WEBVTT - How Muppets Work 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.600 It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:22.360 from House stuff Works dot Com about rainbow and what 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:29.160 a Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. Hey, 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:32.320 Chuck Bryant, Hey Josh Clark. It's a beautiful day here 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:34.720 at How Stuff Works, Hunt it is. I have a 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:37.880 question for you, Jy. Have you ever been half sleep? 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:41.240 And have you heard voices? Chuck? Josh, I've heard them 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:45.840 calling my name? Is that the sweet sound that calls 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:49.680 a young sailor? Oh? I can't remember the next line. 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:52.839 It might be one and the same. I think it 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:55.480 is one and the same. Yes, clearly we were speaking 0:00:55.600 --> 0:01:01.160 of none other than top hit Academy Award nominated song 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:07.520 Rainbow Connection is performed by a certain philosophizing frog in 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:10.280 a swamp at the beginning of the Muppet movie. Huh, 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:12.959 we're gonna be talking about how the Muppets work today. 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:15.399 I know Josh is like rocking in his chair right now. 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:18.800 He's so excited. I love the Muppets. Who doesn't love them? Uppet? Everybody? 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:21.000 You show me someone that doesn't love the Muppets, and 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:23.399 you know they've got a butt kicking coming to them 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:29.800 via me. Yeah, Chuck's the Muppet enforcer, Muppet love enforcer. Um, 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:32.039 I think we should probably give a disclaimer, Chuck. If 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:36.160 anybody is really attached to illusion and doesn't really want 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:38.960 to know, like the nitty gritty details of how muppets 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:42.839 are made and moved about, they should probably not listen 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:44.480 to this one, right, People that don't even want to 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:48.160 acknowledge that they are puppets. Yeah, the lovers, the dreamers 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:53.440 and me. Yeah that's awesome. Yeah. So um, Chuck, let's 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:57.560 start at the beginning. Let's start back in. Gotta start 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:00.280 with Jim Henson. Yeah, well, yeah, there are no ups 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:02.240 without Jim Henson and even says it right there in 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:04.360 the article how Muppets Work, which you can find on 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:08.400 how stuff Works dot com. Right right, Uh, Washington, d 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:12.320 C has a local TV station and uh, and I 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:15.720 think the winner of nineteen fifty five, Um, a young 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:19.919 college freshman, Jim Henson. Dude, until probably had no idea 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:21.600 that this went back that far. No, this guy was 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:24.959 starting something huge at this time, right, I mean it's puppets, 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:29.639 Like puppets were relegated to what children's birthday parties, stuff 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:32.280 like that. This guy's bringing them on the TV. Exactly huge. 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:35.440 And what what what was kind of surprising is that 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:39.440 this show Sam and Friends, Right, that was his first show, 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:43.480 the one on the local Washington d c UH television station, 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:48.320 was for adults. Absolutely, it was I believe there was 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:52.520 some satire involved, correct, a ted political satire parody. They 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:56.160 parodied other television shows and it ran for six years 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:59.120 and got him on Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show. Yeah, 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:03.519 and actually this is where um, a little lizard like 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:07.000 creature who came to be known as Kermit debut. Should 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:10.560 I do it? Yeah? Hi? Who Kermit d Frog? Here? 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:15.800 That is wonderful, Chuck revealed before the the UM, I 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:18.640 guess the real, the real that's run by a hamster 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:23.560 started rolling. Um that he started with Kermit. That was 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:25.720 your first voice, first voice? What else do you get? 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:28.280 My voices are mediocre at best, But I still like 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:30.160 doing him. I gotta tell you, Nail Kurmit, but I've 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:33.440 been doing Kermit since I was like six km. Yeah, 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:35.440 well you've got him. I'm trying to get a ya 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:39.000 out of Chuck, but have a limited range. Well, Kermit 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:42.280 lizard like Kermit, as we'll call him Um. It was 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:48.680 joined by some other wonderfully named puppets that weren't quite 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:51.560 called muppets yet these are still puppets in Henson's mind. 