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To Introduce Our Guest Star - Episode Eight: Eric Jacobson · Muppet Fan Podcasts with ToughPigs.com

• 0:01
  second hello my name is johannes and i'm jared fairclough and
• 0:14
  welcome to to introduce our guest star a muppet fan podcast
• 0:17
  presented by tough pigs com in this show jared and i are taking
• 0:21
  it in turns to surprise each other with this week 's guests
• 0:24
  and hey this week it's my turn again yay i feel like it's just
• 0:28
  my turn two weeks ago i know i don't know why i'm yang when i
• 0:31
  know exactly the short term otherwise there's gonna be a bad
• 0:33
  podcast 'cause i haven't organized anyone today oh oh
• 0:36
  it's gonna be awkward and then we still released it was next
• 0:41
  alright so jerry as everyone probably knows after listening
• 0:43
  to a bunch of episodes of this podcast you have no idea who the
• 0:46
  guest is set accurate not a clue not one clue alright one clue
• 0:51
  i'm going to give you a chance to guess let's see how close you
• 0:55
  come i have guessed gloss two you did your very good guesser
• 1:00
  alright so we will start with their usual muppets sesame or
• 1:05
  henson sesame and muppets OK is this person a puppeteer yes is
• 1:17
  this person uhm one of the core muppet performers what are we to
• 1:24
  narrow it down well no because there's a lot of people who do
• 1:28
  both that's true yes OK uhm i'm assuming current uhm OK well
• 1:40
  let's look they've goals 'cause we've had him well maybe maybe
• 1:43
  he came again i don't know and they went away did some sesame
• 1:46
  work really quickly and then all right my guess is going to be
• 1:54
  eric jacobson jerrod this is your hat trick oh my gosh our
• 2:01
  guest today is a former jim henson company intern who
• 2:06
  started doing a little puppetry work for sesame street in
• 2:07
  nineteen ninety four over the years you've probably seen his
• 2:11
  occasional performances as guy smiley or half of the two headed
• 2:14
  monster and yeah OK you've seen him as grover and bird and oscar
• 2:17
  and eagle and animal fozzie bear and miss piggy jared i am
• 2:21
  extremely pleased to introduce our guest star eric jacobson
• 2:24
  hello jackson hey joe how are you hey eric i'm so excited me
• 2:33
  too it's good to good to be here good to see ya where is here
• 2:38
  where are you i'm in brooklyn now i'm in melbourne and i'm in
• 2:42
  california this is crazy oh are you doing anything you can tell
• 2:48
  us about california sure in like a few months time OK good enough
• 2:56
  for me so we'll just do another one of these in a few months
• 2:59
  yeah you'll say that thing that we did and now you don't care
• 3:02
  about anymore let's deconstruct that eric thank you so much for
• 3:06
  joining us we're going to treat yeah i'm i'm so excited like i
• 3:12
  didn't know that like i mean we've met a couple of times i
• 3:15
  interviewed global last year i don't think we've ever actually
• 3:17
  done an interview no i don't think so i don't think so i
• 3:21
  remember you you came you came by the side of the muppets when
• 3:26
  we did that for ABC and i don't know if there were other times
• 3:32
  maybe you came by and visited the set on sesame as well i was
• 3:36
  that i met you in two thousand eight at sesame yeah and you
• 3:40
  were level you and i sat on the stoop and watched kevin clash
• 3:43
  film something and you were very nice to me when you really
• 3:46
  probably didn't have to be so i appreciate it well i i can make
• 3:50
  up for that right now and and you know you really poorly
• 3:54
  worded you like well that makes you feel more a little bit but
• 4:00
  it's fun yes now and then and then obviously yeah the set of
• 4:04
  the muppets you were very nice you went and got fuzzy and i've
• 4:07
  got a nice photo and fuzzy i'm not that up and then and then a
• 4:12
  couple i came the next week as well and i remember talking with
• 4:15
  you and kermit 's office and like a couple of days beforehand
• 4:19
  you'd been at the white house doing like miss piggy story time
• 4:23
  or something yeah michelle obama yeah and then like literally i
• 4:28
  think about two three days later then you just in a room with me
• 4:31
  and i'm like this guy has gone from one extreme to the other
• 4:36
  don't sell yourself short shelly can sell himself a little short
• 4:42
  what let him be who he wants to be jeff exactly john believing
• 4:47
  my fair enough your truth is you are the anti machine well i mean
• 4:54
  we've met many times you and me eric yeah we worked together you
• 4:57
  more times but i think the first time you and i were in the same
• 5:03
  room together as far as i can remember was i was on the set of
• 5:08
  the letters to santa a million years ago and i'm sure we talked
• 5:14
  at that time i don't even know what year that was off the top
• 5:16
  of my head but that was i have a photo of myself with fozzie bear
• 5:19
  in his in his christmas sweater so that must be so you have
• 5:23
  visual proof you have evidence i have visual proof that neither
• 5:28
  one of us remembers this encounter but you have the proof
• 5:32
  OK it's true it's true i mean you're not in the picture that's
• 5:36
  the problem it's like you're you're off to the side with your
• 5:38
  head cock so you like you're not in the picture at all so it's
• 5:42
  true i'm i'm kind of yeah i'm kind of like a vampire that way
• 5:45
  you know i don't i don't photograph i'm there very
• 5:49
  photograph photographs of me uhm you know you know working in the
• 5:56
  trenches you know and now you're going to go scour the internet
• 6:00
  and find all the really bad pictures of it is is that reason
• 6:05
  i kind of consider myself the vampire you know like of
• 6:10
  puppeteers and and we're all like vampires 'cause you know
• 6:13
  we're always you know having cameras pointed at us but we're
• 6:17
  below frame and you don't see us but it's funny 'cause eric is
• 6:21
  the actual vampire i mean you're eric cheese there goes my joke
• 6:24
  matt is the vampire that's the trump tried to make and then i
• 6:27
  ruined it by looking at eric and thinking you know it's it's
• 6:31
  sometimes it's funnier when the joke falls flat like that you
• 6:37
  know when you mess up though i know from experience with fozzy
• 6:41
  yeah well what's it like for you then eric because i mean you
• 6:45
  know obviously you know miss piggy is one of the biggest
• 6:47
  stars in the world you get to be miss piggy but then you get to
• 6:50
  go to costco and no one says anything to you like no one
• 6:54
  comes up to you so what's that like for you though that
• 6:56
  juxtaposition yeah well first of all i don't get to go to costco
• 7:00
  because i don't have a costco card but it's OK it is pretty
• 7:05
  you know your point is taken it's it's it's pretty great you
• 7:09
  know i've rubbed elbows with a lot of very famous subs and uhm
• 7:15
  i i've seen up close how hard it is for them they're always
• 7:21
  they're always in the spotlight whether they want to be or not
• 7:24
  and it's i'm glad i don't have to deal with that do you ever
• 7:30
  want just a little bit of that though like a little bit of the
• 7:33
  attention like i'd like to be able to walk into a restaurant
• 7:34
  and get a table uhm well no i get a because i get i i get it
• 7:46
  when i'm on set and when i when i when i walk off stage and i'm
• 7:52
  backstage door you know on on the set and you know the that
• 7:58
  whoever was in the room they know and and and you know
