Latest / Muppet Fan Podcasts with ToughPigs.com / Fraggle Talk BONUS EPISODE: Talking "Doc" with Lilli Cooper
Transcript
- 0:17Hello and welcome to fraggle, talk.
- 0:20The Unofficial Fraggle, Rock podcast brought to you by tough
- 0:23pics.com. This is the podcast where we
- 0:25cover Fraggle, Rock back to the Rock Episode by episode along
- 0:28with the Townsend producer. As performers, writers and
- 0:31Builders, who helped put it all together.
- 0:32I'm your host silly creature Johannes.
- 0:35Today, we are breaking our format once again for another
- 0:38special bonus episode. All about everyone's favorite
- 0:41part of the fraggle world. The humans, Our Guest today is a
- 0:45Tony nominated actress. Best known for her Broadway
- 0:47performances in Tootsie Spring, Awakening, and the SpongeBob
- 0:50SquarePants Musical. She is starring in the play
- 0:53POTUS. Currently running at the Shubert
- 0:55Theatre on Broadway, back to the Rock, she stars as grad student,
- 1:00Future marine biologist and owner of sprocket, the dog.
- 1:03Doc, we are extremely pleased to welcome Lily Cooper, to the
- 1:07podcast. Hi Lily.
- 1:09Thank you so much for having me. Of course.
- 1:11Thank you so much for being here.
- 1:12You are such an important part of back to the Rock, so it's
- 1:16fantastic. Just to just be able to chat
- 1:18with you about the show. Yes.
- 1:19Totally. I'm just so proud to be a part
- 1:22of it. I mean, you know, it's something
- 1:24that I grew up with something that my brothers grew up with my
- 1:27husband grew up with. And I think I'm just Still
- 1:30pinching myself that I get to, I get to play this part in this,
- 1:34in this generation and this world right now and it feels
- 1:37really special. And that was actually my first
- 1:39question about your background with this show.
- 1:41So you did you did watch it during like one of the, the
- 1:44older runs back on HBO or yet the little tape something like
- 1:47that. It was a little bit before my
- 1:50generation. My my brothers are for an eight
- 1:53years older than me and so they washed it and I watched lots of
- 1:57reruns and so And they're huge, you know, Muppet Henson lovers
- 2:06as am I. And so when I told them I was
- 2:08auditioning for this show, they just totally freaked out and say
- 2:13with my husband and he's kind of in the same age, range is them
- 2:16and so I was even though I was a little bit younger I still was a
- 2:23huge fan growing up. That's terrific.
- 2:25I mean you love to hear that with people go from being a fans
- 2:28who actually getting to lie They play in that sandbox.
- 2:31It's always such a thrill. Yeah.
- 2:34So, let's talk a little bit about your, your process to
- 2:38becoming doc. How did you get the audition and
- 2:41what was the audition like for you?
- 2:43Yeah. So, the audition was really
- 2:44interesting. I mean, like, when you watch the
- 2:45episodes, you realize that really?
- 2:48I am. My only scene partner is
- 2:51sprocket, the brilliant, John tartaglia and rock.
- 2:55It doesn't talk. He makes lots of noises and
- 2:57reacts and and is this. Totally, you know, charismatic
- 3:02creature. But he doesn't have any actual
- 3:05lines. And so, all of the lines are
- 3:07mine and my scenes. And so it's a lot of text and so
- 3:10that I think was, my biggest challenge was a memorizing, all
- 3:14of the text kind of streaming it together.
- 3:19And for my audition, it was really just a monologue.
- 3:23But one of the biggest descriptions of Doc, is that she
- 3:26is a huge dog lover. And I Have two dogs and so in my
- 3:32audition tape, which I recorded at home, you know, during the
- 3:34pandemic, my dog was in it with me and he was my sprocket.
- 3:39And so I, you know, I have that that relationship on camera with
- 3:45my dog. And I think that that actually
- 3:46really helps me get the job because it was all about how
- 3:49much I love. I love my little furry friend
- 3:52and at that really helped me to Onset.
