Rizzo in a new video

[LittleJerry92]

That was such a good performance that I genuinely wondered for a second there if Steve had returned. This is why I'm so critical of the current Kermit, they can clearly do so much better.

While I find Matt’s Kermit tolerable, as I’ve said in other posts, it really feels like he tries way too hard to focus on his voice. I really think Peter Linz should have taken over as Kermit honestly.

 

[antsamthompson9]

This was unexpected! Congrats to Bradley. I met him at the Center for Puppetry Arts a couple years ago, he's a really cool and nice guy. Plus he plays my favorite of the humanoid Muppets introduced to Sesame in the 2020s, Tamir. It's nice that they didn't pick one of the core 6 Muppet performers.

 

[antsamthompson9]

This is why I'm so critical of the current Kermit, they can clearly do so much better.

I'll be putting more quotes from this podcast in the quote thread, so I hope you'll tune into there.
JD Hansel: You have been tired of people not liking the Matt Vogel voice pretty much the whole time.
Jarrod Fairclough: I don't care if they don't like it. Stop complaining about it. There's other things in the world to worry about. Move on. And I'm a fan of Matt's Kermit. There are a couple of times where I have been like, uh, that hasn't been the best Kermit you've done, Matt. But there are other times where I'm like, yeah, you nailed it. Um, where I think the new Muppet Show will help is that where I think Matt shines the best as Kermit is when Kermit's happy and doing stuff. So, you know, you think about the O2 shows or the um Hollywood Bowl shows. Kermit was great in those because he was um he was sort of lively and happy and performing and having a great time. Um you look at Muppets Haunted Mansion. Kermit worked best when he was the ghost version of um like a ghost host or whatever he was. Um, rather than the Kermit who was sitting at home being all sad because, you know, oh, you know, you don't have to be great to be the great Gonzo Gonzo or whatever the h*** it was. Yeah, I hated that side of Kermit.
Mathew Soberman: You don't have to be the king prawn, Pepe. You can just be a prawn.
Jarrod: Exactly. Right. I think this will help because I think Kermit will feel like that happy putting on a show fun Kermit. Like, yeah, he
might get grumpy and angry and stuff like that, but I think it will show different dynamics and we won't just have the down in the dumps Kermit. It's funny you don't realize it only because the internet wasn't so much of a thing. There were a lot of people who grew up with the Muppet Show who never got used to Steve Whitmire. Um, you know, I listen to there was an old radio show in Australia called Get This.
Um, and it's one of my favorite things and I will still occasionally just cycle through old episodes
and I listened to one recently and Kermit the Frog came up and this was in 2007. So this is 17 years after Steve
took over. The host Tony Martin says, and granted he was wrong about it, but he goes, "Didn't Brian Henson or Jim
Henson's son take over? And he just never quite sounded right, but everyone just kind of went along with it because we're like, 'I guess this is just what he sounds like now'. But it still doesn't sound right." That was 17 years later and people are still commenting on
it. So, people aren't going to go away. Unfortunately, we're always going to have to deal with this as for as long as Kermit is played by Matt Vogel.
JD: I remember in 2011 listening to a podcast talking about the the 2011 movie and the hosts were saying, you know, the guy doing Kermit's voice still doesn't sound quite right. And I'm thinking it's been over 20 years. I don't know that we get to say
that it's wrong because I think he's the standard now. I think this is what it is. Uh like we're past the point where he can be wrong because he's not being held to the same standard anymore. He's being held to himself because
it's been over 20 years.
Mathew: The problem is that Kermit has always been held to the standard of people's
memories. And if you remember Jim Henson, no, Steve isn't going to sound the same. And if you grew up with Steve, Matt isn't going to sound the same either.
Jarrod: And one day someone will take over for Matt and someone will go, "Doesn't sound like Matt. Doesn't sound right." And as you said, JD, it's a vicious cycle.
Matthew: I mean, look, I've had to shout down people in my own family who said, "Oh, why not just get AI Jim Henson?"
Jarrod: Oh, gross. (JD make vomit noises)
Mathew: I was against it vehemently.
Jarrod: Yeah. Where I um my big thing from day one, since the day I found out Steve had been let go and that Matt was taking over, my whole thing had been I just hope Kermit feels like Kermit. As far as I'm concerned, Matt could have come in and been like, (in a hillbilly voice) "Well, hi everybody. Hi-ho, Kermit the Frog here." As long as he felt like Kermit, like Steve felt like Kermit to me. He felt like Jim's Kermit. Matt feels like Steve and Jim's Kermit to me. It still feels like the same character. And for me, that's so much more important than the voice maybe not always being 100% spot on. And people aren't even willing to accept it because they're so put off by the voice. And there are people in our own fan community, there are people on the Tough Pig staff who I had arguments with about this. As you said, JD, I've had enough of it since pretty much six months into it. It's like, all right, it's time to move on now.

 

[MWoO]

Im glad Rizzo is back and both sounds and acts like Rizzo, too. Hard to believe its been 10 years since Rizzo had a speaking part.

I do feel sorry for Steve, though. For us this is great news and a holiday surprise. For him this must be crushing.