All About Muppets

John Henson was a puppeteer, craftsman, and co-owner of The Jim Henson Company. He was also another one of the sons of Jim and Jane Henson. The only Muppet he performed was Sweetums, he inherited the role after Richard Hunt passed away in 1992. However, Henson has also done characters on Citykids and Inner Tube. As a child, he appeared on Sesame Street in his father's films, and also in a Bufferin commercial-style film the his father has also created. As he grew up, Jim said that John does some work in New York, performing some of the large characters they do. John's most notable character was Sweetums. It sounds amazing, as John Henson got to perform the body suit while Hunt supplied the voice, before completely taking over the character when Richard died. I didn't believe this, but I've read that Henson made Coca-Cola promotional appearances as the Coca-Cola Polar Bear (the costume was built by Jim Henson's Creature Shop). When he was still a teen, John Henson wa...

Brian Henson is a puppeteer, filmmaker, and the chairman of The Jim Henson Company, as well as the son of Jim and Jane Henson. For several years, he worked on almost every Muppet and Henson project before and since his father passed away. Brian's major Muppet characters included Sal Minella, Dr. Phil van Neuter, and Seymour, and also did Scooter and Janice in 2002-2003. As a child, Henson made on-screen cameo appearances on Sesame Street, mostly in segments. When he got older, he became more involved working with his father. As a teenager, he did a lot with the Muppets, such as building the first Muppet penguin and assisting the main performers within The Great Muppet Caper and The Muppets Take Manhattan. The biggest breakthrough Brian Henson did was performing with the Creature Shop starting in the 1980's, doing Labyrinth, The Storyteller, Dinosaurs, and many more. Soon he became an heir to The Jim Henson Company, for I've read that when his father died, he and his siblin...

Katherine Smee is a British puppeteer and the sister of puppeteer Helena Smee who has performed on several Henson productions over the years. Her most notable show was the third season of The Animal Show as a regular, performing various animals. Katherine has also assisted the main performers on the film Muppet Treasure Island and the series That Puppet Game Show. Smee has even performed on the British co-production of Sesame Street, The Furchester Hotel where she performed various guests for several episodes. She has also done plenty of non-Muppet shows providing both puppetry and voice, according to her resume. The shows include Tikkabilla, The Roly Mo Show, The Softies (created by her sister), and Fab Lab, to name a few. I read that Katherine Smee even assisted Frank Oz on Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (along with Don Austen and David Greenaway). Her latest Henson Company project has placed her on The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance where she served as a core puppeteer as well as a...

Helena Smee is a puppeteer, puppet builder, and writer who is best known for working at Hands Up Puppets with her husband, fellow puppeteer Marcus Clarke. She didn't perform in a lot of projects involving the Muppets, but she did perform Chelli in the UK version of Big Bag (which the Muppet Workshop built the puppets). Helena has also performed background characters in Muppet Treasure Island and Muppets Most Wanted, as both movies were filmed in the UK. Her latest puppetry work was one of the principal puppeteers in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, puppeteering various characters. Outside of Muppets and Creature Shop, she mostly worked at Hands Up Puppets. With her husband, they both have designed and built over seventy puppet characters for TV, and they also puppeteered on over seventy different children shows. Children shows like Playbox, Milkshake, and Dappledown Farm (to name a few). Throughout the years, Helena has done many different types of puppetry, from s...

Julianne Buescher is a puppeteer, voice actress, indie-filmmaker, writer, and illustrator. She is best known for performing with the Muppets and on Sesame Street. For the Muppets she has performed various characters such as Yolanda Rat, Wanda, Denise, Beverly Plume and more. As for Sesame Street, Julianne was the 1st performer of Sherry Netherland (before Alice Dinnean took over) and she played a variety of minor characters from Seasons 23-26. Buescher must be the Muppet queen, because she has performed over a hundred puppets. She has also served as principal puppeteer for Henson Alternative which she designed, built, and performed characters for Puppet Up, where most of those puppets would be recycled for various productions. Her work has been seen on shows like Dinosaurs, Telling Stories with Tommie dePaola, and Muppets Tonight, to name only a few. She has also done some puppetry outside of the Muppets, Creature Shop, and Sesame Street. Julianne Buescher puppeteered on Cousin Skeete...