• 8:04
  sometimes they'll come up to me but as soon as i walk outside
• 8:08
  the building it's it's it's just life as normal again and that's
• 8:12
  really nice so i kind of get the best of both worlds that way i
• 8:16
  suppose and i mean what's good for you as well is that when you
• 8:20
  do get recognized muppet fans are excellent so ninety nine
• 8:25
  percent of the time it's a really wonderful nice respectful
• 8:28
  encounter and then they go on their way yeah oh absolutely
• 8:31
  yeah muppet fans are as far as i'm concerned the best fans
• 8:37
  there are you know i i i i believe that wholeheartedly and
• 8:44
  it's from all of the encounters that i've had you know it's a
• 8:48
  kinship really because i'm i'm just a big muppet fan myself you
• 8:52
  know i'm you know i'm in the center of the storm the eye of
• 8:57
  the hurricane as it were right now but you know working for the
• 9:03
  muppets but i grew up as a fan so and i'm still a fan of the
• 9:07
  stuff that i grew up watching so it's you know we we share that
• 9:13
  in common being being a fan who also gets to like work on these
• 9:18
  productions do you ever find yourself like completely geeking
• 9:21
  out over like oh my god that's that's roosevelt franklin or
• 9:23
  like oh i got to perform the right hand of you know like
• 9:26
  geriatrics or whatever it is oh yeah well i'm still like that i
• 9:31
  i'm still very grateful every day i walk onto a set and i get
• 9:35
  to perform these amazing legacy characters that i've inherited
• 9:44
  and you know the same was the case for for the original gang
• 9:51
  though to carol spinney he he was always the most grateful man
• 10:01
  in show business it if if you ask me he there was never a day
• 10:06
  he he he was so grateful for his lot in life and being uh getting
• 10:14
  to be big bird you know he always likened it to getting to
• 10:18
  be a member of the beatles or getting to grow up and be be
• 10:25
  mickey mouse and yeah it's like that and yeah i really always UM
• 10:36
  admired that about carol and i tried you know that's one of the
• 10:40
  aspects of carol that i try to emulate let's talk then about
• 10:48
  oscar because your oscar as far as i'm concerned in the history
• 10:54
  of muppets sesame is the best recast because i cannot tell the
• 10:59
  difference between your oscar and carol 's oscar oh that's
• 11:03
  that's very nice of you but what about all the other characters i
• 11:06
  do huh oh my god they're all excellent i love all of them but
• 11:12
  let's put some incredibly generous compliment for you to
• 11:15
  make thank you so much was was it was oscars someone you could
• 11:20
  always do was that sort of someone that you worked on for
• 11:23
  an audition will it just a voice you always had in the back
• 11:25
  pocket because you are i mean you are excellent at like all
• 11:29
  the voices so but i believe that one is just so spot on it eerie
• 11:37
  uhm yeah it's it's kind of it's it's kind of cold you know
• 11:42
  they're there folks in the cast two who have complemented me and
• 11:47
  the fact that i'm stuck inside a trash can most of the time and
• 11:54
  invisible to the rest of us the cast i think you know
• 12:04
  contributes to this illusion that it's you know it's the same
• 12:09
  oscar that they always have known because they can't see me
• 12:14
  and and they say you know they've said some really nice
• 12:18
  things as well you know and that's it's it's incredibly
• 12:26
  humbling and very rewarding for me to hear that this illusion
• 12:34
  that i'm trying to come perform for everybody you know it is
• 12:43
  that it's that it's worked to some degree uhm i've always been
• 12:51
  something of a mimic but i never really i never really there's
• 12:57
  some characters that i've inherited that i never really
• 13:01
  explored uhm until until the time came to audition uhm oscar
• 13:15
  was was uhm here's one of those though i i have to admit i did i
• 13:22
  did start when i come when i had kids i did start playing around
• 13:28
  with the voice come you know for for my kids sake whenever we
• 13:33
  would be out in you know pass a trash can or something you know
• 13:39
  i just would i i tried it on and but you know it's it's it's a
• 13:46
  it's not something that i really uhm studied until i auditioned
• 13:53
  and and even then i didn't really study it for long i
• 13:58
  didn't study it really hard and long i think uhm i think being
• 14:04
  around carol not just for the the time that we worked together
• 14:14
  but also the time i spent with him as a child growing up and
• 14:20
  watching his performances just you know having uh carol kind of
• 14:28
  wash over me over the years i just picked stuff up
• 14:32
  subconsciously and sometimes it's that it's that subconscious
• 14:38
  stuff that is is that's the hardest stuff to to to try and
• 14:43
  consciously mimic and it almost can't be done so yeah i'm i'm
• 14:54
  i'm pleased with with the what i've been able to do with oscar
• 14:59
  and and and carol was he was incredible you know helping me
• 15:07
  gain insight to the character and and and and he and debbie
• 15:14
  both were big big supporters of mine as as i was you know
• 15:24
  stepping into the role that he made so indelible on generations
• 15:31
  so i mean matt spoken quite a lot about his audition process
• 15:35
  with big birds what then was your audition process for oscar
• 15:39
  was carol involved in the casting for that yes uhm care if
• 15:46
  it was it was carols choice UM kerlin debbie uhm both listened
• 15:55
  to auditions this was a different kind of audition me in
• 16:02
  the past i had always had to do a video audition and come in and
• 16:09
  prove myself as a puppeteer and at this point uhm i didn't have
• 16:19
  to do that they were only auditioning within the circle of
• 16:23
  of sesame performers as far as i know and so they just did an
• 16:29
  audition and perhaps they would have moved onto video auditions
• 16:35
  if necessary but as far as i understand it was a i mean it
• 16:42
  was it was a blind audition they they didn't know who was who uhm
• 16:47
  but but from what i've heard it was a it was unanimous among the
• 16:52
  producers and and carolyn debbie and uh so that you know that
• 17:01
  that's how it went it was just it was just an audio audition
• 17:05
  i'm just saying i just sang a little bit of i love the trash
• 17:09
  and did did one or two little scenes monologues with oscar and
• 17:17
  i was that was that it's amazing it really really i'm curious
• 17:24
  because i'm i'm kind of fascinated by just the idea of
• 17:27
  being being a mimic i do i do horrible horrible impressions oh
• 17:31
  yeah let's hear one good no you will never hear one but i'm
• 17:37
  curious if there's like yeah you could say this if you want about
• 17:40
  oscar or any of any of your characters so your legacy
• 17:44
  characters but is there something that you were trying
• 17:48
  to develop these characters that you kind of like you needed that
• 17:51
  one little detail that key that just unlock the whole thing yeah
• 17:55
  i know i've talked to ryan dillon about this with with elmo
• 17:58
  and he's like i can do the falsetto i can get close to the
• 18:01
  character and he couldn't unlock it until he remembered that
• 18:04
  kevin clash is from baltimore he put just a little bit of a
• 18:06
  maryland accent on it and it was just perfect so i'm curious if
• 18:09
  there's something like that for your characters yeah i don't