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:56.320 You had Sam Yorick Harry the Hipster, one of my favorites, 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:00.680 Professor Magcliff. I'm surprised it wasn't a hippie rob. No 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:04.560 hippie rob yet give it another decade. Mush Melon and 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:08.960 Chicken Liver was part of the regular cast, and basically 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:13.240 it was Henson and a classmate of his um named 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:17.880 Jane Nabel, who later became Jane Henson. They met up 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:20.320 and she kind of assisted him early on. They fell 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:23.080 in love. They did fell in love, and she was 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:27.280 actually replaced when they got married and had kids by 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:30.040 one frank Oz. Frank a nineteen year old Frank Oz, 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.359 and he was originally um hired just to be the 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:36.960 right hand literally of Rolf the Dog. Right they call 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:39.720 that technique right handing. We'll get into that, which we'll 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:43.040 get into and Rolf actually fun fact, Rolf the dog 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:46.599 with the big floppy ears, who's performed with the likes 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:51.480 of Liberacci among others, was actually created specifically to sell 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.320 Purina dog food. Yeah. After he did Salmon Friends, he 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.400 produced TV commercials for a while with the early muppets, 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:00.640 a bunch of them. So this is a clearly we've 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:04.479 we've transitioned into the era where there were muppets. We 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:07.919 went from Salmon Friends and now muppets are starting to 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:12.040 come about. Ralph Kermits now Frog. He's made that sexual 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:16.040 transition from lizard to frog, that right of passage that 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:19.680 every lizard has to go through. Um, and uh, there's 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:23.000 still no TV show. We're in the sixties and everyone's 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:26.760 getting to be aware of the muppets, Chuck, Like you said, Uh, 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:29.760 they were on the Ed Sullivan Show, the Jimmy Dean Show, 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:32.400 which you should have been in the green room for 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:36.400 that one sausage everywhere. Um. He did create some pilots, 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:38.560 but they never took no one ever, bottom up No. 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:40.839 And he got really close with ABC, but they walked 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:44.240 on a deal. Um. What really kind of catapulted him 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:49.520 into a possible TV deal was the formation of kids 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:53.320 show called Sesame Street, the children's television network started by 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:57.760 Joan and Coney Right and Jim Henson always kind of 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:01.840 thought of his puppets and then muppets as um uh 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:04.919 for adults, like this is adults stuff like you can 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:10.159 even today there's um puppet Up Uncensored. It's a live 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:14.520 improv muppet puppet show for adults. It's carried on by 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:16.919 his son Brian. And that's very much in the tradition 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:20.360 of Jim Henson's original idea, which is these are puppets, 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:22.600 but they're for adults. Like there's just that kind of 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.400 ironic twist that these puppets are cursing, you know. But 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.160 apparently somewhere along the way he came to figure out 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:33.159 that um children could be a very sophisticated audiences a 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:37.360 quote in the article, So he went along with Sesame Street, right, yeah, 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:41.320 and that's really where it blew up. Everyone who grew 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:44.080 up in the United States and probably elsewhere watch Sesame 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:47.000 Street as a kid and may still and that's where 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:50.960 we were introduced to uh, Oscar the Grouch, Big Bird 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:55.239 and Burton Ernie Cookie Monster. Doesn't get any more classic 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:59.920 than that. Grower's my favorite Sesame. Yeah. I did little 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:03.359 video one time with a Grover Finger puppet. Did you 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:05.320 This is back in like the old VHS days where 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:06.960 you could edit like I literally had to edit it 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:09.160 all in camera as I shot it, and I used 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:11.280 like a ween song and I Grover finger Puppet. He's 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:14.200 pretty fun. So this had nothing to do with Karate Chuck. No, no, no, 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:18.360 these are just my early filmmaking days. It's fun. So okay, 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.880 So Sesame Street takes off and still going today. I mean, 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:23.600 this has got to be one of the longest running 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:26.720 television shows of all time. Yeah, I think sixty Minutes 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:29.680 has a beat. Maybe General Hospital. You know General Hospital 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:32.800 has been on since the mid fifties. Who cares. Yeah, 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:35.120 but dude, that's a really long time for a single 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:37.800 television show to run. That's a lot of crap, it 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:40.600 is They just shovel it on nothings. Yeah, back to 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:43.080 the goodness of the Muppets though. So he's almost there, 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:45.360 He's so close. He's been shooting pilots. None of them 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:48.920 were getting taken up. ABC's Walked Um and a little 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:52.360 show called s Live starts up in nineteen Yeah. I 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:53.960 did not know this until I read this article. I 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:56.520 didn't either. I'm a big fan. I'm trying to sound 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:59.680 like I did know this, alright. Um, the the first 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:04.160 season and included sketches Um called The Land of Gorge, 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:09.120 which were larger muppets, and the SNL writers said, we're 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:11.560 not writing for puppets. Yeah, in fact they're I think 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:14.240 they're head writer is famously quoted saying I don't write 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:17.280 for felt, which I thought was kind of was that 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:20.000 Al Franken? Now what now Franken? I can't remember his name, 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:23.480 but Senator Al Franken, Senator Al Francin is so crazy. 