Dan Redican is a Canadian actor, puppeteer, writer, producer, and songwriter and is one of the people who helped form the comedy group called The Frantics. His only work with the Muppets was on The Jim Henson Hour, where he performed various characters and made multiple on-screen cameos. Why hasn't Dan ever worked on any other projects involving the Muppets? Redican could have worked on the Henson Company show Fraggle Rock, along with the other Canadian performers. Or he could have worked on Muppet TV specials that were filmed in Canada. I've read that Jim Henson hired him after watching him puppeteer on an episode of The Frantics. Outside of Muppets, Dan Redican has acted and puppeteered on various other shows. He puppeteered on both Groundling Marsh and Freaky Stories and acted on Puppets Who Kill (also a writer and producer), The Noddy Shop (season 1), & Backpackers, just to name a few. His writing credits have placed him on numerous shows such as Little Mosque on the P...

Mark Jefferis is a British puppeteer, dancer, and musical theater performer. He started out in the theater before he transitioned to puppeteering, starting with Spitting Image. Ever since then, Mark performed on several Muppet and Creature Shop productions that were filmed in England. Jefferis puppeteered on Muppet Treasure Island as an assistant and was one of the main performers on The Hoobs (as Hubba Hubba, Groove, & Twang Motorette) and Construction Site. He also sung the theme songs on both productions he was the main performer on. As for the Creature Shop, he performed on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Outside of the Muppets and The Hoobs, Mark Jefferis has puppeteered on various other kid shows like Potamus Park, Big Garage, Bunnytown, and The Roly Mo Show, just to name a few. As for film, he mainly puppeteered on some Star Wars films, as a creature and droid puppeteer, which must have been complicated for him. He has also ...

Richard Coombs is a British puppeteer who worked on several Muppet & Creature Shop projects. His most notable work was on The Ghost of Faffner Hall as different guest characters. Richard also did The Tale of the Bunny Picnic, Play with Me Sesame UK (as Domby), and Muppets Most Wanted. Coombs mainly performed with the Creature Shop on Labyrinth, The Storyteller, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and more. Outside of the Creature Shop and Muppets, he is a professional performer of the two famous puppets, Punch and Judy as seen in many performances. His other puppetry work can be seen on Spitting Image, Spooks of Bottle Bay, Sooty, and Mongrels, to name a few. Does Richard Coombs find glove puppets easier to operate Muppet-type puppets? He even got to perform in some of the Star Wars films, like The Rise of Skywalker. His latest Creature Shop project was on The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance as one of the many additional puppeteers. Other puppeteers Richard worked with inclu...

Angie Passmore is a British puppeteer and actress who has performed on numerous Henson Company projects. Her most notable work was on Mother Goose Stories as the title character and the occasional minor characters. Angie has also performed characters on The Ghost of Faffner Hall and puppeteered in the films Labyrinth, The Muppets Christmas Carol, and Muppet Treasure Island. Passmore should have also done some minor Muppets in the latter two films. Outside of Henson, she puppeteered on Doctor Who, Spitting Image, and Little Shop of Horrors (Frank Oz film). As an actress, she acted on We'll Tell You a Story, Hot Dog (as Mrs. Dog), and an episode of Saturday Night Thriller. Angie Passmore must have done some other projects, though it's currently unknown what else she's done at the moment. She should also have a self portrait of herself since the picture above is of her assisting Mike Quinn on an episode of Mother Goose Stories. In addition to Quinn, she has worked alongside o...

