Latest news with #BrianHenson
Forbes
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Puppet Up!' Builds A New Future Away From The Jim Henson Company Lot
Producer/director Brian Henson poses with the puppets from Henson Alternative's 'Puppet Up! – ... More Uncensored' comedy puppet show at The Jim Henson Company on March 05, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. In 2017, the Jim Henson Company opened the gates to the hallowed and historic Hollywood studio lot for the first time to stage their renowned live stage show, Puppet Up! – Uncensored, on the lot for one night only. A resounding success, what was celebrated as "a Willy Wonka moment" became a regular thing. Now, the critically-acclaimed and internationally-renowned production has a new home at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in West LA's Culver City. "We did a show years ago at the Kirk Douglas and I have to say it's the best audience arrangement for our show of any venue we've ever played," enthuses Brian Henson, Chairman of The Jim Henson Company and an award-winning director, producer, and writer for film and television. "When we do it on the lot, it's a big flat floor set up like an awards show night, with tables and chairs, and we have big screens, so there is never a bad seat in the house. However, you are a little further away from the puppeteers; if you're trying to watch what the puppeteers are doing, it's harder." "We call it two shows in one because one show is on the monitor and the other is watching the puppeteers and watching how we do what we do, which is a unique and fun experience for the audience. It doesn't feel crowded, and yet everyone is close. I can see everybody's expression in the room, and it's an intimate party atmosphere where everyone has a great view. It's a super exciting venue. It's exciting to bring the show back there now, when we know we have a much stronger show than we did back then." A New Beginning For 'Puppet Up!' In late 2024, the Henson lot, initially built by Charlie Chaplin in the late 1910s as his first film studio, was sold to McG, the director of Charlie's Angels and Terminator Salvation, and singer-songwriter John Mayer. "John's running the music side, McG has got his production companies, and they're doing a lot of renovation to the lot right now. I don't think we'd be coming back to the lot, because the highlight was giving people a tour of that finished in my office that was Charlie Chaplin's," Henson reveals. "I can't do that when it's not my office. I will also say, honestly, it was always a wonderful place to do the show, but I think the audience experience of the show will be significantly better at the Kirk Douglas." Looking to the future, director Patrick Bristow is particularly excited about the opportunity the show's new home offers. Puppet Up! – Uncensored has 14 hysterical performances scheduled this summer from Wednesday, July 16, 2025, to Sunday, July 27, 2025. Tickets for the shows, which are not suitable for anyone under 16, are available now. "LA is our sweet spot and we find the people that are looking for something different, not just a national touring company of something they heard about," he explains. "They're trying to find that thing that has got a little bit of a cool, slightly underground feel, and even though we've been around forever, we still have that. Another thing that pumped things up was doing them on the actual Henson lot. That grew the show because people were interested in seeing it there." MC and director Patrick Bristow on stage during 'Puppet Up! – Uncensored.' Bristow, who audiences will recognize from films and TV shows such as Ellen, Showgirls, The Morning Show, and Friends, is also the MC of Puppet Up!. "The audience participates only when they're allowed to," Henson explains. "Patrick is very precise and is like, 'This is when I want a suggestion from you. This is when I want somebody to come up from the audience.' We occasionally involve people from the audience, but we do it in a way that's not intimidating at all. If somebody doesn't want to come on stage, they don't have to." "I feel like we're in a not very rowdy period in American culture. I think people are a little scared to be in public, quite frankly. We don't have that comfort