson Company.
- A review of characters she helped create.
- Gene & Bill announce details for a second Muppet Trivia Contest
Kevin Clash –36:20 – 1:03:23 mins
- A funny wedding story.
- Stories about his childhood and early training at home.
- Working on the Captain Kangaroo & The Great Space Coaster.
- Puppet workshops with Jane Henson and starting at Sesame Street.
- The origins of Elmo with Richard Hunt.
- Elmo’s connection with kids.
- Working with Jim Henson.
- The very first character he performed for Sesame Street.
- The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
KEVIN CLASH
Kevin Clash is best known for Elmo (Sesame Street) 1979-2012. He also was part of Labyrinth (1986), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1 (1990) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (1991), Happytime Murders (SFX) 2018, and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Netflix) 2019. In addition to Elmo, Clash is also known for performing Splinter (TMNT) Baby Sinclair (Dinosaurs), and Clifford (Muppets Tonight).
Kevin Clash has won 29 daytime Emmys, over one hundred fifty -six performing title credits, thirty- one producing title credits and twenty- seven directing title credits. In 2011, his documentary, Being Elmo, was awarded the Special Jury Prize at Sundance. He has appeared in numerous television specials, commercials, feature films and direct-to-video products.
During his career, he has worked with great innovators who founded the classic puppet television industry including Kermit Love, Frank Oz, and Jim Henson.
Clash has recruited, auditioned, and trained puppeteers from all over the world. He was the senior puppet coordinator, and was also a director, co-producer and senior creative adviser on Sesame Street. Kevin was essential to the success of Elmo’s World and the creative branding powerhouse of Elmo. Business Insider states that in 1996 the toy company Tyco saw their sales grow from $70 million to an astounding $350 million thanks to the Tickle Me Elmo Doll.
Clash’s most recent project, Earth to Ned, will be airing on Disney+ this Fall and he currently has several projects in development.
JANE GOOTNICK
With college degrees in both acting and set design Jane first moved to
Europe working in Belgium and London. In the mid-70's she moved to NYC working with alternative theatre groups (LaMama, Joe Papp's Public Theatre). Jane became head sculptor at Brooks Van Horn Costume Co.
making props, masks and creatures for a large variety of venues:
Broadway shows (Sweeney Todd, Dracula, Peter Pan), feature films (The Wiz, Hair), Warner Bros walkarounds, commercials, Ringling Bros Circus, and the first four seasons of Saturday Night Live.
In 1978, the costume designer for SNL mentioned that the Jim Henson Company was looking for sculptors for a film called The Dark Crystal and suggested she interview. Jane was offered three weeks work to build a prototype support harness for the Skeksis they were developing. So, she left her three-year full-time job for three weeks of work at Henson's and stayed 40 years!
Jane has worked in both the New York puppet shop and the London Creature Shop throughout the years. Designing/building puppets and creatures, supervising builds, and running workshops on location for Muppet/Henson films and TV series, (Dark Crystal, Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, The Storyteller, The Witches, Ninja Turtles, Dinosaurs, Muppets Tonight, The Muppets, etc.). She has also worked on a variety of talk shows, game shows, and awards shows (Oscars, Grammys, Hollywood Bowl and many more).
Jane is an art director for print and media photoshoots, film posters and endless fashion shoots with Miss Piggy with Louis Vuitton, Prada and other diva designers.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome actress and Muppet performer, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph to talk about her career and answer questions from our Live YouTube Chat. She performs characters such as Abby Cadabby, Spamela Hamderson, Prairie Dawn’s Mom, and more.
Episode Outline:
- Gene and Bill answer questions for the first eleven minutes alone
- Dick the Shark shows up to taunt Gene
Leslie Carrara-Rudolph joins the Q&A 11:30 – 58:30mins
- Her work before The Muppets
- Leslie’s Muppet audition and her amazing Wizard of Oz medley.
- Paul Rudolph pops in for a moment.
- Questions from the Live Chat continue throughout
- Bobo meets Darcey
- The origins of Abby Cadabra
- Playing off each other as background players in Muppets Tonight
- Dick the Shark comes back
- Paul Rudolph pops in again
- Gene recalls drawing a fake tattoo on Leslie during Muppets Tonight
- Leslie draws Angel Cards for Gene and Bill
- Lolly Lardpop checks in for a visit
Back to Bill and Gene Q&A on their own
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Leslie Carrara-Rudolph
A graduate of San Francisco State University (BA degree, “Child Development through the Arts”) is a multi-faceted entertainer, writer, and artist best known for performing the fairy, Abby Cadabby on Sesame Street for which she earned her 5 Emmy nominations. Leslie got her start as a puppeteer on ABC’s “Muppets Tonight.” Other TV credits- Jim Henson Company/PBS “Splash and Bubbles”, PBS Nature Cat, Disney’s “Johnny & the Sprites”, Nickelodeon’s Tough Puppy Leslie created an original musical stage show for the Walt Disney Company called “The Wahoo Wagon that ran at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. She was awarded the UNIMA citation of Excellence for her show “Wake Up Your Weird” and received two Jim Henson Foundation Grants.
Leslie recently had a residency at the Laurie Beechman theater performing her cabaret's “What Just Happened?”, “Moonlight Madness” and “Bizarre Brunch.” Leslie performs and speaks throughout the country about “character development through the arts” with her puppet side Kicks “Lolly Lardpop” and Granny Dot.” These characters are featured in her original podcast on iTunes called “Lolly’s radio playdate”
On this Mini episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Muppet Performer, and Actor, Dave Goelz.
Episode Outline:
- Dave remembers special moments and pays tribute to:
- Jerry Nelson
- Richard Hunt
- Caroll Spinney
- Jane Henson
- Jim Henson
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Dave is an Emmy award winning puppeteer. He also won a special Oscar for his dance sequence in The Parent Trap. He has performed with The Muppets since the mid 70s, performing such characters as Uncle Travelling Matt, Waldorf, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, and the iconic, Gonzo. He has also directed a dozen Traveling Matt episodes for Fraggle Rock.
BRIEF ADDITIONAL BIOS
Richard Hunt:
Muppet performer, who performed characters like Beeker, Sweetums, Scooter, Statler, and Janice.
