All About Muppets

Robert Smigel is an actor, puppeteer, comedian, and filmmaker who is perhaps known for his Saturday Night Live "TV Funhouse" shorts and as the performer of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. He's also well known for writing feature films starring Adam Sandler like Leo, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, & the first two Hotel Transylvania films. Robert created Triumph as a foul-mouthed dog puppet who mocked celebrities and others since his debut appearance in 1997. Smigel performed the dog in a cameo role on It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, in which he conversed with Kermit the Frog on the phone for one scene. As a writer, he wrote for Saturday Night Live and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, even serving as a producer for both talk shows. Comedy Central even made a series of TV Funhouse where he puppeteered various characters. As a filmmaker, Robert Smigel wrote, produced, and/or directed on many films such as the ones mentioned above, as well as The Week Of ...

Philip Tan is an actor, stuntman, and occasional suit performer who performed one of the gorillas in the Creature Shop-effects film George of the Jungle. Since the 1980s, he has acted in numerous films and a few television series, with his feature film debut in The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu. Philip later did a walk-on on Doctor Who and henchman roles in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Return to Oz, and Batman. Tan's first gorilla suit performance was in Greystoke which led to Congo and Planet of the Apes (Tim Burton version). While on Return to Oz, he got perform alongside several other puppeteers & suit performers like Mak Wilson, Timothy D. Rose, Swee Lim, Peter Elliott, and even Brian Henson himself. It's a shame though that he never did any other productions by the Creature Shop since they've done numerous effect films over the years, he was probably not that interested. Other films Philip Tan acted on include China Cry, Lethal Weapon 4, Big Momma's H...

Francine Woods is a Northern-Irish puppeteer who was one of the assistant puppeteers on Pajanimals, the only known show she did. There's hardly a page nor information about her on the Muppet Wiki and online as well. Even though Francine only did Pajanimals, she worked with many puppeteers from the Henson Company like Beccy Henderson, Paul Currie, Sarah Lyle, Olly Taylor, and Josh Elwell. Woods should have done more projects with the company like on The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, since many Pajanimals performers worked on it. She should also have information about herself online such as a self-portrait, the picture above is a different female puppeteer. This makes her yet another puppeteer with hardly any information about herself, which is a problem on Muppet Wiki if you ask me. Others have included Rhonda Gdasi, Brian Knatchbull, Paula Everett, and more, making Francine Woods not the only one on this blog to be unknown to the public. Even though it's acknowledged as a po...

Gabrielle Miller is an Australian actress, musician, puppeteer, and mime who is perhaps best known for appearing in advertisements for Trivago, a Germany-based hotel website seen 'round the world. Starting her career at the age of 20, her early projects include WunderWagon, If You Want Blood, Baba, and her swing-jazz band Zap, this info she stated herself. Gabrielle brought ingenuity to both stage and screen through puppetry, physical theatre, mask, music, and dance, a.k.a. what she does. Miller has had lead roles on screen as seen on The Outback Motel, Adventurados, Rosenkind, and Underbelly: Razor, just to name a few. Some of her theatrical performances have involved using the skills mentioned above as seen on What Happens in the Dark, Rolling, Hot Mess, and more. She appears to be an incredibly good performer, though it's a shame she started performing in the 2010s, way after the Henson Company did projects in Australia. Then again in 2012, Gabrielle Miller did move to Germa...

Elizabeth Luce is a puppeteer, designer, and puppet builder who is known for doing freelance work over the years of her career, including at Snapdragon Puppets. She has worked for many companies such as the Disney Company, Fox Television, and Phoenix Productions before heading into puppetry. Elizabeth worked alongside the founder Roger Mara at Snapdragon Puppets for years, putting on shows focused on themes for kids, like fairy tales. Luce should maybe think about visiting the set of Sesame Street and see how the Muppet performers enact certain themes for their shows. I wonder what production she was doing in the image shown above because it looks like something involving painting. Although she didn't perform on Sesame Street, she entertains children with themed puppet shows, almost similar to the style of Sesame Street. Snapdragon Puppets must be the best place for Elizabeth Luce to work at since she's got a great partner and maybe other co-workers as well. I wonder what shows...

