Cheryl Wagner, is a Canadian puppeteer, producer, director and writer, who is the creator of the TV series '' The Big Comfy Couch'', is a

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United State ...

and Emmy award- winning

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

children's television writer, showrunner and producer who began her career as a performer in both theatre and on the screen. Her Halifax-based touring Merrytime Clown and Puppet Company in which Wagner worked as a

clown A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in ...

and

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...

from 1977 to 1980 provided a fertile ground for her later work as a producer and writer in children's entertainment.

Puppeteering

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and '' Fraggle Rock'' (1983–1987) an ...

's ''

Fraggle Rock ''Fraggle Rock'' (also known as ''Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock'' or ''Fraggle Rock with Jim Henson's Muppets'') is a children's musical fantasy comedy puppet television series about interconnected societies of Muppet creatures, created by Jim He ...

'' lured Wagner to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

to work as a puppeteer for the full five years and 96 episodes of the series from 1982–87. Wagner was Jim Henson's right hand when he performed his Fraggle characters Cantus and Convincing John. For season 2 to season 5 (1984 to 1987), Wagner provided the voice for the character Ma Gorg. In 1984, Wagner performed as the meddling social worker Miss Finch ody suitfor the

Children's Television Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-know ...

film '' Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird''. In 1990, Wagner worked as a puppeteer for the Canadian Sesame Street special, ''Basil Hears a Noise''. Other television puppetry work included Annie on CBC's long-running preschool series '' Mr. Dressup'' and the role of Mrs. Pennypacker on TVO's '' Today's Special''.

Producer

Post-Fraggle, Wagner joined forces with fellow puppeteer Rob Mills to develop and produce her clown and puppet series '' The Big Comfy Couch'' through his company Radical Sheep Productions. The show, broadcast by YTV/

Treehouse A tree house, tree fort or treeshed is a platform or building constructed around, next to or among the trunk or branches of one or more mature trees while above ground level. Tree houses can be used for recreation, work space, habitation, a hang ...

in Canada and throughout the US on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...

-affiliates, features a young clown named Loonette and her side-kick Molly the Doll and their adventures on and around a gigantic green couch. Wagner was the showrunner/story editor for ''The Big Comfy Couch'''s 100 episodes that spanned a production arc from 1992 to 2006 and won: * the 1993 Alliance for Children and Television Award Of Excellence * the 1995

for Best Children's Program * the 21st Annual Midsouth Emmy award for Best Children's Program and Best Set Design in 2007 With Radical Sheep, Wagner also worked as producer on the Gemini nominated preschool puppet series ''Panda Bear Daycare'' and ''Ruffus The Dog''. In 1998, Wagner returned to Halifax and joined forces with Jeff Rosen and Michael Donovan at Halifax Film (now

DHX Media WildBrain Ltd. (formerly known as DHX Media, Ltd.) is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest library of childre ...

) to develop and produce animation properties: the preschool Gemini-award-winning stop motion series '' Poko'' and the CG series '' Bo On The Go!'', both seen on Kids' CBC. She also wrote the bible and 8 scripts for Catalyst/Cellar Door's classical animation family series '' Eckhart'', set on

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

which aired on

Teletoon Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and " cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts ...

Directing

She is now based in

Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city i ...

and is President of Periscope Pictures Inc. Wagner produced and directed their preschool 15 x 5 minute webseries '' Bunny Bop!'' which went on-line February 3, 2011, just in time for the

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly referred to as the Spring Festival () a ...

of the Rabbit.

Puppeteering

Producer

Directing

References

External links