Today we're thrilled to welcome one of the final three competitors on the first season of Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge, the hit SyFy reality show. Melissa Doss is a fan favorite competitor and one of the most talented individuals I've ever seen on TV. Melissa's ability to construct incredible creatures in just a few days time blows me away every week. I was so excited to get the chance to talk to Melissa about her work on the show ahead of the big series finale tomorrow night.

RYAN DOSIER: Welcome to The Muppet Mindset, Melissa! Please, make yourself at home. We don’t have any cool creatures to show off, but my cat is pretty interesting.

MELISSA DOSS: Well thank you so much! I’m really happy to be here, let me just settle in… move the cat... ahhh… alright let's do this!

RYAN: Let’s jump right into it: what was the audition process like for Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge?

MELISSA: Oh my goodness, it was actually pretty challenging. They basically wanted to see what we’d done, what we were capable of doing, and also if our hands would cramp up filling out dozens of forms! Ha! There were also lots of interviews both via Skype and in person being filmed.

RYAN: Describe the first time you set foot in the Creature Shop. What was it like to be there in person?

MELISSA: Walking into the Creature Shop for the first time was like walking into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Not to be cheesy, but honestly everything seemed magical. I mean I was surrounded by everything I grew up with from the family from Dinosaurs to drawings of Rygel from Farscape, not to mention there was every single material and piece of equipment I have ever wanted to use sitting right in front of me.

RYAN: Talk to us a little bit about meeting Brian Henson. He is a true legend so I can imagine it was nerve wracking as both a fan and a contestant on the show.

MELISSA: Meeting Brian was amazing; he is a true super star in this industry. Brian does it all, he directs, voices, and performs. To meet him was a dream come true. He and his family have done so much to advance puppeteering and creature building. It was just crazy to realize that he was going to be critiquing all of our work.

RYAN: For the first challenge (Undersea Creatures), you designed the Scuttleslurp with your partner Ben. What was the most challenging aspect of this build? What about the most rewarding aspect?

MELISSA: The most challenging part of this first challenge was the fact that it was the first challenge! We had no idea what the judges were going to be looking for, or if we’d be able to put out a creature in such a short amount of time that would actually hold up to being performed. So in turn, the most rewarding part was seeing our creature perform and then being safe and moving on to the next week.

RYAN: The second challenge was my favorite so far, as each team got to design and build their own Skeksis. The results were incredible, especially your decaying frost Skeksis, SkekSith. What was your favorite part about this challenge? How did it feel to be working so closely with elements from The Dark Crystal?

MELISSA: Oh man! The second challenge was just nerd paradise for me, and many of my fellow contestants. I just couldn’t believe that I got to be in the same room as some of the original Dark Crystal creatures and props, just sooooo cool. I had two favorite parts of this challenge, first was working with fellow contestant Robert Bennett (we became the best of friends), and second was hearing Brian Henson call me an unsung hero for my body construction and fabrication. Such a cool moment to see on TV. Oh yeah, did I mention that after we filmed I licked the Dark Crystal... Yeah that happened.

RYAN: For week three you had to work with material from a scrapyard to design your creature, Pickles. What new challenges did this Creature Brief present?

MELISSA: Well the first challenge was to not get tetanus in the scrapyard! If I’m being honest though, it was about par for the course, working in small shops you are usually repurposing things you find in thrift shops and junkyards. What was difficult though, was finding enough lightweight material to use, most of the things there were very heavy or hard to alter which did prove to be difficult considering the quick turnaround. All in all, our 60’s science fiction inspired ape, from outer space (Pickles) turned out all right.

RYAN: In week four, you had to design just the head of a creature to interact with Donald Faison. What was it like having your creature interact with a celebrity?

MELISSA: Gosh lets not talk about week four! I almost got kicked off because of my time management with those stinking eye mechanics! It was AAAAwesome having Oweson (my sea serpent) interact with Donald Faison. He is so hilarious with his improve and my puppeteer Victor Yerrid did such an amazing job taking my story and making it work to interact with Donald. If only everyone could have seen all of the dialogue that Donald exchanged with or creatures/ puppeteers, we were in stitches.

