David Rudman

Spiffy Pictures
Industry	Television production
Founded	2003; 21 years ago
Founders	David Rudman; Adam Rudman;
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois
Products	Television programs

David Rudman
David Rudman
	Rudman at SXSW in 2015
Born	June 1, 1963 (age 61); Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupations	Puppeteer; puppet builder; writer; director; producer;
Years active	1981–present

David Rudman (born June 1, 1963) is an American puppeteer, puppet builder, writer, director, and producer known for his involvement with the Muppets and Sesame Street. Rudman currently performs the roles of Scooter, Janice, and Beaker for The Muppets Studio, which were all originated by Richard Hunt, as well as Cookie Monster and Baby Bear on Sesame Street.

Career

Rudman has been a Sesame Street performer since 1985—currently performing Cookie Monster (since 2001), Baby Bear and the right head of the Two-Headed Monster (since 1998). He has received four Emmy nominations as Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for his work on Sesame Street. Rudman has also directed several web videos for Sesame Street such as "Cookie Monster Auditions for Saturday Night Live" and "Conversations with Bert". He has performed in numerous television shows and specials including Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Muppets, where he performed characters originally portrayed by Richard Hunt, such as Scooter, Janice, Bobby Benson and Wayne. His film credits include The Muppets Take Manhattan, Labyrinth, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, A Muppet Christmas Carol, The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted. Following the departure of Steve Whitmire in 2016, he became Beaker's new performer in 2017.

Personal life

Rudman attended Highland Park High School and graduated in 1981. He has been a speaker at the school's biennial Focus on the Arts program since 2003. He attended college at the University of Connecticut.^[1]

Rudman was the speaker at the 2005 graduation ceremony for the Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago.^[2]

Spiffy Pictures

Spiffy Pictures is a Chicago-based production company that was founded by David and Adam Rudman in 2003. The studio consists mainly of live-action television shows developed for networks such as Noggin, Disney Channel, the Nick Jr. Channel, and PBS.

In addition to his work on Sesame Street and with the Muppets, Rudman is co-owner of Spiffy Pictures where he co-created, executive produced, directed and performed in Jack's Big Music Show (Noggin), Curious Buddies (Nick Jr. Baby), Bunnytown (Disney Junior), Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map (Warner Bros.), Frankie and Frank (Nick Jr.), and Donkey Hodie (PBS Kids). He is the creator, executive producer, character designer, director and voice director of the animated series Nature Cat (PBS Kids), also voicing several characters including Leo the Mammoth, Prospector Jones, Nevin, and the Seeker.

Filmography

Film

Year	Production	Role	Other notes
1984	The Muppets Take Manhattan	Additional Muppets	Performer
1986	Labyrinth	Goblins	Puppeteer
1992	The Muppet Christmas Carol	Swedish Chef, Wander McMooch	Performer
1993	Billy Bunny's Animal Songs	Frog, Gopher, Penguin, Percival Bear, Termite	Performer
1995	Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree	Ned Mouse	Performer; television film
1999	The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland	Baby Bear, Caterpillar, Pestie, Collander Stenchman, Ice Cream Customer, Alarm Clock Bird, Fat Blue Customer, Gassy Grouch, Grouch Prisoner	Performer
2008	Abby in Wonderland	Cookie Monster	Performer; direct-to-DVD film
2011	The Muppets	Scooter, Janice, Miss Poogy, Wayne, Bobby Benson, Singing Food	Performer
2013	Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map	Scooby-Doo	Puppeteer; direct-to-DVD film
2014	Muppets Most Wanted	Scooter, Janice, Miss Poogy, Wayne, Bobby Benson	Performer

