Comic Con Street

San Diego Comic Con was held over the weekend, and as we noted in our News Updates, Sesame Street and The Jim Henson Company both held panels at the world's biggest fan convention. Updates on the Henson panel are still coming in, but the Sesame Street panels were a major success.

Our friends at Nerdist.com have a great recap of the main Sesame Street panel, which featured Eric Jacobson and Grover, Joey Mazzarino and Murray, David Rudman and Cookie Monster, and Carol-Lynn Parente (and hosted by Nerdist's own Chris Hardwick).

The first panel held for Sesame Street was a conversation with the Muppet performers and Muppets, hosted by the amazing Zachary Levi. Lucky for us non-Comic Con attendees, NerdHQ filmed the entire panel for us. It's half an hour long, and 100% delightful. I highly, highly recommend watching it. Joey Mazzarino and Murray steals the show.



Earlier that day, Sesame Street took to Vine to show off Bert's new cosplay costume. Is he Bertman? Batbert? The world may never know.



Then, Murray presented a special edition of "Word on the Street."



And finally, Cookie Monster found his favorite Comic Con costume.



Sesame Street also shared a lot on Instragram from the photo shoot available with Grover, Murray, and Cookie Monster later in the day. Check out some of the great photos below!



Chris Hardwick with his furry friends.



The Nerdist panel.



Zachary Levi with the gang.



Bertman scales the building.



Chris Hardwick with Grover.



Our friend Gina Selim with Bert!



We'll be back with more Comic Con coverage as it comes down the pipeline!





The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

News Update: February 7, 2014

FEBRUARY 7, 2014

The Muppets (it's not confirmed which ones) will be appearing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon TONIGHT on NBC at 11:00 PM. This is very, very huge because tonight is the final episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Jimmy Fallon will be moving to The Tonight Show, so the Muppets appearing on the final show is a very big deal--and not to be missed! The Muppets are officially billed as the musical guests, so they will be performing as well. Very exciting!

Four new banners for Muppets Most Wanted have been released. Unsurprisingly, they use the same old poser stock images we've seen a million times before. The Kermit one is especially off-putting... but they're colorful and bold, so it's hard to complain too much. Here they are:

Our friends at ToughPigs.com were the first ones to find an odd little video featuring Kermit, Miss Piggy, and Constantine shilling for Love Movies, which is very much anti-movie pirating. In the video, Constantine and Kermit are used as a goofy metaphor for high quality movies you pay for, and low-quality, evil movies you obtain illegally. Anyway, it's a fun video. Watch it below:



My favorite thing that happened this week was this fantastic video from PBS featuring Murray Monster, Count von Count, and Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock). The video is very, very funny and Murray steals the show. Also, how great is Matt Vogel's Count? Watch the video (which already has over three million views) below to find out!



An early screening of Muppets Most Wanted is taking place in New York City at The New York International Children's Film Festival on Saturday, March 15th. But this is no ordinary early screening, this one features a sing-along with songwriter Bret McKenzie! Tickets for this are sure to go extremely fast, so if you're interested ingoing, you should buy tickets ASAP!

Finally, our friend Sam O'Rama is hosting a special Muppet Monday! on March 17th in Chicago, Illinois at Club Foot. The event will feature Muppet trivia, Muppet themed drinks, Muppet music, videos, and much more. If you're in the Chicago area it sounds like it will be a rocking good time! For more info check out the official event page on Facebook.





The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

News Update: June 7, 2013

NEWS UPDATE: June 7, 2013

This week, the Writers Guild of America posted their list of the 101 Best Written TV Series. Included on the list were both Sesame Street (at #56) and The Muppet Show (at #91). Check out the blurbs below for what the Writers Guild had to say about the shows. Thanks to our friend Benn Breeden for the alert!

#56 - Sesame Street
"Simply put, the show’s continual inventiveness and impact as an educational tool – forged via the runaway popularity of the Muppets – changed the landscape of children's television. Joan Ganz Cooney was a children's television producer in New York City when, with government funding, she founded the Children's Television Workshop. Sesame Street was born of her belief that kids programming ought to be more forward-thinking and fun. "I wanted this show to jump and move fast and feel and sound like 1969, because kids are turned on visually!" Cooney is quoted as saying on the show's Web site. Cooney's creative team included Frank Oz, Jon Stone (a former producer on Captain Kangaroo who became the show's first head writer), and the master puppeteer Jim Henson. Sesame Street, when it debuted, was banned from the air in Mississippi due to its interracial cast."