RYAN: The next episode saw you teamed up with Ben again to design an incredible Longneck Loon bird creature. Your work on the wings was inspired and brought you to the top for the first time. How did it feel to finally win one of the challenges?

MELISSA: Well, I wont sugarcoat it, week five was tough. We were over half way through all of the filming for the show and it felt like we’d been working for six months. So we were worn out, and being so close to the end means you need to show off what you can do and fight for yourself a little harder... that’s rough on a partner challenge. In the end though, I got the win! That was such an incredible feeling, especially after landing in the bottom in the previous challenge and having so many creative differences during this challenge, I honestly couldn’t believe it, and I was beside myself.

RYAN: In week six you won for a second time in a row. I adored your Long-Bladed Swamp Foul creature. I’m sure it felt like a validation of your talent to win yet again. What was your favorite part of that creature’s design?

MELISSA: This was my favorite win! This week it was alllllll me, and that’s what made it so amazing. I had a lot to prove going into another individual challenge (considering I almost got booted the last one) not to mention the phenomenal Neville Page was our guest judge! I almost fell over when I received all the feedback from him. He seriously knows what he’s talking about, I mean he is truly on a different level of creature creation. My favorite part of my creatures design was the way I laid in the grass and seriously the fact that I had time to do finishing work for once.

RYAN: In the season’s penultimate episode, your super cool alien creature received raves from the judges, placing you in the final three competitors. How did it feel to be so close to total victory?

MELISSA: It feels amazing! We had Barry Sonnenfeld as a guest judge and he critiqued and loved my work (his movies got me into this business) and I made it to the finale! I honestly didn’t think I was going to make it past the first episode, and I’m the last girl standing. I can’t describe how I feel being so close to my dream job... it makes me hopeful, nervous, and honestly a little nauseous.

RYAN: Of the creatures we’ve seen from you so far, which are you most proud of? Which do you wish you could’ve spent more time on?

MELISSA: I am most proud of Fill (the Long Blade Swamp Fowl) he had almost everything I wanted him to have and definitely the overall look I had intended. I think we all know which guy I wish I had spent more time on... Oweson, my sea serpent. He was supposed to have soooo much more detail, but since I’d never even touched servos before he suffered. Poor guy.

RYAN: Who has been your favorite teammate to work with on the show? Who has been the hardest to say goodbye to after they’ve been eliminated?

MELISSA: Well Robert was my favorite to work with of course! We became best buds. #TeamMelBert for the win! Now, I’d have to say it was a toss up between Jake and Ivonne for hardest to see go, I love them both and learned so much from each of them. To be honest though it was sad to see anyone leave, most of us had a pretty strong connection and it was like watching our little family being torn apart.

RYAN: Who has been your favorite puppeteer to work with on the show?

MELISSA: Oh don’t you dare ask me that! I’ll have wild puppeteers hunting me down! Ha! Honestly though, I loved them all. I have such a huge respect for them and everything they endure when performing these creatures. Seriously every time we went for a screen test working with the puppeteers was my absolute hands down favorite part. You always know your creature is going to be cool, but man, when the puppeteers get a hold of them they actually seem to have a life of their own.

RYAN: What is your favorite Kirk Thatcher outfit from the show?

MELISSA: Hahahaha, geez... all of them? Wardrobe had a lot of fun with him especially in hats. He’s the greatest.

RYAN: Lastly, without giving away any spoilers (since I’m sure you’re legally bound not to), what can fans expect to see from the final episode?

MELISSA: CRAZY CREATURE CREATION VOODOO! Also a cadge match fight to the death. (wink) Seriously, though we all put blood sweat and tears into this last one because there is no safe or eliminated it’s now down to a winner and two losers.

RYAN: Thanks so much for chatting with me, Melissa! Congratulations on the show and your success and good luck in the big finale!

MELISSA: Oh my gosh, no thank you for interviewing me (shakes hand). I had so much fun and you had some great questions (stands up and curtsies)
My huge, huge thanks to Melissa for being so wonderful and willing to do the interview!




