Latest / Muppet Fan Podcasts with ToughPigs.com / 15 Seconds to Curtain: Brad Meltzer

Transcript

15 Seconds to Curtain: Brad Meltzer · Muppet Fan Podcasts with ToughPigs.com

0:00
Brad Meltzer, 15 seconds to curtain, Brad Meltzer, you know,
0:04
Joe we're trying to make a book here, okay?
0:06
Okay, fine, we'll just get right into the interview.
0:21
Hey, welcome to 15 seconds to curtain, a muppet fan podcast
0:25
presented by tough pics.com. This is the podcast for Muppet
0:28
fans, talk with notable Muppet fans about what else The Muppets
0:32
Our Guest today is a number one, New York Times bestselling
0:35
author of novels, such as the Inner Circle and the Book of
0:38
Fate. He's also appeared on the
0:39
bestseller list for nonfiction advice, books children's.
0:42
His books and comic books in the TV world.
0:44
He hosts lost history on H2 and decoded on the History Channel.
0:49
He's written about Jim Henson. The Muppets several times, most
0:51
notably in the children's book. I am Jim Henson.
0:54
We are extremely proud to welcome, Brad Meltzer to the
0:56
podcast, Brad. Welcome.
0:59
I can't tell you. I know this is silly and
1:01
everyone has to say these things.
1:02
But you know that I'm a fan of the site and actually used it
1:07
when we were going through things and I was writing.
1:10
I am dependent. Well, thank you then.
1:12
Actually makes me feel really great.
1:13
I you know, it's funny we kind of work in a bubble so over a
1:17
tough pigs and like we, you know, sometimes don't really
1:20
realize that other people are reading what we're writing.
1:23
So it's especially nice to hear that.
1:24
Someone notable like yourself is actually reading the reading our
1:28
ramblings. I appreciate it.
1:30
Makes us all feel less alone in the universe.
1:32
Yes, that's absolutely true. So my first question for you,
1:35
Brad. Can you tell me it's a big one?
1:37
What do you love about the Muppets?
1:39
What I mean? Okay, so what do I love?
1:45
I just think at the end of the day, the one thing I learned
1:50
about making Muppets and I went down to the Sesame, Street
1:53
workshop and I took my kids down there and obviously we worked
1:56
with the Henson family when we were doing this book.
1:59
But one of the things that, you know, they taught me right?
2:03
When I first got there is that the magic of every Muppet is you
2:07
kind of put yourself into it and and the Muppet can take Saint
2:10
Who You Are. And you're the spork and when
2:14
they, you know, they let us put our hands in Muppets and showed
2:16
us how to work the mouse and showed us how to do it.
2:18
But they said the spork is you and I think for me what it took
2:22
me a long time ago, when I started the book, I was like,
2:24
oh, I just love the Muppets because they're cute and they're
2:25
adorable, and who doesn't love that time in its Nostalgia and
2:28
it's our childhood in. But it's not that and it was
2:30
never that for me. And for me, I think it's all
2:35
about, what Henson put into Kermit the Frog, which is that
2:40
laughing and imagining and Daring and dreaming and creating
2:44
are things. We should never stop doing them
2:46
right. It starts and where kids write
2:47
the famous line, but we should never stop being kind.
2:51
We should never stop being a do-gooder.
2:52
There's nothing wrong with being a do-gooder and to me, that's
2:56
what I love about them. It's not just that they remind
2:59
me of my childhood, but I love that.
3:01
They stand for something good, and they stand for what I love
3:04
to stand for, which is that you could use your creativity to put
3:07
good into the world. Because when I was five years
3:09
old, that's what Jim Henson in The Muppets.
3:11
Taught me is that you could use your creativity to put good into
3:14
this world and I here, I am 40 years later still, just trying
3:18
to do that, use my own creativity but goodness World.
3:22
Well, that is, especially I'm looking at your the I am Jim in
3:25
some book right now in my hands and on the back it says, I will
3:29
keep believing and keep pretending which I appreciate
3:31
that. You've turned that a little bit
3:32
into almost a mantra. Yeah, you know what we do?
