Sixteen years ago I was invited to learn how to puppeteer at The Jim Henson Company. Now I've been a member of Puppet Up! (The live improv show) for Fifteen years. I been all over the country and to Canada, Scotland and Australia. I've filmed shows in L.A. and London and Vancouver, performed at the Grammys, got to be puppeteer on a couple of Muppets and most recently play Brendar and several other characters in The Barbarian and the Troll on Nickelodeon.
I also co-founded GLOP - The Glorious Ladies of Puppetry. GLOP is devoted to getting more woman and diversity into puppetry. We filmed six shorts during the pandemic using the magic of green screen and Zoom. Now we have a live show at The Groundlings called GLOP meets GLOG and will be performing in the 2024 Sketchfest in San Fransisco. Look for new episodes of GLOP coming soon. I wrote all of them and directed half of em!
My resume and footage of some of my characters are below. I'd like to thank the fan who did the super cut of Star the Racist Squirrel!
Puppet Resume
The Barbarian and the Troll - Nickelodeon
Earth to Ned - Disney +
The Curious Creations of Christine McConnel - Netflix
The Happytime Murders - Dir. Brian Henson
Crazy Ex Girlfriend - The CW
The Muppets - ABC
Puppet Up! - LA, NY, SF, Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas, Toronto, Edinburgh, Sydney & Melbourne
Mr. Neighbors House - Adult Swim
Me and my boyfriend.
@Midnight - Comedy Central
No You Shut Up - Fusion
That Puppet Game Show - BBC
Neil's Puppet Dreams - Nerdist
The Grammys - CBS
Late Night Liars - GSN
Warren the Ape - MTV
"Colleen Smith stands out in this wonderful ensemble as a relatively undiscovered comic genius, infusing each sketch with sidesplitting humor. Every time she takes the stage to “Puppet Up,” you find yourself excited to see what she’ll come with next." - Chicago Stage Review
"And along with a formidably brilliant comedian and improviser named Colleen Smith, Tuesday night's show offered the chance to see Henson work the puppets" - Chris Jones - Chicago Tribune
The less No, You Shut Up! sticks to its rigid structure, the more it serves as an astute complement to what Obama is saying. I’m not sure if Stephen Colbert was feeding lines to Star Schlesinger, the conservative squirrel, but she channels his brilliance in balancing iconoclasm with coded jabs at the GOP. When the president gets a standing ovation for mentioning his commitment to natural gas, without missing a beat, she says, “How’s he supposed to get to that gas without using fracking, which I thought you liberals didn’t like?” It’s followed almost immediately by applauding Obama for promising a college education to students who will, according to Schlesinger, just get a communications degree they’ll never use. - The A.V. Club
