All About Muppets

Kirk Thatcher is a director, writer, producer, designer, and puppeteer who is best known for working with the Muppets since 1987 (according to an interview). He started his career working at George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic when he was only 18. At ILM, Kirk designed, built, painted, and puppeteered creatures for many films such as Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Gremlins, to name a few. Later, Thatcher did many things like concept art and designs for music videos and starting a production company for director David Fincher. But his career with the Muppets started on The Jim Henson Hour as associate producer and designer of new characters before making Dinosaurs. In the 1990's he was writer and supervising producer for Muppets Tonight until he became a full-time director, starting with Muppet shorts called Muppetisms. Kirk Thatcher has also served as an additional Muppet performer for The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. He definitely had...

Rachel Burson is a puppet builder, puppeteer, and wrangler who hasn't really puppeteered with Muppets (yet) but has been in the workshop building and wrangling them. She worked with the Muppets on The Muppets Mayhem and also did two Henson shows; Duff's Happy Fun Bake Time and Slumberkins. Too bad Rachel hasn't puppeteered in either of those productions, but I'm sure she will soon. As a freelance puppet builder, wrangler, and puppeteer, Burson has also worked for companies such as Nickelodeon, Swazzle Inc., and Noggin, to name a few. Some of the shows she wrangled for include Crank Yankers, The Barbarian and the Troll, Waffles + Mochi, and more. I've read on her website that she also served as the President of the Los Angeles Guild of Puppetry from 2019-2023. Rachel Burson must have been some lucky puppeteer to be a president of something, then again there are others who did that. I wonder what sort of projects she puppeteered on since she has connected to the Los A...

Angela Gage is a puppeteer and prop builder who only worked on one video in The Donut Man series as both properties master and puppeteer. It's a pity that a lot of the puppeteers who performed in The Donut Man videos don't have a lot of info about themselves, with the exceptions of a few. Angela got to work with Steve Axtell, John Hardman, and Lori Lehman for that video. Gage should have more info about herself because one video isn't enough for her to work, nor enough experience. I wonder how she got to puppeteer in the first place. Also, was it hard for her to crouch below and operate a puppet since almost all of The Donut Man videos were shot on-location. Angela Gage should also have a picture of herself, unlike the one above. You never know when people will want to know who she looks like or if there are behind the scene photos of certain projects. It's a shame The Donut Man video series doesn't have behind the scene pictures. Hopefully, if Angela is still alive...

Lynette Eklund is a puppeteer, builder, suit performer, and producer who is most well known for being in the special effect industry of film. She served as one of the puppeteers within the Creature Shop film The Flintstones, credited under a different name, but still with the other Muppet performers. Lynette is more of a freelance puppeteer, puppet builder, and costumer in which her projects came in all different sizes from stop-motion to full-scale. Eklund puppeteered on The Blob, McDonaldland, Beetlejuice, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and many more. As for special effects, she mainly fabricated for films such as Species, Puppet Master franchise, Jaws 3-D, and Demonic Toys, to name a few. Other puppeteers she worked with include Lisa Sturz, Joe Selph, Tony Urbano, Len Levitt, and Rob Tygner. Lynette Eklund seems to be a hardworking special effects woman for she's done numerous tasks within numerous films, theme parks, and TV shows. Someday she should do another Creature Shop pro...

Carl J. Johnson is a puppeteer and actor who is known for performing in the Men in Black film series as some of the aliens. He also puppeteered on Lost on Earth, McDonaldland, and Team America: World Police, two of which were adult related. Carl is more well known for acting on many projects such as The Adventures of Umbweki, Harold!, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and more. Johnson also worked with numerous other puppeteers such as Tony Urbano, Terry Castillo, Peter McCowatt, and Tim Blaney. But why he doesn't consider assisting the Muppets or Henson Company on a future project? The producers could always use another additional puppeteer to assist or double. I wonder if Carl J. Johnson ever got humiliated on a children show since he most acted and puppeteered for adult productions as the ones mentioned above. I saw online that he's a member of Open Fist Theatre Company and has acted in a lot of shows. He seems to be very experienced with both screen and theatre since he's done ...

