38 Facts About Dave Goelz

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

Dave Goelz is best known for performing the characters Gonzo the Great, Dr Bunsen Honeydew, Zoot, and Beauregard.

Dave Goelz joined Jim Henson's Muppet team in 1973 and has been a key performer in many Muppet productions, including The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, and various movies and television specials.

Dave Goelz had a childhood interest in puppetry, fascinated by the children's television shows Howdy Doody and Time for Beany.

Dave Goelz applied to work at Walt Disney Imagineering, but was not considered on the basis that they had sufficient industrial designers already employed.

Dave Goelz went on to work for companies such as John Deere, American Airlines, and Hewlett-Packard.

In 1972, Dave Goelz attended a workshop conducted by Frank Oz at the Puppeteers of America National Convention in Oakland, California.

One month later, following an invitation from Oz, Dave Goelz attended daily tapings of Sesame Street during a work trip to Pennsylvania.

Months later, Dave Goelz presented his design portfolio to Henson, ultimately receiving a job offer with Henson Associates as a part-time puppet builder.

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.

Dave Goelz then set up his own shop, creating puppets and producing videos for industrial clients.

In 1976, Dave Goelz traveled to London to begin work on The Muppet Show.

Dave Goelz recalled the hectic schedule of working full-time behind the scenes and in front of the cameras, describing his typical day as involving running back and forth between making puppets and performing.

Dave Goelz admitted that he did not know anything about performing at the time and had no training for it.

Dave Goelz conceived the voice on the morning of the first taping.

Dave Goelz later recalled that he believed he had the weakest voice among the Muppet performers and felt anxious about singing for the first time.

Dave Goelz viewed Gonzo as a misfit and out of place, mirroring his own feelings as a performer.

The early design of Gonzo featured a permanently sad expression, which influenced Dave Goelz to give the character a similarly depressed demeanor.

Dave Goelz described the character's downcast eyes as making him easier to play, reflecting his own feelings of being an impostor in show business and learning to perform and puppeteer on the job.

Dave Goelz ultimately began to feel limited by Gonzo's droopy eyelids, which made it difficult convey excitement and limited the character's emotions.

Dave Goelz returned to New York to make the modifications, allowing Gonzo to convey his excitement and enthusiasm more effectively.

In later seasons, Dave Goelz introduced a new character, Beauregard, the slow-witted backstage janitor.

In 1983, Dave Goelz was cast in Fraggle Rock as Boober Fraggle.

Dave Goelz performed Uncle Traveling Matt, Philo, and the World's Oldest Fraggle, as well as a variety of guests and incidental characters.

Dave Goelz worked on Henson's forays into the fantasy genre, performing skekUng and Fizzgig in The Dark Crystal and Sir Didymus in Labyrinth.

In 1986, Dave Goelz played Rugby Tiger in The Christmas Toy, later reprising the role in The Secret Life of Toys.

In 1989, Dave Goelz performed Digit in The Jim Henson Hour.

Dave Goelz portrayed Gonzo as Charles Dickens, a direction he embraced alongside his own growth as a performer.

In 1992, Dave Goelz took over the role of Waldorf from Henson.

Dave Goelz introduced the characters Randy Pig and Bill the Bubble Guy in Muppets Tonight in 1996.

In 1999, Gonzo's role in Muppets From Space marked Dave Goelz's first leading role in a Muppet production.

Dave Goelz puppeteered the face of Earl Sinclair in Dinosaurs during the show's first two seasons.

In 2002, Dave Goelz was cast as the voice of Figment in the revamped version of Epcot's Journey Into Imagination with Figment ride at Walt Disney World Resort.

In 2023, Dave Goelz performed Zoot in the Disney+ series The Muppets Mayhem.

In 2015, Dave Goelz voiced Subconscious Guard Frank in the Pixar film Inside Out.

Dave Goelz reprised the role as Mind Cop Frank in Inside Out 2 in 2024.

Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock premiered on January 21,2022, with Dave Goelz continuing to provide voices of his characters and serving as co-executive producer.

Dave Goelz is married to Debra Dave Goelz, a writer and former CFO of Jim Henson Productions.