Puppet Masters of None

This week, your favorite former puppeteers blast off into the strange, slimy, and spectacular universe of Farscape —the cult sci-fi show that boldly asked the question: what if space opera had more puppets… and weirder ones? Created by Rockne S. O’Bannon and brought gloriously to life by Jim Henson's Creature Shop , Farscape filled its galaxy with unforgettable alien characters—like the tower...

In this episode of Puppet Masters of None , your two former puppeteers return to the felt-lined battlefield to tackle one of the strangest creature features ever unleashed on an unsuspecting audience: Gremlins 2. But this isn’t just a casual chat about mogwai mayhem — it’s a wager. Will boldly insists that Gremlins 2 is a misunderstood masterpiece of practical effects chaos, while Ben is convinced...

This week, your favorite former puppeteers climb aboard one of the strangest stops in The Muppet Show canon: episode #308 featuring country icon Loretta Lynn, staged not in the familiar Muppet Theater… but on an abandoned train platform. Yes, really. Through a series of very Muppet-y mishaps, the gang finds themselves putting on the show trackside — surrounded by luggage, questionable infrastructu...

This week, your favorite former puppeteers grab their sunscreen and head to the sandy shores of 90s children’s television to revisit Gullah Gullah Island — the Nickelodeon gem that gave us catchy songs, cultural celebration, and one of the most joyfully chaotic frog puppets ever committed to broadcast. We dive into how the show blended music, storytelling, and Gullah Geechee culture into something...

This week, your favorite ex-puppeteers crack open a heart-shaped box of early-’80s television weirdness and revisit the 1982 holiday special The Valentine’s Day That Almost Wasn’t —a delightfully scrappy, foam-and-felt fairy tale that asks the eternal question: what if Valentine’s Day… just didn’t happen? When the wickedly evil villain, Rubella Slime, concocts a plan to replace all the Valentine&a...

They're back! You know they couldn't miss this one! This week, your favorite former puppeteers step back into the beloved chaos of The Muppet Show — but not the one that aired in the 1970s. Nope, it’s the glammed-up, vaudeville-meets-pop-star spectacle of the 2026 Muppet Show special featuring guest star Sabrina Carpenter , live from the Muppet Theater and streaming on Disney+ and ABC. ...

One hundred episodes! How time flies! In honor of the hundredth Puppet Masters of None, the PMoN boys recap all the movies and shows that they have placed on the Space to Carol spectrum over the years. Which ones shall stay put, which ones shall be knocked down a peg or two, and which ones shall rise to eternal glory? Who can say? Listen in to hear the boys rehash all the old arguments over again,...

This week, your favorite ex-puppeteers head straight into the uncanny valley to talk about the most homicidal hunk of plastic ever stitched together: Chucky from the Child’s Play franchise. From his humble beginnings as a “Good Guy” doll to his long career of gleeful murder sprees, we’ll explore how a pint-sized puppet became a horror icon. Expect behind-the-scenes tales of animatronics, puppetry...

This week, your favorite ex-puppeteers once again spin the magical monthly muppet wheel, where it landed on guest star Señor Wences proving that sometimes the funniest puppets are literally on the back of your hand. Armed with his fist-faced friend “Johnny” and the ever-squished “Pedro,” Wences brought his old-school ventriloquism into the Muppet Theatre—and somehow kept a straight face while shar...

This week, your favorite ex-puppeteers grab their popcorn and a bucket of felt as they revisit the 1981 television special The Muppets Go to the Movies . Part clip show, part genre spoof, and all chaotic charm, this special saw Kermit, Piggy, and the gang lampoon Hollywood’s greatest hits—from westerns and silent films to musicals, monster flicks, and even a dash of epic melodrama. Along for the r...

This week, your favorite ex-puppeteers tackle the foam-rubber fiasco known as Mac and Me —the 1988 E.T. knockoff so brazen, it makes you wonder if anyone at the studio had actually seen E.T. (or sobriety). We dig into the wobbly alien puppetry, the animatronics that look like they were powered by a car battery on its last legs, and of course, that infamous McDonald’s dance sequence that plays like...

This week, our two former puppeteers revisit the delightfully bizarre—and terribly provocative—Peter Sellers episode of The Muppet Show . Sellers arrives not as himself, but as every outrageously caricatured persona you can imagine: a fiddle-playing Romani, an overbearing German masseuse channeling Dr. Strangelove , a regal (and bearded) Queen Victoria, and a cryptic cameo as Inspector Clouseau hi...

This week, your favorite ex-puppeteers turn up the heat—literally—as they dive into the towering, flame-bound tradition of Zozobra , the giant puppet who goes up in smoke every year at Santa Fe’s legendary Fiestas de Santa Fe . Standing over 50 feet tall and packed with gloom (and a lot of fireworks), Zozobra isn’t your average marionette—he’s a full-blown cultural catharsis. We trace his origins...

Puppet Masters of None! A podcast where two former puppeteers talk Muppets, puppets, and everything in between. Join us as we kick off season 2! Join the discussion on our discord! https://discord.gg/JDtWJrhPF6 Follow us on twitter @PMoNPodcast and on Instagram and Threads @puppetmastersofnone Find out more about the puppet masters on our website: https://puppetmastersofnone.wixsite.com/puppetmast...

This week, on PMoN your favorite ex-puppeteers leap headfirst into The Frog Prince —the 1971 Muppet television special that proved true love’s kiss is even weirder when the smooch involves felt. We revisit Kermit in his pre- Muppet Show side hustle, meet Robin the Frog in his debut role, and marvel at the gloriously oddball supporting cast (looking at you, witchy Taminella Grinderfall). Along the...

This week, your favorite retired puppet wranglers stomp into the latex-and-foam wonderland of the 1991 ABC sitcom Dinosaurs —the prehistoric family comedy that was part TGIF hug-fest, part biting social satire, and entirely animatronic absurdity. From Earl Sinclair’s mating dance to Baby’s wooden spoon, we dig into how Jim Henson’s Creature Shop brought the Stone Age to prime time—complete with fu...

Annnnnnnnnd WE'RE BACK! And what a triumphant return it is! In this ogre-sized episode, your favorite former-puppeteers-turned-podcast-hosts dive headlong into the swampy world of Shrek the Musical —because nothing says "puppetry" like a talking gingerbread man and a 25-foot-long fire-breathing dragon. This week, the lads welcome not one but two fairy-tale royalty guests Jack O&apos...

It's time to play the music, it's time to light the lights, it's time to SPIN THE MUPPET SHOW'S MAGICAL MONTHLY MUPPET SHOW OF THE MONTH! And this time it landed on (drum roll) JOHN CLEESE! Premire member of legendary comedy troupe Monty Python, Mr. Cleese and the Muppets are a match made in heaven! John Cleese not only guest starred, but also wrote the episode as well, so you...

**SMASH** **BREAKS GLASS** Well folks, here we are with another emergency pod, reviewing another one of Heather Henson's Handmade Puppet Dreams films. This time we opted to forgo spinning the wheel to just go ahead and watch a film suggested to us by a friend over on the discord! (shout out to L_Troemel!)  For the uninitiated, Handmade Puppet Dreams is a series of short films produced by Heat...

Don't you just love it when you are searching through the endlessly growing maze of streaming titles and stumble upon a puppet movie you've never even heard of before? We here at Puppet Masters of None sure do! This week Ben was fortunate enough to discover the Australian movie, Judy and Punch. Not only does this movie feature some pretty interesting marionettes, but it is a live action...

"The sun is shining it's a lovely day, but you've got lots of bills to pay." Welcome one and all to Puppet Masters of None's second explicit episode! While we try to keep it family friendly on this show, the content we are review today is so adult, so vile, so incredibly depraved, we can't even talk about it without wading around in the muck ourselves, so here we are....

"The sun is shining it's a lovely day, but you've got lots of bills to pay." Welcome one and all to Puppet Masters of None's first explicit episode! While we try to keep it family friendly on this show, the content we are review today is so adult, so vile, so incredibly depraved, we can't even talk about it without wading around in the muck ourselves, so here we are....

Love is in the air! This week on PMoN, the boys go back to the Muppet roots with the first Muppet Show pilot episode,  The Muppets Valentine Show!  For those counting this is ANOTHER pilot separate from the Sex and Violence pilot they discussed in episode 43. This silly holiday romp guest stars the incomparable Mia Farrow, and features some great moments from lesser known characters like Mildred H...

**SMASH** **BREAKS GLASS** Well folks, while we promised some puppet history on Chinese dancing dragon puppets, unfortunately, life got in the way. (Now that Ben has a baby, we expect that to happen A LOT.) Since we didn't have time to do proper research, and we want to make sure to do Chinese Puppetry justice, we decided to save puppet history for another time and create a break-glass-in-cas...

It's time to play the music, it's time to light the lights, it's time to SPIN THE MUPPET SHOW'S MAGICAL MONTHLY MUPPET SHOW OF THE MONTH! And this time it landed on (drum roll) STEVE MARTIN! Once again, the PMoN boys have quite differing opinions on this one! While the boys both appreciate the comedy genius that is the legendary Steve Martin, they have different ideas as to how...