#91 - The Muppet Show

"Behind Jim Henson's genius and generosity of spirit were writers who shared his vision for puppetry that could tickle kids while delighting adults. They had worked with Henson going back before Sesame Street and followed him as the Muppets multiplied, springing to richer and richer life. On The Muppet Show, the characters were in showbiz now – with Kermit the Frog the impresario of a kind of variety show that peered at itself backstage, had a house band (The Electric Mayhem), a diva ingénue (Miss Piggy), balcony hecklers (Statler and Waldorf) and a human celebrity guest star. On the writing side, Henson's collaborators included head writer Jerry Juhl (winner of five Writers Guild Awards), Jon Stone (who wrote one of two pilots for the series, called "Sex and Violence with the Muppets"), Marc London (Laugh-in), and Jack Burns, of the comedy team Burns and Schreiber, head writer during the first season."

This week Sesame Street and Sesame Workshop announced their exciting new partnership with the National Park Service. This partnership encourages young viewers to go out and explore the United States National Parks. Who better to encourage this than our favorite furry red monsters Elmo and Murray? Check out the video below to see Elmo and Murray chat with a park ranger. Be sure to click around for the other videos in the series as well. This series is very notable because Elmo is being performed by Muppeteer Ryan Dillon for the first time in a major production. Dillon's Elmo performance is incredibly spot-on. Check it out for yourself!



Finally, our friends at ToughPigs.com have some interesting new information about the upcoming BBC game show starring puppets from The Jim Henson Company--aptly titled That Puppet Game Show. You'll want to check out ToughPigs for all the information, but you can see the intriguing photo featuring "celebrity" Vernon Kay and puppet Dougie Colon below. Enjoy?

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

News Update: March 8, 2013

NEWS UPDATE: March 8, 2013
Late Tuesday night news came out that Disney would be using its expert cross-promotional techniques on the Muppets once again. Access Hollywood reported that the Muppets will apepar on Disney Channel's hit show Good Luck Charlie on April 28th. According to the official synopsis for the episode, "The Duncan Family decides to build their dream house after the family home is devastated by termites. Everyone, with the exception of Charlie (played by Mia Talerico), is excited at the prospect of a new and larger home. However, Teddy (Bridgit Mendler) has a change of heart after a dream in which Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and Animal convince her that the old family home is really the house of her dreams." It sounds like it could be a fun appearance for Kermit and the gang.

While on the set of Good Luck Charlie, Access Hollywood talked to Miss Piggy about her appearance on the show and filming The Muppets... Again. The interview is fantastic and Eric Jacobson continues to be perfect as Piggy. My favorite part of the interview comes when Piggy refers to Ricky Gervais and Tina Fey as "background actors." Spectacular. Watch the video below!

Our good friends over at ToughPigs.com have all the news on the kids' portion of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Why do we care? Because Sesame Street is going to play a big part in the festival this year. Head over to ToughPigs for the entire Sesame-related schedule, which includes panels featuring Maria and Murray Monster and their friends/same people Sonia Manzano and Joey Mazzarino, which are sure to be exciting. So if you're headed to TIFF, be sure to check them out! If not, be sure to check out the great video with Murray and Maria below!

It's been awhile since Fraggle Rock saw a DVD release, but the fine folks over at TVShowsonDVD.com have some great news for those who missed out on the series on DVD the first time around. Series sets will be released on DVD periodically throughout the year (Season 1 on March 12; Season 2 on April 16; Season 3 on May 14; and Season 4--tentaively--on June 18). Perhaps most exciting is the 30th Anniversary Collection, also released on May 14th, which comes with all four seasons on DVD, a Red Fraggle plush keychain, the complete Animated Series, and a new Fraggle graphic novel. The cost is reasonable for two complete series, and the new box art is pretty great (see right). No word if new bonus features will be included... but the world can hope.

In other odd Fraggle news, the Jim Henson Company seems to be bringing their long in development children's TV series, Doozers, to television. An official video preview for the show was released on YouTube by our friends at Muppet Newsflash. I'm not sure how I feel about the video... it seems pretty confusing so far, but hopefully it will be much less confusing when it finally airs sometime in 2013. Enjoy the video below!