Caroll Spinney:
Puppeteer, author, cartoonist, and Muppet performer, who originated and performed Big Bird, and Oscar the Grouch.
Jerry Nelson:
Actor, Musician, and Muppet Performer, known for dozens of characters, including Count Von Count, Sherlock Hemlock, Mr. Snuffleupagus, Robin the Frog, and Sgt. Floyd Pepper.
Jane Henson:
Puppeteer, artist, wife of Jim Henson.
Jim Henson:
Puppeteer, filmmaker, animator, director, writer, and creator of The Muppets. His characters include Kermit the Frog, Ernie, Dr. Teeth, Rowlf, and The Swedish Chef.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Muppet performer Peter Linz, who performs such characters as Ernie, Herry Monster, Walter, Robin, Statler, and more.
Episode Outline:
- Bill and Gene discuss the upcoming America’s Got Muppet Talent contest
- Gene and Bill intentionally delay brining in Peter
Peter Linz enters – 5:35mins
- Comparing Walter with a character from The Puzzle Place
- First movie – Pet Cemetery 2
- First experiences working at Sesame Street
- Talk about his family
- Billy offers Peter some loving compliments
- The first puppet he performed at Sesame Street
- The audition process for Big Big World.
- Pip and Pop
- Hollywood Walk of Fame
- Playing Ernie and Herry Monster
- Eric Jacobson as Bert
- Joe the Legal Weasel
- Walter
- Auditioning against other Muppet performers
- Choosing Walter’s voice
- Walter wins an Oscar
- Pepe and Walter
- Is Walter Jewish?
- Passing on characters to new puppeteers
- Years of assisting other puppeteers before getting his own characters
- Various questions from the Live Youtube Chat throughout
- Shooting The Muppets (2011 movie)
- Between The Lions
Surprise visit by Alice Dinnean! At 55:00mins
- Favorite shows he has worked on
- Headcanons
- Lips
- Missing Steve Whitmire
- His acting part in Muppets From Space
- Performing Miss Piggy in Muppets From Space
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
PETER LINZ
Peter Linz has wanted to be a MuppetTM performer on Sesame Street since he was a child, growing up in Atlanta, Georgia. His dream came true two years out of college when he was hired as a puppeteer for Sesame Street. In addition to performing various chickens, penguins, monsters, and a multitude of other characters, Linz also gives life to Herry Monster and Ernie. Linz is also one of the six, core Disney MuppetTM Performers. He originated the newest MuppetTM, Walter, who appeared opposite Jason Segal and Amy Adams in the widely acclaimed Disney feature films The Muppets (in which he performed the Oscar-winning song, “Man or Muppet”) and Muppets Most Wanted. He also performs the characters Statler (one of the old men in the balcony), Link Hogthrob, Lips, Joe the Weasel, and Kermit’s nephew, Robin.
Linz’s other film credits include Men in Black, Muppets From Space, Pet Sematary 2, and the 2005 remake of The Producers. In addition to his 27 seasons on Sesame Street, Linz’s other television credits include 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Bear in the Big Blue House, Lomax - The Hound of Music, Blue’s Room, The Book of Pooh, Between the Lions, It’s A Big Big World, Puzzle Place, Word World, and the ABC primetime sitcom, The Muppets, plus multiple appearances on Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and Good Morning America, among others. He is an original Broadway cast-member of the Tony Award winning musical, Avenue Q. Linz has led auditions and created workshops in television/film puppetry for international co- productions of Sesame Street in Germany, Mexico, China, and Jordan, and continues to do so independently in the United States and New Zealand.
ALICE DINNEAN
Alice Dinnean began her puppetry career in high school at Children's Fairyland in Oakland, CA. After graduating from Oberlin College, she went right back to puppets, starting at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta. She has performed principal roles on Sesame Street and for various Jim Henson Company productions, including Turkey Hollow, Sid the Science Kid, and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Alice has appeared in multiple Muppet productions including live performances at the Hollywood Bowl. Other favorite projects include Jack's Big Music Show, The Country Bears, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Crank Yankers, The Happytime Murders, Team America: World Police, Splash & Bubbles and Word Party.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Performer, Director, and Producer, Kevin Clash.
Episode Outline:
- Kevin remembers special moments and pays tribute to:
- Richard Hunt
- Caroll Spinney
- Jerry Nelson
- Jane Henson
- Jim Henson
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
KEVIN CLASH
Kevin Clash is best known for Elmo (Sesame Street) 1979-2012. He also was part of Labyrinth (1986), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1 (1990) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (1991), Happytime Murders (SFX) 2018, and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Netflix) 2019. In addition to Elmo, Clash is also known for performing Splinter (TMNT) Baby Sinclair (Dinosaurs), and Clifford (Muppets Tonight).
Kevin Clash has won 29 daytime Emmys, over one hundred fifty -six performing title credits, thirty- one producing title credits and twenty- seven directing title credits. In 2011, his documentary, Being Elmo, was awarded the Special Jury Prize at Sundance. He has appeared in numerous television specials, commercials, feature films and direct-to-video products.
During his career, he has worked with great innovators who founded the classic puppet television industry including Kermit Love, Frank Oz, and Jim Henson.
Clash has recruited, auditioned, and trained puppeteers from all over the world. He was the senior puppet coordinator, and was also a director, co-producer and senior creative adviser on Sesame Street. Kevin was essential to the success of Elmo’s World and the creative branding powerhouse of Elmo. Business Insider states that in 1996 the toy company Tyco saw their sales grow from $70 million to an astounding $350 million thanks to the Tickle Me Elmo Doll.
Clash’s most recent project, Earth to Ned, will be airing on Disney+ this Fall, and he currently has several projects in development.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome guest judge Carmen Osbahr, to help feature our ten talented contestants.
Episode Outline:
- Gene introduces his new semi-nasty character “Simon Gene.”
- A Thank-You to the Muppet Fan Sites who have helped us promote the show.
- Intro to Carmen
- Contestant #01: Jordan Brownlee sings “In Our World”
- Contestant #02: Chris Fiser sings “Man or Muppet”
- Talk about Carmen’s character, Rosita.
