- Will you "Consider This?"

I have with me a couple who definitely knows where the air is sweet and they keep the kid inside them alive for kids and adults of all ages, stay right here.

(upbeat music) If you're playful, and creative, you'd like to meet someone who has those same qualities, right?

Well, this fairy tale certainly came true on oh so many levels for my guests.

Meet Paul Rudolph, a native from Normal, Illinois, and his lovely bride, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, woo, that's a lot of r's, a creative native from California.

- That's right.

- Welcome.

- Thanks for having us.

- Thank you.

- But now, so you came from the middle of the country and went to New York, you came all the way across the country and tell us what you're up to.

- Well, for both of us, currently we both work more or less full-time for "Sesame Street" in New York City.

I'm working there as a vocal music director, I'm also a music editor, and I compose as well, we've got about a dozen composers that write for the show, but I'm one of those.

And in between that, take other jobs with other companies.

I've worked on "Nature Cat" for PBS, I've worked on "Julie's Greenroom," we met on "Muppets Tonight," 26 years ago, so.

- Wow.

- It all comes (indistinct).

- And was it love at first sight?

- I don't know.

(Paul chuckling) I mean, I was underneath a pig, so I don't know (laughing).

I was underneath- - Spamela Hamderson.

- Spamela Hamderson.

You know what I think what it was is like Paul and I's connection to music and there was a piano on set, a lot of times, you know, even if things were prerecorded, and Paul would play the piano and I'd sit next to him and we discovered we both liked standards of music, and I think Tony Bennett brought us together.

- Oh, God rest his soul.

- That was a special day.

- Yeah, he was on our show and Paul had gotten a collection of albums, to have signed for his family, and because I'm from Northern California, San Francisco, my dad's Italian, I was like- - Oh my!

- "Where did you get that?"

And he gave me one of his albums and he goes, "Here" and I was like, then I was like, oh, I like you.

Just all of a sudden there was heartbeat there, when you're friends and then it's like, I'm feeling- - There's a little bit more (indistinct)- - There's something more than friendship here.

- Yeah, (Christine laughing).

Well, you are from Normal, grew up there, went to Normal Community High School.

- Yes.

- And then you went to the U of I.

- Yeah.

- Were you always musical, I mean, you said earlier, before we were talking, you said you're kind of a music nerd.

- Yeah, I mean, growing up in a town that had great arts, a contingency with Illinois State University in our backyard, Illinois Wesleyan, there was a lot of arts to see, to hear.

My parents were super supportive of that as well.

So yeah I think, I mean, my dad taught me a drum cadence when I was five years old, I think I started taking piano lessons at six, but yeah, I was always encouraged to be a musician.

And I had a lot of experience in Bloomington-Normal, just in community theater, and being part of a boy choir, a church choir, I always knew, I think I wanted to be a music teacher, so that was my undergrad at U of I, I was in music education.

- Okay, um-hm.

- I taught for three years in the public schools, very much into marching band- - In Illinois?

- In Illinois, yeah.

- Okay.

- In Newton, Illinois, and also Mohomet, Illinois.

- All right.

- Taught private percussion lessons for years, but then I kinda looked down the road and I didn't know if I really wanted to do that for 30-plus years, and I was really into composition and arranging.

So I went back to U of I, after teaching for a few years, and went back to U of I and pursued my master's in composition and arranging.

So during that time I was encouraged by a friend to go to L.A. and start working for film composers, out there, to basically kinda get in that world, get some real-world experience, that's where I met a music director who became the "Muppets Tonight" music director and that's how I met, so.

- And they swept you away.

- Yeah.

- And that's how you met.

- So I owe a lot to Richard Gibbs, as my first mentor- - All right.

- And boss out in L.A., so.

- All right.

And then you are a puppeteer, and so did you always make stuff up growing up, were you one of those?

- Yeah, I fell down the rabbit hole of puppetry actually mostly on "Muppets Tonight" because I went to San Francisco State, and again, I was like, Paul, I was in afterschool programs, worked for the Park and Recreation Department, I taught afterschool drama programs, art programs, my dad's name is, Art, he was an art teacher.

