Brian Muehl

 Brian Muehl  ( pronounced " meal " ) ( b. 1950s ), is a Muppeteer  & writer who began his Muppet career in the later seasons of The Muppet Show. Trained as a mime, Muehl assisted the principal Muppeteers  & he also performed some small fairly roles up till the show ended. He soon transitioned to Sesame Street in later years, where he took over the roles of Barkley & Telly Monster (Telly later performed by Martin P. Robinson ), & he originated characters like the funny inventor , '''[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Dr._Nobel_Price Dr. Nobel Prize ]''', & in some of his very earliest appearances , Elmo, before Kevin Clash  took the character over & made him famous ( even though  Clash  took over that character after  Richard Hunt  , who took over the character from Muehl , quickly grew tired of it ). His other fairly early character is  Oscar the Grouch  's equally rotten trashy   Grouch  girlfriend  Grundgetta , whom he had voiced from 1982 to 1984, when  Pam Arciero  , a fellow  Muppeteer  completely took over for the  role , performing  her  , for 29 years. Muehl also performed multiple roles on The Dark Crystal ( & along with Steve Whitmire , was 1 of , apparently , only 2 main  Muppet s to both perform & voice a character).

In 1984, Muehl left the Muppets for reasons he later articulated in a Random House  bio :

" The downside of long hours in film & TV studios is all the downtime . Besides growing restless, I had a wife & 2 young daughters I was seeing too little of . So I traded life in front of the camera for life behind it . I became a chil dren 's television writer.

Changing his name to Meehl, to reflect the pronunciation , the Muppeteer  began churning out scripts for  Eureeka 's Castle  , PBS series Eyewitness ,  The Magic School Bus  ,  Between the Lions  ,  Cyberchase  , &  Codename : Ki ds Next Door . He did return to the sporadically in the 1990s, notably as a regular on Dog City & a couple of episodes of Sesame Street during Season 25. He also wrote a Sesame English episode, " A Zoo for Jenny . "

In 2006, he published his 1 st young adult novel , Out of Patience , which examines such issues as baseball & toilets in small - town Kansas. In 2008, he published his 2 nd ,  Suck It Up  , a vampire comedy which contains a brief mention of his former character on Sesame Street , Elmo.

Muehl, at 1 time , was a member of Mummenschanz as an interpreter for Andres Bossard.

Muppeteer / Creature Shop Credits

 * The Muppet Show : various ( 1980 - 1981 )
 * John Denver & the Muppets : A Christ mas Together
 * Sesame Street : Barkley ( 1978 - 1984 ), Bushman Bill , Captain Breakfast , Clementine ( 1979 - 1984 ) , The Cobblestones ( Keyboardist ) , Elmo ( 1979 - 1984) ,  Grundgetta  ( 1982 - 1984 ) , Honkers ,  Lothar the Grouch  , Marvin , Malcolm , Dr . Nobel Price ( 1979 - 1984 ) ,  Othmar the Grouch  , Pearl , Rusty , Shark ( " Pearl White Teeth " ) , Taxi Driver McGillicuddy , Telly Monster ( 1979 - 1984 ) , Whatshisname
 * The Great Muppet Caper ( 1981 )
 * The Muppets Go to the Movies
 * The Dark Crystal : Dying Mystic Master, SkekEkt , Urzah ( latter Muppeteer  only )
 * Don't Eat the Pictures (1983 ) : Telly Monster
 * Surprise ! ( album ) : Telly Monster
 * The Muppets Take Manhattan ( 1984 ) : Tatooey Rat
 * Big Bird in China ( 1984 ) : Barkley & Telly Monster
 * Big Bird in Japan ( 1989 ) :
 * The Jim Henson Hour ( 1989 ) : " Song of the Cloud For est "
 * Dog City : Bruno
 * Muppet CD - ROM : The Muppets Inside ( 1996 )
 * The Wubbulous World of Dr . Seuss : Binkham Tamino McDoyal the 3rd