On Episode 261 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview puppeteer and actor Bruce Connelly! Throughout Bruce's career, he has acted and directed a wide variety of theatre productions. He is best known for being the current performer of Barkley on Sesame Street since 1993! In addition to performing Barkley on the show, he performed Barkley in th…

On Episode 260 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview puppeteer, photographer and editor Art Vega! For many years, Art puppeteered in various stage shows for Disney, including the Playhouse Disney and Disney Junior live shows! Since 2010, he has been a Muppet performer with The Muppets, where he got to work on The Muppets (2011), Muppets Most…

On Episode 259 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview writer and TV creator Jymn Magon! Jymn is best known for his work with Disney, first starting out by producing their children's records. After Jymn moved to Disney's animated television division, he created Adventures of the Gummi Bears, co-created DuckTales and TaleSpin, wrote episodes of…

On Episode 258 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview puppeteer and diretor Raymond Carr! Early on in Raymond's career, he was an assistant puppeteer on the Icelandic series LazyTown. He is best known for performing the character Dunk in the Henson digital puppetry series Splash and Bubbles. Raymond also puppeteered on Moon and Me, WonderMore…

On Episode 257 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, writer Peter K. Hirsch returns to the show! Peter has written for a number of children's series, with most of his work being with PBS! His longest writing job was on Arthur, taking on the role of head writer later in the show's run. He also wrote episodes of Between the Lions, Lomax: The Hound of Music…

On Episode 256 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview authors Barbara Irwin, Tony Buttino Sr. and Pam Johnson! Barbara, Tony and Pam recently wrote the book Creating Reading Rainbow: The Untold Story of a Beloved Children's Series, which covers the long-running PBS literacy series Reading Rainbow, which Tony also co-created! The new book talk…

On Episode 255 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview writer and playwright John Weidman! John's work in the theatre world consists of collaborating with the late Stephen Sondheim on several musicals, including Pacific Overtures, Assassins and Road Show and also worked with theatre director and choreographer Susan Stroman. He also wrote for t…

On Episode 254 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview producer and writer Kristin Laskas Martin! Kristin's career in television began as a coordinator on the PBS series Great Performances and as a producer on the ABC soap opera All My Children. After transitioning into children's television, she was the Vice President of Production at Nickelo…

On Episode 253 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview singer, songwriter and entertainer Willy Welch! For a number of years, Willy wrote dozens of songs for the long-running Barney franchise, with only some of his best known songs being I Put a Smile On, I Love to Read and Icy, Creamy Ice Cream! Outside of Barney, Willy is best known for his …

On Episode 252 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview producer and writer Lawrence S. Mirkin! Lawrence has produced a wide variety of shows, with some of his best known contributions being with The Jim Henson Company as a producer on the original Fraggle Rock series and The Jim Henson Hour. He also served as creative consultant on various Hen…

On Episode 251 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview musician and composer Joe Fiedler! Some of Joe's best known gigs in the music world include playing trombone for Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights and his collaborations with numerous artists and bands. In television, Joe was chief horn arranger in the reboot of The Electric Company and …

On Episode 250 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview twin actresses Maurie' and Mone't Chandler! Maurie' and Mone't got their start in acting on the film Crooklyn and the PBS series Wishbone. Continuing their work with PBS, they are best known for portraying the twin characters Ashley and Alissa from Season 3 to 5 of the long-running series …

On Episode 249 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview writer and author Eric Weiner! Some of Eric's earliest television writing gigs were on series such as Ghostwriter and Gullah Gullah Island. He is best known for co-creating the long-running Nick Jr. series Dora the Explorer, as well as voicing the character Scarecrow. He also co-created th…

On Episode 248 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview singer and motivational speaker William Hung! In 2004, William gained fame for his audition on the singing competition series American Idol, where he sang Ricky Martin's hit song She Bangs. His appearance on Idol led to appearances on a variety of talk shows and commercials and he got the …

On Episode 247 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview producer, director and writer Benjamin Lehmann! Benjamin has worked for Sesame Street since 2000, which has won him dozens of Emmy awards. He produced many of their recurring segments, such as Elmo's World, Elmo the Musical, Abby's Flying Fairy School, Super Grover 2.0 and various home vid…

On Episode 246 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview voice actress Katie Leigh! Katie's voiceover career spans across several decades, with some of her best known television roles being the voice of Baby Rowlf in the original Muppet Babies series, Sunni Gummi in Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Honker Muddlefoot in Darkwing Duck, Alex…

On Episode 245 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview puppeteer, puppet builder and wrangler Ben Durocher! For 8 years, Ben was a puppet wrangler for Sesame Street, including various specials and the spin-off series The Furchester Hotel and The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo. He was also a puppet fabricator on The Happytime Murders and was an ad…