The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

Mitchell Stein - In case you missed it, make sure to check out part one of our interview with Muppet writer Craig Shemin! Without further ado here is our second and last part of our interview with Craig Shemin.

Mitchell Stein: What do you think is the future of the Jim Henson Company and the Jim Henson Legacy is in the next twenty years? What do you think will be archived in that time?

Craig Shemin: I’d say there’s a lot of stuff. I know the Henson Company is working on a lot of stuff. They have a lot of shows and films in the works. I mean, I’m hoping twenty years down the road the company is up and running and still doing work. They overcame a great deal of adversity when Jim died, I remember because I was there, and very quickly they got up to speed and created some shows that were really very strong. When I was working at the company in the late 90s, Henson was producing shows like The Wubbolous World of Dr. Seuss, Bear in the Big Blue House, and Farscape. In the ten years following Jim’s death, the company had produced more hours of television than what Jim had done in his lifetime, and a lot of people don’t realize that the family came together and really made that happen.

It was very sad to recently lose John Henson, he was a truly great guy and I know it’s really hard on the family and I hope they are able to continue moving forward.

As for the Jim Henson Legacy, we’re hoping that a lot of what we do we will be taken over by the organizations that the Henson Family donated these collections to. So you are going to be seeing a lot more of the activities we normally do such as screenings and events which will be taken over by the Museum of Moving Image and other organizations.

MS: I was hoping you might be able to share some more insight on John Henson. Of course Muppet fans are very saddened by his passing but some are unfamiliar with John as his credits with the Muppets were not as big as some of the other Hensons. I was hoping you might be able to share some fond memories of John Henson with us.

CS: I remember working with him on several occasions, he really enjoyed life. He was sort of always taking life as it happened and I think he was really like his father in that way. I once remember I think in ’92 or ’93, Jane Henson started giving presentations to people, so she asked me and John to make a video tour of the Henson workshop. John really got into it and he took his video camera and went around the workshop and we had a lot of fun and John was really getting into shooting video of all the drawers full of eyes and ears, and it was just a lot of fun to put together and when I watch it now, you can kind of hear him laughing behind the camera. He found really funny things to shoot around the workshop.

When he started performing Sweetums, he really got into it and really enjoyed it. I remember Sweetums was supposed to do an appearance on CNN one day, and we were shooting it in the Henson Townhouse and I was still in the public relations department, and we were all waiting for John to arrive but he was stuck in traffic, so they were literally minutes away from putting me into the Sweetums costume for this appearance. I was so relieved when John walked through the door with a big smile on his face, and said “sorry I’m late!” and I was just so relived to not have to play Sweetums that day.

I wasn’t really that close with John, but I always remember him being very positive and always greeting me with a smile.

MS: What would you say is the most misunderstood thing about Jim Henson?

CS: I don’t know if I would say misunderstood, but so many people see Jim Henson as the guy who created the Muppets, but they don’t see the bigger picture of a guy who was good at really so many things. The puppets were only one of the things he did. He did animation, he did a lot of really wonderful artwork, he was an Academy Award nominated film maker for his short film, Timepiece, so I think some people when they see Jim Henson they see him on talk shows and with Kermit, they’re only seeing part of a very big picture and that’s what we try to emphasize at these Henson events and screenings. He’s a guy who of course created the Muppets, but he did so many other great things.

I don’t know if you got the chance to see Youth ’68 or The Cube, these are very unique television programs done in the 60’s by Jim, and they have nothing to do with puppetry, and I think that we try to position Jim as an artist, he was a puppeteer but first and foremost an artist, and an incredible performer. Not a lot of people think about how good a performer Jim really was.

I guess I wouldn’t call it a misunderstanding, but I just don’t think they’re seeing the big-picture.

MS: I actually haven’t had the chance to see The Cube or Youth ’68 yet, but I’ve seen many of his other fantastic works.

CS: You can actually purchase The Cube and Timepiece on iTunes right now! Henson put that up there. Unfortunately, there’s too many music copyright issues for Youth ’68, and they weren't able to get that one up.

MS: And for my last question, who is your favorite Muppet, or can you even pick just one?

