Caroll Spinney Emmy Awards: In Memoriam!

Caroll Spinney was honored during the 72nd Emmy Awards "In Memoriam" segment. Although brief it was great to see him included. 

You can watch the entire "In Memoriam" below:

Rare Muppet Clips Volume 2!

We're back with another batch of rare Muppet performances. 

Again, we do not own these clips, nor do we make any guarantees to how long they'll be available, so watch them while you can!

"Julie, Do Ya Love Me?" (The Julie Andrews Hour, 1973)
Rowlf and Julie perform "Julie, Do Ya Love Me?" on The Julie Andrews Hour. This clip originally aired February 17th, 1973.

Visual Thinking (The Tonight Show, 1974)
Kermit and Grump perform "Visual Thinking" on this 1974 episode of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. 

Big Bird's Dance (The Ed Sullivan Show)

Big Bird dances on The Ed Sullivan Show from December 14, 1969. Big Bird is performed by Daniel Seagren in this appearance and not Caroll Spinney.

What's My Line? - Big Bird & Caroll Spinney (1972)

Guest try to figure who who Big Bird is - this time performed by Caroll Spinney - who also appears, in this 1972 episode of What's My Line? 

If you like these be sure to check out Part 1.

If you find a rare Muppet clip and would like us to share it, please send us a link!

Watch Caroll Spinney's Memorial!

On Sunday Sesame Workshop held a private memorial for Caroll Spinney. While the service wasn’t open to the public, they did share video from the event on Facebook.

In the video you’ll see eulogies from Caroll’s family, Sesame Workshop CEO Jeff Dunn, Sesame cast members Bob McGrath, Pam Arciero, and Martin Robinson as well as performances by the Muppet performers.

You can watch it here.

Kennedy Center Honors Sesame Street!

Last night CBS aired The Kennedy Center Honors featuring Sesame Street, the first ever TV show to be recognized by the center.

Check out some news coverage, backstage interviews, and highlights from the ceremony  which included and nice tribute to Caroll Spinney.

In case you missed it, The entire 42nd Annual Kennedy Center Honors is available On Demand and on CBS All Access.

Sneak Peak: Kennedy Center Honors Sesame Street!

Last weekend Sesame Street was honored at the Kennedy Center where Sesame Workshop co-founders Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett accepted the award.

The Sesame Street cast honored Carroll Spinney, who died the day of the ceremony, by wearing yellow Big Bird feathers.

Below are some highlights of the red carpet, backstage, and ceremony:

The 42nd annual Kennedy Center Honors marks the first time a television program will receive the award. The co-founders of Sesame Street, Joan Ganz Cooney and Dr. Lloyd Morrisett, will accept the Kennedy Center Honors on behalf of the show, Muppets creator Jim Henson, seminal Muppets artists Caroll Spinney and Frank Oz, and the thousands of creatives who have built the program’s 50-year legacy.

The Kennedy Center Honors airs Sunday Dec. 15th at 8pm‎ on CBS.

Big Bird Lights Up The Empire State Building!

Big Bird, Deb and Caroll Spinney went to the Empire State Building for a special 50th anniversary lighting ceremony where mayor Bill De Blasio declared today "Caroll Spinney Day." 

 

Look for the iconic building to be green and yellow Sunday!

Caroll Spinney Officially Retires!

Caroll Spinney announced that he's officially fully retiring from public appearances.

His last last public Comic Con appearance will be at Rhode Island Comic Con in November as long as he if feeling up to it. 

You can read his entire message to fans below:

Below the Frame Season 3, Episode 1 – Caroll Spinney Tribute!

Sesame Street began filming their 50th(!!) season last week and with it came a brand new episode of Below The Frame.

The entire episode is a tribute to Caroll Spinney who retired from the show. 

Matt Vogel mentioned that the powers that be at Sesame Workshop allowed him to share three clips from Caroll Spinney's retirement party... and here they are!

Adorkable Rachel's Top 5 Best Caroll Spinney Moments!

With the announcement of Caroll Spinney retiring, today our friend Rachel takes a look at her top 5 favorite Caroll Spinney moments.

