Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545257
12 PROP CULTURE I SUMMER 2026 Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, a special we did in '77. I performed a fish, a catfish who could spit water. He was part of a rock band, and his job was to spit water. He was in a cylindrical tank in the back of the band, so you'd see him swimming around, making bubbles, and then at certain points, he'd jump up and spit a stream of water. I was on a forklift in a chair, working sideways through a hole with a scuba glove in the tank, performing. And I knew that if somebody came along and cut the pressure to that forklift, I would just have my arms sliced off. So, I made sure they had somebody watching that machine at all times, and I went ahead and did it. We were so used to … Jim would do anything. He wasn't stupid about it, he was smart, but he would undergo all kinds of suffering, and we just did the same thing. We learned to do that. One of the weirdest things was performing behind flats on The Muppet Show, and we might be 12 feet off the ground with no safety rail, nothing to protect us. If we happened to get excited and step backward, we would have been dead. But we just kept it in mind, and we didn't die! PROP CULTURE: During the original Muppet Show, with so many celebrity guests, was there ever a moment when the chemistry became so real that they forgot they were performing with a puppet? Did anyone ever get so caught up in a scene that they forgot they were performing with a puppet? Or does the set environment prevent that? DAVE: No, it does happen. I noticed the guests on The Muppet Show who seemed most comfortable were comedians or Broadway or film actors. You have to engage with them somehow, and you can do it off camera with conversational stuff. It's like, I love your jacket, where'd you get that? That's beautiful. Do you have that made? And then a conversation starts. Bill Barretta did a wonderful one of these with Tony Bennett. Tony was a little uncomfortable with the puppets, looking down and so forth, and they needed another take. Between takes, Bill had Johnny Fiama lean over and say, yeah, what about that New York pizza? And Tony said, yeah, it's the best. What do you think it is? I think it's the water. He says it's the water. Tony said, yeah, it's the water. It's so good, you can't get that out here. And then they were just talking to each other. PROP CULTURE: That's a fantastic story. The way that moment with Tony Bennett shifted from hesitation into a real conversation really says everything about what makes the work so special, that point where performance just disappears and it becomes something genuine. DAVE: Bill successfully got over that, moment of disbelief! BRAD: Most people engage the puppet, and are very comfortable with that, and it's a little bit of a confusing thing for maybe the first 30 seconds. You can watch them when their eyes go, and you're not sure who to talk to, and then it's fully engaging the puppet. I think most people find that these puppets are so thoroughly alive when performed well and there's no question as to who you look at. DAVE: Well, first of all, we're not as interesting to look at, and second, we're not looking back up at them because we're busy looking at the monitor. Oftentimes the first tendency is to talk to the puppeteer down there. But it's not giving them anything back. Then they realize, oh, there's this creature who's alive. They go with that. PROP CULTURE: Dave, before we finish, I just want to thank you for taking the time to talk with us. You've had such an incredible career, and it's really been a pleasure hearing these stories directly from you. One of the things that really comes through is the respect and appreciation you've always had for the people behind the scenes, especially Property Masters and the prop teams who help bring these characters and worlds to life. You can really CHIP EMMET OTTER'S JUG BAND CHRISTMAS TONY BENNETT