One other New York Comedian Con has come and gone! Earlier than NYCC, we shared our cheat sheet for find out how to discover all of the Muppet stuff on the con, together with enjoyable panels, tempting merchandise, gorgeous paintings, sensible cosplay, and extra. And people are precisely the type of issues we discovered!
As all the time, we didn’t simply amass all this Muppet love only for our personal enjoyment – we’re excited to share all of it with you too! Carry on studying to listen to about all of the Muppet love all through this yr’s New York Comedian Con.
PANELS
ToughPigs Presents: The Muppet Drawing Problem
We could also be biased, however this panel was simply the spotlight of the complete con. Hosted by ToughPigs and moderated by ToughPigs’ personal Joe Hennes, we challenged six of our extraordinarily gifted artist associates (Dave Hulteen, Chris “Smig” Smigliano, Richard Michael Gomez, Will Carroll, Amy Mebberson, and Louis Henry Mitchell) to attract Muppet-related prompts reside for our viewers. The twist is that they don’t know what they is perhaps requested to attract. We ended up with Muppets as Marvel heroes and Batman villains, Fozzie Bear as Pokemon, Muppet Infants, Starfleet officers, and so so so many extra. Naturally, we wouldn’t host an occasion like this with out attempting to document it to share it with anybody who couldn’t be there, so watch ToughPigs for the total video and closeups of all of the paintings coming very quickly!
Pop Tradition Puppets!
Proper earlier than we took the stage, in the identical room, no much less, was a panel showcasing some rockstars of the puppetry world: Kathleen Kim, Noel MacNeal, Jennifer Barnhart, Joey Mazzarino, moderated by Rick Lyon. They mentioned their paths to changing into skilled puppeteers, with the story of Noel’s mom’s unwavering assist being a spotlight. (And if that sounds good, you must take a look at his memoir!) Naturally, with a panel of puppeteers, some puppets are going to point out up. Joey’s compatriot, Chicky Bawk Bawk, stole the present, providing his personal commentary on the dialogue, and there was a shock reunion of Rick and Jennifer performing Trekkie Monster from Avenue Q. Aren’t puppeteers neat?
Playbill Presents: The Large Broadway Nerd Panel
Since he’s about to make his Broadway debut, magician Rob Lake appropriately joined Playbill’s celebration of geekery. And in terms of geeking out, Rob did lots concerning the Muppets. He talked about that it was really The Muppets Take Manhattan that launched him to what Broadway was. Most notably, he famous that when he created illusions for main music excursions and Sesame Avenue Stay, he was simply as excited to fulfill Large Hen as when he met Adele. So yeah, he’s undoubtedly a Muppet nerd like us.
In the meantime, at Blumhouse’s annual presentation of their horror films to come back, BlumFest, the studio gave a marionette created by Jim Henson’s Creature Store for the upcoming movie 5 Nights at Freddy’s 2 away to a fortunate fan. (Although we’d’ve settled for some Freddy Fazbear’s pizza.)
One surprising second occurred in the course of the NYCC Workforce Q&A on Sunday, the place they revealed that when a significant movie studio needed to cancel their presentation on the final minute, the con organizers made a critical effort to get the Muppets to fill the slot. It seems they’ve been attempting to get them for years! Whereas it didn’t work out this time, we’re inspired that they view Kermit, Miss Piggy, and the remainder of the gang as extremely as we do.
MERCH
Earlier than we get to all the brand new(-ish) stuff, it’s value mentioning a few of the classic Muppet merch we noticed. Comedian Con is all the time an excellent place to buy hard-to-find items, corresponding to outdated plushies, Sesame Avenue motion figures, and derpy wanting Fraggle Rock dolls.
One vendor was promoting this outdated Man Smiley doll within the field! I’ve solely ever seen pictures of this. And seeing that price ticket, that is about as shut as I’ll ever get.
Additionally value mentioning is that this Gobo Fraggle mould. It took some detective work to determine what it was a mould for, however we deduced that it was used to make Gobo Halloween masks. Fairly neat, fairly uncommon, fairly costly!
This vendor sells all types of banners, and traditionally they’ve had a number of Muppet choices. However they’ve added a number of this yr, in addition to this nifty Electrical Mayhem poster.
Disney Publishing had a sales space at NYCC, and what a deal with to see that they didn’t overlook our pal, printed writer Kermit the Frog.
