Grant Baciocco – the host of the Jim Henson Company podcast – also produces the longest-running Christmas podcast on the web, Grant’s Advent Calendar Podcast. It’s a really fun show and he’s had two puppet themed days this year; on Day 8 he paid a visit to Swazzle to check out their Audrey II and he spent Day 14 with Lolly Lardpop, performed by Leslie Carrara-Rudolph.

I somehow missed this the first time around, so here’s A Very Furry Christmas, an offbeat Christmas installment of Transylvania TV.

Fliptoppers is a new-ish puppet sketch troupe based in L.A. At first glance they’re doing the same sort of Muppet Monster-derivative stuff you see all over YouTube (something I’m making an effort to post less and less of here lately), but they’re solid puppeteers with lots of potential. You can watch their Christmas video here and catch a quick look behind-the-scenes.

Little’s Creatures has been making holiday puppet videos all month too. Here’s their latest Christmas video.

If you enjoyed yesterday’s post, here’s a little more Christmas fun with Puppet What What from fellow Unraku-er Robin Polfuss.

This clip has been kicking around the web for years, but here’s a little holiday outtake nuttiness from two of the masters, Frank Oz and Jerry Nelson.

And finally, although he has no new videos this year, my favourite all-time Christmas puppet character remains Steve The Snowball.

Have a very Merry Christmas everybody!

It’s almost the end of the year and you know what that means…time for JibJab’s annual salute to the year we’ve all just lived through. Although JibJab is primarily an animation studio, they’ve never shyed away from blending puppetry and animation in the past (see previous post) and this year’s video is almost entirely puppet characters.

As always, JibJab has an extensive look behind-the-scenes on their website. Everything you see in the video was designed and built in-house at JibJab. The puppetry in the video was provided by Swazzle, who seem to be on quite a roll lately.

If you caught last night’s Christmas episode of The Simpsons, then you know it featured the series’ first-ever live action segment with The Simpsons in puppet form (see previous post). The puppets in the episode were built by Swazzle, who have uploaded a bunch of behind-the-scenes photos from the build and shoot to their Facebook page.

If you missed the episode and live in the U.S. don’t fret, you can watch it on Hulu.

Congrats to Sean, Patrick and the rest of the Swazzle crew for landing such a great gig!

Looks like Katy Perry really likes puppets. Hot on the heels of the Katy Perry/Elmo “cleavagegate” controversy (see previous post) comes news that Katy Perry will be the first human guest star in Simpsons history. She’ll be appearing in a special Christmas episode that features the Simpson clan in puppet form, as created by Swazzle and the Chido Brothers.

Special thanks to Sean at Swazzle for heads-up!

30/09/10 Update: Now with video! Via Tim @ Sons of Punch.

This is Swazzle’s demo reel. Like the reel for Puppet Heap that I posted yesterday, Swazzle does the montage thing I advise against. And this is another example of an exception to that rule, because this isn’t just a puppeteer demo reel, it’s promoting their company and all of the services they provide.

There are a lot of great things in this reel. I like how they show the process of how they create their work (puppets under construction, performing against green screen, etc.) which gives the viewer a better appreciation for their work. I think it’s also smart to include testimony from producers, especially since producers are likely the prime targets of demo reels. It’s also a good idea to include a few clips with well-known performers or celebrities if you’ve worked with them.

To see more of Swazzle’s work visit www.swazzle.com.

There been a lot of chat here and elsewhere about Team Smithereen (see previous post) since it was shot in 2008. The puppet/CGI hybrid series was co-produced  by the Dan Clark Company and features puppetry by Swazzle. It’s now available to U.S. cable audiences Saturday mornings on Disney XD (formerly the Fox Kids Channel). Disney XD also broadcasts the series in many other regions, check your local listings.

Are you a puppeteer in California who’s looking for a gig? Swazzle (see previous posts) are currently looking for puppeteers to perform live puppet shows at libraries in Southern California this summer. Auditions are being held April 30th at Swazzle’s studio in Glendale, California. To schedule an audition or for more information call 866-792-9953 or e-mail puppetshows {at} swazzle.com and put “Audition” in the subject line.

Is it just me, or does it seem like Swazzle is always busy? They’ve just finished updating their puppetry reel on YouTube on the heels of moving in to a new spiffy-looking, puppet-filled workshop space last year.

Last year Swazzle created an adorable holiday podcast called Frosty’s 12 Days of Christmas that featured two puppet characters – Frosty the Snowman and his pal Steve the Snowball – counting down to Christmas with the help of some special holiday guest stars. Now Swazzle is bringing back Frosty and Steve again this year with a brand new show called Save Xmas Now.

The new podcast is built around Frosty fighting a class action lawsuit against Santa Claus that alleges the famous Ho-ho-ho man’s “naughty and nice” list is discriminatory. Over the next couple of weeks Frosty will welcome to the studio Santa’s lawyer, elves, out of work reindeer and fight the government’s attempt to regulate the holidays.

I loved last year’s 12 Days of Christmas podcast; in terms of manipulation and characterization Frosty is probably one of the most well-done characters I’ve ever seen in a puppet podcast and Steve the Snowball (who cultivated his own small, but enthusiastic fan club last year) is a testament to what a talented puppeteer can do with just a ball on the end of a rod.

Check out SaveXmasNow.com and watch for new episodes in the weeks leading up to Christmas!

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25/11/07 Update: I got a little more information on Save Xmas Now from Patrick Johnson (thanks Patrick!)…the Save Xmas Now was created by Patrick, his brother Sean and Dylan Campbell with creative development by Dan Clark (see previous post) and Don Asher. The puppeteer list for the show is made up of names that should be very familiar to PuppetVision readers, including Sean Johnson, Patrick Johnson, Brian Clark, Felix Pire (see previous post) and Kevin Carlson.

I’ve written a lot in the past here about the connections between puppetry, comics and animation (see last week’s post about Gloomy Roomies for just one recent example). There’s something about the highly visual nature of the three art forms that makes crossovers between them natural. The latest example of this cross-pollination is a forthcoming web comic from Swazzle based on their touring puppet show Bugsy Brown Private Fly. You can follow along with this new work-in-progress in the Bugsy Brown Web Comic Blog.