Before we start, let me get this out of the way:
the two old guys in the balcony are Statler and Waldorf.
We also have a humble request: If someone posts a question that is answered here, please be polite anyway. Yelling to read the FAQ gets to be more annoying that answering the question that was asked.
Contents | Quick Answer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I. Administrivia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A friendly newsgroup
| Muppetzine
| teej@panix.com or horn@dolphin.upenn.edu or csliver@cs.stanford.edu
|
II. Muppets and their ownersPuppets, but different
| | Because performers aren't
| No
| Brian Henson
|
| 117 E. 69th Street New York, NY 10021
|
III. The Muppet Show and its castStatler and Waldorf
| Unlcear
| Human
| He's been retired
| Mahna Mahna :-)
|
IV. Muppets Tonight! and its castOn ABC, occasionally
| Steve Whitmire
| Human, prawn and mink in that order
|
V. Sesame StreetNO
| No evidence either way
| Not gonna happen
|
VI. Things available on the netLew Zealand? Uncle Deadly?
| Big list of all performers
| Lists: SS TMS MT! FR Dino
| Lists: SS TMS
| Probably nowhere
| A lot, but some are out of print
| The Encheferizer bork bork bork
| All over the web
|
VII. Now Showing MT! and others
| |
It's a newsgroup devoted to Muppets, in all their wonderful shapes and forms. We talk about Muppets in cartoons, movies, television shows, happy meal boxes, you name it. While not emphasized in this FAQ, we often talk about _The Dark Crystal_, _Labyrinth_, "Fraggle Rock," "Dinosaurs," and other Henson productions on this newsgroup. We do not really discuss puppets or puppetry in general; rec.arts.puppetry is more appropriate for this.
While "Sesame Street" would not be the same without the Muppets, there is more to "Sesame Street" then just the Muppets. If you want to talk about extra-Muppet parts of "Sesame Street," consider alt.tv.sesame-street.
And if you are feeling terribly silly, there's always alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork.
If you're in New York City, The Museum of Television and Radio has a huge collection of Muppet programs for viewing. These includes rare Muppet clips that, no matter how big a Muppet fan you are, you've never seen before! The address is 25 West 52nd St, New York, 10019, and the phone number is (212) 621-6600.
No matter where you are, you can subscribe to MuppetZine, a quarterly fanzine devoted to the Muppets and Jim Henson. It is run by Danny Horn, whom you can contact at horn@dolphin.upenn.edu. Also take a look at the MuppetZine web page, at http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~rosesage/MZ.html
If you want to get involved with a Muppet fan group or start your own, Danny is again the person to talk to.
Comments (but please, no thugs!) should go to
We welcome, and indeed relish, comments. Please do not take offense if replies to your inquiries are tardy.
Muppets are puppets invented by Jim Henson and his colleagues. Muppets were specially designed to be on television and in the movies, using camera techniques as well as classical puppeteering techniques to create the illusion of life. The name "Muppet" comes from a combination of the words "marionette" and "puppet," and many of the puppets are hand puppets with arm-wires operated much like marionettes' limbs. However, many Muppets now include the most advanced computer and animatronics technology. For the purposes of this newsgroup, "Muppet" means anything that has been created by Jim Henson Productions or the Creature Shop, including creations in "Muppets Tonight!," "The Muppet Show," "Sesame Street," "Fraggle Rock," "Dinosaurs," _The Dark Crystal_, and _Labyrinth_.
You may have noticed that Muppets, particularly Muppet musicians, tend to do everything with their left arms. This is because most Muppet performers are right handed and use their primary hand to control the head and face of the Muppet. This leaves them their left hand to control the Muppet's arms. The Swedish Chef, which is controlled by two performers, is an exception that proves the rule.
No. In the fall of 1989, the Walt Disney Company entered into negotiations to acquire Jim Henson Productions and the Muppets. While the deal was being worked out, Jim Henson created a 3-D film for Walt Disney World, "MuppetVision 3-D," and a TV special, "The Muppets at Walt Disney World." Henson was initially excited about working with Disney -- particularly because its deep pockets could finance the projects he wanted to do -- but as negotiations progressed, differences in Disney's and Henson's management styles became clearer. Jim Henson died in May 1990, before the deal was completed, and Disney lowered their offering price as a consequence (the original deal had included Henson's "creative services"). Eventually the deal was called off. Jim Henson Productions is still a completely independent entity, and Disney has no creative control over the Muppets.
