How Brian Henson’s Adults-Only Show ‘Puppet Up! Uncensored’ Became a Los Angeles Staple
thewrap.comhave to do in Los Angeles. And TheWrap spoke to Brian Henson, chairman of the Jim Henson Company, about the origins and evolution of this one-of-a-kind show.
According to Henson, the project started in the early 2000’s, when there was concern that the performers had become too “script-bound.” “We hadn’t found a new tone of comedy, something fresh, something that wasn’t Muppets,” Henson said.
He was discussing the problem with his then-girlfriend, now-wife, actress Mia Sara, who introduced him to the world of improv comedy – something that he (and his father) had never experienced before.
Henson went to a Groundlings show and became enchanted. Sara introduced Henson to Patrick Bristow, “a very, very, very experienced improv director, trainer, and performer,” who was somewhat doubtful that improvisational comedy could work with puppets. “Because improvisers, rule number one is you’re watching each other’s eyes all the time and you’re trying to read each other’s minds almost so that you can have a fast comedic scene together where you’re almost reading each other’s minds,” Henson explained.“We had this group of puppeteers, and Patrick and I and this group of puppeteers, we’d together one or two evenings a week, and it turned out really, really well,” Henson said.
Read more on thewrap.com