• 18:14
  even know what a maryland accent sounds like myself it worked it
• 18:20
  worked for him that's that's great uhm that's interesting you
• 18:27
  know and it's funny you should mention that it was a maryland
• 18:33
  accent that helped lion key into elmo because i don't think i'm
• 18:41
  really good at dialects per say but i'm really good add add
• 18:49
  specific people and characters and so when i try and do a
• 18:54
  dialect i'm i usually have to think of a specific person that
• 19:00
  i know who has that document and then i then i can do it hi gary
• 19:06
  OK i can't do a can't do i can't do boston or massachusetts
• 19:12
  without thinking of JFK right then i can do it yes that's no
• 19:20
  problem so yeah i don't have when we think about this uhm you
• 19:29
  know this is this is turned out you can you can if that's too
• 19:33
  hard i know i've heard some of the puppeteers talk about how
• 19:38
  there's one little phrase or one little movement that they do to
• 19:41
  like yeah cells back into the sure sure right yeah i'll recite
• 19:46
  you know something you know you know i'll probably i'll usually
• 19:54
  recite come something from the muppet show cast album before i
• 20:01
  do sam uhm yeah that's good yeah usually it's some it's it's i've
• 20:09
  been doing it for awhile so you don't have to yeah or second
• 20:14
  nature by now yeah yeah sure OK so with your characters then who
• 20:19
  do you find the easiest to get into and ultimate oh yeah and
• 20:25
  who do you find the hardest to get into uhm like i said it's
• 20:30
  it's it's there's not a lot of ah you know stretching that i
• 20:37
  have to do for any of the characters but probably the
• 20:41
  easiest to get into would be grover dumb and uh probably the
• 20:51
  most difficult would be maybe sam maybe sam 'cause i you know
• 20:57
  sometimes i do have to loosen up my vocal cords to hit the lower
• 21:03
  registers with him uhm yeah like today i would definitely i would
• 21:11
  definitely be doing some vocal warm ups for him because my
• 21:15
  voice is kind of so it's it's kind of dry here and and you
• 21:19
  know my my voice feels a little thin too to me so i would
• 21:24
  probably warmups to just loosen up their vocal cords but dumb
• 21:29
  but yeah but as far as like character goes like it's it's
• 21:33
  it's just like shifting gears at this point you know i've been
• 21:39
  doing it for twenty years so obviously you've got yeah but
• 21:42
  we're having a hard time it'll probably be i wouldn't be doing
• 21:46
  it at all if it were much you know and you know and it hasn't
• 21:55
  it's not just been the time that i've been doing it it's my whole
• 21:59
  life you know absorbing it and being around it you know it's
• 22:04
  it's like do you forget how to be a fan of the muppets no you
• 22:11
  you've always loved him and you always will and it's just it's
• 22:16
  just a part of you yeah yeah absolutely one thing i'm really
• 22:22
  curious about like because so many of your characters are just
• 22:26
  those a list you know piggy fozzie animal or burton grover
• 22:31
  and oscar do you find yourself just as a performer kind of
• 22:35
  getting hungry for wanting to play someone else or experiment
• 22:41
  or even like create new characters sure as i said i'm
• 22:48
  incredibly grateful for my lot come and uh you know that
• 22:56
  doesn't have to happen for me to be happy i'm happy doing what
• 23:02
  i'm doing uh that said yes it's always fun to you know get to
• 23:10
  put more of yourself into a character and thankfully i've
• 23:15
  had the opportunity to do that from time to time but it was
• 23:19
  earlier in my career playing billy bob bobcat tree uhm or or
• 23:30
  or or UM harry the duck on on bear in the big blue house or UM
• 23:41
  you know or or you know more recently i've gotten to to do a
• 23:45
  lot of stuff with david rudman he has a production company and
• 23:50
  he is he's a go getter and just uh a fountain of creativity and
• 23:57
  he's come up with some fabulous productions that i've gotten to
• 24:01
  be a part of you know sometimes i i'm only able to do the pilot
• 24:07
  and uh and then somebody else has to step in and and do the
• 24:13
  actual show but i was you know i always joked around that you
• 24:18
  know he's gotta you know if he wants to sell the show he's
• 24:22
  gotta call me uhm that's right 'cause i think all the pilots
• 24:28
  have done for was gone forward but there's good luck charm here
• 24:33
  is john ratzenberger yeah yeah yeah but i've gotten to do i've
• 24:36
  gotta do a uh uh you know some other you know shows with him
• 24:42
  like bunnytown i was there for the whole run of that and got to
• 24:48
  create some really fun characters for jack 's big music
• 24:50
  show uhm and yeah some of the best times i've had as a
• 24:58
  puppeteer performing were on those projects with david yeah
• 25:06
  so that was a great but but yeah it's like you know enjoy working
• 25:11
  with each other yeah yeah we do i mean you know the whole gang
• 25:16
  of us we we all get along it's just me muppets uhm you know
• 25:22
  that's you know that damn peter linz notoriously the least
• 25:29
  pleasant man in the world no that's obviously my gosh jared
• 25:35
  that is terrible to say about my friend peter what are you doing
• 25:39
  i hope you cut that out i definitely please edit that out
• 25:43
  you're making yourself look very very poor i'm sorry i'm sorry i
• 25:49
  apologize on behalf of myself behalf of this podcast i'll take
• 25:54
  a moment to really think about what i've done yeah please do i
• 25:58
  i do want to say just thinking of some of your more recent kind
• 26:03
  of one off characters the mole that you performed oh my god in
• 26:07
  the swedish chef sorry good like what a highlight of the second
• 26:13
  disgusting bullshit still funny that's so funny yeah that's
• 26:17
  that's i've i've done i've done a character like that maybe it
• 26:23
  was with that same puppet a few a couple times for muppets and
• 26:26
  i've done i've done dumb it's it's kind of like a kind of ago
• 26:33
  two character of i've used UM for for you know one or two of
• 26:38
  davids productions as well yeah it's it's it's fun i like i like
• 26:45
  playing i like playing just dumb dumb characters like that you
• 26:53
  have you know who have some you know some kind of endearing
• 26:56
  quality to them you know they don't mean any harm uhm and yeah
• 27:03
  just he's just clueless i like that he was just clueless and i
• 27:08
  mean you're also kind of describing a little not he's not
• 27:12
  as dumb but like fozzie bear who oh yeah let's not bring let's
• 27:16
  not start a controversy here you know mister bimble dumbo
• 27:24
  controversy well it's as well as things were like we were talking
• 27:28
  about this recently over on the topics forum about like when did
• 27:32
  fozzie go from just kind of being a little bit naive to
• 27:35
  being a little bit dumb yeah and it's like it's way predates your
• 27:39
  time with yeah with the franchise it's you know like
• 27:42
  there's a john denver rocky mountain holiday special were
• 27:46
  like he thinks that active beehive is a football it's just
• 27:50
  like they just wrote him as being so dumb yeah yeah he's not
• 27:55
  even now like i mean i'm thinking specifically of like
• 27:57
  muppets most wanted where you know he doesn't know that
• 27:59
  constantine is kermit nobody does nobody gets it and like the
• 28:05
  whole thing where the thing drips on the on the newspaper
