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The LGBTQ+ Muppeteer bringing joy to the masses

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The LGBTQ+ Muppeteer bringing joy to the masses

Jim Henson puppeteer Richard Hunt

feature image attribution; Richard Hunt, Gribbaziggy, CC-BY-SA, https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Richard_Hunt

You have most likely heard of the Jim Henson’s Company or Creature workshop. Your possibly familiar with The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street. Plus films like The Muppet’s Christmas Carol or The Labyrinth. When asked, you could identify Jim Henson or Frank Oz as key puppeteers. But what about Richard Hunt? It’s time to separate the fabric, push back the foam and explore Henson’s LGBTQ+ puppeteer.

Early Life of Richard Hunt

Born in 1951, Richard grew up around a family of entertainers and performers. It wasn’t surprising that Richard soon started to develop the entertaining bug for himself. In his teens he began exploring the idea of puppetry, often putting on puppet shows for friends, family and local children during his free time.

It was around this time that puppeteer Jim Henson and his wife Jane Henson, created a little company called Muppet’s Inc; with the idea of bringing regular entertainment through puppets to many children and adults alike. The Muppet was a creation of Jim Henson’s to explain the amalgamation of a hand operated puppet and a rod operated marionet.

But how did Richard Hunt and Jim Henson come to work together?

Richard was young, working a job he did not enjoy; maybe thinking of his youth and the enjoyment he got out of entertaining others. So, ” At 18, he was hired by “Sesame Street” after cold-calling Henson’s team from a pay phone” Wong, C. (2021).

Richard was very lucky, as they were hiring at the time of his call and so was offered an audition. Richard’s mother recalled a conversation with her son on his return “It was incredible. We just all talked together! We knew right away we had the same sense of humour… And I think they liked me!” Finch, C. (1993).

The many lives of Richard Hunt

Richard began his new puppeteering career working on a range of background characters that appeared in the early days of Sesame Street. He even had the opportunity to represent the well known and loved character of Mr Snuffleupagus; well at least the back half of him.

Muppets character 'Scooter' puppet
Scooter (1975) from “The Muppet Show”, at The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited at MoPOP, Seattle, Chris Devers, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), https://www.flickr.com/photos/cdevers/35983939984/in/photostream/

It wasn’t until the creation of the Muppet show in 1973, when Richard finally found his home amongst his artificial companions. He became a main performer and puppeteer; one of five (including Jim Henson & Frank Oz) who became a regular fixture through characters, storylines, and ideas. This is even more important and even heart-warming, when you consider that Richard was an openly gay man. But rather than hinder his career, his life, it was seen as just a part of him, a part that helped make him an enormously brilliant puppeteer.

“One of the most famous gay men in the world who nobody recognized”

Matt Baume, 2021, 0:42

Richard went on to perform a wide range of characters, for example:

  • Sesame Street – Don Music, Forgetful Jones, Gladys the Cow, Placido Flamingo, Sully and Two Headed Monster.
  • the Muppet Show – Beaker, Janice, Scooter, Statler and Sweetums.
  • Fraggle rock – Junior Gorg, Gillis Fraggle, Gunge and Mudwell the Mudbunny.

For a full list of major, minor and background characters performed by Richard Hunt visit here.

He had a very close working relationship with Jerry Nelson, often puppeteering and voicing characters as a duo. This bond literally became conjoined when they started working together on the Two-Headed Monster for various Sesame Street Skits.

As time moved on Richard took on more of a senior role participating in the employment of new puppeteers and mentoring them into the ways of the Henson Company. He also went on to direct an episode of Fraggle Rock called ‘The Honk of Honks’. It was evident that Richard was on his way to becoming “one of the most famous gay men in the world who nobody recognised”. Baume, M. (2021).

Muppet characters Dr Bunsen and Beaker puppets
Dr Bunsen Honeydew & Beaker from “The Muppet Show”, at The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited at MoPOP, Seattle, Chris Devers, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), https://www.flickr.com/photos/cdevers/36647698552

Influencing the story

With the creation of the Muppet Show, Jim Henson gathered his team and expressed the desire for them to incorporate more of their personalities into the characters they were controlling and performing with. This also provided them with the opportunity to start incorporating more adult and personal ideas into the sketches and storylines that were being created.

