Of Muppets and Men
I had my first real performance with my Muppets today. My parents arranged for me to do a performance in front of fifteen to twenty kids, but three things about this made me gun-shy.
1) I have never performed puppetry in front of a real audience before.
2) I have never performed puppetry in front of so many children before.
3) I have never performed puppetry by myself before.
(The Scav Rally doesn't count. Also during the Scav Rally I was so nervous my hand shook the entire time. Not one of my favorite performances, puppetry or otherwise.)
Realizing that at least part of this, my parents agreed to let me try out my material in front of two real live kids today to see if this would actually work. There were three problems with this:
1) I have no idea how to gauge my puppetry skills, as I've never been taught or received/read any kind of instruction.
2) These kids didn't watch Sesame Street.
3) All I have are the (admittedly low-quality) one-hand 12-inch Muppets Grover, Ernie, and Big Bird. I refused to use Big Bird because he isn't to scale and I'm an exacting prick that way.
I finally caved and used my talking Kermit, whose mouth I can operate by squeezing his torso. Not ideal, but I only used him for "Caribbean Amphibean" and not even the whole song at that. (This was a wrench for me, given that I think Kermit is among the most expressive of the bunch. I'd really rather have a sock-Kermit than an unexpressive one. My parents told me to stop being snobby and get on with it.)
The children in question were 9 (slightly too old for Sesame Street) and 4 (way too young to have seen good Sesame Street.) All things considered, it was a pretty un-ideal setting for me to try out my skills.
Which was why I was surprised that it went over as it did.
I'll try to reproduce what happened as best I can, given that I was working without a script.
The general plan I had was to introduce Ernie and Grover while the Sesame Street theme played in the background. This meant operating both of them at once; something I can pull off fairly competently as long as both characters aren't speaking and there isn't TOO much bouncing around. The tricky part was slowly putting one of them down so I could change songs (I insisted on doing all of the necessary music changes myself.) I accomplished this by having Grover whisper to Ernie, Ernie nod, and then slowly disappear out from behind the couch. I have no idea if it looked convincing.
Next, Grover introduced himself:
G: Hello, everybody! It is I, your favorite cuuute furry blue monster, Grover.
*crickets chirp*
G: Or I would be, if you knew who I was. I take it you do not watch Sesame Street?
Child: No.
G: That is reasonable. I do not watch your street either.
(Four year-old stares, adults and older child start laughing.)
Grover explains that he is a monster, but that he is not scary and does not bite. Luckily, the kid was quickly cajoled into giving Grover a big hug. This was a big crowd-pleaser. The next part was a little tricky.
G: What is the first thing you do when you get up in the morning?
C: Brush my teeth!
G: Of course, of course. And what do you use to brush your teeth?
C: My toothbrush!
This stymied me. I had no idea how to get him to say "mirror." I pressed on:
G: Yes, yes, but what do you look at when you brush?
C: (sic) With my eyes!
G: Yes...what?
C: Breakfast!
G: What is that shiny thing that you look into?
C: A mirror!
G: Ohhhh. Riiiight. You know, the other day when I looked into my mirror, I saw a monster. Why do you suppose that was?
C: It was you!
G: So it was.
This stymied me again, as I didn't expect him to figure it out. I agreed with him, then decided to just ask his permission to sing a song. There was silence on the other end, then a slight "Yes." I did "Monster in the Mirror." This seemed to go over pretty well, although I had to change hands a couple of times. Grover's really heavy, and his head weighs more than it should.
I brought out Ernie.
E: Hello there! (laughs)
C: Why are you spitting?
E: Oh, I'm not spitting, I'm laughing.
C: It sounds like you're spitting.
E: (laughs) Is there any water coming out?
C: No.
E: Then I'm not spitting.
C: But there isn't any water in you!
E: Well, nobody's perfect.
(This was another crowd-pleaser.)
After some more back-and-forth, I was trying to move him towards "I Don't Want To Live On The Moon."
E: Have you ever been on vacation?
C: No.
(This was not true. I had been on vacation with him. I pressed on.)
E: Well, I have. I've been to the moon! Have you been to the moon?
C: No.
E: Would you like to?
C: I can't.
E: Why not?
C: I don't have a rocket ship.
E: I could lend you one.
C: But that's a problem!
E: Why?
C: It's yours!
E: Well, that's... that's very generous of you. (At this point I busted out laughing but tried to hide it.) Well, there are all kinds of problems with the moon, even once you get there.
The Child is deathly quiet.
E: When I get to the moon, I miss my old buddy Bert. So it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.
"I Don't Want To Live On The Moon."
Next there was some talk of baths.
E: When you get outside, what do you like to play with?
C: Cars!
E: Cars! And do you get dirty when you play with cars?
C: Only sometimes.
E: Well what do you do, only sometimes when you get dirty?
