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it's time to play the music

Morning Adorable: Backstage on Sesame Street With Elmo and the First Lady

by Susana Polo | 9:29 am, May 26th

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Fun fact: Most Muppets (the ones with articulate fingers, at least) are left handed. The (usually right handed) muppeteer operates the head with their dominant hand and uses their left as the puppet’s left hand. A second muppeteer gets the right hand. This is true for Fozzie, Rosita (seen in the video above), Rowlf, Telly, and Big Bird (who can only appear with a secondary muppeteer in blue-screened scenes, so his right hand is otherwise either pinned at his side or shown holding his teddy bear Radar*).

This, however, does not apply to the Swedish Chef, who not has not only articulate but fully shown human hands. Originally, Jim Henson provided the voice and head movements, with Frank Oz‘s hands. Now go back and rewatch those old clips and see if you can’t see parallels to Helping Hands from Whose Line.

This is also the reason why most muppet guitarists and bassists play left handed. And now you will never not notice it.

*Named after the M.A.S.H. character

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  • http://twitter.com/oneswellfoop Craig L Wittler

    But whenever my favorite Muppet, Rowlf (NOT ROLF), played piano, it was a second puppeteer (most often Steve Whitmire, who really can play the piano) doing both hands. Even though the piano music was dubbed in (no way to hit the keys correctly with those furry overhands), the fingering was designed and practiced to be close to accurate. from The Muppet Wiki http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Rowlf_the_Dog

  • Anonymous

    My bad on the spelling.