CS: I have several favorites actually, but I really love Rowlf! Recently I put together a Rowlf compilation for one of our screenings at the Museum of Moving Image, there’s something so special about that character and especially his interactions with Jimmy Dean. I also love Fozzie. From a point of view of writing for characters, it doesn’t get better than Miss Piggy.

I had the opportunity to write for Piggy quite a bit. I co-wrote her cookbook, and many different speeches TV appearances and projects. From a writing point of view, she is the richest character. She is a lot of fun to work for.
Huge thanks to Craig for the wonderful interview--and the closing picture!





The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

As you know, (and if you don't, check it) your pals at The Muppet Mindset and ToughPigs attended the World Premiere of Muppets Most Wanted as members of the venerable press line. The popularity of our initial video was so huge that Muppet fans demanded more--and obviously we live to please. So we're thrilled to showcase the full interviews we conducted with the Muppet Performers. We interviewed Steve Whitmire, Peter Linz, Bill Barretta (and his awesome son Jackson), David Rudman, and Eric Jacobson--plus we talked to Dave Goelz, but not on camera. We sincerely hope you enjoy!

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The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

Mitchell Stein - I had the fantastic pleasure of interviewing Muppet legend Craig Shemin last Thursday. I was very nervous to be interviewing such an amazing Muppet legend, but once we got into it, I realized Craig was such an fantastic guy and so great to speak to.

Craig of course is notable for his work for the Henson Archives and as president of The Jim Henson Legacy. He recently lent his writing talents to publish a new book, The Muppets Character Encyclopedia, and you can read our review of the book right here.

Thanks to Chase Beecher for your help on the questions!

Mitchell Stein: How did you come to work with the Muppets and come to work where you are today?

Craig Shemin: I actually started out as a Muppet fan. The Muppet Show came out when I was ten years old and before that I grew up watching Sesame Street. When I was in college, I saw the documentary Henson's Place on PBS. I was later looking for something to do over the summer, so I called Henson Co. to see if they had any open jobs for an internship. So that’s what I did, and I worked as a summer intern, summer of 1987, and when I graduated I came back to work at the company.

MS: What did you intern as?

CS: I interned in the public relations/PR department and working a little bit with the company archives. I answered the phones, made a lot of photocopies, and faxes and all that. Back then, our clippings services would send us all the newspaper clippings where the Muppets or Jim Henson would be mentioned and it was my job to compile them into clippings packages and make copies and send them all around the company. Nowadays the services send everything digitally, but back then they would mail us the actual newspaper clippings, so it was incredibly low-tech.

That summer I got to meet Jim Henson at the staff company softball game, and he actually borrowed my glove for a few innings, so at the end of the day I got him to sign it.

MS: I bet you have that glove framed on your wall.

CS: Right, exactly. I probably have the only Jim Henson-used baseball glove, with his autograph.

MS: Did you ever work with Jim Henson personally?

CS: I did, a little bit. When I was working after I graduated, one of my jobs in public relations was to get Jim Henson's quotes for various articles, when they would want Jim to comment on a specific article or something. So I would go up to Jim, and he would talk about how he felt about whatever the quote was and I would type it up.

When I was making my transition to writing, one of the first things that I wrote for the Muppets was performed by Jim. It was a speech for Kermit for the Disney Shareholders Meeting back when Disney was in talks with Jim to purchase the Muppets the first time round. It was a lot of fun, and Jim was such a nice man. I was very intimidated by his presence, but not from anything he did, he was just very casual and kind. At that first company softball game when I was an intern, he came over and introduced himself to me because he didn’t recognize who I was. I told him I was an intern and he said "Oh, you're the new intern! I heard we had a new intern here." He was very warm and I was nervous when he was around, but he was Jim. He wanted everybody to call him Jim, and that was the way it was.

I was just getting to the point where I could be in a room with him and not get nervous when he sadly passed away. Just a month before that, we were doing The Muppets at Walt Disney World, I don't know if you’ve seen that one yet.

MS: I have actually! It’s my favorite Muppet special of all time.

