Never Too Old For The Muppets
Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 09:41PM This year, for Valentines Day, I gave TC a muppet version of himself. The likeness is really sort of alarming. I had it built by the amazing and dedicated team at the fabulous Muppet Whatnot Workshop, (this link takes you to the site, where you can build one online!) which is tucked inside a corner of FAO Scwartz that has been styled to look like the wardrobe department backstage at The Muppet Show.
photo: scott mccartney
The beard is custom. I took him down to Purl and found the perfect color yarn, I was even granted a small corner of their cozy worktable during the afternoon rush (for which I am extremely grateful) to sit and sew with encouragement. The eyeglasses are from the drugstore. It helps that TC is already sort of a muppet. When people who have never met him ask me what he is like I often tell them to picture Scooter from the muppets, post MBA.
Denyse likes to say that TC has an "aqualine profile", and luckily so does his muppet. This picture was taken right after the two of them met. Its a little eerie, right?
Remember The Muppet Show? Maybe some of the best television EVER. Though it only ran for a few seasons, the variety show attracted some of the biggest stars of music, stage and screen of its day. Celebrity hosts (it was sort of like Saturday Night Live, but with lots of backstage action... and muppets) included Steve Martin, Johnny Cash, Paul Simon, Buddy Rich, Debbie Harry, John Denver, Kenny Rogers, and many, many more. I loved it so much as a kid. Even my grandfather watched it. This was a man who wore ascots, mind you.
My favorite muppet was Animal, my grandfather preferred the two old men, Statler and Waldorf, who sat in the balconette and guffawed. A few years ago I was working on a project for Disney (who now owns The Muppets) with Munki Munki and did this artwork, which of course is based on the iconic photo of Jim Morrison. Everybody agreed that it wasn't quite in keeping with my usual style, and it was scrapped pre-production. I still want this as a poster, though I can't imagine where I would hang it....
Animal was usually in a euphoric drummer's haze, pounding his way through drum solos, but showed restraint and versatility when called upon. I like to think of him as a patron saint to all commercial artists for that reason. I especially love the clip below, where he accompanies the incomparable Rita Morena as she sings "Fever".
While he was much better known for this style of playing exhibited here, where he and Harry Belafonte go head to head-bashing head, he also turned in a few ballads during his tenure at The Muppet Show. The one below is one of his best...
And here's the best part: Word is that they are currently staging a come-back. Meantime, you can buy the first two seasons here. And, you can make your own muppet right here!
Reader Comments (33)
ha!! when these zucchini plants stop harassing me; that muppet is next on my list!
How cool is it that you can make your own muppet?!! Awesome.
i love animal too. and the swedish chef. ah, the swedish chef.
now i get my daily dose via sesame street. in that category i find grover to be on par with animal in his absolute wonderful ness. plus he crashes into everything which endears him to me even more.
i think it is awesome that you gave your valentine a muppet. the jim morrison thing kinda' freaks me out. spponflower is my new best friend. i promised my husband i would not touch the mortgage money, but i think i might have lied.
Best Valentine's Day gift EVER! Love you Heather..
WOW, what a fabulous gift! Scooter post-MBA, ha ha ha, toooooo funny! ;-)
We LOVE the Muppets at our house too! We've bought the kids all the Muppet movies on DVD. I loved watching the show when I was a kid too. I loved Fozzy bear - a whocka a whocka, and Beaker, and the crazy Cook, and Gonzo - actually, I loved them all!!! One of my favourite all time songs and movie scenes is Kermit singing "Rainbow Connection". What a beautiful song that is, I remember singing it with one of my classes at Assembly, I think I was in about Grade 5? I also loved when Kermit sang, "It aint easy being green" to his nephew Robin on Sesame Street. Gotta love Kermie - step aside Miss Piggy!
Animal is hilarious!!! I think everybody loves him because he's so CRAZY. I love his headbanging, he'd fit right in with AC/DC!
Thanks for the stroll down memory lane. I can't wait to see the come-back shows. I heard they were putting together a few specials, what fun! :-)
Oh, while I think of it, I have a quick question for you. There's a lot of confusion about your spoonflower prints. Are they only in limited release, or will they be available indefinitely? Thanks Heather, you rock! :-)
i swore that i would never go to disneyland but we surprised our kids with a trip there last week. the 3d muppet show attraction was fantastic. watching my five year old daughter guffaw and snort with laughter is a great memory. we've now got some of the dvds and have been really enjoying them as a family.