3:37
Everyone think the books, you know, when we started this book
3:39
series, it was so I could give my kids better Heroes to look
3:41
up. And for me, we started with I'm
3:44
Amelia Earhart and I'm Abraham Lincoln and we did Rosa Parks
3:47
and I'm Albert Einstein, but I always wanted to do my own.
3:50
Jim Henson and the books are never about history on the back
3:53
of every book. There is a moral value.
3:56
And so, on the back of I'm Amelia Earhart, it says, I know
3:58
no bounds on the back of, I am Abraham Lincoln, it says, I will
4:01
speak my mind and speak for others and it, you just pointed
4:03
out on the back of, I am Jim Henson.
4:05
It says, I will keep believing and keep pretending and and
4:08
obviously, for anyone who knows their Muppets, you know what?
4:11
Line we're taking and turning was right.
4:14
And this book was also kind of a continuation from your Heroes
4:17
for my son and of course, here's where my daughter books.
4:21
So you also wrote a whole chapter in your book just about
4:24
Jim Henson, you know, the great part, the great part.
4:28
The backstory of that chapter is we had in the book a lot.
4:32
That one has like 50 Heroes and heroes.
4:34
My son, it has 50 different Heroes so it has everyone, you
4:38
know, Rosa Parks is in there too but has Abraham Lincoln.
4:40
It has amazed And we put in John Lennon was in there.
4:44
We had mr. Rogers, and we had Jim Henson
4:47
and and John Lennon's estate would not give us the music
4:51
rights to imagine. They just feel like you got to
4:53
pay us money for. We were just, I've never done
4:55
chosen but before there was no budget, I said, please can you
4:58
do it? And they said no and I said, you
5:00
know what they said, we will only let you do it.
5:02
If we get to say what you write and I said, you know what the
5:05
channel, my inner John Lennon, screw you like that's what John
5:09
Lennon. John Lennon would say.
5:10
Screw your never controlling. What I write and I went and in
5:13
the Jim Henson page, we use a line from being green and it was
5:18
obviously they needed. Joe raposo to sound often at who
5:22
obviously had passed away. So they introduced like eye
5:24
contact and found Nick raposo. And I said, listen, we want to
5:28
include. It's just one line, you know,
5:30
just one little Sansa and and and Nick was so nice and he
5:33
said, yeah, you know what, you can use it, don't worry.
5:35
And I just was like, doesn't like, isn't that exactly what
5:39
you hope for from the Muppets, like just kindness as opposed to
5:42
The crass commercialism. Absolutely.
5:44
Yeah, I know, I love that. And speaking of your
5:48
communication, with these companies, like, what kind of
5:50
participation did you get from Disney and hence and sesame to
5:54
put this book together? Yeah.
5:55
So there were two things we really wanted when it came to
5:58
this, but we wanted the, The Henson family because they know
6:01
a best that mean, we all, we can all read the biographies and we
6:04
can all read. You know, there are great books
6:05
out there. But I will tell you Lisa Henson
6:11
and hence and he was so wonderful.
6:13
Everyone was wonderful. And we actually got to meet
6:17
multiple daughters, that they were great up to.
6:19
That's who actually it wasn't even Lisa.
6:21
But Cheryl who took us to the Sesame Workshop and Cheryl has
6:25
become a dear friend and she's just like family to me now.
6:28
And what I love about Cheryl is when we were working on the book
6:30
and we were talking about Jim Henson's family and his
6:33
grandmother and his grandfather, she was sending us photo
6:37
references, but Chris eliopoulos are amazing artists so that the,
6:41
as you wish They could be wearing what they really were
6:44
that the houses could look just like their house.
6:46
So suddenly our little kids book that was a biography of Jim
6:49
Henson. That was meant for the smallest
6:51
kid out. There had more real details that
6:54
you could ever find in any biography, which was incredible
6:57
to me because in the family, put in the effort on it.
7:00
And and so that was obviously part of it.
