I got into puppets when I decided to form a group in college and do a cable access show, called LifeFormz. Inspired by the first Jim Henson show from the late 50's Sam & Friends, LifeFormz became a strange and weird embodiment of "What if 500 cable channels ruled the Earth?" So we did lots of parodies, spoofs, ad hoc computer graphics done at Penn's Center For Human Modelling & Simulation (very primitive by today's standards, but pretty high-tech back then), video effects on an Amiga Video Toaster, and sketches. Surprisingly, it was funny enough to win a Regional Award from the Academy of TV Arts & Sciences (the Emmy people). I hope to have some images from the show up soon.

I joined the San Francisco Bay Area Puppeteers Guild and became known for writing silly minutes as Secretary. One the most exciting times in my life was when I took a day off work, flew to LA and auditioned for the Muppets. I expected to go in, do my best, get cut, then fly back to work the next day. Hadn't even packed extra clothes! But amazingly, out of the 20 or so in the room, I was one of two that got chosen. It was a fairly simple audition really. We got up, counted to twenty with our hands in front of the mirror, while Elmo (Kevin Clash) distracted us.

Since then, I've done occasional shows for the Guild and an upcoming short film about a killer pancake, called Gretchen, for which I co-designed and performed foam-latex rod-puppets and marionetted a stunt pancake that lept from a plate.