- Contestant #03: Debra Forth sings “One Little Star.”
- Contestant #04: Stacey Henson sings “I'm Going to Go Back There Someday”
- Contestant #05: Scott Joy sings “Rubber Duckie”
- Contestant #06: Cassidy Lewis sings “Sesame Street Theme”
- Contestant #07: Thelonious Jawn sings “Do De Duckie”
- Contestant #08: Fergie Philippe-Auguste sings “I Don't Want to Live on the Moon”
- Contestant #09: Frank Simpson sings “I'm So Happy”
- Contestant #10: Lianna Rivera sings “Rainbow Connection”
- And questions for our guests from our Live Youtube Chat.
ABOUT OUR GUEST-HOST
Carmen Osbahr
Carmen Osbahr, performs Rosita, Ovejita, and other characters on Sesame Street. Originally from Mexico City, she began her relationship with the iconic program in 1987 when she met Jim Henson. She appeared on various television shows for Televisa (Mexico City), including The Treasure of Knowledge, Xe-Tu, and The Songs of Cri-Cri. Osbahr was also part of the Plaza Sésamo team before moving to New York. In 1988, Osbahr officially became a Jim Henson Muppet™ performer, working for Sesame Street, City Kids, Dog City, Aliens in the Family, Between the Lions, and Bear in the Big Blue House. Osbahr’s other credits include “Kiki” in The Puzzle Place, a role in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, and “Lily” in Disney’s Johnny and the Sprites. Osbahr has performed in the live stage shows The Muppets Take the Bowl at the historic Hollywood Bowl; The Muppets Take the O2 at the O2 Arena in London; The Jim Henson Retrospectacle Live in Concert series in Wellington, New Zealand; and A Swingin’ Sesame Street Celebration: 50 Years and Counting at Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
On this Mini episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Muppet Performer, Puppeteer, and Actress, Stephanie D’Abruzzo. Along with writer, producer, and director, Craig Shemin.
Episode Outline:
- Stephanie remembers a special moment and pays tribute to Caroll Spinney
- Craig remembers a special moment and pays tribute to Jim Henson
- Stephanie remembers a special moment and pays tribute to Jerry Nelson
- Craig remembers a special moment and pays tribute to Richard Hunt
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
Stephanie joined Sesame Street in 1993. Since then, she has performed hundreds of characters, including Lulu, Curly Bear, and Prairie Dawn since 2015. She has also puppeteered and voiced countless characters for projects like Bear in the Big Blue House, Donkey Hodie, and Julie’s Greenroom. And if that isn’t enough, this slacker has earned herself Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominations, and wait for it, Theater World Award and a special Outer Critics Circle Ensemble Award – for originating her roles in Avenue Q.
Craig Shemin is a writer, producer, and director. His credits include work with The Muppets, The Jim Henson Company, TV animation, and books like The Muppets Character Encyclopedia, and the upcoming book about Jim Henson’s first TV series, Sam & Friends. Craig produced and directed the award-winning documentary Behind the Scenes at Frogtown Hollow. He is President of The Jim Henson Legacy, and curator for Henson screenings at The Museum of the Moving Image.
BRIEF ADDITIONAL BIOS
Richard Hunt:
Muppet performer, who performed characters like Beeker, Sweetums, Scooter, Statler, and Janice.
Caroll Spinney:
Puppeteer, author, cartoonist, and Muppet performer, who originated and performed Big Bird, and Oscar the Grouch.
Jerry Nelson:
Actor, Musician, and Muppet Performer, known for dozens of characters, including Count Von Count, Sherlock Hemlock, Mr. Snuffleupagus, Robin the Frog, and Sgt. Floyd Pepper.
Jim Henson:
Puppeteer, filmmaker, animator, director, writer, and creator of The Muppets. His characters include Kermit the Frog, Ernie, Dr. Teeth, Rowlf, and The Swedish Chef.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome actor, producer, wrestler, David Arquette, and wrestler, actor, RJ City.
Episode Outline:
David Arquette
- David Arquette joins Bill & Gene 01:45-
- David discusses early TV work like The Outsiders, Parenthood with Leonardo DiCaprio
- Learning the craft by watching his Dad, actor Lewis Arquette, work.
- How joining his High School play turned his mind toward acting as a career.
- First film, “Where the Day Takes You.”
- Billy shows his Charlie Weaver (David’s Grandfather) Bartender toy.
- David’s obsession with collecting. Costumes, art, movie theater seats, and more.
- His Dad, Lewis Arquette’s work
- Pepe working with his sister, Alexis.
- His favorite Muppet experiences and loving the technical end of it.
- Wearing dead people’s clothes.
- The screening of The Tripper and the Paul Reubens anti-drug PSA
RJ City joins David, Gene, and Bill at 27:24mins
- RJ surprises Bill with a VHS copy of Muppet Classic Theater
- RJ and David engage in verbal jousting and insults.
- How RJ began wrestling
- RJ compares Wrestling to The Muppet Show
- Wrestlers from the 70s.
- How David and RJ send each other clothing once owned by Jerry Lewis.
- Discussion about their documentary, “You Cannot Kill David Arquette.”
- Gene and Bill show their homemade wrestling film from the 70s.
- Wrestling at traffic stops in Mexico
- Facial hair prepping for Scream 5
Gene and Bill get into a virtual wrestling match.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS:
David Arquette
David Arquette is an actor, director, wrestler, writer, producer, certified Bob Ross instructor and widely believed to be immortal.
RJ City
RJ is an actor, comedian and wrestling raconteur. He starred in the BBC/Nickelodeon show Splatalot; has sweat with (and on) various men all across North America; and every Sunday morning, makes coffee in his underwear on YouTube with such guests as Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mario Cantone. He is also David Arquette’s legal guardian.
On this Mini episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Muppet Performer, Puppeteer, and Actress, Louise Gold.