- 3:56You know, I fell in love with sprocket on set.
- 3:59It was So fun to interact with this creature.
- 4:03And you know, it felt so alive. I mean, I remember even our show
- 4:09Runners would come up to me and be like, do you realize that
- 4:11you're petting sprocket when John, there was just this
- 4:15inanimate, pop it on the floor. And I would just be patting him
- 4:18because we just felt so connected.
- 4:20So it was really close to home. And that way he was, he was kind
- 4:24of like my dog when I was, when I was away from home filming.
- 4:28Yeah. I mean, we said on the spot,
- 4:29Outkast many times. That sprocket is not a puppet.
- 4:32Sprocket is a real dog. I mean, there's no question
- 4:34about it, you know? Like he acts like a real dog,
- 4:37like he is alive at. That is a real dog and it's nice
- 4:40to know that even if there's not a hand inside that puppet, like
- 4:45he's so has that magic. There's something really special
- 4:47about fret about sprocket, there is something so special about
- 4:50him. I think just his face is, so
- 4:54it's so just precious and adorable.
- 4:56And you fall madly in love with him.
- 4:57You can kind of stare into his eyes even when there.
- 4:59Into a hand in there. He just feels so real.
- 5:03Absolutely. And, you know, you mentioned,
- 5:06you know, you're auditioning and actually all of your scenes with
- 5:07sprocket having so much dialogue because you're really carrying
- 5:10the scene, is it, it must be difficult even, as you know,
- 5:17seasoned performer to have all those lines and you're working
- 5:20with the puppet in your, I assume trying to avoid like
- 5:23holes in the ground. You probably have some other
- 5:24business that you're doing, you know, in that goes along with
- 5:27the scene. Like it just seems like a lot of
- 5:29details It's to keep straight 100%.
- 5:32I mean, it was definitely the most challenging work I've ever
- 5:34done on screen. It was such a thrilling
- 5:38challenge because it was all new things I've never done before.
- 5:41I had never worked with puppeteers who, by the way, are
- 5:44some of the most incredible artists I've ever known?
- 5:48I mean, it's an incredible art form.
- 5:50Puppeteering it. It's there's so much more that
- 5:53goes into it than you would ever imagine as a viewer.
- 5:56And I loved kind of learning the tricks of the trade.
- 5:59But yeah, you know, there are holes in the ground that you can
- 6:02quite literally fall through. You're trying to figure out the
- 6:06right, you know, angles of how you're interacting with the
- 6:10puppets around you so that you know they're seen on camera in
- 6:13the right way is so it's a lot of intricate things that I had
- 6:20never worked with before and learning.
- 6:24All of that is kind of being thrown into it, on top of, you
- 6:29know, all of the techniques. Text.
- 6:30I had to learn and I squeezed all of my episodes into 10 days
- 6:36of filming. It was insane.
- 6:38So it was such a whirlwind of an experience, the fact that we did
- 6:44the entire season and just two weeks was crazy.
- 6:49But, you know, I think adrenaline, really got me
- 6:51through and I knew I wanted to show up and do the best possible
- 6:57job I could. And I remember, Of leaving set
- 7:01after I wrapped and just thinking God, how did that even
- 7:05happen? How did I do that?
- 7:08I was also secretly eight weeks pregnant.
- 7:13No one knew because I was so early on and so I was really
- 7:16sick during the day. I had morning sickness.
- 7:18I was exhausted. I was utterly exhausted.
- 7:20I remember one scene where they were working on a lot of
- 7:23sprocket stuff and I had to actually take a nap on my bed on
- 7:28the set because I Was so dead. I was so tired.
- 7:31So yeah, it was a lot of things all at once.
- 7:33But I mean, it was just so exciting to be able to do this.
- 7:38Yeah, I mean, I'll confirm few none of that tired.
