My Favorite Muppets, Part 1: Jim Henson

I have hesitated to do a "Best Muppets" list for as long as I've written this blog.  But, after perusing other lists of a similar ilk, I've noticed that everyone tends to pick the same handful of characters.  There is a large population of characters that deserve recognition.  Limiting myself to just top 10 or 20 feels wrong, mostly because the popular ones will end up getting all of the top spots anyway.

So I shall break it down by puppeteer.  10 per person seems reasonable.  And, who better to start with than dear old Jim Henson?

Be warned, some of your favorites may not appear.  The Top 10 List is a cruel beast.

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10) Yorick - Sam and Friends

One of Henson's earliest creations, Yorick proves that sometimes the simplest ideas cannot be topped.  Paving the way for every Muppet with a voracious appetite, Yorick is just a skull that eats.  With his unwavering blank stare, Henson managed to create a character that was equally terrifying and endearing.  Part of me wishes that the film Kermit, Prince of Denmark had seen the light of day just so that Yorick could appear as his namesake.

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9) The Newsman - The Muppet Show

The Muppet News Flashes fulfill humanity's desire to see stiff and proper individuals get their feathers ruffled and violently injured.  Sure, each segment was exactly the same, but it was schadenfreude at its finest.

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8) Guy Smiley - Sesame Street

What I love about Guy Smiley is how passionate he is to his craft.  He has taken the concept of a game-show host and made it its own species.  Guy Smiley is very similar to another Henson character, Convincing John from Fraggle Rock, but what makes Smiley more appealing is his total lack of awareness of life outside of entertainment.  Convincing John always seems to have a personal goal to his energetic ravings.  Guy Smiley just lives in the spotlight.

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7) Mahna Mahna - The Muppet Show, various variety shows

Mahna Mahna is Henson's creative mind in a physical form.  My most well-received post is about this character, so it's clear that something about this creature appeals to a lot of us.  Besides, who can hear the words "Mahna Mahna" and not want to break into song?  (And yes, I know I used an image of Bip Bippadotta, but they are virtually the exact same character, so calm down.)

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6) Rowlf the Dog - The Muppet Show, The Jimmy Dean Show

Although Rowlf gets lost behind the other Muppets with his go-with-the-flow outlook on life, there was a lot more life to him in those early days.  He could verbally spar with the likes of Groucho Marx back in his Jimmy Dean days (and even his Veterinarian's Hospital days, although those were mostly flatlining puns).  Eventually he found his calling in the piano, but it always seemed as if Henson used Rowlf to say that which he couldn't say normally.

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5) Cantus the Minstrel - Fraggle Rock

The designers of Fraggle Rock created Cantus as a caricature of Jim Henson.  All of the other Fraggles looked up to Cantus and his words of wisdom, even if they were difficult to comprehend.  Henson's musings often made their way into Cantus's persona, and just like the Fraggles, this caused the production staff to treat the character as a prophet and mentor.  Cantus is like Rowlf to the nth degree, which is why I placed him slightly higher on the list.

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4) Delbert the La Choy Dragon - La Choy commercials

If the next three spots weren't such important characters, the La Choy Dragon would have swept this list.  Even though he was a brief character, he is the funniest mascot I have ever seen used to sell a product.  They way he frightens customers and destroys merchandise is such an avant-garde approach to advertising that I can't help but consider him to be the perfect representation of mindless consumerism.

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3) Ernie - Sesame Street

If each puppet on this list represented a different facet of Jim Henson, Ernie would be his childlike sense of wonder.  While Ernie is supposedly older than the other Muppets on the street, he loves life and doesn't let anyone get him down, even if he annoys others in the process.  He's always willing to find humor in any situation because he realizes that a good laugh can be cathartic in the most distressing situations.  Ernie may have a lot to learn, but he's got life all figured out.

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2) Kermit the Frog - Sam and Friends, Sesame Street, The Muppet Show

What else is there to say about Kermit the Frog?  He's the Muppet we all want to meet.  He's the Muppet we all want to be.

