THE MUPPETS made a live appearance at the D23 EXPO this morning at a special panel that included the Muppeteers who bring them to life. Bill Barretta (Pepe & Rowlf), Dave Goelz (Gonzo), Steve Whitmire (Kermit & Rizzo), and Eric Jacobson (Fozzy & Miss Piggy) and Matt Vogel (Constantine) were all on hand to bring the characters to life for excited fans in attendance.

The crew has brought the familiar cast of Muppets to life on the big screen for a while now and later this year they’ll be returning to the small screen when THE MUPPETS comes to ABC.

Not surprisingly, the format followed pretty closely to what was shown at Comic-Con including the reveal of the promo clip and then the magic really happening with the Muppets coming to life on stage.

They talked about how the upcoming show should be promising as it really feels IN THE NOW with its format. There’s a lot of excitement for the project. As a special surprise, Steve Whitmire picked six random people from the audience to show HOW to become Muppeteers. Definitely an unforgettable experience!

Unlike Comic-Con, filming the panel was not allowed but we WERE able to manage to grab a few shots for another memorable albeit much more PG romp with the MUPPETS.