• 28:08
  and like he goes back and forth and you know it's like yeah any
• 28:12
  character would do that 'cause he's a little naive he's not
• 28:14
  stupid he's not an idiot yeah yeah you know i think oh like
• 28:20
  you pointed to it depends on who's riding him and uh you know
• 28:26
  what the production is and then you know what you know the gag
• 28:31
  they're going for like sometimes sometimes uh a character is
• 28:36
  written a little out of character for the sake of a gag
• 28:40
  and you know that's it's unfortunate UM no but if it
• 28:47
  winds up being entertaining to folks then i guess it was the
• 28:52
  right decision but you know you know that's something that i try
• 28:56
  and monitor and i tried you know i've had shipping my two cents
• 29:00
  about you know 'cause i always want them to be in character uhm
• 29:07
  you know and and you know and try and have the comedy come out
• 29:11
  of that but sometimes sometimes it's it's OK this is the gag we
• 29:16
  gotta we have to play the the truth of this gag as as opposed
• 29:20
  to the truth of the character and and you know uhm but that's
• 29:27
  but like you pointed out it's it's been the case all along you
• 29:32
  you know the muppet show is out there for everybody to to to
• 29:35
  watch again which is fantastic and you can i mean you can get
• 29:40
  whiplash watching you know from episode to episode the what the
• 29:47
  characters come you know you know how the characters shift
• 29:55
  from being really dumb to being clever from being manipulative
• 30:02
  to being manipulated it's it's a you know that's what happens
• 30:10
  though with any group of characters you know franchise
• 30:16
  characters have been around for so long as they have so much
• 30:20
  history that history their history you can easily find
• 30:26
  contradictions absolutely but i'm i'm curious if well first of
• 30:32
  all if you've been watching the muppet show on disney plus yeah
• 30:36
  of course if so which is terrific that's the best thing i
• 30:41
  mean it's all there now i mean you know minus you know a couple
• 30:46
  things but yeah but it's but you know this is the first time in
• 30:51
  forever that people have had such easy access to no the show
• 30:58
  that started it all and yeah you better believe i've been
• 31:03
  watching it been watching it with my family and it's been a
• 31:07
  joy to share it with my kids and come and uh yeah so it's it's
• 31:12
  been great and it's been restored really nicely to come
• 31:19
  it's beautiful i mean it's it's it's kind of jarring to me and
• 31:24
  for probably anybody who's used to uhm you know who saw it when
• 31:30
  it first aired and has seen it come all on the way in reruns on
• 31:36
  VHS tapes UM 'cause they you know they've they've put a sheen
• 31:42
  on it that uhm really looks different from any version i've
• 31:50
  ever seen of it before oh yeah you could see like the P
• 31:55
  leanness of kermits the texture of his fleece yeah like people
• 32:01
  pockmarks and miss piggy fleece yeah like it's fascinating yeah
• 32:04
  yeah they uprised everything i know that and and then they also
• 32:10
  come to me it looks like they uhm that they did something with
• 32:17
  the frame rate as well it kind of has a film look to it new new
• 32:23
  cuts out of dubs off of the original tapes yeah from what i
• 32:27
  heard like they redid it yeah i mean this is this see this is
• 32:30
  the fan and me geeking out i'm like that that looks so
• 32:34
  different wise it looks so different it's some it's almost
• 32:37
  got a film look to it did they play with the frame rate like or
• 32:43
  like is it just that it's missing that disney logo and but
• 32:49
  what i what i want to know though is because like 'cause
• 32:52
  it's unique for you as a performer of these characters
• 32:56
  now so like are you able to are you basically watching those
• 33:00
  classic episodes and like finding things that like oh like
• 33:03
  oh frank did this with oh yeah sure thought about that sure
• 33:06
  yeah i mean 'cause like are there things that you're kind of
• 33:08
  picking up now yeah i mean i i i go back and watch the old stuff
• 33:13
  for sheer entertainment but also you know eat and go to go oh wow
• 33:21
  look at what he did there is so cool right yeah yeah i you know
• 33:28
  i forgot about that or i don't think i've ever seen this this
• 33:32
  is so cool UM and you know when can i when can i do that uhm
• 33:43
  right yeah yeah it's it's it's really it's it's you know but
• 33:49
  but most of all it's just really neat to share it with my kids
• 33:55
  and and you know what that you know to see them smiling
• 33:59
  laughing and and reacting to this you know in the same way i
• 34:08
  did when i saw it as a kid it's it's just so great that's
• 34:13
  terrific if i can completely shift gears we talked about most
• 34:17
  wanted before i will die on this hill something so right deserved
• 34:23
  the best song oscar and i am i'm still shy and i'm shocked that i
• 34:30
  mentioned this i think in last week 's episode that i remember
• 34:33
  watching that movie leaving and my first thought was i'm so
• 34:37
  excited to see them do that at the oscars yeah i didn't get to
• 34:41
  get nominated you know i i'm i'm you know nothing against any of
• 34:47
  brett 's other songs but i thought that that was the one as
• 34:53
  well that they you know that they were going to come you know
• 35:00
  put up for consideration just just because it's a it's a
• 35:04
  ballad and it's a you know it's a big power ballad and you know
• 35:09
  something that you know has gravitas to it you know it's big
• 35:12
  it's epic it's it's a song that of just seemed like it was oscar
• 35:20
  yeah but yeah you know i i'm guessing i'm i'm guessing brett
• 35:25
  was really you know he he didn't care like like any of my songs
• 35:35
  and you know maybe that's maybe that was the one what was it was
• 35:41
  uh what is it called what you uh i'll give you what you want yeah
• 35:47
  yeah the cockatoo in malibu yeah song yeah that was the one that
• 35:51
  was put up for nomination really didn't put up both the only they
• 35:56
  chose one and that was when they put through so it really is
• 36:02
  sucked like you said a ballad like your pee voice is like
• 36:06
  you're you're a wonderful singer is miss piggy i mean i haven't
• 36:08
  heard you sing as normal but you miss piggy has a fantastic voice
• 36:13
  that compared to celine dion as well mixed with that i mean that
• 36:18
  song is its massive like so it amazes me that they didn't even
• 36:24
  think to put that one up yeah you know all the songs in that
• 36:27
  movie though are winners in my book i love the whole soundtrack
• 36:33
  soundtrack is probably my second favorite after the muppet movie
• 36:38
  yeah like we're doing a sequel is one of my favorite songs oh
• 36:42
  yeah it's just quintessential muppets to me when i first heard
• 36:46
  that song brett played it he banged it out on a on a piano
• 36:53
  come in this storefront like it was like an abandoned storefront
• 36:59
  on my on hollywood boulevard i went in there i was supposed to
• 37:06
  meet him and he was going to get some you know he's going to get
• 37:11
  some keys from me for the songs he was working on and i was like
• 37:15
  where am i mister rundown he he wanted to he wanted to compose
• 37:24
  all these songs in this wreck of a place for inspiration you know
• 37:33
  he chose he chose that location yeah yeah like they didn't just
