All About Muppets

Kermit Love was a puppet designer/builder and actor who had a long association as a designer/builder with the Muppets, most notably on Sesame Street (where he also acted as Willy). He met Jim Henson through an urge by puppet builder Don Sahlin. Kermit once had a theater background within the ballet Fancy Free and the show Don Quixote where he made a marionette giant. Love put his theater work to the test by designing and building Big Bird in the beginning and Mr. Snuffleupagus in later seasons. He also worked with the Muppets as seen on The Great Santa Claus Switch, The Muppet Show, and The Muppet Movie, but Sesame Street was his domain, with Caroly Wilcox. He even puppeteered for the Julie on Sesame Street special back in 1974, filmed where The Muppet Show was taped. Outside of his work with the Muppets, Kermit Love remained busy as a freelancer with his own studio Great Jones Studio. His company designed and built puppets for several projects such as The Great Space Coaster, Gerbert,

Catrina Quintanilla is a trained dancer, opera singer, writer, producer, and burlesque performer who was recently accepted into puppeteer training with The Jim Henson Company. Afterwards she served as one of the additional puppeteers on Slumberkins and the Biutyful video by Coldplay. Besides that, Catrina has been singing and dancing on stage since she was only 4 while on Bill Edward's On Stage, a touring variety show. Growing up, Quintanilla studied dancing with Patsy Swayze's Dancer's Studio in specials by Disney/ABC, trained to be an operatic soprano, and starred in dozens of musicals. Some highlights in the musicals include West Side Story, Peter Pan, Anything Goes, and more; which is something that I find very impressive. Other puppeteers she worked with Henson Company include Jack Venturo, Sarah Sarang Oh, Nicolette Santino, and Andrew A. Cano. In addition to performing, Catrina Quintanilla also works as an educator teaching at high schools, universities, and dance st

Geneviève Paré is a Canadian puppeteer, actress, mover, and shaker who serves as one of the additional puppeteers on Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock. She has done a great job assisting in the first season, so I'm sure she'll do another great job in the upcoming second season. Other puppeteers Geneviève worked with include Jennifer Bain, Anna Cummer, and Russ Walko, just to name a few. Outside, Paré mainly did both theatre making and performing all across Calgary, Alberta, Canada (the location where Fraggle Rock was taped). Her recent theatre works include Theatre Calgary's version of A Christmas Carol, as well as Quest Theatre and We Are All Treaty People. I've read that whenever she is either on stage or around a fire, she uses her body as a form of storytelling to connect people with each other and their own spirit (whatever that means). In addition to performing, Geneviève Paré also co-founded Mudfoot Theatre and serves as Associate Director of The Canadian Wilderness

Emily Morus-Jones is a Welsh puppeteer, puppet maker, writer, and director who served as a puppeteer intern on The Furchester Hotel. She must have been excited to intern for an international co-production of Sesame Street and to work alongside Muppet performers. Emily has even got a quote on her website from Jim Henson, "Even the most sophisticated people I know - inside they are all children." Morus-Jones has designed, built, and performed puppets for many companies and the people who run them such as directors, artists, creative agencies, and more. Outside, she has worked with many productions and clients like Thinkbox, Kneehigh Theatre, Netflix, and Cadbury's, to name a few. Other puppeteers she performed with over the years include Mikey Brett, Julia Frost, Andy Heath, and Louise Gold. It is amazing how one woman like Emily Morus-Jones can do so much work involving puppets whether it's on live TV or streaming services. She's also the second puppeteer on this b

Daniel Weissbrodt is a puppeteer and suit performer who has done various freelance television and live shows over the years. For TV, he puppeteered on The Book of Pooh, Pahappahooey Island, and Sheira and Loli's Dittydoodle Works. As for live appearances, Daniel served as a suit performer for Rugrats, Legend of The Lion King, Blue's Clues Live, and Russian Ballet. Even though Weissbrodt didn't do any Henson shows, he has worked with several Muppet performers over the years. Some of them included Tracie Mick, BJ Guyer, Eric Engelhardt, and Amanda Maddock, just to name a few of them. There isn't a lot of information about him except for a Facebook page which seriously needs to be updated so that people will know what he's doing now. I believe Daniel Weissbrodt would be a great Muppet performer for Sesame Street since he met many of the performers on The Book of Pooh. He just has to come out of hiding and update his Facebook page by giving more information about himsel