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1) Link Hogthrob - The Muppet Show

And out of all the Muppets Henson has portrayed, Link is his polar opposite.  A buffoonish clod who disrespects those he finds inferior to him, Link is what happens when Henson has the chance to play to the extreme.  He gets to indulge in a persona that is so unfamiliar to him that you can tell he has a wonderful time playing him.  I'm sad that Link never really took off as his own character, even though Henson tried his best to include him in the gang right until the very end.  With Kermit taking up most of his time, Link had to shine in his "Pigs in Space" and "Bear on Patrol" sketches, not to mention his covers of Village People songs.  I personally cannot hear "Macho Man" without picturing a leather-clad Hogthrob prancing about town.

And "In the Navy" is the greatest Muppet Show sketch of all time.  I've always wanted to talk about it, but I've never had much analysis administer to it.  It is just a wonderful piece, enhanced by the fact that Link plays the leader of the Vikings.

It's so wrong.  It's so right.  Just like Link Hogthrob.

I Want My MTV(?)

The "MuppeTelevision" segments of The Jim Henson Hour were exactly what you'd expect when you hear the phrase "late '80s Muppet Show."  And that may have led to its quick demise.  The Muppet Show, while it was a product of the 1970s, was still timeless.  The set-up and acts were based on vaudeville routines and old show tunes.  The guest stars were an even blend of stars at the ends of their career, stars at the beginning, or stars in the middle.  The Muppet Show still holds up today because there is no need to explain references to current events or pop culture.  There is enough substance and charm to make it a classic.

"MuppeTelevision" could only exist in the late '80s.  Had it been given time to develop, it may have earned a spot in our collective conscience as "the second Muppet Show."  But the digital effects, spoofs of then-recent movies and TV shows, and overall approach to entertainment hinder it's ability to remain relevant decades later.  Needless to say, it was familiar, yet wildly different in tone.

It's all our old friends!!!  Wait, who are these people?

The show's cast was an odd mix of popular Muppet Show stars and brand new Muppets (of which only one of them survived past this series' cancellation).  Frank Oz and Richard Hunt rarely appeared in the program, so appearances by their signature characters were treated more like cameos and guest stars.  And Jerry Nelson appeared a few times, but none of his main characters made appearances.  The actual main returning cast members were Kermit the Frog, Gonzo, and Link Hogthrob, for some reason.  I guess Henson just really liked Link.  Can't blame him, though.

He is the best Muppet, after all.

Then we had Bean Bunny, who at the time was only familiar to audiences due to The Tale of Bunny Picnic, but I've already discussed his influence on the show.  The rest of the cast were basically replacements of older characters.

There was Lindbergh the Kiwi, the station's maintenance man, voiced by Gord Robertson doing his best impression of Beauregard the Janitor.

And nary a New Zealand accent.  A missed opportunity.

Vicki, voiced by Fran Brill, was the Scooter of the bunch, acting as the stage manager who was much younger than the rest of the gang.

In other words, Prairie Dawn.

And then we had Clifford, voiced by Kevin Clash, filling in for Floyd.  He led the band Solid Foam (great name) which occasionally had appearances by Electric Mayhem members.  He was the laid back musician and he was to become Clash's main Muppet character.

We'll get to you later.

As our sources of chaos, to round out the cast, were Digit, the robotic person who was the holdover from Inner Tube and Leon, another Clash character, who had shifty eyes and was always trying to grift people.  In fact, he once swindled Bill Cosby in his own show!

This is a surreal event that occurred once on our television screens.

The first episode of the show doesn't really bother with introductions and just assumes that we know who all of these people are.  Kermit, having been put in charge of the Inner-Tube-ish Muppet Central, interacts with these new characters as if they are old friends and we, the audience, are slow for not remembering who these Muppets are.

The main story concerns Digit being able to transport alien television channels through his body into our world, and then the cast takes a trip inside his robotic head to fix him when he malfunctions.  It's quite a trip for a first-time audience.

I understand why Kermit and Louie Anderson are there, but nothing else makes sense!

Oh, did I mention how this show also had guest stars?  And they were confined to their sketches and television monitors in the background, making for some pre-recorded awkward dialogue that would have made the creators of Space Ghost from Coast to Coast proud?  Also, there was no laugh track which I would normally consider a good thing, but coming from The Muppet Show, this new program just feels empty without it.

