The Muppet Fan Hall of Fame

Program from The 2023 Muppet Fan Hall of Fame Ceremony

Program from The 2022 Muppet Hall of Fame Ceremony

Scott Hanson

Class of 2023
In 2005, Scott Hanson (along with Danny Horn) started Muppet Wiki, which quickly became a keystone of the Muppet fandom and remains so over 17 years later. Muppet Wiki is the most valuable resource to both fans and professionals seeking information pertaining to The Muppets. Scott still puts hard work into the Wiki as both a moderator and one of the site’s most frequent editors, and he is also behind Muppet Wiki’s popular Twitter account. All Muppet fan creators rely on what Scott built and benefit from his continued efforts, and we owe him a great debt of gratitude.

Shane Keating

Class of 2023
It might be easier to say what Shane Keating hasn’t done for Muppet fandom, as his list of accomplishments is long and varied. Shane is an admin on Muppet Wiki and has appropriately been called the living embodiment of Muppet Wiki – his encyclopedic knowledge of all things Henson is hard to beat. In 2019, he joined the writing team at ToughPigs. On top of regular editorials, he’s become one of ToughPigs’ go-to newsmen, breaking countless stories. Shane runs “One Muppetational Shot” on Twitter and is also behind MarshalGrover, one of the largest Sesame archive channels on YouTube. Perhaps he will be best remembered for creating the “with your eyes, Bert” meme, but we think it would be neat if it was one of the other things.

Anthony Strand

Class of 2023
Anthony Strand has been part of the ToughPigs family since the Danny Horn days as an active member of the ToughPigs forum. Little did he know that he would begin writing for the site in 2007 and become one of its most consistent contributors. From classic Sesame Street reviews to hilarious concept pieces, his writing has become a key part of the ToughPigs voice. Since 2017, he has been the co-host (along with Ryan Roe) of the ToughPigs podcast “Moving Right Along”. Now, with over 200 episodes, “Moving Right Along” is the longest-running Muppet podcast still in production and is among the most beloved. ToughPigs wouldn’t be what it is today without Anthony.

CAMPO (The Committee to Award Miss Piggy an Oscar)

Class of 2023
Inducted Members: Bruce Collin and Jim Hall
Before Muppets Twitter, before Muppet Wiki, before MuppetZines there were Muppet fanclubs. These fan clubs of the 70’s and 80’s have been all but lost to time, and their impact on fandom as a whole has largely been forgotten. But in 1979/80, two Muppet fans came together and launched the original Muppet fan project, The Committee to Award Miss Piggy an Oscar. The goal was to get Miss Piggy an Oscar nom, and while that didn’t happen, so much more did. CAMPO was a newsworthy story and received national attention. While Bruce and Jim are not active in modern-day fandom, they remain an inspiration to us, and we’re glad they got things started.

Becca Petunia

Class of 2023
Becca Petunia first wrote for ToughPigs in 2014, and in the time since, she has become an essential part of its identity. In her writing, she was a major contributor to many ToughPigs projects, including the article series The Muppet Show: 40 Years Later, and she has continued to approach the Henson world from different angles and dig deep into its overlooked corners. In recent years, she has written the popular explainers of why Sesame/Henson NFTs stink and has been fighting the good fight in support of LGBTQIA+ rights. In 2021, her prominence in the fandom grew with the release of her Muppet-themed trivia game show podcast “Hubba-Wha?!”, which is currently preparing its third season.

Dave Hulteen

Class of 2023
Dave Hulteen is one of the most active and most beloved Muppet fan artists in the history of the fandom. You can tell when something is a Hulteen original because of his dedication to his craft and the art style(s) he developed over decades of creating stunning Muppet artwork. In 2021 he co-art-directed The Great Muppet Mural, for which he later directed and edited a making-of documentary. In 2022, Dave got to work on an official Henson project when he designed the cover for the book “Sam and Friends: The Story of Jim Henson’s First Television Show” by Craig Shemin.

Joe Hennes

Class of 2022
In 2007, Joe Hennes (along with Ryan Roe) took over ToughPigs from its founder, Danny Horn. Almost overnight, Joe became a household name in the fandom and the unofficial face of ToughPigs. He serves as its editor-in-chief and has written hundreds, if not thousands, of its articles. Joe has also hosted several podcasts for ToughPigs, along with being the official Tough Pigs podcast producer. His work has been featured on such institutions as BBC and Wall Street Journal. He has hosted several Muppet-themed Comic Con panels and has interviewed the likes of Paul Williams, Caroll Spinney, and Frank Oz.

