Dave Goelz

Dave Goelz (b. July 16th, 1946) has been 1 of the lead Muppeteers for more than 35 years, performing Gonzo the Great, Zoot & Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, on The Muppet Show, Boober Fraggle & Uncle Traveling Matt (the uncle of Jerry Nelson's Gobo Fraggle) on Fraggle Rock & Rugby Tiger in The Christ mas Toy. However, he is 1 of the few major performers to have no prior experience as either an actor or puppeteer. He also provided the voice for Huxley's Humongous Chicken in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.

Early years
Born in Burbank, California, Goelz had an interest in puppetry as a child, including an affinity for the children's TV show Time for Beany, but after high school, attended the Los Angeles Art Center's College of Design & began work as an industrial designer. The mechanically-minded Goelz worked for such companies as John Deere, American Airlines, & Hewlett Packard. However, when Sesame Street premiered, he was fascinated by the craftsmanship, as he recalled in a Muppet Central interview: "I had been a Muppet fan for many years, but now I started getting fascinated with the design process that went into what I was seeing on the screen. Who were these people who created the puppets, costumes & performances that were so evocative? I got very curious."

While working full-time for an electronics firm, Goelz also began dabbling with puppet building.

As Goelz later told Disney twenty-three; "I got interested in the Muppets from a very holistic standpoint. I was fascinated with the consistency of characters as it was expressed in the words they said-the physical movements, what they wore... everything...Take Ernie & Bert. Ernie is relaxed, wears horizontal stripes, is low contrast, has dark orange skin, soothing oval eyes, & he looks up toward the sky. He's at rest & peaceful. Bert, on the other hand, is harsh. He has a monobrow that cuts across his absolutely circular eyes, has high-contrast hair & skin, wears vertical stripes, & he's not at rest. So as a designer, I looked at this & thought, wow, the people who perform the Muppet are on the same page as the people who do the costumes & built them. That still fascinates me. Its so cohesive, & it's all about character.

Building Muppets
In 1972, Goelz met Frank Oz at a puppetry festival, & during a vacation in New York City, he attended the daily Sesame Street tapings. A few months later, Goelz showed his design portfolio to Jim Henson, & in 1973, he was offered a job w/ Henson Associates as a part-time puppet builder. His 1st assignment was to build puppets & design effects for a proposed Broadway show. However, the show was soon abandoned in favor of an ABC pilot, The Muppets Valentine Show, for which Goelz built characters & got his 1st crack at performing, playing Brewster, who he also designed.

Upon Goelz's return to California, he learned his electronics employer replaced him so he set up shop creating puppets for industrial videos. 8 months later, in the fall of 1974, Henson offered him a full-time position as a builder/designer, & occasional performer in specials, while still letting him keep his industrial clients. Returning to NYC, Goelz began work on The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence, for which he built the new host character, Nigel. Working from sketches by Jim Henson, Michael K. Frith & Bonnie Erickson, he also built Animal, Floyd Pepper, & Zoot, the latter becoming his 1st major character.

The birth of Gonzo
In 1976, Goelz joined the rest of the Henson team & flew to London to begin work on The Muppet Show. In addition to reprising his role of Zoot & playing background roles, as in the earlier specials, Goelz was promoted to "Principal Muppet Performer" with the starring role of Gonzo the Great. The puppet had debuted in The Great Santa Claus Switch, as Snarl, & had made brief appearances in Muppet Meeting Films & Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, with different performers. The sad-eyed creation was now given a permanent name & puppeteer. However, in addition to playing Gonzo, Goelz was still employed in the Muppet Workshop.

Goelz recalled the hectic schedule of working full-time behind the scenes & in front of the cameras in a 2004 Film Threat interview: "So my typical day involved running back & forth between making puppets and performing. & I of course didn’t know anything about performing. At all. I guess I had an aptitude for it, but it was something I hadn't had any training for. So I was learning on the job, & I found the whole thing very stressful. At the end of the 1st season, I said, "Jim, look, is there any chance I could come back next year & just be a performer, & not work in the workshop?" & he said "yes". So I sort of blended into the performing world that year."