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:28.080 Um so that was very short lived. Finally, Henson strikes 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:32.040 a deal with UM I t C and they start 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:36.160 shooting The Muppet Show in London and syndicating it out 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:39.840 at CBS. And this is Yeah, the pilot, though I 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:41.960 thought was interesting. I should mention was the name of 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:45.040 the pilot was called Sex and Violence. They actually UM 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:47.640 I was watching it earlier and um, one of the 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:50.080 muppets comes out, not when I could identify by sight. 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.120 Uh comes out and there's this huge thing carved out 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:56.720 of stone. It's a sex and violence and uh, the 0:08:56.800 --> 0:09:00.640 announcer says, and now the end of sex and violence 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:04.000 on TV. And the Muppet presses a dynamite plunger and 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:06.040 blows up the sex and violence and then the Muppet 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:08.160 Show theme starts, well, there you have it. Yeah, that 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.000 makes sense. Then I thought it was just one of 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:14.480 those ironic names or something. I don't think like Jim 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:16.360 Hinson was trying to be ironically funny. I think he 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:19.440 was still but sure, yeah, got you the end of 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:21.960 sex and Violence. So yeah, the Muppet Show was born 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:26.400 and the rest is history. The end, the end. Thanks 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:33.400 for coming, Chuck, What was your favorite Muppet d How 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:35.240 did you get your voice to do that? It's anytime 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:37.480 you say those three words together that happens. Let me 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:43.679 try You should try to hum or the judges. We 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.680 see old guys in the balcony. Yeah, yeah, yeah, what 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:49.240 was it? Statler and Waldorf? Statler and Waldorf. Those guys 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:51.960 were excellent, and Jim Hinson actually voiced Waldorf. I guess 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:56.600 we should talk about who the creator actually voiced specifically. Yeah, 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:58.959 he did obviously did Kermit the Frog, He did Rolf 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:02.920 the Dog. He and Waldorf. Uh. He did Doctor Teeth 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:08.040 of Electric Mayhem, the Electric Mayhem, which was the the 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:10.920 hippie band. Yeah. I think Dr Teeth was probably modeled 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:14.440 after Dr John that's a guest, but probably I think so. Yeah, 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:16.400 he had he had that kind of new Orleans accent, 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:20.800 didn't he? Yeah? And then link Hogthrob of Pigs and 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:27.240 Space of what excellent, And he did the Ernie half 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:29.560 of Burton Ernie. Yeah. Who I have to say, Ernie's 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:31.440 one of my favorite characters. I know he's set to 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:33.839 me Street, but he's one of my favorite buppets. Um. 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.800 I kind of go for the really sweet, kind hearted 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:42.160 ones really Ernie, Fozzy, Yeah, Bunsen, which one was Bunsen 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.840 the Little Professor, a little affable professor with Beaker the most. Yeah. 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:50.720 Have you seen Beaker doing oh to Joy? It's pretty cool. 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:54.440 It's on YouTube. Type in meep and oh to Joy 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:58.320 and it will come up. Yeah, He's like me, me, me, Me, 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:01.640 me me. It's pretty cool. And of course the chef, 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:04.520 the chef who was Swedish chef, who actually has the 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:08.880 distinction of being the only muppet with live human hands 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:12.720 unsupposed or uncovered by gloves or anything like that. Yeah. 