My family moved from Tacoma, Washington to California 'cause my dad wanted to be an animator for Disney, that was his dream.

- [Christine] And was he?

- No, he went back to school, which is really amazing, at 30, with four kids, my grandparents helped raise me.

He went to CalArts in Berkeley and he ended up being an art teacher, which was great, but he passed that dream onto me which is really, so I started cartooning at a young age, and I'd come up with characters, and then I saw Carol Burnett, and I'm like, "Well, if she can dress up in characters, then I'm going to."

So I've been in theater since I was 16, after school, different programs, community theater, "Beach Blanket Babylon" in San Francisco.

I did a lot of afterschool programs, I worked a lot with Kids at Risk and when I went to San Francisco State, I didn't, like Paul, I was like, I didn't see myself as a teacher because I have learning challenges.

I have a perception processing disorder, words are hard for me, my mom helped me graduate.

I would hand write my stuff and I thought the kids that I am reaching with, and I did have puppets, but they were like slippers or socks, there wasn't anything fancy.

(Christine laughing) I would just grab whatever's nearby, and my first puppet was a Snapdragon in the garden, you know?

- Oh, right.

- And I saw the world differently and I thought that really helped me through a lot of trauma situations growing up, my brother got his wings early, which is why I understand a lot of the work I do with children's hospitals and families in trauma.

And so I designed my major at San Francisco State, Child Development through the Arts, and I was just gonna be a special ed teacher, or something like that, and then I just kept getting jobs in theater and then I started writing shows and stuff.

And then I, with "Muppets Tonight," I had written a show called, "Life in Other People's Shoes," where I had shoes everywhere and I would cartoon the characters.

And someone from "The Muppets" said, "We're looking for female comedians who can sing and draw, well not draw, but sing in character.

- Okay.

- And I went to a cattle call and I got it.

So my first big show, and I had no idea anything about television puppetry.

- Television, okay, yeah.

- I'm pretty sure I was gonna be fired every day- (Christine laughing) Was also Paul's first show.

So we were both, like he's from Normal, I'm from Pleasant Hill, I never dreamed, I love "The Muppets" and I love characters, but I never dreamed that I would even possibly do one.

- Get to know them?

- Yeah.

(Christine coughing) So then I made- - (coughing) Excuse me.

- I started making more puppets and I liked it because there's no boundaries, so that's kinda how I ended up together.

- Wow!

- Yeah.

- Wow!

Well, (coughing) excuse me, you know this weather, that stuff ends up, let me- - Salute.

- Here, salute, yeah.

- Yeah, cheers.

- There we are, yeah.

(cups clinking) So you, you just think of stuff?

- Yeah.

- Do you ever have anything really scripted, like your Lolly Lardpop?

- Oh yeah, so, well we "Make Stuff Up," which is the show we're doing at the Riverfront Museum.

I guess because I was the youngest and stuff, and I had a very fertile imagination, like I said, I just always, I'm that type of person, "Look, there's a face, oh, there's a heart on the ground, look it," and it's like a stain, or a smashed piece of gum.

And then I just would put things together in different ways in the drawing tonight.

My dad, because I was very hyperactive, my dad used to draw a number and he'd say, "What's that number?"

And I go, "It's a seven."

He goes, "No, it's not," and then he'd draw more.

And I'm like, "Ah."

So then- - So it became something else.

- Yes.

- And that's where your imagination was?

- Yeah.

- Wow.

- And then I would like, oh, that's a character, oh, what does he sing, what do they sound like, maybe this is a song, and then my brain just kinda just figures out where it's gonna go next.

- Well, and then you're a percussionist, I mean, is that, where does that come in your whole line of (laughing)- - Oh boy.

- Of titles?

- With the hopes of, well.

- Everything we have he bangs on.

- Yeah.

I mean I get that from my parents for sure.

My dad was a drummer, my mom was a piano player, and also french horn, so a piano and percussion, they kinda go hand-in-hand for me.

But with my percussion group, GLANK, I'm way into found objects.

- Right.

- So I love found objects, metals.

- I need to know more about that.

Like ice cube trays- - Yeah.

- I didn't even know there were any still in the world.

- Right, yeah, the aluminum ice cube trays.