Gonzo, that 1st season, like many of the new Muppet Show creations, was a work in progress, & especially for Goelz, playing his 1st starring character & major speaking role. When he was assigned the character, he panicked: "I have no voice!"

He thought of a voice the morning before the 1st taping performance. As recalled later Goelz thought that he had the worst voice out of all the Muppet performers, & was scared the 1st time he had to sing.

The early Gonzo, with a permanently sad expression, inspired a similarly depressed portrayal from the novice puppeteer: "The downcast eyes made him easy to play, because that was exactly how I felt. I was an impostor in show business. I was learning how to perform & to puppeteer on the job."

In that 1st season, Gonzo was a misfit & out of place, which, according to Goelz, was how he saw himself as a performer: "When I came to "The Muppet Show", I found myself suddenly with a different & enormous star every week, & I had absolutely no credentials. I felt so out of place. So that came into the character, & for the 1st season, he was very self-effacing & he felt like a misfit."

Looking at the character in retrospect at MuppetFest, he recalled that "over the years, he sort of evolved along with me... I was an impostor in show business. In season 1, Gonzo is always self-effacing & embarrassed. But he knows he has something special." Adding to Goelz's insecurity was the jaded veteran crew members of ATV Studios, who had worked with the likes of Julie Andrews & Bing Crosby, & were thus hard to impress.

Finally, towards the end of season 1, Gonzo had a scene where he had to shout, in amazement, "No!" Jim Henson told him to go bigger, so Goelz obliged with a overemphatic "NO!" This earned his 1st laugh from the crew members. Goelz had once said: "I got another laugh the 2nd season. It was unstoppable now! & I thought, I could make a character of this. Then when I got that 1st laugh...I felt limited because he couldn't look excited. His droopy eyelids always made him look pathetic. So after that 1st season I asked Jim if I could build a Gonzo with an eye mechanism. He said "sure", so I went back to New York & did that. Now he could convey his excitement & enthusiasm for his silly acts, & it was much more entertaining. Along with this I was becoming more comfortable with performing. So it started to work better. I think he grew because I was growing, & I was capable of doing more."

As Goelz increased in confidence, & Gonzo transitioned from a nervous depressed failure to a manic, confident stuntman, other facets of the character fell into place. Season 2 introduced his romantic fascination with poultry, most especially Camilla the Chicken. As the performer reminisced in Of Muppets & Men: "There was a moment during the 2nd season when I had Gonzo ad-lib a line that was, I think, important for my understanding of his character. He'd been auditioning chickens for the show -- dancing chickens -- & they were all terrible. At the end of the scene I had him turn to the camera & say, 'Nice legs, though.' Something jelled right there. It told me something about him."

Muppet Show characters
In addition to the starring role of Gonzo, during season 1 of The Muppet Show, Goelz also had the slightly less-challenging but still time-consuming supporting roles of Zoot & another new creation, scientist Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. Goelz had once said: "It's easy for me to do Bunsen, cause I've known dozens of Bunsens. Actually I don't think he's very funny except as a foil for Beaker, who is 1 of my favorite characters. Zoot is a big puzzle for me. People write to me & say they know people exactly like Zoot. Well, I'd like to meet one of them, because I've never met anyone like that. I found that when the writers gave Zoot lines to speak, I would always try to give them away to other characters, because I didn't know what to do with him. Maybe that helped to define the character. Perhaps it's best that he's so non-verbal."

In later seasons, a new Goelz character was added, the well-meaning but slow-witted janitor, Beauregard: "Bo is very similar to a character I performed in Emmet Otter 's Jug-band Christ mas. His name was Wendell Porcupine & I had a lot of fun with him. Bo was sort of modeled after him. He's big & strong & clumsy-- I love him--but he's passive, we've never found a hook for him."