Television

Year	Production	Role	Other notes
1985–present	Sesame Street	Cookie Monster, Baby Bear, Sully, Sonny Friendly, Humphrey, Flo Bear	Performer
1985	Little Muppet Monsters	Boo Monster	Performer
1986	The Tale of the Bunny Picnic	Snort, Snail, Additional Muppets	Performer; television special
1987	A Muppet Family Christmas	Additional Muppets, Miss Piggy's Photographer (voice)	Performer; television special
1987–1989	The Jim Henson Hour	Additional Muppets	Performer
1989	The Ghost of Faffner Hall	Earl the Dragon
1990	The Cosby Show	Sweetums, Boo Monster
	The Earth Day Special	Lizard	Performer; television special
	The Magical World of Disney	Dog, Frog,	Performer
1991	Big Bird's Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake	Athena, Chicago the Lion	Performer; television special
1991–1992	Dinosaurs	Additional Dinosaurs	Performer; 2 episodes
1993	Sesame Street Stays Up Late!	Baby Bear, MNN Logo Orange Monster, Grouches, AM Monsters	Performer; television special
1993–1994	CityKids	Dread, Frankie Frank, Lieutenant, Koozbanians, Toya	Performer
1994	Dog City	Bowser	Voice; 1 episode
1996	Aliens in the Family	Bobut, Orange and Purple Yukkles	Performer
1997	Muppets Tonight	Additional Muppets
2002–2007	Play with Me Sesame	Cookie Monster, Chicago the Lion, Ernestine
2004–2005	Curious Buddies		Director, writer
2005–2007	Jack's Big Music Show	Jack	Performer, co-creator, executive producer
2007–2008	Bunnytown	Yellow Cave Bunny, Hoppy Funtooth, Blue Bunny Musician	Performer, co-creator, executive producer
2008	Studio DC: Almost Live	Janice, Scooter	Performer
2008	A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa	Janice, Scooter	Performer; television special
2009	Dinner: Impossible	Cookie Monster	Performer; 1 episode
2009–2010	Where is Warehouse Mouse?		Director
2012	Jimmy Kimmel Live!	Janice	Performer; 1 episode
2013	Lady Gaga and the Muppets Holiday Spectacular	Janice, Scooter	Performer; television special
2014–2016	The Furchester Hotel	Cookie Monster, Gonger, Sorbet	Performer
2015–2016	The Muppets	Janice, Scooter, Satay	Performer
2015–2024	Nature Cat	Leo the Mammoth, Additional voices	Voice, co-creator, executive producer
2019–2022	Chip and Potato		Director
2019	Drop the Mic	Beaker	Performer; 1 episode
2019	Lip Sync Battle	Cookie Monster	Performer; 1 episode
2020	The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo	Cookie Monster	Performer^[3]
2020	Muppets Now	Janice, Scooter, Beaker, Miss Poogy	Performer^[3]
2021	Muppets Haunted Mansion	Janice, Scooter, Beaker, Wayne, Squid Ghost	Performer; Halloween special for Disney+
2021–present	Donkey Hodie	Bob Dog, Grampy Hodie, Stanley the Dragon.	Performer, co-creator, executive producer
2022	Mecha Builders	Mecha Cookie Monster	Voice
2023	The Muppets Mayhem	Janice	Performer

Other appearances

Year(s)	Production	Role	Other notes
1991	MuppetVision 3D*	Roy, Max	Performer, theme park show
2003	Sesame Street 4-D Movie Magic	Cookie Monster, Two-Headed Monster	Performer, theme park film
2021	The Muppets' Christmas Caroling Coach	Beaker	Voice, theme park show^[4]

References

^ "Folder Contents".
^ www.ilic.artinstitutes.edu Archived September 3, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
^ Adams, Erik (May 19, 2020). "The Not-Too-Late Show With Elmo is the next best thing to a streaming Muppet Show". The AV Club. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
^ "Video: The Muppet Christmas Caroling Coach Debuts at Disney Merriest Nites". laughingplace.com. November 11, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2022.

External links

David Rudman at IMDb
Spiffy Pictures

Preceded by Rickey Boyd	Performer of Scooter 2008–present	Succeeded by None
Preceded by Tyler Bunch	Performer of Janice 2008–present	Succeeded by None
Preceded by Jim Henson	Performer of Swedish Chef 1992	Succeeded by Bill Barretta
Preceded by Richard Hunt	Performer of Bobby Benson^{[broken anchor]} 2011–present	Succeeded by None
Preceded by Richard Hunt	Performer of Wayne^{[broken anchor]} 2011–present	Succeeded by None
Preceded by Martin Robinson	Performer of Mommy Snuffleupagus 1980s – 1990s	Succeeded by Noel MacNeal
Preceded by Richard Hunt	Performer of Sully 1992–1999	Succeeded by None
Preceded by Richard Hunt	Performer of Sonny Friendly 1992–2000	Succeeded by None
Preceded by Adam Hunt	Performer of Two-Headed Monster (right head) 1998–present	Succeeded by None
Preceded by Frank Oz	Performer of Cookie Monster January 2, 2001 (2001-01-02) – present	Succeeded by None
Preceded by Steve Whitmire	Performer of Beaker September 2, 2017 (2017-09-02) – present	Succeeded by None
Preceded by None	Miss Poogy^{[broken anchor]} September 1, 2011 (2011-09-01) – present	Succeeded by None
Preceded by None	Baby Bear April 29, 1991 (1991-04-29) – present	Succeeded by None

[1] "Folder Contents".

[2] www.ilic.artinstitutes.edu Archived September 3, 2006, at the Wayback Machine

[3] Adams, Erik (May 19, 2020). "The Not-Too-Late Show With Elmo is the next best thing to a streaming Muppet Show". The AV Club. Retrieved June 1, 2020.

[4] "Video: The Muppet Christmas Caroling Coach Debuts at Disney Merriest Nites". laughingplace.com. November 11, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2022.

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