Michael Earl

Michael Earl was a puppeteer, puppet creator, voice actor, singer/songwriter, and a writer who worked on several Muppet and non-Muppet productions. His most notable work was on Sesame Street as the second Mr. Snuffleupagus, the first Forgetful Jones, and various other characters. I read that Michael's favorite character to perform on Sesame Street was Slimey. Earl had also worked with the Muppets as an additional puppeteer on The Muppet Movie, The Muppets Take Manhattan, and John Denver & the Muppets: A Christmas Together, to name a few. His Henson Company work was shown on The Dark Crystal, Little Muppet Monsters and two episodes of Dinosaurs. He even coached many TV and film puppeteers over the years such as Camille Bonora, James Murray, Betsy Baytos, and more. Outside of Sesame Street and the Muppets, Michael Earl has performed on various projects like Funnybones, The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth, Men in Black II, and Bil Baird's Marionettes, to name a few. As well as training the puppeteers mentioned, others worked with include Bruce Schwartz, Olga Felgemacher, Brian Muehl, and Caroll Spinney. It's a shame he only did Sesame Street from seasons 10-12 while he did more Muppet projects for longer periods of time until the 1990s. Sadly in 2015, Michael died of colon cancer, which is indeed sad since he worked with Sesame Street and the Muppets for years. Not to mention Earl trained many puppeteers who became famous today (some temporarily). Let's hope that everyone het met is remembering him today. Thing would stink if he was forgotten. Michael Earl, you had lived a great life and you've made many puppeteers the people they are (or were) today, despite the fact that some of them stopped. You will be happy to know that some of your Sesame Street characters were passed on after leaving. Always watch from above and see how much the world has changed on Sesame Street. I bid you farewell from being alive Michael. Enjoy life in the great beyond Earl!