Watch Sesame Street's Tribute to Caroll Spinney!

Sesame Street put together a wonder tribute to Caroll Spinney on the eve of his retirement. 

 

Caroll Spinney Retires From Sesame Street!

Caroll Spinney is officially retiring from Sesame Street this week, specifically tomorrow will be his last day on the iconic set. 

Due to his physical limitations, he stopped performing Oscar and Big Bird in 2015, while continuing to voice the characters off screen.

His final voice recordings will be used when Sesame Street celebrates its 50th anniversary next year. The shows will on HBO first, and then PBS in 2020.

In the meantime though, Caroll will continue to make appearances at conventions around the country, like his recent appearance at Keystone Comic Con in Philadelphia with Steve Whitmire. 

The New York Times has a great interview with Caroll on this milestone.
We thank Caroll for 50 years of excellent on the street!

Great Philadelphia Comic Con Round Up!

The Great Philadelphia Comic Con roared into the Philly suburbs this weekend bringing Henson performers Caroll Spinney, Hugh Spight, and Steve Whitmire with it.

You may not be familiar with Hugh, but he was inside the Mystic UrAmaj the Cook, as well as one of the Landstriders.

I had a great conversation with Hugh were he informed me that soon after closing the landstrider costume something happened and smoke started to fill the costume. Thankfully they were able to contain the issue, get the smoke out, and continue filming, but he said it was a very harrowing incident that he wasn't sure at the time he would escape from. 

Below is Hugh sticking his head out from his Mystic, and the full cast and crew of The Dark Crystal.

The always wonderful Caroll Spinney was there as well as part of a farewell tour. He's having a hard time health wise these days. I'm glad he's made plans to let fan's get to meet him one last time, but it's easy to see why this is his final round of cons. If you're able to do so, be sure to get to one of his stops.

Speaking of Caroll, this Saturday the Henson Studios is hosting a celebration of Carol's career as part of fundraiser for The Center for Puppetry Arts. 

The con was severely lacking Muppet merch, though there were a few items to be found it you looked closely enough.

Of course at cons like this there's cosplay. The best, by far though, was this amazing Sprocket puppet made by a fan named Stephanie. The detail and shear massiveness of it was amazing. 

 

A comic con wouldn't be much be with out comic artists and the talented Jay Fosgitt was there to fill the Henson comic niche.

Finally, Steve Whitmire not only had a booth at the show, but was the star of a panel as well. 

While I was not at the con the day of his panel, William L. Bozarth was nice enough to record the whole thing.

The con even included Steve and Hugh, but not Caroll for some reason, in a deck of con guest cards. 

Here's hoping The Great Philadelphia Comic Con gets more great Henson performers next year!

Muppet Performers Invade The Great Philadelphia Comic Con!

The Great Philadelphia Comic Con begins this weekend with quite a selection of Henson talent. 

Just look at the amazing people they lined up:

CAROLL SPINNEY WILL BE APPEARING FRIDAY, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY.

Caroll Spinney is the beloved Muppeteer who has performed as Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird in more than 4,000 Sesame Street episodes. 

Beginning with the show’s very first episode in 1969, Spinney shaped a personality for Jim Henson’s oversized bird puppet.

Spinney’s rich puppetry career began when he was eight years old and put on puppet shows using a secondhand puppet and a stuffed green snake. His interest continued into adulthood, and in 1958 he began his puppetry career on The Judy and Goggle Show. 

Sesame Street television specials have taken Spinney to China, Japan, Australia, France, Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and he has performed on a number of other shows, including 141 episodes of Hollywood Squares. He has earned four Emmys, two Gold Records, and two Grammy Awards. In 2000, the Library of Congress declared Spinney, as Big Bird, a “Living Legend.”

With J Milligan, he wrote the 2003 book The Wisdom of Big Bird (and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch): Lessons from a Life in Feathers. 

Most recently, Spinney received the Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award from the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences. He is also an accomplished artist and lecturer. 

This year is Caroll’s Farewell Tour, celebrating over 50 years of bringing joy and education to the children in all of us. Be sure to not miss this last chance opportunity to meet him.