Episode Outline:
- Louise remembers special moments and pays tribute to:
- Richard Hunt
- Caroll Spinney
- Jerry Nelson
- Jane Henson
- John Henson
- Jim Henson
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Louise trained as an actor at Arts Educational School but very early in her career she got a job with Jim Henson as one of the Muppet Performers on The Muppet Show (filmed at Elstree Studios) From then on, she has combined both acting and puppeteering. Most recently she played Yente in Trevor Nunn’s acclaimed production of "Fiddler on the Roof' at The Menier Chocolate Factory and the Playhouse Theatre London. Directly before that she was one of the core performers on The Netflix prequel series to the film, The Dark Crystal, 'Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance'. She was one of the original team that started Spitting Image, doing voices and puppeteering, worked on the recent Cbeebies show ‘The Furchester Hotel ‘playing Funella Furchester. She has appeared in many West End Shows as an actress including Mamma Mia, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Assassins, The Cherry Orchard with the RSC and TV, Film and Radio.
During the lockdown she was part of GLOP (Glorious ladies of Puppetry)
BRIEF ADDITIONAL BIOS
Richard Hunt:
Muppet performer, who performed characters like Beeker, Sweetums, Scooter, Statler, and Janice.
Caroll Spinney:
Puppeteer, author, cartoonist, and Muppet performer, who originated and performed Big Bird, and Oscar the Grouch.
Jerry Nelson:
Actor, Musician, and Muppet Performer, known for dozens of characters, including Count Von Count, Sherlock Hemlock, Mr. Snuffleupagus, Robin the Frog, and Sgt. Floyd Pepper.
Jane Henson:
Puppeteer, artist, wife of Jim Henson.
John Henson:
Muppet Performer, craftsman, second son of Jim Henson.
Jim Henson:
Puppeteer, filmmaker, animator, director, writer, and creator of The Muppets. His characters include Kermit the Frog, Ernie, Dr. Teeth, Rowlf, and The Swedish Chef.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers feature Composer, Michael Giacchino.
Episode Outline:
- Some birthday wishes for Michael, and memories from us all growing up in the same places.
- Royal Albert Hall performance. (Question from viewer)
- Early musical influences. Exploring his early passions for music.
- How he began working with The Muppets
- Michael shares some memorabilia
- Favorite concept albums
- His latest CD, “Travelogue Volume 1” and the trailer
- Stories about Ratatouille, Jo Jo Rabbit, Inside Out, Rogue One, Lost, The Incredibles, and Prep & Landing
- Thoughts on conducting a score
- Recording with Paul McCartney
- Michael writes us an impromptu theme on ukulele
- And questions for our guests from our Live Youtube Chat.
ABOUT OUR GUEST
Composer MICHAEL GIACCHINO has credits that feature some of the most popular and acclaimed film projects in recent history, including The Incredibles, War for the Planet of the Apes, Ratatouille, Star Trek, Jurassic World, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Coco. Giacchino’s 2009 score for the Pixar hit Up earned him an Oscar®, a Golden Globe®, the BAFTA, the Broadcast Film Critics' Choice Award and two GRAMMY® Awards. Giacchino studied filmmaking at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. After college, he landed a marketing job at Disney and began studies in music composition, first at Juilliard, and then at UCLA. He moved from marketing to producing in the newly formed Disney Interactive Division where he had the opportunity to write music for video games.
After moving to DreamWorks Interactive, he was asked to score the temp track for the video game adaptation of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Subsequently, Steven Spielberg hired him as the composer and it became the first PlayStation game to have a live orchestral score, recorded with members of the Seattle Symphony. Giacchino went on to score numerous video games including Spielberg’s Medal of Honor series. Giacchino’s work in video games sparked the interest of J.J. Abrams, and thus began their long-standing relationship that would lead to scores for the hit television series Alias and Lost, and the feature films Mission Impossible III, Star Trek, Super 8 and Star Trek Into Darkness.
Additional projects include collaborations with Disney Imagineering on music for Space Mountain, Star Tours (with John Williams), the Ratatouille ride in Disneyland Paris, and the Incredicoaster on Pixar Pier at California Adventure. Giacchino was the musical director of the 81st Annual Academy Awards®. His music can be heard in concert halls internationally with all three Star Trek films, Ratatouille, Jurassic World, Up and Coco being performed live-to-picture with a full orchestra. In June 2018, Giacchino premiered his first work for symphony orchestra, Voyage. Commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the piece celebrates the 60th anniversary of the founding of NASA. In July 2019, a third movement was added for the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing. Jojo Rabbit, the critically acclaimed Fox Searchlight film written and directed by Taika Waititi, earned Giacchino a BAFTA nomination this year. His upcoming film projects
include Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Giacchino’s first LP of original music, Travelogue Vol 1, featuring his Nouvelle Modernica orchestra, is described as a story in song and will be released on Mondo Records in October 2020. Giacchino serves as the Governor of the Music Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and sits on the advisory board of Education Through Music Los Angeles.
On this Mini episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Muppet Performer, Voice Actor, and Actress, Fran Brill.
Episode Outline:
- Fran remembers special moments and pays tribute to:
- Richard Hunt
- Caroll Spinney
- Jerry Nelson
- And Jim Henson
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Fran Brill Kelly was the first female Muppet performer hired by Jim Henson for SESAME STREET. During her many years there she won an EMMY AWARD and created the characters of Zoe, Prairie Dawn, the Countess and many others. Her other work with the Muppets includes THE MUPPET SHOW, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, THE JIM HENSON HOUR, DOG CITY, THE ADVENTURES OF ELMO IN GROUCHLAND, CINDERELMO and ZOE'S DANCE MOVES with Paula Abdul. Fran was also in Frank Oz’s documentary MUPPET GUYS TALKING.
As an actress, Fran appeared on and off Broadway at the Roundabout Theatre, Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights Horizons and was twice nominated for the Drama Desk Award. She also played leading roles at many regional theaters including Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Mark Taper Forum, and Yale Rep. Her film credits include MIDNIGHT RUN with Robert De Niro, WHAT ABOUT BOB? with Bill Murray and BEING THERE with Peter Sellers.
She had running roles on several soap operas and guest-starred on many night-time dramas including LAW AND ORDER and its spin-offs. Her voice was also heard on hundreds of radio and TV commercials and the cartoon series' DOUG and SHEEP IN THE CITY.
