Here's a disturbing trend. Amongst the fresh 2009 mug shots collected over at The Smoking Gun are two apparent Muppet fans who ended up at the lock up. Both are sporting shirts featuring a picture of Kermit and the slogan "It's Easy Being Green." Of course we all know that it's actually NOT easy being green. Perhaps having the wrong idea is part of what landed them in this trouble in the first place.
The blog over at Mental Floss has a great little post about the stories behind the origins of 20 favorite Muppet characters. There are a few that I'm not sure aboout the accuracy of, but it's a fun post for all Muppet fans. Enjoy it here.
Recently I blogged about how Hulu now has several classic Sesame Street clips available for viewing on their website. Since these clips can also be embedded on other sites, I thought it was a cool new opportunity to do some "What I've Learned from the Muppets" posts with the full videos available for viewing in the post. So, here is the Sesame Street News Flash segment "Rapunzel" along with an analysis done via web cam...sometimes it's just easier to talk it than write it. Enjoy...
It looks like the folks over at FAO Schwartz are working with the Muppets on something pretty cool. Over at their website you can design your own Muppet Whatnot! You choose from three body types, and then add eyes, nose, hair and costume. But then, you can actually order the character you designed as a puppet for $90. It's hard to tell how workable of a puppet it is from the website, I'm sure it's designed more as a toy than as a professional performance puppet...but still it looks pretty cool!
Hulu is a great site to spend time at, if you aren't familiar with it. You can watch all sorts of movies and TV shows for free online. And here's even more reason to visit them...they just added a bunch of classic "Sesame Street" clips. This opens up all sorts of new possibilities for the "What I've Learned from the Muppets" posts I do from time to time, since I can embed the video from Hulu. In the meantime, enjoy Herry Monster and John John counting to 20.
Season 3 of "The Muppet Show" features some classic bits. It's been a lot of fun slowly working my way through the recent DVD release. One song I had pretty much forgotten about is the closing number from the Loretta Lynn episode, "One's on the Way." This number is a great example of the puppeteers using their surroundings to play off of. As Loretta sings, the babies (in an appearance before becoming Bobby Bensen's Baby Band) pretty much just cause a lot of trouble. As you watch this number you have to figure that probably very little of what the babies do was actually scripted. The puppeteers were simply playing off of their surroundings. Above you see one of the babies gets it's head stuck in the bars of the crib.
Here you see another one trying to eat the table cloth. The puppeteers are simply utilizing the various props around them. In fact, as the song reaches it's end, the props they play off of are the other babies as they begin crawling over and hitting each other. Just having the babies sing backup would've been cute, but it wouldn't have been as funny as this song ended up being.
It's been a while since I did a "What I've Learned from the Muppets" article, but I just couldn't resist after watching some Muppet goodness last night. I received a late Birthday present this week of the Sesame Street Old School Volume 2 DVD, which features the classic "Telephone Rock." Besides being a catchy tune, this little song is a great example of progression in a puppet song and how it doesn't have to be big.
You'll never see this one on "Sesame Street" anymore. Not only does it take place in a telephone booth (what's a telephone booth) but the booth features a rotary phone. In this song, the green-skinned, orange-haired lead vocalist (performed by Jerry Nelson) goes into the booth and calls up the operator to sing the Telephone Rock. On the choruses he's joined by three backup singers who also cram themselves into the phone booth.
There are three choruses and something different happens during each one. For the first chorus the band simply sings while all stuffed into the same phone booth. This is funny enough by itself. For the second chorus, the three backups begin some choreography. They actually twist their bodies back and forth to the beat, which looks pretty funny in the tight space.
The third chorus is the part I remember so vividly from childhood, where the whole phone booth starts rocking back and forth to the music. Now these three things may seem like no big deal, but they each keep something new in front of the audience. Each chorus is funnier than the one that preceded it, even though the music stays the same. I often tell puppet team leaders that it's good to plan something different for each chorus of the song they are performing. Whether it's different props or choreography, keep something new in front of the audience so they'll stay interested. It doesn't have to be big. The Muppets pull it off here with just some subtle changes.
