Australian puppeteer Richard Bradshaw speaks about working on The Muppet Show
In Australia, puppeteer Richard Bradshaw, who became the only Australian puppeteer to appear on The Muppet Show, spoke about collaborating with Muppets creator Jim Henson. As ABC News Australia reports, Henson invited Bradshaw to the new television project in a letter dated March 8, 1976.
In the letter, Henson wrote that the team was working on a series of 24 half-hour television shows intended for syndication in the United States and other countries. Bradshaw spent a week with Henson in London, where segments for the first episodes of The Muppet Show were filmed. His act aired in 1977 in the 22nd episode, whose guest celebrity was Broadway actress Ethel Merman.
From shadow theatre to television
Bradshaw was born in Sydney in 1938, studied mathematics and geology at university, and then taught. He began working in puppet theatre in 1952, when he joined a small puppet theatre in Clovelly, Sydney.
After working with hand puppets and marionettes, Bradshaw focused on shadow puppets—complex cut-out figures that form characters on a lit screen. With the support of Edith Murray, co-founder of the Clovelly Puppet Theatre, he began performing for wider audiences and touring schools across Australia. Bradshaw also appeared periodically on the children's program Play School.
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In 1972, he performed at festivals in France and the United States, where his work was noticed by Jim and Jane Henson. Bradshaw later corresponded with Henson and advised him on the use of shadow puppets in television projects.
Collaboration with Jim Henson
After meeting in New York, Bradshaw stayed with the Henson family and spoke with puppeteers Frank Oz and Caroll Spinney. Spinney created the characters Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch for Sesame Street. At the end of work on the show, Henson gave Bradshaw a silver Kermit pendant that he had previously worn around his neck.
The Muppet Show ran for five seasons and comprised 120 episodes. By the end of 1976, the show's audience had reached 14 million viewers, and the following year it was acquired for broadcast in more than 100 countries. During its original run, the project won four Emmy Awards, three BAFTAs, and a Grammy.
In 1985, Henson invited Bradshaw to take part in the series World of Puppetry, dedicated to six puppeteers. The episode featuring the Australian artist was filmed in Australia in partnership with ABC. In February 2027, the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane plans a special screening of this episode as part of an exhibition about the creative world of Jim Henson's company.
