current fun
WHY KERMIT AND CO ARE THROWING OUT THE SCRIPT WITH MUPPETS NOW…
Tara Bennett
E
ver since the curtain rose on
The Muppet Show
in 1976, not a decade’s gone by without Jim Henson’s fuzzy, feelgood folk appearing on TV in some iteration (alongside multiple big-screen outings). Kermit and his constantly evolving gang of felt thespians are back once again with
Muppets Now
on
Disney+. Small Screen
sits down with veteran Muppeteer Bill Barretta (whose roles include Pepe The Prawn and Swedish Chef) to discover the gameplan for the characters’ first-ever unscripted series…
DEADLY APPEAL Miss Piggy and Uncle Deadly both feature in Muppets Now.
You’ve been performing with the Muppets since 1991. What was your goal with
Muppets Now?
Bill Barretta: It’s just about offering something that allows people to feel, instead of just being in a cerebral world. And I love the idea it’s unscripted. We wanted to make it feel loose and crazy and weird, and have great celebrity guests that came on that were just excited to play with us. We tried to keep that open and playful. And stick to who the characters are, and the relationships. I think you can’t really go wrong, because we’re all just so stupid! [laughs]