Tim Lagasse

Timothy Lagasse (born February 20, 1969) is an American puppeteer, puppet designer, and filmmaker. He has worked on television programs and films for Sesame Workshop, Nickelodeon, Disney XD, and HBO. He is known for playing the title character on Noggin's Oobi,[1] and Crash on Disney XD's Crash & Bernstein.[2]

Tim Lagasse
Lagasse (far left) on the set of Oobi
Born	(1969-02-20) February 20, 1969 Milford, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupation	puppeteer, voice performer
Years active	1991-present

Lagasse has been nominated for three Daytime Emmy Awards.[3] In 1991, he became the first individual to receive the Jim Henson Memorial Prize in Puppetry.[4] In 1993, he was presented with a Citation for Excellence by UNIMA.[5] Later in the same year, he received a Broadcast Design Silver Award for his series of short films, A Show of Hands.[6]

Biography

Lagasse hails from Milford, Connecticut. He attended St. Mary's School and Notre Dame High School in West Haven.[7] He graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1992[8] with a BFA in Puppet Arts.[9]

One of Lagasse's earliest roles was as Mr. Cook on the Nickelodeon series Allegra's Window.[7] He also played the title character on Noggin's Oobi series, and Crash on Disney XD's Crash & Bernstein. He has performed additional characters on Sesame Street, The Muppets and the 2008 film A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa.[10] In addition to his performance credits, he has built puppets for The Jim Henson Company[11] and Puppet Heap.[12]

Lagasse also teaches the art of puppetry, lecturing at the Lincoln Center Foundation and instructing students on modern puppetry techniques at the University of Connecticut's Puppet Arts Program.[13] In 2011, he offered workshops on building puppets at the University of Central Arkansas as part of Heather Henson's Handmade Puppet Dreams Film Festival.[14][15] In 2012, he traveled to Haiti with No Strings Productions as a puppet workshop trainer.[16]

Filmography

Year	Title	Credit(s)	Role(s)	Ref.
1994–1996	Allegra's Window	Principal puppeteer	Mr. Cook Tweeter	[7]
1995–1998	Nick in the Afternoon	Principal puppeteer Puppet designer Puppet coordinator	Additional puppets	[17]
1995	Weinerville	Guest puppeteer	Coach Loogi	[18]
1996-1998	Once Upon a Tree	Principal Puppeteer Puppet coordinator	Jasper the Hare, Bleu the Cricket	[18]
1996–1998	The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss	Ensemble puppeteer	Fox in Socks Junior Kangaroo Little Cat P Sidney the Spider	[17]
1997–2006	Bear in the Big Blue House	Ensemble puppeteer	Jet Setter Tutter	[18]
1999–2000	A Little Curious	Principal puppeteer Puppet coordinator Puppet builder		[18]
2000–present	Sesame Street	Ensemble puppeteer	Additional puppets	[19]
2000–2010	Between the Lions	Principal puppeteer Puppet designer Director	Arty Smartypants Barnaby B. Busterfield III Gus the Bunny	[20]
2000–2005	Oobi	Principal puppeteer Puppet coordinator Director (shorts)	Oobi Taro	[21]
2001–2003	The Book of Pooh	Ensemble puppeteer	Additional puppets	[16]
2003–2006	Chappelle's Show	Puppet coordinator		[22]
2003–2006	The Paz Show	Principal puppeteer Puppet coordinator	Paz	[23]
2003–2006	Blue's Clues	Puppet designer (Blue's Room segments)		[24]
2004–2007	Blue's Room	Puppet designer		[24]
2005–2009	Johnny and the Sprites	Principal puppeteer Director (one episode)	Basil	[25]
2006–2010	It's a Big Big World	Principal puppeteer Director (seven episodes)	Wartz the Frog Ick the Catfish	[26]
2007	Imagination Movers	Puppet designer		[27]
2008	A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa	Ensemble puppeteer	Additional puppets	[10]
2010	The Electric Company	Director (ten episodes)		[28]
2012–2014	Crash & Bernstein	Principal puppeteer	Crash	[29]
2015–2016	The Muppets	Ensemble puppeteer	Additional puppets	[30]
2017	The Muppets Take the Bowl	Ensemble puppeteer	Additional Muppet Performer, live show at the Hollywood Bowl, Sept. 8–10
2018	The Muppets Take the O2	Ensemble puppeteer	Additional Muppet Performer, live show at the O2 Arena, Jul. 13-14