7:02
The other part was Walt Disney side and obviously that took on
7:07
a, you know, the Sesame Street. You know, they they chimed in
7:10
and we're wonderful but the Walt Disney started.
7:11
But you know, it's a giant company that we were like, you
7:14
know, how is it going to be? Are they going to let us do it?
7:16
And, and to their credit, they were incredible to work with.
7:18
And they helped us with the rights issues.
7:20
They helped us with the visuals. They helped us with references
7:23
and, and, and certainly, you can see in the back of the book.
7:27
The one of the people we really think is not just Nick raposo
7:31
again for letting us use his dad's song, but Karen Falk at
7:36
The Archives director of the Jim Henson company.
7:39
Karen was just incredible at And then references at sending early
7:44
photos attending childhood close.
7:46
She's like, I'm sending you things that we can't send out
7:48
you, you know, and we you can't use these but you need to know
7:51
how to draw them. And she just couldn't be more
7:54
pleasurable and wonderful to work with.
7:57
We have similar relationship with Karen Falk in that.
8:00
She's really, really generous with her time.
8:02
And when we say like, okay, we got a question about this thing.
8:05
We found a photo, we don't know what it's from, and we don't
8:08
there's nothing we're going to do with it.
8:09
We just kind of want to know and she's always Very quick and she
8:12
gives us extra information and she tells us where we can look
8:15
you know if we want to do more research on this whatever it is.
8:18
She's very, very generous with her time and she's such a great
8:20
asset for us. Yeah.
8:22
Karen ism is the secret weapon, right?
8:25
We all know that you can have busy.
8:27
You can have the Henson company but Karen is just has that
8:30
institutional knowledge. That every time I would find,
8:33
like, I'd find two articles and I'd say, hey, here's conflicting
8:36
information, which stories? True.
8:38
Well, here's the quote in which one's the right quote, and she
8:40
would go hunting through the You know, pull out the original
8:43
transcript, it was incredible. What was there?
8:46
Anything that you put into the book?
8:47
That they requested you change or take out.
8:50
No, I know I was waiting for that.
8:51
I was waiting for that thing. That was like okay tell us tell
8:54
us a thing. We can't have what's that?
8:56
Wonderful thing. You're going to crush our souls
8:58
on and the truth was is I think everyone understood the mission
9:02
and even when we did the new book you know the newest one
9:04
we're doing is I am Walt Disney, who was EV?
9:06
Now, if you think they take care of, Jim Henson, watch what they
9:08
do with Walt Disney and they were sending it, I think, Could
9:12
like Walt Disney's family to sound off on it.
9:14
Had rights. You know that there are likeness
9:16
rights from Julie Andrews. If we want to show Mary Poppins,
9:18
I mean no contracts. Just don't have the okay that
9:21
the new ones due course. And so I kept waiting for that
9:25
thing that they were going to take away from us.
9:27
And and I think everyone understood that the mission for
9:30
this was to show kids. This amazing person named Jim
9:33
Henson, this amazing person named Walt Disney and bring them
9:37
to life again. And I think when your mission is
9:39
pure like that, and it's for children, I think everyone's
9:42
best nature comes out. So this may be a stupid
9:45
question, but your artist, Chris D'Elia Palace, I assume.
9:49
He's also a big Muppet fan. Is that accurate?
9:51
Oh my gosh. He's crazy.
9:53
If you think I'm crazy. He's crazy.
9:55
Like we have the two of us with this book.
9:57
I'm here for the last final, you know, I always write these ver,
10:01
Chris's our secret weapon. And if Karen Falk, is a secret
10:05
from The Henson company Chris's hours and he has an art style,
10:10
you know, any cartoonist Can do cute and any cartoonist can even
10:14
do funny but it's like the Muppets itself.
10:16
Cute and funny only gets you so far what really makes it work as
10:20
heart and heart is really hard and that's what Chris does best.
10:24
And so, you know, when we get, I always write these, you know,
10:27
overly dramatic instructions of what to draw and they always
10:32
say, you know, I want this angle and I want Jim Henson looking up
10:34
at the sky and the cameras in a worm's eye view.
