Tim Lagasse

Tim Lagasse
Lagasse on the set of Oobi in 2004
Born	Timothy Lagasse 1968 or 1969 (age 55–56)[1] Milford, Connecticut, U.S.
Education	University of Connecticut (BFA)
Occupations	Puppeteer puppet designer actor director
Years active	1991–present
Website	timlagasse.com

Tim Lagasse (born 1968/1969)[1] is an American puppeteer, puppet designer, actor and director. He has worked on films and television programs for Sesame Workshop, Nickelodeon, Disney XD, and HBO. He is known for playing the title character on Noggin's Oobi,[2] and Crash on Disney XD's Crash & Bernstein.[3]

Lagasse has been nominated for three Daytime Emmy Awards.[4] In 1991, he became the first recipient of the Jim Henson Memorial Prize in Puppetry.[5] In 1993 he was presented with a Citation for Excellence by UNIMA;[6] and later that year, received a Broadcast Design Silver Award for his series of short films, A Show of Hands.[7]

Biography

Lagasse was born in Milford, Connecticut. He attended St. Mary's School and Notre Dame High School in West Haven,[1] and graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1992[8] with a BFA in Puppet Arts.[9]

One of his earliest roles was Mr. Cook on the Nickelodeon series Allegra's Window.[1] He also played the title character on the 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	[1]
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]
2003–2006	Chappelle's Show	Puppet coordinator		[22]
2003–2008	Paz	Principal puppeteer Puppet coordinator	Paz	[23]
2004	Blue's Room	Puppet designer	Polka Dots Dress Up Chest	[24]
2005–2009	Johnny and the Sprites	Principal puppeteer Director (one episode)	Basil	[25]
2006–2007	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
2019–2023	Helpsters	Ensemble puppeteer	Scatter

Awards and nominations

Year	Presenter	Category/Award	Work	Status	Ref.
1991	University of Connecticut	Jim Henson Memorial Prize in Puppetry	N/A	Won	[5]
1993	Union Internationale de la Marionette	Citation for Excellence	A Show of Hands	Won	[6]
	Broadcast Design International	Broadcast Design Silver Award		Won	[7]
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. Amarante, Joe (October 5, 2012). "Milford guy's great puppet caper continues with 'Crash' on Disney XD". New Haven Register.
2. "Oobi Does It". Newsweek. October 1, 2004.
3. "Puppeteer Lagasse lends a hand on Disney XD's hit Crash & Bernstein". New York. May 6, 2013.
4. "UConn to Host National Puppetry Festival". Hartford Courant. August 3, 2015.
5. "UConn Puppet Arts Timeline" (PDF). Eugene O'Neill Theatre. July 1, 2015.
6. "41 Years of Citations – UNIMA". Union Internationale de la Marionette.
7. Lagasse, Timothy. "Tim Lagasse Credits". Archived from the original on July 17, 2011.
8. Eaton-Robb, Pat (November 3, 2013). "UConn expands puppet arts program". Portland Press Herald.
9. "15th O'Neill National Puppetry Conference" (PDF). Eugene O'Neill Theatre. June 15, 2005.
10. "Tim Lagasse: Crash & Bernstein". Starmedia. June 4, 2014.
11. "Jane Henson's Nativity Story to Air on Christmas Eve on CBS". Puppeteers.org. December 4, 2013.
12. "Exit Row 1 – Puppet Heap". Puppet Heap.
13. Lagasse, Timothy. "About Tim Lagasse". TimLagasse.com. Archived from the original on March 23, 2016.
14. "Heather Henson to Bring Handmade Puppet Dreams Film Festival to UCA". University of Central Arkansas. August 19, 2011.
15. "Puppets to Invade Your Dreams". The Fountain. September 12, 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 June 27, 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 April 12, 2016.
22. Mathew Klickstein (September 24, 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 March 12, 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. July 1, 2015.
27. "Exclusive 'Crash & Bernstein' Clip for Monday's Premiere". Wired. October 5, 2012.
28. Lagasse, Timothy. "The Electric Company - Tim Lagasse". TimLagasse.com. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016.
29. Crooks, Amy (August 9, 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 April 9, 2016.
31. "30th Daytime Emmy Awards Nominations" (PDF). EmmyOnline.org. National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. March 12, 2003.
32. "31st Daytime Emmy Awards Nominations" (PDF). EmmyOnline.org. National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. March 4, 2004.
33. "31st Daytime Emmy Awards Program Telecast" (PDF). EmmyOnline.org. National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. May 15, 2004.
34. "2005 Henry Hewes Design Awards Nominations". BroadwayWorld.com. Broadway World. August 15, 2005.

External links

• Official website
• Tim Lagasse at IMDb