Matt Vogel (puppeteer)

Vogel began his puppeteering career at the Jim Henson Company in 1996, joining Sesame Street as an ensemble puppeteer. Since 2008, Vogel has served as a director on Sesame Street and was appointed puppet captain in 2012.^[2] He inherited many of Jerry Nelson's Muppet character roles in 2008. Since 2017, Vogel has been the performer for Kermit the Frog,^[3] succeeding Steve Whitmire. His first official performance as Kermit was in a "Muppets Thought of the Week" segment on YouTube.^[4]

Vogel also served as the assistant puppeteer for Ernie on Sesame Street, working alongside Whitmire. In 1996, Vogel became the understudy performer for Big Bird, officially taking over the role in 2018 following Caroll Spinney's retirement.^[5][6][7] He also assumed performing duties for the Sesame Street character Count von Count following Nelson's passing in 2012.^[6]

Vogel is a principal cast performer with the Muppets, portraying characters such as Kermit the Frog, Floyd Pepper, Uncle Deadly, Lew Zealand, Crazy Harry, Sweetums, Camilla the Chicken, Dr. Julius Strangepork, Pops, '80s Robot, and Constantine. He performed Robin the Frog until 2017, when Peter Linz took over the role to allow Kermit and Robin to appear together.^[2][3][8] On Sesame Street, Vogel is known for his roles as Big Bird, Count von Count, Mr. Johnson, Biff, Herb the Dinosaur, Hansel, Forgetful Jones, Sherlock Hemlock, and one of the Yip-Yip Martians. He also voices Alex, a Muppet addressing parental incarceration, for the Sesame Street in Communities initiative.^[9]

Vogel has been performed in Muppets Studio productions since 2008, appearing in The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted, and the ABC primetime TV series The Muppets. In 2009, Vogel performed the Muppets that were used in Kenneth's view of the world in the 30 Rock episode "Apollo, Apollo".^[10] He voiced the character Wilkins in Alice Through the Looking Glass in 2016.

In 2019, Vogel performed Kermit as "Snail" on The Masked Singer in 2021.^[11] He also joined the Muppets cast for "Muppets Night" and "Sesame Street Night" on subsequent seasons of the show.^[12][13]

Vogel is originally from Kansas City, Kansas. He was a fan of both Sesame Street and The Muppet Show as a child.^[14] Vogel interned at Mesner Puppet Theater where he played his first role of Victor Frankenstein in Paul Mesner Puppets’ production of “Frankenstein” in 1993.^[15] After 1993, he moved from Kansas City to New York.^[8] Vogel has been married to his wife Kelly C. McDonnell since August 31, 1997; together they have five children.^[15][16]

• List of Sesame Street puppeteers
• List of Muppets

• Official site Archived April 16, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
• Matt Vogel at IMDb