10:37
And so we can see just how Grand this vision is as he looks up
10:40
and imagines. And you know, All these taking
10:42
myself forward to seriously. And for the final spread of the
10:45
book, I just wrote to him. Draw everybody throw everybody,
10:49
I want everybody, I want, you know, Oscar and Cookie Monster
10:53
and Ernie, and Bert and Big Bird.
10:55
But I also want, you know, Fozzie and I want Gonzo and I
10:58
want Doozers and I want, you know, everybody I want Fraggle
11:02
Rock. And I want em about a Jug Band
11:04
Christmas and I want, you know, and he just threw everybody and
11:09
I didn't have to say, who didn't have to listen.
11:11
Anybody, he knew who everybody was, that's great.
11:14
I wonder too for someone like him who has such a specific
11:17
style. He probably I would assume as
11:20
you know would think to himself. While I'm never going to get to
11:22
draw The Muppets because they don't necessarily fit into my
11:25
style but here he does he's got this great opportunity where we
11:29
can put Jim and the other human characters into his style and
11:32
then he can kind of translate his own versions of the Muppets
11:37
kind of on Jim's are more standing behind the puppeteers
11:40
or whatever it is, right? Weird thing is, is he can
11:43
obviously he, you know, he draws Frank cause he draws Jimmy draws
11:47
everybody in the book and when he draws the Muppets.
11:50
It's so interesting because he has to do kind of the caricature
11:53
of what's already a caricature. So if it's funny, when he always
11:59
does the cover first and the cover, when he was drawing
12:02
Kermit the Frog, it took him. I can't tell you how many tries
12:06
until we found the right merger of his style and the real
12:09
Kermit, the Frog, as if he drew it too much.
12:11
Much like the real one then it doesn't fit but if yours is too
12:15
much like himself, you're almost like who's by.
12:18
I'm not the, you know, we wouldn't know who it is, but it
12:20
just has to be kind of that that perfect middle ground and I
12:23
think what Chris is so talented as at is finding that perfect
12:28
lovable heart filled Kermit the Frog that just melts.
12:31
You absolutely. Well, I mean, I'm hoping that
12:34
you saw our review of a bone. I reviewed the book, I mentioned
12:38
the first review we got, you know, was it for you?
12:41
First review, we got that. I know you've got an early copy
12:43
little grin. That was the one that mattered
12:45
the most to me. Cuz you know, listen I anyone
12:48
who writes, you know, we get really nice reviews and people
12:50
tell us though it's a wonderful what you're doing for kids and I
12:52
love the people are building libraries for their kids and
12:54
their grandkids and mises and their nephews.
12:56
I love all that but it's so people that I care the most
13:00
about, as, you know, are the people who care the most about
13:03
it and that always leaves that kind of sliver and, and listen,
13:07
we've dealt with Jackie Robinson.
13:09
And so you deal with people love Jackie Robinson.
13:11
Did Lucille Ball, who has a whole subculture that loves
13:15
Lucille Ball. But Jim Henson was the first
13:18
book in the whole series that we did.
13:20
Where was my love, right? Like I'm not part of, I Love
13:24
Lucy, I love, I love Lucy but I'm not part of, I Love Lucy
13:26
fandom I'm part of the Muppet fandom.
13:30
I'm, you know, when I this is long before, I did the book, it
13:33
was a show called it was called celebrity bucket list, and their
13:38
definition of celebrity was clearly a little bit ridiculous
13:41
to say, including Me you fight. This is yours.
13:44
This is years before we ever did the book or contemplated the
13:46
book and they said, well, what do you want to do people jump
13:50
out of planes and they want to go to a Broadway show when they
13:52
want to sing on public and they want to, and I was said, I only
13:56
only, what, they said, what's your bucket list item?
13:58
I said, I only have one and they said, what is it?
14:00
I said, I want to go to Sesame Street and they said, yeah.
14:03
But that's me really hard to come.