I can't forget to mention the big payoff at the end of the song where the operator (performed by Richard Hunt) tracks down the group and has the police carry them off, telephone booth and all. It's a memorable ending, which is another important element of a puppet performance. Brian Henson has admitted that often the Muppets ended things by either blowing something up or throwing penguins in the air. Strange yes, but memorable for sure.
Perhaps you've heard of the internet craze known as Rickrolling. It often occurs on video sites such as YouTube where a video is listed as being about one thing, but when played the video switches to showing the Rick Astley video for "Never Gonna Give You Up" a few seconds in. It's now moved beyond the internet as rickroll pranks have been springing up at sporting events as well.
So Muppet fans, here's a Rickroll that has been mashed with some Muppet Show footage. If I remember correctly, this is actually Beaker singing "Feelings." Enjoy.
A few months ago it was announced that some figures of the Muppets playing different Star Wars characters were on the way. Some concept art has been available online for awhile, but today an image of the figures popped up over at starwars.com. So check out the link and see Kermit as Luke, Miss Piggy as Princess Leia, Fozzie Bear as Chewbacca, Gonzo as Darth Vader, Beaker as C3-PO and Rizzo the Rat as Yoda.
Here's the link: Star Wars Muppets
These will only be available at Disney Theme parks...Grrr. So if you're Magic Kingdom bound you know what to bring back for me.
To my kids, what determines whether or not a restaurant is good or not all hinges on the answer to this question, "Do they have toys?" When I was a kid Happy Meals were not a permanent part of the menu. But now, other places have toys too. And, of course, I am very jealous because I love those toys as much as the kids do. But never have I been more envious than after my son's recent visit to the dentist. He came home with a pack of Muppet Hockey trading cards.
A few years back there was a whole NHL and the Muppets campaign in Canada. Every now and then a few items from this campaign make it stateside. I remember spotting a few Kermit in a hockey uniform dolls in one of those claw grab arcade games once. So now I want to know where the Kids Dentist Prize Surplus Store is so I can get my hands on some of these cards. My son is wise beyond his years...he knows better than to let Daddy near his.
Anyone else find it weird that the dentist is giving away hockey related stuff? I mean, I doubt hockey is a sport most dentists would encourage kids to take part in.
The character most associated with Dave Goelz is none other than The Great Gonzo. In some ways, studying the growth of Gonzo's character is also a look into the development of the skills of his puppeteer.
Before "The Muppet Show" Gonzo was just a Frackle called Snarl who made his debut on a TV special called "The Great Santa Claus Switch." The puppet was handed over to Goelz as "The Muppet Show" began production.
During the show's first season, Gonzo was kind of a sniveling, pathetic looking guy with a nasal voice. He was more of a strange performance artist at this point, specializing in acts such as eating a tire to the music of "Flight of the Bumblebee" and demolishing a vintage automobile with a sledgehammer to the music of "The Anvil Chorus" (followed by eating the crank shaft acapella). He was an interesting character, but it wasn't until Season 2 that he really began to shine.
Between seasons 1 and 2, Goelz, who began his career with Henson as a puppet builder, redesigned the Gonzo puppet. The shape of the nose was changed a bit, and, most notably, the eyes were made larger and a surprise mechanism was added. Whereas before the eyes cold only look droopy, now they could look excited, which I think was a big key for advancing the character. A study of the changes to Gonzo's features, "Gonzo through the Years," can be found at the Muppet Wiki.
With a more expressive face, Gonzo's body language began to change as well. In season 1 Gonzo was kind of stiff, but in season 2 we began to see a calm Gonzo and an excited Gonzo. Calm Gonzo is somewhat like he was in Season 1. The eyes are droopy, head pointed down somewhat, and the arms are held in close to the body. The excited Gonzo is more...well...wide. The eyes become wider, the mouth opens wider when speaking, and the arms spread out wider. What's great is watching the transition between the two. A fantastic early example occurs in the episode hosted by Rich Little when Gonzo asks Kermit if anyone has showed up to audition for his new dancing chicken act (By the way, this is the first appearance of Gonzo's fascination with poultry). It's calm Gonzo who enters the scene, but as he starts to describe the idea for his new act the eyes open up, the arms get wide, and the voice pitches up. He's excited about this great new act and it shows. This all happens gradually over the course of two sentences.
