Puppeteerin’

I was hanging out last night at a certain karaoke bar. Standing upstairs, talking to a certain Crazy Karaoke Host, when he looked at me and we had this little chat:

CKH: Dude, you should be a puppeteer.
Me: Uh, what?
CKH: You're dressed all in black.
Me: Yes ... ?
CKH: So tell people you're a puppeteer.
Me: Why?
CKH: I dunno... you're dressed all in black and someone would totally believe you.
Me: Hmm... I guess. Yeah. Maybe.
CKH: Inverted marionette.
Me: What's that?
CKH: I have no idea. I just made it up.
Me: I like the idea!

I liked the idea, and I'm a fan of random stuff... and I LOVE lying to people (and NGOs and car stereos (see? Random)). But it also sounded like a bit of work and I am lazy. So I didn't think much of it.

Fast forward 20 minutes or so. It's still pretty light in the room, so I'd been cruising around the rest of the bar, and CKH is talking to a woman. He introduces us and I'm standing there and the convo went a little something like this:

CKH: Yeah, so you should hear about what Ed O. does...
The Mark: Oh, yeah?
Me: ... ?
CKH: He's a puppeteer.
TM: Really? Wow.
Me: Oh, yeah... I mean, I don't like to talk about it, but...

At this point, I had to go with it, right? I wasn't going to call CKH out over it. At this point, though, CKH floated into the background and my semi-inebriated and entirely random sense of creativity took over.

TM: So ... what exactly do you do?
Me: I'm a puppeteer... or a marionetter.
TM: Really? Like do you travel--
Me: ... yeah...
TM: --all over the country?
Me: Well... yeah. All over the greater Seattle area.
TM: Oh, I see, and...
Me: You know Sesame Street, right?
TM: Yeah...
Me: And the Muppet Show?
TM: Sure...
Me: Yeah. Henson Productions. That's us.
TM: Where do you perform?
Me: Well... there are two main audiences.
TM: Oh, yeah?
Me: There are the kids, of course, and then there are adults who see it all ironically.
TM: Ah, I see.
Me: You should have seen this one time this guy took it a bit too far.
TM: How?
Me: Well, he was working Fozzy and he decided, "This is how to make a bear funny!" and he went all off-script and threw in cusswords and stuff...
TM: Did he get fired?
Me: Yeah. He kinda knew he was on the way out, anyway, so he decided to go out with a bang, and--
TM: Wait... so you do voices, too?
Me: Oh, sure.
TM: Who's your best voice?
Me: Oh, I dunno...
TM: C'mon! Which character?
Me: [in a rather crappy Kermit voice] Kermit the Frog.
TM: That's really good!
Me: *shrug* It's what I do.
TM: So... how do you control the characters?
Me: Well, it depends on the character and the scene, but it's usually a combination of in-head puppetry and [gesturing wildly] stringwork.
TM: So...
Me: Yeah, some people hear "Henson Productions" and get all snobby. When I talk to my buddies from the Marionette Institute--
TM: Wait. There's a school you went to?
Me: Sure. The Marionette Institute, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Anyway, they say I sold out. But from MY perspective? You know. I did my own shows. I made my own art. Been there done that.
TM: And so--
Me: Have you seen "Being John Malkovich"?
TM: Yes.
Me: I hate that movie.
TM: What?
Me: Yeah... people see it and they think they know what puppetry is all about.
TM: And it's not?
Me: No. Total bullshit.

She was very sweet. And she asked enough questions that she kept ALMOST tripping me up. Almost.

I think at that point I talked some more technical puppetry detail (about Double Inverted Marionettes, and how live puppetry relies more on stringwork than TV and movies, and a bunch of other stuff I was totally making up as I went) and we talked about other things for a moment or two before I bounced back downstairs.

I talked to CKH later to confirm that he'd tell her I was full of crap at some point.