However, JHP and Disney do sometimes work together; for example, Buena Vista Home Video (a Disney subsidiary) distributes the Jim Henson Video line, and Disney distributes the Muppet films. These are short-term deals and don't mean that Disney "owns" the Muppets.
Jim's son Brian Henson inherited the CEO position at Jim Henson Productions. Brian has done some puppet work with the Muppets, including Dog on "The Storyteller" and Hoggle in _Labyrinth_, but he never performed any major Classic Muppet characters. He directed _The Muppet Christmas Carol_ and _Muppet Treasure Island_ and performs some new characters on "Muppets Tonight!" These characters, including Sal and Seymour, are quickly becoming favorites, which is nice to see.
117 E. 69th Street
Note that this is an office building and is not open for tours.
Statler and Waldorf. Statler is the taller, thinner one sitting on
the right as we look at them in their box. Waldorf's wife is named
Astoria. They are all named after old New York hotels.
There has been no definitive comment on what Gonzo is.
The only thing we can say with certainty is that he is Gonzo the
Great.
Scooter's a human (like Statler, Waldorf, Bunsen Honeydew...).
His uncle, J.P. Grosse, who owns the theatre, is clearly a human.
He's called a "gofer," but that's his position, not his species
("gofer coffee," etc).
The performer who performed Scooter, Richard Hunt, died in 1992 of
complications due to AIDS. In tribute, the character of Scooter
was retired. He will not be brought back.
11. What's the best ever Muppet sketch?
Mahna Mahna, with Mahna Mahna and the two Snowths. Even now,
you sing "doo doo do doo doo" under your breath every time someone
says "phenomena," don't you? You know you do.
Seriously, we don't mean to impose our point of view on the
FAQ-reading masses. We just love Mahna Mahna, that's all. :-)
It's this new show, see, on ABC. It was a mid-season replacement
for the 1995-96 season, and it was a mid-summer replacement in the
summer of 1996. Soon it will be a mid-season replacement for the
1996-97 season.
Not that we're biased, but "Muppets Tonight!" is *great*. We all
love Bobo, and Johnny Fiama (possibly Fiamma) and Sal, and Pepe and
Seymour, and even Garth Brooks!
Steve Whitmire (whose other credits include Rizzo the Rat, Bean
Bunny, and Wembley Fraggle -- he's been a major player since "The
Muppet Show"). He has been performing Kermit since Jim Henson's
death. He also performs Ernie. Brian Henson has never performed
Kermit.
Whitmire's first Kermit performance was in the 1990 special
"The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson."
These have definitive answers, from the performers.
Clifford is a human: In the Billy Crystal episode, Clifford says to
Rizzo, "I'm the man and you're the rat. I've got genetic
seniority." In early press releases for "Muppets Tonight!" he was
referred to as "Clifford the Rasta," but that's his religious
affiliation, not his species. In the Garth Brooks episode, Kermit
calls Clifford "Catfish-faced" but never actually calls him a
catfish. Which is good, because he isn't one.
Pepe is a Prawn.
Nigel's buddy (that's the Nigel who says "Cue!" not the conductor
from "The Muppet Show") -- the one who pops out of the control
panel during the opening sequence -- is a mink.
alt.tv.muppets trivia: Steve Whitmire contributed this answer
during discussions of "Muppet Classic Theater" (in which the mink's
head-banging performance in "Gotta Get That Name" stole the show
for many of us). This was the first ever post of a Muppet
performer to alt.tv.muppets.
No. No way, no how. No "Sesame Street" Muppet character is dead,
dying, or planning to die. This is a rumor that has been
circulating since Jim Henson died in 1990 -- people were afraid
that since Henson died, the producers of "Sesame Street" were also
going to make Ernie die on the show, so that children could learn
about death (as they did when Will Lee, the actor who played
Mr. Hooper, died). This rumor has since spread and mutated to
include Bert, Grover, and other characters, and any number of
diseases and fatal accidents. However, the producers have *no
intention* of "killing" any character on "Sesame Street." Jim
Henson's characters are kept alive on the show by rerunning
sketches that were recorded in the first twenty years of the show,
and new Ernie sketches are also being made with Steve Whitmire
performing Ernie. Please help to stop this rumor when you hear it.
Anyone who is afraid for the life of any character should be
encouraged to actually watch an episode of "Sesame Street," where
they will see Ernie, Bert, and all the gang, still alive and well.
This is a source of wide speculation, but nothing has ever been
said on "Sesame Street" to indicate that Ernie and Bert have any
sexual or romantic feelings at all. While we wouldn't want to
suppress free speech on this newsgroup, beware: discussions on this
topic have historically been ugly. Rest assured that your point of
view has been stated before.