Awards and nominations

Year	Presenter	Category/Award	Work	Status	Ref.
1991	University of Connecticut	Jim Henson Memorial Prize in Puppetry	N/A	Won	[4]
1993	Union Internationale de la Marionette	Citation for Excellence	A Show of Hands	Won	[5]
	Broadcast Design International	Broadcast Design Silver Award		Won	[6]
2003	30th Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Single Camera Editing	Between the Lions	Nominated	[31]
2004	31st Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design/Styling		Nominated	[32]
		Outstanding Achievement in Single Camera Editing		Nominated	[33]
2005	American Theatre Wing	Henry Hewes Design Award	Uncle Jimmy's Dirty Basement	Nominated	[34]

References

1. "Oobi Does It". Newsweek. 1 October 2004.
2. "Puppeteer Lagasse lends a hand on Disney XD's hit Crash & Bernstein". New York. 6 May 2013.
3. "UConn to Host National Puppetry Festival". Hartford Courant. 3 August 2015.
4. "UConn Puppet Arts Timeline" (PDF). Eugene O'Neill Theatre. 1 July 2015.
5. "41 Years of Citations - UNIMA". Union Internationale de la Marionette.
6. Lagasse, Timothy. "Tim Lagasse Credits". Archived from the original on 2011-07-17.
7. Amarante, Joe (5 October 2012). "Milford guy's great puppet caper continues with 'Crash' on Disney XD". New Haven Register.
8. Eaton-Robb, Pat (3 November 2013). "UConn expands puppet arts program". Portland Press Herald.
9. "15th O'Neill National Puppetry Conference" (PDF). Eugene O'Neill Theatre. 15 June 2005.
10. "Tim Lagasse: Crash & Bernstein". Starmedia. 4 June 2014.
11. "Jane Henson's Nativity Story to Air on Christmas Eve on CBS". Puppeteers.org. 4 December 2013.
12. "Exit Row 1 - Puppet Heap". Puppet Heap.
13. Lagasse, Timothy. "About Tim Lagasse". TimLagasse.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-23.
14. "Heather Henson to Bring Handmade Puppet Dreams Film Festival to UCA". University of Central Arkansas. 19 August 2011.
15. "Puppets to Invade Your Dreams". The Fountain. 12 September 2011.
16. "Associate Artists - No Strings Productions". NoStringsProductions.org. No Strings Productions.
17. "Who's Tremendous - Once Upon a Tree". OnceUponATree.com. Archived from the original on 27 June 2002.
18. Lagasse, Timothy. "Tim Lagasse - Puppet Performer Resume". TimLagasse.com.
19. Andreeva, Nellie. "Disney XD Greenlights Live-Action/Puppet Comedy Series 'Crash & Bernstein'". Deadline Hollywood.
20. "Between the Lions Project Team". Sirius Thinking.
21. "Josh Selig, Little Airplane Productions". Gothamist.com. Gothamist. Archived from the original on 2016-04-12.
22. Mathew Klickstein (24 September 2013). Slimed!: An Oral History of Nickelodeon's Golden Age. Penguin Publishing Group. pp. 163–. ISBN 978-1-101-61409-9.
23. "Paz - Kids First! Film Festival". KidsFirst.org. Coalition for Quality Children's Media. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
24. Fresh, Anney. "Puppets - Anney Fresh".
25. "Johnny and the Sprites Cast and Crew". Disney.com. The Walt Disney Company.
26. "2015 National Puppetry Festival Attendees" (PDF). Eugene O'Neill Theatre. 1 July 2015.
27. "Exclusive 'Crash & Bernstein' Clip for Monday's Premiere". Wired. 5 October 2012.
28. Lagasse, Timothy. "The Electric Company - Tim Lagasse". TimLagasse.com. Archived from the original on 2016-04-09.
29. Crooks, Amy (9 August 2013). "Tim Lagasse and Crash at the 2013 D23 Expo". Dis411.net. The Walt Disney Company.
30. Lagasse, Timothy. "The Muppets - Tim Lagasse". TimLagasse.com. Archived from the original on 2016-04-09.
31. "30th Daytime Emmy Awards Nominations" (PDF). EmmyOnline.org. National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. 12 March 2003.
32. "31st Daytime Emmy Awards Nominations" (PDF). EmmyOnline.org. National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. 4 March 2004.
33. "31st Daytime Emmy Awards Program Telecast" (PDF). EmmyOnline.org. National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. 15 May 2004.
34. "2005 Henry Hewes Design Awards Nominations". BroadwayWorld.com. Broadway World. 15 August 2005.

External links

• Official website
• Tim Lagasse on IMDb