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David Rudman | |
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 Rudman at SXSW in 2015 | |
| Born | June 1, 1963 |
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| Years active | 1981–present |
David Rudman (born June 1, 1963) is an American puppeteer, puppet builder, writer, director, and producer known for his involvement with the Muppets and Sesame Street . Rudman currently performs the roles of Scooter, Janice, and Beaker for The Muppets Studio, which were all originated by Richard Hunt, as well as Cookie Monster and Baby Bear on Sesame Street.
Rudman has been a Sesame Street performer since 1985—currently performing Cookie Monster (since 2001), Baby Bear and the right head of the Two-Headed Monster (since 1998). He has received four Emmy nominations as Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for his work on Sesame Street. Rudman has also directed several web videos for Sesame Street such as "Cookie Monster Auditions for Saturday Night Live" and "Conversations with Bert". He has performed in numerous television shows and specials including Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Muppets, where he performed characters originally portrayed by Richard Hunt, such as Scooter, Janice, Bobby Benson and Wayne. His film credits include The Muppets Take Manhattan, Labyrinth, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, A Muppet Christmas Carol, The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted. Following the departure of Steve Whitmire in 2016, he became Beaker's new performer in 2017.
Rudman attended Highland Park High School and graduated in 1981. He has been a speaker at the school's biennial Focus on the Arts program since 2003. He attended college at the University of Connecticut. [1]
Rudman was the speaker at the 2005 graduation ceremony for the Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago. [2]
| Industry | Television production |
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| Founded | 2003 |
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| Headquarters | Chicago , Illinois |
| Products | Television programs |
Spiffy Pictures is a Chicago-based production company that was founded by David and Adam Rudman in 2003. The studio consists mainly of live-action television shows developed for networks such as Noggin, Disney Channel, the Nick Jr. Channel, and PBS.
In addition to his work on Sesame Street and with the Muppets, Rudman is co-owner of Spiffy Pictures where he co-created, executive produced, directed and performed in Jack's Big Music Show (Noggin), Curious Buddies (Nick Jr. Baby), Bunnytown (Disney Junior), Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map (Warner Bros.), Frankie and Frank (Nick Jr.), and Donkey Hodie (PBS Kids). He is the creator, executive producer, character designer, director and voice director of the animated series Nature Cat (PBS Kids), also voicing several characters including Leo the Mammoth, Prospector Jones, Nevin, and the Seeker.
| Year | Production | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | The Muppets Take Manhattan | Additional Muppets | Performer |
| 1986 | Labyrinth | Goblins | Puppeteer |
| 1992 | The Muppet Christmas Carol | Swedish Chef, Wander McMooch | Performer |
| 1993 | Billy Bunny's Animal Songs | Frog, Gopher, Penguin, Percival Bear, Termite | |
| 1995 | Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree | Ned Mouse | Performer; television film |
| 1999 | The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland | Baby Bear, Caterpillar, Pestie, Collander Stenchman, Ice Cream Customer, Alarm Clock Bird, Fat Blue Customer, Gassy Grouch, Grouch Prisoner | Performer |
| 2008 | Abby in Wonderland | Cookie Monster | Performer; direct-to-DVD film |
| 2011 | The Muppets | Scooter, Janice, Miss Poogy, Wayne, Bobby Benson, Singing Food | Performer |
| 2013 | Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map | Scooby-Doo | Puppeteer; direct-to-DVD film |
| 2014 | Muppets Most Wanted | Scooter, Janice, Miss Poogy, Wayne, Bobby Benson | Performer |
| Year | Production | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985–present | Sesame Street | Cookie Monster, Baby Bear, Sully, Sonny Friendly, Humphrey, Flo Bear | Performer |
| 1985 | Little Muppet Monsters | Boo Monster | Performer |
| 1986 | The Tale of the Bunny Picnic | Snort, Snail, Additional Muppets | Performer; television special |
| 1987 | A Muppet Family Christmas | Additional Muppets, Miss Piggy's Photographer (voice) | Performer; television special |
| 1987–1989 | The Jim Henson Hour | Additional Muppets | Performer |
| 1989 | The Ghost of Faffner Hall | Earl the Dragon | |
| 1990 | The Cosby Show | Sweetums, Boo Monster | |
| The Earth Day Special | Lizard | Performer; television special | |
