All About Muppets

Jonathan Freeman is an actor, puppeteer, voice actor, and singer who did on-screen acting as various roles on Sesame English. I'll bet it was tiring for him to be many human characters for a series. I'd say Jonathan is way more famous outside of Sesame English than on it. Outside, Freeman is best known for voicing the evil Jafar in the Disney's Aladdin franchise for many decades, even portraying him live in a Broadway musical in 2011. Other Broadway credits include Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid (both by Disney), On the Town, and The Producers. Personally, I find that very impressive to do all of those shows. Jonathan Freeman is also a Flexitoon puppeteer who performed Tito Swing of the Jukebox Band on Shining Time Station. He worked alongside Olga Felgemacher, Alan Semok, and Craig Marin, to name a few. His other Flexitoon projects include KIDS-TV and The Hamptoons, both of which are shows nobody remembers or even know that both of them existed. It is amazing how...

Heath McIvor is an Australian puppeteer, writer, producer, and puppet designer whose only work with the Henson Company was on Me & My Monsters as Fiend. At least he got to perform alongside other puppeteers who worked with the company such as Don Austen, Alice Osborne, and David Collins, to name a few. But why didn't Heath do other Australian shows produced by Henson such as Bambaloo or Five Minutes More? I'm going to assume McIvor was happier performing on shows for adults. Outside, he is perhaps best known for playing the puppet character Randy Feltface in various projects since 2006 to this present day. Heath McIvor has also written and executive produced series and specials starring Randy alongside Sammy J, an actor and comic who has been paired with him since. His other television credits have included three shows entitled Squeak and Boo, Talking Time, and Pig's Breakfast, but his character will always be what makes him famous. He seems to be very happy with perfor...

Mark Bryan Wilson is a puppeteer and puppet builder whose only Muppet work was Muppets*Vision 3D, performing background characters. I don't know why he hasn't performed with them in any other projects like Muppet Classic Theater, Muppets Tonight, or The Muppets (2011). Mark must have been more interested in doing outside work building and performing puppets. Wilson puppeteered on many outside films such as Ghostbusters (puppeteer of Slimer), Beetlejuice, and Team America: World Police, to name a few. On TV, he worked on The Mr. Potato Head Show (Hammy the Ham Monster), Greg the Bunny, and Adventures in Wonderland (which features John Lovelady). Other than that, he has mainly worked in the special effects departments where he built puppets, marionettes, and creatures for films and shorts. Mark Bryan Wilson even had a chance to be in Michael Jackson's music video, Thriller, as a background Zombie character. He must have felt very excited to work alongside a famous rock singer...

Sayma Karim is a Bangladesh puppeteer whose only known work was performing and voicing Tuktuki on the Bangladeshi co-production of Sesame Street, Sisimpur. I don't know why there isn't a lot of info about her on the Wiki. Maybe Sayma didn't have a chance to work outside of the series since it ran for 4 years. It would appear that Karim needs to reveal to an interviewer on what other shows she performed in. At least she got to work alongside other puppeteers like Parvin Paru & Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed, the former sometimes assists her in performing Tuktuki. Sayma Karim is not the only puppeteer to have not a lot of info about herself, others include Lynn Hippen, Aurorah Allain, and Charlotte Duberry, yet they are not from Bangladesh like her. The trouble with international puppeteers these days is that they don't give a lot of information about themselves. She shouldn't be one of those people, she should tell people what she does outside of Sisimpur so she can be mor...

Thais Carvalho is a Brazilian puppeteer who performs Bel on the current Brazilian co-production of Sesame Street, Sesamo. She took over Bel from puppeteer Magda Crudelli, who originally performed the character on the previous Brazilian co-production of Sesame Street, Vila Sesamo. Thais has also performed Abby Cadabby in a 2019 TV special called SBT Vila Sesamo prank. Carvalho couldn't do the fairy on Sesamo since she was performed by another puppeteer. The only outside project that she performed in was a film called The Cambridge Squatter. I wonder why Thais Carvalho hasn't done any other Brazilian puppet shows nor film roles outside of Sesamo when she had the chance. She probably couldn't find a perfect film or TV show. Her time as Bel seems to be continuing, though it's preventing her from having the opportunities to act or puppeteer outside. I think Thais has what it takes to work within television and film outside of Sesamo, she just has to have confidence. Carvalho...

