Ryan Dosier also stops by from The Muppet Mindset and we catch up on the Muppet news. Ryan will join me in person next weekend for the Midwest Muppet Vault here in Columbus, OH!

The MuppetCast is sponsored by The Fingerbucket Report and Bell, Book & Comic. Life should be more Fun!

Thanks for listening! Questions/Comments about the Muppets or The MuppetCast can be emailed to me@muppetcast.com, or called in to the voicemail line at 614-364-4270. Follow the show on Twitter and join the Facebook page too!

Happy Holidays!

-Steve

Make sure to get your tickets to the new musical Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas at the official website of the Goodspeed Opera House.

The Muppet Whatnot Workshop is passing all sales expectations at FAO Schwartz. We could have told them how successful this idea would be! Sales figures are currently at 125% over what FAO and Disney projected they would be! Have you gotten your Whatnot yet? Send a picture and join the MC listeners already on the MuppetCast Flickr Page.

Check out some clips of the upcoming Christmas special “Letters to Santa“. The new Muppet Christmas special airs December 17 at 8pm EST on NBC (check local listings), but you can see some of it right now! Two separate clips are on CinemaBlend.com, and a longer clip is on NBC.com.

The Jim Henson Company recently announced their intention to make the 2002 Gris Grimly version of Pinocchio into a new film! FearNet has an interview with Mr. Grimly in which he talks about this new project.

Listener Joey R. sent two links to his puppet video projects, his YouTube channel and his Blogspot blog.

Speed Tracer points us to the 1990 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, in which a nice tribute to Jim Henson is done. He also found a 9-part video of the special The World of Jim Henson.

Thanks to Phillip Chapman, the Count, and all our Muppet Central friends for helping me with some audio clips for this episode. I couldn’t do it without you!

Visit our friends on the Muppet web at The Muppet News Flash, Tough Pigs, and Muppet Central. Make sure to check out Muppet Central Radio for their incredible offerings of Muppet Christmas music.

Questions/Comments can be emailed to me@muppetcast.com, or called in to the studio line at 614-364-4270. Also stop by the Muppet Central Forums and say hello!

Have a great week!

-Steve

Make sure to check out the Top 10 finalists in the Project Puppet 2008 Space Odyssey Contest! Vote Now at PuppetContest.com. Voting will be open through December 7, 2008.

The MuppetCast is sponsored by Orlando Attractions Magazine and Bell, Book & Comic. Life should be more fun!

Lylle Breier is the Senior Vice President of Special Events at the Walt Disney Company, and she’s also the General Manager of Disney’s Muppets Studio. It would be accurate to say that she’s the top person in the Muppet world these days, and thanks to her and the Muppet team she’s assembled, some great things are on the horizon! She and I talk about where the idea came from for the new Muppet YouTube videos, the Whatnot Workshop, Jim Henson’s legacy and more!

Make sure to catch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this Thursday, November 27, at 9am EST. Featured in this year’s parade are the Kermit and Abby Cadabby balloons, the 123 Sesame Street float with Muppet and Human cast members, and Kermit himself on the Macy’s float near the end of the parade, singing the new song “I Believe” from the upcoming Christmas special “Letters to Santa“.

From the Goodspeed Opera House, Elisa Hale and puppeteer David Stephens join us for a few minutes to talk about what’s going on in rehearsals for the new Jim Henson live stage musical version of “Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas“. There’s some inside information in our conversation that fans will really love hearing!

Michael Davis also joins me on the phone to let MuppetCast listeners know that, by preordering his new book “Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street” at his website StreetGangTheBook.com, Michael will personally send you a signed bookplate to attach to the book. It’s a great way to get a signed copy of the book, so visit his website today!

Listener Sean W. comes to us from Newfoundland with a new Muppet List, all about Muppet Show guests from the UK! Lots of information and clips from five memorable guest stars.

If you get out to see the Sesame Street Live show “When Elmo Grows Up“, make sure and wave to Telly! Chances are you’ll be waving to MuppetCast listener Kyle I.

We all know that Sesame Street now has a fantastic website that features thousands of new and classic video clips. But did you also know that they also have their own YouTube channel? Have you seen them on Hulu? Check both of these out for lots more Sesame fun.

