All About Muppets

Mal Heap is an Australian puppeteer and suit performer who performs Ollie on Nick Jr. interstitials called Play Along with Ollie. He won the role after Kevin Clash auditioned and trained him. I don't know why Mal doesn't receive the credit of a Muppet performer since he did an international Sesame Street character. Heap should have also done Babe and Farscape since both Creature Shop productions were filmed in Australia where he lives. Outside of Ollie, his other projects have included Bananas in Pyjamas, Modigliana on The Ferals and Creature Features, and Russell Kangaroo within The Hooley Dooleys, to name a few. He had a chance to make some puppeteer friends such as David Collins, Emma de Vries, and Terry Ryan, since all 4 of them make up The Ferals. Still for Ollie, Mal Heap should be a Muppet performer since he technically played a Muppet character. His latest work was on Jay's Jungle in which he worked alongside de Vries and Mat McCoy as some monkeys. I wish he would h...

Terry Ryan is an Australian puppeteer and costume designer who mostly worked on Farscape. Within the series, he designed the costumes such as scale outfits for Rygel, and got a nomination for a 2002 Emmy Award. Terry also puppeteered for two third season episodes, since he previously puppeteered in the film Babe (featuring animatronic creatures by the Creature Shop). Outside of Babe and Farscape, Ryan worked in costuming for Australian film and television since the 1970's. Films such as Knowing, Muriel's Wedding, King Kong (2005), and Inspector Gadget 2, to name a few. As a puppeteer, he's best known for playing Derryn on The Ferals and it's spinoff with David Collins, Mal Heap, and Emma de Vries. Terry Ryan has also puppeteered some farm animals on Bananas in Pyjamas alongside two of his performing partners. I wish he worked on Bambaloo since it's a Henson show and he would become a Muppet performer. But I suppose he would much rather costume design on other shows....

Megan Piphus is a ventriloquist and puppeteer who worked as a Muppet performer for Sesame Street since 2020. Her most well known character is Gabrielle since her character has the same skin color as hers. Megan is also one of the recurring "A Word from Our Sponsor" players heard on Below the Frame podcasts. Piphus also assisted and occasionally performed minor characters on Sesame Street too. She was a contestant on the eighth season of America's Got Talent making it all the way to the Vegas round yet losing there. She has also starred in $martPath with Megan Piphus, a series of financial literacy videos that were produced by PBS. I've read that before Megan Piphus had her AGT appearance, she had an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show and on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Since she has brown skin, she must have been lucky to be selected by Sesame Street to do Gabrielle. She currently holds the record of being the first black woman to puppeteer on Sesame Street. Mega...

Paul Zaloom is an actor, puppeteer, and writer who is another puppeteer who has mainly been a guest star for the Muppets and Sesame Street. In 1989, he appeared in a Henson pilot called Inner Tube where he did a video pirate character named after his last name. In 2013, Paul appeared on Sesame Street in an episode of its 43rd season. Zaloom showed Murray and Ovejita his dummy, Buster, and then explained different ways to make puppets out of everyday objects. He got to appear with both Joey Mazzarino and Carmen Osbahr, two of the Sesame Street performers. Outside of those two appearances, he is perhaps best known for performing the title character on Beakman's World, which didn't have a lot of puppetry except for two penguins. Paul Zaloom has also written, designed, & performed eleven full-length one-man shows like Fruit of Zaloom, Sick but True, Mighty Mice, and The Mother of All Enemies. One of them was a shadow-puppet show featuring a traditional puppet character named Ka...

Jake Bazel is a puppeteer, poet, voice actor, and director who has done puppetry on both stage & screen for many years. He started out as an uncredited assistant Muppet performer during Sesame Street's 46th season. Jake later assisted in subsequent seasons, including web videos, Sesame Street in Communities, and a Sesame Street birthday song, where he played a potato. Bazel has also done one project with the Muppets, and that was assisting them in their opening number of the 2016 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was followed by the pre-filmed Sesame Street section of the 2019 parade. Outside of Sesame Street, he has many theatrical credits such as Paddington Gets in a Jam, The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, and All Hallows Eve, to name a few. I read that Jake Bazel also got to collaborate with picture book legends Eric Carle and Sandra Boynton. He's also an animation voiceover/puppetry coach with Great Big Voices and a designer for many theater workshops, something I d...

Austin M. Costello is a puppeteer and builder who has worked on Sesame Street as an assistant puppeteer since 2015. In the 46th season he worked with Stephanie D'Abruzzo and Elizabeth Hara as the arms of the Bagels and Locktopus while Martin P. Robinson did the head. Two seasons later, Austin right-handed for Big Bird in one episode. Costello has also filled in for Bryant Young as the rear end of Mr. Snuffleupagus in the 2019 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. However he did not receive on-screen credit until the 51st season on the show. Outside of Sesame Street, Austin has worked as an intern at the Henson Archives and worked as an assistant in the workshop located in New York. Costello has also been a cast member in the off-Broadway musical All Hallows Ever created by Martin P. Robinson. I don't know when he is going to have his chance and perform a character on Sesame Street. Tau Bennett started out as an assistant before being promoted to perform two characters. Austin M. ...

Morgana Ignis is an actress, suit performer, make-up artist, and animator who has performed on two Henson Company projects as a suit performer, The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell and Earth to Ned. She must have been trained to perform in character costumes, especially ones with heads that are animatronic. Morgana had the opportunity to assist both Drew Massey and Paul Rugg who did the faces of each character she performed. Outside of Henson, Ignis has acted on many productions such as Harbinger Down, Shortwave, Discarnate, and many more. In addition to performing, she also did make-up effects for two years on three projects The League of S.T.E.A.M., Turning the Page, and Ritual. That is something lots of other performers done over the years. The voice of Morgana Ignis can be heard on Helluva Boss as a variety of characters. She should work on other Henson shows in the future because she's doing a great job at performing body suits made by the Creature Shop. She should als...