What puppeteers go through.

[Ilikemuppets]

Wow! But something tells me that the people inside a full-Body Character would Provide Air Freshners afterwards to prevent the smell of Flatulence spreading. that's what I would've done.

Perhaps they have a small fan in there. Didn't somebody mention that Bid Bird has a fan belt inside him or somthing to that affect?

 

[ISNorden]

I bet Caroll Spinney and Matt Vogel both pray that fan doesn't malfunction when there are human actors nearby...

 

[jeffkjoe]

For the 1st one you mentioned.

I bet there was some kind of speciall effects with the videotape that made them possible to have 2 Grovers.

Uh.....no.

As the long ladder moves from left to right behind Kermit, you can see it pause in mid-air (taking a few bounces up and down), probably to give Frank enough time to race from one end of the ladder to the other to do the second Grover line.

 

[fuzzygobo]

other physical feats

Poor Jim also had to deal with the indignity in the skit with Bob and Kermit with the frog, as the frog pees on his head.

There was also a skit with Ernie throwing objects over a wall to hear what kind of sounds they made when they hit the ground.

Fiirst a rubber ball (BOING!) then a glass (CRASH!)

Then for the grand finale, trying to throw a watermelon (assuming there would be a big splat).

Now imagine two puppeteers with their arms in the air holding up Ernie, AND balancing a watermelon, THEN being able to throw the melon high enough to clear Ernie's head, and far enough to land on the other side of the wall. Add to that, throwing the melon skyward and NOT letting the puppeteer's arms get in the shot. We're talking superhuman strength and dexterity here!


Think YOU have a tough job?

 

[CBPuppets]

The Muppeteers must have try really hard to keep thier muppets within the frame of the moniter so they can see.

 

[Wiseman]

Grover on stilts from the Trinidad ep of Global Grover was kind of wierd I wonder what they're going to try out in the sequel to Dark Crystal or Labyrinth.

Heard inside the tail of Jabba the Hutt: Help, I'm trapped inside the tail of a 5 person puppet and the other 4 people won't get out of the way!

 

[SesameMike]

Regarding the sketch with 2 Grovers, one at either end of the "long ladder"

As the long ladder moves from left to right behind Kermit, you can see it pause in mid-air (taking a few bounces up and down), probably to give Frank enough time to race from one end of the ladder to the other to do the second Grover line.

I wonder if Frank Oz even did the first Grover. Notice that at the beginning of the ladder, not only is Grover silent, but he's staring ahead almost trance-like. So perhaps it was a different Muppeteer altogether, one who didn't want to make any un-Oz-like puppet moves to give the gag away.

If that's the case, the ladder's bouncing would have been just been an unsteadiness between Frank and the other Muppeteer. This could have been to negotiate any bars or walls on either end of the raised Muppet stage.

 

[Greedo]

Well, it really shows the love for the art form these people have; it's very admirable, when someone puts so much effort into making these characters to come alive and create a truly incredible performance. It prolly takes a whoooole lotta cooperation and versatility amongst all the puppeteers as well.

GOD I love puppetry.