The Barretta Brothers decide to expand their their show from live video streams to a podcast as well.
They shared the changed in the special announcement below:
We reached to Gene who explained:
The plan is to eventually continue the Vodcast. We're just both very busy right now. And we've always meant to expand to an audio format, and this hiatus has given us the chance to put that into play. So, all the existing episodes will be available (a couple at a time) to those who just like to listen. Eventually, the new episodes will premiere in both formats. In the meantime, I've had fun doing these Muppet Mini episodes for the new Podcast. I hope people are enjoying them.
Below are some of the brand new MINI podcasts episodes.
The Barretta Brothers will also be releasing bonus clips like this one where Stephanie D'Abruzzo and Craig Shemin show some of their memorabilia from Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and Caroll Spinney!
Australian chain Big W has teamed up with Sesame Street to give away free books.
Big W ‘Free Books For Kids’ program began last year with a partnership with The Wiggles.
Eight free Sesame Street books discussing important topics such as individuality, dreaming big, and understanding differences are available at stores as well as via story time on Big W’s YouTube channel and Free Books For Kids podcast.
Australian celebrities are also lending their voices to the cause with Olivia Newton-John, Rose Byrne, and more taking part.
2.6 million Sesame Street books are being given away in stores and via streaming options. Additionally, Big W has pledged to donate another 40,000 books to the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation and Good360 Australia for families living in remote and rural areas.
Book can be collected from Big W stores while stocks last with no purchase necessary.
The lines features a selection of socks featuring Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Animal and Fozzie in a variety of styles including "all-overs," "showtimes", and "split face" which you can see below.
They also have socks featuring the characters together.
Including this "stacked character" sock that has Floyd, Scooter, Statler, Waldorf, Janice, Zoot, The Swedish Chef, Bunsen, Beaker, Rowlf, Pepe, and Dr. Teeth.
You can "Rock" your own Rock 'Em Muppet socks at RockEmSocks.com
Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Tricksters #2 hit comic stores this week.
The issue written by Jonathan Rivera A teen Yoruba village girl summons the great god of mischief, Eshu, to coerce her crush, a dashing hunter, to break up with his sweetheart and marry her instead.
Eshu agrees to help her, revelling at the chance to wreak havoc with them all…only to find that the village girl had a mischievous plot all of her own.
Check out the first few pages below:
Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Tricksters #2 is available at comic stores now (use comicshoplocator.com to find the nearest one) or at the BOOM! Studios webstore.
Digital copies can be purchased from content providers, including comiXology, iBooks, Google Play, and Madefire.
Deadline is reporting that the long in development bio pic of Jim Henson is back in the works as joint venture between Disney and The Jim Henson Company.
Michael Mitnick, writer of the The Current War, The Giver, and HBO’s Vinyl, has been tapped to write Muppet Man.
The live-action film will chart the life and times of Jim Henson and his journey to convince broadcasters that The Muppet Show was a great idea and his impact on television with Sesame Street and movies like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.
Henson’s daughter Lisa will produce the film for The Jim Henson Company with distribution handled by Disney.
Mitnick is rewriting a previous version of a script by Aaron and Jordan Kandell.
More than a decade ago, the Henson Company bought Australian scribe Christopher Weekes’ Hollywood Black List-topping script about the puppeteer which also included The Muppets lamenting Henson's loss as a framing device. At one point Michael Gracey was eyed to direct, but is no longer involved.
Disney has owned the rights to the Muppets characters since 2004 and has reportedly had discussions with The Henson Company about a Henson biopic since 2010.
“It’s never too early for children to start appreciating nature and caring for the environment -- and with a little help from Elmo and the Sesame Street Muppets, it can be fun, too!” said Gabriela Arenas, Vice President of Licensing, North America, Sesame Workshop. “These books, songs, and videos will give parents the tools and inspiration to foster their children’s love of our planet.”
What better way to spend Earth Day than by learning about planet-friendly habits with everyone’s favorite furry monsters? The Go Green with Sesame Street series from Lerner Publishing Group offers a simple introduction to earth-friendly concepts. From conserving energy with Bert and Ernie to being water-wise with Super Grover, recycling with Oscar the Grouch, and more, readers will learn what they can do to help make a difference.
Full-length video special Sesame Street: Being Green is a perennial favorite that’s perfect to revisit at this time of year. Paul Rudd guest stars as Mr. Earth, a colorful character who teaches Elmo and his friends that it actually can be easy to be green! The special is available from Shout! Factory on DVD and all major on-demand platforms. For more bite-sized viewing, a nature-themed playlist on the Sesame Street YouTube channel collects songs, segments, and DIY tutorials to help kids get excited about the environment, from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “It’s a Habitat” and Ellie Goulding’s “Thank You, Clouds” to a compilation of crafts families can do re-using household objects.
Classic Sesame Street albums We Are All Earthlings Volumes 1 and 2 are available to a new generation on all major music streaming services, thanks to Warner Music Group’s Arts Music. Families can enjoy 20 favorite songs about animals, plants, and caring for the earth -- including the iconic track “I Love Trash,” from unlikely recycling champion Oscar the Grouch! And if fans want to wear their Earth Day pride on their sleeves, BioWorld is debuting two new t-shirt designs for adults.
I would also imagine if you were an initial Indiegogo backer for the film and selected a DVD or Blu-ray of the film as part of your package that it will be the same as the retail version.
The film will be rolling out to theaters across the country starting Friday April 23 and a full list of locations and dates can be found here.
You can pre-order the Blu-ray for $29.98 and the DVD for $24.98 from Amazon.