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:15.360 I was watching a clip of the Swedish chef and 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:17.440 you can very easily see why they did that. He 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:19.560 has to put like dashes of things in and pinch 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:22.520 and stuff in, and so he actually has I believe 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:26.960 frank Oz's hands and then then Henson doing his head. Yeah, 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:29.280 and we'll we'll talk about the muppeteering and Manto because 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:31.680 it gets pretty intense. So I get ahead of myself 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.800 sometimes I know it's just exciting. Uh. And then frank 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:37.080 Oz of course, which was the other half. And I 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:38.840 think the quote in the article, which I thought was cool, 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:41.880 as Jim Henson said that Frank Oz was probably the 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:45.000 person most responsible for the Muppets being funny. Right, Frank 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:46.839 Oz is a very funny guy. He is. He also 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:51.120 did h He also puppeted and voiced Yoda and All 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.480 Star Wars. Oh you knew that, did you? Yeah? I 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:57.760 think everyone did it. Frank Oz did Yoda. Uh. And um, 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:01.400 he did Rolf the Dog. I'm sorry he right handed 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.160 Route the Dog. Jim did the voice. Let's remember this 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:04.840 is what he was hired for it an, that's right. 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:07.520 He did Bert the Burt half. He did Grover, your 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:12.000 favorite cookie monster animal who doesn't love animal? A lot 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.640 of screaming with that one, Miss Piggy and Fozzy Bear 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:18.240 of course, to to the iconic characters. And you know, 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:20.400 frank went on to direct movies. I mean he worked 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:23.600 with Hinson for like thirty years and then directed movies. 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:27.559 He directed Uh What About Bob? And Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:30.080 and with other classics. You're gonna tell you Dirty Rotten 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:32.160 Scoundrels is funny. The greatest thing he's ever made, and 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:35.000 he's acted to. He was in The Blues Brothers briefly. 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:38.040 Oh was he the the corrections officer at Hands and 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:43.880 Back is prophylactic? Yes, he is. Later on he reprises 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:47.440 that role sort of in Trading Places. He plays the 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:51.000 officer checking out danack Royd in prison in that film 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:54.600 as well. So he's a specialist. He plays officers giving 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:59.920 prisoners there type cast. Yeah. Yeah, so Chuck you one 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.400 to get into um a little behind the scenes stuff, Yeah, 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.720 why not? We might as well. Um, well, let's start 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:10.240 with how a Muppet is made. Yeah, Josh, the Muppets 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:13.880 were created only by Jim Hinson. He did all the 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:16.880 original sketches and he built some of the original muppets 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:18.720 when he was still kind of a small shop. Yeah, 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:21.040 but he figured out pretty quick that he had too 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:23.920 many in his head and he needed too many to 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:26.719 just do it himself. So yeah, he started out, um, 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:30.720 using some materials like paper machee that didn't work out 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:33.880 because it was too hard, and then he tried um 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:36.480 different kinds of foam. I think he's foam rubber, but 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:41.120 found that that deteriorated. Yeah, so he's reticulated polyphone, which 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:44.720 is I imagined very much like foam rubber, but a 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:47.120 little more durable, right, And I think it's more flexible 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:49.720 because that that gave him the opportunity if you stick 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:52.079 your hand in Kerman's head to operate the puppet, to 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:54.240 move your knuckles around and like he would raise an 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:56.760 eyebrow and it would give him a little more feature 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.400 to his face. I chuck. You know, I love lore. 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:02.080 I want it's poss this one out. Kermit Lizard Kermit 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:08.080 pre Great Transition. Kermit was actually made from his The 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:12.160 skin of Kermit was made from fuzzy green coat Jim 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:15.400 Henson's mother owned, and his eyes were two halves of 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:17.880 a toy which I'm not familiar with. I wouldn't either, 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:22.920 wacky wacky stacks yea stacks half. Yeah. They always kind 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:25.960 of looked like ping pong balls with the little pupils 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:27.760 drawn on them. Yeah, well, let's go ahead and talk 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.720 about that. The pupils. Yeah, that's they They say that 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:33.000 they did the eyes last when they're building muppets because 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:36.320 it's the most important part, and the pupils are actually 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:38.400 very important. And this I didn't know either. Um, the 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:41.960 bigger the pupil, the younger the muppet. Pretty cool, Yeah, 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:43.440 and it really kind of makes sense. It gets the 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:45.720 point across that they're kind of wide eyed and innocent, 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.000 unfamiliar with the horrors and evil of the world. Right. 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:51.520 And it says they also tilt the pupils end slightly 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:53.760 to give them more focus. Well, they move them closer together, 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:56.200 because if they just put them, you know, on these 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:59.200 huge eyes where they should be in the middle, muppets 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:01.120 would look like they had easy eyes. Right. And the 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:03.520 man responsible for this was one of the first guys 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:07.960 that Jim Hinson hired. His name was Don uh Salen Salon. 