The first episode ends with the Muppets meeting their alien doppelgangers, the Teppums.  And this would have been neat had the cast not been so completely filled with new faces that seeing their bizarro alternates means nothing to us.

What is happening?!  Where are the old Muppets?!

While this first episode is a big departure from what we are used to from a Muppet television show, you shouldn't think that the whole show should be easily dismissed.  In fact, there are moments of sheer brilliance throughout the following episodes and I shall be discussing some over the next few posts.

I just wanted to prepare you to leave your comfort zone.  Because things are about to get weird.  But with Jim, we wouldn't want it any other way.

Cultured Swine

The first season of The Muppet Show suffered from a lack of focus that was hurt by the random assortment of celebrity guests.  These stars of stage and screen were performers of all types (actors, singers, comedians, puppeteers) meaning audiences never quite knew what to expect when they tuned into each episode.  The fact that many of these guest stars were usually a) unknown outside of their field, b) past their peak of stardom, or c) not in-sync with Henson's perforamnce style made it extremely difficult for the show to find a consistent audience.

This all changed on October 22, 1977, when the buzz over that week's guest brought in a larger audience than the show had ever seen.  This was the episode that put The Muppet Show on the map, turning it from a cult-favorite to a hit!  Ballet and puppetry came together in "Episode 213: Rudolf Nureyev."

This episode was en pointe! (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Having the famed Russian ballerina Nureyev appear on such a wacky program was going to be interesting to say the least.  At least the previous guest stars had some familiarity with the comedy world.  But Nureyev had been making huge waves among upper-class, breaking norms set by established male dancers.  He was one of the first male ballerinas who actually...moved.  Before him, men in ballet were little more than human support systems for the women.  He was a huge draw and everyone was curious to see how a guest like him would work on a show as weird as The Muppet Show.

Anticipating such a reaction, the writer's put Sam the Eagle in charge of the night's proceedings.  As the voice of the conservative older generation who saw the Muppets as unnecessarily odd and disgusting, Sam decided it was his duty instill as much culutre into the show for tonight's guest.  However, in his usual narrow-minded fashion, Sam was completely oblivious to who Nureyev actually was, proving that his arrogance was misguided as well as unwelcome.

And if you're going for class, you've got to put everybody in tuxedos.

The show opens with the Electric Mayhem trying their best to be pleasant for the grandparents watching at home by playing Boccherini's "Celebrated Minuet."  And, of course, Animal can't handle it.

You can take the Animal out of the rock and roll, but you can't take the rock and roll out of the Animal.

When that fails, the pigs are instructed to perform an opera piece, "La Ci Darem La Mano," and they endup getting carried away. Literally.

At least Link and Piggy look the part.

Finally, after mostly staying absent for the first half of the episode, Nureyev perfromsa classic Muppet Show moment, "Swine Lake."  When he was choosing the Muppets he wanted to work with, Nureyev only had one request, that he dance with Miss Piggy.  Unfortunately, Miss Piggy doesn't exist below the waist, which meant the audience would be unable to see Nureyev's talent.  Instead a compromise was reached where a new female ballerina pig would be constructed specifically for him and he would perform a duet with Piggy later on.  Despite this, being a different pig (performed by Graham Fletcher, who performed any full-bodied dancing Muppets), many people to this day still think this is (or is supposed to be) Miss Piggy.  Either way, "Swine Lake" is a significant moment in the run of the series.

Nureyev was not only able to dance wonderfully, he could dance comedically as well.  The image of such a large ballerina that could move so gracefully was an unusual sight for television.  High-brow and low-brow joined in this masterful dance, proving that the show really did have something for everybody.  If such a high-class performer could freely let himself get silly once in a while, anytthing was possible.

Even though the show was going through it's usual routine of absurdity, there where many jokes throughout the episode that called for a higher-educated viewer, as could be seen in the often-dumbed-down "Veternarian's Hospital."  This week, Hamlet was on the operating table and there were Shakespeare jokes a-plenty.

And yes, they do reference Bacon as well..

Nureyev appears again to perform his duet with Piggy, which turns into a role-reversal version of "Baby, It's Cold" outside in which Piggy tries to seduce Nureyev, both of them clad only in towels.  This may have been the most overtly sexual scene that ever appeared on the show (Sam the Eagle surprisingly doesn't have a heart attack during this song).  But it kept the audience in their seats, glued to their sets.

