Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545257
PROPERTYMASTERSGUILD.ORG 11 was Sidebottom. Sidebottom gets Boober into a predicament where Boober has to play an old gypsy lady. When I took that on, I suggested, for puppeteering reasons, let's give the old gypsy lady a peg leg. Because it's an obstacle that Boober has to negotiate, and it's also an expression of the predicament he's in. He's being forced to be somebody he's not. I thought it would be fun from a sound standpoint, too. In the beginning, he walks a few steps and you hear the peg foot. Then Boober says, 'Wait a minute, the gypsy lady has a peg leg?' And Sidebottom says, 'And a squeaky shoe!' Give him a squeaky shoe and a peg leg and let the sound effects guy go. I did the manipulation for that, and it became this unseen thing that was part of the character. They revealed it once, he loses his balance and sticks the peg leg up into the shot, but the rest of the time I was just manipulating as though it was there. You get the rhythm of it, foot clunk, foot clunk, and then squeak, clunk, squeak, clunk. And that's the kind of thing that great props can do. It's all about furthering the character, furthering his predicament. PROP CULTURE: That's such a great example of how something that isn't even fully seen can still define the performance. It's not just a prop, it becomes behavior, rhythm, even character. That really speaks to what we talk about a lot, the idea that a prop doesn't just sit in a scene, it actively drives the character and the situation. DAVE: But, but within Jim's world, we all had a common purpose. And we, ended up … appreciating each other because we built something together, if that makes any sense. BRAD: I've always found that that collaboration is … we never say no. DAVE: Yeah, yeah. BRAD: So many requests … and the only possible answer is, how much time do I have? And then you go … do whatever it is. DAVE: We were doing The Muppets in 2015 and there was this character named Chip the I.T. Guy. There was a moment when he ended up in a room and they were playing electronic dance music, and as soon as I heard it, I thought, this is Chip's drug. He would go into a possessed state, spasmodic, unpredictable … and his tongue would be hanging out. I turned to Scott Johnson and Alex Ferguson, two of our puppet specialists and asked, do you have any tongues in the workshop? And they ran off and came right back with like a five-inch tongue and slapped it in his mouth with double-face tape. It was a thing where you could advance the character because of that prop! PROP CULTURE: A lot of what you're describing feeds directly into performance. Muppet work often involves very specific prop choreography, yet it feels completely spontaneous. How much rehearsal goes into making those interactions work so naturally? DAVE: Good question. It's really funny because we don't really rehearse much. It's usually block and … used to be called block and tape. And the reason for that is that it's so hard to simulate the conditions. If we are experienced enough that we can work quickly on set, then we can get on there. Brad and I might have worked together on a rig, but once we get on set, we realize we have to accommodate whatever the conditions are there. BRAD: I need to solve all those problems for you guys before we get to set and be able to react and change. Maybe we're going to take the rod out of the prop and put a rod in the elbow instead, because we don't want it coming up so high in frame. Maybe there's rigging considerations. DAVE: That's a better answer. Well, basically, to say how this worked is we would do this together. Brad and I would do it the day or two before and solve the broad problem. But when we get on set, there are always specific problems that we didn't expect, and he's there, and we solve those problems, and then we shoot. PROP CULTURE: Do the writers ever put props in the script that just aren't possible? DAVE: That's a good question. The writers are always encouraged to write whatever they want to see happen. And we will figure it out. We, being the whole group of us. PROP CULTURE: Was there ever a prop or gag rig that made you genuinely nervous to perform with, even though it had been figured out? DAVE: Oh, this one goes way back to NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET DAVE AND GONZO BOOBER