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2008
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Brief Descriptions:

"Puppet Up! - Uncensored" (for adults only)

The Jim Henson Company’s renowned puppeteers demonstrate what happens when traditional comedic improvisation is mixed with the uninhibited anarchy of live puppet performance.  Not your average night of improv and definitely not for children.

 

Boiler Plates:

About "Puppet Up! - Uncensored" (for adults only)

From the company that for fifty years has celebrated irreverence, creativity and performance comes Puppet Up! - Uncensored: a demonstration of what happens when the perilous and provocative forms of traditional comedic improvisation are mixed with a bunch of puppets. With a motley group of characters brought to life by the world renowned puppeteers of The Jim Henson Company, this is not your average night at the improv and it is definitely not for children. But all others are welcome to enjoy the uninhibited anarchy of live puppet performance as never seen before.

About The Jim Henson Company...

The Jim Henson Company has remained an established leader in family entertainment for over 50 years and is recognized worldwide as an innovator in puppetry, animatronics and computer graphics. Best known as creators of the world famous Muppets (the rights to which are now owned by The Walt Disney Company), Henson is the recipient of over 50 Emmy Awards and nine Grammy Awards. Credits include the Saturn Award-winning “Farscape” and the features “MirrorMask,” “Five Children and It” and “Good Boy!”. With additional locations in New York and London, The Jim Henson Company is headquartered in Los Angeles on the historic Charlie Chaplin lot complete with soundstage and post-production facilities.

Independently owned and operated by the five adult children of founder Jim Henson, the Company is also home to Jim Henson’s Creature Shop™, a pre-eminent character-building and visual effects group with international film, television and advertising clients, as well as Henson Recording Studios, one of the music industry’s top recording facilities known for its world-class blend of state of the art and vintage equipment. The Company is currently in production on “Sid the Science Kid,” a new science readiness animated series for preschoolers scheduled to debut on PBS in September 2008, and recently launched “Puppet Up! - Uncensored,” a live puppet improvisational show that has played to sold out crowds around the world and premiered as a special on TBS. The Company has also announced the creation of Jim Henson Designs, a merchandise collection inspired by Jim Henson’s earliest sketches. The Jim Henson Company's website is located at: www.henson.com

 

Puppet Up! - Uncensored

Executive Producer : Brian Henson
Stage Show's Director and Host: Patrick Bristow

Performers:
Grant Baciocco
Julianne Buescher
Tyler Bunch
Leslie Carrara-Rudolph
Brian Clark
Brian Henson
Patrick Johnson
Sean Johnson
Donna Kimball
Karen Maruyama
Drew Massey
Ted Michaels
Micahel Oosterom
Carla Rudy
Colleen Smith
Allan Trautman
Victor Yerrid

Musical accompaniment by Willie Etra

 

Production Staff

 

 

 

BRIAN HENSON (Executive Producer, Performer) is Co-Chief Executive Officer of The Jim Henson Company and an award-winning director, producer, writer and performer.

In recent years, Henson served as Executive Producer on the television projects It’s A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, Muppet Wizard of Oz,Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (which he also directed) and Jim Henson’s Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story (which he also co-wrote and directed). Previous television projects that Henson produced include Farscape, Bear in the Big Blue House, Gulliver’s Travels, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, Muppets Tonight and Dinosaurs.  Henson’s long list of film credits includes The Great Muppet Caper, Labyrinth,The Witches, Little Shop of Horrors, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet TreasureIsland. 

Henson also oversees the groundbreaking work at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, one of Hollywood’s pre-eminent character building, digital and physical visual effects facilities.  Henson was part of the team that first created and utilized the Henson Performance Control System, a powerful custom-based interface for puppeteers, which won an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science Scientific and Engineering Award in 1992.  Recently, he has been leading the Shop’s work with its revolutionary puppeteered animation system. He most recently directed an episode for TNT’s anthology series Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, which premiered in July.





PATRICK BRISTOW (Stage Show Director/Host), is best known for his numerous television appearances most notably as "Peter" on the groundbreaking ABC series Ellen. Other television credits include, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, Friends, Mad About You, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and others.  Film credits include last summer's The Longest Yard, as well as the first Austin Powers, So I Married An Ax Murderer, Twilight of the Golds, and the accidental comedy Showgirls. Watch for him on the upcoming IFC series, The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman.

Bristow, an alum of The Groundlings Theatre, continues to teach and direct improv and sketch comedy there. His direction credits include City of the Future (Groundling Theatre), Deviant Shores (Maverick Television), Cooking With Gas (Groundling Theatre) and the 2004 L.A. Weekly Theatre Awards Show, as well as an episode of Lovesprings for Lifetime.

He is currently writing a pilot for FOX with Heather Morgan (The Comeback) for Sony Pictures Televsion and most recently appeared in the hit musical, The Break-up Notebook at the Hudson Backstage Theatre in Hollywood.

