Robbie Barnett

Robbie Barnett is a puppeteer, actor, clown, and stiltwalker who served as an additional puppeteer in many Muppet features. He has also worked on The Dark Crystal; performing the Landstriders (with Hugh Spight and Swee Lim, the Mystic Numerologist, and assisting on Jim Henson's characters, with Toby Philpott. I've read that Robbie's stiltwalker talents are what inspired the Landstriders. As for the Muppets, Barnett served as marionette puppeteer for "Couldn't We Ride" in The Great Muppet Caper and was additional performer on The Muppets Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island. He also assisted in The Tale of the Bunny Picnic, but was uncredited in most releases. Outside of both The Dark Crystal and Muppets, he was mostly an on-camera actor, acting in the film Yentl and a minor recurring guest role in You Rang, M'Lord? as chaplain Robin. Robbie Barnett has even acted as a wheeler within Return to Oz (which included numerous Creature Shop alumni). I wonder what ever happened to him between the films Janice Beard (1999) and Divine Will (2017), his most recent film. Maybe he wanted to take a break from acting and get plenty of rest, since he was very busy from the 1980s-1990s. Robbie was last seen in the 2021 documentary Remembering Return to Oz as himself. Barnett must have had some kind of interview before the documentary where he revealed what he was doing after 1999 and before 2017. Although, he did appear at a 2004 screening of The Dark Crystal and discussed the whole film either before or after the show. Robbie Barnett, you're probably one of the few puppeteers to do puppetry and walk on stilts. There wouldn't have been any Landstriders in that film without the crew getting inspired by you. You get a big thumbs up from me and maybe from all the other people you've worked with over the years of your career. Well done performing Robbie. You're the top Barnett!