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Sesame Street Season 55
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Sam and Friends Bookantsamthompson9
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JD Hansel: Did you guys know Caroll Spinney has retired?!
Jarrod Fairclough: I had assumed.
Steve Swanson: It's just deemed as truth, right?
JD: I bring this up because, that was mentioned in the Defunctland interview with Noel MacNeal. I never heard anything that sounded halfway official before, it was just suddenly Caroll was not doing stuff for Sesame and we didn't know why. It was only when Noel says in the podcast that Caroll Spinney has retired, that I'm like "Oh, maybe he's officially retired."
Jarrod: I saw a couple of photos of him at a convention recently, and he doesn't look fit to perform anymore. He's in a wheelchair now, I don't know if it's arthritis, I don't know what it is, but his left hand seems to have ceased up, so it's in almost like a little claw. I would like to think he'll be able to do something for the 50th anniversary next year, but I'm not surprised to learn he has officially retired, because to look at him now, he doesn't look like he's fit to perform anymore, which is a shame, but you have to remember the man's in his mid-80s, and he's done a h*** of a job.
Steve: He was Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, he was in amazing performance shape for decades beyond what most puppeteers normally do. We all marveled at the fact that he continued to do these characters. He had an incredible run as a performer, and I guess at a certain point, the human body especially for something as demanding as puppeteering says "No, you will no longer be doing this. Hope you had fun, but now it's time to hang it up and enjoy some retirement."
Jarrod: Absolutely, and the man deserves his retirement.
JD: Absolutely. It's a shame cause he never wanted to retire, but he deserves a good one.
Jarrod: That said, I think Eric Jacobson's Oscar is almost indistinguishable.
JD: I know! I was watching the 4th of July-y-y video that they made for some reason, I don't understand it, but it exists, and I was like "Is that Eric's Oscar?" It's only at the end where I could tell, because it's just so scary close!
Steve: And Eric is the only one who's ever done Oscar besides Caroll, is that true?
Jarrod: Correct. When we were doing the Muppetational May stuff on Twitter, I posted that my favorite recast was Eric as Oscar. And I had so many people, including Ryan Dosier, who I'd have assumed would have known this, tell me that they didn't realize that that was Eric now. So I was sending videos to Ryan saying "This is Eric here, this is Eric here" and he was saying he just can't tell the difference. I think it's probably the best recast we've ever seen.
JD: Yeah, it definitely is. It's really something special. I mean I love all the other recasts, don't get me wrong.
Jarrod: Absolutely.
Jarrod Fairclough: I had assumed.
Steve Swanson: It's just deemed as truth, right?
JD: I bring this up because, that was mentioned in the Defunctland interview with Noel MacNeal. I never heard anything that sounded halfway official before, it was just suddenly Caroll was not doing stuff for Sesame and we didn't know why. It was only when Noel says in the podcast that Caroll Spinney has retired, that I'm like "Oh, maybe he's officially retired."
Jarrod: I saw a couple of photos of him at a convention recently, and he doesn't look fit to perform anymore. He's in a wheelchair now, I don't know if it's arthritis, I don't know what it is, but his left hand seems to have ceased up, so it's in almost like a little claw. I would like to think he'll be able to do something for the 50th anniversary next year, but I'm not surprised to learn he has officially retired, because to look at him now, he doesn't look like he's fit to perform anymore, which is a shame, but you have to remember the man's in his mid-80s, and he's done a h*** of a job.
Steve: He was Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, he was in amazing performance shape for decades beyond what most puppeteers normally do. We all marveled at the fact that he continued to do these characters. He had an incredible run as a performer, and I guess at a certain point, the human body especially for something as demanding as puppeteering says "No, you will no longer be doing this. Hope you had fun, but now it's time to hang it up and enjoy some retirement."
Jarrod: Absolutely, and the man deserves his retirement.
JD: Absolutely. It's a shame cause he never wanted to retire, but he deserves a good one.
Jarrod: That said, I think Eric Jacobson's Oscar is almost indistinguishable.
JD: I know! I was watching the 4th of July-y-y video that they made for some reason, I don't understand it, but it exists, and I was like "Is that Eric's Oscar?" It's only at the end where I could tell, because it's just so scary close!
Steve: And Eric is the only one who's ever done Oscar besides Caroll, is that true?
Jarrod: Correct. When we were doing the Muppetational May stuff on Twitter, I posted that my favorite recast was Eric as Oscar. And I had so many people, including Ryan Dosier, who I'd have assumed would have known this, tell me that they didn't realize that that was Eric now. So I was sending videos to Ryan saying "This is Eric here, this is Eric here" and he was saying he just can't tell the difference. I think it's probably the best recast we've ever seen.
JD: Yeah, it definitely is. It's really something special. I mean I love all the other recasts, don't get me wrong.
Jarrod: Absolutely.
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