The Muppet performer who co-wrote Muppets Haunted Mansion is currently set to write, direct and star in a series centered around Dr. Teeth & the Electric Mayhem for the streaming service Disney+.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

For nearly seven decades, The Muppets have entered the homes and hearts of audiences around the world, bringing laughter, adventure and a whole lot of joy along with them. In the mid-1950s, their leader, the late Jim Henson, created iconic characters like Kermit the Frog and Rowlf the Dog that would remain staples of pop culture to this day. Lets face it, The Muppets are timeless, and many of them feel as real as you or I.

Bill Barretta, who joined the renowned troupe of artists a year after Jims untimely death in 1990, would inherit some of Jims most beloved roles including Rowlf, Dr. Teeth, Swedish Chef and Mahna Mahna and indeed they are big shoes, or rather butts (because theyre puppets!) to fill. Barretta is perhaps best known, however, for creating and performing his own characters that include Pepe the King Prawn, Johnny Fiama and Bobo the Bear.

Like many die hard-fans, Barretta was introduced to The Muppets at an early age.

Im kind of a broken record, Ive probably told this story many times, Barretta told The New School Free Press on a Zoom call. My brother [Gene Barretta] was kind of the orchestrator of our lives. He was interested in arts, drawing, making movies, and Jim Henson. Sesame Street was huge in 1969 and he was drawn to these new puppets. So, he actually wrote to Jim Henson, fearlessly as a kid and said, how do you make your Muppets? Jim wrote back and sent instructions on how to make a Muppet!

Bill, who has performed with The Muppets for over 30 years, wears many hats, and many different bodies on his hands.

I was always interested in performing and entertaining people, Barretta explained. My goal wasnt to be a puppeteer; my goal was to be an actor.

Puppeteering and acting are but just a few skills a Muppet performer must hone to do their job.

There are many aspects to what the Muppets do, Barretta told the Free Press. A lot of people think of it as what voice do you do? As Frank Oz would say, thats probably only about 10% of it. Its an interesting dance we do. Literally sometimes we dance.

There are a lot of moving parts to executing a Muppet performance, making it a complicated and collaborative effort. Humans are often only born with two arms and Muppet performers are no different. With one hand up a puppets butt, and one controlling the puppets left limb, each performer needs another puppeteer to operate the right.

We see what the camera sees, Barretta said. Were helping the director make the characters look good in the frame by how close they are, how far away, how much the audience isnt supposed to see, the angle so it doesnt look like the eyelines are off, a lot of the technical stuff, and then theres the acting. We sing, we act, we try to figure out where we are, just like a person would do, except its coming through our arms.

A Muppet performer has to be all-encompassing as acting, singing, dancing (apparently), puppeteering and character development are all part of the job.

Were not great singers, we try, and thats part of the charm of the Muppets, Barretta laughs. Theyre not supposed to be great singers, they kind of, hopefully get by.

Barretta, who grew up in Yardley, PA, found summer work as a teenager at Sesame Place, a local Sesame Street-themed amusement park, where he befriended fellow coworker Brian Henson, Jims son.

We were sweeping up cigarette butts and cleaning toilets, we became friends and kept in touch, Barretta said. It was about 10 years later, his father passed away, I was living in New York studying acting with Sanford Meisner, we reconnected. When I moved out to California, he was going to make a show called Dinosaurs on ABC, and I just begged to audition, or pull cords or cables, whatever I could do to be close to the business, and I happened to get the part of the dad. There, I was working with other Muppet performers who were on the show. There were hand puppets on the show as well as these big walk around characters, and thats what I was. Occasionally when I wasnt doing that, I was trying to watch them, and learn and assist.

From there I became friends with people, and we would play. Its all about playing all the time. I felt comfortable having fun, and we just got along. I dont know when it happened, but at some point, I did a voice that reminded someone of Rowlf the Dog. They were thinking about looking for a Rowlf, it was a very sensitive subject because it was Jims first big character. I built a really bad version of Rowlf on my own, they didnt give me the part, but they said oh, well lets bring him in on some things. This all came out of Sesame Place, really.

Many have passed through the gates of Sesame Place for employment, but not many of them went on to become Muppets. Nonetheless, there must be something in the water at the Pennsylvania amusement park.

It wasnt just me who came out of Sesame Place, Barretta said. Three of our friends and my brother also have done well in the industry. My friend Michael Newton is a producer, weve worked together out here [in Los Angeles]. Two other guys, Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooly, are executive producers and creators of Kim Possible and a lot of Disney animation stuff. Theres my brother with his career, and theres John Tartaglia, who is a huge Muppet performer now. Hes the executive producer of the new Fraggle Rock. So, a lot of people came out of Sesame Place, and thats really fun!

Last October, Muppets Haunted Mansion was released on Disney+ to critical acclaim. The special, which, surprisingly, is The Muppets first foray into the realm of Halloween-themed content, stars Baretta as Pepe the King Prawn and original Muppet performer Dave Goelz as Gonzo the Great. The duo spend a night at the infamous titular mansion, where they encounter special guests, chills and spooks along the way. The series, which was co-written by Barretta, frequent Muppet collaborator Kirk Thatcher and Kelly Younger, incorporates classic elements of both the ride and the original Muppet Show which is sure to satisfy fans from each realm.

The Muppets Studio was really a big part of how we thought we should approach this, Barretta said. First it was, well, we should come up with a Halloween special. Then it was, well maybe we should connect it to the mansion in some way. Can we do that? Theres a lot of different things going on at Disney, you dont know whos doing what project. The timing was right for us to be able to access the mansion. Because there are different mansions in different parks, the preference was not to put us in the park mansion, but to say, heres the mansion that bloomed all these other mansions. Our amazing production designer incorporated things from all of them in our house. It was our own mansion, but the wink was, youre going on a ride.