C: I take a bath!
E: When I take a bath, I get bored sometimes. But it's okay as long as I have...
"Rubber Duckie." The kid starts to dance around.
E: I have a friend who's an amphibian. Do you know what an amphibian is?
C: No.
E: Do you know what a frog is?
C: Yes!
E: Well, an amphibian's a frog. I think. I'd better call in an expert.
Kermit: Hi-ho!
The Child is excited.
Kermit: What's this I hear about frogs?
C: I have a frog! He lives on my plant on the deck?
Kermit: That so? Well, maybe I'll look him up. We might be cousins. Do you have a cousin?
C: Yes.
Kermit: What's his name?
C: Something unintelligble.
K: Well, I have a cousin who's a frog too. Guess it runs in the family.
(A stir in the nosebleed section again.)
K: My cousin, he lives in the Caribbean. Do you know where the Caribbean is?
C: No.
K: Do you know where Florida is?
C: Yes!
K: It's like Florida, but with fewer laws.
(Adults liked that one.)
"Caribbean Amphibian." The kid just goes absolutely nuts, jumping up and down like he's had more than his recommended sugar allowance. I can see him bouncing even from behind the couch.
Once the show is over, his nine-year-old sister walks up and asks to try some of the puppets. The kid watches with interest, then grabs Ernie and disappears. He reappears later with a duck puppet of his own and re-enacts a disgusting adorable "Rubber Duckie." He can't remember the words, but this does not stop him. Meanwhile his sister goes wild over the rest of the puppets.
So all in all, I'd say it was a success. Since the nine-year-old is just slightly too old for this, I'm going to have her work the music system and the curtains when I actually do the show. She said she really enjoyed it, though, so that's good, even if she knows that these are only puppets.
My parents went home and bought me a Bert off of E-Bay. I'm currently working on putting him into the act.
--
Strengths:
- My lip-synch is where it needs to be.
- I think I'm really starting to get the body movements, even with the limited puppets I'm working with.
- I've attached rods to Ernie and Grover and have begun adding hand movements to the act.
Weaknesses:
- I can't see my audience, which makes eye contact difficult. Jim got around this with a camera rig, but I'm working completely blind. Am toying with the idea of putting in a peephole through the curtain.
- I sometimes break voice when I'm nervous or laughing hard.
- My improv needs to be better if I'm going to be working with a crowd.
Neutral
- How the hell do I work Bert in?
My Scav performance. (Turned out better than I'd thought.)
Part 2.
1) I have never performed puppetry in front of a real audience before.
2) I have never performed puppetry in front of so many children before.
3) I have never performed puppetry by myself before.
(The Scav Rally doesn't count. Also during the Scav Rally I was so nervous my hand shook the entire time. Not one of my favorite performances, puppetry or otherwise.)
Realizing that at least part of this, my parents agreed to let me try out my material in front of two real live kids today to see if this would actually work. There were three problems with this:
1) I have no idea how to gauge my puppetry skills, as I've never been taught or received/read any kind of instruction.
2) These kids didn't watch Sesame Street.
3) All I have are the (admittedly low-quality) one-hand 12-inch Muppets Grover, Ernie, and Big Bird. I refused to use Big Bird because he isn't to scale and I'm an exacting prick that way.
I finally caved and used my talking Kermit, whose mouth I can operate by squeezing his torso. Not ideal, but I only used him for "Caribbean Amphibean" and not even the whole song at that. (This was a wrench for me, given that I think Kermit is among the most expressive of the bunch. I'd really rather have a sock-Kermit than an unexpressive one. My parents told me to stop being snobby and get on with it.)
The children in question were 9 (slightly too old for Sesame Street) and 4 (way too young to have seen good Sesame Street.) All things considered, it was a pretty un-ideal setting for me to try out my skills.
Which was why I was surprised that it went over as it did.
I'll try to reproduce what happened as best I can, given that I was working without a script.
The general plan I had was to introduce Ernie and Grover while the Sesame Street theme played in the background. This meant operating both of them at once; something I can pull off fairly competently as long as both characters aren't speaking and there isn't TOO much bouncing around. The tricky part was slowly putting one of them down so I could change songs (I insisted on doing all of the necessary music changes myself.) I accomplished this by having Grover whisper to Ernie, Ernie nod, and then slowly disappear out from behind the couch. I have no idea if it looked convincing.
Next, Grover introduced himself:
G: Hello, everybody! It is I, your favorite cuuute furry blue monster, Grover.
*crickets chirp*
G: Or I would be, if you knew who I was. I take it you do not watch Sesame Street?
Child: No.
G: That is reasonable. I do not watch your street either.
(Four year-old stares, adults and older child start laughing.)
