Jake Deffinbaugh Podcasts

In Episode 175 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we speak with John Tartaglia! John works as a puppeteer, actor, director and writer. John is best known for creating and starring in the Playhouse Disney series Johnny and the Sprites as Johnny and Sage and the PBS Kids series Splash and Bubbles as Splash, performing Princeton and Rod in the original B…

In Episode 174 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we are joined by Joey Ahlbum! In the animation world, Joey worked on a number of inserts for Sesame Street, including the iconic '90s closing sequence and the Lecture Lady sequences on the original Elmo's World segments. He also created the Dino-Boppers IDs for Nickelodeon! As an author, Joey created t…

In Episode 173 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we chat with puppeteer, writer and director Bill Barretta! Early on in Bill's professional career, he performed the body of Earl Sinclair and various others on the Henson series Dinosaurs, then joining The Muppets and inheriting characters such as Dr. Teeth, The Swedish Chef and Rowlf the Dog and puppe…

In Episode 172 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we are joined by TV and film director Hugh Martin! Hugh started his directing career on the long-running PBS series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which led to countless other TV series, such as Reading Rainbow, Double Dare, Bear in the Big Blue House, Between the Lions, Johnny and the Sprites, Pajanimal…

In Episode 171 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview Dane Strange! Dane was a part of the child cast in one of Playhouse Disney's first original series, Out of the Box, during its first two seasons. We talk to Dane about working with Tony and Vivian, doing arts and crafts on the show and some of his other work as an actor, dancer and also as…

In Episode 170 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, Jim Jinkins joins us for a chat! Jim is an animator, cartoonist and producer who brought many wonderful TV series to life! He co-created the series Doug, Allegra's Window, PB&J Otter, Stanley, JoJo's Circus, Pinky Dinky Doo and so much more. We discuss how Doug helped launch the Nicktoons brand, compar…

In Episode 169 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we are joined by animation veteran Tad Stones! Chances are you grew up with many of Tad's projects. For several decades, Tad was an animator, writer, producer and director on various Disney films and TV series. He created a number of animated series for the company including Darkwing Duck, Chip 'n Dale…

In Episode 168 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we are joined by Leslie Hall! For a decade, Leslie had her own pop music band, Leslie & the LY's. She is also known for her appearances in the long-running Nick Jr. series Yo Gabba Gabba!, made a guest appearance on The Aquabats! Super Show! and voiced the character Big Dook in the Disney XD series Pic…

In Episode 167 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we speak to Joey Mazzarino! From 1989 to 2015, Joey had the pleasure of working at Sesame Street as a puppeteer, writer and director. During his days there, he brought countless characters to life, like Murray Monster, Stinky the Stinkweed, Horatio the Elephant, Papa Bear, Ingrid, Joey Monkey, Bug and …

In Episode 166 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we speak to Marc Petrosino and Michael Latini! Marc and Michael contributions to the puppet world include working on things together and separately. Marc puppeteered on projects such as Crank Yankers, Elmo's Christmas Countdown and Blue's Room as the puppeteer of Silly Seat. Michael toured with Bear in…

In Episode 165 of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we chat with Mike Young! Mike is a Welsh Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning producer who has quite the career in the animation industry. Mike is the founder of animation company Splash Entertainment and created the SuperTed franchise, co-executive produced the original PBS adaptation of Clifford the Big Red …

Today on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, Michael Schupbach joins us to discuss his career in the art of puppet building, designing and wrangling! Michael's puppet building work includes projects such as Sesame Street, Bear in the Big Blue House, Avenue Q, Greg the Bunny and more. He is also one of the co-creators of the Playhouse Disney series Johnny …

Today on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we speak with Carin Greenberg. Like a number of our previous guests, Carin wrote a lot of children's TV! Her career started writing for the series Ghostwriter, which led to writing for series like Dragon Tales, Between the Lions, Gullah Gullah Island, Out of the Box and many more. She also helped develop ToddWo…

On today's episode of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview Greg Lee. Greg is best known for hosting the game shows, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Total Panic and Outta Here! He also voiced the mayor-turned-principal Robert White in the animated series Doug and appeared in various other TV series and films such as The George Lopez Sho…

Today's guest on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show is animator and author Rob Renzetti! Some of Rob's best known work in the animation world includes creating the animated Nickelodeon series My Life as a Teenage Robot and writing and directing projects such as 2 Stupid Dogs, Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Gravity Falls and many more!…

Today on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we speak with Jonathan Goldstein! Jonathan primarily works as an actor and director and is best known by many for his role as Walter Nichols in the popular Nickelodeon series, Drake & Josh. Aside from Drake & Josh, Jonathan appeared in other projects including Danger Force and Teacher of the Year, directed epis…

Today on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we're joined by Anthony Asbury! Anthony is a former puppeteer and actor who puppeteered in many films such as Labyrinth, The Witches and The Flintstones. He's best known as puppeteering Rondo, Poco and Tweeter on Nick Jr.'s Allegra's Window, The Grinch, Terrence McBird, Yertle the Turtle and various others on T…

Today on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we chat with Nate Begle! Nate has a career in puppetry, voiceover and audio production. For several years, he performed Crow T. Robot in various Mystery Science Theater 3000 projects and worked on projects with The Jim Henson Company, Sesame Street and The Walt Disney Company. He also co-hosted his own podcast,…

Today on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we are joined by Greg Raposo. Greg was a member of the boy band Dream Street that ran from 1999 to 2002. We talk with Greg about the beginnings of the group, working with the late Chris Trousdale and tons more!

