Another Interview with Muppeteer Matt Vogel

We're very proud to present a brand new interview with our friend Matt Vogel. Matt has been a great friend to both The Muppet Mindset and Ryan Dosier since the first correspondence which resulted in our first interview with Matt, which came out in two parts. (See Part 1 and Part 2.) And now... please enjoy even more of the very awesome Matt Vogel, as provided by our friend Lucas Ervin!



Another Interview with Matt Vogel
Conducted by Lucas Ervin
 
This is actually my first time getting a chance to interview a Muppet performer, and I'm very pleased that it's Matt Vogel, who is doing quite a bit of work with both Sesame Street and the Muppets. I thought I might take the opportunity to ask him about the 42nd season the Street, how the OK Go video went down, and possibly see if he can give us some tidbits on this fall's The Muppets...

LUCAS:   First of all, thanks for having this chat with me. It's a special privilege for me to be interviewing a Muppeteer who is also originally from Kansas City, which is where I grew up. At what age did you start working with puppets?

MATT:   I first started making and performing puppets when I was about 7 or 8 years old. That was around the time The Muppet Show was on TV and it was a huge inspiration for me.

LUCAS:   I also understand you had done quite a bit of acting as well in Kansas City, and had put puppeteering on the backburner during this time. What took you from KC to NYC?

MATT:   Just to give you a little background... when I was in ninth grade, I started taking acting classes at a place in Kansas City called Theatre for Young America and I really felt at home there. I met a lot of people who were like me, had similar interests. I was in professional shows there before heading off to college to get a BFA in Acting. My best friend in college, Chad Harris, asked me to help him do puppet shows during the summer for money. I did that a couple of times and when I graduated, I moved back to Kansas City and did both acting in theatres there as well as supplementing my income by doing puppet shows for nursery schools and daycare programs. I saved up money to move to New York to be an actor but soon after I got there, I started working for The Jim Henson Company.

LUCAS:   Once you moved to New York, it wasn't long before the people at Sesame Street became interested in your talents as a puppeteer. How did getting hired on at Sesame come about?

MATT:   John Henson had chosen me to be his alternate for a Coca-Cola Polar Bear puppet be went around performing. When he was unavailable, I did the appearances. I made a video in my apartment of my puppeteering and sent it to Renee Rachelle, the performer coordinator at the time. She took me under her wing and got my foot in the door at Sesame. I did the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade at first and then wound up on the Street.

LUCAS:   I also understand that you're the puppet assistant captain on Sesame Street. What exactly does that job entail?

MATT:   Being the Assistant Puppet Captain on Sesame Street means that I support Kevin Clash as the Puppet Captain, I'm at Production Meetings helping troubleshoot any puppet issues in a script, and I'm there most shoot days if any last minute problems arise.

LUCAS:   Did you get to work with some of the celebrities who came on to do sketches for the 42nd season of Sesame Street? If so, who?

MATT:   It was a blast working with Jason Schwartzman and David Hyde-Pierce in street stories as well as working with Seth Rogen, Mark Ruffalo, and many others in the vocabulary pieces. It should be said, though, that everyone that comes to Sesame is so excited to be there and really great to work with.

LUCAS:   In recent years, not only have you been performing Big Bird as Caroll Spinney's understudy, but you have also taken up Jerry Nelson's characters from The Muppet Show as well, (Floyd, Lew Zealand, Crazy Harry, etc.) and have done a terrific job in doing so. What was it like meeting Mr. Nelson for the first time?

MATT:   You know, I can't remember meeting Jerry for the first time. The truth is, I feel like I've known Jerry forever. I've been really fortunate to get to spend time with him away from Sesame and I just love him.

LUCAS:   I read in Ryan Dosier's first interview with you that there are some characters that are easier to perform than others. What are some techniques you use when matching both the voice and personality of the character?

MATT:   For the voice, I have a trigger word or phrase that will help me find where the voice is and for the character—which is the most important thing to me—is to just be in a place of truth for that character, knowing what they want or need, or knowing what drives them, etc.

