News Update: February 7, 2013

NEWS UPDATE: February 7, 2013

The Muppets... Again is currently filming over in London and last week Disney released some awesome publicity stills for the upcoming film. Well, our friends at StitchKingdom.com have posted all of the released images in hi-resolution, including the picture below, which we missed last week. Enjoy!

Master Muppet songwriter Paul Williams (The Muppet Movie, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Emmett Otter's Jug-Band Christmas) will be a guest on CBS's The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. This is exciting for many reasons: One, because Craig Ferguson is my personal favorite late night talk show host. Two, because Craig is a Muppet fan and will most likely ask Paul about working with Kermit and friends. Third, Paul is awesome and I'm sure he'll be great on the show. So set your DVRs (or your VCRs, if you're still there, I guess) or tune in tonight to see Paul Williams on the show! If you miss it, be on the lookout for clips from the appearance here on The Muppet Mindset!

The folks who brought us a release of A Special Sesame Street Christmas on DVD last year are releasing the 1978 special Julie Andrews: One Step Into Spring on DVD on April 23rd. Why should this matter to Muppet fans? Because the Muppets play a big part in this special. Kermit, Miss Piggy, Rowlf, and a whole bunch of other Muppets appear to sing and play along with Julie Andrews. I've never seen the special, so I don't know if it's worth buying just for the Muppet parts. In any case, the DVD is available for pre-order on Amazon now.

On the final page of their "Farewell: Remember the Friends We Lost in 2012" issue, LIFE Magazine released a gorgeous tribute to Muppeteer Jerry Nelson, who passed away in August. The tribute was illustrated by Caroll Spinney with some incredible words written by the LIFE people. You can see our exclusive scan of the page below. Make sure you click on the picture to make it bigger to read the entire beautiful tribute.

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

Celebrities I'd Like to See Work With the Muppets

A trademark of many Muppet productions is their uncanny ability to attract some of today's biggest stars to appear alongside Kermit, Fozzie, and the gang. Why, The Muppets alone featured some of the most popular names in comedy today (Neil Patrick Harris, Jim Parsons, Donald Glover). The Muppets have worked with so many people in their productions that almost every time I watch a television show or movie I find my mind wandering and thinking about how perfect some individuals would be with the Muppets. That is what inspired this post and my challenge for you, Muppet fans: List five celebrities you would like to see work with the Muppets and briefly explain why. Email the answers to muppetmindset@gmail.com by Thursday, June 28th, and I'll collect the answers and post them here next week! Here are my answers below (and I listed six... because I can):

KRISTEN BELL - Besides being drop dead gorgeous, Kristen Bell is an extremely funny and willing actress. See her in Forgetting Sarah Marshall if you don't believe me. Kristen Bell has some major comedy chops that would be a fantastic match for the Muppets. I can see her now flirting with Kermit, duking it out with Miss Piggy, or throwing Pepe off his game. And again... drop dead gorgeous.

JON HAMM - You may not believe it, but the Mad Men star is actually incredibly adept at making funny things. Catch him in Bridesmaids for him being a hilarious jerk. Yes, he did kiss Miss Piggy at the BAFTAs (see right), but he has never worked with the Muppets on any of their productions. He would be so great partnering with Fozzie for some jokes or dodging Rizzo and Pepe's sleazy requests for advertising work from Don Draper.

AMY POEHLER - The SNL alum and Parks and Recreation star appeared on Sesame Street in Season 41, but how perfect would she be with the Muppets? I'd love to see her try (and fail) acts with everyone... but seeing Lew Zealand hurl boomerang fish at her would be amazing. Plus, I'm sure Statler and Waldorf would get a kick out of her character's name being Leslie Knope.

JOEL McHALE - I'm completely biased here because Community is by and large my favorite show on television... but that doesn't make Joel McHale any less awesome. When Statler and Waldorf appeared on the McHale-hosted The Soup earlier this year they cracked up the audience with their banter with Joel. Perhaps Joel could share handsome tips with Bobo the Bear or play Batman in a sketch with Robin the Frog as Robin. (Can you tell I think about this a lot?)

