How do you get rod puppets to hold or grab things?

‘I remember in the ABC series that Kermit was looking at cookies and then turned and grabbed a banana.  How do you get rod puppets to hold or grab things?’   – Jamie Higg

Thanks for this question, Jamie.  From a puppetry standpoint the answer is actually very simple, but not quite the whole truth.

For that series (and with all of my work as Kermit) one of my goals was to always be looking for ways to stretch what Kermit did while keeping him true to his origins.  A big part of that was to have Kermit be more organically ‘alive’ than might usually be possible.  This goes back to the early ’90s when I began pushing to eliminate having characters do ’puppety’ things like pop up from behind sofas on shows like “The Today Show” and “Good Morning America”.  From my perspective, when the Muppets were guests on shows, they should appear just as any other guest appears if at all possible.   For instance, Tom Cruise rarely popped up from behind sofas (although I recall him jumping up and down on one with Oprah once…).

As a part of my responsibilities, I made it common practice to extensively study scripts for places where Kermit (and any character I performed) could be made to appear more ‘alive’ by giving them ancillary actions to do during scenes and appearances that enhanced the illusion within the puppetry.  This is essentially no different than what any actor does in preparation for a scene as they look for how to play the dialogue they will deliver in a natural way that suits the mood and their surroundings.

In other words, rather than have Kermit just stand there and deliver lines, the practice is to think into his thought process and not only convey what he is saying, but where his mind is at at all times relative to the scene and the overall arc of the story.  Underneath what the audience is witnessing, is Kermit distracted by something, concentrating on a particular task or issue, etc.

But, with shooting schedules and budgets being what they are, I wanted to be cognoscente of avoiding trying to have Kermit do things that would have been either difficult to achieve quickly or would have added additional cost to the production.  By doing that I was able to put in little incidental actions of my own accord without having to have a meeting to get budget approval.  “The Muppets” ABC series was a perfect place to explore these kinds of things since the premise (like it or not) was that this was his ‘real life’.

So, as the Muppet Workshop will attest, nearly every morning when a Kermit scene was up to shoot, I would throw some idea at them at the last minute, something that had generally not been anticipated or done before that Kermit would do as he went about delivering the dialogue as written.  The puppet handlers came to call it “The Whitmire Challenge”, and we collaborated eagerly on some 10 minute, throw-together rig that would do something cool.  I think from a creative standpoint, it had to be that way – unplanned and improvised based on the mood I was in as I was about to enter the scene as the character.  

Also, I was a real advocate of having a consistent puppeteer to be ‘Kermit’s other half’ as opposed to just having whoever was standing by be the right hand, which had been the standard in the past.  Achieving these types of effects quickly and efficiently is highly dependent upon having the right performer to assist, someone skilled and with whom chemistry has developed out of a natural empathetic connection to one another’s rhythms, pacing, and timing.  For me, that person had primarily become Mike Quinn. 

So, to answer your question using your specific example, we simply put a rod on the banana, and Mike manipulated both the banana and the hand that lifted it, which was less simple than just rodding the banana, but doable after a rehearsals, or two.  He followed my pacing so that we were in synch as to when he/Kermit would grab it.

On top of that, as you probably know, within the Muppet-style of television puppetry we are able to employ all sorts of technical tricks to enhance the puppetry.  Part 2 of that little effect is that the arm rods were removed in the edit making the grab and lift look about as organic as possible.

But you don’t really need an editor in post production to make something like this work.  It really boils down to the puppetry, and could even be done in a live puppet show and, theoretically, even by a single puppeteer.

Thanks for your question, Jamie!  This is a nice way to kick off our “Puppetry” category, and I hope all of you our there will continue to send your questions on this and any topic.

– S