– 2016 started with a series of school holiday and vacation care puppet show performances.
– The Richard Bell film I performed puppetry in (“5 for 35”) screened all Summer at GOMA as part of the 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT8).
– I provided puppetry training (and puppets) for ImproMafia’s “Not 4 Kidz” at the Brisbane Comedy Festival.
– A new puppet character, Frazzamatazz, joined the Larrikin Puppets cast in February.
– I began sewing lessons in preparation for the puppet building component of the upcoming intensive puppetry course I was enrolled in at the University of North Texas.
– 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!
– I also performed puppet shows at the Paradise Resort in Surfers Paradise, the Redcliffe Sails Festival, a Bunnings store in Warwick, an Indian restaurant, a nursing home and several childcare centres, schools and birthday parties.
– Elissa helped me run some puppetry workshops at a few schools, including a full week (three workshops a day) at Belmont State School.
– We went down to Adelaide to visit Shannon Cooke at The Puppet Workshop.
– We lived in Brooklyn, New York for three months. We saw lots of live theatre in NYC – including many puppet shows for adults, improv comedy and “Avenue Q” off Broadway (with a backstage tour thanks to puppeteer contacts).
– Much of my time overseas was spent networking with other puppeteers, which included frequent visits to The Puppet Kitchen for monitor puppetry sessions run by the awesome Michael Schupbach. Between there, several puppet shows/events and a few Muppet screenings at the Museum of the Moving Image it was really great to meet, perform and practice with so many great NYC puppeteers and fellow Muppet fans – including Marcelo Bottaro, Arlee Chadwick, Musa ‘Fuzzy Beard’ Bradley, David Bizzaro, Zach ‘Wackiman’ Woliner, Nicola ‘Callie & Izzy’ McEldowney, John Papovitch, Kevin Hale, Tau ‘Being Elmo’ Bennett, Christina Rodriguez Stone, Matthew Soberman, Sam ‘Mo Monster’, Tania Lopez, Tim Young, Erin Finnegan, Spencer Cohen, and so many more amazing people!
– 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).
– Troggg guest starred in an episode of The Fuzzy Beard Show.
– We attended a convention called “Morning with the Muppets” starring Steve Whitmire (with Kermit the Frog), Eric Jacobson (with Fozzie Bear and Animal) and Peter Linz (assisting). I asked a couple of questions during the Q&A, and was lucky enough to have a brief chat with Steve Whitmire afterwards. He fluffed up Troggg’s fur as he spoke to me about a trip to Australia they were taking soon.
– 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 day with Henson puppeteers Grant Baciocco (whom I’d met in Brisbane a couple of years earlier during “Puppet Up!” and stayed in contact with) and Russ Walko. Troggg of course came out on all of these puppet-related excursions in both New York and Los Angeles.
– 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’s been an absolutely huge year! Here’s to more puppet fun in 2017!
Brett Hansen
Category: News Update
Puppet News
New Announcements:
Goodstart Early Learning Centre in Fortitude Valley have booked a puppet show for the kids on the 9th of March.
Troggg will be the MC at the official media launch of the 2016 Ipswich Festival in March, where he will be introducing Mayor Paul Pisasale. A month later, we’re performing two puppet shows at the festival.
Larrikin Puppets will be performing a family puppet show at the Chrome Street Fiesta – A free community festival held in the Salisbury Industrial Estate on Saturday, 12 March.
After the success of recent seniors’ puppet shows at two Probus Clubs, Troggg and the gang will be performing at St. Paul’s Villa Hostel, Rainworth in April.
For all gig listings, please visit our Gig Calendar here: https://www.larrikinpuppets.com.au/gig-calendar/
And follow the drop down menus for details on how you can book a puppet show or puppet MC for YOUR event! 🙂
Sesame Street Muppets and Jimmy Fallon Celebrity Photobomb
Here’s a great article from toughpigs.com about the recent “Celebrity Photobomb” segment from The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. It stars the Muppets of Sesame Street. Watch for the look of wonder in the eyes of the kids later on in the video. Priceless. The magic of puppets!
2015 Adventures of the Puppets
This year, Larrikin Puppets has continued to grow from strength to strength. In its third year of business, the puppets have appeared at several festivals, more child care centres and schools than ever before, two Supanova Pop Culture Expos, regular shows at South Bank Parklands, a series of family variety shows at Morningside’s Studio Theatre & Cafe, a film appearance in artist Richard Bell’s movie “5 for 35” (currently showing at APT8, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane), a cameo in “The Hobble & Snitch Show”, and even a hosting gig on “Juiced TV” – a TV show filmed at the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital. Troggg even got to meet Agro this year! 
We also took the puppets along to perform in Childers, Toowoomba, and at the 5th Kooma Green School – a cultural exchange program held in the remote Indigenous community of Murra Murra in South-West Queensland. And Troggg got to accept a trophy at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne when Larrikin Puppets WON the BizCover NEIS Change Award at the National Small Business Development Conference! 
I managed to arrange Brisbane’s only cinema screening of the award winning documentary film, “I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story” at Event Cinemas (hosted by Troggg of course). We raised $300 towards ovarian cancer research and awareness via Queensland Centre for Gynaecological Cancer in memory of my Mum.