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:11.840 I get the impression that this guy was like the 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:14.280 man behind the man in a lot of ways. Jim 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:18.160 Henson was this very creative, artistic person and he knew 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:21.080 what he was doing. But I think Don Solon was 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:23.360 the one who's like, okay, i'll make it work. Well. 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:26.920 He was definitely the master, like a sower. It sounds 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:29.080 like he came up with the Henson stitch, which he 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:33.120 very graciously um named after Henson. The Henson stitch, which 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:36.760 is a I guess, a method of sewing that hides 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:39.240 the scene. Yeah, you don't wanna. You don't want to 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:41.480 see a scene right there. It's like I forgot that's 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:44.240 a puppet exactly. And this, uh, this is so chuck 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:45.880 full of things I never knew. I'm so glad we're 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:48.520 doing this. Kermit the Frog actually has a stitch, Henson 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:50.800 stitch going right up the center of his nose, and 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:53.520 you would never know it because the Henson stitch and 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:55.600 the little fuzzy felt kind of helps to hide it. Yeah. 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:58.720 And the fuzzy felt actually um is called Andron fleets. 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:01.200 That's the covering of Kermit and most of the other 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:04.640 You know that that kind of muppet skin, they actually 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:07.040 call it muppet fleece. That that fabric sort of like 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:09.680 a worn tennis ball. Yeah. You know you've arrived when 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:12.840 there's a type of textile named after your creation, a 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:19.040 stitch named after you. Uh so most muppets. Um. Well, 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:20.560 there's either two ways you can go about it. There's 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:23.280 either the hand and rod method of operating or a 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:26.280 live hand. We talked about the live hand, and that 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:29.840 is when you literally stick your arm into the arm 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:32.720 of the puppet, into a glove or in the swedishchef's case, 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:36.640 a natural hand. Right, and there's actually two people operating. 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:39.480 And let's start with the hand and rod one or 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:44.720 rod in hand. Yes, so most muppeteers chuck or right handed. Um, 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:47.640 and so they're their right hand would be inside the muppet, 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:50.160 operating the head the face, that kind of thing. Their 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:52.400 left hand would be holding the two rods that were 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:54.760 attached to the muppets hand. Grover's an example of a 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:57.560 hand and rod one. Um, so the left hand would 0:16:57.560 --> 0:16:59.640 make the hands clap. That kind of thing is two 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.880 very in dowels, which you can move them with your fingers, right, 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:06.639 so one person can operate it. Uh. And actually, since 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:10.040 they the most muppeteers were right handed and they were 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:14.120 operating with their left hand. Um, most muppets are left 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:16.640 handed since they were operating the hands with them. Yeah. 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:19.399 Another cool fact, except there was one muppeteer who was 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:22.920 left handed and all of her muppets were right handed. Yeah. 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:26.240 I didn't know that. Yeah, man, I'm learning so much. Uh. 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.840 And then um, occasionally you know clearly, if one person 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:32.120 is operating both hands, there's a limited amount of things 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:34.480 they can do. That's where the right handing comes in. 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:38.000 If you need uh specific movements done with both hands, 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:41.320 then a second puppeteer comes in operates only the right hand, 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:43.200 which is what frank Oz was hard to do in 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:47.600 the case of Ralph right Um. Ernie is another example 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:50.959 to see right handed. Yeah, so there's a there's one 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:55.280 muppeteer who's there two guys standing next to each other. Um, 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:58.639 there's one guy who has his right hand up as 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:01.480 high as it can go. He's operating the face, and 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:04.880 then his left hand is up the arm of the muppet, 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:08.840 and then the other guy has his right hand up 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:13.160 the muppets right hand. There's two people operating these three parts, 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:15.800 and they do a pretty good job. But you really, 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:17.720 you think about it, and you just you look at 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:21.280 Ernie or something, and you don't you wouldn't think that 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:24.760 there's two people operating him, and that sounds very cramped 