LUCAS:   One character I've really missed, but is popping up a lot more lately, is Floyd Pepper, who has always been a personal favorite of mine and you really nail his voice and personality. While accepting a Webby Award last year, he helped Animal win a hilarious staring contest against OK Go's Danimal. How did the staring contest come about?

MATT:   If I remember, there was talk for a week or so before the Webby’s that we might do something with OK Go, and on the day of the awards, Eric and I talked through it a couple of times with the band, threw around ideas on how it would go, then we shot it right in the middle of the Webby Awards. It was one continuous take that we did twice, I think. It was so much fun to do that guerilla style.

LUCAS:   Speaking of OK Go, they recently did a cover of "The Muppet Show Theme Song" for The Green Album, as well as shooting a music video with the Muppets themselves, which debuted August 23rd, and fans everywhere just loved it. What was that like?

MATT:   I was a part of that and I'm so excited about the video. Kirk Thatcher did an amazing job directing and I really think it's great. I'm a fan of OK Go and their music and videos so was really thrilled to work with them. It was a two day shoot a couple of weeks ago in L.A. and it was a long shoot. We did the last shot (which is the first shot of the video with Sweetums and the band) around 3AM.

LUCAS:   As you can imagine, many fans--including myself--are incredibly excited for The Muppets to hit theaters this Thanksgiving. When did you first hear that you were going to be making the movie? Also, what’s the first thing you guys as puppeteers have to do when you first start shooting a movie?

MATT:   We'd heard on and off about a movie for a while; maybe early 2009? We did some read-throughs in early 2010 and didn't roll cameras until November. The first thing you have to do when you first start shooting a movie is make sure you get your per diem. No. That's up there, but in terms of the actual filming, it's probably different for everybody but because you shoot out of sequence, it's always helpful to know where your characters are at any point in the film (emotionally, etc.).

LUCAS:   What were some of the most challenging aspects of filming The Muppets?



MATT:   Shooting puppets is always a challenge whether you're shooting them in a studio or out in the real world. A lot of this film was shot on location, so we had to make things work in real environments. It's not always easy when characters have to run or move as a group. There are a lot of guys working below those characters and they take up way more space than the puppets do. We worked really hard at trying to not make it seem like there's a lot of effort involved... that's part of the magic.

LUCAS:   We all saw the Electric Mayhem bus in the movie trailer, and Floyd didn't seem too comfortable in the car 80's Robot was driving. Will we see our characters driving the famous bus? Also, will the band be doing their own musical number in the film?

MATT:   I can't tell you too many details about the movie, but I can say the band has a small bit in a great song that Kermit sings.

LUCAS:   Without giving too much away, can you give us any tidbits on the Moopets and what we can possibly expect from these guys?

MATT:   Without giving anything away that you might not already have guessed from the trailer... if the Muppets are GOOD, the Moopets are... (you fill in the blank). Also, I question the gender of Miss Poogy.

LUCAS:   It looks like Uncle Deadly will be working alongside Chris Cooper in the new movie. I'm guessing, since he is a Jerry Nelson character, you'll be performing him as well. How did bringing him back into the fold for the movie come about?

MATT:   Yes, I’m playing him but I’m not sure if it was Jason Segel or our director, James Bobin, who put him in there. I think they were looking back at The Muppet Show and just loved the look of the puppet and his pretentious attitude.

LUCAS:   Finally, this movie is essentially about The Muppet Show and getting back to the characters' roots. After the movie is released, what do you believe is next for the Muppets?

MATT:   Well, I hope the movie's a success and that leads to more movies and maybe a TV show and more fun internet stuff and everything in between. I grew up as a Muppet fan and I still am so I want to see them everywhere!

LUCAS:   Matt, thank you so much. This is definitely a treat for me, and I'm sure it will be for the other fans on The Muppet Mindset. Here's wishing you luck in all your future endeavors, and I can't wait to see you and all the other Muppeteers this November!