and confidence that people had 15 or 20 years ago in a crowd. Now, everybody's just a little bit reticent, so the suggestions are excellent, but it does sometimes take a little bit in the show to get people to loosen up and appreciate that they're in a safe space. There have been times in the past where they didn't need any loosening up at all, and you would get in and be overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and rowdiness of the audience." Bristow continues, "Occasionally, there are times where people have no filter, and they'll say something that even they don't want to see. They want to be able to say it out loud in the group and have audible gasps around them, and maybe watch me squirm a little bit. If anything smacks of punching or if something is a politically sensitive issue, I'll try not to take that one without acknowledging the person who made the suggestion. So, even though it's uncensored, I try to walk the line to ensure this is a great experience for everyone who comes out. It should be escapism." (Left to right) Puppeteers Michael Oosterom, Ted Michaels, Colleen Smith, director and host Patrick ... More Bristow, creator/producer Brian Henson, puppeteers Grant Baciocco, Peggy Etra and Tyler Bunch attend Brian Henson presents 'Puppet Up! - Uncensored' at The Venetian Las Vegas on July 29, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. How And Why The Audience Is So Important To 'Puppet Up!' So, once you're at the show and you're having a good time, how do you find yourself on stage? "One thing that has changed over the years is that more people are aware that this is going to happen, and there are people who come there wanting to be picked. That person rarely does themselves, or the show, a service by getting chosen," Bristow warns. "When I'm looking for people, I'm not looking for the people that are looking at me, like, 'If you come over here, I will kill you,' and with the people that are chomping at the bit, I'm like, 'Okay, no, that's scaring me a little bit. What's going on here?' I try to find that person who looks a little uncomfortable, and then they invariably have a great time. We celebrate them. We don't just use them as a prop." Henson adds, "After the show, anybody who was invited on stage is always so happy. They take photographs of themselves with the cast and all of that, and it's always a good experience, so it's not something to be scared of, and not something that anybody would have to do if they didn't want to." The Company of 'Puppet Up! - Uncensored.' In addition to standard tickets, a VIP behind-the-scenes experience is available for fans of the show and the Henson family legacy. "VIP ticket holders come early to the show and then they're invited up to a special area, which is a big rehearsal space in the theater that will be all decked out," Henson enthuses. "We're going to have Dark Crystal creatures there for people to take pictures with. We're going to have characters from Labyrinth and other things that people know, so the big plus is you get to see some real historic characters and be able to get up close to them and get pictures with them." "We're also inviting a lot of the cast so that people can meet and talk to the people they're about to watch on stage. I'm also going to spend time with everybody then, answer questions, tell stupid stories, and we've also got stuff to give away." Due to the show's improv style, Puppet Up! – Uncensored is never the same show twice. However, audiences attending the run of performances at the Kirk Douglas are guaranteed to see something new, even amongst the recreations of classic Jim Henson sequences. "We have quite a few things we've developed over the last year," Henson concludes. "Some of them are reenactments of pieces that my dad, Jim, created years ago, some are new structures that we've created that are great. I think everything has been on stage at least once, so I don't think we have any brand-new segments for this run. However, we have quite a few segments that we've used a whole lot and have barely been on stage. I promise that anybody who comes will see something there they haven't seen before."
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' made Mia Sara a star. Leaving Hollywood has been freeing.