• 37:36
  like put him there let student put it there i can't imagine
• 37:39
  that they put him in this i mean that's why i said it was yeah it
• 37:44
  was like this is this should be condemned what are you doing
• 37:48
  here but anyways he banged it out the sequel song and i was
• 37:54
  like this is amazing this is amazing it's just ask this old
• 38:00
  you know bouncy vaudeville show tune you know old-fashioned
• 38:07
  muppet sound it just sounded like the muppets to me i i loved
• 38:12
  it and and the way it came out in the film to the way it's shot
• 38:19
  it it's i i'm i'm really proud of how that came out what we all
• 38:26
  contributed to it there's some really new really great puppetry
• 38:31
  in it too we we say this to pretty much everyone who had
• 38:37
  worked in any way on muppets most wanted but most wanted is
• 38:41
  so good and it's such a tragedy that people did not make a point
• 38:46
  to go out and see it when it was in theaters because it really is
• 38:50
  you know in the in the modern era of muppets like the post jim
• 38:54
  era of muppets it is a highlight it's one of the very best things
• 38:58
  you guys have ever done so thank you thank you yeah i'm really
• 39:03
  proud of that as well uhm yeah it's it's there's and the music
• 39:09
  yeah i mean it's it's brett really outdid himself i mean he
• 39:12
  did a great job on the first movie and the second one it's
• 39:16
  just he nailed that sound come and yeah and it's it's i just i
• 39:24
  love it anyways believe makes you wish that that there was a
• 39:28
  third one for him to work yeah yeah you know at least the you
• 39:33
  know muppets most wanted still we made it it's still there for
• 39:37
  people to discover so you know hopefully it'll gain a wider and
• 39:45
  wider audience over the years i i i hope so and uh yeah and you
• 39:52
  know and brett still kicking he's doing his stuff he's doing
• 39:56
  his thing and we're still doing our thing maybe we'll cross
• 40:00
  paths again we'll have another chance to work together i'll say
• 40:05
  one of my favorite parts about that movie as well is that sam
• 40:10
  and type or else character yeah that dynamic is fantastic that
• 40:15
  was one of the things i remember we all really loved from the
• 40:20
  first read through uhm and again i think it goes it just it goes
• 40:27
  back to kind of like you know kind of classic archetypes and
• 40:33
  things we've all seen before but you don't see anymore and i
• 40:42
  think that's something that the muppets can really come you know
• 40:49
  when they embraced that it's it's it's refreshing it's new
• 40:55
  you know what's old is new again and and you know they they
• 41:00
  brought back vaudeville in the seventies there's no reason why
• 41:05
  the muppets can't keep you know bringing out you know bringing
• 41:12
  fraud ville back and and doing this you know this stuff that's
• 41:17
  this comedy that when you see it you laugh but you don't see it
• 41:23
  anymore nobody 's doing it uhm you know let's not not many
• 41:29
  people are so dumb yeah and you know just the prop comedy with
• 41:37
  sam and ties just absurd and really really fun funny and uh
• 41:44
  and you know the the that kind of you know buddy cop a dynamic
• 41:55
  but with these really extreme extreme characters UM it's just
• 42:02
  it's it's it's fun to see it's fun to see we had a lot of fun
• 42:07
  tyondai doing that UM really really great really great and i
• 42:15
  feel like i think you were the one who pointed out to me maybe
• 42:18
  that come up that sam and and i don't actually accomplish
• 42:24
  anything in the movie like oh yeah you don't push the story
• 42:27
  along they don't like don't like they don't solve the mystery
• 42:30
  solving the action it's true yeah yeah yeah they they don't
• 42:37
  they don't yeah they don't really further anything they
• 42:41
  just they kind of they're really there i think to be an
• 42:49
  obstruction for the rest of the muppets you know to to come to
• 42:58
  make their lives harder uhm and to distract you know distract
• 43:04
  them from what you know their goals are in the movie but that
• 43:09
  that's really it there's a lot of there's a lot of stuff like
• 43:15
  that where if you examine it and if you know you know as a as a
• 43:22
  script you know it it maybe doesn't make a lot of sense like
• 43:30
  why would you do it this way but it still winds up being
• 43:37
  incredibly entertaining to watch yeah and yeah yeah it's like
• 43:43
  it's it's like you know uh you know it's it's it's it's weird
• 43:48
  but both OK now this is the film geek and me now coming out so
• 43:55
  like both the muppets two thousand eleven and and muppets
• 44:00
  most wanted they have shifting protagonists and the muppets are
• 44:06
  not the main characters throughout the entire the
• 44:10
  entirety of both of those films and it's something that you know
• 44:16
  you kind of like would scratch your head that if it were you
• 44:20
  know if those movies were done with other characters perhaps or
• 44:25
  if the movies weren't as entertaining as they are but the
• 44:31
  fact is they they are super entertaining and it doesn't
• 44:34
  matter that we're following you know jason segel and and in the
• 44:41
  first movie and walter who is not a muppet at the beginning of
• 44:45
  the movie you know you're following their story for some
• 44:49
  time before it really becomes you know kermit and the gang and
• 44:54
  and what they oh what they need and come in the same same thing
• 45:01
  with the with muppets most wanted it's it's really it's
• 45:05
  it's you know it's a heist movie and you're following ricky
• 45:10
  gervais and constantine and and in a heist movie you're supposed
• 45:17
  to be rooting for the guys pulling off the heist but
• 45:20
  obviously not going to root for these guys you want to root for
• 45:23
  the muppets they're just uh they're just a mark the muppets
• 45:30
  but but you know and then and until you know later on when
• 45:35
  they finally catch on uhm what's got what's what's happening
• 45:39
  what's happening with kermit uhm but it still works it's like
• 45:44
  it's so entertaining it just doesn't matter like these
• 45:48
  unconventional narrative structures don't matter at all
• 45:53
  and that's what the muppets do best is unconvinced yeah and it
• 45:57
  may in maybe it adds to the entertainment value because
• 46:01
  you're just like what am i watching what is this where is
• 46:04
  this story going i yeah uhm it's uh it's but it's it's it's i
• 46:13
  find that fascinating that those movies are both so entertaining
• 46:19
  on their own terms like that absolutely have you had much of
• 46:26
  a chance to communicate with frank since you took over his
• 46:30
  characters but we've you know we've chatted about this and
• 46:36
  that over the years uhm you know he the the fact of the matter is
• 46:44
  he's i'm i'm there because he's not so dumb so our paths don't
• 46:50
  cross all that often but when they do you know it's it's
• 46:56
  always nice to catch up with him and you know we've had uh we've
• 47:01
  had some really great conversations about the muppets
• 47:06
  and about character and uh you know in his point of view and uh
• 47:13
  you know over the years but UM you know i died i respect i i'm
• 47:22
  i worship the ground that he's walked on you know every time i
• 47:27
  i i've put on one of those puppets and it's a you know it's
• 47:35
  it's not necessarily a matter of me thinking what would frank do
