PUPPET UP! – UNCENSORED To Play Limited Los Angeles Engagement At Ricardo Montalbán Theatre
Brian Henson’s improvisational puppet comedy will run six performances beginning this month.
Brian Henson will present Puppet Up! – Uncensored for a limited six-performance engagement from February 20 through March 1, 2026, at the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre.
Created by Henson and directed by Patrick Bristow, Puppet Up! – Uncensored is an adult-oriented improvisational comedy featuring more than 80 “Miskreant” puppets performed by a cast of professional puppeteers from The Jim Henson Company. Each performance is shaped by live audience suggestions, resulting in a different show each night.
The production combines improvised puppet scenes projected onto screens above the stage with the puppeteers performing in full view below. In addition to original material, the show incorporates updated recreations of classic pieces originally created by Jim and Jane Henson and Frank Oz that have not been presented live in decades.
Audience members may also participate in a pre-show VIP speakeasy experience, which begins approximately one hour and 15 minutes before curtain. The experience includes priority seating, a complimentary cocktail, live puppet lounge music, photo opportunities, an autographed Puppet Up! item, and a behind-the-scenes conversation with Brian Henson.
“It’s nearly impossible to spend the show’s two hours doing anything but laugh,” Entertainment Weekly wrote, awarding the production a Grade A.
Time Out noted, “Puppet Up! – Uncensored combines top puppeteering talent with music, jokes and shenanigans… you’ll be mesmerized by the sheer skill of the puppeteers on full display.”
The Los Angeles Times wrote, “You cannot imagine the mayhem that erupts when an uninhibited house takes its cues from the gifted lunatics onstage.”
“We were trying to find some other really funny tones for puppetry that sort of differentiated from the Muppet tone and sensibility,” Henson told the Los Angeles Times. “My dad was a great ad-libber; Frank Oz is a great ad-libber, and that always pluses up the comedy.”
Bristow added, “Because it’s puppets and it’s uncensored, the audience is definitely more uncensored themselves… the puppets get away with much more.”
Puppet Up! – Uncensored is recommended for audiences ages 16 and older; patrons under 16 will not be admitted.
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