Jerry Juhl

Birthday: 27 June 1938, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

Birth Name: Jerome Ravn Juhl

Jerry Juhl became the first full-time employee of Jim Henson Co. in 1961 after meeting Henson at a puppeteer's convention. The company coined the term "Muppet," a combination of the words marionette and puppet, and created a series of short skits parodying television news people. Juhl worked on Jim Henson's first television show, Sam and Friends (1955) as a puppeteer and later spent six years writing for Sesame Street (1969) after its 1969 premiere. He created scripts for the Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Big Bird, Elmo, Bert, Ernie and The Count. He also created Super Grover, a superhero version of Grover, and received two Emmy Awards for his work. Juhl served as head writer for The Muppet Show (1976) from 1977-1981. He also was the writer and creative producer of Fraggle Rock (1983), which featured his wife as a writer and script editor. The show was met with critical acclaim when it appeared on HBO in 1983 and lasted four years. Show less «

Puppets are wonderfully magical things, but one of the most fiendishly difficult art forms we've cre...Show more »

Puppets are wonderfully magical things, but one of the most fiendishly difficult art forms we've created for ourselves. Good puppetry is amazing, but it's so difficult. Show less «

Underneath the zaniness, or perhaps standing next to it, there was a sense of decency that the chara...Show more »

Underneath the zaniness, or perhaps standing next to it, there was a sense of decency that the characters had, about the world and to each other. And I think that's one of the really legacies that Jim left. And I think it's one of the reasons he's so loved today, because he could be a pop culture figure doing mass entertainment, and he could explore the edges of crazy, goofy comedy. But at the core, there was always a sense of social values and decency. Show less «

Kermit is the eye in the middle of the hurricane. And, you know, he's always in control. Sometimes j...Show more »

Kermit is the eye in the middle of the hurricane. And, you know, he's always in control. Sometimes just barely, but he's always in control. And the interesting thing about it, of course, is that he created the hurricane. Show less «

We always used to kid Jim that after telling everybody 'simple is good,' he would turn around and tr...Show more »

We always used to kid Jim that after telling everybody 'simple is good,' he would turn around and try to produce the most complicated work in the world and just about wipe out all of us - him most of all - in the process. Show less «

I've worked with genius performers. Sometimes they created great work with a bad script... but not o...Show more »

I've worked with genius performers. Sometimes they created great work with a bad script... but not often. Play it safe: write well. Show less «

I don't know if it's different writing for Muppets than humans because I spent my whole career writi...Show more »

I don't know if it's different writing for Muppets than humans because I spent my whole career writing for Muppet characters. But I always say that with Muppets, you can't write feet. Show less «

I did it for self-protection, I never rated much [as a puppeteer], so I figured I'd better save my j...Show more »

I did it for self-protection, I never rated much [as a puppeteer], so I figured I'd better save my job by doing something else.-Commenting on why he stopped puppeteering and started writing for the Muppets Show less «

Jim was a dreamer... but he was pragmatic enough to make the dream happen. He was just absolutely de...Show more »

Jim was a dreamer... but he was pragmatic enough to make the dream happen. He was just absolutely determined to do that. There were certainly elements of both. But a dreamer was what he really was. Show less «

What Jim (Henson) really wanted to do was to sing songs and tell stories, teach children, promote pe...Show more »

What Jim (Henson) really wanted to do was to sing songs and tell stories, teach children, promote peace, save the planet, celebrate man, praise God, and be silly. Show less «

Jerry Juhl

Jerry Juhl's FILMOGRAPHY

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