My name is Jessica. I hail from a suburb of the city of San Diego in California. I've been a Muppet fan since the tender age of three. One of my first few memories are of Kermit the Frog in the Muppet News Flash where he interviews the baby bird that talks about her parents living in different trees, along with Ernie singing the Rubber Duckie song, as well as Bert and Ernie fishing with Ernie calling out, "Hhheeeeeerrrrre fishie fishie fishie!" and Ernie and Hoots the Owl singing
Put Down The Duckie. In fact, even at that age, when Steve Whitmire took over as Kermit, I could immediately tell that Kermit and Ernie didn't sound the same, even though I didn't know why. At night, I would watch Muppets Tonight, and two of my favorite characters from the show were, Pepe of course and Clifford. Though I liked Clifford more. (Sshh! No one tell Pepe!) I even remember seeing The Muppet Christmas Carol in theaters, my personal favorite rendition, as well as Muppet Treasure Island (I really got a kick out of Gonzo and Rizzo playing off each other as well as Tim Curry being ridiculously British as Long John Silver). I even loved Muppets From Space, and don't get me started on Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree (something I wish was still aired around Christmas)! And of course, I watched both the original Fraggle Rock and Fraggle Rock cartoon as a kid! I've been on a recent Muppet bender, re-watching episodes on YouTube, and cracking up while discovering a whole bunch of cool characters that I never knew existed! (A few of my favorites are the Jim, Jerry and Frank muppets singing Tomorrow and You Don't Want My Love, the Muppet Glee Club singing Temptation, the Hugga Wugga (Buggy Mugger) sketch, the Inchworm sketch with Lenny the Lizard and Gorgon Heap, Java and The Snerfs, and of course the Rag Mop number!)
So I suppose I would be remiss if I didn't mention my favorite puppeteers. Well, my number one would have to be Jerry Nelson. As a child, and going into adulthood, I always loved Count VonCount, Sherlock Hemlock, Harry Monster, Jackman Wolf, the Two-Headed Monster, The Amazing Mumford, Frazzle and Robin as well as any minor character he played. Carroll Spinney, as Oscar and Big Bird were probably the first two Muppets I knew about. Frank Oz and Marty Robinson (or I suppose Martin) would be tied as I loved Grover, Cookie Monster, Fozzie, Miss Piggy and Telly Monster and Snuffie all equally. Richard Hunt, I loved all the characters he puppeteered, especially Don Music. And as much as I hate to admit it, I can attest to the fact that, yes I did try to bang my head on things after seeing him (Don) do it. I couldn't help it! Between the ages of 3 and 5, I was kind of a dumb kid because I thought Don hitting his head against the piano keys was funny and I wanted to be funny too.
I love Dave Goelz too, although my younger brother was more a fan since he adored Gonzo and Boober Fraggle. And then there's Steve Whitmire. What can I say, other than I have a major crush on him!
Of course, it goes without saying. I love Jim Henson. He's just such an inspiration.
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