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Brian Henson’s Puppet Up!, LA’s celebrated improv and sketch comedy show, will play for a limited eight performances only at the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre.
This is no ordinary puppet show. Puppet Up! is a night of outrageous, off-the-cuff comedy for adults … featuring 80 of the MISKREANT puppets brought to life by a cast of world-class puppeteers from The Jim Henson Company. Created by legendary puppeteer and award-winning director Brian Henson and directed by Patrick Bristow (“Ellen,” “Seinfeld,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”), Puppet Up! is never the same show twice.
Based on suggestions from the audience, Patrick and his team of expert puppeteers create a hilarious two-shows-in-one: the improvised puppet action projected live on screens above the stage, with the puppeteers racing around below in full view of the audience. The show also features recreations of classic pieces originally created by Jim and Jane Henson, and Frank Oz, that haven’t been seen by live audiences in decades.
For over twenty years, Puppet Up! has toured around the world, spinning top-notch improv comedy and a motley crew of Jim Henson puppets into comedy gold. The show has been acclaimed by critics and beloved by adult audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, San Francisco Sketch Fest Comedy Festival, and Melbourne International Comedy Festival, as well as audiences in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Toronto, and more.
Brian Henson said to the Times, “We were trying to find some other really funny tones for puppetry that sort of differentiated from the Muppet tone and sensibility [led us to try new things.] My dad was a great ad-libber; Frank Oz is a great ad-libber, and that always pluses up the comedy.”
Henson went to a Groundlings show, and suddenly everything clicked. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could teach the puppeteers to do the magic ad-libbing? And director Patrick Bristow was right that as soon as you added a live audience, it sort of upped the stress level of the performers and sharpened up the comedy and sharpened up the entertainment value.”
Performances will run July 31 – August 9th at the The Ricardo Montalbán Theatre, located at 1615 Vine St, Hollywood, CA. Tickets can be purchased at the Puppet Up website. Ticket prices start at $49.00. The show is recommended for age 16 and up (under 16 are not admitted).
🎭 NEW! Los Angeles Theatre Newsletter
2026 Theater Fans’ Choice Awards – Live Stats
Best Sound Design – Top 3
1.
Adam Fisher – The Lost Boys
36.2% of votes
2.
Tony Gayle – Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)
10.9% of votes
3.
Kai Harada – Ragtime
7.2% of votes