Barretta, who played a large role in the creative development of the special, is currently one of three executive producers behind Muppets Mayhem, an upcoming series he co-created with The Goldbergs creator Adam Goldberg, and Jeff Yorkes. The show will follow Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem as they attempt to record their long overdue first album and is slated for release on Disney+. The trio are currently writing the series with several other writers including Julie Bean, Hannah Friedman and Crystal Shaw. Barretta remains tight-lipped about what fans might expect in the upcoming series.

Its about the band making their first album and theres this music executive thats trying to wrangle them, Barretta said. In the broadest sense, thats what its about. We get to know them better. Its crazy and fun, and Im sure well have lots of cameos to stick in there. Its one of my favorite writing experiences actually, its been really good.

Barretta will play Dr. Teeth, one of many roles he inherited from original Muppet master Jim Henson. Other iconic characters who have had Barrettas hands up their butts also include Swedish Chef, Rowlf the Dog and Mahna Mahna.

I could never be those characters, really. Theyre not me. Barretta explained. These characters that I created or have been a part of creating, are a part of me. So, its the same with Jim. Swedish Chef, Rowlf the Dog, Dr. Teeth, theyre all a part of Jim in some way. First, I have to tell myself youre never going to be them, so dont pretend to be. But if I can find the heart, the soul and the motivation behind these characters, and try to interpret that part of what Jim did, if I can find the essence of what each one of these characters is based on what Ive seen Jim do, then I feel like I can continue to allow them to grow, as long as Im true to the original essence of them.

Muppet characters certainly are extensions of their creators, and this remains true with Barretta and his own.

Bobo is probably the most like myself, Barretta told us. The way that I usually put it is that he just cant believe hes allowed to be out in the world, that people havent put him in prison for being out at a restaurant. Hes just grateful to be a part of something, and thats really me. Im so grateful to be a part of such an amazing group, and an iconic, historical group of characters. So thats me, the guy who came in late.

Bobo the Bear debuted in 1996 on Muppets Tonight.

His voice has this gravel, Barretta said in Bobos voice. The only reason I did Bobo, was because no one was doing Rowlf, and no one had done Dr. Teeth for a while. It was like my personal tribute to a Jim voice because there werent other people doing that in other characters when I started.

Perhaps Barrettas most well known character, Pepe the King Prawn, was based on his wifes aunt, who is from Spain, the puppeteer told the Free Press.

She would always put an okay? at the end of her sentences, Barretta explained, switching momentarily to Pepes voice. I took that and her characteristics and added a part of myself which I think is the ego. I dont put it out there, but we all have one.

Johnny Fiama is based on my father and grandfather. Not the most educated guys in the world, but they both were musically driven. Although my father never entered the music business he could sing beautifully. My grandfather was an amazing dancer, but was never a dancer, right? Both sides of my family were innately musical. Thats part of Johnny. Its still me, because theyre huge parts of who I am. So, that feeds Johnny, as well as Johnny thinking hes a contemporary of like, Tony Bennett or Frank Sinatra, although hes never met them. He may have served them soup at a restaurant or something.

Since joining the Muppets over three decades ago, Barretta has seen many of the groups iconic characters change hands, most recently and prolifically with Matt Vogel stepping into the role of Kermit the Frog, a character he inherited from original Muppet performer Steve Whitmire, who inherited the character upon the death of Jim. He created characters like Rizzo the Rat and Lips, a member of the Electric Mayhem. Whitmire was dismissed from the Muppets in 2017 and audience reactions to Vogels performance as Kermit have been mixed at best.

Its hard, Barretta said. Theres always been this core group of performers who have been doing these characters that then got handed down in different ways. But its about the dynamics and relationships under the puppets thats really important, thats what feeds these characters that are up in the frame. My relationship with Steve can never be replaced. The dynamics we had with Pepe and Rizzo, and Kermit and Pepe, theres nothing like it for me, and that can never change.

It takes a long time I think, for any of us to feel like its okay to let these characters grow and change. There has to come a point where you go okay, I have to let it become part of me now and let myself feed the character. Stop doing an imitation, trust that youre going to maintain the essence of that character, play and let things happen. Otherwise, the character is stuck, all he is, is an imitation. With Matt having to take on what Steve did and Steve having to take on what Jim did, its the same thing. When I first heard Steves Kermit, I just didnt hear it right away. I thought, whos that? To me, theres a very clear difference, for a new generation, theres a very clear difference between Matt and Steve.

I think Matt has actually gone back to something that sounds a little closer to Jim. I think its still developing and growing, and hes still working on it all the time. You can imagine the pressure he must feel. Im not saying its better, but its his take and approach to Kermit. Steves Kermit is phenomenal, how could anyone think it could be replaced or changed? I miss him, but I love Matt, hes also a brother. Im encouraging him all the time, and I think hes doing an amazing job.

The prospect of seeing what lies ahead for the Muppets is indeed exciting.

I think theres something to branching out these characters more, Barretta said. I love being able to explore and see what other people do with characters theyve taken on and are fortunate to be able to present again. I think theres so much more fun to be had.

You can stream a plethora of Muppet content, including Muppets Haunted Mansion at Disney+ now.

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Bill Barretta, Muppet performer who created Pepe the King Prawn & more talks Haunted Mansion, stepping into Jim Henson's roles and more - The New...