Jeff Dunham is a ventriloquist, comedian, and actor who is known for being called "America's favorite comedian", according to Slate. He appeared on numerous TV shows and specials (including streaming ones) and also starred on his own show in 2009. Jeff's characters have included Walter (not the Muppet one), Peanut, Bubba J, Jose Jalapeno, and Achmed the Dead, not to mention many retired ones. Dunham may not have done a single appearance with the Muppets, but he has mentioned Sesame Street several times in his specials. He seemed to be extremely popular among adults with the shows he performed in and how much humor he puts in his acts, whether with ventriloquist dummies or not. People often said interesting facts about him, and he was even credited with reviving ventriloquism and more promotion since Edgar Bergen and his dummies. I wonder if Jeff Dunham ever considered guest appearing on one Muppet project in the future, for lots of ventriloquists have done that like D...

Bob Martin is a Canadian TV and theatre actor, writer, and puppeteer who's best known for his work on many television and theatre productions over the years. His only puppetry credit was on Puppets Who Kill as the doll Cuddles, working alongside Bruce Hunter, James Rankin, and Gordon Robertson. Apart from the puppet cast, Bob also worked alongside Robert Mills, John Pattison, and Dan Redican with the former two producing and latter acting. Besides the one puppetry role, Martin wrote and acted on many shows such as Slings & Arrows, Michael: Tuesdays and Thursdays, The Industry, and The Second City Project. He was also producer on some of those series as well. As for his work in the theatre realm, he started out as an actor and director at The Second City before moving on to more American. Bob Martin both wrote and acted on several theatre productions as well like The Drowsy Chaperone, Elf, The Sting, The Prom, and more. It's a shame that with all of his projects, he never di...

Mario Halouvas is an Australian puppeteer and specialist consultant who puppeteered on all 4 seasons of Farscape, as well as its mini-series and special. He was part of the teams on Rygel and Pilot, as well as getting to perform Cresus in one episode. Mario was paired with many other Australian puppeteers such as Sean Masterson, Roslyn Oades, Graeme Haddon, and Tim Mieville, to name a few. Halouvas has also puppeteered on the non-Creature Shop-effects sequel to Babe, Babe: Pig in the Big City, even though the sequel featured Creature Shop puppeteers for the live animals. I wonder why he decided to give up puppetry after Farscape ended production, maybe because he caught interest in something else afterwards. Later in his career, he became a specialist consultant and coach on productivity, resulting in him founding Mario Halouvas Productivity Professionals. Within the company, Mario Halouvas offered training programs, productivity palettes, executive coaching, and speakers/presenters, a...

Clayton Cameron is a jazz drummer who is known for performing for extended periods of time with many singers such as Joe Williams and Tony Bennett. He joined Bennett's musical team for his guest appearance on Muppets Tonight, providing the drumming for his numbers. Clayton also operated the hands of one of the band members of Muppet Tonight that was playing piano for the finale. Cameron was not only credited as one of the assistant Muppet performers but was also given a special thanks credit as part of the musical trio. He is one of the many musicians to give puppetry a try for one time, others include Tanya Haden and Doug Legacy. In addition to Tony Bennett and Joe Williams, he also provided drumming for Sammy Davis Jr., George Shearing, Kenny Burrell, and countless other jazz singers. Who would've thought that a drummer like Clayton Cameron would get to perform drums for legendary jazz singers? He can be found on websites such as DRUMMERWORLD where his biography is listed and...

Andrea Detwiler is a puppet builder and wrangler who is one of the main builders/designers on Sesame Street from seasons 34-46, initially doing freelance work for the Henson Company. In addition to doing Sesame Street, she also did Bear in the Big Blue House, some Muppet projects, and Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, to name a few. Andrea even got to be a utility puppeteer within the Creature Shop film Five Nights at Freddy's with Andrea Gilletti, Russ Walko, Brett O'Quinn, and several others. Detwiler should be proud to build and wrangle puppets for all of those projects over the years, even receiving numerous Emmy nominations while on Sesame Street. Outside, she got to wrangle on Sheira & Loli's Dittydoodle Works, Helpsters, and even the Star Wars mini-series Obi-Wan Kenobi, I think. I could be wrong about the latter because IMDb isn't entirely true lots of times. I wonder why Andrea Detwiler stopped working on Sesame Street after its 46th season, she was doing suc...