• 47:40
  but uh you know because i have i have to do you know what eric
• 47:46
  would do yeah yeah i know nobody can be somebody else you know
• 47:52
  even if you're good at you know you're good mimic you can't be
• 47:56
  somebody else come but but you know i i take inspiration from
• 48:05
  his performances constantly you know and like i said i i'm
• 48:10
  always going back and watching the the you know the original
• 48:14
  material and uhm and learning from it so it it must be hard
• 48:22
  too because you know like the characters it doesn't matter you
• 48:27
  know if it's been one performer the whole time or or split the
• 48:30
  way that the the your characters have but with a character that
• 48:35
  has been around for as long as the muppets have been around
• 48:38
  specifically with the disney muppets not so much with the
• 48:41
  sesame characters like they're going to evolve like miss piggy
• 48:44
  is that you perform is not the same miss piggy that we saw in
• 48:48
  the muppet show because that miss piggy was like this
• 48:50
  struggling artist yeah just wanted to be a star and now like
• 48:54
  she's she's this diva she is the biggest movie star in the world
• 48:58
  and so it's going to be really hard to juggle like what would
• 49:02
  you know what's the core of this character from the late nineteen
• 49:07
  seventies to like who does she need to be in twenty twenty one
• 49:11
  yeah and and you bring up an aspect of her character that i'm
• 49:16
  i'm always i'm always you know uh conscious of and that is
• 49:27
  people really really like to see her today as a successful
• 49:35
  glamorous a fashionable fashion icon uh movie star you know all
• 49:45
  of these things and they'll treat her that way whether it's
• 49:50
  in interviews or in magazines and it's it's really hard it's
• 49:59
  really hard for me to uhm to justify where they're coming
• 50:08
  from uh but i have i have to acknowledge however they treat
• 50:13
  her but you know deep down inside you know i i think the
• 50:21
  character works best when she is not seen to be as successful uhm
• 50:31
  and uh as much of an icon 'cause i think the struggle the
• 50:36
  struggle for her to become that is more interesting than her
• 50:41
  being that i agree yeah so but i have to you know i have to
• 50:47
  acknowledge it when people do treat her that way sometimes you
• 50:50
  know some sometimes she's not treated that way sometimes she
• 50:53
  is and when she is it's like especially in the fashion world
• 50:58
  like people in the fashion world they love miss piggy and she's
• 51:04
  now you know modeled all those couture in real fashion
• 51:11
  magazines now for years and she has a whole like practically you
• 51:18
  know everybody is anybody in the fashion world has made something
• 51:23
  for her uhm it's crazy then you don't even get to keep the
• 51:30
  dresses she has them miss piggy does sure sure of course yeah i
• 51:39
  mean i don't know how often she's gonna break out that
• 51:42
  vivienne westwood wedding dress that she wore in muppets most
• 51:47
  wanted but it's nice to know it's in the closet museum but
• 51:50
  it's crazy but you know it's it's crazy right to to think
• 51:57
  that she's black you know this fashion icon but she's been
• 52:03
  embraced that way by the fashion world and and so i i just have
• 52:08
  to kind of shift perspective uhm well when when we're talking
• 52:15
  fashion and just like highlight how crazy the fashion world is
• 52:22
  you know and and and then it starts OK now this fits into uhm
• 52:29
  who miss piggy is like you know she is idolized by this crazy
• 52:38
  fashion world that's that's just you know insane UM and so then
• 52:46
  then it you know i can i can i can justify it but uh you know
• 52:53
  the the thing that frank seems to not say that obviously you
• 52:58
  should do what frank did but and i think this has more to do with
• 53:00
  who frank was at this time his life but as miss piggy got to be
• 53:04
  more and more you know famous and you know in the real world
• 53:08
  and treated in that way his interpretation of piggy became
• 53:13
  more of like like i don't care like i'm here and i don't care
• 53:18
  and i'm just like why did you ask me on this stupid show and
• 53:22
  like you know i'm specifically thinking of like i'm sure you've
• 53:25
  seen her on like martha stewart and yeah there's a really funny
• 53:30
  one with her on the today show i think it was or something like
• 53:33
  that and like you know i know you probably don't have that as
• 53:39
  much of that freedom because the characters are disney characters
• 53:43
  but there was he somehow found that comedy in playing against
• 53:48
  what people wanted from her yes yes and i've i've done that at
• 53:53
  times too uhm but it's you know it's it's uh well you can't go
• 53:58
  too too many times UM i'm sure and and you know sometimes it's
• 54:06
  it's a question of you know why is she here you know why she's
• 54:11
  not promoting she she's not promoting anything this has
• 54:14
  nothing to do with with with you know her interests and so you
• 54:20
  have to come up with some reasons some justification for
• 54:23
  why she's wherever she is like you know when she she she was on
• 54:30
  like ESPN sports zone or something like that once like it
• 54:36
  was ESPN and it was like yep i don't i don't know you know i
• 54:43
  don't know why she's here i don't i don't know how this
• 54:46
  happened and it's it's called synergy yeah yeah and and and so
• 54:54
  you know i had to come up with this idea this this whole
• 54:57
  justification that you know that miss piggy didn't know why she
• 55:01
  deserved and some intern she was just walking down the hall she
• 55:07
  was on her way to a meeting about something else and some
• 55:10
  intern just grabbed her arm and pulled her in here and now she's
• 55:14
  she's sitting in here talking sports he didn't know anything
• 55:19
  about sports or the old pigskin around yeah yeah you can have
• 55:26
  that you have that joke no one has that joke yeah yeah it was
• 55:32
  original i came up with it but yeah i mean so every so it's
• 55:39
  it's all a lot of times it's about the individual appearance
• 55:44
  and you know you know what's what's going on what's happening
• 55:49
  why is she here white what does she think she's there sometimes
• 55:54
  there's there are two different reasons and dumb you know you
• 55:59
  got you gotta come up with the reality of you know for her for
• 56:04
  the character so it in and that's the thing you know you
• 56:09
  have to make each of these individual appearances work and
• 56:13
  sometimes it it kind of goes it'll run counter to the the
• 56:19
  overarching narrative that you're trying to push forward
• 56:24
  with the characters and that's you know that's uh those are the
• 56:31
  pitfalls of you know these these characters who've been around
• 56:37
  for so long you inevitably run into those those little pitfalls
• 56:43
  every now and then but you know you try and keep an eye out for
• 56:47
  it all and and you just do the best you can i'm curious you
• 56:53
  know you've talked a bit about playing these these characters
• 56:57
  that are among the biggest stars in the pop culture pop culture
• 57:01
  world but does it get overwhelming when because you
• 57:05
  play so many of them when you see a script that's like OK we
• 57:09
  have a scene where it's piggy and animal and fozzie and then
• 57:13
  the B plot is all about sam and you're like guys there's i only
