Max Goof


 * This article is about the furry fan. For the Disney character (son of Goofy), see Max Goof.

Max Goof, also known as Stargazer and Max DeGroot, (real name Craig Edward Smith; born 24 November 1952) is a fursuit maker, puppeteer, musician, and stand-up comic who lives in Dublin, Ohio, USA. He is now retired from employment.

Fandom involvement
Max Goof served as con chair for the furry convention Morphicon from 2007-2008.

Puppeteering
Of all his puppet characters, Max is best known for Ozark, a gruff-talking redneck sheepdog with a straw hat inseparably glued or sewn onto his head. Some rumors say that the hat is there to hide male-pattern baldness, extremely rare among sheepdogs. Ozark often performs with Hayseed (performed by Cirrus Kitfox), an equally unsophisticated raccoon who sports a John Deere ball cap.

Fursuiting
Max has constructed, in whole or in part, the following fursuits:
 * Stargazer, his first costume, a blue-furred bear with hiking boots, a fishing vest, and a strong love of astronomy.
 * Angel Bear, all parts of this costume except the head, halo, and wings.
 * Kevin J. Dog, made in the likeness of the well-known character of the webcomic Newshounds.

Toontown
Max is a part of the Toontown community, in which he is known as "Coach Zucchini", He runs a related YouTube channel with over 14,000 subscribers, where he is known for making tutorial videos for sections of the game.

Stand-up comedy
The 2007 edition of Morphicon saw a reprise of Max's performance as a stand-up comic. His material for this year was about call center technical support as practiced by angels, and Dr. Foster, a therapist who works with nursery rhyme characters.

Music
Under the performer name of Max DeGroot, he is known for his parodies and filk music. He recorded his first parody, The Ferret National Anthem, in 2004, and there it sat until 2008, when he recorded his second parody, Campaign News. This was followed by a flurry of parodies until he had enough to record a CD.

Since then, he has recorded more parodies and funny music, creating a backlog of sorts. Max's first public performance of his work occurred in October of 2009, and he has since rocketed to obscurity. He did manage to hit Dr. Demento's Top Ten for March, April, and May 2010 with "Census" and it managed to end up as the #3 song of the year for 2010. He returned to the Funny 25 in 2013 at #7 with "I'll Lose Weight".

In February of 2011, he began a project known as The Beach Bears Story, which is a series of audio plays with music, which as of November 2013 spanned 136 chapters and over 16 hours in length. After a total of 205 chapters made, Max ended the Beach Bears Story in June 2018. Beginning at the same time he started working on his new ongoing project Life Goes On, a continuation that takes place several years after the Beach Bears story.