The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com Source URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/search/label/Matt%20Vogel
Visit Jim Henson for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection

News Update: June 18, 2011

With all the Muppet movie excitement that has been sweeping all around us these past few days, we have missed out on some fun, cool news items from other branches of Muppet fandom. Let's get caught up some, shall we? And, of course, this News Update ends with even more news about The Muppets.





Those lucky ToughPigs, Joe Hennes and Ryan Roe, have been posting videos from their oh-so-awesome visit to the set of Sesame Street. First, they talked to Emilio Delgado and Roscoe Orman, then it was Carmen Oshbar, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, Rosita, and Abby Cadabby, and now they got to talk to Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, and Matt Vogel. If I didn't like them (and this video) so much, I'd hate them (and plus they managed to mention The Muppet Mindset... so all is forgiven). Check it out!



The D23 Expo will be held once again this year in Anaheim, California on August 19-21. A tradition for Disney for years has been inducting new members into its distinguished Disney Legends Awards, honoring individuals who have contributed quite a bit to the Disney stable. 2009's honorees included Betty White and Tony Anselmo, voice of Donald Duck. The honorees at this year's expo include Regis Philbin, the voices of Disney Princesses, the original Zorro, and none other than Jim Henson. It is unknown who will be on-hand (that's a joke, son) to accept the award for Jim, but I'll be sure to let you know, because I've officially decided that I will be attending and live-blogging from the D23 Expo this year! So... yeah, there's that to look forward to.

Late this past Wednesday night I got a text from Lisa the Intern saying, "Paul Williams on Jimmy Fallon NOW! Watch!" Unfortunately, I was with four friends in the middle of a movie that I don't remember, so I couldn't watch. However, thanks to the magic of Hulu, Paul Williams' appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon is now online for all of us to see. Here's the video of Paul closing the show performing "Rainbow Connection" with The Roots.



A week ago, Sesame Street posted a preview of a brand new sketch from Season 42 on their YouTube page called SpiderMonster, The Musical and somehow we missed that too. It's hysterical and charming and features a (semi) cameo by Bono. We have received confirmation that the performers in this sketch are indeed Jerry Nelson as Mr. Johnson/Fat Blue and Frank Oz as Grover. How awesome is that?



Rolling Stone magazine is reporting that the band Scissor Sisters have been tapped to score the music for the Fraggle Rock feature film, but then quickly edited the article with a quote from The Jim Henson Company saying no deal has been made with the band, but they are in talks with Scissor Sisters and others. This is odd for many reasons, since we have no idea who even owns distribution/production rights for the film (we've heard through the grapevine that The Weinstein Company is out). So... take this article as you will. Could be vastly old, unreported news from when the film was still maybe happening, or it could be something else entirely. In other words... we have no idea.

In "movies that are actually happening" news, ComingSoon.net has posted a fantastic new article, "It's Time to Light the Lights!: On Set with The Muppets" chronicling their visit to the set of The Muppets. They get to talk with Jason Segel, Amy Adams, and producers Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman. It's a really well-written, heartfelt article that also provides us with some information we didn't know.

Remember that robot seen driving the car in the full length trailer? Well, apparently his name is 80's Robot, "'80s Robot looks exactly like a larger scale version of any generic sci-fi toy you would have seen on your local drug store toy aisle back in the early '80s. Unlike most Muppets, '80s Robot appeared to be almost 100% plastic. Not the traditional felt and cloth we associate with Muppets. To that end, it is probably incorrect to label '80s Robot a Muppet at all. What we do know is that '80s Robot is Kermit's driver... as it is him in the driver's seat of the Rolls for the scene. This was later confirmed on set by Debbie McClellan, Disney's creative director for the Muppets (and again confirmed in the new trailer)."

And the burly looking pig we've been wondering about since the first teaser trailer? That's Miss Poogy. According to the article, "Poogy is the anti-Piggy. A ruddy, rough-looking pig adorned in leather and chains, Poogy addressed the others while sharpening a knife in her left hand. She was obviously getting the crew mixed up in something bad, telling them not to 'worry about it' and expressing surprise that they'd never 'done this before.'"

