Preview: ‘Puppet Up! – Uncensored’ Ignites Kirk Douglas Theatre with Improv Hilarity

The acclaimed show Puppet Up! – Uncensored blends improvisational comedy with unparalleled puppetry. Can you walk us through the creative spark that led to this show debuting back in 2005?

Bristow: Brian wanted to help his puppeteers regain some of the freedom to ad-lib more and be less script-bound. His father, Jim [Henson], thought that the ability to ad-lib in character was an element of what made great Muppet performers. If you’ve ever seen outtakes of Jim and Frank Oz, or other great Muppet performers, you can see how quick-witted and hilarious they could be when put on the spot.

[Brian’s] wife (then-girlfriend) actress Mia Sara told him to find an improv comedy teacher to work with the puppeteers. She found me through our mutual old Groundlings pal Mike Hitchcock.

Brian and I started a month-and-a-half-long workshop at the Henson Lot. We met one night a week. The puppeteers took to the training so quickly. Some had improv backgrounds already and others were totally new to it.

The challenge was blending puppetry and improv together. Each one had its limitations and gifts. Henson puppetry is designed to play to a camera and not to a live audience so much. The puppeteers have to always be looking at TV monitors on the floor so they see their puppets’ movement in the whole frame. Improvisers need to look directly at each other whenever possible. So we figured out how to improvise without the eye contact at all by forcing the players to listen even more acutely to their partners’ voices, catching the slightest variations in tone or intent.

Improv players get millions of communications through seeing microexpressions and body language. Well, maybe not millions, but a lot more than you get from a fleece-face with ping-pong-ball eyes. So it was a hurdle but puppeteers became amazing listeners and very good at reading each other by way of tone of voice, intention, and what they are able to communicate via movement of the puppet. After six weeks, I suggested we do an informal demonstration of the puppet improv work for the other employees on the lot. I was thinking maybe 10 people watching us in a board room during lunch. Brian turned that into a bit more of an event with 200 people in the audience.

Reps from the Aspen Comedy Festival saw our demonstration event and wanted us to bring our ‘show’ to their prestigious festival. We started the process of slowly and organically turning the ‘demonstration’ into an actual show.

How do you channel the spontaneous energy in Puppet Up! while balancing the technical precision required for Henson-style puppetry? Is it simply a matter of being prepared for any scenario?

Bristow: I wish it were as simple as being prepared for anything. The hard part of performing Puppet Up! (and mind you, I am not a puppeteer myself), is maintaining the highly developed skills for both Henson-style puppetry and short-form improvisation at the same time. Working with your onstage puppet partners to create a fun, memorable instant sketch and, at the same time, executing the art of puppetry to a level acceptable to the Henson name—well, it’s a lot to ask. Once the improv begins, you can’t be thinking about the two techniques you are serving. The skills have to be so internalized in the puppeteer that they can let go to serve the scene. Personally, I would never do it myself. Terrifying. That’s why I host, and make them do it. Best job ever.

From what I understand, there are recreations of classic pieces by Jim and Jane Henson that haven’t been performed in decades. What’s one of these classic pieces you’ve been most excited to bring back, and how does it feel to introduce these routines within the uncensored, irreverent context of the show?

Bristow: I can’t answer for Brian [Henson] but I do know that bringing back those great routines from the days of Jim’s appearances on the The Ed Sullivan Show, and the like, has a magical effect on all of us. I get to watch live performances of these famous routines at every show whether it’s my favorite, ‘I’ve Grown Accustomed To Your Face’ or the nearly impossible to pull off ‘Business Business.’ We have five of these recreations rotating through the shows on different nights.

The show is described as ‘never the same twice,’ relying heavily on audience suggestions. Can you share a memorable moment from a past performance where an audience prompt led to an unexpected or particularly hilarious outcome?

Bristow: The show may have the same improv structures, but the players always make it fresh to pay off the audience’s suggestion or prompts. They may revisit a character but they don’t recycle ‘jokes.’ There’s sort of an ‘honor’ aspect to make it new even if a prompt or suggestion is the same one we had last week.

We’ve had so many weird and wonderful suggestions for improvs over all these years; it’s impossible for me to remember one as the stand-out. That being said, I have watched our hot dog puppets start a cult, have a key party, be in zero gravity, engage in MMA fighting, and a few I can’t tell you here.

A live audience’s energy can sharpen the happenings onstage. Is there an audience or venue that you fondly look back on? Given that the Kirk Douglas Theatre seats only 317 people, how does the intimacy of the space impact the show? In your experience, can you get as much audience feedback and participation in a more spread-out, bigger venue?

Bristow: Okay, I am not saying this because we are about to open at the Kirk Douglas, but it has been one of my all-time favorite venues for our show to perform in. The size is perfect for us. Feels intimate without remotely feeling too small. It seats about what a TV sitcom audience on a soundstage would seat, which is perfect when you remember that the whole Henson Puppetry approach was developed specifically for the camera. Add free parking and great air conditioning to Puppet Up! and it’s pretty much a love-dream.

Cover image caption: Patrick Bristow (right) in Puppet Up! – Uncensored. Photo courtesy of Puppet Up! – Uncensored.