He’s been my favorite Muppet performer for years. I keep rewinding during the “Star Wars” episode of The Muppet Show so I can listen to his awesome voice in the “Ram-a-Lam-a-Ding-Dong” number over & over. I marvel at the way Scooter actually pauses to take a breath while playing the flute during “Scarborough Fair.” And I love that in one of my all-time favorite Sesame Street songs, “Four” by Little Jerry & the Monotones, they introduce themselves by their actual names: “Richard’s number three/As happy as can be.” I’m guessing that line was telling the truth!

(On a purely speculative note, when Raquel Welch guest-starred on The Muppet Show, I wonder if Richard told her "You and I both played the same Deadly Sin, you know." I'll [a] trust the reader to know which one that is or [b] leave to the reader the fun of finding out.)

In November 2004, I and a few hundred other rabid Muppet fans got to spent an amazing weekend at the Jim Henson Film Festival, hosted by the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Sporting a "My Uncle Owns the Theater" shirt, I planned to ask Jerry Nelson if he would talk a little about Richard. But someone beat me to it and asked Jerry Juhl that question first! Never a sore loser by nature, I immediately, heartily applauded. And Mr. Juhl reminisced fondly about the Muppet studios' Unofficial Tour Guide, ending with "'...if I want to live on the beach and walk around naked' - now that's a Richard Hunt ad-lib."