We can't even go two days without more movie news--and I'm not complaining! Be sure to read the whole article because it's a real treat with some fun pictures included as well!









The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.comSource URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/search/label/Matt%20Vogel
Visit Jim Henson for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection

Muppet Fan Testimonials: Jarrod Fairclough

Today's Muppet Fan Testimonial comes to us from frequent contributor and good friend to the blog, Jarrod Fairclough! If you would like to submit your own Muppet Fan Testimonial, email it to Ryan Dosier at ryguy102390@gmail.com.

Jarrod Fairclough - I’ve been a Muppet fan since the day I was born, on May 26th 1989, in good ol’ Australia. My Mum reckons I was born singing the Sesame Street theme. Somehow I think that’s an exaggeration. Humming it, maybe, but I couldn’t talk until 6 months, so you can see my conundrum believing her. Anyway, I’m waffling, talking garbage. But as we’ve seen in my many articles on this fine site, it’s what I do best.

So apparently I was a Sesame Street fan as soon as I was born. In fact, one of the first things I ever laughed at as a baby was Big Bird. Clearly I don’t remember this, and I’m going on what my parents have told me, and my baby book. In that very book, there’s a great photo of me when I was 7 months old, on my first Christmas, grabbing at a present with a big smile on my face. The present was a Sesame Street Lullaby Pictureland. It used to project Sesame based images onto my ceiling when I was in my cot, and I sincerely believe it brainwashed me into a Muppet fan.

But I digress. Let’s skip ahead to what I remember myself. My earliest Sesame Street memory was when I was 4, and I watched Episode 3141, where Oscar is turned in to Prince Charming. I haven’t seen that episode since, but I always remembered it incredibly well, to the point where when I just looked it up on Muppet Wiki and saw the images of it, I remembered exactly what Oscar’s can looked like when it was a castle. When I was 6, I had to write a list of my favourite TV shows. I wrote Sesame Street and got picked on. Big freakin’ bullies. Picked on by people who, when they found out I went to the Sesame Street set in 2008, were really impressed. But we’ll get to that INCREDIBLE day soon.

The age of 7 was a big turning point for me. I had no idea of The Muppets, besides Kermit. One day I went around to my best friend Emma’s house, and I wasn’t feeling 100%. I got worse through the day, and so her mother decided to put on a movie that we could watch while I had a rest. That movie literally changed my life. That movie was The Muppet Movie. Now, I am totally biased when it comes to that film. In my opinion, that film stands as the best movie ever created in the history of film. It makes me laugh, it makes me cry, and it makes me sing “Rainbow Connection” at the top of my voice every time I hear it. It’s just a brilliant piece of cinema, and I remember saying something like that after my first viewing of it. Five years later, I ended up taking that film from them, but I returned it when I bought it on DVD.

Anyway, my mother heard from my friend’s mother that I had loved the film, and so my Mum went out and bought me a copy of The Muppet Christmas Carol, a film that personally I’m not too keen on nowadays, but I was back then. Well, then the Muppets essentially took over my life. A few months after my initial viewing of The Muppet Movie (which I had watched another 3-4 times in a month) I had the day off school for some reason, I could have been sick... Wow, I was sick a lot as a child. So my Mum took me out to do some shopping for someone’s birthday, and then surprised me by walking in to a cinema and purchasing tickets for a film, without telling me what it was. That day I watched Muppet Treasure Island. It was incredible, and even now my Mum and I will sit down and watch it. After that first viewing, we went to a shop and I walked out with a Captain Smollett Kermit and a picture book of the film. Kermit sat on my bed until about 4 years ago when I put the vast majority of my childhood toys in to storage.

So I was a Muppet fan, and a Sesame Street fan. I mentioned earlier that I was sick a lot as a child. Let me explain. My ears are bad. I have partial hearing loss in my right ear; it’s not noticeable to me unless my other ear is blocked. But it’s still not good. And I used to have to wear ear plugs when I went swimming or in the shower. Even now, I rarely put my head underwater when I’m in a pool (don’t stress, I do in the shower, my hair is silky smooth). So I used to have to go in to hospital once every few months for an operation on them.  My Nan used to buy me something every time I went in, and it became tradition to buy me a Sesame Street figurine. And once she bought me a huge Ernie. Now, any of my friends will tell you I love Ernie. I love him more than a fat kid loves carrots. Now think about that. If you’re fat from eating carrots, you must really love carrots.