CS: At that time we got to go down there because at that time I was writing all the press releases and all the public relations writing, so I got to go down to that shoot and write a press kit for the show. When I got there the first day, I see Jim walking towards me. I looked around to see who he was walking towards, but then I realized he was walking towards me. "Oh hello Craig! How are you?" he greeted me. It just really took me aback, for him take off what he was doing to come over and greet me was truly remarkable. So I spent four or five days down there at the shoot and interviewing several puppeteers to write the press material for the show.

MS: What would you say was your fondest memory of Jim Henson?

CS: On that shoot was one of them. Y’know, when you're part of a shoot like that they cater the lunch, and I remember having lunch directly across from Jim and he was really enjoying his macaroni and cheese. I don't remember a lot of what he was talking about, but I do remember he was so happy that they had brownies for dessert. He seemed to get a lot of enjoyment out of everything -- and in this case it was lunch, And that shoot was really special for me, because I got to see how big groups of people react to Jim, because this was shot on location in Disney World.

One setup we were doing at the Grand Floridian, and Jim just left the set to go to the bathroom, and he was just walking to the bathroom and large groups of people were following him. They didn’t know where he was going, but they all knew he was Jim Henson and they’re following him, and I got a feeling what it must have been like for Walt Disney to walk around Disneyland. It’s really amazing that Jim meant so much to all these people, and they were following him, so I knew that was one of my favorite things I ever saw about Jim.

MS: How is the restoration of the Muppet characters going at the Smithsonian, Museum of Moving Image in NY, and Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta going? What can fans expect from those experiences?

CS: They all have very different sets of puppets, some are duplications, because we had multiple puppets, but those selections were made for very specific reasons. Center for Puppetry Arts is receiving things that are very significant from a puppetry perspective, unique designs, unique performance qualities. Moving Image is the items that were more unique and more significant to Jim’s role as a creator of the moving image and film. Then the Smithsonian is really significant, cultural icons. The Smithsonian will be also using their collection on a revolving basis as part of their exhibits on television and puppetry. I believe there are already some on exhibit as of now.

MS: I believe so. The last time I was there, Kermit, Oscar the Grouch and the Sam and Friends cast where there.

CS: My wife was down there a couple of months ago, and Prairie Dawn was on exhibit there. So like I said they’re going to rotate the puppets that they have for exhibition, because the puppets are rather delicate, so they don’t want to have them out under the light and in the open for too long, so you’ll see rotating exhibits there.

The Center for Puppetry Arts is doing a major renovation, and the Henson exhibit there will be a part of a larger global exhibition on puppetry and Henson will have a very significant part in that. I think 2015 is the date that we’re talking about for the CPA and MMI. We don’t know an exact date yet, but those are the year that is being kicked around. The Museum of Moving Image will have a Muppet gallery which has yet to be named, but we have over 200 puppets that they received, so there will be a significant and prominent exhibit of Jim's career. There's talk of creating a traveling museum as well, so that will be a way to refresh and rotate the exhibit that they have permanently. The curator of the museum, Barbara Miller, is working on that as we speak, and there is going to have to be a lot of restoration and renovation on the puppets as well.

What’s also really interesting is that the museum was so excited to make this exhibit that they even had to give up some of their office space for this gallery. They’re creating this new Henson gallery out of what is currently the museum director’s offices and some of the other offices, and for them to give up their real estate shows they’re really excited about this exhibit. There’s also a small theater there that this gallery will be around, and that is going to be mostly dedicated to showing Henson productions. To keep awareness high, we’re doing monthly screenings and events until the opening. Last month, we held an event for my new book and this month we have preview screenings of Muppets Most Wanted, and next month we’ll have something Easter related!

MS: That sounds very exciting! I’m sure we’re all really looking forward to these openings. They’re going to be a great way to celebrate the life of Jim Henson. I wanted to ask you about another legendary Muppet restoration, and I’m referring to the Muppet Pipes at NBC's 30 Rockerfeller Center. Where did the idea surface, and who’s idea was it to refurbish that?