14:04
We just have you jump out of a plane.
14:05
I'm like, no. If I said I don't want to be on
14:07
the show. If I can't go to Sesame Street,
14:10
that's the only thing I want to do, and they're That's all you
14:12
wanted to your whole life, your bucket list.
14:13
I said that's all I want to do and they're like, well we don't
14:16
know if we could pull it off and then thank.
14:18
So our friend Cheryl Hanson that was how I met Cheryl.
14:21
She made it happen and we did this whole episode where, you
14:26
know, I'm sitting there and have my hand and Snuffleupagus as
14:29
they're teaching me how to maneuver Snuffleupagus, his eyes
14:32
as opposed to his trunk. And with my kids, operating the
14:36
eyes and I'm operating the trunk and it was some of the most
14:38
insane moments of my entire life.
14:40
And again, this was long, Before we ever did, I am Jim Henson so
14:44
that your review that day was like, you know, this is from a
14:48
site I know aside have been to it matter.
14:50
The world. Oh, I'm glad to hear that.
14:52
But I mean, and for us you know, we've seen a lot of children's
14:56
books come and go about Jim Henson and the other biographers
15:02
tend to focus too much on the work and it's not about Jim
15:06
Henson. It's about Sesame Street and the
15:08
Muppet Show and the movies and we just want to get those
15:11
colors. Wuerffel characters onto the
15:12
page but I'm looking and I didn't do a strike count.
15:15
Looks like it's about 20 pages into the book before.
15:19
Oh yeah, put another show to talk about the history and what
15:27
makes him great, what makes him great as not, the work will make
15:30
some grated how he got there. I'll make some greater all the
15:33
failures that came before and what makes them great.
15:36
As you know what he had to do with 16 years old, looking for a
15:39
job at local TV stations are 18 years old.
15:41
Cutting up his mother's coats. Those are the things that make
15:45
you great. It's, you know, because that's
15:47
what we all go through. We may not break Kermit the
15:50
Frog, but we all are going to go through hardship and, you know,
15:54
everyone you look up to whether it's Jim Henson for Frank
15:57
dollars or anyone else have moments where they was scared
15:59
and terrified and they didn't know if they were going to be
16:01
able to go on but they continue to go.
16:04
Absolutely and I also found it fascinating that you didn't
16:08
include his death into the story and instead, People people ask
16:12
that someone just went on my Twitter page, on my Twitter
16:15
account. Said to me, you know, I read, I
16:16
am Amelia Earhart and I read, I'm Jim Henson and they say, you
16:20
know, you don't include his death, why don't you include the
16:22
death? And we said, we put it in the
16:24
timeline at the very end of the book, of course, but we never,
16:28
we never included in the book. And the reason is, is these
16:31
books are for really little kids.
16:33
And if I say that he died and how he died, all little kids
16:37
want to know, is tell me about his death.
16:39
Hmm. And to me that's not We remember
16:42
Jim Henson why he died is inconsequential to what he
16:46
achieved and who he was the same way Amelia Earhart's crash.
16:50
Even though it's part of the exactly why she was exploring.
16:53
That's not what we celebrate when we celebrate Amelia
16:55
Earhart. So it's a tricky one.
16:57
But when you know, when you consider the audience, if I tell
17:00
my kids, hey this person died. All they want to talk about is
17:03
the gruesome death. That's it.
17:05
Well and it also really ties in with your theme that these
17:08
stories don't end. There is no ending.
17:12
Yeah. And by putting an end to his
17:13
story really kind of effects. Well, fix the whole thing.
17:18
Yeah. And we you know and at the end
17:20
of the day, these aren't the stories of famous people.
17:25
This is what we're all capable of in our very best days.
17:27
And I want kids to leave the book charged up with that
17:30
feeling that we all were, when we were seven years old,
17:33
Watching the Muppet Show, or we were 11 years old, or whatever
17:36
year you were, when you found it or Sesame Street.
17:39
You want that sense of hope and And inspiration and that
17:44
inspiration can't go on with a gruesome death.
