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The New New Quote Thread
- Thread starter D'Snowth
- Start date
antsamthompson9
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This is from the latest episode of Below the Frame.
Bill Barretta: You know I love you, but I miss playing with Steve as Rizzo and Pepe, and Pepe and Kermit, we used to have some fun, and I'd love us to be able to do some more of that.
Bill Barretta: You know I love you, but I miss playing with Steve as Rizzo and Pepe, and Pepe and Kermit, we used to have some fun, and I'd love us to be able to do some more of that.
"Here, we will explore True Facts About the 'Sha-ma-le-ohne.' What is it? The 'chameleon'? Huh, that word really looked like it was going to be more fun to say." ~ Ze Frank
"Here are True Facts About the Armadildo. Oop, that's a typo. Here are True Facts About the Armadildo. Oop, I said it again. Two times." ~ Also Ze Frank
"Here are True Facts About the Armadildo. Oop, that's a typo. Here are True Facts About the Armadildo. Oop, I said it again. Two times." ~ Also Ze Frank
antsamthompson9
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Matt Vogel: You play Elmo's dad, Louie, and that was a role that was originally played by Bill Barretta. Can you tell me what that process was for you?
Tyler Bunch: I'm gonna try and relay my understanding of the specifics of the scenario, underscoring that no part of this is saying any sorta judgement on how things happened, it's just the nature of the beast when you work for a small company with a big name which ultimately if you go to the fortune 500 scenario, SS's not a big company. They're a wonderfully generous non-profit company that happens to have reached out to touch a lot of the world. So their philanthropic endeavors are always around and because we have a tendency to associate name recognition with corporate and financial status, the two don't necessarily equate one another. So Bill developed this amazing character in concert with Kevin and the two of them mashed minds on who he should be, what he should be and how he should come across on camera, and Bill being a very talented performer has lots of other things going on in his world and he's based in California. So he came out for the first couple endeavors when Louie was making his first splash in some of the outreach programs, specifically for some of the things that Sesame does for military families. And as he became a tool in Sesame's kit, and they wanted to start using him more, the budgets for each endeavor weren't necessarily able to absorb bringing Bill to the east coast, and finding a place for Bill to be and Bill wasn't necessarily in a position to say no to the other things in his life and effectively be generous with his time and figuring out a way to transport himself and/or find couches to crash on to be able to be part of it. It just created and snowballed into a situation where the 2 creative entities couldn't be in the same space. So I had right-handed for Bill a couple times and jokingly mocked and mimicked him because, I could do a version of his voice, and he'd give me the little side-eye and his eyebrow would go up. So because I right-handed him a few times, when he couldn't make one of the trips, it was suggested that I do Louie for this one adventure, and then the next one Bill could be there, and then the one after that he couldn't, and then the next one he couldn't, and then the next one he couldn't, and eventually Bill to his credit was like "This is silly. Yeah, I've been looping occasionally when it's been necessary, but you're being unfair to the audience. The character is being watered down because, there are two artists with, they may not be horribly different approaches, but they're different approaches, and if you want to be consistent with the character, it should be the same person, and it just makes sense if you just give it to Tyler, because it doesn't make sense to do this anymore." That's the conversation he had with them, I got the phone call saying "We'd like for you to do this." And then I picked up the phone and said "Hey Bill, what's going on, is this okay?" And he explained to me everything I just said, so to his credit, Bill's love for Louie had him kinda let Louie go. Which I could not be more grateful for and I hope I do him proud.
Matt: Your version of Louie is great. There's something so warm, and in the special we did during the pandemic, there's a moment in the end when he says "Be safe out there" and he's talking to the camera and it's just so real, it's not overplayed it's just right, and it feels good, and it feels genuine and authentic. That's who your Louie is to me.
Tyler: Thanks man, I really appreciate that, it means a lot coming from you.
Tyler Bunch: I'm gonna try and relay my understanding of the specifics of the scenario, underscoring that no part of this is saying any sorta judgement on how things happened, it's just the nature of the beast when you work for a small company with a big name which ultimately if you go to the fortune 500 scenario, SS's not a big company. They're a wonderfully generous non-profit company that happens to have reached out to touch a lot of the world. So their philanthropic endeavors are always around and because we have a tendency to associate name recognition with corporate and financial status, the two don't necessarily equate one another. So Bill developed this amazing character in concert with Kevin and the two of them mashed minds on who he should be, what he should be and how he should come across on camera, and Bill being a very talented performer has lots of other things going on in his world and he's based in California. So he came out for the first couple endeavors when Louie was making his first splash in some of the outreach programs, specifically for some of the things that Sesame does for military families. And as he became a tool in Sesame's kit, and they wanted to start using him more, the budgets for each endeavor weren't necessarily able to absorb bringing Bill to the east coast, and finding a place for Bill to be and Bill wasn't necessarily in a position to say no to the other things in his life and effectively be generous with his time and figuring out a way to transport himself and/or find couches to crash on to be able to be part of it. It just created and snowballed into a situation where the 2 creative entities couldn't be in the same space. So I had right-handed for Bill a couple times and jokingly mocked and mimicked him because, I could do a version of his voice, and he'd give me the little side-eye and his eyebrow would go up. So because I right-handed him a few times, when he couldn't make one of the trips, it was suggested that I do Louie for this one adventure, and then the next one Bill could be there, and then the one after that he couldn't, and then the next one he couldn't, and then the next one he couldn't, and eventually Bill to his credit was like "This is silly. Yeah, I've been looping occasionally when it's been necessary, but you're being unfair to the audience. The character is being watered down because, there are two artists with, they may not be horribly different approaches, but they're different approaches, and if you want to be consistent with the character, it should be the same person, and it just makes sense if you just give it to Tyler, because it doesn't make sense to do this anymore." That's the conversation he had with them, I got the phone call saying "We'd like for you to do this." And then I picked up the phone and said "Hey Bill, what's going on, is this okay?" And he explained to me everything I just said, so to his credit, Bill's love for Louie had him kinda let Louie go. Which I could not be more grateful for and I hope I do him proud.
Matt: Your version of Louie is great. There's something so warm, and in the special we did during the pandemic, there's a moment in the end when he says "Be safe out there" and he's talking to the camera and it's just so real, it's not overplayed it's just right, and it feels good, and it feels genuine and authentic. That's who your Louie is to me.
Tyler: Thanks man, I really appreciate that, it means a lot coming from you.
Last edited:
antsamthompson9
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Peter Linz reading a viewer question: "Do ya'll miss Steve?" Absolutely.
Bill Barretta: Very much so, Chase. We love him to death. We all wish it were a different situation, but we also have to move forward. We all tried to deal with it the best way we could, and Matt has found a way to keep Kermit going, and that's really important. Trying to keep these characters alive for all the fans out there and the people that love them and we're trying to do our best. But we miss the **** outta him.
Bill Barretta: Very much so, Chase. We love him to death. We all wish it were a different situation, but we also have to move forward. We all tried to deal with it the best way we could, and Matt has found a way to keep Kermit going, and that's really important. Trying to keep these characters alive for all the fans out there and the people that love them and we're trying to do our best. But we miss the **** outta him.