HUGH SPIGHT WILL BE APPEARING  FRIDAY, SATURDAY, AND SUNDAY.

In 1982 Hugh Spight spent six weeks at Elstree Studios filming in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. But he believes his chance at fame was shot down when his name was misspelled during the credits, renaming him Hugh Spirit.

Spight played several small background roles in the film—a pig-like Gamorean guard and an Elom monster. Originally trained in ballet dancing, Spight made it on to the Star Wars set after he was spotted next door on the set of Muppet-creator Jim Henson’s movie The Dark Crystal.

Mr Spight’s biggest role is as the Gamorrian guard who escorts Han Solo into captivity. He said: “We were on Jabba the Hutt’s barge and in those scenes I was the one who had my hand on the shoulder of Harrison Ford. “We had to take him down to the dungeon.”

Spight also portrayed several roles in Classic Doctor Who, including the iconic black Dalek in the Seventh Doctor story “Remembrance of the Daleks” with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred.

 

STEVE WHITMIRE WILL BE APPEARING FRIDAY, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY.

Steve Whitmire is a voice actor and puppeteer best known for his career with The Muppets as Kermit the Frog, Ernie, Statler, Rizzo the Rat, Beaker, Wembley Fraggle, Bean Bunny, and Sprocket. Since starting on The Muppet Show in 1978, Whitmire has performed in almost every major Henson company project, including all Muppet and Sesame Street related film and television appearances, as well as non-Muppet fare such as The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and Dinosaurs.

Steve began his Muppet career as Rizzo the Rat, Lips, Foo-Foo, and Fletcher Bird on the original The Muppet Show in 1978. He was skekTek the Scientist in The Dark Crystal, and starred in Fraggle Rock as Wembley Fraggle, Sprocket, Marlon Fraggle, Flange Doozer, Murray the Minstrel, Papa Tree Creature, and Crusty Doozer. In 1986 he originated the role of Bean Bunny, and worked on Labyrinth as The Four Guards (puppetry only), Firey 4 (puppetry only), and Ambrosius (puppetry only). Following the death of Jim Henson in 1990 he inherited the roles of Kermit the Frog and Ernie.

Steve worked on Dinosaurs from 1991 – 1994 as B.P. Richfield (puppetry), Robbie Sinclair (face), Chief Elder (face), Mr. Mason Dixon, Sonny Woody, Blarney, and Judge H.T. Stone (puppetry). Following the death of Richard Hunt and the retirement of Jerry Nelson, Whitmire left the role of Ernie on Sesame Street in 2014 to focus on Kermit for The Muppets television series. Whitmire ended his relationship with The Muppets in July 2017 after an almost 40 year career.

Not only do they have Henson performers, but Henson comic artist, and super fan Jay Fosgitt will be there too!

Jay Fosgitt

Jay P. Fosgitt has drawn for many familiar properties, such as SESAME STREET and DREAMWORKS ANIMATION MAGAZINE (Ape Entertainment), MY LITTLE PONY, G.I. JOE/MICRONAUTS/TRANSFORMERS and POPEYE (IDW), ADVENTURE TIME, THE AMAZING WORLD OF GUMBALL, and JIM HENSON’S LABYRINTH and THE DARK CRYSTAL(Boom), BETTY AND VERONICA and LITTLE SABRINA (Archie), and ROCKET RACCOON AND GROOT, AVENGERS, GWENPOOL, WEB WARRIORS, CHAMPIONS, DEADPOOL, JESSICA JONES and NOT BRAND ECHH (Marvel). Jay has also written and drawn his creator-owned titles DEAD DUCK AND ZOMBIE CHICK (Source Point Press), NECRONOMICOMICS (Rue Morgue) and BODIE TROLL (Boom). He resides in Plymouth, Michigan with his cat, Goonie.

It's worth noting that this is Steve Whitmire's first con, and part of Caroll's final tour. They will be holding panels and you can get a professional photo taken with both Steve, Caroll, Steve AND Caroll and Hugh!

If you're in the Philadelphia area make sure to come out and see them!

Tickets and info can be found out and using these links. 
You may even see a few familiar fans there there too!