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This week’s episode is brought to you by the number 78 as we sit down with Emmy Award winning Costume Designer for Sesame Street, Brian Hemesath! Direct from Kaufman Astoria Studios, Brian is sharing with us stories and fun facts about costuming the humans on the show while trying not to get too star struck surrounded by Elmo, Big Bird and the entire gang. He breaks down how the costume department approaches each new season of shows, deals with clothing celebrity guest stars, makes sure the human clothes play nice with the puppet clothes and other tales and tidbits. Brian and Cory also chat about his 10+ years spent at Saturday Night Live and a typical week in costume world at SNL from table reads, fittings, research, rehearsals, and pre-tapes to the organized chaos of the live show and how he became the go to costume designer for Andy Sandberg and the Lonely Island sketches. And if THAT isn’t enough, the guys chat about Brian’s Broadway debut designing ‘Honeymoon in Vegas’ as well as the challenges and problems facing costume designers often forced to front their own money on clothing and issues surrounding receipts, reimbursements, credit cards and cc debt, and ideas to mitigate the pressure placed on designers. From Bert to Ernie, to Mother Lovers, to flying Elvis’s…this episode has it all including a trip down memory lane to a dairy farm in Iowa. Sweep those clouds away!
Brian Hemesath is a New York based Costume Designer and is currently the Costume Designer for Sesame Street, having received 5 Emmy nominations and 2 wins. Previously he was a Costume Designer for NBC’s Saturday Night Live (credits include 100 “digital shorts” for the Lonely Island boys with memorable favorites including “Dick in a Box,” “Motherlover,” “The Golden Rule,” “Threw it on the Ground,” “Boombox,” “Like a Boss,” Laser Cats,” and many more.)
Broadway: Honeymoon in Vegas. Off-Broadway: Disaster!, Unbroken Circle, Curvy Widow. Selected regional credits include Honeymoon in Vegas, Boeing Boeing and Smokey Joes Cafe (Papermill Playhouse), the world premier of The Rivals (Skylight Opera,) Guys and Dolls (Asolo Rep/Old Globe, and Evita (Asolo Rep.) Graduate of Carnegie Mellon (MFA) and St. Ambrose University (BA.) Irene Shariff Young Master Award, 2015.
