Book Review: Funny Boy

Richard Hunt was just 18 years old when he joined Jim Henson’s company, where his edgy humor quickly helped launch the Muppets into international stardom. He brought to life an impressive range of characters on The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock and various Muppet movies, everyone from eager gofer Scooter to elderly heckler Statler, groovy girl Janice to freaked-out lab helper Beaker, even early versions of Miss Piggy and Elmo. Hunt lived large, savoring life’s delights, amassing a vivid, disparate community of friends. Even when the AIDS epidemic wrought its devastation, claiming the love of Hunt’s life and threatening his own life, he showed an extraordinary sense of resilience, openness and joy. Hunt’s story exemplifies how to follow your passion, foster your talents, adapt to life’s surprises, genuinely connect with everyone from glitzy celebrities to gruff cab drivers – and have a hell of a lot of fun along the way.

Funny Boy: The Richard Hunt Biography by Jessica Max Stein will be published March 15, 2024. Rutgers University Press provided an early galley for review.

I have been a big fan of the Muppets since the early 1970's, so diving into Richard Hunt's story was a big interest to me.

Stein does a good job establishing who Hunt was - from how he grew up and went through school, and how he evolved as a performer once he connected with Henson and the rest of the original crew. As a big fan of The Muppet Show, I especially appreciated the evolution of the pilots to getting the show up and running. It made me want to pull out my old DVDs and revisit those seasons again. I also came to realize how much involvement Hunt had on certain Muppet properties that were favorites of mine. He clearly carried the responsibilities on several projects after Henson moved on to other things.

Despite all the successes, I came away with the feeling that Hunt was looking for something more for a long time. This created a sadder undertone of his story for me. I did feel, though, a sense of closure both with his handling of the passing and memorial for Henson, and then how he faced his own mortality in the end. Stein does a great job in conveying how Hunt wanted to remind people to live and experience while we can.

I enjoyed this one.