Frank Oz on Jim, Yoda, His Friends and Inside Out

For the past little while Disney World has been hosting its annual Star Wars Weekends, where the park celebrates everything from long ago in a galaxy far away. Most people know that original Muppeteer Frank Oz has been the performer of Yoda since the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back. This past weekend Frank sat down for a Q&A with voice over artist James Arnold Taylor for a 40 minute chat about his career, which you can see below.

Frank speaks openly about his time as a Muppet performer, his time directing, and his time as Yoda, He name drops almost all the main Muppeteers from his time as a performer, saying that they all deserve to be up there with him. But one thing that is consistent throughout the interview is that he attributes every single part of his success and career to Jim Henson. Frank makes mention at every opportunity that it was Jim that took a chance on him, and it was Jim who gave him the confidence to do what he does today.

For those not wanting to sit through the entire video, he also briefly describes how he and Dave Goelz came to be voices in the new Pixar film Inside Out. The films director Pete Docter is a good friend of both his and Dave, and he asked if they’d come in to voice some security guards. They spent 2 hours in the booth together improvising and laughing. Having seen the film I can tell you that their scene is hysterical, and their chemistry has not diminished one bit.