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[[Image:Muppetfest.jpg|right]] |
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+ | '''MuppetFest''' was a two-day convention for Muppet fans held on December 8th and 9th, [[2001]], in Santa Monica, [[California]]. The convention included two days of panels and presentations, and a live show -- ''[[The Muppet Show Live]]'' -- at the end of the second day. |
| + | The guests included [[Martin Baker]], [[Bill Barretta]], [[David Barrington-Holt]], [[Claudia Black]], [[Kevin Clash]], [[Dave Goelz]], [[Jane Gootnick]], [[David Gumpel]], [[Brian Henson]], [[Jane Henson]], [[Lisa Henson]], [[John Kennedy]], [[Jim Lewis]], [[Jerry Nelson]], [[Ritamarie Peruggi]], [[Mike Polis]], [[Karen Prell]], [[Charles Rivkin]], [[Craig Shemin]], [[Kirk Thatcher]], [[Amy Van Gilder]], [[Steve Whitmire]], and [[Paul Williams]]. [[Greg Berg]] of ''[[Muppet Babies]]'' could also be seen at some exhibits as well. |
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| − | What follows on this page is a description of the convention from "Muppetfest Memories", a self-published fanzine by [[Danny|Danny Horn]], which was sold through the [[Tough Pigs]] website. The zine began with a disclaimer: "This zine is a collection of my memories and notes from the 2001 Muppetfest convention. Like all memories, some of the contents may have shifted during transit. If you notice that I've left things out, or misheard quotes, then please feel free to make your own darn zine." |
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| + | Muppet characters who appeared included [[Bean Bunny]], [[Dr. Bunsen Honeydew|Bunsen Honeydew]], [[Clifford]], [[Floyd Pepper]], [[Gonzo]], [[Johnny Fiama]], [[Kermit the Frog]], [[Young Kermit]], [[Miss Piggy]] (on tape), [[Pepe the King Prawn]], [[Phil van Neuter]], [[Rizzo the Rat]], and [[Sal Minella]]. From outside ''[[The Muppet Show]]'' family of characters, [[Bear]], [[Elmo]] and [[Mr. Tinkles]] appeared. Additional characters were featured in ''[[The Muppet Show Live]]'' and/or were on display. |
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| − | ==Day One: Introduction== |
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| + | <gallery bordercolor=transparent> |
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| − | '''Saturday's host: [[Kirk Thatcher]]''', Muppet writer who co-wrote ''[[Muppet Treasure Island]]'' and ''[[Muppets Tonight]]''. |
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| + | Muppetfest222.jpg |
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| + | muppetfest schedule 1.jpg |
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| − | '''Kirk''' enters holding the Emmy he won for ''Muppets Tonight''. He says that he carries the Emmy around "to meet hot chicks." |
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| + | muppetfest schedule 2.jpg |
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| + | muppetfest pin.jpg|''The Muppet Show'': 25 Years pin |
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| − | He's going to introduce the Muppet performers today. These people have won a lot of awards, but they're very shy about them. "They won't tell you how great they are, so that's my job. I'm the gusher. I'm the company big mouth." |
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| + | </gallery> |
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| − | Kirk takes a quick poll, asking the audience to raise their hands if they've come from far away. He ends up with everyone's hand in the air, and he instructs us to keep our hands up. He mostly goes to ''Star Trek'' conventions, and Muppet fans need something as cool as "Live Long and Prosper". He's going to teach us the Muppet Salute. |
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| − | The Muppet Salute goes like this: If you meet a fellow Muppet fan, you raise your hand like it's a puppet, and you say, "Hi ho!" Then, if you're greeted by a female fan, her response is: "Kissy kissy!" If you're greeted by a male Muppet fan, his response is: "Wocka wocka!" |
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| − | Kirk practices the Muppet Salute with us a couple of times, and doesn't let us put our hands down. "The reason I asked you to keep your hands up is to show you what these Muppet performers go through ''every day of their lives!''" |
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| − | Next, Kirk introduces a special message from a big star. "It's a big deal getting her to do anything these days... I'm talking, of course, about [[Hillary Clinton]]." The video screen comes down -- but there's technical problems, and they can't figure out how to run the tape of [[Miss Piggy|Miss Piggy's]] message. "Isn't that very ''Muppet Show''!" |
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| − | Kirk vamps for a while. "So, you're all wondering... What's it like to win an Emmy?" To fill the time while the techs figure out what's wrong, Kirk asks the audience trivia questions. What's the Muppets' name in Germany? Nobody knows. "''Das Muppets'', guys, of course. Come on!" |
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| − | The video screen lights up -- with live Muppets, backstage! '''[[Rizzo]], [[Gonzo]], [[Clifford]], [[Floyd Pepper]]''' and '''[[Pepe]]''' all appear on the screen, and they're all yelling at Kirk. |
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| − | :''Clifford'': "Kirk, why are you messing up?" |
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| − | :''Pepe'': "Kirk, please -- make this show go all right, okay? This is very bad, okay." |
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| − | Kirk announces the new show: Who Wants to Marry a Muppet Guy? |
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| − | :''Gonzo'': "I'm single!" |
