All About Muppets

Marike Koek is a Dutch puppeteer and politician who operated the arm rods of Ieniemienie within the Dutch co-production of Sesame Street, Sesamstraat. She alternated with Lindai Boogerman in assisting Catherine van Woerden on the mouse since 1990. I wonder if Marike ever had the courage to perform a character rather than assist on one. Koek probably didn't have the heart to tell the producers about her problem. But she did have more featured roles outside of Sesamstraat. Outside, Marike Koek did some puppetry on two Dutch shows entitled Ik Mik Loreland (as the leading role) and De Schatkast. I've read that besides puppetry, she is pretty active in politics for culture. In 2002, she was allocated as councillor in a local party Mooi Alkemade in Alkemade. Marike is probably the only puppeteer to also be superb at politics as far as I know. But there are probably others besides Koek who have also done politics in addition to puppetry. I wonder what she's doing now since 2019 wh...

Bradley Freeman Jr. is a puppeteer and is one of the newest Muppet performers on Sesame Street. He started in 2021 as the performer of Wes for Sesame Street's "Coming Together" initiative. Bradley is performing him in outreach videos to cover racial justice at the moment. Freeman later replaced Tau Bennett as Tamir on the show, starting in Season 53. The same year, he also started working for The Muppets Studio as a supporting performer for events, appearances, and The Muppets Mayhem. Bradley Freeman Jr. must be very lucky to join both Sesame Street and the Muppets and the only one to do it in the same year. I read that in addition to watching Sesame Street as a child, he also watched Bear in the Big Blue House and Between the Lions. When he grew up, he was one of the 30 puppeteers to study with legends such as Matt Vogel, Peter Linz, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, and Martin P. Robinson on how to puppeteer. Bradley must have felt very lucky to accomplish his dream of working on...

Ian Petrella is an puppeteer and actor whose only performance with the Henson Company was on Brats of the Lost Nebula. He started acting when he was only three years old and is best known for playing Randy Parker in the classic holiday film, A Christmas Story. Ian was still acting when he was a teen and soon he started to study improvisational comedy with Groundlings Comedy Theater. Petrella was later production assistant on a puppet show before studying puppetry himself. Outside of Lost Nebula, his other puppeteer credits include the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers franchise. I don't know why Ian Petrella has not performed with the Muppets or other projects by the Henson Company after 1998. He performed puppetry independently for film and stage so he would have been perfect for one of the Muppets films like Muppets from Space. At least he got to work alongside other performers in Brats of the Lost Nebula like Bill Barretta, Matt Ficner, Trish Leeper, and John Kenned...

Wayne Martin is a puppeteer and puppet builder who served as background puppeteer on The Muppets Take Manhattan, performing a dog in the wedding finale. He was with Richard Hunt and an entire room full of puppets during his audition. Wayne should have done more Muppet projects after the film, but I would assume he was happier doing his own puppet work. Martin is mostly known for building puppets and marionettes for the company named after him, Wayne Martin Puppets. He has also performed for various projects like guest appearances with Symphony Orchestras, Sid and Marty Krofft Productions, and many more. Wayne Martin has also performed his own marionette shows for children and adults for five whole decades. Some occasionally featured hand puppets, but marionettes are more common in his shows. He's even been around the world from Mexico to France to Australia. I wonder he developed an idol when working with the Muppets like Jerry Nelson or Dave Goelz. Wayne is probably still working ...

Gilles Ben-David is an Israeli puppeteer and actor who is best known for performing Moishe Oofnik, the Israel version of Oscar the Grouch. He began performing Moishe Oofnik on Rechov Sumsum and reprised the role on Shalom Sesame, Sesame Street Stays Up Late, and more. Gilles would be another puppeteer who can speak fluently in more than two languages, others have included Pier Paquette. Ben-David recently did the grouch on the 2006 revival of Rechov Sumsum and also trained puppeteers for the new season. In addition to the grouch, he also performed Noah on Sippuray Sumsum. According to an interview, Gilles Ben-David got the part of Moishe Oofnik by accident. He stated that a friend was working as production assistant and he asked if he could audition. Outside of Oofnik, his performing career was on the Spitting Image-style series Hartzufim, as well as stage acting, and reciting poems by Jules Verne in French and Hebrew at a conference in 2005. Gilles also appeared in several live-action...

