20 Facts About Dave Goelz

David Charles Goelz is an American puppeteer, actor, and puppet builder known for his work with the Muppets.

Dave Goelz's puppeteering roles included in Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth.

The mechanically-minded Dave Goelz worked for such companies as John Deere, American Airlines, and Hewlett-Packard.

Dave Goelz met Frank Oz at a puppetry festival in 1972, and during a vacation in New York City, he attended daily Sesame Street tapings.

However, the show was abandoned in favor of an ABC pilot, The Muppets Valentine Show, for which Dave Goelz built characters and got his first chance at performing, playing Brewster, whom he designed.

In 1976, Dave Goelz joined the rest of the Henson team and flew to London to begin work on The Muppet Show.

However, in addition to playing Gonzo, Dave Goelz was still employed in the Muppet Workshop.

Dave Goelz recalled the hectic schedule of working full-time behind the scenes and in front of the cameras in a 2004 Film Threat interview:.

Gonzo, that first season, like many of the new Muppet Show creations, was a work in progress, and especially for Dave Goelz, playing his first starring character and major speaking role.

Dave Goelz thought of the voice the morning before the first taping performance.

In that first season, Gonzo was a misfit and out of place, according to Dave Goelz, which was how he saw himself as a performer:.

In later seasons, a new Dave Goelz character was added, the well-meaning but slow-witted janitor, Beauregard:.

Dave Goelz's name was Wendell Porcupine and I had a lot of fun with him.

Boober stemmed from something Dave Goelz had said while working on the first season of The Muppet Show, that he was so busy on the show that the only things he had time to worry about were death and laundry.

Dave Goelz continued to reprise his roles as Gonzo and Bunsen in feature films, slowly adding more aspects to "the weirdo," and worked on Henson's forays into "realistic" fantasy, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth.

Dave Goelz was just completely unaware of the feelings of others.

Dave Goelz provided the puppetry for Kermit the Frog for Muppets Most Wanted test footage.

Dave Goelz played the part of Dickens, and I just loved doing that.

Dave Goelz performed a handful of minor Sesame Street characters and appeared in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland as Humongous Chicken.

Dave Goelz voiced Baffi the Fizzgig in the 2019 Netflix original series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.