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| − | :''Rizzo'': "Anybody out there cute and small?" |
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| − | :''Kirk'': "I think they're underage." |
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| − | :''Gonzo'': "Of course they're underage, if they're ten inches tall!" |
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| − | Floyd and Clifford exit to go to the bathroom, followed by Rizzo. Gonzo stays behind: "I'm not going to the bathroom... Oh. Yes, I am." The Muppets all leave. |
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| − | Finally, they play the recorded message from '''[[Miss Piggy]]''', who informs us, "It is with great regret that I cannot be with you at Muppetfest, but celebritude brings so many demands... But it is moi's pleasure, and contractual obligation, to bring to you the Chairman and CEO of [[the Jim Henson Company]] -- I have no idea what he does -- [[Brian Henson]]!" |
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| − | '''Brian Henson''' enters and welcomes us to Muppetfest. He says that [[Jim Henson]] always had a vision -- and then he would involve a lot of other people, and then the vision would come out completely different. "In the Muppets, everyone tries to upstage everyone else -- and whoever wins, gets a bigger role next week. So the winners, you'll meet. And the losers... You can book them for your next birthday party. I know, that's really mean." |
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| − | Brian says that this weekend, we'll get to meet all the real people behind the Muppets. Then the Muppets appear on the video screen again... |
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| − | :''Rizzo'': "People? No people! We're supposed to talk about ''Muppets!''" |
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| − | :''Pepe'': "Brian... por favor, no peoples. What about us?" |
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| − | :''Rizzo'': "We're walking! The door's right there... I'm walking!" |
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| − | Brian promises the Muppets that they'll get their chance this weekend too. |
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| − | ==The History of ''The Muppet Show''== |
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| − | '''Brian''' introduces the ''Muppet Show'' panel: |
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| − | '''[[Dave Goelz]]''' is one of the core Muppet performers, best known for performing Gonzo, [[Bunsen Honeydew]] and [[Boober Fraggle]]. |
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| − | '''[[Steve Whitmire]]''' is another core Muppet performers, who has performed [[Kermit the Frog]] since 1990. He also performs Rizzo the Rat and [[Wembley Fraggle]]. |
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| − | '''[[Jerry Nelson]]''' has been a core Muppet performer since [[1965]]. He performs Floyd Pepper, [[Robin the Frog]] and [[Gobo Fraggle]]. |
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| − | '''[[Amy van Gilder]]''' was the head of the [[Muppet Workshop]] during ''[[The Muppet Show]]''. |
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| − | '''[[Paul Williams]]''' was the songwriter who wrote the music for ''[[Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas]]'', ''[[The Muppet Movie]]'', and ''[[The Muppet Christmas Carol]]''. He was also a guest on ''The Muppet Show''. |
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| − | '''[[Martin Baker]]''' was the Floor Manager on ''The Muppet Show'', and has since become one of Henson's main producers. Brian says that Martin is particularly important to him: "One of the few reasons why the company continued after my father's death was because of this man, who brought us all together." Martin has produced everything that Brian has ever directed. "If anybody holds the spirit of the Muppets and my father in his heart, he's the guy." |
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| − | '''Brian''' moderates the panel. "Of course, during ''The Muppet Show'', I was in school, so I don't know anything." He gives a brief history of the Muppets from ''Sesame Street'' to ''The Muppet Show''. |
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| − | '''Amy''' talks about a typical week working on ''The Muppet Show''. It was remarkable that during the week of production, everybody would mingle and play in the Workshop. "We were respected as creative artists, and it was incredible to have that respect. I work for [[Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney]] now..." The name "Walt Disney" gets a murmur of boos from the audience. Amy grimaces: "It's... very different. It's not as spontaneous. We don't have writers just coming in." She misses working on ''The Muppet Show''. "I'm so sad that it's over... and it's been over for twenty years!" |
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| − | '''Paul''': "The very best part of my career has involved the Muppets." On the set of ''The Muppet Show'', "there was an ability to ''play'', and a respect for hard work." When you're standing with Steve and Kermit, and Dave and Gonzo... "there are five of you in the conversation! The thing about the Muppets is that nothing is sacred, and no one is safe... To this day, the most important work I've done has been with the Muppets, and it's been a real honor." |
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| − | '''Martin''' describes meeting Jim Henson in the late 60s. Martin was working on ''The Tom Jones Show'' in England, and the Muppets were booked on the show. Martin had never heard of the Muppets before. Jim and [[Frank Oz]] flew to London together, and Martin was responsible for booking the limo to take them to the studio. Jim said he didn't want a limo -- just send him a train schedule, and they'll take the train. Martin was impressed by Jim, and they really connected when they worked together. Martin later worked with Jim on a [[Herb Alpert]] special, and on the ''[[Julie on Sesame Street]]'' special. Jim and Martin became close, and Martin became a part of the core production staff on ''The Muppet Show''. |