Grover explains that he is a monster, but that he is not scary and does not bite. Luckily, the kid was quickly cajoled into giving Grover a big hug. This was a big crowd-pleaser. The next part was a little tricky.
G: What is the first thing you do when you get up in the morning?
C: Brush my teeth!
G: Of course, of course. And what do you use to brush your teeth?
C: My toothbrush!
This stymied me. I had no idea how to get him to say "mirror." I pressed on:
G: Yes, yes, but what do you look at when you brush?
C: (sic) With my eyes!
G: Yes...what?
C: Breakfast!
G: What is that shiny thing that you look into?
C: A mirror!
G: Ohhhh. Riiiight. You know, the other day when I looked into my mirror, I saw a monster. Why do you suppose that was?
C: It was you!
G: So it was.
This stymied me again, as I didn't expect him to figure it out. I agreed with him, then decided to just ask his permission to sing a song. There was silence on the other end, then a slight "Yes." I did "Monster in the Mirror." This seemed to go over pretty well, although I had to change hands a couple of times. Grover's really heavy, and his head weighs more than it should.
I brought out Ernie.
E: Hello there! (laughs)
C: Why are you spitting?
E: Oh, I'm not spitting, I'm laughing.
C: It sounds like you're spitting.
E: (laughs) Is there any water coming out?
C: No.
E: Then I'm not spitting.
C: But there isn't any water in you!
E: Well, nobody's perfect.
(This was another crowd-pleaser.)
After some more back-and-forth, I was trying to move him towards "I Don't Want To Live On The Moon."
E: Have you ever been on vacation?
C: No.
(This was not true. I had been on vacation with him. I pressed on.)
E: Well, I have. I've been to the moon! Have you been to the moon?
C: No.
E: Would you like to?
C: I can't.
E: Why not?
C: I don't have a rocket ship.
E: I could lend you one.
C: But that's a problem!
E: Why?
C: It's yours!
E: Well, that's... that's very generous of you. (At this point I busted out laughing but tried to hide it.) Well, there are all kinds of problems with the moon, even once you get there.
The Child is deathly quiet.
E: When I get to the moon, I miss my old buddy Bert. So it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.
"I Don't Want To Live On The Moon."
Next there was some talk of baths.
E: When you get outside, what do you like to play with?
C: Cars!
E: Cars! And do you get dirty when you play with cars?
C: Only sometimes.
E: Well what do you do, only sometimes when you get dirty?
C: I take a bath!
E: When I take a bath, I get bored sometimes. But it's okay as long as I have...
"Rubber Duckie." The kid starts to dance around.
E: I have a friend who's an amphibian. Do you know what an amphibian is?
C: No.
E: Do you know what a frog is?
C: Yes!
E: Well, an amphibian's a frog. I think. I'd better call in an expert.
Kermit: Hi-ho!
The Child is excited.
Kermit: What's this I hear about frogs?
C: I have a frog! He lives on my plant on the deck?
Kermit: That so? Well, maybe I'll look him up. We might be cousins. Do you have a cousin?
C: Yes.
Kermit: What's his name?
C: Something unintelligble.
K: Well, I have a cousin who's a frog too. Guess it runs in the family.
(A stir in the nosebleed section again.)
K: My cousin, he lives in the Caribbean. Do you know where the Caribbean is?
C: No.
K: Do you know where Florida is?
C: Yes!
K: It's like Florida, but with fewer laws.
(Adults liked that one.)
"Caribbean Amphibian." The kid just goes absolutely nuts, jumping up and down like he's had more than his recommended sugar allowance. I can see him bouncing even from behind the couch.
Once the show is over, his nine-year-old sister walks up and asks to try some of the puppets. The kid watches with interest, then grabs Ernie and disappears. He reappears later with a duck puppet of his own and re-enacts a disgusting adorable "Rubber Duckie." He can't remember the words, but this does not stop him. Meanwhile his sister goes wild over the rest of the puppets.
So all in all, I'd say it was a success. Since the nine-year-old is just slightly too old for this, I'm going to have her work the music system and the curtains when I actually do the show. She said she really enjoyed it, though, so that's good, even if she knows that these are only puppets.
My parents went home and bought me a Bert off of E-Bay. I'm currently working on putting him into the act.
--
Strengths:
- My lip-synch is where it needs to be.
- I think I'm really starting to get the body movements, even with the limited puppets I'm working with.
- I've attached rods to Ernie and Grover and have begun adding hand movements to the act.
Weaknesses:
- I can't see my audience, which makes eye contact difficult. Jim got around this with a camera rig, but I'm working completely blind. Am toying with the idea of putting in a peephole through the curtain.
- I sometimes break voice when I'm nervous or laughing hard.
- My improv needs to be better if I'm going to be working with a crowd.
Neutral
- How the hell do I work Bert in?
My Scav performance. (Turned out better than I'd thought.)
Part 2.