Though she appeared to be on top of the world as a teen star in the '80s, the truth is that Mia Sara found the Hollywood spotlight uncomfortable. Now, at 58, she's happier than ever, thanks to a quiet home life with her husband, Brian Henson, son of Muppets creator Jim Henson, and kids Dashiell Connery, 28, and Amelia, 21. And this month, the actress returned to the big screen for the first time in a decade, starring as a grandmother in an adaptation of Stephen King's novella The Life of Chuck. Best known as Sloane Peterson in the John Hughes classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sara enjoyed breakout success with roles in All My Children and the fantasy film Legend, later appearing alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme in Timecop. But after appearing in the short film Pretty Pretty in 2013, she stepped away from acting with no intention of returning — that is, until director Mike Flanagan convinced her to sign onto Chuck. 'I love Mike Flanagan, like really adore him just as a person, and we are friends, and I'm just a huge fan,' Sara tells me for Yahoo Life's Unapologetically series. 'When we met [and had dinner], Mike said, 'Why don't you work anymore?' And I said, 'Oh, it's really complicated,' and he said, 'Would you ever work again? What if I offered you something?'' Although Flanagan joked that Sara would come to 'regret that dinner,' she feels quite differently about agreeing to star as Sarah Krantz opposite Mark Hamill's Albie Krantz in The Life of Chuck. 'It was a really healing experience,' she shares. 'Mike creates an incredibly cohesive and really terrific feeling on set. It felt like really nice closure. It did me a world of good.' The harmony and inner peace Sara felt on set mirror what she's currently experiencing in her personal life as she nears 60. 'I feel a huge pressure is off to not be comparing myself to people,' she says. Our conversation touches on the power of stepping away from the spotlight, the beauty (and, yes, some "crappy" parts) of aging and how youth isn't all it's cracked up to be. (Spoiler alert: Being 'very young' contributed to Ferris being a 'cringy experience' for Sara.) What I love about my 50s is that I feel like a huge pressure is off to not be comparing myself to people. And I love the fact that my interactions with people [are] just about me, my attitude, me as a person. I don't feel like I have to get past something anymore with people. [But] there are serious bummers to do with health and pain. So, I'm just looking forward to hopefully remaining healthy and active. I have a Connemara pony called Rory, and he is the greatest pony on the face of the earth — and I'm not the only person who thinks that. I just feel like as long as I can stay in the saddle, I'm good. And for many years now, I've been using this mindfulness app called Happier. I have found it very helpful. Sometimes, for big swaths of time, I'll do it every day, and then, sometimes, I travel a lot and I drop it for a couple of weeks, but I always return to it. I feel I'm less reactive, more present and more aware. You know, my kids have noticed. And the other really good thing about getting older is I have a sense of how fortunate I am. I have a really great life, and I'm really grateful for it. I think meditation does help with that. Oh, and lots and lots of high-quality therapy! Yes, aging comes up in therapy all the time. It's a hard thing. There are definitely really crappy aspects to it that I do grapple with in therapy and with my friends. I'm fortunate to have very dear friends for many years, and we're all going through it together, and we've supported each other through some pretty scary stuff. Scary stuff starts happening at my age. I've been lucky, but I have very close friends who've had some serious illnesses. So, all of the support that you can have to help yourself and others through [the challenges of getting older] is beneficial. A long time ago, I knew this woman, a really good friend of my ex-husband [Jason Connery]. She had been a prima ballerina. I was younger, and I was just complaining about something, and she said, "Look, certain things are not gonna get better than this moment. And you're gonna look back on this moment, at whatever physical thing you're complaining about or feeling critical or judgmental of. So, just enjoy the ride." Enjoy the ride. I haven't thought about that in years, but that's something that I would tell my daughter or my son's wonderful girlfriend. But the other thing is that I've noticed that nobody really follows advice. I feel like if you feel comfortable, you could freely