- 7:42Sick, any of those feelings showed up on the screen I had,
- 7:44we had no idea. You look like you're having a
- 7:46blast. And if it showed up on screen at
- 7:48all, I'm sure we could talk it down to like Doc is a grad
- 7:52student, she's burning. The candle at both ends.
- 7:55Of course, I'm exhausted. He's totally frazzled.
- 7:58There's a lot that she has to get done.
- 7:59I mean he's literally trying to save the world and you know
- 8:04doing it with with no budget with with no lab space.
- 8:07I mean this was it's huge it was a huge challenge for dock and I
- 8:13think that really helped me you know I was I was using this this
- 8:18kind of like stress and exhaustion that I was
- 8:20experiencing in my everyday life and I think I was really using
- 8:23that in my performance as Doc and and yeah like don't get me
- 8:28wrong, I had The most fun, it was such a fun time.
- 8:33I felt like I was learning as a performer and growing as an
- 8:36artist and I felt so proud to be representing women and brown
- 8:46women and scientists. And I, you know, I just feel
- 8:52like it is it's I'm really, I'm really excited that they chose
- 8:57me for this role because I think That I hope that you know, young
- 9:03brown girls and boys will see this and grow up with it and you
- 9:10know, have dreams of becoming whatever they want to become but
- 9:14let alone scientists and inventors.
- 9:17So it just it feels really just so special.
- 9:21That's really all I can describe it as it's so special.
- 9:24Yeah, I mean, none of that importance was lost on us.
- 9:26It was really great that we could add this I think the old
- 9:30Fraggle Rock only had one human. You see, one human being on
- 9:34stage and are sorry. I'm set on the on-screen and for
- 9:37that to be for that to be a woman of color is really
- 9:41profound. And I think it makes it very
- 9:45relevant and present today. Absolutely.
- 9:49And we did have a lot of people when you're casting was
- 9:52announced kind of come out of the Woodworks and say like like
- 9:55oh my gosh, like the new dock like she's a woman, she's a
- 9:58person of color. Like that's fantastic.
- 10:01We've already seen. So few, humans interact with the
- 10:03fraggles at all. And to get that combination is,
- 10:07I think I think terrific and I want more of it on my screen for
- 10:10sure. So let's talk a little bit about
- 10:13the the original doc, the late great Jerry Parks, who performed
- 10:18dock on the old series or at least the American version of
- 10:21Fraggle Rock. There's not a whole lot of
- 10:25similarities between the two of you at least, in my opinion, but
- 10:30Is it was there anything that you felt like you wanted to take
- 10:33out of the characterization of the old Dock and make sure that
- 10:36it was presence present in your characterization, for me.
- 10:40The most important thing was the relationship with sprocket.
- 10:45I, I knew that I was creating something completely different.
- 10:48I wasn't going to be anything like Jerry, and I couldn't
- 10:54write. So, I knew that I wanted to go
- 10:56into this creating something completely new, but what I
- 10:59think, Did maintain was this just loving adorable
- 11:04relationship between a pet and their owner.
- 11:07And that was something that I really wanted to come across and
- 11:12was really important to me. And so, you know, I actually
- 11:15chose not to watch too many episodes of the original
- 11:17fraggle, right before I was filming because I didn't, I
- 11:21didn't want to get too influenced from the original
- 11:26because I didn't want to feel kind of bogged down to to
- 11:30Something, because I knew I was cast for a reason, I was cast to
- 11:33bring my own uniqueness to the dock and that's what I loved
- 11:38about doing it. So, the one thing that really
- 11:41stuck out to me and the few episodes that I did, we watch
- 11:44were, was the relationship that doc had with sprocket.
- 11:49And I hope that, you know, I did that Justice.
- 11:52You absolutely did. And, yeah, I mean also, like the
- 11:55old doc was such a, he was so scatterbrained and so, you know,
- 11:58it's not all there. That wouldn't have really worked
- 12:01for your character. I know it's more, like, in the
- 12:02development and the scripts, but, you know, you, your dock is
- 12:07so much more capable. I mean, she like, we keep
- 12:09saying, like, she's out to save the world.
