born 25 July 1970

Billy Glyde, Los Angeles, California, porn star

Christopher Allen, Springfield, Missouri, circus performer

Daniel Osers, Berlin, East Germany, actor

Dawn Bradfield, birthplace unspecified, Irish actress

Eric Jacobson, birthplace unspecified, American puppeteer

Ernesto Alterio, Buenos Aires, Argentina, actor

Hardrock Llewynyth, Seattle, Washington, goth

Ivy, birthplace unspecified, American porn star

Mark S. Longo, Somerville, Massachusetts, extra

Markus Kurtz, Gleisdorf, Austria, digital effects supervisor

Moritz von Uslar, Cologne, West Germany, writer

Sharon Flake, Portsmouth, Virginia, stuntwoman

I’m not afraid to chat up Jason Segel’s upcoming Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made. I really have high hopes for that thing. The only announced non-Muppet-manipulating actors in the cast as it sits on the IMDb today are Segel and Charles Grodin. To me, that’s a good sign that they’re keeping all the special guest stars top secret…for now.

It’s interesting to discover – yet quite logical once you learn it – that most of the living original Muppeteers (chiefly Frank Oz) no longer routinely perform in any capacity. Today’s Winner is the next-generation Miss Piggy, Animal, and Fozzie Bear. What a sweet gig for someone born in 1970, considering what a thoroughgoing part of our childhood the Muppets were.