I also broke my arm twice and got stitches. The first time I broke my arm, as I wrote in one of my "?" articles recently, Fraggle Rock was on in the waiting room in the hospital, and it was the only thing that made me smile. Then when I got stitches, my Mum put on a Sesame Street CD ("Silly Songs") on in the car on the way to the hospital. Then the next time I broke my arm, I had to go in for surgery because it was so bad. I was in hospital for a week, and they scheduled my surgery for a Thursday at 3pm. This was when Sesame Street was on. I blatantly refused to go, but they just needled me and I went to sleep. Those monsters.

So in my teenage years (I’m now 21) Sesame Street and The Muppets were always there for me. I love Muppets From Space, and I have no idea why that film gets such a bad rap from people. I managed to track down and buy every Muppet movie, the only one missing is Letters To Santa, which I’ll buy when I head to the U.S in a few weeks (at time of writing). P.S. – Kermit’s Swamp Years is just awful. There, I said it. I’m glad I said it.

For my 18th birthday, some of my friends bought me a giant talking Elmo. He’s huge--and he now sits in the spare room, because he’s just too big for my room. My friend bought me a Sesame Street chess set, which I love. And another friend bought me a Muppet Treasure Island Film Cell Limited Edition thingy, which I’ve yet to get framed!

Then, in 2008, after I’d finished high school, I discovered something that would drain my bank account. I discovered Muppet t-shirts. Sesame Street, Muppets, it’s all the same to me. My first one had Super Grover on it, which I’ve since had to replace because it was too small. I need a new Ernie and Bert one too, because that is also getting too small. I have no world of a lie, around about 30 now. At 20 bucks each, in 3 years I’ve spent $600 on Muppet-based t-shirts. Okay, so it didn’t drain my bank account, but you get what I meant. I exaggerate. Like my mother. Darn us Faircloughs! I also bought myself a Muppet Whatnot named Boon in New York City. He is pure awesome.

As some people may know, on December 18th 2008, while holidaying in New York City, I was given the chance to have a VIP tour to the Sesame Street set. It’s a long story, but essentially Matt Vogel is a friend of a friend of a friend. So a mate organized it behind my back, and when he told me the night before that we were going, I genuinely didn’t know how to react. I didn’t say a word. I mean, after years of watching it, I was going to Sesame Street! I won’t go through all the details, it’s enough to fill up an entire article and this thing is already long enough. But I’ll tell you the basics. The episode they filmed while I was there was Episode 4192, Season 40, entitled “Y a Quest? Y Not!” recently released in America on DVD, released here in Australia on DVD about 8 months ago. They filmed a few scenes, and I’m literally mere feet away during the Gina’s Vet scene.

I met Vogel and Paul McGinnis, and Vogel introduced us to Kevin Clash, who could not have been nicer. We ended up meeting Elmo, and he was hilarious, offering to be our drinking buddy for the weekend. Then we had a photo with Oscar. Vogel asked me if I had any preferences as to who I wanted to be photographed with, and I requested Ernie and Bert. When Vogel came back, he told me that the Ernie puppet was getting some repairs, so it wasn’t there. As I said, I love Ernie, but I was on such a high that even that didn’t disappoint me. Instead, Vogel had the Count, and Eric Jacobson came over with Bert. We quickly spoke to Eric, but then Bert came alive and had us in stitches for about 10 minutes. We took a few photos, and then Vogel led us to a room we’d already been to, which was empty besides a big blue box. He opened it up, and there, making me feel 4 again, was Big Bird. Vogel told us the entire story of how Big Bird is made, how he got the job of being the understudy, and was complaining about just how long he has to hold the Bird up during the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

I’ll cut that story short now, because as I said, it could go on for hours. It was honestly the best day ever, and to make it even better, that night I met Johnny Tartaglia, who was insanely kind to me, and has been ever since. Vogel and Paul have also been too good to me, and with any luck I’ll get to see them when I’m in the States soon.

