Old Ball's creators unpack his journey to All-Star Weekend

Internet sensation Old Ball's human creators talk shop with The Sporting News in an exclusive new interview.

Published on Feb. 25, 2026

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The creators of the animatronic basketball sensation Old Ball - Ben Bayouth, Adam Aseraf, and Christian Heuer - discuss how they brought the character to life, his rise to fame, and their plans to expand the "Ball-verse" with other sports-themed characters.

Why it matters

Old Ball has quickly become a viral hit, amassing hundreds of thousands of followers across social media. His creators' ability to turn a simple basketball prop into an engaging, expressive character that can interact with real people highlights the potential for innovative, character-driven content in the digital age.

The details

The trio behind Old Ball - Bayouth, Aseraf, and Heuer - are Emmy-nominated comedy veterans who have worked together for over a decade. They conceived of the idea for Old Ball as a way to insert a familiar sports object into the real world, and were surprised to find that no one had quite done something like it before. Through a process of trial and error, they developed Old Ball's personality and voice, as well as the intricate animatronic technology that allows the ball to move and express itself seamlessly. Old Ball's popularity has skyrocketed, leading to high-profile appearances like at NBA All-Star Weekend, and the creators are now looking to expand the "Ball-verse" to other sports.

  • Old Ball made his debut just a matter of months ago.
  • Last week, Old Ball made a splash at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles during NBA All-Star Weekend.

The players

Ben Bayouth

The Emmy-nominated Funny or Die alum who constructed and operates Old Ball, providing the character's voice and expressions.

Adam Aseraf

One of the co-writers and producers for Old Ball's various adventures, working alongside Bayouth and Heuer.

Christian Heuer

The other co-writer and producer for Old Ball, who has known Bayouth for over a decade and has long wanted to create an animatronic puppet-in-the-real-world concept.

Joakim Noah

The two-time NBA All-Star and 2014 Defensive Player of the Year who was immediately smitten with Old Ball.

Joe Dante

The director of family-friendly, FX-heavy movies like Small Soldiers and the Gremlins films, whose style the Benched team hopes to emulate for a potential Old Ball feature film.

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What they’re saying

“We've known each other for 10 years-plus, and have worked on a bunch of different stuff together throughout the years. Ben's the Jim Henson-level genius that's behind the fabrication of Old Ball, and the design of it. I've known about Ben's superpower, obviously, since I met him, and I've always wanted to do some sort of animatronic puppet-in-the-real-world idea or concept or show. It just kind of came to us one day, like, 'What if we did a basketball?'”

— Christian Heuer, Co-writer and producer

“[Noah] just was so taken by it. And he was just like, 'This is my guy. Can I have him?' I'm like, 'You can't have him. It's not an apple that we brought to All-Star Weekend!'”

— Adam Aseraf, Co-writer and producer

“Sometimes with puppets, some parts of it have to fit on the outside, or it's just the face and you can take the hair off around the back [and] you can access, but with a character like this, being full 360 is really integral to the experience of the person who's interacting with him. I think the all-inclusive ball that has everything built inside of it that is seamless — that moves and talks and can be passed around — is something that doesn't feel, for some reason, attainable to some people who don't know how the animatronics work.”

— Ben Bayouth, Creator and operator of Old Ball

“It would be nice to make a movie and to continue that '90s nostalgia, a Small Soldiers-type movie. These fun, FX-heavy movies that are all-ages, four-quadrant film-type thing I think would be super fun to do.”

— Ben Bayouth

“What we've really realized is Old Ball, and what we're calling 'The Ball-verse,' is kind of this infinite creative well. We realize, we want to try to make— this is going to sound grandiose — our version of the 'sports Muppets.' We'd love to do a ball for every sport, and have a show where the balls are together, that's fun, and has heart.”

— Christian Heuer, Co-writer and producer

What’s next

The creators of Old Ball are planning to introduce a new animatronic soccer ball character to coincide with the upcoming World Cup.

The takeaway

The success of Old Ball demonstrates the potential for innovative, character-driven content that can blend nostalgia, humor, and cutting-edge technology to captivate audiences in the digital age. The creators' ambitious plans to expand the "Ball-verse" across multiple sports suggest this is just the beginning of what could become a new era of sports-themed entertainment.