- 12:11She doesn't care about sewing. A button to a fried egg.
- 12:15Like the old guy. Yeah, exactly.
- 12:18Exactly. He's a problem, solver.
- 12:20And so, even when bumps come along in the road, she figure
- 12:23out what's out. How to get past those.
- 12:26And I think that it's a beautiful Thing to watch because
- 12:32it's a great lesson to learn to be able to kind of get past
- 12:35hurdles in your life. And she's really, really great
- 12:39at at attacking hurdles in her life.
- 12:43Back to the rock is sort of this soft reboot from the old show.
- 12:48It's like, it's kind of the same.
- 12:50It's kind of not the same continuity and we're all
- 12:52obviously on board for that. But in your own personal
- 12:55headcanon, is there a relationship between Doc and
- 12:59Doc? You know, I've seen a lot of
- 13:05like questions on Twitter and stuff and like who are Doc and
- 13:08Doc related. Are they could they be family
- 13:11members? I mean, the this the set that
- 13:15they created is so fun. I loved interacting with the
- 13:19said that they created and it's different enough but like kind
- 13:22of an homage I was like is it could this be the same space
- 13:26that they live in? I like to think that Wee.
- 13:33Could have. Cross paths in terms of like our
- 13:40education and like the past that we took and we had similar like
- 13:45I might have, I might have a super, super super old teacher,
- 13:49that also taught doc, you know what I mean?
- 13:51Like, that's like the kind of connection that I feel like the
- 13:55docks have definitely. And like there's also some
- 13:58Easter eggs that the fans have noticed.
- 14:01For example, your landlady's name is mrs.
- 14:03Shimmelfinney, which is the name of Doc's, old neighbor and
- 14:07friend. And is that was that mr.
- 14:10Shimmelfinney wife or enough time has passed.
- 14:13What is it? His daughter?
- 14:13I don't know. Yeah, could be anything.
- 14:17Yeah, you know, there are so many.
- 14:18There were so many Easter eggs that like Easter eggs, that I
- 14:21didn't even catch that people had to, kind of tell me about
- 14:24when I was on set and I, that was one of them that I had
- 14:29completely forgotten about that. That was, you know, Ducks
- 14:33neighbor, but I love that it can So you can kind of create your
- 14:37own family tree and web of what you think it could possibly be
- 14:40like is it the neighbors granddaughter or nice?
- 14:45And it's a new house that she is a landlord of now just in the
- 14:51same town. But like there are all these
- 14:53kind of connections that it could be but I feel like it's
- 14:55one of those things that you kind of got to create it in your
- 14:58own mind to do. So definitely.
- 15:00I mean that's also like we're never going to confirm or deny
- 15:03any of that stuff. So, like in might as well just
- 15:05it's gonna live in. Headcanons.
- 15:06Anyway, it's just for funsies. So you're currently starring in
- 15:12the play POTUS on Broadway with some pretty big stars.
- 15:16Vanessa Williams, Rachel trash. We get the larger you, if you
- 15:20bonded with any of them over your work with Muppets because
- 15:23each of them have have also interacted with Muppets or
- 15:26Henson characters in the past. Yeah, you know what?
- 15:29We actually haven't talked about it, I'm so excited to do that
- 15:32now. I mean, Vanessa is newly a
- 15:35grandmother and she has a six month old grandson and a few of
- 15:42stage managers have nieces and nephews.
- 15:44And so like, the hugest thing that I've connected to with
- 15:46company members of the show are the younger generation of our
- 15:51families watching this show, which is so exciting.
- 15:54Because it feels like, you know, a new generation of kids being
- 15:58introduced to this incredible world, this fantastic world.
- 16:03And it's just really exciting to kind of No, have a new
- 16:06generation of kids, be a part of it.