17:47
And, you know, I really, I really meant what I said in my
17:49
review that I believe, with all due respect to Brian Jay Jones,
17:52
this is probably the greatest Dimension biography written,
17:56
its, it really just boils it down to, you know, I love that
17:59
even more because I'm friends with Brian.
18:00
Sure, nothing I would love more than been said and saying that
18:03
to them over and over again. Yes.
18:04
Because obviously he was so helpful with ours and and I
18:08
obviously I love his book, I think it's the great biography
18:10
of, you know, It's a close second to yours his biography.
18:16
So, any chance you'd give us an, I am Frank Oz or an IM Caroll
18:21
spinney, anything like that. I was so I met Carol when he was
18:26
here in Florida, a couple years ago and it was one of my great
18:30
Joys is to go up and say thank you and the book hadn't come out
18:34
yet. We were still working on it and
18:36
he was at a, you know, an event that one of the Comic Cons that
18:40
was local Everyone is there for like, you know, to meet will
18:44
Shatner and to meet whatever famous person from Star Wars or
18:47
Star Trek is there and Caroll spinney sitting there is little
18:51
table and he has to have like a little sign that says, who he
18:55
is, but not to me and asked who I want to spend my time with was
18:58
with him and he just couldn't be sweeter and nicer to my sons and
19:03
we just had an incredible time with him.
19:05
So obviously, you know, we still haven't done, I am Nelson
19:08
Mandela. We got a couple more people to
19:09
do but I would love to eventually You know, I still
19:12
want to do Joan Ganz Cooney, gotta be me, you know, like I
19:16
wanted and that's why we mentioned her by name.
19:18
Johnstone and Joan are both mentioned by name in the book is
19:22
you know, we all celebrate these big, you know, the big person.
19:26
But one of the great things that someone said about Jim Henson
19:29
and that I truly believe is his super power, it wasn't the
19:34
puppeteering, that was his great power, it was actually finding
19:39
the best working people and pulling it out of them.
19:41
He was a thinker and I realized that's where it becomes the
19:44
most, like, Kermit the Frog, right?
19:46
Is that he's surrounded by, you know, all these people have all
19:50
these different talents and all this chaos and yet, he's this
19:55
kind of combat, the storm that kind of tells everyone, the
19:58
show's. Got to go on, right?
20:00
Just like the beginning of the podcast, right?
20:02
15 minutes to go. Let's go.
20:04
And in the midst of all that chaos is Jim Henson.
20:06
In the midst of all that chaos is Kermit the Frog.
20:09
And I think, you know, to me me, you can't possibly do a book for
20:14
him. Well, you don't mention all
20:16
those collaborators, that's why one of those pages.
20:18
And then you'll see we've purposely show, even though it's
20:21
whether it takes a magic or not, we show all the puppeteers and
20:24
we draw a ball, you know. It was hard to like label every
20:28
single name in there but if you look, you'll see them all well.
20:31
You know, we Chris through every single person because I feel
20:34
like that's what Jim Henson was so good at is finding all these
20:37
amazing people and arming them with something to really release
20:40
that creativity. Absolutely.
20:43
So I want to ask you real quick about your notice, you've done a
20:45
lot of really great advocacy advocacy projects, including you
20:49
help to find the 9/11 flag. That was raised at Ground Zero,
20:52
you helped to raise funds to repair, Cherry seagulls house
20:55
the Creator Superman. Which by the way, I'm a
20:57
Cleveland native so that one was really touched on for me.
21:01
So thank you for that. Is there anything that you can
21:03
do to help convince Disney to release the full Muppet Show on
21:06
DVD? Because that's right up there
21:08
with the 9/11 flag, in my opinion.
21:10
I Well, the way I'm confused, the the Richer you mean, the the
21:17
original original. So, the Muppet Show Disney
21:19
released, the first three seasons of The Muppet, Show on
21:21
DVD and that's race has two seasons left.
21:26
We can write in, like a decade in John DVD about thousand tons.