Today on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we speak to actress and writer Kelly Vrooman! Kelly served as one of the original hosts for the long-running Sprout morning block, The Sunny Side Up Show. She also starred in the spin-off The Chica Show and performed Patty in The Sprout Sharing Show. Aside from Sprout, she wrote and starred in the short film Re…

In today's episode of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we're very honored to be joined by the one and only, David Newell! David is best known for portraying the beloved "speedy delivery" man Mr. McFeely in the long-running PBS series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Join us as we hear stories about Fred Rogers himself, how the series dealt with serious top…

Today's episode of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show is with puppeteer and actor Spencer Lott! Spencer has worked on various Sesame Street projects since 2014, including Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas and the 50th anniversary special. Currently, he performs the character Samuel, the older brother of the autistic Muppet character, Julia. Spencer has …

Today on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we are joined by Shannon Flynn! Shannon is an Emmy Award-winning director for TV, film and web and has had the pleasure of directing shows for a variety of networks including Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, HBO and others. Some of the projects Shannon directed includes Hannah Montana, Jessie, Austin & Ally, The Ha…

Today's guest on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show is James Godwin! James is a puppeteer who is best known as performing the characters Bob on It's a Big Big World, Maestru on Oobi and Polka Dots and Doodleboard in the second season of Blue's Room, as well as various roles on Bear in the Big Blue House, Between the Lions and The Book of Pooh. James is al…

Today on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview Stu Krieger. If you grew up watching Disney Channel, there's a chance Stu wrote your childhood. Stu wrote a handful of Disney Channel Original Movies (also known as DCOMs) including the Zenon trilogy, Smart House, Tru Confessions and many more. Aside from Disney, Stu wrote the screenplay for The La…

Today's guest on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show is author Gary K. Wolf. Gary is best known as the author of the novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? which was adapted into the hit film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Gary has also written other novels such as Killerbowl, Space Vulture, The Resurrectionist and many more.…

Our guests this time on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show are Michele Lepe and Stacia Newcomb. Michele and Stacia are best known for hosting the long-running Sprout nighttime block, The Good Night Show, with Michele portraying the role of Nina and Stacia performing the character Star. We talk to them about how Michele landed the hosting job, Stacia's oth…

Today on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we talk to actress Kaitlin Becker. If you grew up watching Sprout, you might remember Kaitlin as one of the co-hosts on the morning block, The Sunny Side Up Show from 2013 to 2017. Kaitlin's also best known for playing Meekah in the Blippi franchise and has also acted in various films, commercials and in theatr…

Today's guest on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show is Alex Duquette! Alex is best known for making theme song medleys for his YouTube channel, covering various TV networks, video game companies, commercial jingles and tons more. We talk about how Alex's iconic medleys came about, his live-stream series Jam & Chat, what it was like recording his original …

Today on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we interview Ed Valentine. Ed has written for many TV series including Sesame Street, The Fairly OddParents, Doc McStuffins, Bubble Guppies and so much more. He also wrote various plays that have been performed in New York City and across the US. (Interview recorded prior to the WGA strike.)…

Today on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we are joined by Sean Altman. Sean's career in music began as one of the founding members of the acapella group, Rockapella, which served as the house band on the PBS game show, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Since then, Sean wrote a number of songs for television on projects including Out of the Box, T…

Today on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we talk to puppeteer and puppet builder Sebastiano Ricci. Sebastiano's love for the art of puppetry led to becoming one of the newest puppeteers on Sesame Street and doing some work on its upcoming 54th season. He's also known for his portrayal of Tigger in the off-Broadway Winnie the Pooh musical. He also pupp…

On today's episode of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, we talk to father-and-son team Marc and Max Weiner. Some of Marc's best known roles include creating and starring in the Nickelodeon series Weinerville and voicing Map, Swiper the Fox and the Fiesta Trio in the Nick Jr. series Dora the Explorer. His son Max works in music, designs and creates artwo…

Tune in to today's episode of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show as we're joined by voice actor Kenny James. Since 2005, Kenny has provided the voice of Bowser in Nintendo's highly successful Super Mario franchise. You can hear his voice on video games such as Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario 3D Land, Super Mario Odyssey and many others. He…