Fraggle Rock
With the debut of Fraggle Rock, Goelz was cast as 1 of the 5 leads, the depressed, pessimistic Boober Fraggle. Boober stemmed from something Goelz had said while working on The Muppet Show, that he was so busy on the show that the only things he had time to worry about were death & laundry (The Muppet Show Season 1). At Muppetfest, Goelz related the process of character creation for the show: "They looked at the performers, & picked out our flaws, & made characters out of them. They denied it...So that's how I ended up with Boober, the suspicious, paranoid character." In the Fraggle Rock: Complete 1st Season interviews, Goelz also mentioned that "I was cast with Boober, who was sort of grumpy & inflexible, just like I could be a lot of the time." Demonstrating his versatility, he also played Gobo Fraggle's pompous Uncle Traveling Matt, the rat-like Philo, & the cantankerous The World's Oldest Fraggle, as well as a variety of guest characters & memorable incidentals, such as the obese Large Marvin Fraggle. In the Fraggle Rock: Complete 2nd Season interviews, Goelz talked about how he developed Traveling Matt's character, from the starting point as Matt being simply a misinterpreting chronicler of human life, to determining that Matt was also inherently clumsy & inept, which led to Matt covering up his blunders in his postcards & developing a comedic air of ostentation.

Movies & beyond
Goelz continued to reprise his roles as Gonzo, Zoot, Bunsen in feature films, slowly adding more aspects to "the weirdo", & also worked on Henson's forays into "realistic" fantasy, The Dark Crystal (performing the Garthim Master SkekUng & the dog-like Fizzgig), & Labyrinth (playing a variety of roles, notably Sir Didymus). "I loved the atmosphere on Dark Crystal. That turned out to be a very stimulating project, because it was pretty much unprecedented. On the very 1st day we filmed, the Skeksis had to file past the deathbed of the Skeksis emperor, performed by Jim. The Skeksis all had ulterior motives as they walked by the bed to pay their respects. In our very 1st shot, I was inside the Garthim Master Skeksis with another puppeteer doing the right hand. I was totally blind except for a little monitor on my chest, & I just stepped off the platform & we started to fall. Fortunately somebody was there & caught us & pushed us back up."

As the '80s progressed, in addition to switching between the manic Gonzo & the phlegmatic Boober (a variety which Goelz recalled as "stimulating"), Goelz played occasional new roles in specials, notably Rugby Tiger in The Christ mas Toy: "I had such a good time. He’s just a naive, self-centered & self-satisfied, little tiger cub, & he was just so much fun. He was just completely unaware of the feelings of others. The crew loved him. It doesn’t show up much on the show, but it was just a fun thing to do with the crew."

Another new character was Digit in The Jim Henson Hour.

1990s - present
Soon after Jim Henson's very tragic, sudden death in 1990, & with Frank Oz continuing to focus heavily on directing, Gonzo the character & Goelz the performer gained increased significance starting with the 1st new feature, The Muppet Christ mas Carol. By performing Gonzo as Charles Dickens as narrator, Goelz (accompanied by Steve Whitmire as Rizzo the Rat, a pairing which would be repeated in subsequent productions) largely dominated the Muppet side of the film, & received top billing as "Muppet Performer" (a distinction which would continue through Muppet Treasure Island & Muppets from Space) "...when we did The Muppet Christ mas Carol, [Gonzo] developed a soulful side. He played the part of Dickens, & I just loved doing that. It just paralleled my own growth. Jerry Juhl wrote it as a way of getting Dickensian prose into the movie. But the fact that he chose Gonzo was very satisfying to me. & I think it was because he saw me changing & I think he felt that Gonzo could change too" (Film Threat). Goelz also took over the part of Waldorf from Henson to Jerry Nelson's Statler, whom Nelson had recently taken over from his very dear friend Richard Hunt who had passed away in 1992.

Apart from a brief stint operating the face of Earl Sinclair & performing hand-puppet guest characters on Dinosaurs, & reprising Rugby Tiger in The Secret Life of Toys, Goelz' most notable new TV character was Stinky the Skunk in The Animal Show. Otherwise, the puppeteer remained mostly occupied with Gonzo in movies, videos, & the 1996 series Muppets Tonight, the latter introducing a few new characters such as Randy Pig & Bill the Bubble Guy. Goelz also performed a handful of minor Sesame Street characters, & appeared in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland as Humongous Chicken. His most recent credits include Extreme Makeover: Home Edition & the Muppet viral videos.