- 16:08So that's what we've connected on but I actually can't wait to
- 16:11talk to them about being a part of the Muppet world, I kind of
- 16:13forgot about that. Yeah, I mean, look at go ask
- 16:16Vanessa Williams about being the queen of trash and the Elmo
- 16:19Grouchland movie. You know, she's young.
- 16:22She's the one who has all the stories.
- 16:23I don't know. I'm so sprocket.
- 16:29Wasn't the only the only puppet that you got to interact with,
- 16:33in your time. There you also had A little
- 16:36Crossover with traveling Matt, a little Crossover with cotter
- 16:39pin. The doozer, do you have any fun
- 16:41memories of at least getting to a meeting?
- 16:44It's like really work with the like the whole fraggle cast
- 16:46phone but to get to at least cross paths with those two.
- 16:49Absolutely. My favorite is cutter pain.
- 16:51Leaves her little baby itty-bitty drill on Doc's table
- 16:58and I would always talk about it about how cute and adorable.
- 17:00It is my wish that I had it and my last day of filming The crew
- 17:07gave me the little mini drill as a gift, so I still have that on
- 17:12my keychain. It's like my favorite thing
- 17:14ever. I was gonna say don't lose it.
- 17:16Like that's so tiny. It's gonna fall between like
- 17:20couch cushions. Yeah exactly.
- 17:21It's so small. And it's so adorable.
- 17:25And I one of my favorite episodes is when traveling Matt
- 17:31comes back to Fraggle Rock and gets Captured and I kind of
- 17:39interact with him in that dream sequence of sprockets and it was
- 17:44hilarious because I got to wear this sweater with sprockets face
- 17:49on it. And, you know, I gave him this
- 17:51like gigantic biscuit cookie biscuit thing.
- 17:56And it was really fun to be in a scene with one other puppet, you
- 18:00know, because I even with even with Gobo and even with cotter
- 18:04pin, we're never Police team together.
- 18:06We're always just kind of crossing paths.
- 18:08So that one moment that I actually got to be in a scene
- 18:11with traveling that was really exciting.
- 18:14Yeah, that's cool. That's a good one.
- 18:16I feel like we all need to have that once in our lives to be in
- 18:20a dream in a real dream sequence, a film's dream
- 18:22sequence with a real fraggle. So you mentioned that you have a
- 18:27new tiny human in your life. Have you have you shown him the
- 18:30show yet? Oh yeah, we watch it.
- 18:34Literally every Morning during breakfast.
- 18:37And you know we've watched it I'd since its premiered.
- 18:41So for a few months now and he he's growing, he's growing into
- 18:47recognizing things on the screen and recognizing the music and
- 18:51we're really interested to see if he starts recognizing me.
- 18:55And realizing that you know this person on the screen is his
- 18:58mama. And so far we can tell that he's
- 19:03really enamored when I'm on screen which Very exciting makes
- 19:06me very happy but he loves all of the music and my husband, and
- 19:10I always kind of, like, throw cute little cute little quotes
- 19:15at him, like, what's our favorite one bottle in the bin?
- 19:20Hey, bottle in the bin. Hey, hey.
- 19:23So here we always just like do random little things from from
- 19:27the show just to make him smile and laugh.
- 19:30And he loves it. He just giggles at.
- 19:32All of the little references. We make this terrific.
- 19:35I mean, And we should have more tiny fraggle fans.
- 19:38That's how we make new adult fraggle fans.
- 19:40Right exactly. Yeah.
- 19:44Who is your favorite Fraggle? I mean that's so hard, but I
- 19:53gotta say, I gotta say Wembley Wembley is my favorite fraggle
- 19:59in in Back to the Rock specifically because I feel like
- 20:04he goes on such a wonderful journey of self-exploration and
- 20:09and you know, understanding who he is and kind of breaking out
- 20:13of his shell and and, you know, getting past all of The wembling
- 20:19that he does. And I love some of his songs are
- 20:22my favorite and yeah, I think he's, he's one of my faves.
- 20:28Well, that's a good choice, that's a good option.