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:27.800 and close and it is. Yeah, I mean talk about 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:30.399 henson Um at the beginning of the Muppet movie when 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:33.280 Kermit's on the log. Oh yeah, well sure, when the 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:36.480 shots in the movies where you don't see a human Well, 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:38.919 what I guess, let's backtrack a little. What they usually 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:44.359 do um was a technique that Henson invented called platforming up, 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:48.320 So they would build the actual muppet stage about eight 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:50.639 you know, six to eight feet off the ground so 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:52.840 the puppeteers could stand fully upright so they don't have 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:56.080 to bend over. Sometimes when that wasn't possible, they built 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:59.600 trenches for the for the muppeteers to get down in. 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:01.919 And then for the movies, which is what you were 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:05.359 talking about, for the scenes where like Kermit was sitting 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:08.639 on the log and singing Rainbow Connection. At the opening 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:11.640 of the film, Jim Hinson was in a little capsule 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:17.119 cramped down underwater, underwater sealed uh, with the thing all 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:20.400 around was sticking up out of the water, probably disguised 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:23.159 as a read that allowed him to breathe exactly. But 0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:25.080 they were showing off right out of the bat they 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:27.840 right out of the gate. They did a three sixty 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:30.119 shot of Kermit on the log to show that right, 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:33.119 no wires is not a marrionette. Pretty cool, Yeah, it 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:34.919 was pretty cool. I love that. And then they did 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:37.959 scenes where they were like riding bicycles, and in some 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:40.040 cases I think they had to have multiple h They 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:42.640 called it muppet switching, where they had like a full 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:45.239 body Muppet that they would occasionally have to use the 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:47.879 marrionette wires, or they would have a little person in it, 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:49.480 or they would have a little person, or they would 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:52.439 use a remote control which came a little bit later. Um. Also, 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:55.560 this is my favorite. When they had a muppet driving 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:59.080 a car, the car was actually being driven, so the 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:02.480 Muppet would be in the front seat. Uh, the muppeteer 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:05.440 would be crouched down in the back seat operating the Muppet, 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:08.119 and then there would be a little person in the 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:12.120 trunk driving the car with remote control looking at a 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:15.639 video screen. Yeah, they're actually extremely sophisticated. What they have 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:18.480 to do. This is incredibly complex. Imagine having to build 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:20.960 like you have to know exactly what's going to happen 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:23.600 in every scene. Then you have to build the set 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:27.040 to accommodate a human person and a muppet and their muppeteer, 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:29.960 so there may be several different levels. It sounds very dangerous. 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:33.040 And then as a muppeteer as well, Chuck Um. They 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:36.240 have and they have had since the seventies monitors strapped 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:38.800 to their chest so they can see what the what 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:42.360 their muppet is doing. Right, it is backwards, so they 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:44.520 have to know that if they're if they are looking 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:46.440 at the screen and they want their muppet to move left, 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:49.320 they have to move right. I mean, I imagine that 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:52.920 the wiring, the neural connections of these people's brains are 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:55.399 very unusual. If you could slap them in a wonder 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:57.080 machine and take a look at them next to like 0:20:57.119 --> 0:20:59.680 one of ours, I'll bet you've noticed some real distinction. 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.280 We should write a article on muppeteers brains would be good. 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:06.520 Uh and you're dead on man, because one of the muppeteers, 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:08.160 there's been about a hundred of him, one of them 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:10.879 named Dave Gold, said it takes maybe five years to 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:13.640 do everything without thinking about it. In fact, I still 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:16.840 find it difficult. And Frank Oz said, what you're doing 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:18.680 is so complicated that you really don't have time to 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:21.879 think about what you're doing. First your body understands and 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:25.400 then your mind grasp what you're doing. Sometimes so very 0:21:25.400 --> 0:21:29.160 complicated stuff. There's there's one other kind of muppet. We've 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:33.400 got hand and rod uh live hand or right hand muppets, 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:36.400 and then there's full body muppets like Big Bird. Sure, 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:38.760 so this is actually you know Big Birds as tall 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:42.360