STEVE CARELL - Another one of my favorite actors, Michael Scott himself, Steve Carell. He is one of the most naturally funny individuals on the scene today and he would make any encounter with a Muppet undoubtedly hilarious. Picture him being a diva and making Scooter work for him or laughing throughout an entire stand-up routine with Fozzie.

CRAIG FERGUSON - My personal favorite late-night funnyman, host of The Late Late Show Craig Ferguson always makes me laugh. He has a great history of Muppets on his show (Kermit and Pepe have both stopped by) and appeared on Sesame Street. He is also a big lover of puppets... see why Craig would be perfect with the Muppets? I'd love to see him in a war of words with the Swedish Chef or gargling old Scottish ballads with Angus McGonagle. (Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?)

Submit your Muppet celebri-dreams to muppetmindset@gmail.com







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

News Update: April 8, 2011

NEWS UPDATE: April 8, 2011

Two of The Muppet Mindset's favorite celebrities, Craig Ferguson (of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson) and Joel McHale (of Community and The Soup), are joining the ranks of Sesame Street Season 42 guest stars. On Wednesday, Ferguson tweeted saying, "Filming a segment for @sesamestreet with the artist that is Elmo today. Very honored. #finallymadeitinshowbusiness" and later posted a picture of himself with three Sesame chickens (seen at right). And earlier this morning, McHale tweeted, "Shot a bit for @sesamestreet yesterday. It's a dream come true to be on that show although I'm always a little hesitant about nude scenes." I don't know about you, but I'm thrilled that these two hilarious guys are getting to work on Sesame Street! Can't wait for Season 42 now... (As if I couldn't before.)

On Tuesday, The Insider online posted a video with everyone's favorite amphibian, Michigan J. Frog Kermit the Frog from 1989. In the video, Kermit talks Sesame Street's 20th anniversary (which, at the time, was timely). It's a fun little video and a great showcase of both Jim and Kermit's interviewing abilities. Gosh, I love that frog!

Our good friends at ToughPigs (all good friends except Hennes) have posted two brand new (albeit very old) videos from their adventures at the 2010 New York City Comic Con. The videos may be old, but they feature two good friends of The Muppet Mindset, Jesse Blaze Snider (writer, Muppet Snow White) and James Silvani (artist, Muppet King Arthur, Darkwing Duck). Snider proves himself as a huge Muppet geek (he talks about Beard from The Jim Henson Hour!)--and even mentions The Muppet Mindset!--and Silvani is always a treat (hey, he brought us Angus McGonagle, after all) so be sure to check out the videos!

Finally, in our continuing coverage of the upcoming Muppets Vinylmation Series 2, the official Disney Vinylmation website has posted 360 degree turns of eleven of the 3" figures (all but the chaser figure, Waldo). Still curious about what the Waldo figure looks like? Well, curio no longer! (Curio? Sure.) Look to the right where you'll see the Waldo figure, with removable hat! I love the Waldo figure... most of his body is clear, which is really, really cool. But, if you know anything about Vinylmation, you know that the chaser is near-impossible to find... so if you manage to pull a Waldo out of one of those boxes, hang on to it because I might want to steal it.

The Muppets Vinylmation Series 2 will be released at Disney Parks and online at DisneyStore.com on April 15th!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

New Muppet Movie Starts Filming!!

Greetings, Muppet fans! Have you heard the news? It's huge! It's incredible! It's... it's... well, it's about time!

The new Muppet movie written by Jason Segel and Nick Stoller, directed by James Bobin, starring Jason Segel, Amy Adams, and probably quite a few other famous people... The New Muppet Movie Has Officially Started Filming!!!

Confirmed by Jason Segel on Friday when he appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, the new, still untitled Muppet movie has finally begun production! To see Jason's comment for yourself, check out the video below...



Jason's Muppet comments start around 9 minutes 50 seconds--and, quite frankly, it's awesome. The audience cheers, Craig wonders why he isn't in the movie, and I wonder the same thing. It's a shame that Craig apparently won't be appearing in the movie... but maybe he'll just show up on set and they'll have to let him in.

But at the end of the day... The new Muppet movie has officially started filming!! It's finally happening! Four years after the initial announcement and the biggest Muppet project in 12 years has finally gotten underway. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go run and dance or something.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier