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…

On Episode 211 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview Belinda Ward! Belinda is a television writer who wrote for Sesame Street from 1986 to 2021! She wrote dozens of episodes and songs for the show, as well as some of the recurring segments like Monsterpiece Theater, Elmo's World and Elmo the Musical! She also wrote inserts and songs for a nu…

On Episode 210 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview director, writer and producer Paul Lally! Paul is best known for directing over 100 episodes of the long-running PBS series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. He was also a writer for the show and became a close friend of Fred Rogers. Currently, he is an executive producer on the PBS cooking ser…

On Episode 209 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview Marc Brown, Tolon Brown and Peter K. Hirsch! Many will know Marc's work best for creating the successful Arthur franchise, including the original books and the long-running PBS TV series that aired from 1996 to 2022! His son Tolon was a producer on the show and Peter was head writer on Art…

On Episode 208 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview writer Stephen White! Stephen started out writing and co-producing shows for the Chuck E. Cheese franchise, before he became a writer for the Barney franchise. During his time with Barney, Stephen wrote dozens of episodes, home videos, live shows, songs and books! Some of his most notable …

On Episode 207 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview actor Kevin Yamada! For several years, Kevin worked for the Sprout TV network, first as the host of The Birthday Show, before moving on to becoming one of the original hosts of the morning block The Sunny Side Up Show from 2007-2009! In addition, he also performed the character Ricky on th…

On Episode 206 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview puppeteers and puppet builders Patrick and Sean Johnson! Patrick and Sean's work is best known through their puppet company Swazzle, where they have built puppets for projects such as the Netflix series Waffles + Mochi, the Showtime series Kidding, the Comedy Central adult puppet series Cr…

On Episode 205 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview puppeteer Alice Dinnean! Alice has performed in many Muppet productions, including puppeteering various characters on Sesame Street, such as Goldilocks, Sherry Netherland, Mama Bear, Phoebe and more. She also performed the characters Julie Woo and Sizzle on The Puzzle Place, Mary on Jack's…

On Episode 204 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview writer and producer Jocelyn Stevenson! Jocelyn is best known for her contributions to a wide variety of projects for The Jim Henson Company. She started off writing books based on various Muppet productions, then worked as one of the co-creators and writers for the original Fraggle Rock se…

On Episode 203 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview actor Roscoe Orman! Early on in Roscoe's acting career, he performed with the New York Shakespeare Festival and the New Federal Theater. He made his film debut as the title character Willie in the 1973 blaxploitation film Willie Dynamite and acted in projects like Sanford and Son, Law & Or…

On Episode 202 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview puppeteer and voice actor Drew Massey! Drew's earliest work in the puppet world includes working as an additional puppeteer on the Henson series Dinosaurs. He also puppeteered the character Kyle O'Connor in The Puzzle Place and performed the puppetry of the title character Skeeter in Cousi…

On Episode 201 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview puppeteer, actor and writer Jodi Eichelberger! For many years, Jodi acted with The Tapestry Theatre Company, before having a professional career as a puppeteer. His best-known puppeteering role was performing Stingy on the Nick Jr. and Sprout series LazyTown. He was also an additional pupp…

On Episode 200 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview puppeteer Eric Jacobson! Eric started out as an intern for The Jim Henson Company, then joining Sesame Street in the '90s and inheriting the roles of Grover, Bert, Oscar the Grouch, Guy Smiley and the left head of the Two-Headed Monster. Since the early '2000s, he has also been a Muppet pe…

On Episode 199 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview voice actor Chris Phillips! Chris is a voiceover artist who voiced The Professor and Grumper in Felix the Cat: The Movie very early on in his career. He was an announcer for Cartoon Network, before becoming the original voice of Face, the host of the Nick Jr. block! He also voiced Roger Kl…

On Episode 198 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview puppeteer, voice actor and director Victor Yerrid! Before becoming a puppeteer, Victor first worked as an intern for The Jim Henson Company. As a puppeteer, he worked on series such as Bear in the Big Blue House, Between the Lions and The Book of Pooh. Victor is best known for performing S…

On Episode 197 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview puppeteer, writer and director Noel MacNeal! Noel's puppetry career started on The Great Space Coaster, inheriting the role of Knock Knock. Since 1982, he has worked on Sesame Street as a puppeteer and now as a director. He is best known for puppeteering the title character Bear on Bear in…

On Episode 196 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview Australian voice actor and impressionist Keith Scott! Early on in his professional voiceover career, Keith lent his voice to many radio and TV commercials, both with his original voices and by doing character impressions. He also voiced Flap the Platypus, Splodge the Kangaroo and various o…

On Episode 195 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview puppeteer, puppet designer and director, Tim Lagasse! Tim has performed many styles of puppets for over 3 decades. Some of his most well-known puppeteering roles include performing Mr. Cook and Tweeter on Allegra's Window, Arty Smartypants, Barnaby B. Busterfield III and Gus the Bunny on B…

On Episode 194 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, voice actress and singer Debi Derryberry returns for a chat! For 30 years, Debi has lent her voice to countless characters in animation. Just to name a few, she voiced the title character Jimmy Neutron in Nickelodeon's Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius franchise, Draculaura in the Monster High franchise and Cl…