Peter McCowatt is a Canadian puppeteer, comedian, and author who was a background puppeteer on the Sesame Street film Follow That Bird. It's a pity he never did any other projects involving Muppet characters, he would have been perfect to assist on Fraggle Rock, Sesame Park, or Brats of the Lost Nebula. Peter is well known for puppeteering outside on projects such as Lost on Earth. In addition to puppetry, McCowatt is also the author of a fictional novel of Elvis Presley Shakin' E,  published under the pseudonym "Peter T. Cow." He appears to be another puppeteer to have a pseudonym, others have included Tyler Bunch (H.D. Quinn). On radio, he is the creator, writer, and star in a CBC comedy series called The Norm. Other puppeteers Peter McCowatt performed with include Kristin Charney, Sandey Grinn, Terri Hardin, and Carl J. Johnson, all on Lost on Earth. He probably flew to California to film that show since that's where it was taped. I wonder if he's an Elvis ...

Brett Davis was a British RC racer and designer who was best known for Brum, both designing and operating the character via remote controls. Brum was sort of operated like a puppet since the RC car operator was off-screen and had facial mechanisms done by assistants. Brett must have been contacted by Ragdoll Productions (the company that produced the series) to be lead operator of the titular car based on his past. Davis was probably experienced when it came to working with an RC car. The show must have been exhausting and complicated in production since Brum had to move all over in different areas. He got to meet Andrew Davenport and Robin Stevens behind the scenes, since they both wrote for the show in different seasons. I wonder how Brett Davis was able to give Brum all of those sweet moves since the car on-screen appeared to do stunts by itself. It's a pity he never did any Muppet stuff for he could have designed electro-mechanical effects for the Muppet characters. The Muppets...

Sebastiano Ricci (not to be confused with the artist) is a puppeteer and puppet builder who serves as one of the newest performers of Sesame Street. He was selected into an advanced puppeteer workshop with Sesame Workshop and has been performing on the show since its 54th season. Sebastiano was cast as the role of the first Italian-American Muppet, Joey who debuted in animated form before appearing in puppet form that season. Ricci also performs in the short-form series My Sesame Street Friends. In addition to Sesame Workshop, he also performed with The Jim Henson Company and Spiffy Pictures (assisting on Donkey Hodie). As for theater, he built the puppets for the Off-Broadway show Winnie the Pooh, as well as playing Tigger in recent years. On the website of Sebastiano Ricci, I saw pictures of him appearing alongside James Kroupa in his shop and was even on the set of The Wiggles. He sure is some lucky puppeteer to go all around the world and even go behind the scenes of the famous chi...

Wendy Froud is a sculptor, puppet builder, writer, and doll maker who worked with Jim Henson for many years. Some of the projects she did include The Muppet Show, The Muppet Movie, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth, some of which featured her husband and son. Outside, Wendy was a member of the Yoda team for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, developing and building the puppet and also assisting Frank Oz in puppeteering him. This shows that Froud has also done puppetry in her life which she hasn't done at all while working with Jim Henson. As mentioned above, her husband is designer Brian Froud while her son Toby Froud appeared in the Labyrinth film when he was a baby. Apart from puppets, she also did many artwork which was featured in three children books. Wendy Froud is also a writer of short fiction and poetry as seen in anthologies and collaborated with her husband on two other books, with the latter as illustrator. Years later in 2019, she was character/concept designer and assi...

Jane Eve is a British puppeteer who is well known for her work on Playdays, puppeteering marionette character Lizzie. It's a pity there's not a lot of information about her including a picture of herself. Jane has probably been a marionette performer before since she did a good job being Lizzie. Eve performed with a few other puppeteers during her time on Playdays such as Sarah Wright, Dave Benson Phillips, and Sue Monroe. IMDb states that she also puppeteered on a film called The Children's Midsummer Night Dream, based on the Shakespeare play itself. She should have also assisted on Muppet or Henson projects that've been filmed in the UK such as The Muppets Christmas Carol. But of course, Jane Eve probably wouldn't have been familiar with the Henson Company or the Muppet characters. Nobody seems to know what ever happened to her after 2001 after that Shakespeare based film. Let's just hope that she's still puppeteering today and maybe remembering how much f...