give advice, but never expect them to actually [take it], because we have to learn ourselves. We all have to learn things the hard way. I do. Everyone feels critical of themselves. I've never met anyone who says, 'I'm so perfectly happy with the way I look and how I feel I'm being perceived.' One of the important things to know is that you don't have control over how people are gonna feel about you. So, the thing is to focus on yourself and how you feel about yourself and also how you treat other people. It's so much more important to be kind and to be compassionate as a human being than to focus on your appearance. And that's what my husband and I have tried to model. I would worry about it around middle school when [my daughter's friends] were all endlessly on social media, but my daughter wasn't that into it. So that was lucky. I'm really working toward trying to give myself grace. Especially because of this movie that's coming out [The Life of Chuck], and there are all these retrospective blurbs, and they put a picture of me now, and then they put like all these pictures through time, and it's like, 'I'm melting!' But when I was younger, I always found older women very beautiful. So, when I look in the mirror, I see myself, and I like the way I look. [But it can be] harder when, after a long time, I'm having to confront myself onscreen. That's a very different experience, which is a little challenging. And if you have been considered attractive and beautiful or whatever, and it's a part of your identity, it's hard to let it go. But it is actually really freeing to feel like no one's looking at me. I understand what people mean about being invisible. I don't feel invisible. I just don't feel like I have to put out anymore. It's nice. I can just present myself as myself, and my interactions with people [are] about who I am. I don't feel like I'm being judged as much because of what I appear to be. I think it's possible to feel more and more aligned with who you are as you get older. I like people not looking at me. That was not always very comfortable for me. How did you deal with that as a teen, especially when you were very much in the spotlight for ? I don't think I did very well with it. I was not comfortable. I wasn't mature enough to really take advantage of it. I was really young. I'm a very introverted person. I did not have the greatest time making that movie, because I was in the most awkward stage of my actual adolescence. I was very out of my element and depth. I didn't have that high school experience. So, I felt really out of it. I was younger than the other main cast members [Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck and Jennifer Grey], and they were all a lot more experienced than I was. And it showed in my behavior. When I look back on it, it's a very cringy experience for me. That's sadly how I feel about the movie. I absolutely recognize the durability of it, and I'm really grateful to be in it, and I appreciate the appreciation of it, but the truth is that it was a really bad moment for me.
New York Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
David Lazer, Executive Who Joined the World of Muppets, Dies at 89
David Lazer, who as an IBM executive in the mid-1960s hired Jim Henson's Muppets to star in a series of short films that injected laughs into sales meetings — and who a decade later joined Mr. Henson's company as a producer — died on April 10 at his home in Vero Beach, Fla. He was 89. His death, which had not been widely reported, was confirmed by Doyle Newberry, a manager of Mr. Lazer's estate. He did not cite a cause. 'What David brought to the company was class,' Brian Henson, Mr. Henson's son and the chairman of the Jim Henson Company, said in an interview. 'Even my dad would say you couldn't call Muppets Inc. classy. Up until then, it was a bunch of beatniks making weird stuff.' In 1965, Mr. Lazer was making commercials and sales training films for IBM's office products division and had learned the importance of keeping in-house audiences at the company interested during meetings. Intrigued by a reel of commercials and short films made by Mr. Henson, Mr. Lazer wanted to bring his 'sense of humor and crazy nuttiness' to IBM, he told Brian Jay Jones for his book 'Jim Henson: The Biography' (2013). The star of Mr. Henson's early films for IBM was Rowlf the Dog, who typed letters to his mother on a series of IBM manual and electric typewriters in which he described his new career as a salesman for the company. He promoted real products; he also plugged an electric guitar from IBM's 'Hippie Products Division' that, improbably, dispensed coffee. In another short, an early version of Cookie Monster devoured a talking coffee machine. 