To cleanse us after that disturbing moment, Rowlf performs "Clair de Lune" as Fozzie tries to help him class up the piece with a candlestick.

And a blowtorch.

For the closing number, Nureyev puts on a different pair of dancing shoes, tap-dancing to "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails."  The rest of the cast joines him, in their own classy outfits and Nureyev ends the pieces by using his tapping to imitate the sound of machine gun fire.  Because The Muppet Show always has to end on a bang.

Fortunately, Nigel is one of the first to go.

As the show draws to a close, co-host Sam realizes that he had made a grave mistake.  Rudolf Nureyev was not going to bring dignity to the Muppets.  Instead, he was just as weird and uncouth as they were!  There was no helping The Muppet Show.  Fortunately, the audiences didn't agree with Sam.  This was the first episode many people saw and it was what made them fall in love with the cast of characters.  There is a time and place for high-art and it wasn't going to be found here.  But if you wanted humor and art that appealed to everyone's tastes, it could be found on this weekly program.  Nureyev made it safe for anyone to work with the Muppets.  He sunk to their level and emerged unscathed.  The show was now culturally relevant, and it never looked back.

Even if they still are just a bunch of weirdos, they are weirdos we couldn't live without.

The Captain is a Chauvinistic Pig!

In the English language, there exists no person, animal, or object than cannot be improved when followed by the words "in space."  So, in an attempt to capitalize on the popular space operas of the '60s and '70s, The Muppet Show produced its own recurring sci-fi drama starring the most appropriate species on Earth:

PIGS!  IN!  SPACE!

A crew of interstellar porkers would wallow in the furthest reaches of the galaxy, encountering strange new creatures, unfamiliar worlds, and futuristic devices that change the very fabric of the universe as we know it.  It would take a brave man to lead the inhabitants on the Swinetrek through this perilous journey unscathed.  Unfortunately, a brave man was unavailable and they settled for the next best thing.

"I WANT MY MOMMY!"

Yes, Captain Link Hogthrob was placed in charge of the vessel, much to the chagrin of his First Mate Piggy.  He would boldly square off against extraterrestrial monsters (as long as they weren't snakes), he would strategically formulate plans to escape danger (after someone told him exactly what to do), and he would ethically treat all of his crew members with the utmost respect (as long as they were male).

It must be his devilishly handsome good looks that got him where he is today.

According to Jim Henson's son Brian, Henson created this pompous dim-witted voice and would adopt it whenever doing stereotypical fatherly chores around the house, like carving the Thanksgiving turkey.  The ultra-manly character seemed a perfect fit for Link, who seemed to suffer from the same negative qualities whether he was in the sketch or not.  In some ways, he evolved to be a caricature of Captain Kirk and William Shatner at the same time.  When he was not piloting the ship, he could be found showing off his talent for crooning.

Above: The cutest moment ever

If this character seems very familiar, it is probably because you watch Futurama.  Zapp Brannigan is clearly cut from the same mold.  He is dim-witted, highly sexist, and arrogant to the point of endangerment for all those who encounter him.  So, while Brannigan is a great character, Hogthrob was doing the same schtick 25 years earlier.

Switched at birth?

Like a giant manchild, Hogthrob had his heart in the right place most of the time, but lacked the abilities to process information intelligently.  He started off as a much smarter character, but as time passed, he got dumber and dumber, which allowed for many great situations.  For a sense of our leader in action, here are a few of the best "Pigs in Space" sketches:

Whenever people ask me who my favorite Muppet is, I always answer "Link Hogthrob" with no hesitation.  Stupid characters in of themselves are not funny.  If someone is stupid and innocent, I feel mean for laughing at their antics.  But if they are stupid AND cocky, everything is fair game.  There are many moments when Hogthrob does something infantile and sweet (I love his doodle in the third sketch!), but he comes right around and mocks First Mate Piggy for being a woman, assigning her tasks such as laundry and ironing in situations where the crew's lives are in peril.  He's a character that I can laugh at without shame.

Captain Link Hogthrob and his fearless team.  Off on another pointless adventure.

Tune in tomorrow for another exciting profile about PIGS!  IN!  SPAAAAACE!!!