| The Magical World of Disney | Dog, Frog, | Performer | |
| 1991 | Big Bird's Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake | Athena, Chicago the Lion | Performer; television special |
| 1991–1992 | Dinosaurs | Additional Dinosaurs | Performer; 2 episodes |
| 1993 | Sesame Street Stays Up Late! | Baby Bear, MNN Logo Orange Monster, Grouches, AM Monsters | Performer; television special |
| 1993–1994 | CityKids | Dread, Frankie Frank, Lieutenant, Koozbanians, Toya | Performer |
| 1994 | Dog City | Bowser | Voice; 1 episode |
| 1996 | Aliens in the Family | Bobut, Orange and Purple Yukkles | Performer |
| 1997 | Muppets Tonight | Additional Muppets | |
| 2002–2007 | Play with Me Sesame | Cookie Monster, Chicago the Lion, Ernestine | |
| 2004–2005 | Curious Buddies | Director, writer | |
| 2005–2007 | Jack's Big Music Show | Jack | Performer, co-creator, executive producer |
| 2007–2008 | Bunnytown | Yellow Cave Bunny, Hoppy Funtooth, Blue Bunny Musician | |
| 2008 | Studio DC: Almost Live | Janice, Scooter | Performer |
| A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa | Performer; television special | ||
| 2009 | Dinner: Impossible | Cookie Monster | Performer; 1 episode |
| 2009–2010 | Where is Warehouse Mouse? | Director | |
| 2012 | Jimmy Kimmel Live! | Janice | Performer; 1 episode |
| 2013 | Lady Gaga and the Muppets Holiday Spectacular | Janice, Scooter | Performer; television special |
| 2014–2016 | The Furchester Hotel | Cookie Monster, Gonger, Sorbet | Performer |
| 2015–2016 | The Muppets | Janice, Scooter, Satay | |
| 2015–2024 | Nature Cat | Leo the Mammoth, Additional voices | Voice, co-creator, executive producer |
| 2019–2022 | Chip and Potato | Director | |
| 2019 | Drop the Mic | Beaker | Performer; 1 episode |
| Lip Sync Battle | Cookie Monster | ||
| 2020 | The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo | Performer [3] | |
| Muppets Now | Janice, Scooter, Beaker, Miss Poogy | ||
| 2021 | Muppets Haunted Mansion | Janice, Scooter, Beaker, Wayne, Squid Ghost | Performer; Halloween special for Disney+ |
| 2021–present | Donkey Hodie | Bob Dog, Grampy Hodie, Stanley the Dragon. | Performer, co-creator, executive producer |
| 2022 | Mecha Builders | Mecha Cookie Monster | Voice |
| 2023 | The Muppets Mayhem | Janice | Performer |
| Year(s) | Production | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Muppet*Vision 3D | Roy, Max | Performer, theme park show |
| 2003 | Sesame Street 4-D Movie Magic | Cookie Monster, Two-Headed Monster | Performer, theme park film |
| 2021 | The Muppets' Christmas Caroling Coach | Beaker | Voice, theme park show [4] |
Monsterpiece Theater is a recurring segment on the popular children's television series Sesame Street, a parody of Masterpiece Theatre.
Rosita is a Muppet character on the children's television series Sesame Street. Fluent in both American English and Mexican Spanish, she is the first regular bilingual Muppet on the show. Rosita comes from Mexico and likes to play the guitar.
A Muppet Family Christmas is a Christmas musical television special starring Jim Henson's Muppets. It first aired on December 16, 1987, on the ABC television network in the United States. Its teleplay was conceived by longtime Muppet writer Jerry Juhl, and directed by Peter Harris and Eric Till. This television special was filmed at 9 Channel Nine Court in Toronto, Ontario. The special features various Muppets from The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, and Muppet Babies. It also stars Gerry Parkes as Doc from the North American wraparound segments of Fraggle Rock, and Henson as himself in a cameo appearance at the end. In the plot, the Muppets surprise Fozzie Bear's mother with a Christmas visit to her farmhouse, unaware of her planned getaway to Malibu.
Richard Hunt was an American puppeteer, best known as a Muppet performer on Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, and other projects for The Jim Henson Company. His roles on The Muppet Show included Scooter, Statler, Janice, Beaker, and Sweetums and characters on Sesame Street included Gladys the Cow, Don Music, and Forgetful Jones.
Play with Me Sesame is an American children's television series, created by Sesame Workshop and Nickelodeon for their former joint venture Noggin. It is a spin-off of Sesame Street hosted by Ernie, Bert, Prairie Dawn, and Grover. The series' backgrounds and animated elements were made by Nickelodeon Digital in New York City. Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop developed the show to expand on Sesame Street by directly encouraging young viewers to interact with the characters. To do this, they combined classic Sesame Street sketches with new segments, where the hosts invite preschoolers to join them in games.