'The idea is that if you can give people a good laugh, they'll listen better,' Mr. Lazer told The Minneapolis Star Tribune in 1985. Under Mr. Lazer's leadership, the films intended for IBM audiences led to a broader business, Muppet Meeting Films. Companies bought the videos to motivate their employees — or at least keep them awake. One of those films features an executive-type Muppet delivering a motivational speech, in which he calmly praises the company as a family of 'honest men.' But his tone grows more urgent, and his gestures become wilder, as he gets to his point: 'I ask you to remember just one word, the one word that makes it all possible, and that word is sell! I want you to get out there and sell, sell, sell! I want you to sell your socks off!' Mr. Lazer's skills as an executive appealed to Mr. Henson, who asked him to join what was then called Henson Associates (and is now the Jim Henson Company) in 1975. Quoted in Mr. Jones's book, Mr. Lazer recalled that he was shocked by Mr. Henson's offer and responded by saying: 'Oh my God! Oh, probably!' Three weeks later, he took the job. 'Lazer was determined to bring the same polish to Henson Associates that he had brought to the IBM product line,' Mr. Jones wrote, 'and as far as Lazer was concerned, the product at Henson Associates wasn't the Muppets; it was Jim.' Brian Henson said that Mr. Lazer instituted one change very quickly; he didn't want his father slipping into a cumbersome Muppet costume again after the last one, a towering, hairy ogre named Sweetums. 'He said, 'Jim, you're never getting into a costume again,'' Mr. Henson said. ''You can work hand puppets, but you're never getting into a costume with a T-shirt and shorts again.'' David Lazer was born on Jan. 23, 1936, in Manhattan and grew up in the Bronx and in Hempstead, N.Y., on Long Island. His father, George, was a haberdasher, and his mother, Cilla (Schneweis) Lazer, a Polish immigrant, managed the home. David became adept at photography as a teenager and won awards for his photographs in high school. He joined IBM after high school in 1954 and, after serving for two years in the Army, where he received intelligence training, returned to IBM. He studied film at night at New York University. At Henson Associates, Mr. Lazer was a producer or executive producer of 'The Muppet Show,' the television variety series that ran from 1976 to 1981 and won four Primetime Emmy Awards; the films 'The Muppet Movie' (1979), 'The Great Muppet Caper' (1981), 'The Dark Crystal' (1982), 'The Muppets Take Manhattan' (1984) and 'Labyrinth' (1986); and a 1979 TV special, 'The Muppets Go Hollywood.' Mr. Lazer's corporeal image — curly hair, bushy eyebrows, well-tailored suit, tan — inspired the creation of a Muppet look-alike for some of the meeting films. In several of them, the David Lazer Muppet played a self-important businessman; in another, he portrayed one of three executives giving quarterly reports while stranded on an island. The Lazer Muppet reported rising coconut production and steady sand castle production. As a human, Mr. Lazer made a cameo appearance in 'The Muppets Take Manhattan,' squiring Liza Minnelli into Sardi's, the famous theater-district restaurant, where she found that her caricature on a wall has been replaced by Kermit the Frog's. Mr. Lazer played a critical role at the company after Jim Henson died in 1990. By then, Mr. Lazer had left his longtime position as executive vice president and, for a year or two, served as an adviser. To help the Henson family, he returned, as the company's acting president. 'During that period he was very much like a father figure to me,' Brian Henson said. 'My father was my mentor in puppetry, animatronics and directing puppets, but David was my mentor in terms of running the business.' After Brian Henson was named president in early 1991, Mr. Lazer became vice chairman, a post he held until his retirement in 1994. Mr. Henson is now the chairman. Mr. Lazer is survived by a sister, Ann Lazer Harstack. At his first staff meeting at the Henson company, Mr. Jones wrote, Mr. Lazer baffled the Muppet designers and performers with a slew of flow charts and other paperwork. People were laughing at him. To them, he was a suit. So he tossed his papers onto the table and kept talking as if there had been no snickers about his IBM-style presentation. 'It's not the same, is it?' Jim Henson said to him after the meeting, referring to the looser atmosphere in the world of Muppets. 'Oh no,' Mr. Lazer said. 'It's better.'