- Oh yeah, that used to stick to your fingers if you got 'em outta the refrigerator- - Yes.

- Yeah, right.

- With wet hands.

- Yeah.

- Well, that's the kinda thing I look for in sounds.

- Okay.

- I look for something that is basically mechanical looking.

The way I look at GLANK is it's like a 1950s kinda sci-fi- - Atomic lounge... - Theatrical experience.

- I think he calls it.

- Yeah, the performers are all shrouded, we're all anonymous, we're all in clean room suits, and I try and make that look very stark against the lighting that we use.

And so basically it's like kinda looking at an old sci-fi.

We use multimedia, we use audio and video, but the instruments, I'm always looking for metal that sounds cool.

And so what I'll do is I'll take like an old propane tank, clean it out, don't try this at home- (Christine laughing) - Drill holes into it and cut different pitches into the metal itself, so I'm actually cutting different sides.

- Almost like a sealed drum kinda thing.

- Kind of a seal drum.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- And saw blades as well.

- Saw blades that I've basically made them safe by grinding the blades down- - Down.

- To a point where every blade is a different pitch, more or less, car parts, springs, all sorts of stuff.

But the vibraphone is my favorite instrument because it's not only made of metal, but I can run it through all these different effects and distort it and put delays on it and things, basically destroy the sound of the vibraphone, I'm kind of a punk at heart that way.

So I take all those metal instruments and I basically do a multimedia show that involves all sorts of aspects of theater.

The biggest part for me though, that kinda sets me apart from the Blue Man Groups, and the Stomps, is the audience becomes part of the show.

So the audience puts on a lab coat, and they put on a mask, and they assemble a shaker with a little LED light in it, and so the line is blurred between the performer and the audience member.

- Right.

- And I also love it because it's like you're almost, the audience member feels like they're in a Halloween costume, they feel less inhibited.

When you're kind of anonymous you feel like you can do more things around you.

The audience as a collective is one giant group, they're all doing the same thing, they're all learning this new shaker technique.

- And the same rhythm.

- So you teach each part of the audience which rhythm to do, or?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

We do clapping patterns that are number patterns, not necessarily quarter notes and eighth notes.

- Okay.

- I teach number patterns so that anybody that can count to four and back can do the patterns.

And so it's all this one ensemble that feels very whole.

And we also do outdoor performances for kids that are just jam sessions, where kids come up and look at these weird instruments and be like, "Wow, an ice cube tray."

- So do you travel?

I mean do you make appearances, when do you have time to do that?

- Yeah, it's hard to travel with all the gear, but we did perform- - And his musicians are all Julliard trained, well, I mean they're all- - We performed- - Background.

- In Atlanta, 2017, for Dragon Con, and so that was the furthest I've ever driven with all my instruments and we had an ensemble of 10.

- Okay.

- So, but I also hired local musicians in Atlanta, through a good friend of mine.

So as far as traveling go, yeah, it can be challenging and a little expensive, but in our backyard, in New York, I mean there's plenty of places to play there, both outdoors, indoors.

- Right.

Well now she has brought her show here, are you gonna bring your show to Central Illinois?

- I hope to bring GLANK back.

My dream, honestly, is to perform at Rivian and play on the parts of the cars.

- Oh, on the cars.

- And bring our ensemble pieces and have that be one big assembly line.

- And you know some people over there so you could probably make that happen.

- Let's hope, yeah, that'd be great.

- Yeah, that'd be good.

- Yeah.

- Okay, so I mean, for both of you, growing up, I mean, this is just not something, you were "Sesame Street" kids, you know a little bit older maybe when it first started, but did you ever dream that this would be something that you might be able to do that, that you'd actually get to know where 123 Sesame Street is?

- She has a great story about this.

- Well, I mean, I don't know, I think it's like, I remember watching "Sesame Street" and because of my mind, and the way things, I saw like, oh, monsters, and talking sandwiches and, well, that's what it, I felt immediate, immediate connection.

I was like, that's what it looks like, that's what it's like inside my brain, that's what's always happening.

And my mom says I went home and like, "I'm moving to 'Sesame Street.'"

My sister's, "Yeah, you packed up and you waited on the corner like somebody was gonna pick you up."