Finally, in hugely exciting and momentous (for many reasons) news: Sesame Street's YouTube Channel yesterday became the first ever non-profit organization to reach over 1 billion views! They promised to celebrate with a top-secret video, which they released yesterday. It stars Count von Count, performed for the first time since Jerry Nelson passed away. The Count is performed here by the amazing Matt Vogel, who does a nearly flawless job. The characterization, movement, and excitement is perfect. The voice is nearly uncanny. There are moments where Matt emulates Jerry's voice so perfectly, he could fool anyone. I am so thrilled and proud of Matt for this video and for taking over Count von Count. No one could do better. Watch the wonderful video below!









The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

Muppetology 101: Intro to Muppet Monster Cryptozoology, Pt. 2

Ryan Dosier - Welcome back to class, class! No quiz again this week, because my cousin's hamster took the papers... he didn't eat them, but instead started his own Muppetology course next door. Don't fall for it. He isn't licensed! ...And obviously I am, if anyone asks. Anyway, let's continue our lecture on Muppet Monster Cryptozoology, this week focusing on the magnificent monsters of Sesame Street!

• GROVER 
• Performed by FRANK OZ (1969-present) and ERIC JACOBSON (1998-present)
• Grover is one of Sesame Street's numerous furry blue monsters. He debuted in the first season of Sesame Street and has been a consistently popular presence ever since. Grover is best known for the countless professions he has worked in over the years, most notably as a waiter and his superhero alter-ego, Super Grover. As far as monsters go, Grover is about as far away from scary as one can get. He is a self-proclaimed cute, adorable little monster and has no interest in scaring anyone. In fact, he scared himself at the prospect of a monster in the classic book, The Monster at the End of This Book. He even sang the song "I Whistle a Happy Tune" with Cookie Monster when they were afraid of the woods. Grover can currently be seen nearly everyday on Sesame Street in his recurring segment "Super Grover 2.0."

• COOKIE MONSTER 
• Performed by FRANK OZ (1969-present) and DAVID RUDMAN (2001-present)
• Yet another of the furry blue monsters of Sesame Street, Cookie Monster is one of the most popular characters on the show, and one of the most popular and beloved television characters of all time. Cookie Monster, of course, ravenously devours cookies (and most everything else) anytime that he gets the opportunity. Of all the Sesame Street monsters, Cookie Monster has the most monster-like speech saying "me" instead of "I," as in "Me want cookies!" Again, however, Cookie Monster does not exhibit many scary traits. Yes, his penchant for eating anything and everything makes him rather over the top, he is never purposefully scary. Just hold on to your hat if it's near a plate of cookies. Cookie Monster recently made a big splash with his parody video of the song "Call Me Maybe" and can be seen in numerous episodes of Sesame Street Season 43.

• ELMO 
• Primarily performed by KEVIN CLASH (1985-present) 
• Perhaps the most popular children's television character of the past decade, Elmo is the giggling, ticklish, imaginative furry red monster on Sesame Street--as if anyone doesn't know that already. Elmo is the least scary Muppet monster, right alongside Grover, and would never dream of trying to scare someone. Elmo himself has been scared many times, however. At age three-and-a-half, Elmo is one of the youngest denizens of Sesame Street and has gotten scared many times, especially when he had a close call with a fire in Hooper's Store. Mostly, though, Elmo is just happy and carefree. He inhabited "Elmo's World" on the show for many years until the segment was replaced in Season 43 by the entertaining new segment "Elmo: The Musical." Elmo can be seen consistently on every episode of Sesame Street.

• TELLY MONSTER 
• Primarily performed by MARTIN P. ROBINSON (1984-present)
• Telly Monster is one of the main characters on modern day Sesame Street and appears in numerous street stories every season. Telly is best friends with Baby Bear but loves to play with everyone else on Sesame Street too. Telly used to be highly neurotic and worried all the time, but has since mellowed out. In his first appearance, Telly had spinning eyes and antennae sticking out of his head, making it the only time Telly was legitimately scary. Since then, Telly has been the one getting scared, not doing the scaring. In his worrying state, Telly would scare incredibly easily, and sometimes that still shows through even though he has matured quite a bit over the years. Telly can be seen in most episodes of Sesame Street Season 43.

