Dave Goelz

 ( 1946 Births ) 

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. He admitted that he did not know anything about performing at the time and had no training for it. At the end of the first season, he asked Henson if he could return the following year solely as a performer, to which Henson agreed.

During the first season of the show, Gonzo was still being developed. Initially, Goelz was concerned about finding the right voice for the character. He conceived the voice on the morning of the first taping. He later recalled that he believed he had the weakest voice among the Muppet performers and felt anxious about singing for the first time.

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 him to give the character a similarly depressed demeanor. He described the character's downcast eyes as initially 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.

At times, Goelz's portrayal of the character steered more comedic. He ultimately began to feel limited by Gonzo's droopy eyelids, which made it difficult convey excitement and limited the character's emotions. After the first season, he asked Henson if he could build a Gonzo puppet with an eye mechanism, to which Henson agreed. He returned to New York to make the modifications, allowing Gonzo to convey his excitement and enthusiasm more effectively. Gonzo's character evolved from a nervous, depressed failure to a manic, confident stuntman. Other facets of the character, such as his romantic fascination with poultry, were introduced in the second season.

In addition to the starring role of Gonzo, Goelz also performed saxophone player Zoot and scientist Bunsen Honeydew. In later seasons, he introduced a new character, Beauregard, the slow-witted backstage janitor.

Goelz also worked on Henson's forays into the fantasy genre, performing skekUng and Fizzgig in The Dark Crystal and Sir Didymus in Labyrinth. In 1986, he played Rugby Tiger in The Christmas Toy, later reprising the role in The Secret Life of Toys. In 1989, he performed Digit in The Jim Henson Hour.

Following Henson's death in 1990, Goelz's role as Gonzo gained increased prominence, beginning with The Muppet Christmas Carol where he portrayed Gonzo as Charles Dickens. In 1992, he took over the role of Waldorf from Henson. He 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 his first leading role in a Muppet production.

Goelz puppeteered the face of Earl Sinclair in Dinosaurs during the show's first two seasons. From 1996 to 1998, he performed Stinky the Skunk in Jim Henson's Animal Show and Humongous Chicken in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.

Goelz continues to regularly perform in new Muppet productions . In 2011 and 2014, he reprised his roles as Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Zoot, Waldorf, Beauregard and other signature characters in The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted. In 2023, he performed Zoot in the Disney+ series The Muppets Mayhem.

In 2015, Goelz voiced Subconscious Guard Frank in the Pixar film Inside Out. He reprised the role as Mind Cop Frank in Inside Out 2 in 2024. In 2019, he voiced Baffi the Fizzgig in the Netflix original series . Since 2018, he has voiced characters in various installments of the StoryBots franchise.

Goelz reprised the voices of his Fraggle Rock roles in the Apple TV+ Fraggle Rock: Rock On! shorts in 2020 , with puppeteering by John Tartaglia. Following the success of the shorts, a reboot of Fraggle Rock was ordered by the streaming service. premiered on January 21, 2022, with Goelz continuing to provide voices of his characters and serving as co-executive producer.