You would have to attribute a great deal of stupidity to PBS to
have them canceling one of their most popular programs. While PBS
funding is indeed being cut, "Sesame Street" would be among the
last shows to go. If you see a petition claiming otherwise,
ignore it. (This is a good rule of thumb for email petitions in
general: since there is no way to control forgery or repetition of
signatures in email petitions, they are universally ignored.)
http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~csilvers/muppet-characters.html
This site has lists: Muppets from "The Muppet Show" and Muppets
and humans from "Sesame Street." Compiled by Charles Evans, Bob
Pedersen, Rueven William Goren, and others.
Answers to some particularly frequent ID requests:
www.clark.net/pub/cvaughn/html/mpindex.htm
Chris Vaughn and Sue Rose have put together an extensive list.
www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/VR/BS/Muppets/muppets.html
Believe it or not, there are episode guides for every "Muppet Show,"
"Fraggle Rock," "Dinosaurs," and "Muppets Tonight!" episode ever
aired. In addition, there are descriptions of some of the Muppet
skits from "Sesame Street."
ftp.clark.net/pub/cvaughn/lyrics
The first site has Muppet songs, including Rainbow
Connection, It's Not Easy Being Green, Just One Person, the theme
from "The Muppet Show," and more!
The second site, compiled by Tiny Dancer, has "Sesame Street"
songs. Besides all the songs you'd expect (Rubber Duckie,
"Sesame Street" theme), it has many Frequently Asked Lyrics: the
Alligator King, Captain Vegetable, I Don't Want to Live on the
Moon, We All Live In A Capital I, etc.
The third site has even more lyrics, courtesy of Kevin Arthur.
There aren't many available, which is good because they are
copyrighted and cannot be reproduced without permission,
even for private use. Sorry. :-(
The first link, Bill Sherman's muppography, is quite large and
wonderful, but is not updated frequently. Luckily (perhaps)
neither are the albums, CDs, CD-ROMS, videos, books, etc.
VIDEO: The second link has an amazingly large list of Muppet-
related videos, collected by Jon Cooke.
A note on availability: _Muppets Take Manhattan_, though hard to
find, is available on video through Tristar. Other Muppet movies,
and some "Muppet Show" compilations, are also available. The
Playhouse Video compilations, such as "Gonzo Presents Muppet Weird
Stuff," are no longer being produced. Neither are "Dinosaurs"
episodes or "Dog City" episodes. On the other hand, the world is
currently swamped with "Sesame Street" videos.
ALBUMS: The last two links point to Ted Nesi's lists of "Sesame
Street" and Muppet albums, respectively. Both have track lists.
The Muppets are currently "between" record companies -- they
dropped Jim Henson Records/BMG Kidz, and rumor has it they are
working on starting a new label, possibly this year. Therefore,
the only Muppet album still in print is the "Muppet Treasure
Island" soundtrack. "Sesame Street" albums are a dime a dozen.
BOOKS: Books we think are particularly neat:
www.almac.co.uk/chef/chef/chef/ or
ftp.netcom.com/pub/sw/swedish_chef
It's called the "Encheferizer."
www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/VR/BS/Muppets/muppets.html
Bill Sherman's page is the place to start. It's the closest thing
there is to an "official" Muppets WWW page, and it has links to
other pages. (Coverage of TV shows is particularly impressive: it's
where you go if you want the ratings for the Jason Alexander
episode of "Muppets Tonight!")
("Muppets Tonight!," occassionally on ABC, is once again on hiatus.
"The Muppet Show" used to be on Nickelodeon but is no longer.)
As of October 1996: (All US times are Eastern)
United States
Great Britain (thanks to Stuart Lancaster)
Australia (thanks to CRIT)
The Netherlands (Thanks to Danny Sanders)
Mexico
Does anyone know shows, stations, and times for other countries?
New York, NY 10021
III. THE MUPPET SHOW AND ITS CAST
V. "MUPPETS TONIGHT!" AND ITS CAST
VI. "SESAME STREET"
VI. THINGS AVAILABLE ON THE 'NET
www.enterprise.ca/~rhonda/sesame1.html
www.cs.unc.edu/~arthur/muppet-songs.html
Both are by Christopher Finch and are hard to find. _Of Muppets
and Men_ is especially rare, and bidding for it (on alt.tv.muppets)
has exceeded $100.
VII. NOW SHOWING