Oh Heather!!! I NEED to make one for my hubby!!! We are BIG Muppets fans around here, and yes, I have both seasons of the Muppet Show on DVD already. Love it!
That has to be one of the coolest gifts ever.
You've seen the Muppets doing Bohemian Rhapsody, right?! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY (Just had to make sure.)
What an awesome gift!!!
Oh, I love the Muppets, too. I just introduced my 5 yr old and 3 yr old to them a few weeks ago and they were instantly entranced and addicted. There was one sketch where Fozzie is a cowboy who used vegetables and fruits instead of weapons, and my 5 yr old has been running around with apples yelling "The fuse is lit!" ever since, while my 3 yr old keeps trying to steal all the carrots out of the fridge so he and his brother can have sword fights . . . Good times, I tell you. I rented season one, but I think we might need to collect the series over a few Christmases.
I love it, in fact I already went on over to "create" our muppets. I'm not sure when I 'll be buying ours but it sure was fun to see what we would look like as muppets (I'm posting ours on my blog tomorrow if you care to look)
I do have a question for you about them. Do you recommend ordering the ones with glasses or getting eyeballs and buying your own glasses? And do the arms/hands come with rods or do they just hang there?
Thanks!
Oh Heather, I can't tell you how this made me smile. The Muppets were an integral part of my childhood, and I've been revisiting it recently with a little help from Netflix. I am very thankful that my husband is also a fan and will sit with me and sing "The Stair in the Middle" with Robin or "Coddleston Pie" with Rolf the Dog.
ps--TC's Muppet-self is AWESOME!
That is so awesome! Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I was obsessed with the Muppets as a toddler and now I hope my baby girl will love them too - that way I get to watch it all over again.
This is jaw-droppingly awesome. Thank you so much for sharing this - I'm off to these links. What an incredible present. Don't tell anyone, but my husband has got some muppet in him, too.
That really has to be the BEST present ever. Oooh, the fun to be had! Thank you so much for sharing this; I never would have known.
My favorites: Animal and The Swedish Chef.
Thanks for the great links to all things Muppets! What a great idea! My husband LOVES the Muppets, so this will definitely be a gift for him this year!
And I love your rendering of ANIMAL - so appropriate! :)
Heather that is hilarious. I gifted my boyfriend a Muppet Whatnot for Hanukkah last year and they, too, look eerily similar
"Danny Boy" is a classic. I forward it every St Patrick's Day to my friends, I don't think it is possible to see/hear Beaker hit those high notes without laughing hysterically. Meep.
Oh, man, the Muppets are so freakin' awesome. I so want my very own Whatnot now. I have a deep and abiding love for them all, but I have to agree with your grandfather that Statler and Waldorf are the best. We've been Netflixing the DVDs of the old TV show lately, and I love them. So cool that they might be staging a comeback--that would rock my world!
The looks on the rest of the folks in the pub was also pretty special as we put down doppleganger TC in his own stool.
Personally, I'm a Beaker guy (best case scenario - multiple Beakers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQj2NP25TIo) - my first roommate in NY was the archivist at Jim Henson studios and she gave me an autographed Beaker headshot. Did love the Animal tho - i felt his parallel on Sesame St was as much Cookie Monster.
For some reason I always remember John Denver & Elton John (Crocodile Rock was particularly suitable) on the show - gonna waste the afternoon looking thru youtube now looking for old memories.
There was actually one performance group I never knew the name of and have finally just uncovered. Mummenshanz! Very unusual performance art (more mime than i realized) that's stuck with me since i was 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQj2NP25TIo
Jim Henson = superstar
Those Muppet clips were wonderful. What a laugh. . . . thanks!
I think every movie should include a muppet. They can take their CGI creatures and shove them.
Such an amazing creation for TC.
And thanks for all the great memories of the Muppet Show - I never missed one! A comeback you say???
That is just tooooo funny!
on a slow saturday stuck in the house with sick & grumpy kids you just lightened my day beyond belief
my own dear husband (speaking of aquiline featrues) I always thought resembled sam the eagle.....
thank you thank you thank you
oh and let us know what else you got up to in London.....
I lived there many years before moving to sunny wisconsin and regretted missing your post for tips until it was too late
- I hope you made it to Liberty - tho' it is but a shadow of it's former self.. ;o(