CS: As far as I’m know, that was actually Jimmy Fallon's idea. He knew about the pipes from being a Saturday Night Live cast member for several years, and it sort of became the thing people would talk about at NBC. For years the pipes were in Max Weinberg's dressing room when he was the band leader on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. When I saw them for the first time, we went in when it was still his dressing room, we asked if we can go into his dressing room since we were there for an appearance, I believe it was for The Today Show. We got to go in and see the pipes in their original position in the dressing room, and when Jimmy Fallon took over Late Night, they were doing some renovation on the floor and from what I hear, he intervened and made sure the pipes would not only be safe, but also be put on display so they would no longer be hidden in a dressing room but rather they would be under glass. They turned it into a big event and included it on the tour. Not all of the NBC tours include this, so I suggest doing the research prior to your visit, but you can now see it on most of the tours of 30 Rock. They did a beautiful job of restoring it. They put it under glass they put some footage of the Muppets doing the Jack Paar show, they put up some great still photos, and the fact that they had Frank Oz come in and dedicate the pipes made it very special.

MS: That is interesting. Jimmy Fallon is a fantastic Muppet fan, but I was unaware of this.

CS: Yeah, he actually rode the Sesame Street float in this year's Macy's Parade along with The Roots. My wife, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, works as a Sesame puppeteer and she found out that it was Jimmy Fallon who asked to be on the float, and Sesame Workshop didn’t even approach him.

MS: What would you say is the most valuable thing in the Jim Henson Archives?

CS: Hmm... That;s a tough one. I think the most valuable thing is no longer in the Henson Family, and it’s the original Kermit, which was donated to the Smithsonian a number of years ago. I think that was the most valuable thing that was in the Henson family until recently. It's a beautiful piece, and since it's all fabric and there’s no foam or anything else to break it down, Kermit has held up well over the years, and I think the Hensons are proud that Kermit now sits in the Smithsonian.

MS: Do you have a personal favorite item in the archives?

CS: There’s so many! I love Rowlf, so I love all the Rowlf sketches and puppets in the archives, so my favorite will probably have to be the original Rowlf puppet. There’s something so lovable about the character, and I just always love looking at him when he's on display anywhere. I also love a character named Sir Linit from a commercial for "Linit Fabric Finish", He's a beautiful puppet - he's a spray can knight. When they first opened up the box for that puppet, it was all in pieces, and they did a great job of re-assembling the puppet from all the parts in the box.

MS: Is there a separate archive for the Disney-owned Muppets and the Sesame owned Muppets from the main Henson archive?

CS: Karen Falk, the head of the archive, she keeps everything all in one archive collection. When the company sold the characters to Disney it was agreed that Disney got the production photography and franchise but Jim’s drawings and sketches and all archive material stayed at Henson Archive. The Disney archive doesn’t maintain material for their acquired properties, only for their main original Disney properties, so it worked out well to keep all the material at Henson.

MS: My next question is related to your book: When you were writing this book, did you discover any new info that you didn’t know prior to writing this encyclopedia?

CS: Yeah, I’m always learning things that I didn’t know. I couldn’t think of one specific thing, but yes, many things that I didn’t know before have come up that I learned. The thing was with this book that if I didn’t have all the full info or I couldn’t find the info I basically just had the ability to make it up.

MS: And in a very humorous fashion!

CS: (laughs) Thanks. I was trying to be as funny as I could, because I didn’t just want it to be a reference and we wanted to target it to everyone, as originally it was just supposed to be a children's book. Originally when I was approached, the publisher, DK was planning to do it as a children's book -- they generally do children's books and they saw it as part of their regular line for kids. Jim Lewis, the consultant on the book, and myself, we wanted to not just target at children, but to a broad range of Muppet fans, and I wanted it to be as entertaining as it could be. I sent some material to Jim Lewis to look at and he would tell me that he was laughing out loud. Once the publishers and Disney saw what we were doing and that it was suitable for kids even though they might not get all the jokes, they agreed that this was the approach to take.

MS: You mentioned this was also supposed to originally be intended for children as well, I guess that’s why The Muppet Show pilot title was only referred to as "Muppet Show pilot" in the book instead of "Sex and Violence."