Shelley Kothe is a puppeteer who is best known for founding Schiffelly Puppets, a company that does puppet shows for many venues across America. She hasn't done any projects featuring the Muppets or Sesame Street, but she has worked with Muppet performers on the show Once Upon a Tree. Shelley and her partner Jim Schiffman got to do several performance venues like live shows for libraries as well as community celebrations across Minnesota. Kothe also worked for local television stations including the Walt Disney Company, WCCO-TV, and Lakeville Government Television. But it's a shame though that despite performing with Muppet performers, she never did a Muppet production in her life. The people she worked with on Once Upon a Tree include Heather Asch, Eric Jacobson, Jim Martin, Tim Lagasse, and Jennifer Barnhart. Working with Schiffelly Puppets is what makes Shelly Kothe the star she is today for she's been there since co-founding it. I wonder if she still keeps in touch with...

Phil Vischer is a filmmaker, puppeteer, voice actor, animator, and author who is best known for creating the animated Christian franchise VeggieTales. For the franchise he created, directed, produced, wrote, & composed for many videos and movies, as well as voicing hundreds of characters. Phil has also run two production companies over the years, Big Idea Productions and JellyTelly (now called Minno), with the former creating VeggieTales. Vischer also puppeteered and starred as himself on a show called What's in the Bible, through his business vision JellyTelly of course. But it's a shame though that he never worked with any Muppet performers during his career, he probably never even heard of those people. For years, VeggieTales has been giving children a unique kind of entertainment through religious stories and even silly songs, and he voiced almost every character for that, including Bob the Tomato. Phil Vischer is yet another puppeteer to be very religious, with others ...

Winston Tong is an actor, playwright, puppeteer, singer-songwriter, and visual artist who is best known for being a former vocalist in Tuxedomoon and his puppetry in Bound Feet. Some of the other puppet shows he did include Wild Boys, Eliminations, and Frankie and Johnnie, all his shows had incorporated work. As for music, Winston sporadically performed and recorded songs with the group Tuxedomoon from 1977-1985 & 2005 while most of his musical career was solo. Several of the songs Tong did have been recorded and were released on the Belgium record label called Les Disques de Crepuscule. It's a shame though that he never heard of Jim Henson or the Muppets because then he would have been one of those musical guests or something. Some of the other puppeteers who have been playwrights just like him are Alva Rogers and Leila Ghaznavi, while singers-songwriters include Jim Parker. Winston Tong is definitely another one of those performers to record singles whether with a band or a s...

Sid & Marty Krofft were a Canadian sibling team of TV creators, writers, puppeteers, and TV and film producers who were known for making numerous US children shows during the 1970s. Through their production company Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures, some of their most well-known projects include H.R. Pufnstuf, Land of the Lost, and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. Both Sid & Marty never worked with the Muppets, but they have worked with several Muppet performers on lots of their projects. The Krofft brothers worked with them on Pryor's Place, D.C. Follies, Toby Terrier and His Video Pals, and on their last known show Mutt & Stuff. Over the years of their career, the two brothers have been acknowledged for their vision and creativity on their projects and also won numerous awards for some of their shows they did. In addition to television, they also did a few films such as Middle Age Crazy, Side Show, and Harry Tracy, Desperado. It's kind of a shame Sid & Marty Krofft...

Alberto Estrella is a Mexican actor and puppeteer who is known for being the 1st performer of Abelardo Montoya (originally called Serapio Montoya) on Plaza Sesamo from 1981-c.1992. Apart from that show he has mostly been an actor on Mexican film and television since the 1980s. Some of the films Alberto did include lead roles in Santitos, Fibra Optica, and more, while minor roles in Hollywood movies have included Ruby Cairo and Man on Fire, to name a few. As for television, Estrella has been a regular on Pasion, Ringo la Pelea de su Vida, Como dice el dicho, and Locas de amor, just to name a few. The only other puppeteer he worked with during his time on Plaza Sesamo was Jaime Vega, the performer behind Bodoque the Grouch. It would appear that this person is more of an actor than a puppeteer for he's been doing the former much longer than the latter. Alberto Estrella is still considered one of the first Mexican puppeteers to work on Plaza Sesamo, as well as the first one to perform ...