- 20:29The it's funny because on the old show like any other show for
- 20:34the most part especially kids shows.
- 20:36It's like there's always that status quo, you have to get back
- 20:38to you by the end of an episode. So a character can go through
- 20:41all the growth in the world, but they're going to be back to
- 20:43square one by the end, and they did kind of update some things
- 20:48by the end of Series. But for the most part, you know,
- 20:50over 90 episodes, that was pretty much it.
- 20:52But here because the new show is serialized like we do have that
- 20:57opportunity to see Wembley you know, go through that and
- 21:00decision and kind of get sidelined and then find himself,
- 21:04you know, a member of the, the elders Council and you'll be
- 21:07coming like yeah I like the right he's when bowls and
- 21:10Wimbledon titles and then like you know he kind of like make
- 21:12some decisions for himself. It's that's a good Arc celebrity
- 21:16that everyone's obsessed with and like it.
- 21:18It's just, it's, I love watching every kind of moment that he
- 21:22has. It's really.
- 21:24It's really fun. Absolutely.
- 21:26Yeah. When was my favorite too.
- 21:27I love that guy. So we're still waiting to hear
- 21:32if the show has been renewed for a second season or now we're
- 21:35keeping our fingers crossed. Is there anything that you want
- 21:39to see happen or for your character to do in a potential
- 21:42season 2? Well, you know, I love the music
- 21:48on Iraq. Have always loved the music and
- 21:51I am a singer and I didn't get to sing on season one.
- 21:55And so I'm hoping that, you know, fingers crossed if season
- 22:01to happens if and when season 2 happens, that doc might be able
- 22:05to sing a little bit. I feel like that would be really
- 22:09fun. That was literally.
- 22:11The one thing that I wrote down plus can we have doxing?
- 22:15And it's funny because I don't think Jerry Parks was a good
- 22:17singer. I think the only Time we ever
- 22:19heard him sing was, like in the background and I don't you ever
- 22:22see Muppet family Christmas, the yeah, The Muppets The fraggles,
- 22:26the Sesame characters, all joint over Christmas and Doc, is like
- 22:29singing A Christmas Carol, like behind behind everyone else.
- 22:33You can kind of hear him a little bit, which makes me think
- 22:35like that guy was not a trained singer.
- 22:37So yeah. We're going to add that to the
- 22:39dock Cannon is the new dock to dock sings.
- 22:43Yeah, exactly. What do you think?
- 22:46Do you think doc could save the world?
- 22:48Her microplastic bacteria. I sure hope so.
- 22:53I mean, I think it, it could make a huge, huge difference in
- 22:58the world. And I think it is a step toward
- 23:06Saving, you know, saving the saving that the future of, of
- 23:14the world in like keeping it for a little bit longer.
- 23:17Hopefully, as long as people listen, as long as people listen
- 23:23to science. And and I think that's a really
- 23:27important message in the show, is, is listening to the
- 23:30importance of Science and how science can save the world.
- 23:35So I do Hope that that doc can take a step towards saving the
- 23:39world for sure. I think your rights and, you
- 23:41know, Fraggle Rock was was created with the intention of
- 23:44like, maybe this is the TV show that could save the world or is
- 23:47Jim Henson said more specifically that it could end
- 23:49war. And, you know, I believe that
- 23:53the new show is definitely keeping that that, you know,
- 23:57conceit moving forward. But what I'm hoping is that some
- 24:05kid is Is right now, watching back to the Rock and they're
- 24:08seeing doc, go through these motions and have these
- 24:11accomplishments and what a great idea.
- 24:14And maybe that kid will go on to become a grad student of their
- 24:18own scientists or, you know, something that will be world
- 24:23changing and will change the world and will, you know, have
- 24:28Fraggle Rock and docked. So thanks for that.
- 24:30Yeah, absolutely. I need and even even more than
- 24:34just doc. I mean Messages of the shows
- 24:39that are introduced to children at such a young age are so
- 24:42important and I cannot think of anything else that does this.