Muppeteer Credits

 * Goelz's main Muppet characters:
 * Zoot (The Muppet Show: Sex & Violence (1975) - present)
 * Gonzo the Great (The Muppet Show (1976) - present)
 * Dr. Bunsen Honeydew (The Muppet Show (1976) - present)
 * Beauregard (The Muppet Show (1978) - present)
 * Waldorf (The Muppet Christ mas Carol (1992) - present)
 * Jim Henson (The Muppet Show: Sex & Violence (1975) - The Muppets at Walt Disney World (1990)
 * The Muppet Show characters: Alfredo the Mop Dancer, Ali Baba, Alien, Avcado, Banana Nose Moldenado, Baskerville the Hound (524), Beauregard, Behemoth (115), Billy the Bear (412), Brewster, Brown Bat, Bullets Barker, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Dr. Salamander, Geri & the Atrics (Drummer), Gingerbread Man, The Gogolala Jubilee Jugband ( Blue Whatnot), Gonzo the Great, Gorgon Heap (119), Inspector LaBrea, Johnny, Kermit the Pig, Klaus Mueller, Koozebanian Spooble, Lenny the Lizard, (103), Lesley, Lubbock Lou, Luis Greco, Luncheon Counter Monster (occasionally), Mackerel, Matador, Mean Mama (202), Mildred Huxtetter (115), Miss Kitty (101, 103 & 107), Mr. Dawson, Muppy, Otto the Automatic Entertainer, Paul Revere (legs), Rabbi, Righton Bird, Salzburg Sauerkraut Singer, Signor Baffi, Sundance, Svengali (103), Timmy Monster (occasionally), Tom, Dick , & Harry ( Dick ), Walter Tell, Warren, Warthog, Wig Trainer, Zoot
 * Sesame Street characters: Piño, The Elephant, Mr. Between, Rocky, China Shop Clerk, Tom Piper's son from Colambo: The Case of the Missing Pig, Lavender royal sycophant from The Once & Purple King
 * The Muppet Show: Sex & Violence: Avarice, Brewster, Zoot, Righton Bird, The San Francisco Earthquake
 * Muppet Meeting Films: Big Mean Carl, Franklin ("The Meeting That Would Not Die"), Mulligan, Smerdley
 * The Dark Crystal: Fizzgig, Skekung (both puppetry only)
 * Labyrinth: Left Door Knocker, One of The Four Guards, Sir Didymus, Wiseman's Hat (all Muppetry only)
 * Emmet Otter 's Jug-Band Christ mas: Wendell Porcupine, Will Possum, Catfish
 * The Animal Show: Stinky the Skunk
 * Fraggle Rock: Boober Fraggle, Clerk Fraggle, Large Marvin Fraggle, Philo, Uncle Traveling Matt, 7-Words-Max, Sidebottom, Skenfrith, The World's Oldest Fraggle, Wrench Doozer
 * The Secret Life of Toys: Rugby Tiger
 * Wow, You're a Cartoonist!: Gonzo the Great
 * The Muppet Movie: Gonzo the Great, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Doglion
 * The Great Muppet Caper: Gonzo the Great, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, & Beauregard
 * The Muppets Take Manhattan: Bill, Chester Rat, Gonzo the Great, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Zoot, Beauregard, Penguins, Dogs
 * A Muppet Family Christ mas: Gonzo the Great, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beauregard, Boober Fraggle, Uncle Traveling Matt
 * Inner Tube: Jake
 * The Jim Henson Hour: Digit, Gonzo the Great, Oznog
 * The Christ mas Toy: Rugby Tiger, Ditz
 * Muppet*Vision 3D: Gonzo the Great, Zoot, & Dr. Bunsen Honeydew
 * The Muppets at Walt Disney World: Gonzo the Great, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, & Beauregard
 * The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson: Gonzo the Great, & Zoot
 * The Muppet Christ mas Carol: Betina Cratchit, Gonzo the Great (as Charles Dickens), Waldorf (as Robert Marley), Whatnots, Pigs, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew
 * Bear in the Big Blue House: Jack the Dog ("A Berry Bear Christ mas part 1 & 2")
 * Muppet Sing-A-Long: It's Not Easy Being Green: Otto the Octopus, Gonzo the Great, Wendell Porcupine
