I’m an independent filmmaker and puppeteer in Toronto, Canada who blogs about puppetry and film.
Sesame Street’s Annie Evans and Marty Robinson were married on the steps of 123 Sesame Street on August 9th. Congratulations to Annie Evans and Marty Robinson, who got married about a week ago on the set of Sesame Street. Annie is a Sesame Street staff writer and Marty is the talented puppeteer who performs (among...
Sesame Street puppeteer Matt Vogel recently had a chat with the Tough Pigs. Tough Pigs recently posted an interview with Sesame Street puppeteer Matt Vogel. In it, he discusses his work on the show performing Big Bird (Matt is the understudy of original Big Bird puppeteer Carol Spinney) and You Can’t Rock Sittin’ Down, the...
Karen Prell and her famous alter-ego Red Fraggle at Comicon `08 (photo by Flickr user Propologist). One of the things that I missed while I wasn’t posting was that the amazing Karen Prell was at the recent Comicon in San Diego where she entertained Fraggle Rock fans by performing Red Fraggle and leading the audience...
Bob Baker operates the oldest puppet theatre in the United States. I watched a short, but nice profile of Bob Baker on YouTube tonight. Bob operates the oldest puppet theatre in the United States (the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre in L.A.) and I’ve mentioned him on the blog before. The theatre is reportedly struggling to...
Puppeteer Scott Land is competing on America’s Got Talent. Scott Land – who’s hilarious turkey puppet I’ve posted about before (see previous post) – is competing on America’s Got Talent this year. You can watch a clip here. Scott’s made it past the first round of the competition and he’s off to Las Vegas. You...
Brains – from the classic British series Thunderbirds – is featured in a new viral ad for Drench bottled water in the UK. One of the latest viral sensations on YouTube is an ad for Drench Bottled Water in the UK featuring Brains (one of the characters from Gerry Anderson’s classic Thunderbirds TV series) dancing...
A video of Jeff Dunham performing Achmed the Dead Terrorist has received over 47 million views on YouTube. Achmed the Dead Terrorist is huge on YouTube. Seriously. Occasionally (like once every few months) I do a quick search on YouTube to see what the most popular puppet video is. I checked yesterday and was surprised...
“Stickman”; a marionette created by acclaimed American puppeteer Basil Twist. There is a great video about Basil Twist available from United States Artists (a grant-making organization dedicated to supporting American artists in a variety of different fields). If you’re not familiar with Basil’s work, he’s an acclaimed third-generation puppeteer based in New York who produces...
I’m a bit late mentioning this, but Steve Swanson scored a real coup on this past week’s episode of the Muppetcast…as part of a special tribute to Jim Henson – last week was the 18th anniversary of Jim’s death – he landed an interview Frank Oz about his life and career with the Muppets. It’s...
Ventriloquist Terry Fator and Winston the Impersonating Turtle. Terry Fator – the amazingly talented Ventriloquist/impressionist who won the reality TV series/talent show America’s Got Talent last year (see previous post) – has just signed a deal that’s reportedly worth $100 million over the next five years. Terry will be performing nightly at The Mirage Casino...
Jim Henson during a 1980s interview talking about his work and new technological developments in film and television. Here’s an interview with Jim Henson from the 1980s that I saw for the first time today. I don’t know when it was filmed, but it’s obviously post-Dark Crystal. Especially interesting is when Jim discusses high definition...
RoRo’s Eclectic Sock Emporium makes beautiful Sock Monkeys and Sock Animals. Sock Monkeys are one of those things that most people take for granted, but actually have quite a history behind them. For some reason people always seem to confuse them with Sock Puppets and often assume they’re one in the same. There’s a lot...