The first time you hear a puppet say “f—k,” it’s a little jarring. The same goes when you’re watching two of them get hot and heavy onstage. These are not the Muppets I grew up with, you might think to yourself.
That’s exactly what Brian Henson was going for when he started “Puppet Up! Uncensored,” a live comedy improv show that features Jim Henson Company puppets doing things no respectable Muppet would ever do. For this, Kermit stays home. A bunch of anthropomorphic hot dogs take his place, as do a horde of singing aliens, some “people” who look not quite right, and a pink poodle with a Sally Bowles bob.
“Puppet Up!” comes from an arm of the company called Henson Alternative, which describes itself as making “content created specifically and exclusively for grown-ups,” including the puppets for “The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell” and “The Happytime Murders,” an R-rated film directed by Henson that features some positively raunchy, uproarious gags. If that sounds at odds with the warm and fuzzy Muppets, keep in mind that Jim Henson’s breakthrough show in 1955 was “Sam and Friends,” an adult-oriented lead-in to “The Tonight Show.”
Puppets from Henson Alternative’s “Puppet Up! Uncensored” comedy puppet show at the Jim Henson Company on March 5, 2022, in Los Angeles.
Michael Tullberg/Getty Images, Courtesy of GettyOnstage introducing the show, Brian Henson asked, “How many of you have seen this show before? Yeah. OK. Quite a few.” We were gathered at the Chaplin Stage, on the Jim Henson Company lot in Hollywood, a pair of enormous Muppet eyes staring down at us from above the sound booth in the back of the space. It was immediately clear that the company takes having fun very seriously.
“So how many of you have not seen the show? Wow. A lot more. OK. That’s terrific.”
If he sounds a little bit like Kermit the Frog, that’s because he’s the son of Jim Henson, the man who first voiced America’s favorite frog. Today, the chairman of the Jim Henson Company is dressed in the Muppetiest outfit a human could wear: purple patterned trousers, a black-and-white graphic button-down with a vest, and the type of multicolored dress shoes only the world’s foremost puppeteer could pull off.
“Those of you have seen it, thank you for coming back,” Henson continued. “Every performance is different because it’s largely improvised. You mix up the cast. You mix up the suggestions. You get a completely different show.”
The show happens at the Jim Henson Company, which is very rarely open to the public.
Julie Tremaine“Those of you who have not seen the show have not a clue what you’re about to see,” he went on. “It doesn’t matter what anybody said when they described it to you. You were like, ‘I don’t get it. Puppets … improv … sounds ehhhh.’”
I felt so seen. That was exactly my reaction the first time I saw “Puppet Up!” last year during Knott’s Scary Farm. The cast gave it their all, but it was the last show of the night, everyone was tired, and I had more hellish ghouls to fend off in Ghost Town as I made my way to the next haunted house. Plus … why were the puppets saying all those bad words?
This time, it was totally different. The puppets were the stars of the show — well, really, the puppeteers were. Co-founder and director Patrick Bristow took the stage, and the antics began. He asked the audience for prompts, and incredibly talented puppeteers/improv comedians came up with songs and sketches on the spot, choosing an appropriate (inappropriate?) puppet for the bit. What was especially cool was that you could watch the screens to see a puppet-only version, or you could watch the action on the stage to see how the performers were manipulating their characters to make the show happen.
At one point during the performance, these aliens appeared on a “variety show,” presenting about cryptocurrency.
Michael Tullberg/Getty Images, Courtesy of Getty“Puppet Up!” is as funny and risque as any other improv show you might see, but this one is acted out by puppets. Once you get past whatever hang-ups you have in your mind about puppets being too precious or nostalgic to possibly make a dick joke, you will laugh. A lot. You might even shout out some suggestions for them to incorporate into the show.
At one point, Bristow brought a couple onstage to describe their first date, which puppets then re-created. When the puppeteers got something right, the couple would ring a bell. When they got something wrong, a buzzer. The man had an especially embarrassing tale for the evening. He couldn’t keep up drink for drink with his crush, and he ended up throwing up all over the bar. Let me tell you, you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a puppet re-create the most humiliating moment of someone’s life while that person stood onstage. It was all in good fun, though, even for him: The couple took home puppets as prizes for their participation.
The entrance to the Chaplin Stage, with Kermit presiding over the scene.
Julie TremaineDuring their final song of the night, the puppeteers had the last laugh. “We just want to remind you if you thought the show was blue …” one sang through her puppet. Another jumped in to sing, “This twisted and perverted crap, it all came from you!”
They weren’t wrong.
Future performances are announced through the “Puppet Up! Uncensored” newsletter, which you can sign up for here. Be warned: When shows are announced, tickets sell out very quickly.