sesamestreet

Awww, you clicked here from my resume or bio or Muppets link! That must mean you care!

As a reward, here are some video clips, photos, and tidbits from my 18 seasons on

SESAME STREET.

These are copyrighted characters and videos. I’m just spreading what’s already on YouTube.

LEFT: From Season 39, it’s Preschool Musical... where I puppeteered and voiced Mariella, and voiced the blonde chick with the hair (who enjoys Timmy’s pirate shi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-ip.)

RIGHT: Paul McGinnis took this photo on set while we were rehearsing this little chunk of the song. Proof, if you will. I really enjoyed doing this one... it reminded me of the good old days when we would do more stand-alone song inserts. Though I belted technically wrong, it was worth it.

RIGHT: Me playing a Muppet version of Kyra Sedgewick’s Detective Brenda Leigh Johnson in The Closer, from Season 41. I worked hard to try to get that accent just right, but I now realize I should have placed the whole voice in a lower register to sound more like Ms. Sedgewick.

I loved getting to do this, though.

I just hope, if I ever meet Kyra, that she doesn’t want to punch me in the face for this.

I so adored her in Singles.

ABOVE: From the Sesame Street float in the 2010 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, before step-off.

Self-portraiture. An iPhone 3G. One hand inside a national treasure. Add them up and it equals these.

P.S. I don’t play Cookie Monster. I just wiggle him in a parade now and again.

LEFT: From Season 30. I finally got to sing a verse of “People in Your Neighborhood” as the letter carrier in this bit with Ben Stiller. Golly, he was swell. (Go Netflix The Ben Stiller Show.)

I’m chagrined, though. In an earlier take, as I exited calling for Mary, I ad libbed, “Zip plus 4, Mary!” I was so proud of myself. But on the next take I was told to exit faster and so I just dropped it... after all, I hadn’t had a lot of big parts like this yet and I didn’t want to anger the director. But I told no one, and you can actually see Ben waiting for the line. I left him hanging. I’m a schnitzel.

RIGHT: From Season 31 or 32, here is one of the few songs with Elizabeth in it. I know! You don’t know who that is! But even though she’s “dead,” I still have much fondness for her. This doesn’t fully capture her, but it’s better than nothing. (By the way, she’s the green one.)

Sure, this parody with Hootie and the Blowfish should have been done five years earlier, but it’s a good song and these guys, these guys were fantastic. Seriously. They were great with the kids and some of the nicest folk who’ve ever graced the set.

LEFT: In my career, I have played many unorthodox characters that have included letters, numbers, inanimate objects, monsters, males, females, animals, vegetables, and minerals... and now I can check off super dairy products as well, since I played one in 2010 for an outreach video.

While preparing for the pre-record and figuring out the character’s voice, I actually told my husband, “I don’t know if I need to sound like a superhero or like a cheese.” Yeah.

RIGHT:

Lest you think this world to be a glamorous one, witness this picture of me puppeteering Jean the Genie for the Food Network special and home video Elmo’s Magic Cookbook in 2000.

ABOVE:

Sometimes we find ourselves holding Muppets we do not normally perform for various reasons. The photo of me and Ernie is from when Cake Boss came to Sesame Street and all hands were needed to populate the set with the classic characters. The photo of me and Grover was taken when I was showing a friend around the set and I posed Grover with her. Then I got one for me. Because he’s so cute.

ABOVE:

Elmo is my boss. Literally.

Kevin Clash (Elmo, Muppet Captain, Co-Executive Producer, etc.) was nice enough to take this picture with me so I could send it to a friend whose son is an Elmo fan - as proof of degrees of separation, I suppose!

LEFT:

So then I heard the demo track for the song and decided on what you hear here.

I’m not sure if she really sounds like a cheese, but I tried to make her a little superheroic, at least in the spoken parts...

RIGHT: Our parody of 30 Rock, from Season 40.

Just as I hope not to get punched in the face by Kyra Sedgewick, so do I hope to never meet Tina Fey in a dark alley. Because it occurs to me that this may be the reason I’ve never even been brought in to audition for 30 Rock. But how would you imitate Liz Lemon without benefit of facial expressions, hands, hair, or any scripted “blurg”s or “blarg”s?

I tried.

But hey, the puppet’s cute, right?

RIGHT:

I never met Will Lee, who played Mr. Hooper, but his likeness still hangs in Big Bird’s nest area. Caroll Spinney, who plays Big Bird and Oscar, drew that picture back in 1983. It’s nice that Mr. Hooper isn’t forgotten.

So, what have we learned, kids?

That what’s incredibly strange to you is just the status quo for me.

Also that I really do work on the show. I didn’t make it up or anything.