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| − | '''Jerry''' describes the excitement of joining the Muppets in the 60s, when the company was only five people. He talks about [[Richard Hunt]]: "Richard was kind of the bad boy on the team... and so all us kids ''loved'' him." Some glass breaks offstage. Jerry says, "He's here in spirit! That would be Richard." |
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| − | '''Dave''': "I hadn't thought about what I was going to say, but I'm just gonna go through everything that's happened to me since [[1973]]." He describes watching ''Sesame Street'' when it premiered -- being fascinated by [[Ernie and Bert]], and wanting to meet the Muppeteers. "I wanted to know who they were, and I thought they would just be hippies. It turned out that they were really hard-working people." Jim invited Dave to come and visit the Muppets in 1973, and Dave showed up when they were working on a program. Dave didn't know what he was supposed to do. "[[Jane Henson|Jane]] told me, 'I'm sure Jim will find something for you to do,'... and that was twenty-eight and a half years ago." |
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| − | '''Steve''' describes his job interview with the Muppets. He was a puppeteer working on a local kid's show in DC, and he managed to get an interview with Henson. He met Jim, Jane and some of the other Muppet staff in an airport, and he took out his puppet and performed for a while. He wasn't doing that well, but there were some kids sitting in the cafeteria at the airport, and Steve interacted with the kids. He says that the reason he got hired was because of those kids in the airport. |
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| − | The panel takes questions from the audience. |
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| − | '''Jerry''' is asked how he comes up with so many voices. He says that he has to ''see'' a puppet to really develop a character. It doesn't work if he only gets a script and a song. Sometimes, he has to record a song before he gets to see the puppet, "but that's very dangerous." |
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| − | '''Paul''' is asked if he got to keep the puppet version of himself that appeared on ''The Muppet Show''. Paul says that he has it: "Oddly, it ages and I don't." For a while, the puppet was displayed on his piano, but the sun faded it. |
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| − | '''Dave''': "I think there's a warranty!" |
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| − | '''Steve''' is asked his favorite character. He says it's Rizzo, who's much more sarcastic than the others, and therefore more fun. |
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| − | '''Brian''': "Rizzo is the Dark Steve." |
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| − | The panel ends; they get a standing ovation. |
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| − | ''[More Muppetfest Memories to be added soon...]'' |
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| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| + | ==See also== |
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| + | *[[MuppetFest Memories: Day One|MuppetFest Memories]] |
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| + | *[[The Muppet Show Live]] |
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| ⚫ | |||
| + | * [http://www.muppetcentral.com/articles/muppetfest/index.shtml MuppetFest coverage on MuppetCentral.com] - Articles, transcripts, and photos gallery |
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| ⚫ | |||
| + | * [http://www.creationent.com/past_events/muppetfest/muppetfest.htm Creation Entertainment's MuppetFest Pictures] - Photo gallery |
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[[Category:Muppet Fandom]] |
[[Category:Muppet Fandom]] |
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+ | [[Category:Live Appearances]] |
| + | [[Category:Exhibits]] |
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| + | [[Category:Events]] |
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Revision as of 14:11, 17 March 2014
MuppetFest was a two-day convention for Muppet fans held on December 8th and 9th, 2001, in Santa Monica, California. The convention included two days of panels and presentations, and a live show -- The Muppet Show Live -- at the end of the second day.
The guests included Martin Baker, Bill Barretta, David Barrington-Holt, Claudia Black, Kevin Clash, Dave Goelz, Jane Gootnick, David Gumpel, Brian Henson, Jane Henson, Lisa Henson, John Kennedy, Jim Lewis, Jerry Nelson, Ritamarie Peruggi, Mike Polis, Karen Prell, Charles Rivkin, Craig Shemin, Kirk Thatcher, Amy Van Gilder, Steve Whitmire, and Paul Williams. Greg Berg of Muppet Babies could also be seen at some exhibits as well.
Muppet characters who appeared included Bean Bunny, Bunsen Honeydew, Clifford, Floyd Pepper, Gonzo, Johnny Fiama, Kermit the Frog, Young Kermit, Miss Piggy (on tape), Pepe the King Prawn, Phil van Neuter, Rizzo the Rat, and Sal Minella. From outside The Muppet Show family of characters, Bear, Elmo and Mr. Tinkles appeared. Additional characters were featured in The Muppet Show Live and/or were on display.
The Muppet Show: 25 Years pin
See also
External links
- MuppetFest coverage on MuppetCentral.com - Articles, transcripts, and photos gallery
- MuppetFest coverage on ToughPigs.com - "My Week with MuppetFest"
- Creation Entertainment's MuppetFest Pictures - Photo gallery