Ryan Roe

Class of 2022
In 2007, Ryan Roe (along with Joe Hennes) took over ToughPigs from its founder, Danny Horn. Since then, as the site’s head writer, Ryan has written hundreds of classic ToughPigs articles, all with his distinct style and humor, and has interviewed Muppets and Muppet performers alike. While he has appeared on many podcasts over the years, he is best well-known for his work on “Moving Right Along”, which he edits and co-hosts with Anthony Strand. “Moving Right Along” is currently the longest-running Muppet fan podcast. Ryan’s work has been featured on The BBC, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post Express.

Chris “Smig” Smigliano

Class of 2022
Smig has been a prominent artist in the Muppet fan community for over 30 years. His first major role in the fandom was practically at its beginning when he began illustrating for Danny Horn’s MuppetZine, starting with the second issue in 1992. He would then go on to create possibly the most iconic piece of Muppet fan art: the ToughPigs logo. He is currently the ToughPigs resident in-house artist, and he continues to regularly create and share his own single-pane Muppet comics that not only show his artistry, but his understanding and appreciation of the Muppet characters.

Ryan Dosier

Class of 2022
In 2009, Ryan Dosier created The Muppet Mindset as a place where Muppet fans who weren’t part of a Muppet fansite could share their writings and creations with the community. It quickly became one of the most prominent Muppet fan websites and garnered a larger social media following than any of its predecessors. Under Ryan’s leadership, the Mindset published daily articles, most of which were written by Ryan himself, and it was often the first to break Muppet news stories. In 2014, he left the Mindset in the hands of his protégé, Jarrod Fairclough,and began his career as the Social Media Manager for The Muppets with The Walt Disney Company. The Muppet Mindset is now part of ToughPigs, and Ryan’s legacy is visible not only in his writings that fill the ToughPigs archives, but in the writings of the talented members of the ToughPigs team who got their start under his wing.

Joshua Gillespie

Class of 2022
Joshua Gillespie created the Twitter account Muppet History (@HistoryMuppet) in 2018 to share great Muppet moments from throughout their history, from the iconic to the totally obscure. Joshua found that there was a larger audience of Muppet fans eager to celebrate Jim Henson’s legacy than anyone in the fan community had ever tapped into before. Muppet History has rapidly grown into a massive presence in all corners of the internet. The Twitter account now boasts over a quarter of million followers and has spun off into popular Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube accounts, as well as “The Muppet History Podcast”, on which he interviewed Brian Jay Jones and Paul Williams, among others. Joshua has become a key figure in Muppet fandom for the casual fan and the dedicated fanatic alike.

Jarrod Fairclough

Class of 2022
Jarrod Fairclough has been a prominent writer in the Muppet fan community since 2009, and in the time since, has worn several hats in the fan community as a podcaster, puppeteer, video editor, and much more. His work for The Muppet Mindset made him the natural fit for Ryan Dosier’s successor, and beginning in 2015, Jarrod took over the site and kept it going strong in an era when it was hard to get people to care about the Muppet world. In 2021, with the merger of The Muppet Mindset and ToughPigs, Jarrod became the official third co-owner of ToughPigs, where he has continued his work writing about fan topics and is the co-host of the podcast “To Introduce Our Guest Star”. Jarrod’s natural talent for interviewing Muppets and their creators has given fans some of the best interviews with Elmo, Cookie Monster, Yvette Nicole Brown, Frank Oz, and too many others to mention.

J.D. Hansel

Class of 2022
J.D. Hansel has been producing Muppet fan podcasts since 2012 and is now the host of “The Great Muppet Fandom Panel”. His varied Muppet fandom resume includes directing the essay film “To Solve the Labyrinth”, co-running The Muppet Madness Tournament, moderating “An Academic Eye on Jim Henson” with Brian Jay Jones at the University of Maryland, and creating the Twitter projects BadHensonBio and BadHensonBistro. In 2022, he joined the ToughPigs team and has since been among their most frequent writers.

