The JHLC

[SOTTH]

I've also been following this thread for awhile and surprised it hasn't caught on more. But I assume it has to do with Jim being the genesis of this whole Muppet universe; he's so much a part of everything Muppet-related, it's hard to separate him out from everything else. In the way people are fans of specific football teams, but nobody excitedly waves a banner that just says "Football!" (Weird analogy... forgive me.)

But I am definitely 100% a loud-and-proud Jim Henson fanatic. As I get older and try to dig a little deeper into my life, Jim is one of the inspirations whose presence has been fairly constant.

Just this week, I watched "The Cube" for the millionth time and spent hours contemplating Jim's messages within that film: messages of love and defining truth and reality. Along the way, I had to wade through Nietzsche, Jean Baudrillard, "The Matrix"... among others. Yes, Jim was entertaining and fun, but there was a REAL depth there. And the more I dig, the further I find I can go.

(I also did a podcast two weeks ago discussing the difference between "childlike" and "childish" - as mentioned by Richard Hunt at Jim's memorial service - and how Jim is a near-perfect example of how to properly handle that distinction.)

So, I;m on board with you, Dwayne! JHLC!

 

[dwmckim]

Yeah, i think since in many ways, "Muppet" and "Jim Henson" are so synonymous, it's hard to really seperate the two in discussions since every other thread indirectly pays homage and appreciation to Jim and also his influence spread itself to everyone else he worked with so it gets hard to really narrow it down.

By contrast, someone like Richard was so unique and had his own distinctive style that it stands out more. One watches a Richard performance and they think "man, i love Richard" where Jim performances lend themselves more to "man, i love The Muppets"

I'd definately wear the hats of being both Richard Hunt and Jim Henson Lovers. But while i think Jim was a marvelous performer in many ways (and Jim-as-performer often gets overshadowed by everything else he's done with all those various hats) when it comes right down to it, when it comes to the Muppeteers, he's not in my personal Top Three. Nothing against Jim himself - he just found so many super-talented people that made him and the Muppets better. Richard is my all-time favorite and i can talk about him more passionately in the singular sense than i can Jim. When you throw out the name "Richard Hunt" - the first things that pop in my head are "my favorite Muppeteer - every line of his is funny - one of the Muppets' best singers" where when you throw out the name "Jim Henson" - the first things that pop in my head are "Muppets - the originator - legend - visionary".

 

[dwayne1115]

Yeah, i think since in many ways, "Muppet" and "Jim Henson" are so synonymous, it's hard to really seperate the two in discussions since every other thread indirectly pays homage and appreciation to Jim and also his influence spread itself to everyone else he worked with so it gets hard to really narrow it down.

By contrast, someone like Richard was so unique and had his own distinctive style that it stands out more. One watches a Richard performance and they think "man, i love Richard" where Jim performances lend themselves more to "man, i love The Muppets"

I'd definately wear the hats of being both Richard Hunt and Jim Henson Lovers. But while i think Jim was a marvelous performer in many ways (and Jim-as-performer often gets overshadowed by everything else he's done with all those various hats) when it comes right down to it, when it comes to the Muppeteers, he's not in my personal Top Three. Nothing against Jim himself - he just found so many super-talented people that made him and the Muppets better. Richard is my all-time favorite and i can talk about him more passionately in the singular sense than i can Jim. When you throw out the name "Richard Hunt" - the first things that pop in my head are "my favorite Muppeteer - every line of his is funny - one of the Muppets' best singers" where when you throw out the name "Jim Henson" - the first things that pop in my head are "Muppets - the originator - legend - visionary".

That is a very interesting out look on things DW, and I really never thought about that before. I have to dissagree with you on my top three favorits would have to be Jim at the top with Frank, and Steve second and third.
Jim just like all of the great Muppeters had so much range of emotion that it is hard for me to pick what Muppet I love him doing. Unlike with Frank, or Richard. Like I like Richard's Beaker, and not his Janice, or with Frank I love his Piggy but Sam don't set well with me, but I still love all the Muppets and there respected prefromers.

 

[SOTTH]

...while i think Jim was a marvelous performer in many ways (and Jim-as-performer often gets overshadowed by everything else he's done with all those various hats)...

D.W. brings up a great topic. Not enough is said about Jim as a performer. So, I ask: what Jim Henson performances are your favorites?

Lately, I've been really enjoying watching Jim's self-important dumb-guy characters like Link Hogthrob. I just tonight finished watching the Muppet sketches from season 1 of "Saturday Night Live", and King Ploobis is a great example of that. And since Jim only wrote one of the sketches (not coincidentally, my favorite sketch), it really highlighted "Jim as a performer" on that show. Ploobis was hilarious.

There was something very special when Jim got to play the self-important dumb guy. I don't quite have my finger on why that speaks to me so much, but it does. Brian Henson once told the story that the "self-important dumb guy" voice Jim used for Link Hogthrob was the same voice he would break into whenever he had to do something "important", like carving the Thanksgiving turkey.

 

[dwmckim]

Hard to narrow down his best performances as there's an embarassment of riches - but my personal favorites that immediately come to mind include:

- "2, 3, 4 Art Gallery" from Sesame Street: the sketch where Biff assists Salavdor Dada (Jim) at the art gallery. For a one-shot character, that was one of Jim's funniest.

- Leo in the Muppet Meeting Films. The Big Plan especially is a marvelous masterful Jim performance.

- Mahna Mahna in Wild String Quartet from the Ed Sullivan Show

- News Flash: Miss Muffet from Sesame. I especially love this one because Jim, Frank, and Jerry play off each other so beautifully and they each make the other people's performances better.

 

[Canadian Fan]

I've been watching old clips on YouTube of Sesame Street and Jim really had 3 types of voices that he used with his characters that I could pick out.

There's the one that's close to Jim's own speaking voice that he used for Kermit, Ernie, and various anything muppets.

There's also the gruff voice that he used for Guy Smiley, Waldorf, Rowlf, and the Newsman.

And then there's the deep voice he used for Link Hogthrob and Captain Vegetable.

Amazing talent as a puppeteer!

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

Hey, maybe the JHLC here can help me out.

I need some ideas for a speech I am doing on the impact Jim Henson has had on media as a whole. I'm really at a loss on where to begin ultimately, anybody have any ideas or opinions for me?

 

[CensoredAlso]

Hey, maybe the JHLC here can help me out.

I need some ideas for a speech I am doing on the impact Jim Henson has had on media as a whole. I'm really at a loss on where to begin ultimately, anybody have any ideas or opinions for me?

Have you done any research yet, like at the library or online?

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

Have you done any research yet, like at the library or online?

Oh, certainly, I have but I wanted some small input from other fans thrown in as well. Nothing too major but you know what I mean.

 

[dwmckim]

If your speech is about how Jim affected media as a whole, one thing i'd mention is how back in the days of the 10 second commercial where it was hard to do much more than a very factual hard sell, Jim found a way to inject humor into the format with the Wilkins Coffee ads (which he later recreated for other products in various local markets).