She retired, happily, on Sept. 30, 2014. www.franbrill.com
BRIEF ADDITIONAL BIOS
Richard Hunt:
Muppet performer, who performed characters like Beeker, Sweetums, Scooter, Statler, and Janice.
Caroll Spinney:
Puppeteer, author, cartoonist, and Muppet performer, who originated and performed Big Bird, and Oscar the Grouch.
Jerry Nelson:
Actor, Musician, and Muppet Performer, known for dozens of characters, including Count Von Count, Sherlock Hemlock, Mr. Snuffleupagus, Robin the Frog, and Sgt. Floyd Pepper.
Jim Henson:
Puppeteer, filmmaker, animator, director, writer, and creator of The Muppets. His characters include Kermit the Frog, Ernie, Dr. Teeth, Rowlf, and The Swedish Chef.
In this episode, The Barretta Brothers welcome Actor/Activist/Restauranteur, Danny Trejo. Featuring surprise celebrity-guest visits by Kermit the Frog, Jon Voight, The Swedish Chef, and director Robert Rodriguez.
Episode Outline:
- Working with The Muppets
- Trejo’s Tacos and eating with family
- A visit from Robert Rodriguez. They talk about their films, and how they discovered they are related.
- A visit from The Swedish Chef
- Muppets Most Wanted – and the special reason why he loves Kermit.
- A visit by Kermit the Frog
- Talk about his documentary, “Inmate #1”
- His first film, “Runaway Train”
- A visit from Jon Voight
- Tony Bennett story
- How making movies is Danny’s platform for doing great community work.
ABOUT OUR GUEST
Danny Trejo has developed a prolific career in the entertainment industry with a hard-earned and atypical road to success. From years of imprisonment to helping troubled youth battle drug addictions, from acting to producing, and now on to restaurant ventures, Trejo’s name, face, and achievements are well recognized in Hollywood and beyond.
Trejo has starred in dozens of films including DESPERADO, HEAT, the FROM DUSK TILL DAWN series, CON AIR, ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, the SPY KIDS movies, MACHETE, and MACHETE KILLS, the BAD ASS trilogy, DEAD AGAIN IN TOMBSTONE and co-starred in DEATH RACE 2, DEATH RACE: INFERNO, MUPPETS MOST WANTED, GRAND DADDY DAY CARE, 3 FROM HELL which was
released in September 2019. Danny can also be seen in MADNESS IN THE METHOD, directed by Jason Mewes which was released in August 2019.
On the television side, Trejo reunited with Robert Rodriguez for Miramax’ From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series. He also had recurring roles on Sons of Anarchy, King of the Hill, Breaking Bad, and The Flash, and has been featured in episodes of Blue Bloods, WHAT We Do in the Shadows, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Kidding, among others. Danny has recently wrapped the 3rd season of AMERICAN GODS, where he will be playing the character of MR. WORLD.
Additionally, Trejo has voiced characters in the animated films STORKS and THE BOOK OF LIFE, along with the series American Dad!, Rick and Morty, Puss in Boots, Young Justice and Family Guy. He also voices the character of Boots in DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD, which released in August 2019. More recently, Trejo has lent his voice to Cartoon Network’s Victor and Valentino, Disney Channel’s Big City Greens, and Universal Pictures’ MINIONS 2: The Rise of Gru. Comedian Pete Davidson recently performed an original rap song titled “Danny Trejo”on Saturday Night Live as a tribute to Mr. Trejo.
If you didn’t think Trejo was busy enough, he recently expanded his Trejo’s Tacos empire to include 8 locations in the Los Angeles area, including two new locations at the Original Farmer’s Market and in the Colony in West LA. Trejo’s Coffee & Donuts has also proven to be just as successful and will continue to expand in the near future.
Despite Danny’s impressive list of credits, it is his continuous role as a devoted father of three and an intervention counselor that bring him the most satisfaction. Danny is excited to share his love of food with the world with the release of his first cookbook Trejo’s Tacos: Recipes and Stories from LA, released in April, 2020. Danny’s colorful life and prolific career are chronicled in the new bio-documentary Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers feature GLOP (Glorious Ladies of Puppetry), a team of over twenty of the most talented female puppeteers working today. And speak with GLOP creators, Donna Kimball, Colleen Smith, and Alice Dinnean.
Episode Outline:
- They discuss why and how they were motivated to start their project.
- We watch and comment on 3 of their 6 short episodes
- Behind the Scenes discussion
- The process of Covid Pandemic shooting, when everyone shot their parts separately.
- Their various Muppets & Henson projects, and more.
- The growing opportunities for female puppeteers.
- And questions for our guests from our Live Youtube Chat.
ABOUT OUR GUESTS
Donna Kimball:
A puppeteer for 25 years, Donna is the new Mokey in the reboot of The Jim Henson Company’s FRAGGLE ROCK (Apple TV). Other Henson credits include EARTH TO NED (Disney+), WORD PARTY (Netflix), SID THE SCIENCE KID (PBS), and the voice of Aughra in DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE (Netflix). Her work with Sid & Marty Krofft Productions includes MUTT & STUFF (Nick Jr.), SIGMUND AND THE SEA MONSTERS (Amazon), and she is the new voice of H.R. PUFNSTUF’s beloved character Freddie the Flute. She was a writer for WORD PARTY and the animated Henson series FRIENDZSPACE.
Colleen Smith:
Colleen is a GROUNDLINGS SUNDAY CO. & SECOND CITY Conservatory Alumna. She joined the cast of Brian Henson's PUPPET UP! as an improviser over ten years ago. As a human her credits include HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, THE OFFICE AND SELFIE. As a puppeteer she played various characters in THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS, Rose from THE CURIOUS CREATIONS OF CHRISTINE MCCONNELL and Beti on EARTH TO NED on Disney +. Colleensmi.com
Alice Dinnean:
Alice Dinnean began her puppetry career in high school at Children's Fairyland in Oakland, CA. After graduating from Oberlin College, she went right back to puppets, starting at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta. She has performed principal roles on SESAME STREET and for various Jim Henson Company productions, including TURKEY HOLLOW, SID THE SCIENCE KID, AND THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE. Alice has appeared in multiple Muppet productions including live performances at the Hollywood Bowl. Other favorite projects include JACK'S BIG MUSIC SHOW, THE COUNTRY BEARS, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, CRANK YANKERS, THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS, TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE, SPLASH & BUBBLES AND WORD PARTY.
