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Tau Bennett with Herry Monster, Telly Monster and the Count in 2016.
Bennett with Congo Bird.
Bennett with Kevin Clash and Elmo at the 2011 Sundance premiere of Being Elmo.
Tau Bennett (b. 1999) is a child puppeteer and protégé of Kevin Clash. Bennett puppeteered Baby Bear on the Sesame Street float in the 2011 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He makes a cameo in a season 43 episode, holding Clash's dog Puna.
Bennett's initial meeting of Clash was featured in the documentary Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey; the invitation came from Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, who met Bennett in Atlanta, and was reminded of Clash.
In early July 2012, Bennett appeared on the Nickelodeon game show, Figure it Out.
Bennett has a roster of 22 characters, including Congo Bird from the Jungle of Smartypansous, Question Heir, Juice the Hippie and Herbert the Hobo. He also has videos he puts up of his puppets under the username The Rumble Ensemble!
At the 2016 Vulture Festival, Bennett puppeteered J. G. in an onstage puppet workshop and demonstration alongside Steve Whitmire (as Kermit the Frog), Eric Jacobson (as Animal), Peter Linz (as a dog) and other audience members (as Whatnots). The group lipsynched to Chumbawamba's "Tubthumping".
In October 2016, Bennett participated in a puppeteer workshop taught by Matt Vogel, Marty Robinson and Peter Linz in New York City for Sesame Workshop. His first official day as a Muppeteer was the 2016 Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade where he puppeteered Bert. He was also at Sesame Workshop in 2017, during the broadcast of episode 4 of Below the Frame, bringing one of his cartoons to show Caroll and Debi Spinney.
External links
- Lynn Davidson, "Young puppeteer heads to New York for 'Sesame Street' debut", The Augusta Chronicle, March 18, 2011.