Tom Stewart found a link to a rare old Sesame video called “5 Sesame Street Stories“. The link is to the first video, and you can see the other 4 parts from there. He also made a PUPPET VERSION OF ME! It’s an unbelievable puppet version of yours truly, and it will be assuming hosting duties of the next MuppetCast Facebook Video. Thanks again, Tom, you rock!

The Muppet Show has been named the show that viewers would most like to see make a TV return. Digital Spy has the scoop.

Listener Steve had the recent pleasure of meeting Dave Goelz and Steve Whitmire at a recent appearance at the Atlanta History Center. The History Center is currently hosting the Smithsonian SITES exhibit “Jim Henson’s Fantastic World“, and yes Steve and Dave brought Muppet friends to talk with the audience. See pictures and videos on Steve’s blog!

Questions/Comments can be emailed to me@muppetcast.com, or called in to the voicemail line at 614-364-4270. Also stop by the Muppet Central Forums and say hello!

Have a great week!

-Steve

Stay tuned to next week’s show, as I proudly welcome Lylle Breier, Senior VP of Special Events and General Manager of the Walt Disney Company’s Muppets Studio, onto the show to talk Muppets.

Thanks to everyone for your ongoing support of the show, and especially to our sponsors: Orlando Attractions Magazine, and Bell, Book & Comic. Life should be more fun!

Thanks to the efforts of many wonderful Muppet people, the Muppet Whatnots took over part of the TODAY show on Thursday, Nov 13. Whatnot versions of Matt Lauer, Meredith Veira, and Al Roker assumed hosting duties while the real hosts were first locked out of the building, and then stopped up by a certain familiar security guard. The whole bit was done to further publicize the new Muppet Whatnot Workshop, a huge new toy campaign put together by Disney and FAO Schwartz that gives customers the ability to build and own a real Muppet-style puppet!

Does everyone in your family know what to do in case of an emergency? Does your youngest know where to go, who to call, or who can help him/her if you’re not around? Sesame Workshop is proud to offer, in conjunction with the US Dept of Homeland Security, their new program called “Let’s Get Ready“. You can view the materials for this important new program online, or request a copy of is for family viewing at home.

Thanks to the Jim Henson Company, the Fraggle Rock complete box set has been out for a few weeks, and I’ve been anxious to open it and see it for myself. So this week, live on the show I open it up for the fist time and take a look. While doing so I talk about what fan reactions have been so far, both good and bad. I won’t give away what my final reactions and comments were, but I think you’ll enjoy listening to this little experiment.

A new show at the Center for Puppetry Arts is getting ready for its world premiere! Jon Ludwig’s “Sam the Lovesick Snowman” is debuting on Nov 20 and 21 for just $5/ticket! Other performances follow, check out the Center’s main website for details.

Van from the Netcot podcast sent me some fantastic footage of the old Muppet Meeting films, and I’ve included the audio from “How to Sell” in this episode. See if you can recognize the voices in the clip!

Bruce Moran is the owner of Total Recall Press, and the author of the InsideScoop books for WDW’s Hollywood Studios and The Magic Kingdom. I’m a contributing author for the Studios book, and guess which attraction I wrote about. Bruce’s books are full of great information and recommendations based on his personal experiences, as well as those of the contributing co-authors.

Check out The MuppetCast Flickr Page for some new additions: Tom Stewart’s Canadian Sesame ornaments, and listener April’s newest Whatnot creation, Hankfred.

Big Kev’s Geek Stuff recently did an interview with Karen Prell, better known perhaps as Red Fraggle! Karen talked with Kevin and crew about the new Fraggle Rock box set, make sure to listen in.

Be sure to also visit our friends at Muppets.com, Muppet Central, The Muppet News Flash, and Tough Pigs for the very best on the Muppet web!

Questions/Comments about this or any episode can be sent to me@muppetcast.com, or called in to the official studio phone at 614-364-4270. Make sure to stop by the Muppet Central Forums and say hello too, we’d love to hear from you.

Have a great week!

-Steve