CS: Well, I sent in my manuscript and it had the original title on it, but it still needed to be suitable for all ages so they decided to just call it the "Muppet Show pilot." It’s interesting to know that the TV Guide listings when it aired in the 70's referred to the episode as "The Muppet Show" and not by the title "The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence." Basically, that’s generally the reason it was cut out of the books. The book needed to be suitable to all ages.

MS: Where did the idea for this book come from? Were you approached by Disney, or DK or was it one of your own ideas?

CS: It wasn’t one of my own ideas. I was approached by Jim Lewis, if you don’t know Jim, he’s been involved with the Muppets for a long time. He was the editor of the Muppet Magazine way back when it was in publication. I worked beside him for a while and when he moved to LA, I took over his job and Jim was involved in a lot of Muppet stuff over the years, he is involved still at Disney and I get called in occasionally when Jim is busy. When Disney and DK decided they wanted to do this book they went to Jim and he didn’t really have the time so he approached me but he agreed to be a consultant. He gave my info to DK and they approached me later. It all happened very quickly. The thing about this book, I only started writing it in July of last year.

MS: Speaking of Disney, what do you think about the Muppets being remade for new movies and TV shows? How does I match up compared to thirty years ago?

CS: Well, it’s always gonna be different. I think that the fact that they are still around and people are still going to see them so many years after they were created is wonderful. I think Jim saw that these would be characters that would live on as long as people would keep going to see them. I think that certain shows are more successful than others, but that’s always been the case, but I think the fact that they keep cranking out new specials and new movies is fantastic.

MS: So have you seen Muppets Most Wanted yet? (EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview was conducted before the film was released).

CS: I haven’t got a chance to see the film yet, but I got to read the script because I had to write pages for Constantine and the Leprechauns and I thought the script was really great. It improved on the previous Muppet movie by letting the Muppets really take over the center of the story. A problem that I had with the last movie was that I felt it wasn't as much of a Muppet movie. I understand why they had to take that role in that film, but based on this script, this second film is more of a Muppet movie.

MS: I guess they really had to undergo the phase to re-introduce the Muppets to the general audience again. It was necessary, I guess.

CS: I understand why they thought it was necessary for them. I guess they needed to feature a "journey" for the Muppets so they needed to feature them as "washed up." There are different ways to do things, I probably would have taken another way to tell that story, but that doesn’t mean what they did was wrong. There’s many different ways to tell that story. I think that the fact that it came out and it did well and people went to see it was a wonderful thing.

Check back soon for Part 2 of our interview with Craig!







The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

Monday afternoon I had the incredible opportunity to chat with Nicholas Stoller, co-writer of both The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted. Nick and I talked on the phone for about 20 minutes and it was such a joy to get to hear things from his perspective. After speaking to Nick both at the World Premiere of Muppets Most Wanted and on the phone, I can't say enough how great he is, and how much he understands the Muppets. It's great to have him ingrained in the franchise. Below is the transcription of the interview because the audio recording quality was very poor. I hope you enjoy--and go see Muppets Most Wanted!

Ryan Dosier - Yesterday me, Joe Hennes and Matt Wilkie of ToughPigs, and my friend Dan had the incredible opportunity to attend the press conference for Muppets Most Wanted at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles. Not only did we get to see Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, Ty Burrell, James Bobin, Bret McKenzie, Kermit, Miss Piggy, Constantine, and Sam Eagle talk about the film, but we also got to have one on one interviews with Constantine and KERMIT THE FROG. It was an unreal, incredible dream come true. I have to give huge, huge thanks to Matt Vogel and Steve Whitmire for their joyful and extremely awesome performances. They're truly the best. Anyway... here are the interviews. I sincerely hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

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The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

Jarrod Fairclough - Hello everyone. Look, I’m back! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? How’s the family I’m very excited, because today I’m bringing you a rarely heard story of a song from The Muppet Show, specifically "The Wishing Song," which Gonzo sings in the Season 2 episode with Madeline Kahn.