Gillie Robic is a British puppeteer, voice artist, and poet who has performed in various Muppet and Henson projects across the UK since the 1980s. Her best known Henson project was The Hoobs where she performed Roma the whole series. Gillie has also served as an assistant performer for Mopatop's Shop, The Muppets Christmas Carol, and Muppet Treasure Island. Robic also did some Creature Shop projects such as Labyrinth, The Adventures of Pinocchio, and Lost in Space (as Blawp). For Labyrinth, she got to meet Jim Henson who directed and did the story of the film. Other puppeteers she performed with include Julie Westwood, Mark Jefferis, Don Austen, Brian Herring and more. Gillie Robic has also puppeteered on various other shows like Nini's Treehouse, Rainbow, and Spitting Image, just to name a few. Besides being a puppeteer, I've read that she's also a poet and did several poetic competitions either winning them or losing them. I wonder if she wanted to be a poet in the b...

Victoria Willing is a British actress, puppeteer, and script editor who performing with both Henson and Muppets on many projects. Her most notable Henson project was on Mopatop's Shop performing the main characters Puppyduck and Mother Mouse, as well as occasional minor characters. Victoria's other work with Henson/Muppets was mostly as an additional puppeteer. Willing had assisted on The Hoobs and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, as well as three films The Muppets Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island, and Alice in Wonderland. Outside of Henson and the Muppets she did less puppetry and more acting on-screen. Her puppetry can be seen on Bunnytown, Wizadora, and Gophers. It seems that other than that, Victoria Willing has done more films and series as an actress. Some of her projects include The Inbetweeners, Dream Team, This Year's Love, and Doctors, to name a few. I only wish she would have done more projects involving puppetry, because it makes more sense for puppe...

Brian Muehl is a puppeteer and writer who is best known for his puppetry work with the Muppets and Sesame Street. On Sesame Street, he performed various characters for five years, including the second Telly Monster and Barkley. Brian was also the first performer for Elmo and Grundgetta before he left in 1984. For the Muppets, Muehl has performed on the last season of The Muppet Show, Muppet Meeting Films, and The Jim Henson Hour. He also performed in two films, The Dark Crystal (as a Skeksis and two Mystics) and The Muppets Take Manhattan. He made sporadic returns to Sesame Street for Big Bird in Japan, and in Seasons 25, 26, and 28 and also performed on the Henson shows, Dog City and The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss. Brian Muehl's work outside of Muppets and Sesame Street has transitioned from puppeteering to writing scripts for various shows. He puppeteered on Eureeka's Castle (he also wrote), MATHmatazz, and Between the Lions. As for writing, he wrote for Cyberchase, The Ma...

Terry Angus is a Canadian puppeteer, writer, and puppet builder who has performed various characters on Fraggle Rock, most notably Storyteller Fraggle. He also performed background Muppets on various other productions such as The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years, The Christmas Toy, and A Muppet Family Christmas. Terry also performed on two Sesame Street productions filmed in Toronto, mainly Follow That Bird, and Basil Hears a Noise. Angus even made an appearance with Jim Henson on a TV special in which he built and performed "Kerm-2", like a replica of Kermit. Outside of Fraggle Rock and the Muppets, he has designed, built, and performed puppets for various shows. His most notable show was Blizzard Island as a performer, puppet maker, and writer. Other puppeteers Terry Angus has worked with include Tim Gosley, Stoney Ripley, and Jamie Bradley, just to name a few. I've read that he also has website hosted by his own puppet creation, Butch G. Cat as well as selling origi...

Nigel Plaskitt is a British puppeteer, actor, and producer who performed on numerous projects with the Muppets and the Creature Shop. His most notable work is seen on The Secret Life of Toys (as Mew and others) and on Mopatop's Shop (as Moosey Mouse and others). Nigel has also worked as an additional puppeteer with the Muppets in The Muppets Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island, and Muppets Most Wanted. Plaskitt also lent his voice to Sesame Workshop on the video initiative Panwapa. He even served as consultant/workshop leader for various international Sesame Street programs and Muppets TV according to the Wiki. Outside of the Muppets and Creature Shop, he puppeteered on various other TV productions, beginning with Pipkins. Later, Nigel Plaskitt did Spitting Image, Spooks of Bottle Bay, and Bunnytown, just to name a few. From a little mouse to a bull chairman, he has become another one of the master puppeteers when working with Henson. I didn't know this, but I have read th...