Evelyne Scheigam is a French puppeteer who has performed Griotte on the French co-production of Sesame Street, 5, Rue Sesame. She also puppeteered Muppets on Muppets TV while her spouse Boris served as the puppet art director for that show. I wonder why Evelyne didn't puppeteer and voice any characters while working on Muppets TV. Scheigam has worked alongside other French puppeteers like Yves Brunier. Outside of both 5, Rue Sesame and Muppets TV, she and Boris both puppeteered on other children's puppet TV series that were filmed in France, like La Minute des Petites Sorcieres. It would appear that Evelyne Scheigam is another puppeteer who doesn't have a lot of information about herself just like the previous post of Dina Al-Saleh. She is also one of those rare international puppeteers to do an international Muppet show featuring entirely new material. But I wish that the Wiki would contain more info about her and her work outside of 5, Rue Sesame and Muppets TV. I also wi...

Dina Al-Saleh is a Kuwaiti puppeteer and stage actress who is best known for performing Khokha on the Egyptian co-production of Sesame Street, Alam Simsim. If she's a stage actress, then why doesn't the Wiki mention any of her outside work of puppetry and/or stage acting career? I read that Dina has used puppet characters like Khokha to address issues. Al-Saleh must be the first female puppeteer to use her characters to address issues. She must be proud of addressing issues like the women roles through an international Sesame Street co-production. I wonder if Dina Al-Saleh has ever thought about having Khokha on Sesame Street. I think Carmen Osbahr performed Khokha when she and Grover appeared together in videos, but I don't know why her main performer didn't work in those videos. She probably didn't understand English and maybe the producers assigned her character to Osbahr to make it easier for her. Dina has also worked with puppeteers from her home such as Walid ...

Catherine Coste is a French actress, puppeteer, and writer who performed Trepido the snail within the French co-production of Sesame Street, 1, Rue Sesame. I don't know why she has only performed one character for an international Sesame Street project. Catherine should have worked on other French projects involving some puppetry. Coste started acting as a juvenile in the 1960s and continuing into ingenue roles in the 70's. She has appeared in TV movies and episodes of two French shows called Le voyageur de siecles and La ligne de demarcation. Catherine Coste also had a supporting role in 1981's Dr. Jekyll and His Woman portraying a woman named Mrs. Enfield. I wonder what ever happened to her between 1982 and 2002, the year she became a writer and wrote a book entitled La Scripte. But at least she wasn't the only French puppeteer on 1, Rue Sesame. Catherine was paired with both Lucien Morisse and Georges Mosca. Coste could have worked on 5, Rue Sesame alongside Yves Bru...

Kenn Troum is a stunt man, actor, suit performer, and martial artist who performed Raphael's body in two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies. In the first movie, he served as the stunt suit double while Josh Pais was the main suit performer, while in the sequel Secret of the Ooze, he replaced him as suit performer. Kenn also had a bit part in the first TMNT movie as a foot soldier. I wonder how Troum was able to do all of those sick ninja moves while wearing a turtle suit and an animatronic head. It would have been difficult for him to do stunts like that. Outside of the Creature Shop's TMNT, he did stunts and acting roles in many minor martial arts films like Showdown, Sworn to Justice, and Shootfighter: Fight to the Death. I'll bet performing stunts within those projects were much easier for him. I've read that Kenn Troum later switched from acting and stunts to writing and directing films and shorts such as Adventures of Johnny Tao. It kind of confuses me why he would...

Ian Allen is a British puppeteer, puppet maker, writer, and producer whose only work with the Muppets was on The Muppets Christmas Carol as an additional performer. I don't know why he hasn't assisted the Muppets on any other projects filmed in the UK such as Muppet Treasure Island. Ian is probably more famous for his work outside of the Muppets. Outside, Allen, along with John Thirtle are the two founders of Playboard Puppets which created Button Moon and The Spooks of Bottle Bay. No one has any idea what happened to him after 1995 when Thirtle passed away and the company closed up. I'd assume that he is doing puppetry on other shows or retired from puppetry completely, but those are just guesses. In addition to making and performing puppets on The Spooks of Bottle Bay, Ian Allen also wrote, and executive produced the series too. I've read that his other TV credits include performing on Rainbow (with Ronnie LeDrew) and Mo & Hedge. I hope that he's still puppete...