Now, without getting into it, this song is very important to me, it helped me through some tough times. Recently I was looking it up on YouTube, and I discovered a comment by a guy who claimed to have written it, so I explored, and sure enough, the guy’s name was Paul Tracey. I looked on his site, and got in contact with him, asking if we could interview him. Well, instead of that idea, we decided that Paul would just share his story outright. So, without any further ado, take it away Paul!

HOW THE WISHING SONG CAME TO THE MUPPET SHOW
By Paul Tracey

It must have been around 1970 when my wife and I were cast as actors in a local New York TV show. It starred Phil Bruns, Sam Waterston and others. We acted out folk stories and every week there was a theme to the show, and all the stories related to that theme.

The producer came to me one day and said, "Paul, you know a lot of folk songs, don't you? This week's theme is wishing. Do you have any folk songs about wishing?"

"Yes, I do," I replied. "Here's one. It's an Irish song called The Shepherd's Lamb."

I began to sing it. It's a very cute song with a great melody and a Gaelic chorus.

I wish I had the shepherd's lamb,
The shepherd's lamb, the shepherd's lamb;
I wish I had the shepherd's lamb,
And Katie coming after.

Iss O gurrim gurrim hoo,
Iss grmachree gon kellig hoo,
Iss O gurrim gurrim hoo,
Sthoo oattha beg dho wauher.

"Yes, yes," the producer interrupted, " I don't like it. Write another one!"

"Write another one?" I questioned. "You don't write folk songs!"

"I know," he said, "write another one."

I was astonished, but we went home that night and decided to try and write a new folk song about wishing. I had only written a couple of songs at that time. Barbara came up with the opening line, 'I wish I had a coat of silk, the color of the sky.' I came up with the next two lines, 'I wish I had a lady, fair as any butterfly. I wish I had a house of stone that looked down on the sea.' And Barbara finished off the verse with the most poignant line, 'But most of all I wish that I was someone else but me.'

I quickly created a melody to the words and put it to a simple guitar accompaniment. The rest of the song pretty much wrote itself. The next day I sang it to the producer and he loved it! We used it in the show and he commissioned me to write others in the series.

Later, in Johannesburg in the recording studios of Gallo Africa, I included the song in my first album called "Something Else." On returning to New York, I gave copies of my album to various friends, and one of them also happened to be a friend of Jim Henson. Jim was riding in his car one day, and our friend gave him the album, saying, "Here, Jim, you might like some of these songs."

And he did!

What an honor it was to have my song on The Muppet Show! Surprisingly I never caught the show when it first ran. Years later I finally saw how Gonzo had sung it so movingly to Madeleine Kahn.

They used four of my songs on The Muppet Show: the Wishing Song of course, the Dog Walk, the Ugly Song and Something's Missing. The unusual thing was that, apart from the wonderful songs that Joe Raposo wrote, the Muppets normally only sang standards; that was one of the reasons, I believe, why they were so funny.

Jim came to my house one morning for breakfast and asked me to write a couple of other songs. I did, but they never got used. But I had the chance to meet this lovely and brilliant man. Wasn't I fortunate!

THE WISHING SONG (as sung by Gonzo on The Muppet Show)
Words and Music by Paul Tracey, Kunjani Music.

I wish I had a coat of silk, the color of the sky.
I wish I had a lady fair, and then a butterfly,
I wish I had a house of stone that looked down on the sea
But most of all I wish that I was someone else but me.

Now I don't have a coat of silk, but I still have the sky
Now I don't have a lady, but there goes a butterfly
Now I don't have a house of stone, but I can see the sea
Now most of all I know that I am happy to be me.
I'm happy to be me.

Note:
When Jim Henson used my song, The Wishing Song, for The Muppet Show, he either misheard the lyric or changed it on purpose, I'm not sure which.

Originally the 2nd line was:
"I wish I had a lady, fair as any butterfly."


So there we have it! I want to thank Paul for being so great. He’s been nothing but kind to me over the last week getting this thing together!

I’ll see you next time! Because somehow I know we’ll meet again. Not sure quite where, and I don’t know just when. You’re in my heart, so until then, it’s time for saying goodbye!