Scooter Puppet

Scooter is a hand-rod puppet that was originally performed by Richard Hunt and is currently performed by David Rudman. Scooter is the nephew of J. P. Grosse, the owner of The Muppet Theatre on The Muppet Show. Scooter was built in the late 1970s based on Michael Frith’s designs and Jim Henson’s ideas. He has glasses with his eyes embedded in the lenses and usually wears a green jacket. Scooter is energetic and eager to please and acts as Kermit’s assistant and a “gofer” backstage. In a hand-rod puppet, like Scooter, the performer’s dominant hand goes into the puppet’s head and operates the mouth and sometimes other facial features. The less dominant hand controls the arm rods, which are thin rods connected to the puppet’s hands.

The Muppet Show is a half-hour long variety show featuring the Muppets that aired for five seasons from 1976 to 1981. The action of the show was generally split evenly between on-stage acts and the chaos going on backstage. Each episode featured a human guest star.