First off, I want to say thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read my entries! This is my first Blog, so it is greatly appreciated. Knowing that my thoughts are reaching people inspires me to continue.
You may have noticed my first couple of entries focused on the legendary Muppets, and specifically on the loyal go-fer Scooter. There is a reason for that and today is the perfect day to explain why.
Today, January 7, 2009, is the 17th anniversary of the death of Muppet performer, Richard Hunt. Richard was the puppeteer behind the eager Scooter, of course, also Sweetums, Janice, Junior Gorg, Forgetful Jones and Statler (one of the old guys in the balcony), just to name a few.
I’m ashamed to admit I hadn’t heard of Richard until a few years ago, despite my life long interest in the Muppets. That all changed after reading an informative and touching Tribute to this unique performer on the Muppet Central website. From there, I was inspired to learn more.
I’ve always loved The Muppets of course; they had a unique mixture of insanity and sweetness. Something that’s very difficult to pull off, but they did it. From everything I’ve read, Richard represented a lot of that spirit. In a memorial from Puppetry Journal, Todd Stockman describes Richard: “He was a remarkably gifted performer whose high energy level permeated through each of his characters, both on and off camera. He was famous for cutting up on the set with a puppet in hand, entertaining a young visitor to the set of Sesame Street set, and energetically and hysterically leading the Muppet workshops responsible for training countless puppeteers.”
First of all I was intrigued by Richard’s story: He was only 18 when he joined the Muppets, just out of high school and looking for a job. Well actually, his first job was as a weather correspondent with Cousin Brucie. Having virtually no experience, he often resorted to putting his hand out the window to see if it was raining! The job was clearly not a perfect fit for the loud and outgoing young man from a family of performers. As Richard himself once put it in the Muppet Show Press Kit, “Four months of it was all I could take…I decided to make a career of resting.”
For Richard, part of ‘resting’ included taking time to watch a strange new form of entertainment—known as The Muppets. This unusual puppet troupe led by Jim Henson was gaining stride on Television, regularly appearing on such variety shows as Ed Sullivan, and contributing to an innovative new program for children, Sesame Street. Richard found himself enamored of these puppet characters, which could display an unusually wide range of emotions and possessed an off-kilter, yet endearing sense of humor. Richard would later declare, “I’d drop anything to watch them…I thought they were weird.”
Eventually Richard got up the nerve to give up resting and see if there was a future for him with the Muppets. Much like his future character Scooter, young Richard had a couple strikes against him. As Kermit would later confess to Scooter, “You’re too young, you don’t have any experience!” However, also like Scooter, what Richard lacked in puppetry experience, he made up for in determination and talent.
On a day that would turn out to be quite fortuitous, Richard contacted Henson Associates (from a phone booth in the city) asking if the company was possibly auditioning puppeteers. Luckily for Richard (and for Muppet fans the world over) Jim Henson was auditioning new talent that very day, and saw something in the young hopeful from Closter, New Jersey, with the eccentric sense of humor and eagerness to please. (Jim Henson-The Works, Christopher Finch, pg 58).
For me, Richard’s story with the Muppets demonstrates the importance of, not just talent, but determination and hope. Muppets fans might remember Kermit’s song “The Rainbow Connection” which celebrates “the lovers and the dreamers.” For me, Richard represents both. As a lover, he was one of the Muppets’ original fans, who believed in their heart and humor long before the skeptical execs at CBS did. In a recent interview with Muppet fansite Tough Pigs, fellow Muppet performer Steve Whitmire shared, “Richard was a lot about justice. He was always about the underdog….He was a great diplomat for the Muppets as much as anything.”
This love eventually grew into a dream, could he find a place with his heart’s desire? Here I am reminded of a line from the musical Joseph, “Some folks dream of the wonders they’ll do before their time on this planet is through…some…hide their hopes and their heads in the sand…but if you think it, want it, dream it…then it’s real.”
Richard could have easily stayed home that fortuitous day, content with simply watching the Muppets on TV, laughing at their antics from far away. He certainly would have been entertained! But then the Muppets and the world would have been deprived of what turned out to be a vital part of what made the Muppets the strange mixture of sweetness and insanity that they are today.
So, what exactly was Richard Hunt’s contribution to the Muppets? After much research, I think he represented much of the Muppet’s edge, and yet also their depth and complexity. Unlike most of the other performers, Richard clearly had a puppet preference when building his impression repertoire. His undeniable specialty—the bad boys. Well, semi bad boys, I call them. He rarely played an out and out evil villain in Muppet projects. More those characters with the attitude, loud and crazy personalities and egos, and imposing dispositions. Some obvious examples would be Sweetums from The Muppet Show, Junior Gorg and Gunge from Fraggle Rock, and Placido Flamingo and Leo the Party Monster from Sesame Street (not to mention the multitude of Anything Muppets and What Nots over the years).
