Funny Boy: The Richard Hunt Biography

by Jessica Max Stein

Overview

"The most sensational, perpetual teenager in the world.” —Jim Henson

"To know him was to love him, and we do." —Mark Hamill
 
Funny Boy: The Richard Hunt Biography tells the life story of a gifted performer whose gleeful irreverence, sharp wit and generous spirit inspired millions. Richard Hunt was one of the original main five performers in the Muppet troupe. He brought to life an impressive range of characters on The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock and various Muppet movies, everyone from eager gofer Scooter to elderly heckler Statler, groovy girl Janice to freaked-out lab helper Beaker, even early versions of Miss Piggy and Elmo. Hunt also acted, directed and mentored the next generation of performers. His accomplishments are all the more remarkable in that he crammed them all into only 40 years. 

Richard Hunt was just 18 years old when he joined Jim Henson’s company, where his edgy humor quickly helped launch the Muppets into international stardom. Hunt lived large, savoring life’s delights, amassing a vivid, disparate community of friends. Even when the AIDS epidemic wrought its devastation, claiming the love of Hunt’s life and threatening his own life, he showed an extraordinary sense of resilience, openness and joy. Hunt’s story exemplifies how to follow your passion, foster your talents, adapt to life’s surprises, genuinely connect with everyone from glitzy celebrities to gruff cab drivers - and have a hell of a lot of fun along the way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781978836716
Publisher:	Rutgers University Press
Publication date:	03/15/2024
Pages:	346
Sales rank:	107,326
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.34(d)
Age Range:	16 - 18 Years

About the Author

JESSICA MAX STEIN teaches writing and literature at Hunter College of the City University of New York. Her writing has garnered accolades from Poets & Writers Magazine’s Amy Award to the Independent Press Association’s Ippie Award and was shortlisted for the Hazel Rowley Prize from the Biographers International Organization. She is a former editor of the New York newspaper The Indypendent, for which she still writes.  
 

Table of Contents

Prelude

PART I

1 Jersey Boy

2 Making a Career

PART II

3 Apprentice

4 Sunny Days

5 Camaraderie

PART III

6 Affectionate Anarchy

7 Muppetmania

8 Millions of People Happy

9 Endings and Beginnings

PART IV

10 Top of the World

11 Making Connections

12 Changes

13 Three Terrible Things

14 Magic Be with You

15 Resilience

PART V

16 Moving On

17 Saying Goodbye

18 Sage

19 A Whole New Adventure

20 Legacy

Afterword

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
SOURCES
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
INDEX

Editorial Reviews

12/18/2023

Stein, an English lecturer at Hunter College, traces in her affectionate debut biography the life and work of Richard Hunt (1951–1992), one of the “Original Five” performers who propelled the Muppets to international acclaim in the 1970s and ’80s. Growing up in post-WWII New York and New Jersey, Hunt was part of a large, boisterous family who encouraged his love of performing. Success during his teenage years as a children’s birthday party puppeteer hinted at his future career, which began when he cold-called Muppets creator Jim Henson’s entertainment company, “bounded like a big puppy into his June 1970 audition,” and was hired as a puppeteer for The Muppets, then a bare-bones enterprise with segments on such TV shows as Sesame Street. Hunt began by operating the right hands of puppets voiced by Jim Henson and his longtime creative partner Frank Oz, but soon started developing and voicing his own characters, including Janice, the hippie singer in the Electric Mayhem band, and Beaker, the long-suffering assistant to Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. Mining interviews with Hunt’s friends, colleagues, and family, Stein perceptively captures how the puppeteer’s edgy energy and unique, irreverent humor proved instrumental to the show’s success, particularly as The Muppets transitioned toward more adult-centered programming in the 1970s. The result is a nuanced and meticulously detailed tribute to the artist once described by Jim Henson as “the most sensational, perpetual teenager in the world.” (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Jessica Max Stein's biography of performer and puppeteer Richard Hunt is humorous, touching, and engagingly written. Funny Boy illuminates Hunt's life as a stunning example of how to live and die with community, frivolity, dignity, and purpose."
 

co-author of We Are Having This Conversation Now: The Times of AIDS Cultural Production - Theodore (Ted) Kerr

"At last! It's the long-awaited story of one of Muppet history's most beloved performers! With Funny Boy, Jessica Max Stein brings us a nuanced, compassionate, and deeply researched biography of Richard Hunt, exploring his remarkable life as one of Muppetdom's most enthusiastic and energetic performers, while putting that same life in context with a complicated and often dark time in our cultural history. Tapping into interviews with those who were there, and packed full of stories you've never heard before, Funny Boy is all at once entertaining, interesting, inspiring, wacky, and heartbreaking—just like Richard Hunt himself."

author of Jim Henson: The Biography - Brian Jay Jones

"I met Richard Hunt while touring the Muppet Show and we became instant friends for life. Everything about him was larger than life: His personality, his humor, his energy, his talent and his great big heart. My family never knew when he might show up in his big black Checker cab, but we did know we were in for another wonderful adventure with the guy my kids call 'Uncle Richard' to this very day. To know him was to love him, and we do."

actor - Mark Hamill

"I worked with Richard Hunt for 18 years, but there was a lot I didn’t know. Jessica Max Stein's powerful biography of Hunt is a great read. Stein spent years meticulously researching Hunt’s intensely public and fiercely private life. Here is the authentic story of Hunt’s journey to the top of his field, but more importantly, his quest for self-knowledge and finally, self-acceptance. I know Richard better now."
 

Muppet performer for 50+ years - Dave Goelz

03/01/2024

Stein (writing and literature, CUNY Hunter Coll.) delivers a meticulously detailed biography of Muppets puppeteer Richard Hunt (1951–92). Performing came naturally to Hunt, who grew up in New Jersey in a large family that participated in local theater. He was interested in puppets as a teenager and a fan of the Muppets on Sesame Street. After graduating from high school, he cold-called Jim Henson's company and asked if he could audition. His timing was felicitous, as Henson was beginning to expand his operations and later developed the TV series The Muppet Show in 1976. Hunt started out working the right hands of puppets voiced by Henson and Frank Oz. He later developed the voices of Beaker, Don Music, Forgetful Jones, and numerous others. He continued to work with the company on Muppet films and other television series including Fraggle Rock until he died at the age of 40 of HIV/AIDS-related complications. VERDICT Exemplary research, culled from a plenitude of interviews with Hunt's family, friends, and coworkers, reveals a talented artist with tireless energy, enthusiasm, wit, and personality.—Phillip Oliver

Library Journal