Weekly Muppeteer Wednesdays: David Rudman

Today's Weekly Muppeteer Wednesdays post was written by Tom Stroud.

DAVID RUDMAN

Born...
June 1, 1964

Notable Muppets...
Baby Bear, Cookie Monster (2001-), Right Head of the Two Headed Monster (1992-), Sully (1992-), Scooter (2008-), Janice (2008-)

WHO IS DAVID RUDMAN?
David Rudman first worked with Muppets as an intern with the Muppet Workshop in the summer of 1981. After he graduated from high school, Richard Hunt helped him get a job as a Muppet performer, beginning with background characters in The Muppets Take Manhattan. He also began working on Sesame Street, beginning mainly with background roles.

After years of background roles, he finally got his first major role in the early 1990’s, with his new Sesame Street character Baby Bear. Around that time he also took over some of the late Richard Hunt’s characters, namely Sully and the Two Headed Monster’s right head. Although Sully was eventually dropped from the show, the Two Headed Monster and Baby Bear continued to be popular characters, and still are today. However, neither of them are as popular as David’s most recent role, Cookie Monster, which he took over in 2001 after Frank Oz’s formal retirement from performing.

David has performed with the classic Muppets as well, performing background characters in Muppet*Vision 3D, The Muppets at Walt Disney World, and Muppets Tonight. He also worked on The Muppet Christmas Carol, where he performed Peter Cratchit and the Swedish Chef. Recently (first in Studio DC: Almost Live!), David has taken over two of Richard Hunt’s most popular Muppet characters, Scooter and Janice. He performed Scooter and Jaince in A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa, and presumably performed them in The Muppets as well.

He has also created a few non-Henson TV shows with his brother, Adam Rudman. Adam and David have created both Bunnytown, a Playhouse Disney show which David also produced and directed, and Jack’s Big Music Show where he played the appropriately named main character, Jack.

Rudman continues to work with both Sesame Street and the Muppets as one of the main Muppeteers. His work as Baby Bear and Cookie Monster means that David's work can be seen and heard in nearly every episode of Sesame Street and now that he has taken over Richard Hunt's characters for the Muppets, Rudman is heavily involved in almost everything they're doing as well.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com

Huge News from the Set of The Muppets

Muppet fans... there is SO much Muppet news I don't even know where to start! Pictures and information and interviews from the set of The Muppets is gushing out like the Mississippi in flood season! (Trust me on this.) I guess we'll just start with the latest celebrity cameo....

Kathy Griffin! Yes, Animal's booty call from Muppets From Space is stepping out of her life on the D-List and onto the set of The Muppets. Griffin revealed on her Twitter account that she would be appearing in the movie alongside Ricky Gervais and Animal. Later, she posted pictures of herself on set working with Billy Crystal, David Rudman, Scooter (in a tux), and Ricky Gervais. Also in the background of one picture you can clearly make out The Muppet Newsman and partially make out Gonzo right next to him. SlashFilm.com reported that Griffin's cameo was a last-minute replacement for Jean Claude Van Damme... you know, because Kathy Griffin and Jean Claude Van Damme are basically the same person.
 
Next up we have an awesome article from The LA Times who apparently visited the set of The Muppets and got to interview Kermit. In the interview Kermit talks about Jason Segel, Walter, and acting. The article also mentions that backstage at the Muppet Theater is present in the movie and Kermit reprises "Rainbow Connection" at some point. The amount of awesome in this article is ten fold!

The New York Post just conducted an interview with Chris Cooper, who plays the villain in The Muppets. He doesn't talk Muppets very much but he mentions that he gets a hip-hop musical number with a chorus line of Vegas showgirls. Yes... you read that right.

And the biggest news of all... The Muppets closed down Hollywood Boulevard! Trust me when I say that's a huge deal. Hollywood Boulevard is almost never closed down unless a big-budget movie is filming or a movie premiere is happening. The Muppets was filming directly in front of the Disney-owned El Capitan Theater (a gorgeous location) which will presumably be digitally made to look like the Muppet Theater based on the signage on the marquee out front that promotes The Muppet Telethon for one night only at The Muppet Theater.

SlashFilm.com has pictures of an enormous dance number/crowd scene that took place right outside the El Capitan last night. This includes pictures of quite a few Muppets including Sweetums and Thog. Yes, THOG. Can you believe it?! When's the last time we saw Thog? The Muppet Show? Wow. BleedingCool.com also has pictures and two shaky (but still pretty good) videos of the filming and Celebrity-Gossip.net has pictures of Jason Segel and Amy Adams dancing, presumably for this big production number. Various sites are reporting that Kermit and Piggy were also on hand (pun intended) for this number as well.

Well... my excitement level is through the roof, where's yours?

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier