The Happytime Murders (2024)

The Happytime Murders is a film produced by the Jim Henson Company under their Henson Alternative brand. The company announced the project in October of 2008;^[1] it was released ten years later on August 24, 2018. The film is directed and produced by Brian Henson.

Set in downtown Los Angeles, the film centers on a pair of police officers, one human (Melissa McCarthy) and one puppet (Bill Barretta), as they solve the murders of former puppet stars.

Muppet Mentions[]

• In a scene where Phil Phillips investigates a puppet p*rnography shop, for the film, he remarks, "Looks like this mystery's brought to you by the letter P." The dialogue was used in a promotional spot for the film.

• The film's marketing launched on May 18th and includes a trailer and poster featuring the tagline "No Sesame, All Street". A week later on May 25th, Sesame Workshop filed a lawsuit against STX Entertainment for "distributing a trailer that deliberately confuses consumers into mistakenly believing that Sesame is associated with, has allowed, or has even endorsed or produced the movie and tarnishes Sesame’s brand." They subsequently lost the lawsuit.^[2] Afterwards a TV spot for the film references the lawsuit with the tagline "From the studio that was sued by Sesame Street."

• A series of memes created and shared by the movie's promotional Imgur account spoof two popular Kermit the Frog memes (specifically the "None of My Business" and "Evil Kermit" memes).

Cast[]

Human Cast

• Melissa McCarthy as Detective Connie Edwards
• Elizabeth Banks as Jenny
• Maya Rudolph as Bubbles
• Leslie David Baker as Lt. Banning
• Joel McHale as Agent Campbell

Puppet Cast

• Bill Barretta as Phil Philips, Junkyard, and Boar
• Dorien Davies as Sandra
• Kevin Clash as Bumblypants and Lyle (also Puppet Captain)
• Victor Yerrid as Larry and Old Man Puppet
• Drew Massey as Goofer and Vinny
• Colleen Smith as Dalmatian and Cara
• Ted Michaels as Sexist Thug and Ezra
• Brian Henson as Crab
• Donna Kimball as Roxy (puppetry, voice provided by Patty Guggenheim), Cow, and Rotten Cotton Girl
• Alice Dinnean as Rotten Cotton Girl
• Allan Trautman as Octopus and Puppet Doctor (puppetry, voice provided by Damon Jones)

• Core Puppeteers: Dorien Davies, Alice Dinnean, Jayden Libran, Drew Massey, Ted Michaels, Colleen Smith, Allan Trautman, Victor Yerrid
• Additional Puppeteers: Grant Baciocco, Greg Ballora, Tim Blaney, Kevin Carlson, Kristin Charney, Artie Esposito, Peggy Etra, Dan Garza, Patrick Johnson, Sean Johnson, Tim Lagasse, Bruce Lanoil, Lara MacLean, Amanda Maddock, Paul McGinnis, Alison Mork, Michael Oosterom, Nicolette Santino, John Tartaglia, Russ Walko

Creature Shop Credits[]

• Puppet Designers: Peter Brooke, Brett Bean, Ed Eyth, Casey Miller, Drew Pierce

New York[]

• Creative Supervisor: Jason Weber
• Lead Costume Fabricator: Constance Peterson
• Senior Production Manager: Melissa Creighton
• Production Supervisor: Joseph Roddy
• New York Puppet Fabricators: Heather Asch, David Bizzaro, Mary Brehmer, Jamie Bressler, Brian Carson, Elizabeth Cherry, Benjamin Durocher, Richard W. Dyar, Jonathan Ehrich, Victoria Ellis, James Godwin, Brian Haimes, Liz Hara, Arrow Kleeman, Joseph Kovacs, Jim Kroupa, Sarah Lafferty, Aria Linz, Mica Linz, Kari Love, Laura Manns, Anney Fresh Ozar, Gabriella N. Padilla, Lily Rosen, Stephen Rotondaro, Kate Rusek, Sierra Schoening, Keely Snook, Mark A. Stys, David Valentine, Matt Witham, James Wojtal

Los Angeles[]

• Animatronics supervisor: John Criswell
• Los Angeles Puppet Fabricators & Wrangling Team: Scott Johnson (Lead), Russ Walko, Andrea Detwiler, Lara MacLean, Amanda Maddock, Tom Newby, Pyn King-Sheers, Wes Humphrey, Luke Peters, Robert Pound, Jocelyn Lynch

Recycled puppets[]

The film uses a cast of 125 puppets, including 40 made exclusively for the film.^[3] Several of the other puppets used in the film were previously used on The Animal Show, Kermit's Swamp Years, Animal Jam, Bear in the Big Blue House, and other Henson Company productions prior to the sale of the Muppets to the Walt Disney Company.

Sources[]

External links[]

• Official site
• Henson Alternative Wiki