Performers

Grant Baciocco is an actor, writer, comedy musician, and puppeteer as well as the host of the Henson.com Podcast, the official podcast of The Jim Henson Company. His comedy music act, Throwing Toasters, has opened for “Weird Al” Yankovic, sold out at the Tokyo Dome in Japan and has been highlighted on the Dr. Demento Radio show. He is also the co-creator of “The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd,” the award winning, family friendly podcast that has featured special guest stars like Jeffrey Tambor, Joel Hodgson, Chuck McCann and June Foray. He’s also very aware that he looks like a young Michael Douglas. There’s not much he can do about that.

Tim Blaney studied Fine Art at UCLA before opting to take a job in the more secure profession of puppetry. Film credits include "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie," "The Grinch," Frank the Pug in the "Men in Black" films and Johnny Five in the "Short Circuit" movies. Television credits include "Still Standing," "Angel" and a bit further back, "Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters." He's puppeteered in a few commercials too. He studied improv with the Groundlings and had a long association with Tony Urbano's puppetry studio. He loves golf, and it sometimes loves him back.

Julianne Buescher is a whimsically versatile actor, writer, voice artist, and Second City alum with a freakish ability to voice-match most celebrities and singers. Credits include Forgetting Sarah Marshall, 24, Supernatural, The Simpsons, Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Robot Chicken, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Mr & Mrs Smith, Angel, Naruto, and Sid the Science Kid. She also created and starred in the award-winning film Resculpting Venus: a Comedy about Breast Cancer, and created some of the many puppets featured in "Puppet Up: Uncensored!"
Tyler Bunch has been working as an actor for fifteen years. In addition to performing such characters as Parris in The Crucible, Bottom in Midsummer Night’s Dream and Pooh Bah in The Mikado, he may also be recognized by youngsters (or the young at heart) for his performances as Pop, Treelo and Doc Hogg (Bear in the Big Blue House), or Grampu, Dr. Nitwhite, Winslow or Baby Cookie Monster (OOBI, Between The Lions, It’s a Big, Big World, Sesame Beginnings).
Leslie Carrara-Rudolph's television work includes Abby Cadabby on Sesame Street, Ginger on Disney's Johnny & The Sprites and she's currently recording Nate, for PBS's Nate the Great. Carrara-Rudolph was also a member of the PBS puppet tour that visited shelters in Louisiana and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. Her stage credits include her one-woman show, Young at Heart which she wrote and produced. Carrara-Rudolph also illustrates children's books.
Brian Clark has just gotten a role in Randy Olson's (director: Flock of Dodos) upcoming feature “Sizzle”. Prior to last Tuesday, he has written for numerous animated series such as “Yokies”, “Baydogs” and “The Children of Toromiro” and been seen in numerous commercials. He co-wrote and created the pilot series “That Gay Ghost” for the Logo network. Brian is a co-founder of the famed sketch comedy group, “The Deviants” and is an alumni of the Groundlings Theater Sunday Company. He has is master's from NYU in television writing and gender studies (isn't that combo useful)..
Peggy Etra has studied at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and with The Groundlings, with whom she has also performed. Today she continues honing her craft under the tutelage of Patrick Bristow, and she is thrilled to be a part of Puppet Up! - Uncensored. Peggy would like to thank Willie Etra for being the music in her life.
Brian Henson:(see production staff bios)
Patrick Johnson is a puppeteer, illustrator, and co-owner of puppetry company Swazzle. In addition to designing and building puppets for Swazzle's traveling shows, he has built puppets for The Jim Henson Company's "Puppet Up! - Uncensored" improv show. His puppeteering credits include "Pat the Bunny," "Einstein Pals," and Jib Jab's "Greetings from Hell" series.
Sean Johnson began building puppets and performing puppet shows professionally after joining the San Francisco Bay Area Puppeteers Guild in 1993. His credits include, “Late Night Buffet”, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”, “Einstein Pals”, “Playing with Dolls”, and “Baby Monet”. He built puppets for “Puppet Up! – Uncensored”, and is also co-owner of Swazzle, a puppet company based in Los Angeles.
Donna Kimball began her career in the theatre performing all over the southeast, most notably in the
first regional production of Jane Wagner's THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE. Acting credits include gobs of commercials as well as JARHEAD, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, PATCH ADAMS, TRACEY TAKES ON, and SOLARIS, which some call the worst movie ever made! Woo-hoo! Puppetry credits include SPIDER-MAN 2, TEAM AMERICA, CRANK YANKERS, GREG THE BUNNY, the upcoming SID THE SCIENCE KID, and the live shows of PUPPETS AFTER HOURS.
Karen Maruyama is an alumni of the Groundlings improv troupe and currently directs their mainstage show. She also teaches improv at the Groundlings and the American Film Institute. She can be seen this fall in the film “The Bucket List”. Her TV credits include “Ugly Betty”, “Nip/Tuck”, and “Curb Your Enthusiasm”. Voiceover credits include “The Simpsons”, “American Dad”, “Justice League”, and “Avatar”.
Drew Massey is an actor, puppeteer, and voice-over guy whose film credits include Muppets Wizard of Oz, The Producers, Doctor Dolittle, Cats & Dogs, Team America, and Men In Black I and II. Drew has also performed on TV in Greg the Bunny, Angel, Malcolm in the Middle, Muppets Tonight, Cousin Skeeter, Crank Yankers and in ads for Foster Farms, Sony and Levi’s. He also draws really well, loves animals and helped create some of the many puppets featured in Puppet Up! – Uncensored.
Ted Michaels is an alum of the performing company at the Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles where he was featured in their main stage shows. Other stage credits include One Word Improv with Eddie Izzard and the one man show Boy From Mars. In addition to many commercial appearances, his television credits include roles on The Comeback, Campus Ladies, According to Jim, Girlfriends and Mad TV.