On a personal note, I got married this year! To the beautiful Elissa, who has been the most amazing friend anybody could ever wish for.
Here’s to more puppet fun and adventures in 2016!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
From Brett Hansen 🙂
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Hope everybody had a very Merry Christmas this year! Troggg and the gang look forward to more puppet shows and adventures in 2016! Happy New Year!
A Different and Interesting Puppet Life – by Brett Hansen
I like my life because every day is different and interesting. Last week I performed puppet shows at a library, a fish & chips restaurant and a school.
I attended four dinner/drinks gatherings, including one in a back alley American style bar and one on a union roof top.
This week I got to meet two goblins (Hobble & Snitch) and perform some puppetry on their show.
Then for a film, I puppeteered a psychiatrist in a session with acclaimed artist Richard Bell. For the same film, I also puppeteered two characters relaxing on a beach, a monster throwing darts, another monster painting on canvas, and lead a team of puppets on horses galloping into a nightclub.
I attended a theatre tribute show of 1980s sitcom, “The Golden Girls” (Thank You For Being a Friend) starring puppet versions of the cast.
I also performed music at the weekly improv comedy show I’ve been a part of for the last four years.
On Monday, my beautiful wife Elissa and I will be flying down to Melbourne (with Troggg) to attend the National NEIS Association Awards Gala Dinner. Larrikin Puppets is a finalist in the ‘BizCover NEIS Change Award’ category.
The reason why my business is a finalist in that particular category is because my life went through some huge changes at the time of its inception three years ago.
And whether I win the award or not, my life is better than it ever was before three years ago because every day is now different and interesting.
Brett Hansen – Owner and Principal Puppeteer at Larrikin Puppets.
Troggg draws Toy Store Voucher Competition Winner!
The winner of the competition we’ve been running throughout February!
https://www.larrikinpuppets.com.au/gift-card-competition/
2014 – A Big Year for a Puppeteer!
2014 was a huge year for Larrikin Puppets! Just before Christmas, we reviewed the year and posted this wrap-up:
As we wrap up 2014, I’d like to share some Larrikin Puppets highlights from the year.
Along with fellow puppeteer David Logan, I met with veteran marionette puppeteer David Hamilton who briefly had a go operating Troggg while I had a turn with his marionettes.
I also had the honour of meeting with American puppeteers Grant Baciocco and Peggy Etra from The Jim Henson Company after their performance of “Puppet Up!” in Brisbane. I had a great chat with Grant and puppeteered with some of their Muppets backstage.
I performed some interesting puppet gigs this year – There was a formal duel 21st birthday masquerade ball, a 60th birthday party, two shows in restaurants, two shows in public parks, several shows at child care centres and schools (including one with sign language interpreters at the Yeerongpilly Deaf School), my second performance at the Royal Children’s Hospital, a wonderful school holiday event at the Tewantin-Noosa RSL, some roving puppetry at three charity events and a coffee brand launch, performances at the 2014 Brisbane Zombie Walk Carnival, and the West End Festival, a pre-show puppet performance at a screening of 1979’s “The Muppet Movie”, as well as my first business flight – for some bookings in Injune, South West QLD (an hour’s drive from Roma).
This year, we saw the release of two short film projects that I helped with in 2013: “Cluck – The Web Series” and “Heart of a Thousand Souls”. HOATS featured a couple of scenes starring Troggg, and so he was asked to host the premiere screening.
With a cast of very clever improvisational theatre actors from ImproMafia and Edge Improv, we crowd-funded, rehearsed and performed seven technically complex, and well-attended performances of “Thank Troggg You’re Here: A Puppet Impro Spectacular!” (the first four as part of the 2014 Anywhere Theatre Festival).
Also in theatre, I ran puppetry workshops for a new 2014 Brisbane cast of Tony Award winning puppet musical, “Avenue Q” (having previously been a cast member and ‘puppetry consultant’ in the 2012 production). It was great to later attend the Off-Broadway production at New World Stages in New York City, and meet with Jason Jacoby – the current puppeteer behind Nicky and Trekkie Monster.
The New York trip also included designing two new puppets – Lexington and Pleasant – at The Muppet Whatnot Workshop (in toy store FAO Schwartz), and visiting the “Somebody Come And Play” exhibit at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, where several Muppets from Sesame Street were on display. We also got to see Kaufman Astoria Studios, where Sesame Street is filmed.
Other new additions to the Larrikin Puppets cast this year included a singing cheesecake, Flossy the pink monster, three frogs, a yellow bird, a pig, Grandma, Ostrich, Ratbag, and a big green monster named Moss.
Larrikin Puppets received some great media attention this year too – A 4zZz radio interview with Andrew Bartlett, newspaper articles in the South East Advertiser, My Sunshine Coast, YLM: Your Local Mag, and we even made the front cover of MX Newspaper!
Overall, it was a busy and spectacular year for this small Brisbane-based arts business, specialising in the underrated art of puppetry.
Merry Christmas!
Brett Hansen
Puppeteer – Larrikin Puppets
