Funny Boy is great depiction of a guy who happened to be top of the line performer and puppeteer. I wish I knew how many years Jessica Max Stein gave for research to write this book. Because, you know... It is thorough! There is so much informative, documentary stuff, but Richard Hunt's character is painted so well that I felt a little bit annoyed by him. And maybe a little jealous. But he had a great life, even if too short.

I love Muppets, of course, but my interests were always focused on Henson and technical marvels he used to bring puppets to life. Also, I love biographies and autobiographies, but except some Jim Henson books on my to-read list I never got around to read anything related to Muppets that is non-fiction. I can recognize names of performers and their voices (thank you Muppet LPs!), faces of Henson and Oz. But Richard Hunt? Nothing. And just like that, this book became a pleasant surprise.

I read this book for ten days, mostly because I wanted to savor it. I started watching The Muppet Show again, just to check out some things that are said in the book. And I'm not surprised at all that Richard was gay, he had that Broadway quality in him. While reading I would ask myself how is that possible that Hunt never ended up on Broadway, but he really did a gig after gig in Muppetverse. So he flexed his rainbow persona at private parties and soirees, and there were many.

It was kinda weird to connect the way Hunt was being depicted, with pictures of him inserted throughout the book. In said pictures he always looks very profesh and serious. Not a hint of queer. Where is that energy the book is about? Sometimes, you just have to trust words more than the presented illustrations. Also, I felt a couple of times that some of Richard's personality traits were being mentioned repetitively. There was a space for an editor to trim this book to perfection.

But did I liked it? Immensely. And I cried. So, heads up! Don't let the tears fall on the book/kindle, you'll need it for all those nice quotes that you highlighted.

In the end, I'd like to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an advance copy of the book.

Absolutely wonderful. Richard Hunt’s life is so incredibly displayed in this book. Thorough, fun, and very entertaining. I was brought to tears a few times as well. Also developed a new appreciation for The Fraggles. I cannot say enough good things about this biography. A must read for a muppet fan of any level.

Rutgers University Press provided an early galley for review.

I have been a big fan of the Muppets since the early 1970's, so diving into Richard Hunt's story was a big interest to me.

Stein does a good job establishing who Hunt was - from how he grew up and went through school, and how he evolved as a performer once he connected with Henson and the rest of the original crew. As a big fan of The Muppet Show, I especially appreciated the evolution of the pilots to getting the show up and running. It made me want to pull out my old DVDs and revisit those seasons again. I also came to realize how much involvement Hunt had on certain Muppet properties that were favorites of mine. He clearly carried the responsibilities on several projects after Henson moved on to other things.

Despite all the successes, I came away with the feeling that Hunt was looking for something more for a long time. This created a sadder undertone of his story for me. I did feel, though, a sense of closure both with his handling of the passing and memorial for Henson, and then how he faced his own mortality in the end. Stein does a great job in conveying how Hunt wanted to remind people to live and experience while we can.

I enjoyed this one.

"Funny Boy: The Richard Hunt Biography tells the life story of a gifted performer whose gleeful irreverence, sharp wit and generous spirit inspired millions. Richard Hunt was one of the original main five performers in the Muppet troupe. He brought to life an impressive range of characters on The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock and various Muppet movies, everyone from eager gofer Scooter to elderly heckler Statler, groovy girl Janice to freaked-out lab helper Beaker, even early versions of Miss Piggy and Elmo. Hunt also acted, directed and mentored the next generation of performers. His accomplishments are all the more remarkable in that he crammed them all into only 40 years.

Richard Hunt was just 18 years old when he joined Jim Henson's company, where his edgy humor quickly helped launch the Muppets into international stardom. Hunt lived large, savoring life's delights, amassing a vivid, disparate community of friends. Even when the AIDS epidemic wrought its devastation, claiming the love of Hunt's life and threatening his own life, he showed an extraordinary sense of resilience, openness and joy. Hunt's story exemplifies how to follow your passion, foster your talents, adapt to life's surprises, genuinely connect with everyone from glitzy celebrities to gruff cab drivers - and have a hell of a lot of fun along the way."

It's hard for me to pick a favorite Muppeteer, but Richard Hunt is definitely the one who died the youngest and that breaks my heart.

I've always loved the Muppets ever since I was a little girl and didn't fully seriously embrace my fondness until I was an adult. I love reading about the history of these felted creatures and try to learn as much as I can. I sometimes get sad that I never got to occupy Earth the same time as Jim Henson, but I'm grateful his legacy continues to thrive. I didn't know anything about Richard Hunt before reading Funny Boy, but I vaguely knew he was connected to the Muppets. This book was so well researched that I received quite the education upon completion of this wonderful book.

Richard Hunt was one of the five main puppeteers who helped create The Muppet Show and grow the enormous fanbase that it is today. He's responsible for portraying Muppets like Beaker, Scooter, Sweetums, Janice, and Statler. I was unaware of the legacy he left behind and everyone he touched with his glowing positivity. I was completely enraptured by this biography and couldn't put it down. I did get a little teary-eyed reading about Jim Henson's funeral and eventually Richard's. Both phenomenal kind-hearted men gone too soon.

This was such a special biography and I'm so honored to have read it so early. The amount of love, respect, and admiration poured into this book is palpable. I learned so much about Richard Hunt and what an outstanding man he must have been. I would love to read more Muppet nonfiction, although it is unfortunately very few and far between. This was one of the best books I read all year and other biographies have paled in comparison. Although Richard Hunt's candle went out far earlier than it should have, this Funny Boy would be loved by generations.

Whenever I read anything relating to the history of the Muppets, I always noticed that specially fond mention would always be given to Richard Hunt - who wasn’t only memorable for being one of the original core five puppeteers and for skillfully giving life to Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, and many, many other characters. Short and scattered descriptions painted him as a figure whose infectious personality made him a much more treasured and appreciated figure when he was off camera (or to be more accurate, when he wasn’t performed beneath the camera frame). The more I read, and the more snippets I came across, the more that I genuinely wanted to know about this seemingly larger-than-life person who was one of the crew behind the affectionately anarchic bears and frogs and pigs that I adored so much. However, no matter how detailed the Muppet-centric book, there was always a hard limit to how much more I could learn about Hunt (along with his colleagues).

Such was the case at least until the arrival of “Funny Boy,” the new Richard Hunt biography by Jessica Max Stein. Written upon a foundation of God only knows how many interviews from an enormous cast of friends, family, and colleagues of Hunt, this book feels as intimate and detailed an overview of a single individual’s life as one can possibly get without having that person write their own tale. And it reveals a man who was everything he was hinted to be in all past Muppet-related works I’ve read, and also so, so, so much more. He was life of every party that he attended. A tireless entertainer. The man with the ability to befriend seemingly anyone. Mentor and collaborator to a generation of Muppet performers. A figure who was fiercely generous to a fault. An incredibly devoted sibling and son. The buoyant soul who faithfully kept up everyone’s spirits no matter where he was. In short, he’s shown to be an absolute force of life on multiple levels, and “Funny Boy” not only does his best to give him his proper due, but it also makes his premature departure from this world all the greater tragedy.

This labor of love from Stein is unquestionably the newest member of what I would consider to be the core Muppet nonfiction literary canon, joining the ranks of works like Brian Jay Jones’ “Jim Henson: a Biography” and Christopher Finch’s “Of Muppets and Men.” However, one doesn’t need to be a particularly zealous fan of the Muppets such as myself in order to thoroughly enjoy “Funny Boy.” It’s just an excellent biography in general, and other readers are sure to appreciate this wonderfully done telling of the life a man who burned so brightly and was able to touch so many both on and off the big and small screens.