(Christine laughing) And then finally I came home and I was like, "I guess I can't get there."

I mean I didn't even know where it was, it didn't matter to me.

So I really, not in my wildest dreams, every day I never take it for granted, I cry, I'm a fairy and I've always been in the backyard, like I said, with the Snapdragons, and singing to frogs, and making gnome homes, and now there's, Abby has a fairy garden.

So that, I love dogs.

I'm a dog, I'm Elmo's puppy.

- Um-hm.

(Leslie barking) (Leslie growling) - Oh, there's a dog here.

- Oh, that was good.

- So I was just, I'm pretty good at dogs.

I'm also Julia's dog, which is a Labradoodle.

- I have seen Julia's, yeah.

- Yeah, I do several breeds.

So I think for me, I just, I know it sounds corny, but I've always followed my heart.

Like I wake up and I just, I just literally need to create something and I don't know what it is, I'll draw something, I just have this, my goddaughter says, "You have OCD, over creative disorder."

And I'm like- - I love it.

- I might do that, pipe cleaner, or something.

So for me, it was a dream come true because I know how important, and I play different outreach characters.

I have Jesse, who was our military outreach, who deals with loss and because I grew up with a loss in our family, when my brother got his wings earlier, I could connect with that with authenticity.

Not that nobody else does, but also Lily, which is food insecurity, and kids that have less in foster care.

So I feel in my heart that everything that I've been put through, and also having gone through being a warrior myself, and a survivor, a cancer survivor, so I also, I felt like, well, this gives me another level to relate in hospitals.

- Right.

- So I make stuff up.

The musical that we did is like, I try to make it as easy as possible, in 50 minutes, through music, and storytelling, that anybody can do what I do, I really believe that in my heart.

So "Sesame Street" is just like, no, not in my wildest dreams.

(Christine chuckling) - Well, and I think it's, we always joke that it's like the Carnegie Hall of puppeteering, 'cause of the Jim Henson legacy.

- It doesn't mean I'm a virtuoso, I'm a jazz musician, 'cause I am not- - It's the Carnegie Hall of Music for me as far as, children's music, yes, but in terms of the level that Joe Raposo started on "Sesame Street" - Yeah.

- The level of musicianship that he brought to the show was amazing because if you, and I've done this quite a bit, analyze old songs, songs from the '70s that he wrote, Jeff Moss wrote, they're these wonderful complex jazz arrangements, but they're simple songs that just get hooked into your, into you.

- In the middle of the night they're going through your head and it's like, okay, I have to think of another song, right?

- Yeah, yeah, but they're very, they're beautifully written songs when you really break them.

- Right.

- I mean, the legendary stories that Frank Sinatra wanted an entire album of Joe Raposo songs, in 1974, so Joe Raposo would've started on "Sesame Street."

In '69 I think he wrote, "Bein' Green," and all those songs around that time, early '70s.

You know a musician like, Frank Sinatra, heard something in those songs and said, "I want an entire album of those songs."

- Isn't that something.

- That really says something.

So, for me as a kid, I have memories of songs.

I have more memories I think of like animation, hand-drawn animation, which was the, I remembered, I remembered, the loaf of bread, container of milk, stick of butter, I can see that in my brain right now and I don't know why that stuck with me more than I think puppet characters did, I think animation did, and the Count, actually I loved the Count.

- I loved the Count.

- I loved Grover.

- "Ah, ah, ah."

- Yeah, yeah, so that, and then this is the bizarre, full circle thing, on "Muppets Tonight."

We got to work with Brian Henson, of course, a son of Jim Henson.

- That was wild.

- So, and when I was a kid, there was one specific short film that I remembered on "Sesame Street," which was three boys and they're eating ice cream, and they're making the noises like earth moving machines.

- Oh.

- And then they would cut to real earth moving machines, shout out to Caterpillar- (both laughing) And then back to the kids, and then one says, "I'm broken," and he made this sound like he was winding down, and then another kid came up and wound him back up and turned his nose on.

Well, one of those kids was Brian Henson.

- Oh.

- When he was like six years old.

- Okay.

- And it was one of his dad's films.

