Dave Goelz

David Charles "Dave" Goelz (born July 16, 1946) is a puppeteer best known for his association with the Muppets, and in particular with the Muppet character Gonzo. His other Muppet characters include Bunsen Honeydew, Zoot (the saxophonist of Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem), Beauregard the stagehand and Tiny (the giant chicken in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland) . He also performed the characters of Boober Fraggle and Uncle Travelling Matt on Fraggle Rock. He also performed the puppetry for various characters, including Sir Didymus and Wiseman's Hat (both voiced by David Shaughnessy) in Labyrinth. Outside of puppeteering, he is the current voice actor for the Walt Disney World character Figment. He also provided the voice of the elephant bird creature in Dennis Nolan's 1976 animated short film Monster Bubbles. After Jim Henson died in 1990, Goelz took over puppeteering Waldorf in 1992.

Early life

Born in Los Angeles, California, Goelz had an interest in puppetry as a child, including an affinity for the children's television show Time for Beany, but after high school, attended the Los Angeles Art Center College of Design and began work as an industrial designer. The mechanically-minded Goelz worked for such companies as John Deere, American Airlines, and Hewlett Packard. However, when Sesame Street premiered, he was fascinated by the craftsmanship, as he recalled in a Muppet Central interview:

Bohemian Rhapsody

"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 studio album A Night at the Opera. It is a six-minute suite, consisting of several sections without a chorus: an intro, a ballad segment, an operatic passage, a hard rock part and a reflective coda. The song is a more accessible take on the 1970s progressive rock genre. It was the most expensive single ever made at the time of its release.

When it was released as a single, "Bohemian Rhapsody" became a commercial success, staying at the top of the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks and selling more than a million copies by the end of January 1976. It reached number one again in 1991 for another five weeks when the same version was re-released, eventually becoming the UK's third best-selling single of all time. It topped the charts in several other markets as well, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and The Netherlands, later becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time. In the United States the song originally peaked at number nine in 1976. It returned to the chart at number two in 1992 following its appearance in the film Wayne's World, which revived its American popularity.

List of That '70s Show episodes

That '70s Show is an American comedy television series that originally aired on Fox for 200 episodes and four specials across eight seasons, from August 23, 1998, to May 18, 2006. The series spans the years 1976 through the end of 1979.

Series screenwriters included Philip Stark, Mark Hudis, Jeff and Jackie Filgo, Will Forte, Gregg Mettler, Dean Batali, and series creators Bonnie and Terry Turner. All episodes following the pilot were directed by David Trainer. For Seasons 5–8, episodes were titled after song names from various 1970s rock bands: fifth season episodes are named after songs by Led Zeppelin, sixth season titles are The Who songs, all seventh season titles are from The Rolling Stones and, except for the finale, eighth season titles are Queen songs.

The entire series of 200 episodes has been released on Regions 1, 2 and 4 DVD, and in 2015, the series was released on Blu-ray.

Series overview

Episodes

Season 1 (1998–99)

Season 2 (1999–2000)

Season 3 (2000–01)

List of Bohemian Rhapsody cover versions

The song "Bohemian Rhapsody", written by Freddie Mercury and originally recorded by rock band Queen for their album A Night at the Opera, has been covered by many different artists.

List

The Muppets

The song was performed by The Muppets characters in 2009. A music video was posted on YouTube on November 23, 2009 before the release of the track, and features Muppets characters singing partially modified lyrics of the original song. It garnered over seven million hits within its first week of release. Unlike other cover versions, the Muppets' single features the final master of Queen's original 1975 recording.

The video and song is an official production of The Muppets Studio. The success of the video caused Walt Disney Records to release the cover as a single on December 13, 2009, where it peaked at #32 on the UK Singles Chart.

Video

The Muppets' version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" was directed by Kirk Thatcher, who has been involved with several other Muppets videos. According to studio manager Lylle Breier, the idea of the Muppets singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" had long been an idea that they wanted to do, but only was able to bring the project together within a short time before the video's release. Thatcher noted they had a long list of possible songs they wanted to do with a large group of Muppets, including Don McLean's "American Pie", but "Bohemian Rhapsody" was their ultimate selection. Filming was completed within a day by 20 staffers; Thatcher considered the task to be "epic in scale" considering they normally only use half a dozen Muppets for a single scene. Breier stated that this and other videos that The Muppets Studio released to YouTube are part of a promotional push for the Muppets; Breier likened outlets on the Internet like YouTube to the variety shows of the 1970s, and felt that the Muppets easily fitted into that culture.