Toby Philpott is a native of London as well as a puppeteer, acrobat, juggler, and magician who has done projects by the Creature Shop. Along with Robbie Barnett, he assisted in performing some complicated characters on The Dark Crystal such as a Mystic, Garthim, Podling, and others. As for Labyrinth, Toby assisted on the first Fiery and performed other minor characters. I'm impressed that Philpott managed to perform hard characters by the Creature Shop under the direction of both Jim Henson and Frank Oz. I read that outside, he performed Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi (alongside David Barclay and Mike Edmonds). He was also a part of Barclay's puppet team for Who Framed Roger Rabbit and was one of the many assistants on Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors. In addition to puppetry, Toby Philpott was also active in the circus business performing with the NoFit State Circus for many years. He must be so proud to follow in his parents footsteps as performers. The Muppet Wiki s

Brandon Smith is a puppeteer, suit performer, and voice actor who is one of the newest puppeteers on Sesame Street, both training and performing with them since 2022. It must have been very exciting for him to have a dream come true on something popular. Brandon made his Sesame Street debut in a video about Wes at the barbershop. Smith got to work with Christopher Hayes, Bradley Freeman Jr., and Noel MacNeal for that special YouTube video. His social media account says that he also performed with the Muppets, but it's unknown which projects he did, well it will be known soon. Outside, he is the creator of BSmith Puppets, a YouTube channel where he does videos with his own puppet characters. I've read that other than Sesame Street, Barney & Friends meant a lot to Brandon Smith too. In fact a Facebook post states that he has a Scooter McNutty puppet replica, a Barney costume made by him, and he does a wonderful impression of the purple dinosaur himself. Maybe someday he'l

Norma McKnight is a Canadian ventriloquist and comedienne who has done numerous performances around the world with her characters. She started off her career as principal puppeteer and writer on Lamb Chop's Play-Along where she worked with Shari Lewis and Pat Brymer. Since then, Norma did ventriloquism for millions of people on board cruise ships, at casinos, at festivals and even corporate events. If only McKnight would guest star on a Henson Company show or give Muppet-type puppetry a try. But that's just a suggestion, she can keep doing what makes her happy. I wonder if she sometimes remembers working with both Shari Lewis and her characters on Lamb Chop's Play Along, even after Lewis passed away in 1998. Though it's a pity Norma McKnight worked with very few puppeteers who worked with the Muppets or Fraggle Rock over the years. I have read that she appeared on Comedy Network's "Elvira Kurt's Adventures in Comedy" and was nominated "Entertainer

Jan Skene is a Canadian actress, puppeteer, stunt performer, and coach who is well known for acting in Devil's Gate, Beethoven's Christmas Adventure, and Desire. Her most known puppetry work was on Fred Penner's Place as both Nikki and Penelope (with someone assisting on both characters). Jan also did stunts for films like You Kill Me, The Plague, and Category 7: The End of the World. Skene should have done a little more puppetry since she did wonderful with Fred Penner. I've read on IMDB that she also worked on a show that sort of had puppetry in it called Tipi Tales, but I am sure nobody has ever heard of that series. I wonder how she got the job to replace Fransi Andersson on Fred Penner and who trained her to operate those two puppet characters. Jan Skene has also done more in her life like singing and directing, not to mention appear on almost all of Winnipeg's main stages for 25 years. It's a shame though that she never performed on Canadian Muppet project

Fransi Andersson is a Canadian puppeteer and puppet builder who assisted on an episode of Fraggle Rock and the feature film Follow That Bird. I don't know why she didn't assist in more Fraggle Rock episodes, because then she would become a Muppet performer like the other puppeteers. Otherwise, Fransi is perhaps best known for creating and performing Giorgio on Fred Penner's Place for 12 years before Jan Skene took her place. If Andersson were to do other Canadian Muppet projects such as The Jim Henson Hour or The Christmas Toy, then she would have met more puppeteers. I wonder if she's still remembering how much she enjoyed performing with Fred Penner after she left the series. I saw a YouTube video showing her running a puppet workshop at Orillia Public Library, but nobody knows when it took place. Other puppeteers Fransi Andersson worked with include Tom Vandenberg, Myra Fried, Ron Wagner, and the Fraggle five performers. Did she enjoy doing Fred Penner's Place a