So I'm like pinching myself going, "Wait a minute, that was you on that show," as I'm talking to Brian Henson.

Like I remembered- - I remembered.

- I remembered, I remembered, that particular thing stuck with me.

As well as legendary songs like, "The Pinball," the one, two, three, four- - (All) Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve- - And we just did a concert with- - With (indistinct).

- Wynton.

- With Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

- Okay, oh yeah.

- Did all jazz arrangements.

- They did 13 brand new arrangements, his band and his staff, basically the people in the band arranged all new arrangements for us for a live show, which, and that was one of them.

You were in that as a cow, weren't you?

- Oh, yeah, I was a cow.

(Christine laughing) - Yes.

- I was a cow in that.

- Yeah.

- I was one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

- You weren't lying were you?

- Or maybe I actually had like a Pointer Sisters.

- Yeah.

- I don't know, maybe not.

- Another great group.

- Weren't there Oinker Sisters?

- Oinker Sisters?

- Was it, no.

- The Oinker Sisters?

(Christine laughing).

- I can't remember.

- A pig, was it a pig, no.

- No it was (indistinct).

- But that, like that, see that level, that is.

- I started as a pig, went as a cow, oh, maybe you should examine your attraction to livestock.

- That's true.

- And maybe you should let Caterpillar in on your GLANK stuff.

- Yeah, yeah, oh, we could perform there.

- Yeah, definitely.

- But that level of musicianship, Jazz at Lincoln Center, world-class jazz musicians, that to me hearkens back to Joe Raposo and the bar that they set for children's music.

- Exactly.

- Yeah.

- And I think it's a Joe Raposo quote where he said, "He never wanted to write down for children, he wanted to lift them up."

- Yeah.

- So as he wrote, he wasn't, he was writing just like he would for Frank Sinatra as he was for a five year old.

- For kids, right.

- So.

- Well, so you still have some friends here, do you have family here still in the area?

- Yes, yeah.

My parents live in Bloomington-Normal.

- Okay.

- My sister lives up at Chicago suburbs, a lot of good friends still in Central Illinois, some are still teaching music in the suburbs as well, but yeah, yeah.

- Do you get to accompany him back here for any family things very often, or?

- Yeah, every time he comes here I am usually with him.

- Okay.

(Leslie laughing) - Well that's good, yeah, he'll bring ya along.

- Yeah, he brings me along.

- And do you perform for everybody then?

- Yeah, it's kinda funny, we're gonna go to perform where his parents are staying, tomorrow, we're just gonna do a talk in the morning we'll be at Bloom- - At Westminster Village, somewhere, yeah.

- Yeah, but, there's this one character I do that's like wait, I'm always teasing- - My dad, it's so funny.

- I was always teasing his dad and I go, "Oh my gosh, that's the voice I use on "Muppets."

I was like, all those years I perfected it, you know- - That's right.

- And I perfected it on Paul's dad.

- You got it.

- So I thought that was pretty funny.

- Yep.

- You got that New York thing going.

- Oh yeah, she's from Queens.

- Yeah.

- I've lived there for like ever now, but.

- And I have a good friend that works for Caterpillar, he's been working here- - Okay.

- Almost 20 years, I think.

- Yeah.

- And friends that work for State Farm, so all Central Illinois.

- And Paul borrowed a cymbal and the percussion from one of his friends.

- Yeah (chuckling).

- Dropped it off last night, it was a deal, we've loaded it into our car.

- Yep.

- You know, but- - So yes, connection's enough to borrow cymbals and drums, that's for sure.

- Yeah, but I have a new connection here, I don't know if you brought it out if- - Okay.

- Illinois Art Station, which is- - Yes, yes, which is why you're here.

- Which is why we're here.

- And they, the Illinois Art Station brought you here to do your performance.

- Yes.

- With Lolly, the Lardpop.

- Lolly, and she is a Lardpop, actually.

- Okay.

(all laughing) - She's right here.

- And so tell me a little bit about that, we're gonna interview Hannah at some point also, but.

- Oh, good, good, good.

- Just for now, you tell me what's going on.

- Okay.

- Get your interpretation.

- Okay, I will get my interpretation in.