  • Character defining qualities could include Scooter’s vulnerability, Janice’s comedic, chilled personality and the larger than life, possibly queer influenced Gladys the Cow.
  • Richard was known to have a great singing voice which came in handy when you consider how much The Muppets loved to incorporate musical numbers and celebrities of a musical nature. Two of Richard’s characters were known for their musical stylings – Janice and Placido Flamingo.
  • Looking at the working relationship of Bunsen and Beaker, there is nothing overtly queer about it, just two bumbling colleagues with an interest in science. However, look at their scenes as a whole and there is the slight possibility of a very subtle personal relationship between the two.
  • A story line in Fraggle Rock, which introduced the character of Mudwell the Mudbunny, could very well have been a story themed around the AIDs pandemic and the loss of many a close and dear friend. Wembley Fraggle meets and becomes close friends with Mudwell, only for him to push Wembley away due to the fact he was dying.

For more information, check out the following video.

All puppets go to heaven.

Unfortunately, like many others during the late 80s and early 90s, Richard passed away in 1992 due to AIDs. This was not that long after the passing of Jim Henson himself. A great loss was felt, with the recently released ‘A Muppets Christmas Carol’ being dedicated to both.

Plaque at the end of a muppet christmas carol stating 'in loving memory of jim henson and richard hunt'
In Memoriam

The passing of Richard impacted the Muppets family hard, “It’s impossible to imagine a world without Richard” Stone, J. cited in Tampa Bay Times (1992) mentioned the Sesame Street director at the time. He clearly became an instrumental part of the Henson Company. It has been suggested that “Richard was the HeartChapman, P. (1998) of the Muppets, always focusing on the performance and the fun.

As a mark of respect the majority of characters linked to Richard were removed from future shows and films with the exception of Beaker, Statler and Sweetums. Eventually, some of these started to resurface after about ten years controlled by new performers. While others, have disappeared completely or became background characters since his passing.

Celebrate with CCCU

Are you aware that you can get access to Box of Broadcasts (BoB) through your Christ Church library account? All you need to do is sign in on LibrarySearch, find box of broadcasts under databases; then once on the page select Canterbury Christ church University.

I have created a playlist containing three of the Muppet movies that Richard Hunt worked on.

Ever considered trying your hand at puppeteering? Or making a puppet from scratch? Why not check out some of our resources in Augustine House. A sample of which can be seen here;

Book cover - puppets and puppet theatre

Puppets and puppet theatre

7 day loan

Classmark: 791.53 CUR

Essential reading for anyone wanting to create and become involved in performance with puppets.

Book cover - Making puppets come alive

Making puppets come alive: how to learn and teach hand puppetry

4 week loan

Classmark: 791.53 ENG

A book for beginnings exploring voice work, movements, emotions and more

Book cover - the little book of puppet making

The little book of puppet making: Little books with big ideas

4 week loan

Classmark: CR 745.59224 TUT

Explore and make a range of puppets

Curriculum Resources Puppets – Try out your skills

A sample of puppets available from the curriculum resources collection including a mole, children and nursery rhyme characters

References

Baume, M. (2021) Richard Hunt: The gay man behind the muppets. 25 Jul 2021. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwwdwFTuLRY (Accessed:2023)

Chapman, P. (1998) Remembering Richard Hunt. 28 Jan 1998. https://muppetcentral.com/articles/tributes/hunt/index.shtml (Accessed:2023)

Finch, C. (1993) Jim Henson: The Works – the art, the magic, the imagination. New York: Random House Publishing Group.

Tampa Bay Times (1992) ‘Richard Hunt, voice of “Sesame Street”, Muppet Characters’, 9th January. (https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1992/01/09/richard-hunt-voice-of-sesame-street-muppet-characters/)

Wong, C. (2021) Huffpost. Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/the-muppet-show-gay-puppeteer-richard-hunt_n_60ff4c4ee4b05ff8cfcb7a07?ri18n=true#:~:text=A%20Bronx%2C%20New%20York%2C%20native,moving%20on%20to%20featured%20roles.&text=If%20playback%20doesn’t%20begin%20shortly%2C%20try%20restarting%20your%20device. (Accessed: 2023).

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