Mark Ritts was a puppeteer, actor, TV producer and director, and author who is yet another person who hasn't worked on any Muppet or Sesame Street projects. However he has worked with Alice Dinnean and Noel MacNeal (with The Puzzle Place characters) in a video called Kids for Character. I have read that Mark has produced and directed many independent videos and TV spots as president for Mark Ritts Productions around the world. Ritts mainly worked throughout the 1990s on Storytime and Beakman's World. He was the performer of Kino on Storytime and performed on-screen alongside Paul Zaloom as an actor in a rat costume named Lester. He also puppeteered a penguin on the latter show. I don't know why Mark Ritts didn't even guest star on assist on Sesame Street during the 1990s. He could have had the chance to work with other Muppet performers as well as the two who've done Kids for Character, like Caroll Spinney or Jerry Nelson. Some of his other puppetry work was on The ...

Phil Fletcher is a British puppeteer and puppet builder who is best known for performing Hacker the Dog on CBBC (often paired with Warrick Brownlow-Pike). His only work with the Henson Company was on three episodes of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance as an additional puppeteer. Phil should have assisted Muppets Most Wanted alongside the famous Muppet performers. I wonder if Fletcher was given the job of Dark Crystal by his performing partner. Apart from Hacker the Dog, he also performed on shows such as Sooty and Scoop. Andy Heath was the first Hacker performer on an episode of Scoop before the role was taken over by Phil Fletcher the same year. I'll bet that he has made appearances as Hacker for many guest appearances. His character has even gained three social media accounts, one on Facebook, one on Twitter, and an official YouTube channel. Phil also built and performed many other puppet characters within several projects. Fletcher and Warrick Brownlow-Pike make great partners...

Russ Walko is a puppeteer and puppet builder who has served as a puppet builder/performer for various projects by the Henson Company. He also worked on The Muppets (2015) as an uncredited performer and builder for almost all of the sixteen episodes. Russ has mainly worked with the Henson Company on many projects like The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, The Happytime Murders, Earth to Ned, Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, and Slumberkins. Walko is probably more famous for his work outside of both the Henson Company and Muppets. His puppet building and performing techniques are seen on The Simpsons, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Waffles + Mochi, and The Remember Hour, to name a few. Appears he is more active as a puppet builder than a puppeteer. Russ Walko is also the owner of his own puppet company called Puppet Garage, which made puppets for shows I don't know about. His latest outside work has been on the Nickelodeon show The Barbarian and the Troll, in which he served as the lead...

Uta Jacobi is a German puppeteer and actress who did secondary roles and assisting on Sesamstrasse (the German co-production of Sesame Street) and its spinoff series. She also performed a crow in the 2013 television movie Das Geheimnis der Blumenfabrik. I don't know why Uta did not perform main characters on the series unlike her co-workers. It would seem that Jacobi didn't have enough confidence to perform a main puppet. Others such as Iris Schleuss, Andrea Bongers, and Martin Reini, to name a few, have worked with her but performed main characters over their years on the show. But Uta Jacobi had more major roles when acting in musical theater shows across Germany. Some of the theater shows she has performed in include Fiddler on the Roof, Les Misérables, The Magic Flute, and Heidi, just to name a few. She is yet another puppeteer who has performed in various musical theater shows. Others have included John Tartaglia, Aymee Garcia, and Richard Coombs. I wonder if Uta has ever ...

Yolanda Yott is a Canadian puppeteer, producer, comic, and writer who is yet another puppeteer who hasn't performed any Muppet characters but should. She performed one of the ants on Ants in Your Pants (replacing Helene Beaulieu) as well as a live puppet show tour across California. Yolanda got to perform alongside Marty Stelnick, Ben Deutsch, and Colin Penman on the former show and probably met others during the latter. Yott is also one of the key people at Beachwood Canyon Productions, a company that did shows such as The Parker-Andersons, Flower in the Garden, and My Perfect Landing, to name a few. I've read that she started her production career at Nelvana before doing many adventures until joining the company she works at today. It would appear that the company she works at also did shows involving puppetry which must mean she puppeteered there too. I only wish Yolanda Yott would do projects by the Henson Company in the future so she could meet the Muppet performers. Perso...