On Episode 244 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview author and producer Debbie Gendler! Debbie is a four-time Emmy nominated TV executive and producer who worked at CBS and ABC. Aside from her work in the television world, she is best known for being a Beatles fan. She attended The Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and was i…

On Episode 243 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview writer and author Louise Gikow! Louise's professional career started as a writer and copy editor for the National Lampoon magazine. She then started writing books based on a number of Henson projects, including Fraggle Rock, Muppet Babies, Labyrinth and many others. She also wrote music an…

On Episode 242 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview non-binary children's musical artist Jules Hoffman! Jules' career in the music business started in the rock band Boketto the Wolf, before becoming a children's artist. Jules is best known for their Songs for Littles series and their educational resource videos. Throughout their career, Jul…

On Episode 241 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview producer Carol-Lynn Parente! Carol-Lynn first started working for Sesame Street in 1989 as a post-production coordinator, before moving to production assistant, associate director and producer, becoming executive producer for them in 2005. Carol-Lynn was a producer on Elmo's World, executi…

On Episode 240 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview singer-songwriters Again Again and Mista Cookie Jar! Jennifer Cook and Anne Montone of Again Again Music are a pair of singer-songwriters, parents and lifelong friends. C.J. Pizarro, better known as Mista Cookie Jar, is best known for his family band Mista Cookie Jar & the Chocolate Chips.…

On Episode 239 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview actress and singer Lisa Foiles! Lisa started her acting career on the Disney Channel series Even Stevens and as a guest star on Malcolm in the Middle. She is best known for her time as a cast member on the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series All That from Seasons 7 through 10 and occasionally…

On Episode 238 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview TV creators Scott Schultz and Christian Jacobs! Scott and Christian are known by many for creating the hit Nick Jr. series Yo Gabba Gabba! Recently, they came together to reboot the series as Yo Gabba GabbaLand! In this discussion, the Happy Nostalgia team talk to Scott and Christian about…

On Episode 237 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guest is puppeteer and puppet wrangler Melissa Creighton! Melissa is best known in the puppet world for performing the character Burdette on the PBS series It's a Big Big World! She also worked on Sesame Street for several years as an occasional puppeteer. Aside from her work as a puppeteer, Meliss…

On Episode 235 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guest is puppeteer and actress Jimmica Collins! Jimmica is a puppeteer who has worked for Sesame Street as a Muppet performer since Season 53, where she performs the character Grandma Nell! Outside of Sesame Street, she puppeteered on the Apple TV+ series Helpsters and the PBS Kids series Donkey Ho…

On Episode 235 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guest is writer and producer Ken Scarborough! Ken is known for his career writing for numerous TV series, with one of his earliest writing credits being on the Nickelodeon and Disney series Doug. He was also one of the original writers and head writers of the PBS series Arthur and wrote for Saturda…

On Episode 234 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guest is songwriter Angelo Natalie! Angelo's career in the music business started out with the gospel-rock group Clockwise. Some of his best known music work includes writing dozens of songs for the Barney franchise, including Nothing Beats a Pizza, You Can Count on Me, It's C-C Cold BRRRR!, Books …

On Episode 233 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guest is writer and producer Adam Peltzman! Early on in Adam's professional writing career, he was a writer and head writer on the long-running Nick Jr. series Blue's Clues, where he also voiced the character Green Puppy! After Blue's Clues, Adam became a writer and head writer on The Backyardigans…

On Episode 232 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guest is director and producer David Gumpel! David was a frequent director and producer on various projects with The Jim Henson Company for many years. Some of them include working as an associate director on The Jim Henson Hour, directing the Muppet Sing Alongs video series and producing the Fragg…

On Episode 231 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guest is puppet designer and builder Paul Andrejco! Paul is best known for his countless contributions to The Muppets and The Jim Henson Company as a puppet designer and builder! He started out as a puppet designer and builder on The Muppet Christmas Carol and was in the Muppet Workshop for Muppet …

On Episode 230 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guest is blogger and Muppet fandom expert Joe Hennes! Joe is best known for being a professional Muppet fan and contributing to the Muppet fandom in many different ways, more notably as the co-owner of the Muppet fansite, ToughPigs, where he has had the pleasure of interviewing a wide variety of ta…

On Episode 229 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guest is puppeteer and dancer Bryant Young! Bryant first started out as a dancer, where he had the opportunity of performing with the New York City Ballet, the Briansky Saratoga Ballet Center and many more. Since 1979, Bryant has been a puppeteer on Sesame Street, more notably as the back-end of Mr…