Danny Horn

Class of 2022
Any one of Danny Horn’s accomplishments is impressive on its own, but putting them together shows how Danny shaped the entire Muppet fan community. In 1992, he created MuppetZine, a self-published fanzine for Muppet fans, which ran until 1997. In 2001, he created ToughPigs, which, over 20 years later, has become the largest Muppet fansite and the lifeblood of the Muppet fandom. In 2005, Danny Horn and Scott Hanson created Muppet Wiki, an invaluable source of information for both fans and professionals alike. After a period of time outside of public Muppet fandom, Danny returned in 2022 with the Twitter account Muppet Pictures, where he continues to be among the most valued members of our community.

Professional Inductees

John Tartaglia

Class of 2023
John Tartaglia is a Tony-nominated puppeteer who has worked on Sesame and Henson projects for decades, starting on Sesame Street as a teenager. He is someone who truly embodies the spirit of Jim Henson and everything he stood for, and he also happens to be one of the world’s biggest fans of Fraggle Rock. This can best be seen in Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock where Tartaglia wrote and directed several episodes and performed Gobo, Sprocket, and others in every episode. In his interviews about the show, it’s clear that he cares 1000% about what he does, and we’re honored to have him in our wacky family.

Dave Goelz

Class of 2022
When Dave Goelz joined The Muppets as a puppet builder in the 1970s, he was a fan just like us. Now he is a legend who has brought life to such characters as Boober Fraggle, Zoot, Uncle Traveling Matt, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, and The Great Gonzo. As the only cast member of The Muppet Show still regularly performing his original characters, Dave Goelz has a uniquely special legacy and a dear place in our hearts.

Matt Vogel

Class of 2022
On top of being a lifelong fan himself, Matt Vogel has done something truly special for Muppet fans: he has given us an all-access pass to behind-the-scenes of The Muppets. With both the live stream and podcast versions of “ Below the Frame”, Matt has opened the door of information to the average Muppet fan. Matt also happens to be one of the greatest puppeteers of our time. Fittingly, he has been handed such iconic characters as Kermit the Frog, Big Bird, Count von Count, Floyd Pepper, and many more. As a performer, a director, a musician, and a dad, Matt Vogel exhibits the goodness and kindheartedness that make The Muppets what they are, and in that, he carries on Jim Henson’s legacy.

Celebrity Inductees

Lucas Ross

Class 2023
Lucas Ross: comedian, TV host, Emmy-winner, and most importantly, a master at the banjo. Lucas wears his love for The Muppets on his sleeve, having worked with The Muppets on multiple occasions, both on-screen and as a banjo player for America’s favorite frog. Lucas has covered Muppet songs on various albums and hosted “The Making of the Great Muppet Mural”. Beyond that, Lucas is also a friend to Muppets Twitter and a very dear part of the fan community. Those of us who know him are glad we do!

Yvette Nicole Brown

Class of 2022
Actress, comedian, and writer Yvette Nicole Brown is known to the world for her roles on Community, The Odd Couple, The Mayor, and Drake and Josh, and for her Emmy nomination for A Black Lady Sketch Show. She’s known to us Muppet fans as a total Muppet nerd, as she recently discussed in her appearance on the ToughPigs podcast “To Introduce Our Guest Star”. She finally got to work with The Muppets in Muppets Haunted Mansion in 2021, and she hopes to someday appear on Sesame Street. We Muppet nerds are proud to have such a sweet and talented person as one of our own.

Bobby Moynihan

Class of 2022
Bobby Moynihan’s run as a Saturday Night Live cast member from 2008 to 2017 has made him one of America’s most recognizable comedians. His acting credits include DuckTales, Mr. Mayor, The Secret Life of Pets, and of course, a season 43 episode of Sesame Street as Quacker Duck Man – a performance from which he has kept the costume. Bobby is a huge Muppet fan and has moderated multiple Sesame Street panels. On what he described as “quite possibly one of the best experiences of my entire life,” he was the guest star in The Muppets Take the Bowl and joined them again in the UK for The Muppets Take the O2. Few celebrities have had the honor of being a guest on The Muppet Show, but none of them could have appreciated just what an honor it was like Bobby Moynihan.

Watch the full 2023 Muppet Fan Hall of Fame Ceremony

Watch the full 2022 Muppet Fan Hall of Fame Ceremony

Bios Co-Written By J.D. Hansel and Tori Schmidt