The Muppet performers often claim their own personalities are mirrored in the characters they play. Jim Henson’s son Brian once labeled Richard as “kind of crazy. He was the bad boy of the group.” On the Muppet Central Tribute, puppeteer Terry Angus once fondly remembered a typical day of filming with Richard, “I remember the first season of Fraggle Rock was shot in the summer and it was hot. Richard was going around the set during a scene shooting people with a squirt gun… I’ll never forget the evil smile as the water would hit you. We all got Richard back during the break with a garden hose. He was soaked.”
Terry also described how a boisterous Richard Hunt would conduct puppeteer auditions in an intimidating yet oddly helpful way, “The door opened and a girl comes out shaking and muttering ‘That guy is crazy! That guy is crazy!!’…I went in and Richard was in my face barking questions like a drill Sargent. “HI I’M RICHARD HUNT!’…Richard was acting the way he did to see if the new performers could handle stress. In TV you have to be able to handle stress.”
Rarely did the Muppets create characters that were flat and one dimensional. Richard’s semi bad boys also had soft sides and part of their journey as characters was discovering this and becoming well rounded and complex individuals. Sweetums may have looked like a fairy tale ogre, but in reality he was an opera lover who cried to think people were scared of him. Junior Gorg delighted in chasing Fraggles, but we later learn it’s because he’s so desperate for a friend. Tough talking Gunge discovers his friendship with Philo is more important than fame and glory.
Again, it’s possible that such complexities in the Muppets came from Richard’s own personality and life experiences. Fans of Fraggle Rock might remember the episode “Gunge the Great and Glorious” in which Gunge get enticed by fame and power, even at the expense of his friendship with Philo.
Philo: There are more important things in life than being a king.
Gunge: Oh yeah like what? Come on, come on, tell me, what? !
Philo:Like us bein pals!
Gunge: Oh, gag me with a twig!…I want something better! I wanna be a star!
In a recent Muppetcastinterview, fellow puppeteer Kevin Clash described Richard’s “hip, cool personality” which easily attracted others to him and made him, as Henson Company veteran Pete Coogan once said, “the pied piper…Where Richard went, everyone followed!” Yet Kevin speculates it was this cool, confident personality that also sometimes prevented Richard from showing just how much the Muppets really meant to him. He fondly recalls Richard nonchalantly reading the newspaper until the very last minute before filming a Sesame Street segment.
However, Kevin also assures us that those closest to Richard knew how much he truly loved the Muppets, “This was his life, he loved it, loved it, loved it dearly.” Perhaps in a similar way, Gunge eventually learns (and admits) where his true feelings lay:
Gunge: Boy, I sure was wrong about how great it would be to be king. It wasn’t fun at all.
Marjory: Didn’t you enjoy being the center of attention?
Gunge:Nah, it wasn’t real. I mean, the Doozers loved me cause I was the king, not cause I was me.
Marjory: That’s a very wise observation.
Gunge: The only one who ever loved me for me was Philo. And now he’s gone…ohhh…I can’t believe how much I miss him! I feel like half a rat.
Marjory:You know that’s exactly how Philo felt when you were gone.
Gunge: It is? You mean he missed me this much?
Marjory: He certainly did.
Gunge: Oh, then I gotta go find him and tell him how I feel!
(Moments later)
Gunge (to Philo): I don’t know how I coulda thought bein king was more important than…you.
Philo: Really? You know, Gunge, you’re the greatest.
Gunge:No, no, no Philo…you’re the greatest…
In Puppetry Journal, Todd Stockman further describes Richard’s own journey in the face of troubling times, “Richard’s indefatigable spirit was a valuable and important ingredient in the lead Muppet ensemble. Once the dark cloud of AIDS began to affect his life through the loss of friends, and his own diagnosis of becoming HIV positive he became noticeably more spiritual, somewhat more solemn, and serene. Richard’s inspirational and uplifting words at the public memorial for Jim Henson…were especially poignant.”