Rhonda Gdasi is a suit performer who doesn't have any information about herself at all. The only known shows she did were on The All-New Captain Kangaroo (as Joey Kangaroo) and The Huggabug Club (as Lovey Dovey). It's a real shame Rhonda is yet another one of those performers to have hardly any info about herself, others include Itzel Tapia, Patricia Lewis, and David Maida. The only 2 puppeteers Gdasi performed with were Paul Pistore and Scott Swenson, both did The All-New Captain Kangaroo. Maybe someday she'll get interviewed by someone, then there will be more information about this woman, you never know. I personally think she would have been perfect to do a Creature Shop project since they've done several ones involving costumed characters, puppets, and/or animatronics. Rhonda Gdasi should also have an image of herself online so people will know what she looks like, for the picture above isn't actually her own face. It doesn't seem right for performers to be...

Alva Rogers is an actress, puppeteer, playwright, composer, and vocalist who is known for using dolls and puppetry in interdisciplinary work. Her two well-known films she acted on were School Daze and Daughters of the Dust, both films involved prejudice. For puppetry, Alva has collaborated with Heather Henson of the Jim Henson Foundation on creating three musicals including Sunday, nightbathing, and mermaid, the former performed Off-Broadway at the Public Theater. In addition to acting and puppetry, Rogers was a vocalist with an alternative rock group called Band of Susans during the late 1980s. She is probably the first (and maybe only) puppeteer to ever perform with a rock group. As for her playwright work, she wrote The Bride Who Became Frightened When She Saw Life Open, Scooping the Darkness Empty, and The Doll Plays. For one woman, Alva Rogers seems to do have so many occupations over the years of her career from actress to vocalist to playwright. Other puppeteers who are playwrig...

Jonathan Paine is a freelance designer and sculptor who did work for Pixar and the now defunct Blue Sky Studios, as well as other companies. He was also an additional puppeteer for the Muppet special The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years, which was probably his only puppeteer project. Jonathan not only does characters for film, but he also makes toys and figurines. Paine made toys for Disney, Warner Bros, Thinkway Toys, Marvel Comics, and more, though some were figurines and soap bottles. As for his film work, he has mainly done Pixar and Blue Sky Studios films such as The Incredibles, Up, Ice Age, Sausage Party, and more. Even though he only did that one Muppet special, he still got to work with numerous Muppet performers for that special such as Jane Henson, Michael Earl, Debra Spinney, and Tim Gosley. In addition to sculpting, Jonathan Paine works in many diverse fields of entertainment such as puppetry and education, with animation already mentioned above. For educational purposes...

Nate Begle is a puppeteer, voice actor, and audio producer who is best known for performing Crow T. Robot of Mystery Science Theater 3000 from 2019-2022. He states that he worked with both Sesame Street and the Henson Company in his career though it's unknown when he did the former. Nate wasn't the only performer of Crow however, others have included Grant Baciocco, Kelsey Ann Brady, and lots more over the years. Begle also puppeteered on 9 Years to Neptune and John Tartaglia's ImaginOcean, according to his website and interviews. In addition to puppetry, he is also a voice actor having lent his voices and characterizations to animation, audiobooks, videogame, and dubbing projects, not to mention commercials. Some of the major brands he did include Verizon, Taco Bell, Xbox, & others. Nate Begle should be proud to have such an incredible voice when it comes to doing either puppetry or animation, but he's still incredible no matter what he does. Personally, I would li...

Cosmo Allegretti was an actor, puppeteer, dancer, and artist who was perhaps best known for doing the original Captain Kangaroo. On that show, he created and performed Mister Moose and Bunny Rabbit as well as the Dancing Bear, Grandfather Clock, and other characters. Cosmo even got to be an artist for a magic drawing board segment of some kind. Allegretti got to work with several Muppet performers on that show including Kevin Clash, Jim Martin, Alice Tweedie, and Daniel Seagren. It would appear that Captain Kangaroo was probably the only show in which he got to display his other skills besides acting of course. Most of his other credits involved acting in films and on Broadway. Cosmo Allegretti acted on Sorcerer, Prince of the City, Author! Author!, and Street Hunter, though not one production involving puppetry, at least not to my knowledge. He should be proud to have accomplished so much on one show for years with his acting, puppetry, dancing, and artistic skills, up until cancellat...