- 24:45Any other show that has an example of an echo chamber and
- 24:49of understanding consent. I mean, all of these, these very
- 24:54deep kind of intense subjects that are brought up in very
- 25:00tangible, very approachable ways.
- 25:03And so I hope that there That they're opening the eyes of the,
- 25:08you know, kids in this new generation of children and and
- 25:13some may become scientists and be inspired by Doc and some, I
- 25:18hope will grow up to just be kind generous people.
- 25:24And that's that's another huge thing that I think Fraggle Rock
- 25:28will inspire. Yeah, we got the bare minimum
- 25:31like let's make sure that kids are going up, kind, they don't
- 25:34need to invent a new back. Area just you know don't be a
- 25:37jerk just don't be a jerk easy in the episode of The Legend of.
- 25:43I see Joe. We get a glimpse at Doc's cork
- 25:46board. That has photographs of all of
- 25:48her. She Rose, including Michelle,
- 25:50Obama Ruth, Bader Ginsburg, Jane Goodall Dolly, Parton, a bunch
- 25:52of others. Did you have any input on what
- 25:55went on that board? You know, I didn't because they
- 26:01had every woman that I could think of that were my heroes,
- 26:07you know. And I had I did, they did ask,
- 26:09for my input is specifically for the set.
- 26:12There was anything else that I kind of thought of that, I would
- 26:14like to add to the set. But I just loved every woman
- 26:18that they had on that board and I honestly couldn't think of
- 26:20another one. And I felt so honored to be able
- 26:23to pin my little face on there next to all of them.
- 26:27Great actually. And speaking of the props that
- 26:29are around the workshop there's one that I keep meaning to go
- 26:33back and find it and you know pause and zoom and all that.
- 26:37Is there a picture of you with a baby sprocket on the set?
- 26:42Yes there is it's me and babies Brockett kind of in this little
- 26:48like you know dog bed and he has like a little bow on and it's
- 26:52kind of like you know, it's our first, it's almost like it feels
- 26:55like the day I brought him home. I'm from the shelter you know
- 26:58it's like that kind of picture is the sweetest.
- 27:01I loved the photo shoot that we got to do me and sprocket
- 27:04together. There's one of us on vacation
- 27:06skiing together and there's one of us in our lab like holding
- 27:11vials of you know, chemicals and things.
- 27:15So yeah, there are a lot of really really great photos.
- 27:18That's cool. I hope they that Henson releases
- 27:20those because I would love to see all those in like like up
- 27:22close and clear. All right.
- 27:25And also like the baby's frock. A picture.
- 27:27Undoes a theory of mind that I had, which is fine, which was
- 27:32that because dogs never die. Especially puppet dogs like
- 27:36sprocket is that it was the same sprocket from the previous stock
- 27:40and you know, doc has moved on. And now sprocket has moved on to
- 27:44his news doc but if he was a he was a puppy with you.
- 27:50Then that's got to be two different dogs.
- 27:52Who knows? Maybe the sprockets are related.
- 27:54Maybe sprocket, Junior. Actually, I have one more
- 28:00question for you and I get really I'm just looking for a
- 28:04yes or no because I have a feeling that you wouldn't be
- 28:06able to actually answer it. Do you know what, Doc's real
- 28:10name is? No.
- 28:15All right. Do you want to make one up and
- 28:18we'll just say it's Cannon now. Do I want to make one up?
- 28:24Just on the spot on the spot? Okay, I think doc my Doc's name
- 28:31is all this is so hard. What if I say something with my
- 28:34good? Are deeply regret?
- 28:36Okay. I think Doc's name is Angelica,
- 28:45I love it. Doc Angelica?
- 28:49Why not? All right well it's Cannon.
- 28:51Now everyone update your contacts on your phone for Doc.