It's great when you have a character that can play so well at two extremes of the emotional spectrum, as Gonzo does. Gonzo can move between the extremes quickly, but Goelz always does a wonderful job of transitioning, sometimes within a split second. I've always had a hard time answering questions that go like this: "What's your favorite (blank)?" I mean I'm a huge movie fan, but if you ask me what my favorite flick is it might be "The Wizard of Oz" one day and "The Empire Strikes Back" the next. Favorite food...maybe a Chicago Style Hot Dog maybe a banana. Depends on the mood.
I can think of only one category I won't waver on, favorite puppeteer. Granted, "Who's your favorite puppeteer" isn't typically listed in Cosmo as a top ten ice breaker at parties, but since puppetry is my chosen profession it's understandable that I would have an opinion on this subject.
Many puppeteers have had an impact on me. Burr Tillstrom, Bil Baird, Richard Bradshaw, Roy Brown, and, of course, the Muppet Performers. I grew up in the golden age of the Muppets. I was born a year and a half after the debut of "Sesame Street." I was there for the premiere of "The Muppet Show," and returned every Saturday night after. Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Caroll Spinney...these performers not only taught me my ABC's, they taught me the art of puppetry. Each of them has influenced me in some way, but none more so than Dave Goelz. Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beauregard, Boober, Traveling Matt, and, of course, The Great Gonzo are just a few of the characters brought to life by this amazing performer.
Goelz was the junior member of the Muppet team when "The Muppet Show" premiered in 1976. He had worked as an industrial engineer before his interest in making puppets let him to Henson, first as a puppet builder and later as a performer. He learned his art on the job and over the course of the last 30 years he has earned his place as one of the finest puppeteers of all time.
For awhile I've been wanting to try and put into words some of the things that I love about Goelz's work. I'm finding it a lot harder than I thought. In a recent radio interview, Goelz himself couldn't even describe his performance style. I think what makes it so difficult for me is that even though I know there's a puppeteer bringing the characters to life, in my mind the characters of Dave Goelz, more than any of the other Muppet characters, seem to really live. Creating that illusion of life is one of the marks of a great puppeteer. Dave Goelz is the master in that department.
I have a feeling I'm going to come nowhere close to describing what makes Goelz's work so intriguing to me. I'm gonna give it a shot, though. Luckily you can always grab the DVD's and check out the real thing. Stay tuned for more.
Every episode of "The Simpsons" begins with what the fans refer to as "The Couch Gag." It comes at the end of the opening credits. The Simpson family members all run to the couch to sit in front of the TV. Over the course of the last 18 years, various bizarre things have happened as they reach the couch...everything from the couch eating them to being squashed by the Monty Python foot. I have seen many episodes of "The Simpsons" over and over again, but I always make sure to pay close attention to the couch gag. We're used to the opening credits of a show always being the same. I'll be a lot of TV viewers usually tune out the credits. But not Simpsons fans. There's a sense of anticipation about what will happen this time.
This past Tuesday, the DVD set for "The Simpsons Season 10" was released. On the same day, after two years of waiting, "The Muppet Show Season 2" also arrived on DVD. As I added both of these volumes to my collection, I realized that originators of the couch gag, at least in my frame of reference, were the Muppets.
From season 2 on, each episode of "The Muppet Show" featured Gonzo blowing a trumpet at the end of the credits, and getting different results each time. I remember being a kid and wondering what would happen to Gonzo this week, much like I find myself wondering about the Simpsons and their couch.
I think Gonzo's trumpet mishaps are part of what helped shape how I approach my own puppet programs. Variety is the key. People respond better when something new and unexpected is put in front of them. When people think they know what is going to happen, they tune out.
The same is true of kids. Experts say kids respond well to routine. Yes that's true, but the opening of "The Muppet Show" demonstrates how you can have routine (here come the credits again) but make it new and exciting each time (what's going to happen to Gonzo next?).
A lot of times in children's church we have the same elements each week. That's fine, but it's good to find ways to do something unexpected. Instead of just having a puppet read this week's memory verse, perhaps he could recite it while standing on his head, or tap dancing, or walking on a bed of flaming hot coals. When the audience is wondering what will happen next they will be more involved in your presentation.