In this Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show episode, Jake, Chris and Matt speak with Eric Allan Kramer. Any Disney Channel fans may remember Eric as Bob Duncan on Good Luck Charlie. Eric also starred in The Incredible Hulk Returns, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and The Hughleys and had recurring roles on projects such as Mike & Molly, Guidance and Lodge 49. We…

On today's Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show episode, Jake, Chris and Matt talk all things music with husband-and-wife composing duo JP and Kat Rende. Since 2008, JP and Kat have composed various songs for Sesame Street, including celebrity numbers with Tori Kelly, Billy Porter and Fifth Harmony. That led to composing for many other children's projects s…

This time on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, Jake, Chris and Matt speak with award-winning director Jack Jameson. Before launching his directing career, Jack started as a floor assistant on various projects, then transitioning into directing various children's TV series, including The Furchester Hotel, Pajanimals, The Chica Show, the 2015 reboot of Te…

In this episode of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, Jake, Chris and Matt are joined by Terron Brooks. Terron is a singer-songwriter and actor who is best known as Eddie Kendricks in the 1998 miniseries of The Temptations. He has also done a lot of Broadway acting in productions such as The Lion King and Hairspray, recorded his own albums and even worke…

Join Jake, Chris and Matt on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show as they interview retired puppeteer and actress Fran Brill. Fran is best known for her many contributions to the Muppet world, working on Sesame Street from 1970 to 2014 and originating the roles of Muppet characters Prairie Dawn, Zoe, Little Bird, Roxie Marie, Mrs. Crustworthy and more. Outs…

On this episode of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, Jake, Chris and Matt are joined by Cameron Garrity. Together, they explore Cameron's career in puppetry, his co-hosting of the Puppet Tears Podcast with Adam Kreutinger, and the cherished memories that shaped his career. Join the fun and dive into the enchanting world of puppets and nostalgia! Special…

Long Island puppet artist Austin M. Costello joins Jake, Chris and Matt on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show. Austin's career started working for The Jim Henson Company, then puppeteering various roles on Sesame Street for several years. He's also done some work with The Puppet Kitchen, performed in fellow Muppet performer Martin P. Robinson's off-Broadw…

Two podcasts celebrating anniversaries collide as past guest DJ Bob Runkel returns to Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show! You may know Bob as the host of the long-running podcast, The DJ Bob Show. Jake, Chris and Matt chat with Bob all about nostalgia, how the format for Bob's show has evolved over the years, going on a more personal note about his disabi…

Join Jake and Chris on Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show as they speak with legendary voiceover artist Bob Bergen. Known for his iconic roles as Porky Pig and Tweety in the Looney Tunes franchise, Bob shares his experiences in the world of voice acting. They discuss his memorable encounters with voice acting legends like Daws Butler and Mel Blanc, his ro…

Join Jake, Chris and Matt as they chat with puppeteer Patrick Holmes in this episode of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show. Patrick shares his experiences working on various Sesame Street projects, including the Christmas special Elmo's Christmas Countdown and various outreach initiatives. They discuss his childhood love for the Muppets, puppet wrangling …

Join us for a very special episode of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show as Jake, Chris and Matt celebrate the podcast's 2nd anniversary with returning guest Bruce Lanoil. In this special episode, they dive more into the magic of puppetry. They talk all about Dinosaurs, The Muppets, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss and tons more! Get ready for laughter, m…

More nostalgic fun continues on another episode of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show as Jake, Chris and Matt interview Jou Jou Papailler, known to '90s Sesame Street fans as Jamal from the Around the Corner era. They discuss his work on Sesame Street's 25th anniversary and New Year's Eve specials, his role in River Runs Red with Taye Diggs and his achiev…

Join Jake, Chris and Matt on another fun episode of Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show as they interview Nancy Sans, a former writer on Sesame Street from 1984 to 2002. Nancy shares her experiences crafting episodes, home videos, and stage shows, writing for celebrities and creating the beloved human character Gina. They discuss the impactful Hurricane st…

This week, Jake, Chris and Matt speak with Andy Hayward! Andy's career in puppetry started with performing various characters in the long-running Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage! show. Since then, he's been lucky enough to work with Sesame Street and The Jim Henson Company on various projects and currently performs the roles of Wrench Doozer, the …

Also this week, Jake, Chris and Matt speak with Michelan Sisti! Michelan has worked on many Henson and Muppet productions over the past few decades. Some of his most notable Henson puppeteering credits include Sid Turtlepuss, the body of Charlene Sinclair and various others on Dinosaurs and Michelangelo in the first two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles…

This week, Jake, Chris and Matt speak with Mark Radice! Mark is a composer who began writing songs for the Muppets on The Jim Henson Hour and various other Muppet productions. For several years, he also composed and wrote a number songs for Sesame Street, some of his hits including Elmo's Ducks, Proud and Bye Bye Binky. Together, they discuss getti…