Episode 17 of The Barretta Brothers. Guests: Ricky Gervais, Matt Vogel, and Constantine. Hosted by award-winning author/illustrator of children's books, Gene Barretta and producer, writer, director, and performer for the Muppets, Bill Barretta. For more details, visit: www.thebarrettabrothers.com
Ricky Gervais and Matt Vogel speak about their experiences in the comedy, acting, and the puppeteering industries. They delve into their influences, their favorite bits, and characters. Ricky discusses how people live vicariously through comedians and the value in enjoying yourself and living to have fun. Then, Matt speaks on vocal matching, specifically with Kermit, what peaked his interest in puppets, and how acting fuels great puppeteering.
We address:
What draws people to Ricky Gervais?
What inspired him to create Afterlife? Will there be more seasons?
How did Matt get into acting and puppeteering?
What’s his new podcast, Below The Frame, all about?
What have their experiences with The Muppets been like?
We get old because we stop playing! Tune into this week’s episode to hear how Ricky Gervais enjoys life and for a fun look into the world of being a puppeteer through the eyes of Matt Vogel. Plus, we get a call from a very special friend of theirs.
3 MAJOR POINTS DISCUSSED
● Ricky describes his candid thoughts on free speech and how comedy comes from sharing your opinions, being honest, and saying what’s on your mind.
● After seeing the negative side of cancel culture on social media and all the extremes that social media presents to the world, like the extreme right vs the extreme left, he was inspired to develop the series Afterlife. He knew that people feared sharing their opinions. He thought: If you lost everything and you have nothing to lose, you could say what you want. Losing everything would be losing your life partner.
● To be a great puppeteer, it’s helpful to have a strong background in acting. Matt details his background and how he got into acting after a not so fun experience puppeteering. He relates the two and notes what he learned from acting that can be directly applied to puppeteering and life.
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE
● What’s coming up? [02:04]
● Welcoming Ricky Gervais [02:42]
● Are people living vicariously through your naughtiness and brutal honesty? [04:10]
● Ricky has always tried to just have fun and enjoy himself [10:52]
● Biggest influences in our lives + Some of our favorite bits [11:58]
● What made you decide to do a live broadcast on Twitter during lockdown and did you ever think it would help people get through lockdown? [19:57]
● Our experiences with The Muppets + Ricky’s two favorite Muppets of all time [23:03]
● What inspired you to develop the series Afterlife and do you have a sense of how many seasons you’ll create? [30:17]
● A bit about Ricky and Christopher Guest’s friendship [33:54]
● Talking about Billy Crystal’s Don’t Get Me Started [37:20]
● Constantine calls in [38:33]
● Transition to Matt Vogel [44:35]
● Welcoming Matt Vogel [45:25]
● Remembering “The Goelz Greeting” [48:00]
● A bit about Matt and what peaked his interest about puppets [49:20]
● How Matt got into acting [53:08]
● Matt’s college sweetheart [55:40]
● A strong acting background helps make a great puppeteer [56:37]
● 3 of Matt’s biggest influences [59:49]
● We discuss Matt’s characters [1:06:02]
● Vocal matches: People have been discussing Matt’s Kermit voice [1:08:05]
● Playing a game of Pick A Number [1:11:50]
● Matt talks about his podcast Below The Frame [1:20:07]
● Outro [1:22:40]
ABOUT OUR GUESTS
Gervais began his stand-up career in the late 1990s. He has performed five multi-national stand-up comedy tours, and he wrote the Flanimals book series. Gervais, Merchant, and Karl Pilkington created the podcast The Ricky Gervais Show, which spawned various spin-offs starring Pilkington. Gervais has starred in films like, Ghost Town, the Night at the Museum trilogy, and Muppets Most Wanted. He hosted the Golden Globe Awards five times. Currently, Gervais is credited as the creator, executive producer, director, and writer for the Netflix comedy series After Life, where he plays the lead role of Tony Johnson.
Matt Vogel is one of the Core Muppet Performers. Some of his characters include; Kermit the Frog, Sgt. Floyd Pepper, Uncle Deadly, Lew Zealand and Constantine. He also performs Big Bird, The Count and many others on Sesame Street. As part of Sesame Street’s directing team, he has earned seven Emmy Awards for “Outstanding Directing in a Children’s Series” and directed the Primetime Emmy Award-Winning special Once Upon A Sesame Street Christmas for HBO. He is also a coproducer on Sesame Street and the show’s Puppet Captain.
RESOURCES
• Visit our website: www.thebarrettabrothers.com
• Visit Ricky Gervais’s website: www.rickygervais.com
• Visit Matt Vogel’s website: www.mattvogel.com
• “The Goelz Greeting”: • "The Goelz Greeting" p...