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A couple days ago, a friend who knows about my love of the Muppets sent me a link to this YouTube video. It’s a segment from an A&E Biography on Sesame Street. This video gives a behind-the-scenes, or an under-the-Muppet, look at the work that goes into creating a sketch. Featured in this video is Steve Whitmire who took over performing Ernie following the death of Jim Henson. There’s also some footage from the original Bert performer, Frank Oz.

It’s interesting to witness the sort of craftsmanship and choreography that goes into the art of puppetry. Most folks seem to think that you just put a sock on your hands and open & close your fingers indiscriminantly. It’s not that at all. Puppetry is much like acting: you’re pretending, speaking lines, reacting, all with a piece of felt. The felt is the extension of the actor and that character are only believable through that process.

Since childhood, I’ve been a budding puppeteer. I can’t pass up a puppet without wanting to bring it to life. I’ve done it for my daughters, my nieces & nephews, friends and even some of my co-workers here at CET. It was Sesame Street and the other works of Jim Henson that inspired this love for the artform. And while I may not be a professional puppeteer, I, at least, get to watch Sesame Street every morning here on CET,  as well as other shows that have been inspired by Henson’s legacy.

-Brian