Friday
Saturday #1
Saturday #3 Saturday #4
Sunday #1 Sunday #2 Sunday #3
Johnny Fiama gets a big hand. “It’s great to be here in Hoboken,” he says. The other Muppets whisper to him that he’s in Santa Monica. Johnny turns and snaps at Sal: “Sal! You messed up again!”
Sal shrugs. “Santa Monica? That’s not what it said on the outside of the box when they shipped us.”
And THIS is what we flew across the country to see. Live Muppets, riffing and mugging and sniping at each other. It’s magic. It’s a cliche at this point to say that when you see a Muppet being performed by a Muppeteer, it doesn’t break the illusion that the Muppet is real. But that cliche really is true. Gonzo, Rizzo, Floyd, Pepe, Elmo — they’re just coming to life in front of us.
At one point during this panel, Kevin Clash gets a question about his work on Labyrinth. While Kevin is talking, Dave Goelz reaches into his puppet box and brings out Bunsen. There’s a round of applause for Bunsen, which startles Kevin in the middle of a sentence. With all due respect to the Muppeteers, who are funny and interesting in their own right, it’s obvious that we don’t really want to hear the people talk. The Muppets are the rock stars. Humans just can’t compete.
Elmo is the first puppet up, and he takes a couple questions about his goldfish. Then emcee Kirk tries to move the panel along: “We have other characters, Elmo… Don’t hog the show! You’ve already taken over Sesame Street.” This gets a big laugh from the Elmo detractors in the crowd. Floyd’s up next, and he gets a question from the audience about whether he’s still tight with Janice. “Well… Janice ain’t so tight anymore,” Floyd says.
Then Elmo pipes up: “Elmo doesn’t understand the question… Could you explain the question, Mr. Floyd? Cause Elmo learned on Sesame Street — if you don’t understand something, always ask!”
We are only ten minutes into the first Muppet panel. It goes on like this for the next two days.
Pepe says that Seymour is living in a condo in Florida. Bunsen tries to psychoanalyze Dr. Phil, then wiggles Phil’s ear. Kermit looks out at the audience: “If something happened here, it could wipe out the entire fanbase.”
A young woman named Amy has a question for Pepe: “I’m an eligible bachelorette. Can you tell me more about yourself?” Pepe gives her an enthusiastic answer. “I come from Malaga, which is in the southern part of Spain. I am twenty-one years old. I am not currently dating… and I’m orange.” Then he tries to ask Amy to tell him about herself, and invites her to call him sometime. It really stays this good the whole time.
Actually, the most striking thing about this panel is how amazing Dave Goelz is. Again, no offense to the other guys, who are all hilarious — but Dave is just on fire. They’re on stage for about an hour, which is much longer than they usually perform these puppets. During that hour, there are lots of moments when the Muppeteers get distracted, or lose focus, or just get tired, and their puppets droop a little. But the whole time Gonzo is on Dave’s arm, he’s ON. Gonzo keeps eye contact with everybody who’s speaking, constantly reacting to everything that’s going on, even at times when Dave is looking the other way. I’ve never seen such an amazing, sustained Muppet performance. Gonzo’s always been one of my favorites, but now I have an even deeper appreciation for him. Dave just seems connected to Gonzo in this incredibly intimate way. Gonzo is clearly alive for Dave — and that makes him so much more alive for all of us.
Elmo does an impression of Ernie’s laugh, which gets a round of applause. “Thank you! Thank you!” Elmo cries. “Money! Throw money!” And there, my friends, is the history of the last ten years of Sesame Street.
Finally, the Muppets are asked if there’s anything they’d like to say to the Muppeteers. Pepe turns to Bill: “Yes. I would like to say to Bill Barretta… be very careful with your hands.”
They get a huge standing ovation as they leave. Phew, what a great day this has been. Then I look at my watch and realize that it’s only 4:00. There’s still two more hours. This is the greatest day ever.
Friday
Saturday #1
Saturday #3 Saturday #4
Sunday #1 Sunday #2 Sunday #3
by Danny Horn