On this episode, The Barretta Brothers feature veteran Muppet performers and Emmy Winners, Frank Oz, and Dave Goelz. Two hours of love and cutting remarks.
Episode Outline:
- Gene serenades Bill for his birthday with a crash landing.
- Frank’s early years, including his dramatic overseas, post-war immigration from Belgium.
- Dave’s early career in Industrial Design and his father’s influence.
- Frank’s pantomime
- Dave’s Studio Show and Tell
- Beginning with The Muppets, and early productions
- Hilarious story about Frank and Dave’s dinner date.
- Early inclinations to become artists
- What makes a good puppeteer?
- Little Shop of Horrors
- Plus, questions from our Live Youtube Chat
ABOUT OUR GUESTS
Frank Oz:
Frank is a four-time Emmy winner, recipient of The Art Director’s Guild Award, The Comedy Award, Saturn Lifetime Achievement Award, George Foster Peabody award, and others. He’s performed with THE MUPPETS and on the STAR WARS Films. The dozen feature films he’s directed include LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, IN & OUT, THE SCORE, and DEATH AT A FUNERAL, and has been patiently tolerant of Dave for years.
Dave Goelz:
Dave is a one-time Emmy winner, and did not receive The Art Director’s Guild Award, The Comedy Award or the Saturn Lifetime Achievement Award. He did not receive the George Foster Peabody award, but Jim Henson shared his with Dave. He’s performed with THE MUPPETS, but not on the STAR WARS Films. He has directed a dozen Traveling Matt episodes for FRAGGLE ROCK. He’s not as accomplished as Frank, but at least his given name auto-capitalizes.
The brothers are joined today by Kirk Thatcher, an Emmy award winning writer/producer, an award winning television, commercial and viral video director, as well as a creature maker and character designer for both films and television.
Expect to hear...
...How and why Kirk became an artist in spite of having parents that did not see it as a lucrative or even practical career path.
...what it was like to design and create creatures for Return of the Jedi, Star Trek II and III, E.T., and others.
...the process behind writing Muppet films and the secret to bringing Muppet characters to life.
MEMORABLE QUOTES BY KIRK
- “I was interested in the cinema as not only a diversion but also as a career. Seeing that there were, indeed, vocations and avocations in the industry of cinema, or film if you will, I realized that not only did I enjoy viewing these productions, but I was also quite curious and interested in making them.”
- “They’re dead. They’re dehydrated, mummified Muppets. Whereas, when we’re in the moment, and the characters come alive, particularly once you create out of yourself, that’s the magic.”
- “Performers are more than just the people who read the lines. The Muppets, because they’ve been around so long, the performers are so integral, so it has to be much more of a collaboration.”
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE
- Growing up in Los Angeles as an adopted child [05:18]
- Where Kirk discovered and developed his artistic abilities [12:48]
- Working on Return of the Jedi [18:12]
- Kirk’s life in snapshots [24:30]
- Becoming an associate producer on Star Trek IV [32:10]
- Co-writing Muppet Treasure Island [46:30]
- Bringing that “extra insanity” to storytelling and character development [52:03]
- Taking risks with the Muppets [59:27]
- Collaborating with the brothers to create Pepe the King Prawn [1:01:40]
ABOUT OUR GUEST
Kirk R. Thatcher is an Emmy award winning writer/producer, an award winning television, commercial and viral video director, as well as a creature maker and character designer for both films and television.
Kirk began at nineteen working at Industrial Light and Magic, designing, creating and puppeteering creatures for blockbusters such as, Return of the Jedi, Star Trek II, Star Trek III, E.T., Poltergeist, and Gremlins. He was also an associate producer on Star Trek IV, in which he had a memorable cameo as the Punk on the Bus, rocking out to the Punk anthem he both wrote and sang, called, “I HateYou!”
Kirk has co-written several Muppet films including Muppet Treasure Island and directed four television movies: “The Muppets Wizard of Oz”, which premiered at Robert DeNiro’s Tribeca Film Festival, “It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie,” “The Muppets Letters to Santa” as well as the Lifetime Network Thanksgiving movie, “Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow” starring Mary Steenburgen. He was Supervising Producer on the Emmy Award winning ABC series, Muppets Tonight, and co-producer on the ABC series Dinosaurs, on which he designed most of the characters, working closely with one of his mentors, the Muppet’s creator Jim Henson. As well as his long form work, Kirk has directed over thirty Muppet commercials and web shorts including, Muppet’s Bohemian Rhapsody, which has been viewed over 72 Million times, and all of Neil Patrick Harris’ web comedy series, “Neil’s Puppet Dreams”. Kirk has also written episodes for the Cartoon Network series Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and directed episodes of Nickelodeon’s series Lazy Town, PBS’ Sid the Science Kid and Comedy Central’s Crank Yankers. Kirk was also one of the three recurring judges on the Syfy channel series, “Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge” which had over 11 million viewers.
More recently, Kirk created, wrote, and Executive Produced a series for Netflix entitled, “The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell” with Christine McConnell and the Jim Henson company. Kirk directed every episode and the series has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes! Kirk recently directed an episode of, “The Kids are Alright” entitled, “Mailbox” for ABC Network. He also directed 3hrs of episodes of the Muppets new series, “Muppets Now” on Disney +, which debuted in 2020. He also co-wrote and co-directed the hit Muppet Live Shows that played at the Hollywood bowl and in London’s O2 stadium. He is currently developing shows for Netflix, Disney + and the Amazon. When he isn’t busy creating or directing shows, Kirk is also a voice talent and has done many of the memorable voices on the feature films, Spaced Invaders, Gremlins II and the animated series, “Klutter” as well as playing Dr Thatch in Medal of Honor, Above and Beyond, released in December of 2020.
Dinosaurs Month, Week One
WIth the announcement that the entire Dinosaurs series is going up on Disney+ on January 29, the Brothers have decided to dedicate an entire month’s worth of episodes to the beloved show. Expect features on the characters, as well as on the designers, builders, performers, and voice actors that brought those characters to life.