- 28:55It's no Angelica. Well hopefully at some point we
- 29:00will get a hint as to what Doc's name is but I like Doc it's what
- 29:03a cool nickname. I wish I didn't name like that,
- 29:06it's so cool. Well, is there anything else
- 29:10that you want to add any other memories of working on the set
- 29:13with the with Fraggle Rock? That might be interesting to our
- 29:17listeners. Um, I remember one moment on Sat
- 29:25where, where that episode where sprocket got fleas and had to
- 29:30come in with a cone and I don't want to give any like you guys.
- 29:33Have you guys like talked kind of about puppetry tricks?
- 29:37Sure, but please feel free. Like, remind us what?
- 29:41It was so cool because you, I mean, like, you would look at
- 29:44sprocket on your screen and you. Okay.
- 29:46That's like a person you know, his hand is like inside of a
- 29:50sprocket, like that's it, that's like how puppets are made.
- 29:52But the number of people that are involved in puppeteering one
- 29:57puppet is truly miraculous, you would never imagine.
- 30:02And there was one scene where we had to.
- 30:05I had to walk in through the door and The Cone was too big,
- 30:07so there was a sprocket outside and that Puppeteer outside and
- 30:10then one underneath the floorboard and since the
- 30:13floorboard was open right on the other side of the door.
- 30:16Or I had to like step over the floor board and then another
- 30:20sprocket came up and then we had like a little tail moving around
- 30:22and it was just so it was this more I was like holy crap.
- 30:27How does this even happen? How did they come up with this?
- 30:30It's brilliant. There are five people making
- 30:35sprocket right now and it was just so unbelievable and I just
- 30:41I like in that moment I was like this is Magic, this is truly
- 30:44magic. I love that.
- 30:46This is a thing that I'm even here, that I'm even a part of
- 30:49this, I felt like I was totally geeking out.
- 30:52So that was my, that was my like, you know, Pinch Me moment
- 30:56of like, this is the coolest thing ever.
- 30:58And I just can't believe how intricate it all it.
- 31:02And I love it so much. I mean, what we started this
- 31:05conversation talking about how the puppeteers can do so much
- 31:11and you know, like bare minimum, they're all brilliant
- 31:14manipulators like they can take a Thing that is not alive in the
- 31:17can make it look like it's alive.
- 31:18But on top of that there's all that coordination.
- 31:21There's all those that Innovation, there's I mean and
- 31:25then beyond that, it's just it's a voices in the singing, the
- 31:28choreography, it just goes on and on the hand-eye coordination
- 31:33is truly something that I can't even wrap my mind around because
- 31:38what they're doing is like, having a hand up a puppet, or
- 31:42like holding onto a wand or something.
- 31:44But then looking at a monitor So that they can see what the
- 31:47camera is seeing and having that kind of their, you're
- 31:52disconnected there. You're not even looking directly
- 31:54at the puppet. You're looking at what the
- 31:55camera sees and just watching these incredible artists do what
- 31:59they do. It's, it's so cool because you
- 32:02think, like, wow, I was I, there's no way I could do it, so
- 32:06it's also impressive. It really is.
- 32:09I couldn't do it either. That's, I mean, it's it's too
- 32:12much at once. Like I could do one thing anyone
- 32:15like, Unstick to hold. I can hold that stick.
- 32:18That's fine. But like, all those things on
- 32:20top of each other, I'm gonna forget half of it.
- 32:23I know it's insane. Well Lily Cooper, thank you so
- 32:27much for being here on this podcast.
- 32:29It was such a joy to get to talk to you and to learn so much more
- 32:32about doc, I'm hoping that we'll get a season 2 and if so, we'd
- 32:38love to have you back, we'll do this again.
- 32:40We'll talk about Doc's big song and the big Revelation that of
- 32:45Doc's, Doc's name, definitely, exactly.
- 32:55He knows. Well folks, that brings us to
- 33:00the end of another fraggle Talk podcast.
- 33:03Next week, we will return to our regular format.
- 33:05So until then we'll see you down at fraggle talk.
- 33:14Fraggle, talk The Unofficial Fraggle Rock podcast is brought
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