When Steve Whitmire was given the Kermit puppet for the first time, he said it still “smelled like Jim.” He put the puppet on to perform in front of the mirror and made Kermit turn around towards him, as a way to encourage himself. He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to do Kermit justice. This scared Whitmire so much that he put Kermit away and couldn’t look at him for a whole month.
Originally, Frank Oz thought that Bert was a boring and dull character and didn’t like him. However as time went on, he found the fun in the dullness, and thought of Bert as a facet of himself.
Jerry Juhl originally wrote Gonzo as a character with low self-esteem, and originally in the 70s, Dave Goelz leaned into that. At that time, he used Gonzo to highlight his personality and fears. However, when he asked Henson to change the puppet to have more expressive eyes, the wacky phase of Gonzo’s life started. Gonzo’s third, soulful phase came after Goelz went to therapy and began “unlocking [his] emotions.”
Sources:
Jim Henson: The Biography. Brian Jay Jones. Random House Publishing Group. 2016. (Pg. 247).
