Brian Herring is a puppeteer who has performed in various Muppet/Henson productions, notably as Father Mouse and assorted guest customers on Mopatop's Shop, Diggs on Construction Site and the second incarnation of Hubba Hubba (originally performed by Mark Jefferis) and then as Groove in the final block of The Hoobs. He also performed Twang the motorette which was voiced by Mark Jefferis.
Herring's puppetry career began in 1992, when he auditioned for Spitting Image by claiming he had worked on the Little Shop of Horrors stage show, and six weeks later he was part of Spitting Image. Even though he was creative with the truth about doing Little Shop of Horrors, he has since done it eight times.[1]
He believes that The Muppet Christmas Carol is the best adaptation of the story due to it having so much heart. He claimed in a radio interview on BBC that the reason that Statler and Waldorf appear as ghosts was due to their main performers, Jim Henson and Richard Hunt, having passed away.[1]
His other work includes The Animal Magic Show (of which he also wrote many episodes), Paws on Bookaboo, Roger and the Rotten Trolls, What's Your News?, Headcases, A Shine of Rainbows, 28 Weeks Later, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army and Prometheus. Herring, along with Dave Chapman, served as the on-set puppeteer for the droid BB-8 in 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
He joined Olly Murrs onstage with Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy and Animal on The X Factor.
Credits[]
- Muppet Treasure Island: Background puppeteer
- Mopatop's Shop: Father Mouse, Odd-Job Gerald, Kevin Koala, Mr. Dillo, Mr. Wolf, Mrs. Chicken, Pickey Mickey, Shake, Simon the Snail, The Magic Fish, Wendell Wizard, others
- Construction Site: Diggs the Backhoe Loader
- The Hoobs: Hubba Hubba (season 4)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Vogon Receptionist, other Vogons
- Scissor Sisters stage show at the BRIT awards