ABC PRESENTS ‘SESAME STREET: 50 YEARS OF SUNNY DAYS,’ A TWO-HOUR SPECIAL ON THE LEGACY AND IMPACT OF THE BELOVED GLOBAL PHENOMENON, AIRING MONDAY, APRIL 26, AT 8|7C
Homelessness, multicultural representation, autism, refugee crises and addiction are just a few of the social issues fearlessly tackled by Sesame Street for over a half a century. On MONDAY, APRIL 26 (8:00-10:00 p.m. EDT), ABC presents Sesame Street: 50 Years of Sunny Days, a two-hour documentary special produced by TIME Studios, highlighting the 50-year impact of this iconic show and the nonprofit behind it, Sesame Workshop.
The documentary features special guests including W. Kamau Bell, Gloria Estefan, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Whoopi Goldberg, Christopher Jackson, John Legend, Lucy Liu, Olivia Munn, Questlove, Chrissy Teigen and Usher. The special can be viewed the next day on demand and on Hulu.
For over 50 years, Sesame Street has addressed and explained diversity, equity, and inclusion around the globe by using the universal tools of music, empathy and celebrity. Through its iconic shows and targeted outreach, Sesame Workshop has found ways to make these daunting and seemingly impossible conversations accessible to people of all ages, usually delivered with the help of a furry friend. Sesame Street: 50 Years of Sunny Days reflects upon the efforts that have earned Sesame Street unparalleled respect and qualification around the globe, including addressing their responsibility to social issues that have historically been seen as taboo such as racial injustice. This special also chronicles the creation and introduction of a Black family of Sesame Street Muppets, Wes and Elijah Walker, a father-and-son duo who are at the heart of Sesame Workshop’s new racial justice initiative Coming Together.
Sesame Street: 50 Years of Sunny Days airs April 26 from 8:00-10:00 PM EST on ABC and the next day on demand and on Hulu.
In January Bruce Kirby, character actor and father of actor Bruno Kirby died.
Kirby's career spanned five decades and included a recurring roles on Car 54, Where Are You? and Columbo.
He also made appearances on a variety of classic TV series including I Dream of Jeannie, Bonanza, Hogan's Heroes, The Patty Duke Show, The Rockford Files, Kojak,Barney Miller, M*A*S*H, Night Court, Murphy Brown, Matlock, The Golden Girls, L.A. Law, Punky Brewster,Murder She Wrote,The West Wing, The Sopranos, Chicago Hope,Scrubs, and many others.
His film credits include Catch-22, How to Frame a Figg, Throw Momma from the Train, Stand By Me, and best picture Oscar winner Crash.
However, Bruce Kirby is best probably known to Muppet fans as the World Wide Studios security guard the beginning of The Muppet Movie. This role made him the very first human to speak in a Muppet movie!
You can watch him tell Statler and Waldorf where they can heckle The Muppet Movie below:
Nearly 40 years after being locked in the The Metropolitan Museum of Art overnight, Big Bird has a new home atop the iconic museum.
Last night The Met unveiled it's 2021 rooftop garden sculpture featuring a very blue Big Bird.
As Long as the Sun Lasts is a 26-foot-tall kinetic sculpture featuring Sesame Street's Big Bird and the modern aesthetic of Alexander Calder’s standing mobiles.
The museum selected Philadelphia-based artist Alex Da Corte to create the site-specific installation.
The sculpture involves a base with three interlocking features, along with a mobile Big Bird piece sitting on a crescent moon that sways in the wind.
Follow That Bird's "The Blue Bird of Happiness"
The character is colored blue instead of yellow, because of his “melancholic disposition” and as an homage to the Brazilian version of Sesame Street that De Corte grew up with, where Big Bird’s counterpart Garibaldo was blue and surprisingly, not as an homage to Big Bird as the "Blue Bird of Happiness" from Follow That Bird.
The Big Bird sculpture is made of about 7,000 individually placed laser-cut aluminum feathers.
A press release reveled that he’s holding a ladder, “suggesting the possibility of passage back to Earth or to other galaxies."
“Alex Da Corte’s bold work for the Cantor Roof Garden oscillates between joy and melancholy, and brings a playful message of optimism and reflection,” Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director of The Met said.
“The installation, which the artist initiated just as the pandemic was taking hold, invites us to look through a familiar, popular, modern lens at our own condition in a transformed emotional landscape. As the sculpture gently rotates in the wind, it calls us in an assuring way to pause and reflect: We are reminded that stability is an illusion, but ultimately what we see is a statement of belief in the potential of transformation.”
Alex Da Corte (American, born 1980) has been commissioned to create a site-specific installation for The Met’s Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden. The Roof Garden Commission: Alex Da Corte, As Long as the Sun Lasts will be on view from April 16 through October 31, 2021. It is the ninth in a series of site-specific commissions for the outdoor space
Alex Da Corte was born in Camden, New Jersey, and lives and works in Philadelphia. After training as an animator at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, he received a BFA in Printmaking/Fine Arts from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and an MFA from Yale University. Working across a range of media including film, performance, painting, installation, and sculpture, Da Corte’s practice is invested in deconstructing and reinventing those objects and cultural icons that are not only familiar and beloved, but also contested. His work was included in the 2019 Venice Biennale and the 2018 Carnegie International in Pittsburgh. Museums that have mounted solo exhibitions include the Prada Rong Zhai (2020), Kölnischer Kunstverein in Cologne (2018), Secession in Vienna (2017), MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts (2016), and the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam (2015). In March 2020, Da Corte reinvented Allan Kaprow’s performance Chicken (1962) as part of Invisible City: Philadelphia and the Vernacular Avant-Garde.
"As Long as the Sun Lasts" is on view from April 16 through October 31, 2021 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.
