Cast & Crew
Brian Henson
(Creator, Producer, Performer)
Brian Henson is an award-winning director, producer, writer and performer. Henson served as Executive Producer on many television projects including: Creature Shop Challenge (which he also was lead judge on) Sid the Science Kid, Farscape, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (which he also directed) and Jim Henson’s Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story (which he also co-wrote and directed), Muppets Tonight, and Dinosaurs. Henson’s film credits includes Labyrinth, Little Shop of Horrors, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Muppet Christmas Carol (which he also directed) and Muppet Treasure Island (which he also directed).
Henson oversees the groundbreaking work at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop™, a pre-eminent character building, digital and physical visual effects facility. Recently, he has been leading the Shop’s work with its revolutionary digital puppetry system.
Patrick Bristow
(Co-Creator, Director, Host)
In addition to hosting Puppet Up Uncensored, Patrick teaches improv and shows up on TV here and there. Watch him on Netflix’s NOBODY WANTS THIS, as well as the new WIZARDS BEYOND WAVERLY PLACE. You may remember him as the “Wigmaster” on SEINFELD, or as the hyper-goodie “Peter” on ELLEN. Other TV credits include THE MORNING SHOW, MINX, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, FRIENDS, THE SUITE LIFE OF ZACK AND CODY, and more. Film credits include BARB AND STAR GO TO VISTA DEL MAR, the accidental comedy SHOWGIRLS, PAIN AND GAIN, and the evil voice in SUPERINTELLIGENCE. In 1985, he appeared as an uncredited extra in the opening scene of the TV movie, HOLLYWOOD WIVES. Somehow that ended up on his IMDB. Also - his hair used to be bright red. Like crazy red. Really red.
WestBeth Entertainment
WESTBETH ENTERTAINMENT is a unique company that has produced live entertainment for over 35 years with artists such as Billy Connolly, Noel Fielding, John Leguizamo, Eric Idle, and The Jim Henson Company. Our most recent productions include Eddie Izzard’s Wunderbar, Hannah Gadsby’s Nannette and Douglas, and Professor Brian Cox’s Universal Adventures in Space and Time in multiple cities across the US and Canada, as well as award winning Australian comedy troupe Aunty Donna premiering 2 hit shows across North America.
Visit www.WestbethEnt.com for more and never miss out on one of our shows!
Willie Etra (Musical Director)
Willie’s latest album, Friday’s 4 Friends is streaming on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music and all good services. You can also catch songs from the Etra Glasser Group’s Greatest Hits Vol. 1 on the same streamers. His new single “A Heck Of A Week” from the upcoming “Sophomoric Effort” album is scheduled for release today.
On the small screen, you can hear his music on shows like: Tracey Takes On..., Instant Comedy With The Groundlings, On The Television (Nickelodeon), A&E’s Biography, including the 2 hour specials, The Wild Ride Of Outlaw Bikers and Bob Newhart: The Last Sane Man, Ketchup With The Hotdogs, Puppet Up! Uncensored, Puppet High and Son Of The Beach. On the big screen you can see him give George Clooney nothing to work with in Return To Horror High. He is credited as both “Hatchet Head” and “Mangled Face”.
Grant Baciocco
Born and raised in Burlingame, Grant Baciocco has been a key performer with The Jim Henson Company’s Puppet Up! - Uncensored since 2006, and has gone with the show to Australia, Toronto, Las Vegas, and Knott’s Berry Farm. His extensive puppetry credits include Wet Hot American Summer, The Muppets, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Earth to Ned, and Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Recently, Grant puppeteered and voiced Chucky on Late Night With Chucky for NBC/Universal. He is also the creator and performer of Toiley T. Paper (@thetoiley), a talking roll of toilet paper with over 3 million followers across social media.
IG: @throwingtoasters
Raymond Carr
Raymond is a Jim Henson Company-trained puppeteer who has been performing with Puppet Up since 2016. He played Dunk the Puffer Fish on PBS Kids' Splash and Bubbles and is a former board member of The Jim Henson Foundation. He was the puppet captain for the Netflix limited series ERIC, where he trained Benedict Cumberbatch to be a puppeteer. He was puppet captain for the Adult Swim's Smiling Friends puppet adaptation and is also the lead puppeteer for the Aflac Duck's social media presence. His other credits include work on Earth to Ned (Disney+), Word Party (Jim Henson Company), Crank Yankers, Moon and Me (BBC), LazyTown (Nick Jr), Doom Patrol (HBO Max), Woke (Hulu), Walking with Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular Tour, and numerous projects with Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, Cartoon Network, and Adult Swim. He directed episodes of the new Yo Gabba Gabbland series on AppleTV+.
@theninjapuppet
Peggy Etra
Peggy is a series regular on "The Barbarian and The Troll” (creating/playing over 10 characters)…find it on Amazon Prime/YouTube/AppleTV. She also worked on The Muppet Show, Showtime's Kidding, as well as Happytime Murders, Earth to Ned, No You Shut Up, Adam Ruins Everything, MISSED and My Mueslings & Me. Is also a proud member of GLOP (the Glorious Ladies of Puppetry) Her non-puppetry work includes: Seinfeld, Boston Legal, The Last Champion.
Puppet Up is her Joy.
Follow her:
@peggerpoo2
@paint.the.pic
Peggy Etra Entertainment on Facebook
Donna Kimball
Donna Kimball was nominated for a 2024 Emmy for her puppetry performance as Mokey Fraggle in Henson's FRAGGLE ROCK: BACK TO THE ROCK on AppleTV+. She also voiced Aughra in Henson's Emmy-winning DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE on Netflix. Other puppetry credits include MUPPETS MAYHEM, GUILLERMO & WILL, THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS, GLEE, COMMUNITY, WORD PARTY, SID THE SCIENCE KID, PAJANIMALS, CRANK YANKERS, and Doc Ock’s badass upper right claw in SPIDER-MAN 2. Donna co-created GLOP: GLORIOUS LADIES OF PUPPETRY seeking to inspire the next generation of women puppeteers.
IG: @donnakimball319 @glopstagram
Ted Michaels
As an actor, Ted has starred in tv shows like The Comeback, CSI, According To Jim, Mad TV, and in the acclaimed web series The Guild. As an improviser, Ted performed with Eddie Izzard in their One Word Improv and is a founder of the Crazy Uncle Joe Show at the Groundlings Theater in LA. As a puppeteer, Ted starred in The Happytime Murders, The Muppets on ABC, MTV's Warren The Ape, and the 2011 Grammy Awards as Cee Lo Green’s bass player. Check out his new improv comedy podcast "And Who Are You?" - out on most podcast platforms.
Colleen Smith
Colleen Smith is a Groundlings' Sunday Co. and Second City Conservatory alumni. She teaches and directs shows at The Groundlings. Colleen co-created GLOP, The Glorious Ladies of Puppetry glop.us. Her credits include Kung Fu Panda 4, Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake, How I Met Your Mother, King of The Hill, and The Office. Her puppet credits include The Happytime Murders, The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell on Netflix. Earth to Ned on Disney + and The Barbarian and the Troll on Nickelodeon.
colleensmi.com @colleenmariesmi @The.Mysterious.Historian on TikTok