Eric Jacobson is an American puppeteer. He is best known for his involvement with the Muppets, performing Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle for The Muppets Studio, as well as Sesame Street characters Bert, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, and Guy Smiley—all roles that he inherited from the characters' original performers, Frank Oz, Caroll Spinney, and Jim Henson.
Beaker is a Muppet character from the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show. He is the shy, long-suffering assistant of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, and is also similarly named after a piece of laboratory equipment.
Sesame Street... 20 Years & Still Counting is a 1989 television special celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Sesame Street. Hosted by Bill Cosby, the special aired on Friday, April 7, 1989, on NBC.
Little Muppet Monsters is a Saturday morning television series featuring the Muppets that aired three episodes on CBS in 1985. The first season of Muppet Babies did so well in the ratings, that CBS decided to expand the series from a half-hour to an hour, pairing Muppet Babies with Little Muppet Monsters. They called the hour-long package Muppets, Babies and Monsters.
Elmopalooza! is a Sesame Street 30th anniversary special that aired on ABC on February 20, 1998. It was taped in the middle of the 29th season of Sesame Street, and features music video remakes of several classic songs from the show performed by celebrity guests.
Michael Earl was an American puppeteer. A four-time Emmy Award-winner whose credits include Mr. Snuffleupagus on Sesame Street (1978–1981) and Dr. Ticktock in Ticktock Minutes, a musical series of PSA's on PBS he also co-created, scripted and wrote lyrics for that garnered 11 Southern Regional Emmys, a 1998 National Emmy for Best Public Service Announcements, a Gabriel Award, two Parents' Choice Awards and numerous other honors. Earl performed the original Shrek character in a motion-capture development test film for DreamWorks and puppeteered lead characters in Paramount Pictures' Team America: World Police.
Elmo's Christmas Countdown is a 2007 television Christmas film, featuring the characters from Sesame Street. It was first aired on December 23, 2007, on ABC and starred Ben Stiller.
Cookie Monster is a blue Muppet character on the PBS/HBO children's television show Sesame Street. He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating catchphrases, such as "Me want cookie!" As his name suggests, his preferred food is cookies, though he eats almost anything, including inedible objects. Chocolate chip cookies are his favorite kind. His speech is often grammatically nonstandard; for example, he always uses "Me" to refer to himself in place of "I", "My", and "Mine". Despite his voracious appetite for cookies, Cookie Monster shows awareness of healthy eating habits for young children and also enjoys fruit and vegetables.
The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years is a one-hour special starring Jim Henson's Muppets. It was shot in Toronto, Ontario in 1985 and aired January 21, 1986 on CBS.
The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson is a one-hour musical special that aired on CBS on November 21, 1990. The program was a tribute to Muppet creator Jim Henson, who had died earlier in 1990 due to toxic shock syndrome caused by a streptococcus infection, and featured characters from The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, and Sesame Street.
Joseph Mazzarino is an American puppeteer, writer, director and actor. He is best known for his roles on Sesame Street as Murray Monster, Stinky the Stinkweed and other Muppets, and being Head Writer and Director on Sesame Street, winning 22 Emmy Awards for his work.
The Furchester Hotel is a puppet series that aired on CBeebies. It was the second British-American spin-off of Sesame Street that the BBC had made after Sesame Tree 6 years before. The show ran on CBeebies on 26 September 2014. The show aired in 2016 on Sprout until March 2, 2019.
Sesame Street Jam: A Musical Celebration is a television special which was first broadcast on PBS on March 6, 1994 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the educational television series Sesame Street. Its home-video version, Sesame Street: 25 Wonderful Years was released on October 29, 1993. Caroll Spinney plays Big Bird, reading the title card in a voiceover. Celebrity guests and the Muppets sing songs together.
Sesame Street: 25 Wonderful Years is the home video version of Sesame Street Jam: A Musical Celebration, a special aired on PBS during their pledge drive on March 6, 1994, that commemorates Sesame Street’s 25th anniversary in 1994. This program was originally released on October 29, 1993, under the title Sesame Street's 25th Birthday: A Musical Celebration!25 Wonderful Years focused on celebrity segments, many coming from segments filmed for the show's upcoming 25th season, of artists such as En Vogue and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration is a 2019 musical television special to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street. Hosted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the special aired on November 9, 2019, on HBO, followed by a November 17 airing on PBS. It stars the cast and Muppets of Sesame Street, including Kermit the Frog, from the past and present. Many retired cast members and characters reunited on the street for the first time in years since their last appearances. This is the final Sesame Street special to feature long-time Muppet performer Caroll Spinney, who performed Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch for 50 years as well as the cast members Emilio Delgado and Bob McGrath, who played Luis and Bob, respectively, for 45 years.
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