And so now I’m here. My Muppet fandom really came in to its own I believe through this very website. I’m not saying this to be all sweet and kind, or to be a butt kisser to Ryan, but I truly do love this site. While the incredible ToughPigs has news and all that stuff, this website is really for the fans. If you’ve got any article ideas, I really really urge you to contact Ryan with them. That’s how I got a few articles written last year (The one about The Count being better than Twilight, and the awful Bunsen and Beaker rip off, which, I really dread to tell you all, is STILL being used) and how I got "?". Ryan is one of the best Muppet fans around, and I’m very glad the future of Muppet fandom is in his hands, and I hope I can be there alongside him, Lisa the Intern, The British Correspondent, and everyone else that’s submitted articles, making you laugh for a long time to come. "Jarrod Fairclough Presents: ?" is only just beginning, my friends, and you haven’t seen the last of me yet.

Now, jump on Word and write up your own Muppet Fan Testimonial, and I’ll be waiting to read them!

Now I’m off to take a correspondence course to get my license (bit of Muppet quoting for you, there).

Cheers,
Jarrod Fairclough












The Muppet Mindset by Ryan DosierSource URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/search/label/Matt%20Vogel
Visit Jim Henson for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection

People Muppet Fans Need to Know

Ryan Dosier - Recently, it has come to my attention that there are a lot of important Muppet people working right now that a lot of casual Muppet fans have never heard of. I was very bothered by this, since all of these people are doing such awesome things with the Muppets right now, it's a shame that they're not more well known among the fan-base. I thought I would solve that little problem by compiling a list of some People Muppet Fans Need to Know.

The Muppets


• Lylle Breier - General Manager of The Muppets Studio and all-around awesome lady. A lot of this recent push of the Muppets back into the limelight was thanks to her.
• Jim Lewis - Muppet Consultant and writer. He's responsible for making the Muppets just that: Muppets. He makes sure Piggy says Piggy things and Kermit says Kermit things and so on. He can probably be attributed to why the Muppets have been so good recently.
• Jason Segel - Writer and human star of the upcoming The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time. Segel's pitch for a new Muppet movie is what ignited this whole Muppet Renaissance. Also, self-proclaimed Muppet fanatic. Starred in the Muppet-referencing Forgetting Sarah Marshall and in the TV show How I Met Your Mother.
• Nicholas Stoller - Writer of the upcoming The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time. Has been promoting the heck out of The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time. 
• James Bobin - Director of the upcoming The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time. Has been noted as a sort of Muppet freak. Also directed Flight of the Conchords.
• Matt Vogel - Muppet performer. Performs Floyd Pepper, Robin the Frog, Lew Zealand, Crazy Harry, and others. Also writer and director for Sesame Street.
Fraggle Rock

• Cory Edwards - Writer/director of the upcoming Fraggle Rock feature film. Huge Muppet fan who knows exactly what he's doing.
Sesame Street


• Carol-Lynne Parente - Executive producer of Sesame Street since season 37. Accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmys.
• David Rudman - Daytime Emmy-nominated Muppet performer. Performs Baby Bear and Cookie Monster for Sesame Street. Performs Scooter and Janice for The Muppets.
• Joey Mazzarino - Daytime Emmy-nominated Muppet performer. Performs Murray Monster and various other characters on Sesame Street. Also writer and director for the show.
• Louis Henry Mitchell - Associate Design Director of Special Projects for Sesame Street. Ace photographer, and one of the nicest guys around.
• Neil Patrick Harris - Self-proclaimed Henson fanatic. Most well known roles include Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother, Doogie Howser in Doogie Howser, M.D., and Dr. Horrible in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. No really important reason to know him... but he's at the top of my list for cameos in the next Muppet movie.















The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Source URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/search/label/Matt%20Vogel
Visit Jim Henson for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection