A Little Thank You Music

Greetings, Muppet Fans! As you know, this past Thursday, The Muppet Mindset turned one year old. You've seen our fans and contributors come out in full force to send us well-wishes, you've seen the amazing artwork of Dave Hulteen, Jr., Jarrod Fairclough, and James Silvani as they pass along their incredible talents in support of our one-year, and you've seen some of the greatest people in the world--not just the Muppet world--help make this the most meaningful anniversary any blog-runner could ask for. But now it's my turn, so if you'll indulge me for a few paragraphs, I'd greatly appreciate it.

The Muppet Mindset was, literally, started on a whim and a prayer by yours truly. If you don't know the story, it goes a little something like this... After many failed attempts to help Muppet fans with great ideas and brilliant work contribute to the Muppet world, it finally became time to take matters into my own hands and let Muppet fans' voices be heard. Thus, The Muppet Mindset was born. When it first started there were only a handful of people committed to contributing, but it soon exploded into an entire community of fans who were excited to express their love for The Muppets in an article for The Muppet Mindset.

Today we sit at the fore-front (or at least in the first couple rows) of the Muppet fan community. We've worked side by side with our friends Joe Hennes and Ryan Roe from ToughPigs.com and Steve Swanson from The MuppetCast. We've interviewed countless (or twelve, if you want to count) fantastic people who have a hand (that's a joke, son) in bringing us The Muppets, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock. We've garnered 421 Fans on Facebook, 879 followers on Twitter, and just this month alone (and it ain't even over yet!) we've had over 20,000 visitors to the site.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the success of The Muppet Mindset stems directly from the overwhelming support the Muppet fan community has shown us. The outpouring of everything from articles to comments to photo submissions to... everything has been beyond humbling and overtly awesome. Without you guys, The Muppet Mindset would just be me, The British Correspondent, and Lisa the Intern arguing back and forth about frog-knows-what. (Well... that's sort of what it is anyway.)

Having this website has opened up an entirely new world for me, and I can't thank you all enough for your support and love and for making everything happen. But enough generalizations... it's time for personal thank you shout-outs!

Ryan Dosier Would Like to Personally Thank...

Matthew Drapper - You don't know him, but he's one of the best friends I could ever have--and we've never even met! His support and prodding and joking and friendship and everything in between is what makes The Muppet Mindset what it is. I wouldn't be half the Muppet fan I am today if it weren't for him!

Lisa "The Intern" Alexander - Another best friend I've never even met. She keeps me on my toes, keeps me from going overboard, gives me ideas, and does the spell-checking 'round these parts (it's not as easy as it sounds). I owe her a ton!

The Muppets Studio - Every person you meet there is the new nicest person you've ever met. They've done more for me than I can express--plus, they give me something to do. Keep up the AMAZING work.

Sesame Workshop - Same as above. The nicest people around who do the greatest work in the world. What they've done for the world is beyond anything. We can never thank them enough.

The Jim Henson Company - Once again... see above (twice, even). Wonderful people whose work is responsible for all of this!

Bill Barretta - He knows why, okay. Is pretty easy to see.

Jim Lewis - The so-ugly-someone-has-to-have-it Bob's Big Boy hat says it all.

Louis Henry Mithcell - His friendship sprang out of nowhere, but boy am I glad it did! He rocks my socks every time I talk to him. He's one of the best people out there and I hope to meet him in person some day very soon!

BOOM! Studios - They quoted me on the back of a comic book. Need I say more?

James Gannon - Consistently saves my butt every Monday there's a new comic out. HE deserves to be quoted on the back of a comic book!

James Caroll - You know that logo you usually see at the top of the page (and that will return tomorrow)? Yeah, Jamie's responsible for making that look awesome beyond belief. He also provides an unbelievable amount of the pictures you see in posts.

Joe Hennes - His support and friendship mean the world! He may be a Tough Pig on the outside, but on the inside he's one of the nicest guys out there! (And he's also a Tough Pig on the inside.)

Ryan Roe - Funny, friendly, and an all-around great guy. Plus, we have the same name!

Steve Swanson - From the time I won The MuppetCast impression contest with my Bunsen Honeydew voice, Steve and I have been pretty close compadres. He does so much for this community and I only wish I was as influential and consistently awesome as him!

Dave Hulteen, Jr. - See that AWESOME anniversary logo at the top of the page? (How can you miss it?) Dave did that. He's an awesome friend and I owe him way too much. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, this man is the most talented graphic artist I know! Hire him, Muppet people!!

Michael Wermuth, Jr. - A great Muppet fan with SO much to contribute. His articles are always a treat to read! (Plus, they've saved me from a day-with-no-post more than a few times.)

James Silvani - It never ceases to amaze me how much talent and friendliness can come together in people. Every time he's been featured or mentioned on the site, he's contributed an AMAZING piece of artwork. Plus, he was the first to finally head the call and put Angus McGonagle in a comic! I'd really like to have a print of that signed by James... Hmmm. Excuse me, I've got an email to send.

The British Correspondent - I still haven't found my cat. ...Why am I thanking him, again?

Shane Keating - The resident Sesame Street pro! This kid is incredible. His articles have graced more Sesame Street Saturdays than anyone else--even me! Did you know he's also a talented puppeteer? He is!

Matt Baker - Helped me start the push for Fraggle Music on CD. He's a great guy with GREAT ideas!

Anthony Mazucca - You'd be hard pressed to find a Facebook post of ours that he hasn't liked. This kid's everywhere!

Sparkle - Her comments on our posts are extremely prevalent and very... interesting.

ALL of our fantastic contributors...

• Kelly Masters
• Colbynfriends
• John Papovitch
• D.W. McKim
• Arianne Gallagher
• Dwayne Fletcher
• Erin Roll
• Frank "muppetguy"
• David Rosenberg
• Ed Castle
• Jarrod Fairclough
• Justin H. Piatt
• Beth Kondrick
• Josh Hankemeier
• Christopher O'Connor
• Matt Patton
• Daniel Moss

ALL of our fantastic interviewees...

• Amy Mebberson
• Stuart Reeves
• Grace Randolph
• Pam Arciero
• Paul Rudolph
• Dave Alvarez
• Anon #1
• Matt Vogel
• Cory Edwards
• Juliana Donald

And super special thanks to...

• Jesse Blaze Snider
• Emilio Delgado
• Fran Brill
• Sonia Manzanno
• Aaron Sparrow
• Kirk Thatcher
• Lylle Breier
• Grant Baciocco
• Roscoe Orman

Last, but not least, I'd like to thank you. For reading, for supporting, and for just being a fan. It means the world and I mean every word! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

The Muppet Mindset Accounting Department

Oh, and I guess I should thank the people in accounting (in that they account for everything we do)... Jerry Nelson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Caroll Spinney, Steve Whitmire, Kevin Clash, Eric Jacobson, Martin P. Robinson, David Rudman, Joey Mazzarino, Richard Hunt, Jerry Juhl, and some guy named Hanson. Er... Henson. Jim Henson.

Well, that just about does it for another one. Admittedly a very long one... But there were just so many great people to thank and if I forgot anyone I can't apologize enough--but as you can see, I had a lot of folks on my mind. Thank you all for everything you do. I can not wait to spend another year running The Muppet Mindset--if just so I get to meet more people like all of you!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Ryan Returns

Hey, everybody! I'm back! ...Wait a second, why was the front door open? Is that my lamp on the floor? WHERE'S MY CAT?! Hold on, I've seen this before. This can only be the work of--(insert dramatic sting here)--The British Correspondent! My blog--my precious blog! Tainted! Defamed! Undercooked! What sort of horror and demolition could he have done to The Muppet Mindset while I was gone? Oh, I can only imagine...

He skipped Muppet Comic Mondays?! The fiend! He replaced it with... commentary? Oh, good grief. What about Tuesday? Pirates? Clever. Very clever. At least he kept Weekly Muppet Wednesdays. Who's the featured character? ...Big-Fat Ugly Bug-Faced Baby-Eating O'Brien? She's not even a Muppet!! Heaven help us. I can't imagine what he did on Thursday... Oh, great, an interview. Probably another fake one with--Wait a second. Juliana Donald? Jenny from The Muppets Take Manhattan?

Huh. Perhaps I've misjudged ol' TBC. He came up with a great, moving, exclusive interview there. Sure, he's still a vicious tyrant bent on being confusing and British (or something like that), but... we could definitely use more articles like that. Huh.

Anyway... If I still have any readers out there after the pirate takeover, I'm excited to have the reins back. You can expect all of the quality you've grown accustomed to (which, admittedly, isn't much quality at all) here on The Muppet Mindset! Thanks for reading Muppet fans! It's good to be back.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier

Muppet Commentary Mondays

To Whom it may Concern (and frankly, if you are reading this website in the first place you probably have cause to be concerned),

I am sending this letter, much like a message in a bottle, from an undisclosed water-based location (okay, it’s my bath, but that’s beside the point). The point is, I have jammed all normal transmissions from the Dosier of Ryan while he foolishly thought it wise to travel abroad leaving the blog unguarded and -- much like pirate radio of old -- I am taking over this blog in the name of freedom, honour and the right to boogie. (Okay, not that last one. But the others apply.)

Seeing as I was unceremoniously banished from this website following several unfortunate incidents during my previous takeover (note to Ryan: I still intend to replace your cat…) I have decided that the only way to prove my worth and return to writing articles of value for this most treasured and important of websites is to delve deep to my West Coast Smuggler roots and pirate the website for a week.


By the time Ryan regains control he’ll know I’m too important to be dropped by the roadside (which may actually be what happened to Ryan’s cat…).


Now, indulge me just this once and read this Pirated article!


-The British Correspondent

And now in my first outlandish act of piracy…

MUPPET COMIC MONDAYS TO BE REPLACED BY MUPPET COMMENTARY MONDAYS BY THE BRITISH CORRESPONDENT (our apologies to the Muppet Comic Guru James Gannon…just go with it for the sake of comedy, okay?)


Greetings. It has been a while since I found myself (as I mentioned) cut off from the land of the blogging and so it has been for quite some time that you poor readers have been deprived of my deepest thoughts and most intimate feelings regarding recent Muppet happenings, so let's get a quick rundown...

Prince Charles will not be appearing in the new Muppet movie. As Ryan mentioned a few days ago, the British Prince Royal will not be appearing in the movie because he has important engagements opening parks and helping old ladies cross the street...And good for him! Everyone knows that doing volunteer work is more important than appearing in some movie. Hang on... Where is he sourcing these rumours? That article has nothing to do with bonny Prince Charley...it's all about some actor named Charles Grodin. Goodness...well, I don't know what I think about that! How dare Charles Grodin put volunteer work ahead of the Muppets! Well! I'm shocked, shocked I say, at such selfish behaviour. Tsk tsk. (Views expressed by the British Correspondent do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog...)

My Uncle (twice-removed) will not be appearing in the new Muppet movie. Based almost entirely upon salacious rumours, Ryan felt that it was important to blog here that my Uncle would be playing a deadly part within the new Muppet movie, however I can confirm that my uncle is currently laid up with gout and will certainly not be making a transatlantic flight to appear within the movie no matter what James Bobin or Nicholas Stoller may have said in interviews over the weekend. Who are these people anyway? One sounds like the name of a beach pony and the other like a French beverage...What's that? According to a list of Muppet People You Should Know they are the Director and co-Writer of the movie respectively? ...Oh well...in that case I take back the remark about french donkeys and beach drinks and...right...yes...I just realised that original article was about the Muppet named Uncle Deadly...so...not really my uncle then...right...moving on... (Special thanks to the person whose baby picture I stole borrowed for the formatting of this article)

Sam's opinion on American women was revealed the other day but there is still no word as yet regarding his opinion of the British Woman...or, as I like to refer to them, "Ladies" but I am suspicious that it is somewhat similar to his feelings regarding Canadian Rock Bands...

Anyway, that, my friends, is a Muppet Commentary Monday. I do so hope it has been informative... (And I do so hope that Muppet Comic Mondays will return to its normally slotted time next week...but shh...I'm pirating!)

Stay tuned this week for more piracy, an unexpected Weekly Muppet Wednesday and possibly (depending how long I can keep this connection open and the Interns and Ryans of this blog out) much much more!

Yours as ever,
-TBC