All About Muppets

Kevin Yamada is an actor and puppeteer who is most well known for being one of the original hosts on the PBS Kids Sprout block (now Universal Kids). He originally hosted The Sunny Side Up Show while paired with Chica, while Forrest Harding and Brendon Gawel alternated with the puppetry. Kevin also performed Ricky, one of the puppet hosts on The Sprout Sharing Show, working with Gawel, Harding, and Kelly Vrooman. While on Sunny Side Up, Yamada interacted with characters (and performers) from Sesame Street whenever they made guest appearances. I saw in an interview that he even visited the set of Sesame Street itself one time, which must have been exciting for him. Apart from Sprout, he acted in several films and TV series over the years since 2004. Some of the films Kevin Yamada did include Old Dogs, The Winter Butterfly, How to Be Single, and Press Play, to name a few. As for television, he did Street Fighter: The Later Years, Hawaii Five-0, and guest appearances on various other shows

Rachelle Beinart is a British actress, suit performer, and stunt person who is well known for performing stunts for many films. Her suit performance credits placed her on ZingZillas (as Drum) and the reboot of Teletubbies (as Po) while the rest of her roles involved on-screen acting. Rachelle may not have done any Muppet projects, but she has performed with Muppet puppeteers, such as Josh Elwell, Olly Taylor, William Banyard, and Nick Kellington. For acting credits, Beinart mostly did uncredited roles in films such as Below Her Mouth, Fences, Game of Thrones, and Before I Fall, to name a few. She did receive credit for doing stunts on numerous films and series however, such as The Irregulars, The Batman, The Marvels, Cats, and more. It's amazing how a stunt performer can work well for both adults and children too. Other performers that worked with Rachelle Beinart on Teletubbies (besides Nick Kellington) have included Rebecca Hyland, Jeremiah Kage, and Victoria Jane. She's stil

Dorothy James is a puppeteer, educator, and artist who is more of a theatre performer than a TV person since she never did a Muppet project. She puppeteered for various productions like Basil Twist, Radio City, BBC, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and some streaming services. Some of the shows Dorothy did include Moon and Me, Snow Child, Patriot, Bill's 44th, and tons more theatre shows. Although James never worked with actual Muppet performers, she has met a few Henson ones on Moon and Me, mostly Raymond Carr and Robin Stevens, not the others. As creator, she used tabletop, shadow, rod, and paper cut puppetry techniques to create otherworldly narratives to express the characters. Maybe someday she will be trained to do Muppet-style puppetry, those companies could always use some more puppeteers to help out when needed. Of course, it could be hard for Dorothy James because that technique requires a puppeteer to look at a monitor while performing the character. In addition to puppets, she

Annie Evans is a writer and the wife of Muppet performer Martin P. Robinson who was best known for being on the Sesame Street writing staff from 1995-2016. On the show, she wrote episodes, song lyrics, videos, and segments (and co-developed the Elmo's World and Elmo the Musical segments). Annie also wrote on The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss (1 episode with Will Ryan), Big Bag, and Panwapa, and she was also story editor for several International Sesame Street co-productions. Evans isn't a puppeteer, though she did assist her husband in performing Telly Monster in a web video, as well as voice Telly's mother. I wonder if she assisted Telly during 2020 when everything was shot from her home. Outside of Sesame Street, she scripted episodes of Gullah Gullah Island, Oswald, Out of the Box, and Jojo's Circus which were all considered great shows. Annie Evans not only scripted for television, but she also wrote for theatre too like Ghost Stories and several monologues. She even

Brendon Gawel is a puppeteer, actor, and director who is best known for performing on the PBS Kids Sprout (now Universal Kids) block for years. He performed Curtis E. Owl on The Sprout Sharing Show and was one of the puppeteers for Chica on The Sunny Side Up Show (alternating with Forrest Harding and others). On Sprout, Brendon got to perform alongside some Sesame Street performers when their characters have made occasional guest appearances. Other performers Gawel worked with include Kelly Vrooman, Kevin Yamada, and Forrest Harding, all on The Sprout Sharing Show. I'll bet he felt proud to entertain little children for many years as a puppeteer on Sprout. Outside of Sprout, he serves as director for the Philadelphia Children's Theatre and founded Ombelico Mask Ensemble, he's been working at the latter since founding it of course. Other companies Brendon Gawel worked at, besides the one above, include Mum Puppettheatre, Walking Fish Theatre, and Clowns Without Borders, to n

Joe Kovacs is a puppeteer, actor, and puppet builder who is known for building puppets at the Henson Company since 2016. Most of the projects he did involve Sesame Street, such as the show itself, one of their specials, and the UK co-production The Furchester Hotel. Joe also did the Henson Alternative film The Happytime Murders, his only film work so far. In 1998 and 1999, Kovacs played the title character of Bear in the Big Blue House for promotional appearances, eventually playing him in the Bear in the Big Blue House Live show to Noel MacNeal's pre-recorded vocal track. Most of the other puppeteers he worked with were stage show performers, with the exception of Doel Martinez, one of the puppeteers for the show called Gina D Kids Club. Outside of the Henson Company, he serves as the performer of Madame, a character originally created by the late Wayland Flowers, for many appearances. Joe Kovacs seems to be doing so well keeping a legendary puppet character alive. Yet I wonder ho