21:33
My kid used to love watching the Crocodile Rock.
21:35
Sure I've tried, but it's not all of them.
21:37
You're right. Oh my God.
21:38
We got to get working on that. All right, I'm putting you to
21:40
task. That's nice.
21:41
Good one. I want, you know, they were, you
21:43
know, and we know why, I actually don't know why.
21:46
Oh, we've heard lots of different reasons.
21:48
It could be music rights. It could be, you know, DVD
21:50
sales, you know, could be celebrity likenesses.
21:54
Who knows? In any case, what's Disney?
21:56
They have the capability to do anything that they want.
21:59
I mean, they have the money for it.
22:00
They have the power and they have this new Disney plus
22:03
streaming service. All right, great.
22:06
Alright. Take some, we talk of Bradham
22:08
and I'm here. I'm here to help you afford it
22:09
to. I appreciate We did that.
22:13
We always obviously take our profits and donates good causes.
22:17
We got the sponsor and the big Henson and let us sponsor Big
22:21
Bird, bringing Big Bird. Therefore the refurbishing of
22:23
Big Bird and that was, you know, it's one thing to, you know, if
22:27
you go to the Cleveland Airport, you'll see this big statue of
22:29
Superman that's on and my wife and I helped sponsor that.
22:32
Oh yeah, I love that. I take a photo every time on
22:34
there, when we and you'll see my name on there if you look real
22:37
close. But but sponsoring big bird,
22:39
that was. Come on, man.
22:40
That was that was Highlight. No, that's great.
22:43
So do you ever get mistaken for dr.
22:45
Bunsen Honeydew. On the street, you know, I wish
22:50
I did more. I feel like I need, I have the
22:54
hair, right? The laughter.
22:56
Look, I told my I told my daughter, I wanted to do it for
22:59
Halloween and I just need a beaker, right?
23:03
You without a beaker, but I feel like I've got to put on a little
23:07
more weight for a honeydew. No, fair fair.
23:10
That's a good reason to To have extra dessert though for my bed
23:14
with a little orange moptop. I could I do a good Beaker also
23:17
but yeah, honeydew is definitely.
23:18
My is my hairstyle. So we're going to wrap up soon
23:23
but I do want to I do want to ask real quick.
23:26
Well, actually, I'm curious before I get to my last couple
23:29
of questions. What kind of what form does your
23:32
fandom take now? So, like, how often do you watch
23:36
Muppet content? How do you find Muppet content?
23:38
What are you watching? Yeah.
23:41
Think, let me, let me answer thoughtfully and not quickly,
23:46
and I'm trying to think of all levels.
23:48
So there's two things that are going on at the same time.
23:50
So one is what I show my kids which is all YouTube and all the
23:56
kind of old stuff and then obviously we have the deal.
23:58
When my kids were really little, it was all the DVDs.
24:01
It was the original Muppet Show, 3, DVDs, that was what we live
24:05
by YouTube. Definitely took over and we also
24:09
have this great. I think Was probably like the
24:12
25th Anniversary DVD that had all the songs so it had just
24:15
like a lot of good Sesame Street stuff.
24:17
All in one place, yes I would say.
24:19
Now, the new thing that's going to launch in November is we're
24:23
doing a show on PBS of our kids books, oh, great.
24:27
And it's called, it's called Xavier riddle in the secret
24:29
Museum. It stars a little boy named
24:32
Xavier his sister, you Dina and their best friend.
24:35
Brad. The most handsome cartoon
24:36
character ever drawn who looks just like me and they Basically
24:41
have a problem, they're being bullied.
24:44
They go back in time. They have a secret Museum that
24:46
takes them back in time to me, Rosa Parks, Rosa Parks says, to
24:50
them, how to deal with Billy's and pieces of how to deal with
24:52
bullies. They come back and they deal
24:54
with a bully and that's every episode.
24:56
They've go back in time to meet a different hero.
