Brian Henson Quotes - Page 2

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• "Sesame Street" was really the first kid's show that my dad did. He did a couple of TV specials that were targeted for kids before "Sesame Street," but really, it was, it's kind of going back to our roots, when we start to get adult. This show gets very adult sometimes, and that's because of the audience.

  Brian Henson

  Couple, Dad, Kids

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• It was actually what my dad did and with the Muppets, the years with the Muppets, it was really all targeted to adults. It was in a time when everything had to be safe for the whole family. But he was targeting adults.

  Brian Henson

  Dad, Years, Adults

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• The first show that my dad and my mom did together was for, was a comedy series, a short form that went in the middle of late-night news, and then through all of their career, it was always the "Ed Sullivan Show," it was a variety act, my dad was on the "Jimmy Dean Show" for a few years.

  Brian Henson

  Mom, Dad, Night

  Source: bigthink.com

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• This is certainly the raunchiest, if you use that word, raunchy. The roots of Jim Henson, though, was adult comedy.

  Brian Henson

  Roots, Adults, Use

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• And then after the success at Melbourne Comedy Festival, then we regrouped back in LA and we went back into workshopping and decided to develop a proper show and that's when we started working on "Stuffed and Unstrung," which is a much bigger and sharper version of "Puppet Up."

  Brian Henson

  Puppets, Festivals, Comedy

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• We wanted to premiere it in New York, because New York is sort of the home of the Jim Henson Company and it's sort of the tone and flavor, always, of the puppet work that we've done traditionally. And that's what brought us here and now we're here.

  Brian Henson

  New York, Home, Done

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• I think it's a lot richer than what we call fleshy improv, I think it's very funny, puppet improv and fleshy improv.

  Brian Henson

  Thinking, Puppets

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• "Stuffed and Unstrung" started as a workshop, actually, classes within our company. We found that our puppeteers were not ad libbing as well as traditionally, Jim Henson Company puppeteers have. We're sort of famous for going off script a little bit and ad libbing.

  Brian Henson

  Class, Littles, Scripts

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• A puppet that starts to improvise badly is almost funnier than the puppet that's improvising well. So the show gets better when the improvising is really good, but also the show can also sometimes get better when the improvising sort of goes a little wrong and that's sort of a blessing to improvising with puppets.

  Brian Henson

  Blessing, Get Better, Puppets

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• The challenge is, well, there's a huge challenge, which is when you're improvising, you're meant to sort of clear your mind completely, just be open and funny, and paying, you know, paying attention.

  Brian Henson

  Challenges, Mind, Attention

  Source: bigthink.com

  6 Copy quote

• And with puppets, especially in our company, we sort of demand a very high standard of puppetry, so it's a real technical skill.

  Brian Henson

  Real, Skills, High Standards

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• So while you're trying to improvise, you're also trying to puppeteer, you're doing everything that you need to do to perform a puppet in our style, for a camera.

  Brian Henson

  Style, Trying, Cameras

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• You get used to it, you look forward to the adrenaline of the stage fright before you go out.

  Brian Henson

  Looks, Used, Stage

  Source: bigthink.com

  7 Copy quote

• The show is probably 60 percent improvising and 40 percent not. So there's quite a bit of it that we do have prepared and that part of it, you have memorized and you've rehearsed and you're prepared, just like any show.

  Brian Henson

  Shows, Prepared, Improvising

  Source: bigthink.com

  5 Copy quote

• I think initially it's terrifying because going into a show where, you know, "Oh, I'm going to be on stage for two hours, I have no lines to memorize, I have nothing really prepared," and actually I say that, the show is not all improvising.

  Brian Henson

  Thinking, Two, Lines

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• It's actually good when the performers are nervous, because it kind of sharpens up your brain and a little bit of adrenaline is good. Initially it's really tough.

  Brian Henson

  Brain, Littles, Tough

  Source: bigthink.com

  8 Copy quote

• I'd say that that is a challenge, but it also is, again, it's helpful. It's helpful to have the discipline of, okay, I'm doing, I'm doing something that's quite precise over here, working the puppet, and I'm doing something that's very imprecise and creative and unleashed over here, which is the comedy side. And it's kind of nice to allow your brain to be doing those two things at once.

  Brian Henson

  Nice, Two, Discipline

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• So that's the challenge, you have a big technical aspect of what you're doing whilst you're creatively trying to improvise.

  Brian Henson

  Challenges, Trying, Bigs

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• I was 17, certainly by the time I was 19, I knew that show business was where I was going to end up, and I had my sights on being a director.

  Brian Henson

  Sight, Directors, Ends

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• I guess I learned a couple of good lessons from my dad. One was when you're creating something, what you want when you're working with a team of other artists, is everybody to work with some creative freedom, so that you really get the best out of everybody.

  Brian Henson

  Couple, Dad, Team

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• People would say to him, "When you finish a movie, did it come out as good as you thought it was going to?" Or, "Did it come out the way you intended it to come out?"

  Brian Henson

  People, Way

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• And my dad's answer would be usually something to the affect of, A, it came out better than he imagined, but also, he said, "No, it would be impossible for me to imagine the way it will come out." He said, "Yes, I story-boarded it, I had a plan, but then I work with an army of great artists and I want all of them to create inside that creation."

  Brian Henson

  Dad, Army, Artist

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• And it should be something that only that group of people could've made with everybody invested.

  Brian Henson

  People, Groups, Made

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• he puppeteers really responded to it. Patrick Bistrow really responded to it, it's great fun to do improve comedy with puppets.

  Brian Henson

  Fun, Puppets, Comedy

  Source: bigthink.com

  7 Copy quote

• We kind of lost a lot of that and puppeteers were sticking to the script and we thought everything needed to get a lot funnier, so we thought we would go to a good improv comedy instructor.

  Brian Henson

  Scripts, Comedy, Kind

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

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