Posted in: Max, streaming, TV, YouTube | Tagged: Curb Your Enthusiasm, elmo, fraggle rock, larry david, sesame street

Fraggle Rock Puppeteers: Elmo/Larry David Incident "Super Dangerous"

Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock puppetees John Tartaglia & Dan Garza shared their professional thoughts on the Elmo/Larry David incident.

As far as all of the ways that the month of February could've kicked off, a bizarre physical altercation between Larry David and Elmo probably wasn't the best one. The loveable "Sesame Street" mainstay found himself on the receiving end of an assault by the Curb Your Enthusiasm star while NBC's TODAY show hosts – Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Craig Melvin, and Al Roker – looked on in horror. What made matters worse was that it all went down in front of Elmo's dad, Louie – who dropped a great line about suing for assault that made everyone a bit uncomfortable. Since that time, David "apologized" – only to pretty much take it back while making light of the whole situation. We made our feelings known on the matter last week – and "Star Trek" Universe star Wil Wheaton didn't pull any punches when he expressed his thoughts on David's actions on social media.

During an Apple TV+ press event for Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock this week, John Tartaglia (puppeteer for Gobo Fraggle) and Dan Garza (puppeteer for Junior Gorg) shared their thoughts on the incident. "You know, there was a person's hand inside of there, and that wasn't a pretty planned thing. And so the puppeteer in me was like, 'Oh my god, that's super dangerous. Like, you just grabbed someone's hand and twisted it.' People forget all the time, all the time, that there is somebody inside of these characters when you don't see us. And so, it's a risk that we take," Tartaglia shared.

Garza picked up on Tartaglia's comments, adding that "the magic in our job" is being able to make people forget and believe in the fantasy. "That's the magic in our job, is that we bring these critters to life and you forget that there's a person attached," Garza explained. "And, if I'm doing my job, right, and I'm wearing a sparkling neon suit, and I'm puppeteering live in front of you, and you're still making eye contact with the puppet? Then I'm doing my job. I've seen big-time executives turn into 8-year-old children and tear up when they all of a sudden [connect through this puppet.]"

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