Brian Muehl

 Brian   Muehl  ( pronounce d " meal " ) ( b. 1950s ), is a Muppeteer  & writer who began his Muppet career i n the later season s of The Muppet Show. Train ed 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 year s, where he took over the roles of Barkley & Telly Monster ( Telly later perform e d b y Martin P . Robinson  ) & he originate d characters like the funny inventor , '''[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Dr._Nobel_Price Dr. Nobel Prize ]''', & in some of his very earliest appearance s , 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 voice d 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 Muppeteer s  to both  per form  & voice a character ).

In 1 9 8 4, Muehl left the Muppet s 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 h ad 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 t he pronunciation , the Muppeteer  began churning out scripts for  Eureeka ' s Castle  , PBS series Eyewitness ,  The   Magic   School   Bus  ,  Between the Lions  ,  Cyber chase  , &  Code name : Ki ds Next Door . He actually did return to the Muppet s sporadically in t he 1990 s, 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 Z oo f o r 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 2 00 8, he published his 2 nd ,  Suck It U p  , a vampire comedy which contains a brief mention of his former character on  SESAME STREET  , Elmo.

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

Muppeteer / Creature Shop Credit s

 * The Muppet Show : various ( 19 80 - 19 81 )
 * John Denver & the Muppets : A Christ mas Together
 *  SESAME STREET  : Barkley ( 1 9 7 8 - 19 84 ), Bushman Bill , Captain Breakfast , Clementine ( 1979 - 1984 ) , The Cobblestones ( Keyboard ist ) , Elmo ( 19 79 - 1 9 8 4 ) ,  GrundGetta  ( 1982 - 1984 ) , Honkers ,  Lothar the Grouch  , Marvin , Malcolm , Dr . Nobel Price ( 19 79 - 19 8 4 ) ,  Othmar the Grouch  , Pearl , Rusty , S har k ( " Pearl White Teeth " ) , Taxi Driver McGillicuddy , Telly Monster ( 1979 - 1 98 4 ) , Whatshisname
 * The Great Muppet Caper ( 1 98 1 )
 * The Muppets Go to the Movie s
 * The Dark Crystal : Dying Mystic Master, SkekEkt , Urzah ( latter Muppeteer  only )
 *  DON ' T  Eat the P i c t u r e s (1 9 8 3 ) : Telly Monster
 * Surprise ! ( album ) : Telly Monster
 * The Muppets Take Manhattan ( 19 84 ) : Tatooey Rat
 *  BIG   BIRD  i n China ( 1984 ) : Barkley & Telly Monster
 *  BIG   BIRD  i n Japan ( 1989 ) :
 * The  Jim   Henson  Hour ( 1 98 9 ) : " Song of the Cloud F o r est "
 * Dog City : Bruno
 * Muppet CD - R O M : The Muppets Inside ( 1996 )
 * The Wubbulous World o f Dr . Seuss : Binkham Tamino McDoyal the 3rd

External l ink s

 * Brian Muehl on IMDb
 * Official site
 * Random House Author ' s Spotlight