For the first nine years of my life, it was just my dad and I. As a child, he was a superhero to me. As a teenager, we certainly had our ups and downs and I can’t say I was his biggest fan. As an adult (and especially now as a father myself), he is again a superhero to me. The ultimate superhero.
I very vividly remember going to something of a book fair when I was in kindergarten and getting him the first gift I ever bought; a coffee mug with “Dad“ repeated over and over which he still has today.
I mentioned before that my dad is largely responsible for my love of the Muppets. Being the two swinging bachelors that we were back in the early 80s, we would have dinner together in our tiny guestroom where our television set was and watch The Muppet Show or Fraggle Rock. We would laugh and look back and forth at each other—him on the couch and me nestled in our green and blue shag carpet—musing over a gag or song (Quick parenting pro tip: actually watch TV with your kids. Don’t go on your phone or whatever. Bond over your child’s interests in that program. I know it’s hard, I struggle too sometimes. A lot of kids shows today are actually pretty good though!).
My dad and I in the ball pit at Sesame Place in Pennsylvania, circa the early 1980s
I would often draw pictures of the Muppets for my dad including the above, nifty picture of Gonzo which is the focal point of the story I am sharing today. I had found this crude drawing a while back and thought it was so funny how I’ve essentially been drawing these characters my whole life. I knew I wanted to do something else—something new—with this fading illustration on dot matrix printer paper, but I wasn’t exactly sure what.
A few illustrations of the famous weirdo a few years after the original drawing I had done for my dad
Not too long after, I was lucky enough to be invited to the set of the 2015 sitcom, The Muppets. What an absolutely amazing day in my life, but the real opportunity was to use this old illustration to my advantage. Like most dads with their kids, my father is very proud of me, and the opportunities I’ve had to work for the Muppets have been a super fun subject for us to focus on. I decided I was going to give this drawing I did of Gonzo for my dad back to him, only this time with an upgrade. So on the day I went to the set in Burbank, I tucked my old art away until I could show it to the muse who inspired it.
On set talking to Dave Goelz (and Peter Linz hidden behind me). John Kennedy looks on from the side. February 4, 2016
I had briefly met Dave Goelz before, and I was very grateful he remembered me. Goelz has been The Great Gonzo’s performer since 1976 and he is incredibly kind and gracious. Getting to hang out with him and the rest of the crew is easily one of the greatest moments of my life and I wanted to make sure I used my time well. After lunch, people were just hanging out, so I took my chance and approached Dave with my very old, very crude fan art with one request, “Please sign it.” Dave was floored that I would ask him to “ruin” something so special I had made for my dad so long ago. “These things are so precious to me!” he protested. “I can’t!” Here’s where I was able to tell this man who inspired me creatively so much as a child—and well into adulthood—about my father. How we watched everything together when I was a kid, how much we both love the Muppets, how proud he was of me that I was there and having the opportunity to be commissioned by them, and how special it would be now if Gonzo could circle back and justify not just the trajectory of my career, but our entire fandom.
Dave Goelz acquiesced and then asked, “Who should I sign it to?” I explained my father and I both had the same name and are both artists, so it could effectively be for both of us. Dave then added, “Hope this art thing works out for you!” Signed by both Dave himself and everyone’s favorite Whatever. Perfection!
Four months later, I not only gave this newly autographed art back to my father, but included a picture of me around the age I would have been when I first drew it holding a Fisher Price plush Gonzo dress up doll, the Gonzo illustration that was included in one of the commissioned pieces I did for the performers that hung in Dave’s dressing room, and a shot of me holding the old art alongside its subject matter—Gonzo himself.
Little me with my plush Gonzo on top of the Howard Johnson’s in Asbury Park, NJ circa 1983 on the far left
One could make the argument this is a slightly cooler Father’s Day gift than that mug I first got him, but for me it’s confirmation that my dad is really the one who gave me such an incredible gift: a loving superhero of a dad who inspired me just as much if not a whole lot more than the Muppets themselves ever could.
Dad and I with a certain Frog (Christmas 1980), my whole family going to see The Muppets (November 24, 2011), and my dad and Abby Cadabby on the set of Sesame Street (November 1, 2018)