• ROSITA 
• Performed by CARMEN OSBAHR
• Another member of Sesame Street's furry blue monster family, Rosita is a smart, Spanish speaking female monster who loves to play her guitar and sing. She first appeared on Sesame Street in 1991 in Season 23. For quite awhile, Rosita appeared with wings, explaining her full name Rosita la Monstrua de las Cuevas, which translates to Rosita the Monster of the Caves, implying that she was conceived as fruit bat of some sort. Rosita lost her wings in Season 35. Although her full name sounds frightening, Rosita is anything but, as she is one of the sweetest characters on Sesame Street. Rosita remains a popular main character on Sesame Street to this day and can be seen in numerous Season 43 episodes.

• ZOE 
• Performed by FRAN BRILL
• Zoe, who debuted in Season 25 in 1994, was conceived and developed to match Elmo in both appearance and popularity. It succeeded, as Zoe continues to delight children on Sesame Street to this day nearly 20 years later. Zoe has gone through many phases on the show, loving her Zoemobile, her bracelets, her tutu, her dancing, and her pet rock Rocco. Zoe is always seen wearing her pink ballet tutu these days and is usually seen with her friends Elmo, Rosita, and Abby Cadabby. Zoe has a delightful laugh that sets her apart from the other characters and a favorite of Muppet fans and children alike.

• HERRY MONSTER 
• Performed by JERRY NELSON
• Herry Monster is a classic Sesame Street character who debuted in Season 2 of the show and became a favorite character of the audience as well as his performer Jerry Nelson. Herry is perhaps best known for counting to 20 with John John early in the show's run and for being a part of a sort of trio with Cookie Monster and Grover. Herry is larger than most and much stronger as well. It seems that he is always accidentally breaking something, but he always feels terrible about it. Herry loves to play with his doll, Hercules, and remained popular on Sesame Street into the 1990s and early 2000s. He has since been phased into the background, but not before starring in his own recurring segment "Monster Day Care," performing alongside Garth Brooks and Maya Angelou, and becoming best friends with both Prairie Dawn and Rosita.

• MURRAY MONSTER 
• Performed by JOEY MAZZARRINO
• Murray is the newest monster on this list, appearing first in Season 36 in 2005. Since then, Murray has grown into one of the most-used characters on Sesame Street, appearing daily in "tune-in" segments throughout the run of the episodes since Season 40 as well as introducing the daily "Word on the Street." Murray is also the first main character performed by veteran Sesame Street performer and writer Joey Mazzarrino. Murray is often seen with his Spanish-speaking little lamb friend Ovejita, and the two of them had their own segment called "Murray Has a Little Lamb." Currently, Murray and Ovejita co-host the interstitial moments in every episode of the show. Murray can be seen in every episode of Sesame Street Season 43.

• FRAZZLE 
• Performed by JERRY NELSON
• Frazzle is the only Sesame Street monster who could be considered legitimately scary. His appearance is frightening, with his large white teeth and angry eyes, and he speaks entirely in growls. However, Frazzle is really lovable and just wants to be loved back, he can't help it if he accidentally scares people. Frazzle has been around since Season 4 of Sesame Street and has performed now-classic songs like "Fuzzy and Blue (and Orange)" and "Frazzle," the latter performed with his band The Frazzletones. Frazzle rarely appears on the show these days, and if he does it's only in the background, but he has a consistent presence in Sesame Street books to this day.

Well, that's all the material I have for class today. I hope you learned something. No scat, cats! Don't make me bring in the monsters to scare you away.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com 

Weekly Muppeteer Wednesdays: Joey Mazzarino

Today's post was written by Tom Stroud.

JOEY MAZZARINO
Born...
1968

Notable Muppets...
Murray Monster, Stinky the Stinkweed, Horatio the Elephant, Papa Bear, Blögg, Two Headed Monster (2003-), Bug, Goggles, Colambo

WHO IS JOEY MAZZARINO?
Joey Mazzarino set out to be a performer. When he was in college, Camille Bonora, a Sesame Street puppeteer, came into his class to teach improv. Joey, who was working at a preschool, recognized one of her characters, Meryl Sheep, and was impressed by her skills and job. She was impressed by his knowledge of the show, and said he could visit the set and meet Jim Henson. A year and a half later, Camille made good on that promise. Joey went down to the Sesame set, where he met Jim Henson, Richard Hunt, and the other puppeteers. Joey picked up a puppet, tried it out, and fell in love right on the spot. When he went home, he borrowed felt from the costume shop and made his first puppet. He practiced nonstop, and soon sent an audition tape to Sesame Street. Joey was soon invited to a workshop, which led to his job as a puppeteer on the show.

