Brian Henson is the middle child and first born son of Jane Henson (1934–2013) and Jim Henson (1936–1990). He had four siblings: Lisa (born 1960), Cheryl (born 1961), John (1965–2014), and Heather Henson (born 1970). As a child, he made several cameo appearances in some of the filmed segments his father produced for the PBS children's series Sesame Street, most notably in various segments of the "Number Song Series." As he got older, he built the very first Muppet penguin puppet for the opening "Lullaby of Broadway" segment of a season three episode of The Muppet Show, guest starring Gilda Radner. During his summer break from high school in 1980, he assisted in the bicycle sequence from The Great Muppet Caper (1981). He helped create and operate a special rigging device that was created to allow the Muppets to ride bicycles since he was skilled in the use of marionette puppets. A few years later, he similarly operated a marionette of Scooter riding a bicycle in The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984).