• 57:16
  have two arms well thankfully the those kind of complicated
• 57:22
  plots usually only wind up in a movie or some big production
• 57:28
  where you have a little bit more time to track all the characters
• 57:33
  beforehand and to keep an eye on them throughout the whole
• 57:40
  creative process so yeah i mean occasionally it'll happen with
• 57:49
  you know with with the you know on sesame street or you know uhm
• 57:58
  on a another production that's just you know really really fast
• 58:03
  paced UM production but uh yeah i i've i've i've done it so much
• 58:11
  now that i'm you know i'm pretty good at juggling it all and
• 58:17
  keeping track of all the characters arcs and you know
• 58:21
  what each character where what state they're in at any given
• 58:26
  point in a storyline but it takes it takes work you know
• 58:33
  sure gotta do your homework can i ask so in the twenty fifteen
• 58:38
  series sam had a runner where he was in love with janice yeah can
• 58:45
  you tell me a little bit about how you sort 'cause i find that
• 58:48
  storylines being really that's quite a controversial one up i
• 58:51
  would muppet bens some people loved it some people were very
• 58:55
  confused by it so i'm just wondering what your take on it
• 58:57
  is i think sam was very confused by it for sure he didn't quite
• 59:05
  understand these feelings he had come and and and that's how i
• 59:11
  played it mostly you know and and you know 'cause i think
• 59:18
  that's relatable you know something love is not something
• 59:24
  that you can really always explain this it's just it's
• 59:30
  works in mysterious ways farm just it's because love that's
• 59:35
  yeah yeah it's you know but it never went anywhere you know the
• 59:42
  you know yeah it was it was an unrequited love and i i don't
• 59:49
  think that janice was ever going to even realize that he existed
• 59:55
  you know it's just and that was that was going to be that was i
• 1:00:01
  imagine that's had the series continued you come that's how
• 1:00:08
  that relationship would've ended was really yeah you know yeah he
• 1:00:14
  would just have to move on because she didn't she didn't
• 1:00:18
  even realize he was there we recently did a whole podcast
• 1:00:23
  revisiting the two thousand fifteen sitcom and obviously
• 1:00:28
  that topic came up several times and some of our interviewees
• 1:00:32
  thought they loved it some did not care for it but the one
• 1:00:36
  consensus that we came to was exactly what you said was if
• 1:00:40
  whether it's interesting or it works or not or is problematic
• 1:00:44
  or not the story seemed to didn't have anywhere to go it
• 1:00:49
  was just he has a crush on her she doesn't see him yeah then
• 1:00:52
  what and they didn't write an arc for that subplot they just
• 1:00:56
  kind of let it fade into the into the ether yeah yeah you
• 1:01:03
  know the the show was put together so quickly uhm i don't
• 1:01:09
  think any of these character arcs any of these story arcs it
• 1:01:17
  had been thought out to completion before we started i
• 1:01:22
  mean they were writing shows you know just like a week in advance
• 1:01:29
  of us shooting them it is is really tight there's really
• 1:01:33
  tight so especially for muppets 'cause you guys need a lot of
• 1:01:37
  lead time usually yeah the workshop was really they they
• 1:01:42
  were really you know under the gun they were you know they were
• 1:01:47
  on site you know and they had they had you know all hands on
• 1:01:51
  deck but it was it was it was a big job for them you know it was
• 1:01:59
  big for everybody i mean that was it was quite an undertaking
• 1:02:04
  and you know largely i'm i'm very proud of the work that
• 1:02:08
  everybody did on i think there's you know a lot of great work
• 1:02:14
  went into it and uh a lot of great work that shows on screen
• 1:02:20
  you know what whether you like the tone of the show or uh you
• 1:02:27
  know wish they had been you know something different there's it's
• 1:02:33
  it's quite a feat you know i don't think puppetry has ever
• 1:02:38
  been seen on primetime television in the way that it
• 1:02:43
  was put on display in that show well if i can lump a little bit
• 1:02:49
  more praise on you eric let me know if you're getting sick of
• 1:02:52
  it huh i will say one of my favorite bits of puppetry in
• 1:02:57
  that show was you was when sam was singing wind beneath my
• 1:03:00
  wings and you have to go back and watch it he's just got a
• 1:03:04
  very subtle sway to himself while he's singing yeah because
• 1:03:08
  he's obviously really like he's getting upset about ed helms and
• 1:03:11
  janice flirting and he's a lot of like in their heads down a
• 1:03:14
  little bit and it's i think i went back and re watched that
• 1:03:17
  let's get that little bit of puppetry about three or four
• 1:03:19
  times because it was just so subtly done and so i mean the
• 1:03:25
  compliment six years late but well done legs thanks yeah i
• 1:03:30
  mean then there are a lot of little moments like that with
• 1:03:35
  all the characters you know personally that i'm proud of uhm
• 1:03:40
  and you know we we had you know this material was so different
• 1:03:46
  from what we were used to doing and so is a real stretch for me
• 1:03:50
  as an actor uhm and and then also you know to put uh that
• 1:03:59
  acting into uh and so into puppetry you know to manifest it
• 1:04:05
  in these physical forms on screen and uhm yeah i i'm i i
• 1:04:13
  remember that very the UM you know trying to come up with what
• 1:04:18
  his body language was during that that moment you know going
• 1:04:25
  up and singing like that it's like he doesn't sing you know
• 1:04:31
  not not you know not so like that and and and and you know
• 1:04:39
  but you know it so he didn't know what to do with himself and
• 1:04:43
  he and he come uh you know and he was but he but he was doing
• 1:04:50
  it with the purpose of trying to to get janice is attention but
• 1:04:58
  there were lots of other like little mom it's little things
• 1:05:01
  that i've never done with with a puppet before and you know maybe
• 1:05:08
  other people had but i just i don't ever recall seeing it
• 1:05:11
  before it things like like miss piggy like swinging around a
• 1:05:16
  doorway through through a door frame just like you know
• 1:05:19
  latching onto a to the uhm the frame of a door and just kind of
• 1:05:27
  swinging around it and letting her her other arm naturally
• 1:05:35
  swing yeah yeah and and and and then we i did something else
• 1:05:44
  with peggy where i had i had a drop to her knees and you know
• 1:05:51
  which you never think to do this normally 'cause you know even as
• 1:05:57
  puppeteers we're we're we're looking at the the what's in the
• 1:06:02
  frame or not you know we're we're trying to give the
• 1:06:06
  impression of the lower extremities but uhm that was
• 1:06:11
  something i've never done before i was is is like and it it it
• 1:06:15
  there's never been a call for it so a lot of it was inspired by
• 1:06:19
  UM by the scripts and by the material you know they were
• 1:06:27
  having to project these emotions that were more complex they were
• 1:06:34
  emotions that they hadn't displayed before it to this
• 1:06:39
  extent and so we had to come up with the physical the
• 1:06:43
  physicality that would go with it and uh and that was that was
• 1:06:47
  fun that was a real stretch and uh this is just two instances
• 1:06:52
  you know that i that i shared but there are many many many
