Eric Jacobson
From Muppet Wiki
Eric Jacobson started working with The Jim Henson Company in 1994 as a puppeteer on Sesame Street, and rose through the ranks of the puppeteers. In order to keep the characters of Frank Oz - who was focusing more on directing and other pursuits - alive and visible, Jacobson was selected due to his strong puppeteer talent and extremely similar vocal range. Jacobson has worked on projects staring the classic Muppet Show characters, the Sesame Street family of characters and on Bear in the Big Blue House.
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Sesame Street
Jacobson started performing on Sesame Street in 1994. In 1997, Eric began performing Bert on a semi-regular basis; and in 2002 he added Grover to his list as well, starting with clips for Play With Me Sesame. Today, Eric is the principal performer of these two Sesame stars – however Frank Oz occasionally comes in to record new material with them.
Jacobson has also taken on Guy Smiley in recent years, performing the character in videos for Sesame Street Presents: The Body and Ready to Learn commercials. He has also performed minor characters on the show, such as Mr. Tiger and Hammy the Dwarf.
The Muppets
Eric is currently the principal performer of Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, Animal and Sam the Eagle – Frank Oz has been inactive as their performer since 2000.
At 2001's Muppetfest fan convention Jacobson made his Muppet debut secretly performing Miss Piggy welcoming the fans "live via satellite". Jacobson made his first major Muppet production debut performing Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, and Animal for 2002's It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie – although he had been training and preparing to be the one to continue the characters for over 2 years. [citation needed] He took over the role of Sam the Eagle in 2005 for The Muppets' Wizard of Oz.
Other Works
Jacobson performed Harry the Duck and other characters on Bear In The Big Blue House.
Outside of Henson, Jacobson has worked on The Puzzle Place, Jack's Big Music Show, and Disney's The Book of Pooh (plus a TV show called Once Upon a Tree, of which he did Billy Bob the Bobcat). He also has performed on stage performing live puppet theater in New York City with The Puppet Company, The Cosmic Bicycle Theater, and The Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater in Central Park.
Jacobson has been honored for his work on several occasions and holds the distinction of being the first puppeteer to work on multiple film and television productions cited for excellence by UNIMA in the same year.[1]
Puppeteer Credits
- Muppet Characters: Fozzie Bear (2002-present), Miss Piggy (2002-present), Animal (2002-present), Sam the Eagle (2005-present)
- Sesame Street: Bert (1997-present), Grover (2002-present), Cookie Monster (occasionally), Guy Smiley (outside appearances), one of the Three Little Pigs, Mr. Tiger, Hammy the Dwarf
- Bear in the Big Blue House: Harry the Duck