Usually you’d use these kind of tags so that you wouldn’t lose your baggage, however utilizing Labyrinth tags would absolutely get them misplaced in a puppet-filled goblin maze.
KidRobot had this big Cookie Monster on show, alongside some cute Cookie plushes and barely gross statuettes.
There are an insane quantity of Loungefly luggage on the market throughout all types of popular culture properties. Amongst these being offered on the Con: Kermit the Bag and Rely Von Purse.
I stumbled throughout artist Sukesha Ray’s desk the place she had this Muppet parody comedian e-book on show – it’s known as “Moppets Acquired Expertise,” and it certain stopped me in my tracks. Extra on this later, however it’s proof that you just by no means do know the place the Muppets are going to pop up!
The NECA sales space had their spectacular Sesame Avenue motion figures on show, together with the already-released Bert, Ernie, and Rely, in addition to the upcoming Large Hen and Oscar. But in addition making its world debut is Sherlock Hemlock.
Right here’s a greater view of Sherlock, full together with his canine Watson.
Additionally on show, extraordinarily briefly, was Frazzle (mislabeled, as you possibly can see, as Herry Monster). Curiously, he was solely within the glass case for a number of hours earlier than the NECA employees had him eliminated. Apparently he wasn’t imagined to be revealed simply but, however somebody snapped a photograph, proving that Frazzle’s (in all probability) on his approach.
There have been tons of collectible pins all around the conference flooring, however these have been a number of of our favorites. All authentic, all distinctive in their very own approach.
The Geeky Tikis that includes our Muppet buddies have been on show, however sadly not full of mai-tais. I’d’ve settled for a single paper umbrella.
ART
Yearly at Artists Alley – the part of NYCC the place artists arrange cubicles to promote prints, draw commissions, and meet their followers – there are distinctive popular culture homages so far as the attention can see. So after all, a superb quantity of them featured the Muppets – actually greater than I anticipated! Only a sampling of our favorites may be discovered right here (and remember to observe all these gifted artists in your favourite social media service):
And naturally, we spent a superb period of time with our associates {and professional} artists within the Muppet realm, together with Jay Fosgitt, Amy Mebberson, James Silvani, David Petersen, Jodie Rae Charity, and Man Gilchrist.
COSPLAY
What a thrill it was each time we noticed somebody throughout the con flooring carrying a Muppet-related costume! (Or in some circumstances, what we thought was a Muppet costume, however was only a very Doozer-looking Bob the Builder.) As you possibly can see, we received a superb quantity of Kermits and Rowlfs and Oscars and Labyrinth Worms to tide us over till subsequent yr.
CELEBRITIES
Lilli Cooper, who we all know finest as Doc from Fraggle Rock: Again to the Rock, was at NYCC signing autographs together with her fellow Hazbin Resort forged members. We stopped by to say howdy, and what a deal with! I’d spoken with Lilli for the Fraggle Discuss podcast, however this was our first time assembly in actual life, and he or she was simply as pleasant as all of us already assumed. She shared in our pleasure and frustration for the way forward for Again to the Rock, assuring me that she’s ready with bated breath on a season 3 announcement identical to the remainder of us. Evidently, she’s an enormous Fraggle fan in her personal proper, and a particularly good foolish creature besides.
Talking of well-known people we hadn’t technically met but, our pal Dylan Postl, aka Hornswoggle! him as one of many Gulag prisoners in Muppets Most Needed, or it’s possible you’ll know that he’s perhaps the most important Muppet fan to ever wrestle for WWE. Very similar to Lilli, we’d interviewed him for ToughPigs, however the one time we’d met in actual life was briefly on the Muppets Most Needed pink carpet premiere. And let me inform you, spending this time with Dylan was like a homecoming. He actually is a big fan, and I’ve beloved sharing in that fandom with him over time. Once I say he’s “one among us,” I imply it in each sense of the phrase. And if you happen to ever get an opportunity to see him at a conference, you higher remember to inform him that you just’re a fellow Muppet nerd.
And with that, each New York Comedian Con and our protection of all of the Muppet enjoyable at New York Comedian Con are over for one more yr. However the countdown to NYCC ‘26 has begun! And as we promised, keep tuned for a way more thorough recap of our Comedian Con panel coming quickly!
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by Joe Hennes and Matthew Soberman
