What was your weirdest puppeteering experience?

Cookie3001

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2018
Messages
1,241
Reaction score
662
I know I'm not the only puppeteer on this site, there is also @Amish Guy, @D'Snowth, @Doctimelash and many more. I'm sure we have all had weird or interesting experiences (I have many) so on this thread we can talk about them
 

D'Snowth

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2003
Messages
40,651
Reaction score
12,811
I've shared this story many times before, it's not necessarily "weird" so much as it was unique and rewarding. Any puppeteer will tell you that when kids are able to connect with the puppet you're performing and you, as the puppeteer, become virtually invisible to the kids, you know you're doing your job right. I once had this experience with a grown man: my first year doing pledge drivers for PBS, we had a man from the local zoo in the studio with us on the puppet set to talk about the various different animals he brought that day (an owl, a tarantula, a gecko), and even cameras weren't rolling on us inbetween our pledge breaks, this man was talking to Steve D'Monster like he was real and I was virtually invisible - so that told me that I not only was doing my job right, but that I was doing it very, very well if a grown man was able to connect with the puppet on my hand.
 

Cookie3001

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2018
Messages
1,241
Reaction score
662
I've shared this story many times before, it's not necessarily "weird" so much as it was unique and rewarding. Any puppeteer will tell you that when kids are able to connect with the puppet you're performing and you, as the puppeteer, become virtually invisible to the kids, you know you're doing your job right. I once had this experience with a grown man: my first year doing pledge drivers for PBS, we had a man from the local zoo in the studio with us on the puppet set to talk about the various different animals he brought that day (an owl, a tarantula, a gecko), and even cameras weren't rolling on us inbetween our pledge breaks, this man was talking to Steve D'Monster like he was real and I was virtually invisible - so that told me that I not only was doing my job right, but that I was doing it very, very well if a grown man was able to connect with the puppet on my hand.
that's awesome, it's great when a kid thinks of a puppet as a real living creature but it's even better when an adult does
 

Cookie3001

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2018
Messages
1,241
Reaction score
662
okay so I was at a child's birthday party and I'm behind the stage performing a puppet show. The stage was nothing more than a board covering the steps to their basement. The child was a Sesame Street fan so I was using the Muppets from Sesame Street, I was doing Grover's near and far bit and as he was running far I leaned to far and fell down the stairs. I guess you could say that I was "stuck in character" because when I fell I screamed in Grover's voice. Also the Grover puppet went flying off of my hand and hit the wall. The kids laughed because they assumed it was part of the show and I am actually very happy that happened, It was an unplanned but funny scene
 

Froggy Fool

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2017
Messages
3,000
Reaction score
2,002
I think my weirdest experience was when I puppeteered at a birthday party, and one of the kids kept wanting to pull the puppet's arm off, and their parent didn't even say anything about it; in fact, they encouraged them to continue doing so! I eventually had to break character to tell this kid to get the **** off my puppet lol. 😂

Luckily I had sewed it on pretty well, but from that point forward I use doll joints to secure puppet arms!
 

Cookie3001

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2018
Messages
1,241
Reaction score
662
I think my weirdest experience was when I puppeteered at a birthday party, and one of the kids kept wanting to pull the puppet's arm off, and their parent didn't even say anything about it; in fact, they encouraged them to continue doing so! I eventually had to break character to tell this kid to get the **** off my puppet lol. 😂

Luckily I had sewed it on pretty well, but from that point forward I use doll joints to secure puppet arms!
oh I have dealt with that before. Once I was doing a show at the library and a little boy kept digging through my puppets and props and stuff and I asked his mother to take him away and she just sat there and said "oh he will stop eventually" until I had to literally trap him out of the stage by pulling the walls to the side to keep him out
 

MuppetSpot

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2012
Messages
2,727
Reaction score
1,679
Weirdest puppetry experience for me was when I was doing a movie at a college and everyone was taking selfie’s with the character, plus asking me questions of how I was able to make it look so good.
 

Cookie3001

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2018
Messages
1,241
Reaction score
662
Weirdest puppetry experience for me was when I was doing a movie at a college and everyone was taking selfie’s with the character, plus asking me questions of how I was able to make it look so good.
I didn't know you puppeteered, did you make the puppet yourself?
 

Cookie3001

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2018
Messages
1,241
Reaction score
662
Once I was performing at the library and the kids got a little crazy, I couldn't even hear myself think over the sounds of kids screaming and digging through toy bins. They got so crazy that one of them chucked a block at the stage, it din't hit the puppets or me and my puppeteer friend but I remember making the puppet look towards the audience and say "WHO DID THAT?" and immediately the well behaved kids (a third of the audience) ratted a little boy out. The middle of the stage had a small slot that I could look through to see the audience and I was annoyed since the little boys mother was just off to the side texting on her phone
 
Top