So Laura Burke is a psychologist who has written several books on how the importance of mental health, and the arts, how important they are together, to come together.

And so they were looking to originally try to bring Paul out but, because GLANK was basically in storage, I mean, it's a lot.

- Another time, we'll get it.

- Another time.

- You need metal objects.

- Yeah.

- Last year I founded a company with my creative partner, Jamie Donmoyer, and she is similar, we both grew up, we dealt with childhood trauma, we both were, she ran a nonprofit, we both were constantly volunteering in our communities.

During Covid we are reaching out to teachers, we were creating curriculum.

I'm involved with the Jay Fund Foundation, which Tom Coughlin founded for, which is kinda like a St. Jude's organization to help kids.

I was doing Zooms with them, and Weird Wednesdays, and we were creating all this content and we have so much to give so we started this company called, Humor With A HeArt.

And so, and with a capital, HeArt.

So what we do is we bring art and humor to help families- - Help them navigate.

- And communities navigate life creatively.

- Right.

- That's our mission statement.

Well, Illinois Art Station is a similar mission statement so when they were looking to bring artists out here, to have guest artists to influence their community, Paul's like, "Well, my wife just started this company that gets all the community involved," to shine a light on a nonprofit.

And so what we do is we do outreach, we do workshops, I'm speaking later at Bradley, and then West Lane, and the hospital, so the seniors, schools, so we do that, and we do shows, we do workshops.

And then Friday is a big fundraiser which is kind of a big kid show for adults, it's basically, "Mary Poppins Meets Monty Python."

- Okay.

- It's like, okay, we have the kids show where I show what I do, but then we have the adult show where I'm like, well, this is the result of OCD- - Okay.

- Over creative disorder.

(all laughing) So that's kinda what we did.

And so we've been back and forth with Hannah, for a long time, and trying to get people involved, and how do we get everybody in the community, and the bistros- - All ventures.

- Get involved too, right?

- Right.

- So every level of community comes together.

- Awesome.

- And celebrates the arts, Illinois Art Station, and so that's why we're here.

- Yay, well, can Lolly make a brief appearance or is she allowed?

- Yes, she is, just don't.

- Oh, you don't, I don't know, do you wanna go there?

- Well, we have maybe a minute and a half left.

- A minute and half... - Oh, she'll take that.

- I'll take it.

I will take it, please zoom in on me.

Is this, oh, it's water.

- You're not allowed to drink water?

- Well, no, it's okay, I don't have a human bladder.

I mean, Leslie will have to take care of that.

See, I just have an elbow.

- You do.

- Lolly, inappropriate.

- Yes, let me just say, first of all, thank you so much.

- Very nice to meet you, thank you.

- Oh, you're so sweet.

- Oh.

- I'm very excited to be here because Leslie gets a lot of her ideas from me, you know, that's why my hair's up like this, I'm very excited to be there, I'm a human explanation point.

- I guess so.

- Yeah, do you have any questions for me?

- What is your favorite joke?

Do you have a favorite joke?

- I do, it's a little silly.

- Okay.

- I learned it at the Manhattan Star Academy, the president of the student body told it to me.

(Lolly clearing her throat) What do you call a smelly pencil?

- A stinker?

- A number two.

- Oh!

- Oh!

I know, I hope your audience can handle that, I went there.

I went there, who do I look in, is it camera one, camera two?

- Right here.

- Okay.

Who's raising your hand, you're so polite, I'll see you at the show tonight.

But I just love being me.

I've been hugged, my arm, I've been hugged so much I feel full and that's how I get my energy.

- I bet you do, and look, you have two hearts, it shows you have twice the love for everybody.

- (laughing) Oh, you're good.

- Oh, thank you.

Well, thank you both for being here this is so exciting, glad I finally got to meet you.

- Yes, and thank you.

- I had read about you, heard about it, read about you, now I know the whole story, and Lolly, of course I know you too.

- Oh, stark.

- Okay, yes she's blowing kisses.

(Lolly laughing) All right.

(Lolly smooching) Well, thank you.

I hope that you enjoyed this Normal person- (all laughing) And his lovely bride, and you have a very good evening.

Stay safe and healthy.