• 1:06:57
  others you know from the from my colleagues as well so i think
• 1:07:07
  it's a fun watch just for that you know for for the puppetry
• 1:07:11
  that's on display and the acting that you've never you've never
• 1:07:15
  seen from the pump it's before that's for sure i mean that's
• 1:07:19
  the great thing about having a weekly show is you guys had so
• 1:07:24
  much time where you could play an experiment and like just
• 1:07:30
  you're doing more than just having the characters talk
• 1:07:33
  directly to the camera you're you know they're they're like
• 1:07:35
  you say there acting yeah for a whole half hour every week yeah
• 1:07:39
  yeah it's i i hope you guys get that opportunity again soon yeah
• 1:07:43
  you know that was it was such a treat to for like like you say
• 1:07:46
  just for that reason to to watch the terrific puppetry yeah me
• 1:07:50
  too me too i i i'm i'm sure it'll it'll happen it's just a
• 1:07:55
  matter of when and in what project but you know i i think
• 1:08:00
  it'll happen uh you know it's also a great opportunity to
• 1:08:04
  create new characters now that you know that didn't you know
• 1:08:10
  happen a lot on on uh the twenty fifteen show and we weren't
• 1:08:18
  around long enough to really get you know getting new characters
• 1:08:24
  for them to gain traction but uh no had we been around for a
• 1:08:34
  couple more seasons you know i think you know that's where new
• 1:08:38
  characters are created you know they're not creating a vacuum
• 1:08:44
  you can't just create new characters you know for a one
• 1:08:51
  off project and expect them to stick uhm sometimes you know
• 1:08:58
  some you just can't he you can't anticipate where a new character
• 1:09:03
  is going to come from but if you're given enough time in your
• 1:09:10
  you know you're going into work every day it's it's more likely
• 1:09:17
  to happen then and so i can't wait for that to happen again
• 1:09:23
  yeah for that play that playground to be available to us
• 1:09:28
  all once more 'cause i'm sure i'm yeah i'm i'm sure there will
• 1:09:36
  be you know it with the next a big production to come along i'm
• 1:09:42
  sure they're going to be a lot of new characters you know along
• 1:09:47
  with the classics yeah i don't i don't think the muppets are ever
• 1:09:52
  going to make the mistake of of sidelining their you know there
• 1:09:59
  there there classic part you know most popular fan fave
• 1:10:04
  characters but uh i think we're just gonna get to see more
• 1:10:13
  characters joining them on whatever they're you know
• 1:10:18
  wherever their journeys take them next well i'm looking
• 1:10:21
  forward to the next movie which will just revolve around that
• 1:10:24
  mole that you play are you announcing something right now
• 1:10:36
  he's just covered in sour cream for the entire movie that sounds
• 1:10:41
  good what's the name of the movie oh don't make me do it
• 1:10:48
  molemo limo i like it oh goodness gracious feel like
• 1:10:58
  we're making the T shirt yeah people are making fan art on the
• 1:11:02
  internet i had spielbergs interested completely taken off
• 1:11:06
  who's been trusted L spielberg not steve and mark heels again
• 1:11:11
  brother bark spill but this is this is how it happens now i
• 1:11:16
  would guys you know just write whisper campaign like this and
• 1:11:22
  pretty soon you're on the set you're making the magic happen
• 1:11:28
  right all takes is one person with money to listen to this
• 1:11:31
  podcast and to say OK fine fine here have my money go make one
• 1:11:38
  of those hollywood right yeah pretty much so so eric every
• 1:11:45
  week jerrod and i because we take turns bringing our guest
• 1:11:48
  and we each also take turns with a series of preset questions
• 1:11:53
  that we ask to our guests so feel free to answer these
• 1:11:58
  lightning lightning round style or take your time i don't know
• 1:12:01
  we don't care so not answer them at all is that a choice as well
• 1:12:05
  i mean no ones taking that one one question was not it was not
• 1:12:10
  answered if i recall it was it was one of the the questions
• 1:12:17
  asked by our previous guests ones they declined OK yes i did
• 1:12:23
  so here's here's our list of questions for you yeah what is
• 1:12:27
  the best movie that you watched recently oh ah it's it's not UM
• 1:12:36
  it's not a new movie that's OK austin powers two wow love that
• 1:12:46
  love that movie yeah would you rather travel twenty years into
• 1:12:51
  the past or twenty years into the future oh wow twenty years
• 1:12:57
  ago what was i doing twenty years ago uh i think i hate to
• 1:13:02
  break it to you is only two thousand one i know i know like
• 1:13:06
  where where was on my life i you know i i'd rather i'd rather see
• 1:13:13
  what kind of new technology the future brings i go i go in the
• 1:13:17
  future i already know the past i know what happened there i was
• 1:13:21
  there let's look into the future is a hotdog a sandwich no it's a
• 1:13:28
  hot dog silly question right quick tell me the most obscure
• 1:13:36
  muppet you can think of a harvey knee slapper ah well i got to i
• 1:13:44
  got to play i got to bring him back for one night only yeah
• 1:13:50
  it's a great job for sesame street fiftieth anniversary so
• 1:13:57
  every every week we ask our guest to give us a question to
• 1:14:02
  ask our next guest without knowing who it is last week our
• 1:14:06
  guest was nick stoler and i'm so sorry you know we have an array
• 1:14:11
  of different questions really big ones yeah sorry bout kind of
• 1:14:16
  dumb but nick wanted to know when was the last time you fart
• 1:14:21
  did yeah and he was thinking of me when he asked his question
• 1:14:27
  i'm sure of it you know he probably i'm sure he was knowing
• 1:14:30
  i know nick and and he knows me very well but he he probably
• 1:14:37
  probably knew the answer as well but it is quite recently made
• 1:14:43
  you know probably probably it's probably been more than more
• 1:14:51
  than you'd like to know during this conversation we had yeah
• 1:14:58
  all right our final question without knowing who it is yeah
• 1:15:02
  what question would you like to ask our next guest ah can you
• 1:15:10
  give me a hint of who it's going to be now i know who it is
• 1:15:14
  because joe has no idea where it yeah it's going to be a surprise
• 1:15:17
  to me as well jerrod is bringing a could be anybody OK it could
• 1:15:21
  be you again i don't know what's what's your favorite uhm what's
• 1:15:31
  your favorite snackfood done what's your favorite snack food
• 1:15:38
  great question well that brings us to the end of another episode
• 1:15:44
  of to introduce our guest star eric jacobson thank you so much
• 1:15:48
  for being here yeah yeah thanks thanks for having me this has
• 1:15:52
  this has made my week it made my month i'll argue so i mean well
• 1:15:57
  i mean that's not over yet then i'm going out months ago yeah
• 1:16:02
  true story but so far it's made my month alright well i'm glad i
• 1:16:08
  could do that for you thank you yeah you guys have made my last
• 1:16:13
  hour really truly i'm that you that means more to me than you
• 1:16:18
  know it means very little to me i don't there we didn't do
• 1:16:23
  anything else this hour we we made it whether it was good or
• 1:16:25
  bad no no seriously seriously more than all of the gas that
• 1:16:29
  i've released this this is really meant something to me ah
• 1:16:35
  well that's always good tonight