On Episode 228 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guests are actors David Connolly and Charlotte Walker! David is an amputee actor, choreographer and disability advocate and Charlotte is an actress and artist with autism. For many years, David choreographed a number of TV series and films, including the children's series The Doodlebops and its ani…

On Episode 227 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guest is Danielle Vega! Danielle is an actress who got her start on the religious video series Psalty's Songs for Li'l Praisers, before landing the role of Kim on Seasons 4-6 of the hit PBS series Barney & Friends, as well as a number of Barney home videos, including Barney's Sense-Sational Day, It…

On Episode 226 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guest is Brendon Gawel! Brendon is a puppeteer and actor whose work is best known on the long-running Sprout network, where he was one of the puppeteers of Chica on The Sunny Side Up Show and performed Curtis E. Owl on The Sprout Sharing Show. During his Sprout days, he also worked on the Holiday s…

On Episode 225 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guest is Judy Rothman Rofé! Judy's professional career consists of writing and creating a wide variety of children's projects! Early on, she worked as director of development for Disney Channel and developed and wrote for the Madeline TV series, based on the children's book series. She also wrote t…

On Episode 224 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guest is Chase Woolner! Before working as a puppeteer, Chase grew up a Muppets fan! His love for the art of puppetry eventually turned into a career, where he worked as an additional Muppet performer on various films, TV series and commercials with The Muppets! Chase has also been a participant at …

On Episode 223 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guest is Dean Gordon! For many years, Dean Gordon worked as a director and associate director for children's television. He got his start directing for the Nickelodeon series The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss and since then, has directed numerous other series, including Bear in the Big Blue House, O…

On Episode 222 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guest is Earl Fisher! After starting out as a stage actor, Earl has worked as a voice actor for nearly four decades. Some of his most well-known voiceover jobs include narrating dozens of promos for Lyrick Studios and HIT Entertainment and voicing characters such as Booker T. Bookworm in Season 5 o…

On Episode 221 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, our guests are writing and producing duo Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seifert! Many will know Kevin and Heath's work from writing and producing the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series All That, where Kevin also played Kevin the Stage Manager! They also wrote and produced Kenan & Kel and KaBlam! and co-wrote th…

On Episode 220 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview Haley Jenkins! Haley first became a Muppet performer on Sesame Street in Season 45. Since then, she has worked as an assistant and background puppeteer, as well as performing the character Karli in various Sesame Street outreach videos and played Marvie for Sesame Studios. Outside of Sesam…

On Episode 219 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview Julie Johnson! Many will best know Julie for lending her voice to the character Baby Bop in the long-running Barney franchise, including the Barney & Friends TV series and many home videos, concerts, albums and more! Aside from Barney, she performed in musicals such as Amnesia, Hairspray, …

On Episode 218 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview James Murray! Early on in James' puppeteering character, he worked on the Jim Henson Company series Dinosaurs. One of his best known projects was co-creating The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth, as well as performing The Cavity Goon and various other characters. He was also an additional Mup…

On Episode 217 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview Josh Dela Cruz! Josh is an actor who is best known for playing the lead role of Josh in the Nick Jr. Blue's Clues revival series, Blue's Clues & You! During his time on the show, he performed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for several years and starred in the Paramount+ movie, Blue'…

On Episode 216 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview Nigel Plaskitt! Nigel is a British puppeteer and actor who is best known for his many contributions to The Muppets and The Jim Henson Company. He puppeteered on the special The Tale of the Bunny Picnic and a number of films, including Labyrinth, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure …

On Episode 215 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview Forrest Harding! Many will know Forrest for his work on the Sprout network as one of the puppeteers and the voice of the character Chica in the morning block The Sunny Side Up Show and its spin-off The Chica Show! Also on Sprout, he performed Reginald, Sharon and Otis on The Sprout Sharing…

On Episode 214 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview Billy Aronson! Early on in Billy's career, he wrote several episodes of the MTV series Beavis and Butt-Head and the Comedy Central series Short Attention Span Theater. He then transitioned into writing for children's series and is best-known for co-creating the PBS Kids series Peg + Cat! H…

On Episode 213 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview Kurt Heinecke! For many years, Kurt was the music director at Big Idea Entertainment and was one of the most frequent songwriters for the long-running VeggieTales franchise. Some songs he contributed to include writing the music and playing the tuba on the VeggieTales Theme Song, as well a…

On Episode 212 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview Michael Oosterom! Michael is a puppeteer and actor whose work as an on-camera actor includes acting on the Nickelodeon series The Amanda Show and in several episodes of the ABC series Help Me Help You. Since 2010, he has puppeteered on various films, TV series and commercials with The Mupp…