'He loved me, and I loved him' — Frank Oz's eulogy for Jim Henson, 1990

Frank Oz turns 80 on Saturday, the voice of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam the Eagle, Yoda, Cookie Monster, Bert and Grover. And the deliverer of an A+ eulogy for his friend Jim Henson.

Jim Henson with Frank Oz

My great mate and former Breakfasters colleague Fee B-Squared sent me a lovely clip yesterday of Big Bird (Caroll Spinney) singing ‘It’s not easy being green’ at the Jim Henson Memorial Service in 1990. It’s a tearjerker, with it’s lovely ‘thank you Kermit’ to close:

It also reminded me to feature one of my all time favourite speeches, Frank Oz’s ridiculously funny and beautiful eulogy from the same day. I often bang on in the this newsletter about how stories make speeches, how the human brain switches off to platitudes delivered as generalities, but lights up when we learn about specific anecdotes and lived experiences.

Usually, in a good eulogy, we choose a few stories, give them more or less equal weight, and an overall picture of the person emerges. What I love about this Frank Oz eulogy is that it is in essence one long story, perfectly told, that is weird, and hilarious and an insight into both the generosity and creativity of Henson, and Oz’s willingness to trust him!

If you’ve never heard it. It’s just a treat. This is the bit that really grabs the audience attention:

Jim came up with a camera. And he said in his own quiet, enthusiastic way, he said, ‘Frank, I need to go in a dressing room with you, and um, see if you’d take off all of your clothes so I could take a picture of you naked?’

I said, ‘whoooa!’ I said, ‘what?’

He said ‘I really need to do this, I need to take some photos of you naked.’

The payoff is so good, and relates to the most generous of gift ideas. It’s one of the all time great eulogies, and it’s really just one story.

For paid subscribers, the full transcript is below:

Frank Oz turns 80, photo AP

For Jim Henson: 'He loved me, and I loved him', by Frank Oz - 1990

21 May 1990, St John the Divine Church, New York, USA

Jim and I were opposites in so many ways.

I think it worked mainly because of patience and understanding, that which we had together both personally and in performance. And in the creative partnership that I shared with him and others.

I knew, not all the time, but in the last fifteen years or so, that he was a very singular human being.

Looking here I think I only realise now how large a man this was.  This man that I just worked with and played with, and had so much fun with.

And we did have fun, we had such great silly fun together.