On today’s show, the Brothers are joined by Stuart Pankin, John Kennedy, Allan Trautman, Jane Gootnick, Marian McCoin, Nikki Lyons, Julianne Buescher, Brian Henson, Tony Sabin Prince, and Lisa Rocco.
Expect to hear...
...how the puppeteers and performers developed a working chemistry to bring their characters to life.
...puppeteering innovations that came out of Dinosaurs.
...what it feels like to be inside Earl’s, Fran’s, and Ethyl’s body suits.
MEMORABLE QUOTES
- “I visited the set a bunch of times. It was fantastic. It’s too bad that the people who watched it, who loved the show, couldn't get a chance to see that. That set and those people, those animatronics, it was beautiful and unbelievable.” ~Brian
- “We’re just controlling the face, and we’re doing the dialogue. We’re all puppeteers, so I imagine what I want to see the character do. I’m not just doing a voice or making faces. As a puppeteer, I’m always thinking about the body and how I want to compose things and the emotion I want to get across. ~Allan
- “It wasn’t about us. It was about those characters. No matter who you were, we were all working to make sure the characters were great and the relationships between them were great. And that took all of us to do that, no matter who was doing what.” ~Bill
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE
- Introducing our first round of guests [04:02]
- Puppeteering innovations on Dinosaurs and creating Earl Sinclair [07:30]
- Developing Earl’s voice [22:31]
- How Lisa helped Bill survive in the body suit [27:46]
- Reminiscing over behind-the-scenes photos [34:50]
- Introducing our second round of guests [40:10]
- The complexity of performing while utilizing controls to manipulate expressions [45:02]
- Marian’s typical day on set [48:45]
- How Tony and Allan built up their working chemistry for performing Fran [57:17]
- The relationships made along the way [1:02:11]
- Mannerisms or quotes from characters that showed up in their performer’s lives [1:04:40]
- Going through a few more behind-the-scenes photos [1:08:55]
- Introducing our third round of guests [1:10:27]
- Puppeteering Ethyl [1:12:56]
- Jane’s memories of Caroly Wilcox [1:33:09]
- Closing remarks [1:38:10]
Fran Brill
The brothers are joined today by actress, voice-over performer, and legendary puppeteer Fran Brill, best known for her work on Sesame Street. She was the first female puppeteer hired for the show, and over a 45-year career brought to life characters such as Prairie Dawn, Countess von Backwards, Zoe, and many others.
Expect to hear...
...Fran’s diverse and storied career in entertainment.
...what it was like to work with legends in the industry such as Jim Henson, Robert De Niro, and others.
...from two surprise guests who drop in halfway through the conversation!
MEMORABLE QUOTES BY FRAN
- “When I came to [Sesame Street] in the 70s, it was Women’s Lib and I think it was Dulcy Singer who said we really need to get females onboard as puppeteers to make more authentic female characters in this day and age. This is how things changed with the television show over time.”
- “Ride in the direction the horse is going. Sometimes you want desperately to be this. And yet people are screaming for you to be that.
- “I had a blast doing Doug. I loved that show. I thought it was just a lovely show. Jim Jinkins, the creator, was a huge fan of Jim Henson’s. I played so many different characters on that show. I loved it. I was so sorry when that stopped. [...] I loved the freedom of it.”
- “I’ve had a great life. I had great chances to work with wonderful people. No regrets, really. No regrets.”
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE
- Fran’s first professional gig [05:36]
- Why Fran decided to retire [10:46]
- Getting her start with Sesame Street and other early roles [12:55]
- Balancing her work as a puppeteer with acting for film and television and theatre [20:07]
- Working with Frank Oz and Dave Goelz [31:36]
- The first time Dave and Frank met Fran [38:16]
- Dave’s and Frank’s heartfelt messages to Fran [45:46]
- Fran’s classic film roles [53:15]
- Fran’s voice work [59:27]
- The boots made for female puppeteers on Sesame Street [1:05:54]
- Fran’s work on The Jim Henson Hour [1:09:08]
- Fran’s roles in other prestigious TV shows [1:13:06]
- Why Fran has no regrets [1:18:05]
- Sharing Hirschfeld works [1:19:06]
- Saying goodbye to Fran [1:26:14]
- The brothers take a few questions and announce what to expect in future episodes [1:31:04]
ABOUT OUR GUEST
Fran Brill is an Emmy Award winning performer who has had successful careers as an actress, voice-over performer, and puppeteer.
She was the first female puppeteer hired by Jim Henson for Sesame Street and has created the iconic characters of Zoe and Prairie Dawn and many other loveable Muppets. Over the years, she has also worked on Saturday Night Live, The Jim Henson Hour, The Muppet Show, Dog City, The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, Play With Me Sesame, Men in Black and many CDs and DVDs including Zoe's Dance Moves with Paula Abdul.
Upon getting her B.F.A. from Boston University where she received classical training as an actress, Fran got her first acting job with Theatre Atlanta. Within months, one of the productions, a musical called Red, White and Maddox, got picked up and Fran found herself on Broadway.
As an actress, Fran has appeared in the films What About Bob? directed by Frank Oz and starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss, Midnight Run starring Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin, and Being There starring Peter Sellers. On television she has been on numerous soap operas including long runs on All My Children and the infamous How to Survive a Marriage for which she received an Afternoon TV Best Actress Award. Her other television credits include Spenser: For Hire, Third Watch, Lip Service directed by William H. Macy, Conan O'Brien, Hyde in Hollywood and several Law and Orders.
Her appearances on the New York stage include Look Back in Anger with Malcolm McDowell, Desdemona, Shirmishes, and Hyde in Hollywood. She was twice nominated for the Drama Desk Award for What Every Woman Knows and Knuckle. She has also played Stella opposite Shirley Knight and Peter Weller in A Streetcar Named Desire and appeared in Otherwise Engaged with Roddy McDowall.
For three years she was the on-camera spokesperson for Actonel and has recorded hundreds of commercials including the famous Beautymist Pantyhose commercial starring Joe Namath. She has also provided voices for several cartoon series including Doug and Sheep in the City.