Malaysian Reserve
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Malaysian Reserve
UNCENSORED RETURNS! TICKETS ON SALE NOW FOR 14 PERFORMANCES AT THE KIRK DOUGLAS THEATRE WITH SPECIAL VIP COCKTAIL PARTY EXPERIENCE JULY 16-27 2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif., May 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Henson Alternative's Puppet Up! – Uncensored returns this summer for 14 hysterical performances of adult comedy, puppet hijinks, and surprises at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Tickets are on sale now for all performances: Wednesday, July 16th at 8pm, Thursday, July 17th at 8pm, Friday, July 18th at 8pm, Saturday, July 19th at 4pm and 8pm, Sunday, July 20th at 3pm and 7pm, Wednesday, July 23rd at 8pm, Thursday, July 24th at 8pm, Friday, July 25th at 8pm, Saturday, July 26th at 4pm and 8pm, and Sunday, July 27th at 3pm and 7pm. Buy tickets here: Available tickets include General Admission ($75) and VIP tickets ($150). VIP guests will have priority seating and access to an all-new pre-show cocktail party experience where they can mix and mingle with puppets and puppeteers featured in the show, take photos with iconic Henson characters from Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, and Fraggle Rock, and enjoy an exclusive behind-the-scenes conversation with legendary puppeteer and show creator Brian Henson. Co-created by award-winning director and producer Brian Henson (Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island), and the production's director and host Patrick Bristow (Ellen, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Whose Line Is It Anyway?), Puppet Up! – Uncensored is never the same show twice, effortlessly blending increasingly unhinged feats of improv comedy with the unparalleled skill and originality of Henson puppeteers. Based on suggestions from the audience, the puppet mayhem – starring the unforgettable Miskreant puppets – showcases both the improvised puppet action projected live on screens above the stage, and the puppeteers racing around below in full view of the audience to bring it all to life. Performances also include recreations of classic pieces by Jim and Jane Henson that have not been performed for audiences in decades. Puppet Up! – Uncensored is not recommended for anyone under 16 and anyone under 14 will not be admitted. ABOUT HENSON ALTERNATIVEHenson Alternative is The Jim Henson Company's label for content created specifically and exclusively for adult audiences. In 1955, Jim Henson's first television production 'Sam & Friends' appeared on late-night television as a lead-in to 'The Tonight Show,' establishing a standard in the Company's work for irreverent, creative, comedy projects that spoke to adults. Appearances on 'The Jimmy Dean Show,' 'The Ed Sullivan Show,' and 'Saturday Night Live,' as well as numerous short films for clients like IBM and AT&T, proved that Henson puppetry was not limited to children. Today, Henson Alternative continues to produce and develop projects for this audience. Credits include 'The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell' (Netflix), 'The Happytime Murders' (STX), 'No, You Shut Up!' (Fusion), 'Neil's Puppet Dreams' (Nerdist), 'Tinseltown' (Logo), and 'Puppet Up! – Uncensored' (a live puppet improvisational show named one of the top 10 'Best Stage Shows' by Entertainment Weekly). The Miskreant Puppets are the motley troupe of puppets featured in many Henson Alternative productions like 'The Happytime Murders,' 'Puppet Up! – Uncensored,' and 'No, You Shut Up!' as well as Coldplay's recent music video 'Biutyful.' ABOUT WESTBETH ENTERTAINMENTFor over 40 years WBE has consistently delivered critically acclaimed, financially successful, and groundbreaking productions that have made artists and audiences' dreams come true. Beginning as The Westbeth Theatre Center and morphing into Westbeth Entertainment, developing and introducing artists and talent to North American audiences have been a big part of Westbeth's history. From Billy Connolly to Eddie Izzard to Eric Idle, Sandra Bernhard to John Leguizamo to The Jim Henson Company, and Margaret Cho to Trevor Noah to Noel Fielding, WBE has been the creative catalyst, partner, and producer of some of the most innovative performances and productions on the continent in iconic venues, such as Madison Square Garden, The Hollywood Bowl, Toronto's Massey Hall, The Chicago Theatre, Radio City Music Hall, and many others. Our journey with Ray Davies began in 1996 at the Westbeth Theatre Center with the debut of his one person show Twentieth Century Man. This show eventually developed into the West End hit, Sunny Afternoon, which just made its North American debut.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
