“I’m the luckiest person, that I get to do this. It is such a fun career and so rewarding, and I love it,” said Peter Linz, a Muppeteer who will be bringing several of his characters to PuppetPalooza this weekend. Linz’s fascination with the felt-covered creatures started when he was just a boy. “I was exactly the right age to grow up with Sesame Street and The Muppet Show,” he said during a recent phone conversation from his home in New York City. “My earliest memories are playing with a little squirrel puppet in preschool and actually entertaining the other kids. I just loved that feeling.” Linz went to college to study psychology but dropped out to follow his dream. “Halfway through my junior year, I was like, ‘No, I just want to play with dolls on television,” he said with a chuckle. “I attended a couple of workshops with the Jim Henson Company and eventually got hired at the Muppets.”
Since then, Linz has made his living playing various well-known Muppets, including Statler (of Waldorf and Statler, the grumpy old men in the balcony); Robin, Kermit’s nephew; Link Hogthrob, from the recurring sketch “Pigs in Space”; and Walter, who was introduced in the 2011 film starring Jason Segel and Amy Adams. (“I’m a movie star from the elbow up,” Linz joked.) The following is an edited version of our conversation, which ranged in topic from Linz’s TV roles to performing on Broadway to what to expect at PuppetPalooza.
So you are a movie star. I’m a movie star from the elbow up.