Michael Oosterom is an actor whose stage credits include the American Conservatory Theater, The California Shakespeare Festival, The San Francisco Mime Troupe and the national tour of Steve Martin’s “Picasso at the Lapin Agile”. TV credits include Nickelodeon’s “The Amanda Show”, “The District”, and “Help Me Help You”. Recent puppet credits include “The Fox Lantern”, and the film “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Dante’s Inferno”. He studied acting at Temple University and improv with The Groundlings. 

Carla Rudy puppeteered in Beck’s recent live show, performing the puppet version of dancer/percussionist Ryan. The tour included North America, Europe, and Asia, and an appearance on Saturday Night Live. Film/TV credits include Team America, Fist of Oblivion, Stool Pigeon, Agro & York, Hate… a comedy, commercials for Fandango.com, Mattel, and Kellogg’s, and Apartment 413 (winner, Best Comedy, New York Television Festival.) Voiceover credits include Automation, Armed Forces Radio, and Nougat. Carla also improvises with the Styles Project at Theatre Asylum.

Colleen Smith is a Groundlings Sunday Company alum and currently teaches improv at the Groundlings school. She is a correspondent on “The Showbiz Show with David Spade”. Her other television credits include “The Office”, “World Cup Comedy”, “The Singles Table”, “Carpoolers”, and “King of the Hill”. She is the co-creator of an original series called “Danger Force Five”. She is also the co-creator of “DateGarden.com”, a fictional dating website, and of “The Smith Brown Project”, a two woman show which ran at The Comedy Central Stage and UCB.

Allan Trautman began his performing career as an actor, noted for his portrayal of “Tarman” in the cult classics Return of the Living Dead: Parts One and Two. He has gone on to puppeteer in such features as Muppets From Space, Cats & Dogs, Babe and Dr. Dolittle (for which he was also performance coordinator).   His television puppeteering credits include Greg the Bunny, Unhappily Ever After, Muppets Tonight and Dinosaurs. 

Victor Yerrid is an actor and puppeteer who likes calling people “Hank” regardless of their name.  His credits include The Producers, Team America, Just Like Heaven, Men In Black II, Angel, Crank Yankers, Robot Chicken, Drawn Together, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, Greg The Bunny, Sesame Street, Between The Lions, and Bear in the Big Blue House.  Victor enjoys most berry-based smoothies and adores his wife Janet.

Photos

Back row: Patrick Bristow, Allan Trautman, Brian Henson, Paul Rugg
Front row: Julianne Buescher, Drew Massey, Victor Yerrid

 

Back row: Allan Trautman, Brian Henson, Paul Rugg
Front row: Julianne Buescher, Drew Massey, Victor Yerrid

 

L-R: Tyler Bunch, Ted Michaels

L-R: Tyler Bunch, Julianne Buescher, Ted Michaels, Brian Henson, Paul Rugg

 

L-R: Julianne Buescher, Brian Henson

 

L-R: Victor Yerrid, Drew Massey

 

L-R: Drew Massey, Ted Michaels, Paul Rugg, Victor Yerrid, Julianne Buescher, Brian Henson, Allan Trautman, Tyler Bunch

 
 

L-R: Victor Yerrid, Brian Henson

 

The Aliens from Puppet Up! - Uncensored

 

The Hotdogs from Puppet Up! - Uncensored

 

Piddles from Puppet Up! - Uncensored

 
Puppet Up! - Uncensored is a demonstration of what happens when traditional comedic improvisation is mixed with a bunch of puppets. Not your average night at the improv and it is definitely not for children.

 

________________________________________________

Nicole Goldman
Head of Publicity
The Jim Henson Company
ngoldman@henson.com
323.802.1608

© 2008 The Jim Henson Company. All Rights Reserved.