24:58
And the fun to me is that we are launching Xavier riddle, 50
25:04
years and one day after Sesame Street premiered on PBS, so they
25:10
launched on, so, We are November 10th of this year and so my
25:14
content and my consumption of that has been a lot of visits to
25:18
PBS lately, and a lot of kind of fun stuff to see behind the
25:22
scenes. They're usually mostly photos
25:24
and old pictures more than Alive stuff.
25:26
So so those are the two ways. I'm really consuming.
25:29
And then the odd new way is and you can see it.
25:33
Please join our Facebook, or our Twitter page or Instagram, is
25:37
because of I am Jim Henson. There are teachers all across
25:40
the country. And now do lesson plans, using
25:43
the book and they all make homemade puppet.
25:46
They all kind of do these different homemade puppets and I
25:48
love that our Instagram feed and our Twitter feed is always
25:52
showing every once in a while. Well you know what?
25:54
Especially now that the school year started will get all these
25:57
different new Muppets that are taking form from the books which
26:00
is just may be the most rewarding of.
26:02
All right, so last question for you just because it didn't come
26:05
up in conversation. Who is your favorite muppet?
26:08
My favorite Muppet it. Listen Kermit is You know,
26:12
always Kermit but I feel like that's not even fair.
26:14
I love Journey because Ernie is laughs remind me of my mother.
26:21
The guy who does boomerang fish Island.
26:26
Yeah, Lou Zealand always makes me laugh.
26:28
It's just that easy. They'll The Voice just makes me
26:31
laugh every time. But I think my favorite Muppet,
26:34
if you take away the Ernie's in the Kermit's, in the obvious
26:36
ones, it's Emma daughter. Emma daughter, is my guy, I
26:41
watch. The right way around and my
26:43
daughter, just undoes me the songs, the all of it.
26:47
And I love seeing Jim Henson on the kazoo because you can just
26:50
feel even in a tiny little side part.
26:52
You can feel him, crushing this little tiny role that they give
26:56
the Jim Henson, but Emma daughter just has so much heart
27:00
and and that one just always undoes me.
27:02
So that's a great answer. I love that.
27:03
I love that. You have a love for.
27:05
I'm an otter, which is it's one of, I mean, it's one of my
27:07
favorites. I'm sure most people are
27:08
listening to, this is one of their favorites as well.
27:09
So great choice. Last year for my birthday.
27:13
My sister bought me because she knew my love of it.
27:17
She bought me a first edition of the original Emma daughter book,
27:21
and it was based on and that was just a beautiful gift.
27:23
No, that's a good one. Wow.
27:25
Well Brad, thank you so, so much for joining us.
27:28
Thank you for being a tough pigs reader.
27:30
That's really, that's a real treat for me.
27:32
And really, thank you for all the work that you've done for.
27:36
You know, fans of Jim Henson, new fans of Jim Henson and
27:39
putting these books outs. I really hope that When out
27:41
there goes and checks out, I am Jim Henson, as well as I'm Walt
27:45
Disney. Which by the time this podcast
27:47
is released will be in stores. So Brad, thank you.
27:50
Thank you so, so much for being here and look at thanks for what
27:53
you do. For all of us who are just fans
27:55
of this every day. It means more than you can
27:58
realize. Well, thank you very much.
28:00
I appreciate that before we get to the credits.
28:04
Brad wanted me to remind you that his latest book.
28:07
I am, Leonardo da Vinci will be, in stores on April 14th.
28:11
And be sure to check it out to learn more about the guy who
28:13
painted the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper all while fighting
28:15
ninjas in the sewer, I may need to read the book myself, and if
28:21
you want something a little less all ages Brad's book, the first
28:23
conspiracy and nonfiction story of the secret society that tried
28:26
to kill Abraham. Lincoln will be in stores, May
28:29
5th. And now on, with the credits, 15
28:33
seconds to curtain is hosted and produced by Johannes edited by
28:36
Jared Perry mobile artwork by Dave whole team and Jeff has
28:40
been written by I'm gags Beasley and the hat rack theme music by
28:44
Stacy Rosen up at Fan podcast brought to you by tough
28:47
pigs.com.