Fran served on the Board of Directors for the Screen Actors Guild and currently serves as Vice President on the board of the Jim Henson Legacy.
On this episode, the Barretta Brothers welcome Ricky Gervais and Matt Vogel to speak about their experiences in the comedy, acting, and puppeteering industries. They delve into their influences and some of their favorite bits and characters. Ricky discusses how people live vicariously through comedians and the value in enjoying yourself and living to have fun. Then, Matt speaks on vocal matching, specifically with Kermit, what peaked his interest in puppets, and how acting fuels great puppeteering.
We address:
What draws people to Ricky Gervais?
What inspired him to create Afterlife? Will there be more seasons?
How did Matt get into acting and puppeteering?
What’s his new podcast, Below The Frame, all about?
What have their experiences with The Muppets been like?
We get old because we stop playing! Tune into this week’s episode to hear how Ricky Gervais enjoys life and for a fun look into the world of being a puppeteer, a comedian, and an actor. Plus, we get a call from a very special friend whom you may know and love… Constantine!
3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED
- Free speech is the petri dish of ideas. Ricky describes his candid thoughts on free speech and how comedy comes from sharing your opinions, being honest, and saying what’s on your mind.
- Cancel culture inspired Ricky Gervais to create Afterlife. After seeing the negative side of cancel culture on social media and all the extremes that social media presents to the world, like the extreme right vs the extreme left, he was inspired to develop the series Afterlife. He knew that people feared sharing their opinions. He thought: If you lost everything and you have nothing to lose, you could say what you want. What is losing everything? Losing everything would be losing your life partner. Tune in to find out how many more seasons of Afterlife you can expect Ricky to create.
- To be a great puppeteer, it’s helpful to have a strong background in acting. Matt details his background and how he got into acting after a not so fun experience puppeteering. He relates the two and notes what he learned from acting that can be directly applied to puppeteering.
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE
- What’s coming up? [02:04]
- Welcoming Ricky Gervais [02:42]
- Are people living vicariously through your naughtiness and brutal honesty? [04:10]
- Ricky has always tried to just have fun and enjoy himself [10:52]
- Biggest influences in our lives + Some of our favorite bits [11:58]
- What made you decide to do a live broadcast on Twitter during lockdown and did you ever think it would help people get through lockdown? [19:57]
- Our experiences with The Muppets + Ricky’s two favorite Muppets of all time [23:03]
- What inspired you to develop the series Afterlife and do you have a sense of how many seasons you’ll create? [30:17]
- A bit about Ricky and Christopher Guest’s friendship [33:54]
- Talking about Billy Crystal’s Don’t Get Me Started [37:20]
- Constantine calls in [38:33]
- Transition to Matt Vogel [44:35]
- Welcoming Matt Vogel [45:25]
- Remembering “The Goelz Greeting” [48:00]
- A bit about Matt and what peaked his interest about puppets [49:20]
- How Matt got into acting [53:08]
- Matt’s college sweetheart [55:40]
- A strong acting background helps make a great puppeteer [56:37]
- 3 of Matt’s biggest influences [59:49]
- We discuss Matt’s characters [1:06:02]
- Vocal matches: People have been discussing Matt’s Kermit voice [1:08:05]
- Playing a game of Pick A Number [1:11:50]
- Matt talks about his podcast Below The Frame [1:20:07]
- Outro [1:22:40]
ABOUT OUR GUEST
Ricky Dene Gervais (/dʒərˈveɪz/ jər-VAYZ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, producer, and director. He is best known for co-creating, writing, and acting in the British television series The Office (2001–2003).[5] He has won seven BAFTA Awards, five British Comedy Awards, two Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and the Rose d'Or twice (2006 and 2019), as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. In 2007, he was placed at No. 11 on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups[6] and at No. 3 on the updated 2010 list.[7] In 2010, he was named on the Time 100 list of the world's most influential people.[8]
Gervais initially worked in the music industry, attempting a career as a pop star in the 1980s as the singer of the new-wave act Seona Dancing and working as the manager of the then unknown band Suede before turning to comedy. Gervais appeared on The 11 O'Clock Show on Channel 4 between 1998 and 2000, garnering a reputation as a blunt and often controversial social critic. In 2000, he was given a Channel 4 spoof talk show, Meet Ricky Gervais. He achieved greater mainstream fame the following year with his BBC television mock documentary series The Office. It was followed by Extras in 2005. He co-wrote and co-directed both programmes with Stephen Merchant. In addition to writing and directing the shows, he played the lead roles of David Brent in The Office and Andy Millman in Extras. He starred in 2016 comedy film David Brent: Life on the Road, which he also wrote and directed.[9]
Gervais began his stand-up career in the late 1990s. He has performed five multi-national stand-up comedy tours, and he wrote the Flanimals book series. Gervais, Merchant, and Karl Pilkington created the podcast The Ricky Gervais Show, which has spawned various spin-offs starring Pilkington and produced by Gervais and Merchant.[10] Gervais has also starred in the Hollywood films Ghost Town, the Night at the Museum trilogy, For Your Consideration, and Muppets Most Wanted. He wrote, directed, and starred in The Invention of Lying and the Netflix-released Special Correspondents. He hosted the Golden Globe Awards in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, and again in 2020. Gervais also appears on the game show Child Support. Currently, Gervais is credited as the creator, executive producer, director, and writer for the Netflix comedy series After Life, where he plays the lead role of Tony Johnson.
RESOURCES
- Visit our website: thebarrettabrothers.com
- Visit Ricky Gervais’s website: rickygervais.com
- Visit Matt Vogel’s website: mattvogel.com
- “The Goelz Greeting”: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wowADscBNmo&list=LLGIQuFoDF6lKOjW9LO-_Vyw&index=8
Official Podcast of The Barretta Brothers. Join them and many great guests from The Muppets, Movies, TV, and more.
Bill has been a director, writer, producer and core performer with The Muppets for nearly 30 years. Gene is an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books. He has also animated and illustrated for Sesame Street, Between The Lions, and The Jim Henson Company.
But Wait! It’s a Podcast and a Vodcast! You can Listen or Watch. For the Vodcast go to: www.thebarrettabrothers.com
New Podcast episode posts every Friday.