Ironically, the challenges Richard Hunt faced might have helped him find his words at Jim Henson’s memorial, “The spirit of Jim was here before, during, and remains after his stay. And hopefully that part of him that we each keep will help…remind us to stop rushing to stop trying to control things. Instead to experience the wonder that God has given us…Forgive your anger, forgive your guilt, your shame, your saddness. Embrace and open up your love, your joy, your truth! And most especially your heart. Let us all have mercy on each and every one of us. And everyday we will open up, like a cocoon, and turn into beautiful butterflies. And live this moment…and the next…and the next…and the next…”
Looking back, it’s almost like Richard came at exactly the right time in my life. I’ve always been kind of a shy person. I’ve achieved a lot in my life, but I’ve always suffered from a lack of confidence. Sort of like in the musical Jekyll & Hyde, “Wanting to fly, but scared to try.” Most of my entertainment heroes mirroed this, and were themselves known for being shy and withdrawn. Richard is a total departure from this trend, confident, outgoing, willing to be silly and take chances. Another Fraggle puppeteer Karen Prell has said, “Richard cared so much about getting the best out of people.” I can safely say Richard really inspired me to try harder, not be afraid, and to be comfortable with myself. I find myself more willing to take on challenges and stop worrying about being nervous. I feel more empowered, which is wonderful! In addition, I was moved to be more generous, whether it was contributing to charity or just sharing myself with people. I’m so grateful to have had that inspiration. 
More than anything else, the people who knew and worked with Richard remembered his generosity. As Kevin Clash put it, “He gave all of us so much of himself.” The recently published history of Sesame Street, Street Gangby Michael Davis, very generously provided many memorable and introspective observations of Richard. Richard’s mother Jane explains how her son often suffered from teasing in school, due to his unusual and outgoing personality. But young Richard had an idea! He began taking money from his Mom in order to buy candy for his classmates. Eventually his generosity won them over. Now of course, it’s not right to steal money from your Mom. And it’s probably not a great idea to try to buy friends with said candy either, hehe. Still, he had the right idea, the best way to make friends is to be a friend yourself first.
Later in life his generosity matured into supporting his family, grabbing the tab at dinners, planning vacations for friends, showing kids around the Muppet Show studio and certainly giving us his all in performance. We usually associate the concept of generosity with warm fuzzy feelings. Yet we often forget it requires sacrifice and often pain to be generous. In Street Gang, his sister Kate shared that perhaps Richard was such a brutal perfectionist in performing because he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, providing for his family. Muppeteer Karen Prell explained his often intimidating work ethic, “Richard cared so much about getting the best out of people. He’d come on strong but he loved the Muppets and being a Muppeteer and helping other people be good Muppeteers. He could really get people to do their best in his very own way.” Kevin Clash recalled Richard’s good natured teasing when Elmo (the puppet Richard had given up to Kevin years before) became to get popular.
Yet it seems Richard’s generosity of heart and Muppet performing always came with eagerness, fun and genuine loyalty. It is a lesson we can all learn from in our own lives. If I may be so bold, I’d like to imagine that when Richard arrived in the Afterlife, he found people eagerly waiting to perform a show for him. And perhaps he was even persuaded to let someone else take the tab for once. 
This is the part of the article where they usually discuss the legacy a person leaves behind. To be sure, there are probably a million bits of trivia and Muppeteer anecdotes I could add to try and make this tribute complete. Any of that would be splendid. However, perhaps Richard’s legacy, true to form, comes from a more unexpected place. Perhaps, in a father’s surprising yet touching tale of his young son Chris, who suffers from Autism, but yet possesses a rather unique gift:
“This child could remember any words he saw! He once spelled the words ‘Richard Hunt.’ ‘Who’s Richard Hunt?’, I asked. Jae didn’t know either. Well, we were watching a Muppet Movie later and happened to notice that the twentieth character printed on the credits was Richard Hunt. For some reason that caught his eye and he remembered it! I found myself looking at him in amazement. His ability to spell and remember words was incredible” (Breaking Autism’s Barriers, Bill Davis).
I think that says it all. Rest in Peace, Richard!
Below are some sites that any interested parties would find…well…interesting! Plus, it gives me the opportunity to thank my sources, which is very important!
Angus, Terry. “Remembering Richard Hunt.” Muppet Central.com
Davis, Bill. Goldband Schunick, Wendy. Breaking Autism’s Barriers: A Father’s Story. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. © 2001.
Davis, Michael. Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street. Viking Publishers. © 2008.
Finch, Christopher. Jim Henson – The Works, The Art, the Magic, the Imagination. Random House, Jim Henson Productions, New York. © 1993. 58.
The MuppetCast, hosted by Steve Swanson.
Muppet Central- Major Muppet fansite with information, articles and a very active forum
Prell, Karen. “Animateer Karen Prell: An Interview with Puppeteer, Animator and Writer.” Plume, Kenneth. Chapman, Phillip. Sept. 1998. Muppet Central.com
Stockman, Todd. “In Memoriam. Richard Hunt January 7, 1992.” Puppetry Journal (1992).
Your Face! - A Richard Hunt fansite with entertaining articles, quotes and photos. Btw, “Your Face!” was a saying Richard was very fond of when telling people off
Whitmire, Steve. “My Week with Steve, Day 5.” Hennes, Joe. Oct. 16, 2008. Toughpigs.com