A few years after he joined the show, Joey came up with an idea for a sketch starring a black lamb puppet, "Colambo." The lamb was the star and title character of the sketch, and this sketch led to a writing job on the show. Joey has become a major part of the show in recent years, performing the hilarious characters  Horatio the Elephant, Papa Bear, Stinky the Stinkweed, and his most major character, Murray Monster. Joey is now the head writer for Sesame Street, writing for the show and for specials such as Elmo's Christmas Countdown and Elmopalooza.

Joey's work is not limited to Sesame Street, however. He has also written for Bear in the Big Blue House and the original script for Muppets From Space, quitting after director Tim Hill made huge changes to the script, changing the ending drastically. Joey's most famous role with the Muppets was as young Kermit's friend Goggles in the direct-to-video movie Kermit's Swamp Years.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com

Weekly Muppet Monster Wednesdays: Murray Monster

MURRAY MONSTER

Performed by...
Joey Mazarrino

First appearance...
Sesame Street Season 36 (2005)

Most recent appearance...
Sesame Street Season 42 (2011)

Best known role...
"Word on the Street" presenter, haver of little lamb Ovejita, show host 

Well-known quote...
"Hi! I'm Murray! And I wanna know... What's the word on the Street?"

WHO IS MURRAY MONSTER?
Murray is a large, fuzzy, red, excitable young monster who has risen to fame on Sesame Street in recent years. While his description may sound eerily similar to Elmo's, he's really quite different. Murray's main gig on the show recently has been going out into "the real world" and finding people who can tell him what the Word on the Street (aka, the Word of the Day) means.

Murray's first appearance was in Season 36, where he began appearing, with little fanfare, asking kids questions. Usually, since the curriculum called for it, Murray would spend these talk-spots asking kids about exercise or other healthy life habits. It's not widely known that during this time, Murray was just another unnamed monster performed by Joey Mazarrino. In fact, around the set they referred to him as "FilFil" because Murray's design was so similar to a character with the name FilFil on the Egyptian co-production Alam Simsim.

It only took two more years for Murray to gain his name and gain a specific role on the show in Season 38, when he began introducing every episode with his "What's the Word on the Street?" segment. With Season 39, Murray acquired his own segment within the show with "Murray Has a Little Lamb" where he and his pet lamb, Ovejita, visit different types of schools and learn something new every day.

Murray has not, and does not, appear in many Street Stories in the show. One of the few and most prominent examples of Murray's involvement in a Street Story was in Season 39's "The Golden Triangle of Destiny" episode. In the story, Murray assists Texas Telly in his quest to find said Triangle of Destiny. He spends his time in the laundromat with Leela as Telly takes on his journey.

Murray's star rose to astronomical heights in Season 40 when he became the sort of host of the new block format of the show, introducing segments throughout the show and the Letter and Number of the Day. In these brief segments, Murray exists in the real world interacting with children and adults alike to understand letters and numbers, learn new things, and introduce segments such as Super Grover 2.0, Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures, Abby's Flying Fairy School, and Elmo's World. Murray even announces the letter and number sponsors at the end of each episode, making him the first and last Muppet to be seen on the show every day.

Currently, Murray is hosting another new segment that takes place throughout the show called "Murray's Science Experiments," where he and Ovejita travel around New York City to conduct experiments with various children and teachers to explore ideas in the S.T.E.M. curriculum. This again gives Murray a starring role on the show, appearing almost as much as Elmo throughout every episode.

MURRAY MONSTER AND JOEY MAZZARINO
Murray is veteran Muppeteer Joey Mazarrino's first main character on Sesame Street. Joey and Murray make appearances together often and Murray really gets to show off his funny side in unscripted appearances. Joey has also stated that he likes to keep Murray off the Street and Street Stories, much like Fraggle Rock's Uncle Traveling Matt was rarely seen in the main setting.

WHY DOES SESAME STREET NEED MURRAY MONSTER?
Murray is one of the newest characters on Sesame Street, and as such he has an incredibly hard time of endearing himself to fans of the show who love such characters as Grover, Bert, Ernie, and Oscar. However, I firmly believe that Murray's fun-loving attitude and interactions with Ovejita are enough to establish him as a great character. He is able to teach while having fun himself, and helping the kids to have fun as well. And really, isn't that what Sesame Street is all about? Murray's sense of educational value while not sacrificing entertainment value is what makes him a fun character to watch and one who is certainly earning his place amongst Sesame Street's finest.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com