Enter to win Funny Boy: The Richard Hunt Biography
Enter for a chance to win a copy of Funny Boy: The Richard Hunt Biography by Jessica Max Stein. To enter the contest, fill out the form below between Friday, March 15, and Friday, April 5.
Funny Boy: The Richard Hunt Biography (Rutgers University Press; March 15, 2024; 9781978836716; $34.95; 344 pp. with 20 b-w images) by Jessica "Max" Stein tells the life story of a gifted performer whose gleeful irreverence, sharp wit and generous spirit inspired millions. This riveting and novelistic biography is the first book to tell the story of the Muppet troupe from a non- Jim Henson-centric perspective.
Richard Hunt was one of the original main five performers in the Muppet troupe. He brought to life an impressive range of characters on The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock and various Muppet movies, everyone from eager gofer Scooter to elderly heckler Statler, groovy girl Janice to freaked-out lab helper Beaker, even early versions of Miss Piggy and Elmo. Hunt also acted, directed and mentored the next generation of performers.
His accomplishments are all the more remarkable in that he crammed them all into only 40 years. And even today, the obsession and love of the Muppets lives on worldwide.
Richard Hunt was just 18 years old when he joined Jim Henson's company, where his edgy humor quickly helped launch the Muppets into international stardom. Hunt lived large, savoring life's delights, amassing a vivid, disparate community of friends.
Even when the AIDS epidemic wrought its devastation, claiming the love of Hunt's life and threatening his own life, he showed an extraordinary sense of resilience, openness and joy.
Hunt's story exemplifies how to follow your passion, foster your talents, adapt to life's surprises, genuinely connect with everyone from glitzy celebrities to gruff cab drivers - and have a hell of a lot of fun along the way.
"I met Richard Hunt while touring the Muppet Show and we became instant friends for life. Everything about him was larger than life: His personality, his humor, his energy, his talent and his great big heart. My family never knew when he might show up in his big black Checker cab, but we did know we were in for another wonderful adventure with the guy my kids call 'Uncle Richard' to this very day. To know him was to love him, and we do."
-Mark Hamill, actor
"I worked with Richard Hunt for 18 years, but there was a lot I didn't know. Jessica Max Stein's powerful biography of Hunt is a great read. Stein spent years meticulously researching Hunt's intensely public and fiercely private life. Here is the authentic story of Hunt's journey to the top of his field, but more importantly, his quest for self-knowledge and finally, self-acceptance. I know Richard better now."
-Dave Goelz, Muppet performer for 50+ years
"At last! It's the long-awaited story of one of Muppet history's most beloved performers! With Funny Boy, Jessica Max Stein brings us a nuanced, compassionate, and deeply researched biography of Richard Hunt, exploring his remarkable life as one of Muppetdom's most enthusiastic and energetic performers, while putting that same life in context with a complicated and often dark time in our cultural history. Tapping into interviews with those who were there, and packed full of stories you've never heard before, Funny Boy is all at once entertaining, interesting, inspiring, wacky, and heartbreaking--just like Richard Hunt himself."
-Brian Jay Jones, author of Jim Henson: The Biography
"Jessica Max Stein's biography of performer and puppeteer Richard Hunt is humorous, touching, and engagingly written. Funny Boy illuminates Hunt's life as a stunning example of how to live and die with community, frivolity, dignity, and purpose."
-Theodore (Ted) Kerr, co-author of We Are Having This Conversation Now: The Times of AIDS Cultural Production
