Jerry Nelson

Jerry Nelson was performing on the radio at nine years of age and later became a puppeteer with Bil and Cora Baird. He worked with the Muppets on an occasional basis from the mid-sixties, becoming a full-time member of the team with the advent of Sesame Street.
"The angriest I've ever seen Jim-and I only saw him angry twice in the twenty-something years I knew him-was while we were doing The Muppet Show. We used to come in on Sunday mornings to read the script. Then we'd have music rehearsals, and then we'd go look at the sets, and talk about any problems we might have. This particular Sunday, we came in and read the show and there was not one thing [in the script] for me. I just sat there...I didn't read a line. I was very, very upset by this; I was hurt that they hadn't given me one thing to do, and that they had made me come in and sit through the whole read-through. So at the end of it, I very theatrically stood up, walked over to the trash can, dropped the script in it, and walked out.
"Later, Jim called me into his office and said, quietly, 'Don't you ever do that again.' This was the angriest I've ever seen him. Of course, he was right. If I had needed to make a statement, I could have made it to him privately. And it was interesting. Jim himself would never have upbraided me or talked strongly to me while everyone was around. He did it privately...like I should have. Jim was like a Zen master that way...he taught by example."

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