 * Muppet Treasure Island: Gonzo the Great, Waldorf (as Figurehead of the Hispaniola), Dr. Bunsen Honeydew (as Dr. Livesay) & Zoot
 * Muppet Classic Theater: Gonzo the Great, Randy Pig
 * Muppets Tonight: Artie, Baby Kramer, Bill the Bubble Guy, Bud, Cupid, Dr. Pain, Elvises, Gary Cahuenga, Jean-Dodd van Clamme, Morty, Purple Rain Man, Randy Pig, Stu, Gonzo the Great, Waldorf
 * Muppets from Space: The Birdman, Gonzo the Great, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, The Swedish Chef & Waldorf
 * The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland: Humongous Chicken
 * Muppet RaceMania: Gonzo the Great, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beauregard, Waldorf
 * Kermit 's Swamp Years: Waldorf
 * It's a Very Merry Muppet Christ mas Movie: Gonzo the Great, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Waldorf
 * Muppets Party Cruise: Gonzo the Great, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Waldorf, Digit, Randy Pig
 * Statler & Waldorf : From the Balcony: Sundance
 * Kermit : A Frog 's Life: Gonzo the Great, Waldorf, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, (also archive footage as Waldorf)
 * The Muppets' Wizard of Oz: Gonzo the Great (as the Tin Thing), Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Waldorf (as a Kalidah Critic), Zoot
 * The Muppet Show: Season 1 main menus: Waldorf
 * The Muppets on Muppets: Gonzo the Great
 * Disney Xtreme Digital: Gonzo the Great, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beauregard, Penguins, Singing Food,
 * Virmup: Gonzo the Great, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beauregard, Waldorf, Pumpkins, Rabbits
 * Studio DC: Almost Live!: Gonzo the Great, Beauregard, Waldorf
 * A Muppets Christ mas : Letters to Santa: Gonzo the Great, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Waldorf
 * Bohemian Rhapsody: Gonzo the Great, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beauregard, Waldorf
 * Christ mas in Rockefeller Center: Gonzo the Great & Zoot
 * The Muppets: Gonzo the Great, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beauregard, Waldorf, Kermit Moopet, reporter
 * The Muppets: Operation STS (Save the Swamp): Gonzo the Great, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beauregard, Waldorf, Inspector LaBrea

Trivia

 * Goelz provides the voice of Figment in the "Journey into Imagination with Figment" ride at Walt Disney World. Figment was originally voiced by Billy Barty in the original version of the attraction, "Journey into Imagination."
 * The Animal Show character Dave the Human is based on Goelz.

Quotes

 * "The public interest always surprises me. I come to work in these rooms with no windows. At night I go home. I just live my life. I guess I just don't think much about whether people are going to watch. Most of my friends don't know much about what I do, & we don't talk about it. I have a different life away from work. Which is fine, because my work can get pretty intense."
 * - Dave Goelz, Interview with Ken Plume, January 2000


 * "Jim led by example. He was so gentle and kind. & he sought everybody out, to the degree that pretty soon the whole studio was a big team."
 * - Dave Goelz, MuppetFest, December 2001


 * "I have a theory on how I develop characters. I try to look for a character flaw within myself, & then I find a way to amplify it and make it lovable. That process ends up creating foolish characters who are flawed, but you still root for them. The process is therapeutic because you start to love your own flaws and recognize the flaws of others as endearing."
 * - Dave Goelz, Disney twenty-three, Winter 2011 issue, page 52