HENSON ALTERNATIVE'S PUPPET UP! - UNCENSORED RETURNS! TICKETS ON SALE NOW FOR 14 PERFORMANCES AT THE KIRK DOUGLAS THEATRE WITH SPECIAL VIP COCKTAIL PARTY EXPERIENCE JULY 16-27 2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif., May 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Henson Alternative's Puppet Up! – Uncensored returns this summer for 14 hysterical performances of adult comedy, puppet hijinks, and surprises at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Tickets are on sale now for all performances: Wednesday, July 16th at 8pm, Thursday, July 17th at 8pm, Friday, July 18th at 8pm, Saturday, July 19th at 4pm and 8pm, Sunday, July 20th at 3pm and 7pm, Wednesday, July 23rd at 8pm, Thursday, July 24th at 8pm, Friday, July 25th at 8pm, Saturday, July 26th at 4pm and 8pm, and Sunday, July 27th at 3pm and 7pm. Buy tickets here: Available tickets include General Admission ($75) and VIP tickets ($150). VIP guests will have priority seating and access to an all-new pre-show cocktail party experience where they can mix and mingle with puppets and puppeteers featured in the show, take photos with iconic Henson characters from Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, and Fraggle Rock, and enjoy an exclusive behind-the-scenes conversation with legendary puppeteer and show creator Brian Henson. Co-created by award-winning director and producer Brian Henson (Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island), and the production's director and host Patrick Bristow (Ellen, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Whose Line Is It Anyway?), Puppet Up! – Uncensored is never the same show twice, effortlessly blending increasingly unhinged feats of improv comedy with the unparalleled skill and originality of Henson puppeteers. Based on suggestions from the audience, the puppet mayhem – starring the unforgettable Miskreant puppets – showcases both the improvised puppet action projected live on screens above the stage, and the puppeteers racing around below in full view of the audience to bring it all to life. Performances also include recreations of classic pieces by Jim and Jane Henson that have not been performed for audiences in decades. Puppet Up! – Uncensored is not recommended for anyone under 16 and anyone under 14 will not be admitted. ABOUT HENSON ALTERNATIVEHenson Alternative is The Jim Henson Company's label for content created specifically and exclusively for adult audiences. In 1955, Jim Henson's first television production "Sam & Friends" appeared on late-night television as a lead-in to "The Tonight Show," establishing a standard in the Company's work for irreverent, creative, comedy projects that spoke to adults. Appearances on "The Jimmy Dean Show," "The Ed Sullivan Show," and "Saturday Night Live," as well as numerous short films for clients like IBM and AT&T, proved that Henson puppetry was not limited to children. Today, Henson Alternative continues to produce and develop projects for this audience. Credits include "The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell" (Netflix), "The Happytime Murders" (STX), "No, You Shut Up!" (Fusion), "Neil's Puppet Dreams" (Nerdist), "Tinseltown" (Logo), and "Puppet Up! – Uncensored" (a live puppet improvisational show named one of the top 10 "Best Stage Shows" by Entertainment Weekly). The Miskreant Puppets are the motley troupe of puppets featured in many Henson Alternative productions like "The Happytime Murders," "Puppet Up! – Uncensored," and "No, You Shut Up!" as well as Coldplay's recent music video "Biutyful." ABOUT WESTBETH ENTERTAINMENTFor over 40 years WBE has consistently delivered critically acclaimed, financially successful, and groundbreaking productions that have made artists and audiences' dreams come true. Beginning as The Westbeth Theatre Center and morphing into Westbeth Entertainment, developing and introducing artists and talent to North American audiences have been a big part of Westbeth's history. From Billy Connolly to Eddie Izzard to Eric Idle, Sandra Bernhard to John Leguizamo to The Jim Henson Company, and Margaret Cho to Trevor Noah to Noel Fielding, WBE has been the creative catalyst, partner, and producer of some of the most innovative performances and productions on the continent in iconic venues, such as Madison Square Garden, The Hollywood Bowl, Toronto's Massey Hall, The Chicago Theatre, Radio City Music Hall, and many others. Our journey with Ray Davies began in 1996 at the Westbeth Theatre Center with the debut of his one person show Twentieth Century Man. This show eventually developed into the West End hit, Sunny Afternoon, which just made its North American debut. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE The Jim Henson Company