Joey Rudman is a voice actor, puppeteer, and the son of Muppet performer David Rudman. Sometimes, he served as Cookie Monster's right hand alongside his dad. Joey's 2 most notable times was for a web video and a 7th inning stretch performance at a June 2019 Chicago Cubs Game. I bet Rudman felt very honored to assist on Cookie Monster for special occasions. I've read that one time, he also served as the right hand for Count von Count. Joey Rudman is another member of the family who has assisted David, the other one being Phoebe Rudman, meaning they probably alternate. As an actor, he lent his voice to his father's animated series entitled Nature Cat. He has also acted in many shorts such as Half Off, Help Wanted, and Mouse Trap, to name a few. Joey is another puppeteer be the son of a Muppet performer, some of the others include Jack Vogel and Jackson Barretta. I hope that Rudman also assisted his father in performing Cookie Monster and his other characters when they wer...

Dan Garza is a puppeteer, artist, and production assistant who performed Junior Gorg (face & voice), Philo, and others on Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock. He has been paired with Ben Durocher who does the body to give the character its life. I wonder how Dan was able to sound like Richard Hunt when he performed him. Garza must have had been watching archive videos of the original Fraggle Rock and practicing doing the voice. He has also performed on Splash and Bubbles as multiple characters (via motion capture) and served as an additional performer on The Happytime Murders. Outside of Henson, he has served as production assistant on two past Nickelodeon shows, The Penguins of Madagascar and Fanboy and Chum Chum. Dan Garza even puppeteered in Jeff Kidding which is a puppet show within a show. There are some puppeteers he is very familiar with like John Tartaglia and Donna Kimball and others he has not worked with often like Karen Prell and Frank Meschkuleit, to name a few. He must hav...

Mike Edmonds is a 4'4" actor and suit performer who was an additional performer on The Dark Crystal, performing the full-bodied version of Aughra for certain scenes. He later acted on-screen for an episode of The Storyteller as a tailor (but he was uncredited). Mike was a little like other British dwarf actors, being a staple of sci-fi and fantasy films. Edmonds worked in two Star Wars films, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi playing an Ugnaught in the former and an Ewok/Jabba's tail in the latter. I read that some of his other film credits include Flash Gordon, Time Bandits, Salome's Last Dance, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Mike Edmonds must be one of the luckiest dwarf actors to perform in those many films. For television, he only acted in two shows Maid Marian and Her Merry Men (Little Ron) and The 10th Kingdom (dwarf librarian). I hope he wasn't insulted at playing small characters. Mike is not someone to judge based on his appearance, just because...

Ben Durocher is a puppeteer, suit performer and puppet builder who does Junior Gorg's body in Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock. He also worked on Sesame Street as a puppet builder and wrangler since the 46th season. I wonder how Ben got the job of working in the NY Creature Shop for the show. Durocher must be glad to perform on-screen for Fraggle Rock in addition to working off-screen. I hope he doesn't get too hot in the suit of Junior Gorg while wearing a radio-controlled head. While he does the body, the face and voice are both provided by Dan Garza. I've read that Ben Durocher has done outside work on the live show Avenue Q as Rod and Princeton, two characters originated by John Tartaglia. I'll bet that he felt especially honored to be photographed next to Kermit the Frog for the 50th Anniversary special of Sesame Street. But if he puppeteered outside of Sesame Street, why doesn't he puppeteer on the show rather than just build and wrangle puppets. Ben was probabl...

Asma Al Shamsi is a puppeteer, voice actress, and writer from the UAE (United Arab Emirates) whose only puppetry work was within the Arabic co-production of Sesame Street, Iftah Ya Simsim from 2015-2019. On Iftah Ya Simsim, she performed a monster girl named Shams who was probably named after the performer. Asma does not seem to do puppetry enough due to the show being replaced by another Arabic co-production of Sesame Street called Ahlan Simsim. Personally, I think Shamsi could have also worked on that show too as one of the Muppet characters, but I guess her life is her choice. I have read that she did only two outside Arabic shows that did not feature puppetry. Asma Al Shamsi voice acted on a series called Mansour and wrote some episodes on another show called Gadha. It's a shame she did not do puppetry outside possibly due to how Arabs are treated. She must be one of the lucky puppeteers to perform on an Arabic co-production of Sesame Street for four whole years. I wonder what ...