Edgar Bergen was a ventriloquist, comedian, and vaudevillian who was best known for performing his two dummies Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. He is not really a Muppet performer but was rather a Muppet Show guest star in the 2nd season. I heard that Edgar held a particular meaning to Jim Henson who called his work an inspiration. Bergen is another ventriloquist to guest star with Muppet characters, others include Shari Lewis, Mallory Lewis, and Paul Zaloom. I never knew Henson really admired the one ventriloquist for many years. Edgar Bergen even received a thank you letter from him after guest starring on The Muppet Show. Outside of The Muppet Show, he made many appearances on many television shows, films, and he even created comic strips (according to Wikipedia). Who knew that he can also create comic strips as well as appear on screen? Sadly, Edgar's life came to an end back in 1978. Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, made one last cameo in The Muppet Movie, where the two of the...

Tim DeHaas is a puppeteer who only performed with the Muppets on The Muppets Take Manhattan. He served as an additional puppeteer, performing characters for certain scenes, assisting Kermit on his first day of work, and doing singing objects for the finale. Tim should have performed in other projects with the Muppets as soon as filming wrapped. Before performing on The Muppets Take Manhattan, DeHaas worked as a puppeteer on local television in Bangor Maine, according to a newspaper. Why didn't he do puppetry after the film? I also saw a picture of Tim DeHaas in a picture with Caroll Spinney. When did that happen and where did he meet Spinney? I think that he would have made a great performer along with other Muppet performers. Others like Peter Baird, Cheryl Bartholow, and Glenngo King have also only worked in that one Muppet film. So I would say that he is not the only one who did only one film starring the Muppets. However, Tim should reveal where he is and what he's doing no...

Joe Selph is a puppeteer who has worked in various Muppet projects throughout the 1990s. He mainly did background characters in Muppet*Vision 3D, Muppet Classic Theater, and Muppets Tonight. Joe has also assisted on Sesame Street's 30th anniversary special, Elmopalooza. Selph should have done his very own characters during his time with the Muppets. He has even puppeteered within the Creature Shop film, The Flintstones where he met Terri Hardin, Drew Massey, and Lisa Sturz as well as other performers. On a positive note, he got to meet Jim Henson on one of the Muppet projects mentioned above. It would appear that Joe Selph has a more successful puppetry career outside of the Muppets, performing in live shows as well as commercials, movies, and TV shows (ex. The Puzzle Place). He is also another one of those puppeteers who is great with marionettes. Others include Olga Felgemacher, Michael Earl, and Thomas Fountain, to name a few. Joe even worked with a performing partner for 22 yea...

Geri Cole is a writer who worked on Sesame Street since the 41st season. She began as a production assistant for 5 seasons before transitioning into writing beginning with season 46. Geri has also served as a puppeteer at the 2015 Annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala, puppeteering Segi to someone else's voice. Cole could have puppeteered on the show itself, but I guess she was happy with writing. Other than episode scripts, she did special material for the series including the special Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas and The-Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo. Geri Cole must be very proud to work among the people on Sesame Street to this very day. She has also been credited as a lyricist for season 50 of Sesame Street, but I would like to see what songs she provided lyrics to. Personally, I think she should try and be an assistant Muppet performer on the show or maybe puppeteer other characters to celebrity voices. Geri has even wrote for a parody of Birdman, starring Caroll Spinney and...

Alex Villa is a puppeteer who served as an additional Muppet performer on The Muppets (2011) and the sequel Muppets Most Wanted. He also puppeteered in a 2011 Orange commercial produced for cinemas. Alex appears to be very familiar with the Muppets since they are owned by Disney. I've read that Villa worked as a puppeteer at Disneyland since 1999, performing in shows, parades, and other events. I have no idea on what he's been doing between 2014 and 2021. He recently performed on a Muppet Halloween special for Disney+ called Muppets Haunted Mansion, where he got to assist and perform a pumpkin. Why didn't he perform other characters though? Alex Villa probably didn't have enough confidence to perform more than one Muppet in that Halloween special. I'm sure he'll do more characters in future Muppet productions. Alex is probably more famous as a Disneyland puppeteer, rather than a Muppet performer. Villa should get in touch with the Muppets again real soon and ask...