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Larrikin Puppets to Deliver Puppetry Training for Happy Feet Fitness
Larrikin Puppets is delighted to be working with the Queensland team from Happy Feet Fitness.
Happy Feet Fitness is a wonderful organisation that encourages children to make healthy choices through music, movement, games and interactive learning experiences. Their energetic programs help children develop confidence while having fun through fitness and dance.
As part of this collaboration, Brett Hansen and Larrikin Puppets will be delivering a hands-on puppetry workshop for Happy Feet Fitness staff. The training will explore puppetry techniques for live performance as well as monitor puppetry techniques used in film and television production.
This is not the first time our organisations have crossed paths. Over the years, both Happy Feet Fitness and Larrikin Puppets have brought engaging educational experiences to childcare centres throughout South East Queensland, helping children learn through creativity, movement and play.
Learn More
Find out more about Happy Feet Fitness through their website and social media channels.
You can also follow Larrikin Puppets on social media for the latest performances, workshops, television projects and behind-the-scenes puppetry adventures.
Milton Ager and Jack Yellen, 1930
“Happy feet, I’ve got those happy feet. Give them a low down beat and they begin dancing.”
Happy Feet Fitness creates an environment where children laugh, learn and grow in confidence through movement, music and fun. As for Larrikin Puppets…
- Winner – Creative Industries Award, Pumicestone Business Excellence Awards (2026)
- Winner – Best Kids Live Show, National What’s On 4 Kids Awards (2021)
- People’s Choice Winner – Best Local School-Aged Activity (5–12 Years), National What’s On 4 Kids Awards (2021)
- Highly Commended Winner – Best Local School-Aged Activity (5–12 Years), National What’s On 4 Kids Awards (2021)
- Winner – BizCover NEIS Change Award, Small Business Development Conference (2015)
Kev – The film that our very own puppet star Frizzby starred in (with the help of his handler Brett Hansen) – was shortlisted for Tropfest 25. It didn’t make the finalists, but to be on the shortlist is a great achievement in itself.
Brett performed the puppetry for two characters in the film – Kev (a bigoted Aussie orange monster played by Frizzby) and a bumbling puppet Police officer who has his priorities all wrong.
Photos from the set of Kev can also be found in a photo album at the 
– 2016 started with a series of school holiday and vacation care puppet show performances.
– I performed MC duties (hidden under a table – Troggg was the MC!) at the official Ipswich Festival media launch. Troggg got to introduce Mayor Paul Pisasale to the stage. I also performed puppet shows at the actual Ipswich Festival, and was informed by several friends in the lead up that they noticed big roadside billboards with Troggg on them!
– We went down to Adelaide to visit Shannon Cooke at The Puppet Workshop.
– I performed my full puppet show at the Puppetry Arts Festival of Brooklyn (yes, I transported my whole puppet stage and all the puppets to America).
– We spent a week in Los Angeles, staying just off Hollywood Boulevard. We walked to the Jim Henson Company and checked out the big Kermit statue out the front.
– We spent a week in Denton, North Texas where, at the University of North Texas, I received advanced, intensive, life changing training in film & TV monitor puppetry from Henson puppeteers Marty Robinson (Telly Monster, Mr. Snuffleupagus) and Noel MacNeal (Bear in the Big Blue House), and a puppet construction component lead by Pasha Romanowski (Project Puppet, The Moe Show). Elissa came with me to all the casual nights of drinking and chatting with the puppeteers. She also attended the special performance night we did on the final day. The whole thing was an unforgettable experience. This kind of training simply doesn’t exist in Australia. I was so happy to not only get some of my existing skills validated, but also to learn so many valuable new skills, and better ways to perform my craft from the best in the business – my heroes!
– Since returning to Australia, I performed both puppet characters in a short comedy film called “Kev”, plus shows at schools, childcare centres, festivals and parties every week!
– There were more shows at the Gold Coast’s Paradise Resort, and even a few shows at New Farm Cinemas, which included some Larrikin Puppets cinema advertising before screenings of “Moana” and “Sing”. I even got to perform my first puppet show at the famous Brisbane Powerhouse!
– And we spent the final week of the year performing three shows a day, every day at one of Australia’s biggest festivals – the Woodford Folk Festival.
It has been a great honour and privilege to be a part of the “De Ja Voodoo” sideshow family for a week at Woodford Folk Festival.
Run by headline performers Zoe Ellis (Zoe L’Amore of 
On Saturday, June 25 2016, Troggg and friends performed for the people of New York at the Puppetry Arts Festival of Brooklyn. A full festival dedicated to all styles of puppetry.
In June 2016, I was a student of the intensive puppetry workshop called “Beyond the Sock” at the University of North Texas. There, we were taught many of the advanced monitor puppetry techniques used on professional film and TV productions such as Sesame Street, The Muppets and Fraggle Rock.
We also learned how to construct our own puppets using a professional pattern for a chicken puppet. Our teachers were high profile Henson puppeteers Marty Robinson (The Jim Henson Company, Sesame Street; performer of Telly Monster and Mr. Snuffleupagus) and Noel MacNeal (Sesame Street, Bear in the Big Blue House; performer of Bear) for the puppetry performance lessons, with puppet construction training from master puppet builder Pasha Romanowski (Project Puppet, The Moe Show). Marty Robinson has been a Henson puppeteer since 1981, and has trained most of the puppeteers of The Muppets and Sesame Street since the early 1990s. He also trains puppeteers for international co-productions of Sesame Street. 
So it was very special to be able to train under Marty, Noel and Pasha. Who better than the top masters of this craft to receive some very valuable, professional training?
Here are a few photos from this inspiring week!
For three days in a row, Troggg, Brett and Elissa immersed themselves in New York’s puppet culture. In NYC puppets are all the rage! From professional film and TV puppeteers to small businesses to hobbyists – everybody loves puppets!
On Friday night, (20 May, 2016) we went to see “Team Lopez” – a puppet improv troupe – at Broadway Comedy Club in the theater district. They were part of a big night of improv comedy called “Pre Game Happy Hour Improv Comedy”. After the show, Troggg got a photo with the puppets, then we all went out for drinks.
On Saturday morning (21 May, 2016) we attended “Morning with The Muppets” as part of the Vulture Festival at Milk Studios in Chelsea. We got to see a panel discussion starring Muppet performers Steve Whitmire (Kermit, Ernie, Wembley Fraggle, Rizzo, etc), Eric Jacobson (Fozzie, Piggy, Bert, Grover) and Peter Linz (Walter from the recent Muppets films), and of course the superstars themselves Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear and Animal.
Brett asked a question of Steve Whitmire during the Q&A session about the difference in atmosphere between working with the original team of puppeteers (Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, etc) and the team of the last 25 years (incl. Matt Vogel, David Rudman, Peter Li
Brett and Troggg also got to meet a few fellow puppeteers and Muppet enthusiasts, including Zach Woliner (with Wally Wackiman) and Sam (with Mo Monster from web series The Mo Show). 
Next door to the Kaufman Astoria Studio is the Museum of the Moving Image, where Craig Shemin (President of the Jim Henson Legacy) and Karen Falk (the Head Archivist of the Jim Henson Company) hosted a special compilation screening of some old and rare films by Jim Henson from the 1950s and 60s that had been restored. The event was called, “
