John Kennedy

John Kennedy (born November 17, 1967) is an American puppeteer who has worked with The Jim Henson Company since 1990. He hails from Plainfield, Indiana. From 1991 until 2003, Kennedy took over Jim Henson's role of Dr. Teeth, after which Bill Barretta took over in 2005. Kennedy has also performed Kermit the Frog on Disney Cruise Line, replacing Steve Whitmire.

On Jack’s Big Music Show, he was the puppeteer for Mel in season 1 and Sheldon. After he was replaced by Jim Kroupa for the former, Kennedy would continue to do pupperty on the show (even doing Mel's puppetry again in Leonard the Country Squirrel, Spunky the Music Alien, Jack Bunny and Jack's Big... Oops!) until Jack's Big Orchestra, where he officially left the show.

Roles (all puppetry)

 * Mel (season 1, select episodes of season 2)
 * Orange and white dogs (also voiced)
 * Sheldon
 * Penguins (along with Bill Barretta and Alice Dinnean)
 * Bugle Bunny
 * Coo-Coo birds 1 and 4

Trivia

 * At the end of Jack's Big Orchestra, a farewell message is shown which says goodbye to him, since he left the show after that episode.
 * In an interview December 1, 2020, John said that he convinced co-creator David Rudman that Mel didn't need rods on his hands and got the wranglers to put the drumsticks in a way that they would sit in place. That way, when the puppet moves, the drumsticks move along with it.
 * This changed in season 2, when Mel became a live-hand sack puppet. His drumming was done by fellow puppeteer Rick Lyon.
 * Kennedy has written 2 instructional books on puppetry. Those being Puppet Mania! and Puppet Planet: The Most Amazing Puppet-Making Book in the Universe; both of which are aimed at a younger audience.