Best Puppets

It's time for the telecast brought to you by

the Geekcast Radio Network. I'm your host for

the show, Optimus Solo. which spanned Eureka's

Castle, Today's Special, Sesame Street, Muppet

Show, and Fraggle Rock. So now we're going to

take a more broad look at our favorite puppets

of all time, and I have two special guests with

me to help do that. First of all, I have TFG1

Mike. Hello. And I also have, in back -to -back

episodes, Glade the Slacker Packard, also known

as GSP. No, I'm just kidding. Hello, Glade. Hey,

guys. Ouch. Hey, GSP is a compliment. Okay. Ouch,

Mike. So hopefully you've been tuning in to some

of our other episodes and specifically our other

supplemental episodes. If not, basically how

this is going to work is we've independently

come up with our own top ten list of our favorite

puppets of all time, and we're just going to

kind of go back and forth as we make our journey

from ten to one. Just a few notes about coming

up with a list for me. I actually thought this

was going to be one of the easier supplemental

episodes for me to do. I thought, you know, there's

not that many puppets out there and I'm easily

going to be able to come up with 10. And then

I sat down and started just making a list of

the ones I liked. And I had, I don't know, at

least 20. So like always, I had to do my whole,

you know. making the cut and slashing stuff off

and eliminating stuff until I was somewhat down

to 10. I'm still not happy that I can't include

more. So we might do a few honorable mentions

and whatnot towards the end of the show. Mike,

what was it like for you to come up with your

list without giving anything away? It was fairly

easy. And then I wrote them all down in a Word

document, like the 10 that I wanted. And then

I started looking at the list. I'm like, okay,

well, I'm happy with my number one. But, uh,

all of the, like from number nine to number four,

they all changed because I was like, wait, I

forgot one, if not two of the most important

ones. And, uh, yeah, there's, I didn't really

have a problem like Kevin did with doing more

than 10. Uh, cause I just numbered it 10 to one

and I figured, okay, well, who am I going to

put here? Who am I going to put here? So, I don't

know. It took me about 30 minutes. How about

you Glade? Well, it was really easy because I

narrowed it down to just the movies, and since

we did the top 100 animated series, I didn't

stress as much with this one. There we go. You

didn't have to stress with trying to come up

with 100 shows or something like that. Oh, thank

God. All right, well, let's get right into it.

Let's start off with Mike, actually. Mike, what

is your number 10 all -time puppet? I asked Kevin

about something last night when we were recording

this. We were recording this Saturday morning.

I asked him, could I include certain puppets

that really have no bearing on the last block

of telecast? And he said, probably as a group,

but not individually. So, my number 10 is the

entire entourage of Jeff Dunham's puppets. Peanut

Walter, Off to the Dead Terrorist. Jose Jalapeno

on a stick, Bubba J, Sweet Daddy D. Jeff is one

of those, if not the best ventriloquist of today's

times, and every single one of his puppets is

hilarious. Yeah, I actually love Jeff Dunham.

I mean, I don't watch him as much as you do,

and I'm not as big a fan as you are, but the

times I have watched him, I've been entertained,

and he does have some pretty cool little puppets

in his entourage. Glade, you seem upset. I didn't

think of Jeff Dunham. That's the first thing

I thought of, actually. I wouldn't be surprised

if a few of us have some stuff that the others

didn't think of on this, because it's such a

kind of a broad spectrum, and it just kind of

depends on what area you were looking at when

you picked out your 10. I'm glad, though, that

we have Jeff Dunham's puppets represented in

the countdown somewhere, so that's good. Silence,

I kill you! Glade, what do you have as your number

10? Oh, let's see. Number 10 being most favorite.

Is that right? No, 10 being the lowest on the

list. We'll work up to our favorite at number

one. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm just making sure. I

have for number 10, Miss Piggy. Miss Piggy. I

hate Miss Piggy. I'm sorry. That's why she's

number 10. Okay. Why Miss Piggy over some that

didn't make your list? Well, first off, I didn't

know we were expanding outside of the Muppets.

If I would have known, it would have been a lot

more difficult. But I chose Miss Piggy because

she compliments Kermit. Without Piggy, Kermit

would just be a... I don't know. He wouldn't

be as interesting, I guess you could say. Gotcha.

So other than that... I don't know. For some

reason, Miss Piggy has always annoyed me. I understand

a lot of people like Miss Piggy, and she's a

key element to the Muppet movie cast and stuff

like that. I just always wanted Kermit to just

tell her off and go find a better girl. Yeah,

I agree. But it's kind of like the Joker and

Harley Quinn. That's the kind of thing I'm thinking

of, except not. The roles are reversed, though,

in Kermit and Piggy's case. Yeah, no kidding.

Yeah. For my number 10, I also went outside of

the Muppet realm, like Mike. And I got to give

a shout out to Lamb Chop. And some people are

not going to probably even remember who Lamb

Chop is, but Sherry Lewis had a great little,

I don't know if she had her own, she had her

own kid show, I guess was what it was. I can't

remember exactly what it was called. But she

had Lamb Chop, which was just basically like

a sock on her hand almost. And it was... Something

that I really remember from my childhood. I didn't

put her any higher on my list, but I wanted to

at least have her somewhere on my list because

I remember I loved the voice she used for Lamb

Chop. It was just very innocent and very cool.

And if you don't know what it sounded like or

you don't know who Lamb Chop is, please go search

her out. Hopefully she's available on YouTube

and then you can see who exactly I'm talking

about. You had no childhood if you don't know.

Mike, do you remember Lamb Chop? Barely. Okay,

he had no childhood. No, I'm just kidding. I

remember. I barely remember. Yeah, well, Glade

was probably born too late. No, I was born around

the same time it came out. That's what I'm saying,

too late. Too late. Mike, number nine. Sam, the

eagle. Sam, the eagle. I thought about putting

him on my list, but he didn't quite make the

cut. One of the reasons why I put Sam at number

nine is because... He has this upper crust type

of, not really this snooty upper crust, stick

your nose up in people's faces type of thing,

but he just talks with that upper crust type

accent, and he's really proper and prim, and

he's such a straight man when it comes to the

comedy. Specifically, the Muppet Studios YouTube

video, American Woman. I love that. It's so hilarious.

Yeah, I just like what the element Sam added.

I kind of talked about this in the Muppet Show

episode. With all the other crazy people, it

was good to have this strict -by -the -book,

almost teacher -like or elderly -type person

in the mix, and I kind of appreciated that. Let's

see, Glade number nine. Animal. Animal. Oh, man.

Used to do the voice when I was younger before

I hit that special age of your life. Bethiel?

What's Bethiel about your age? What? We all know

what he's talking about. Yeah, I'm not going

into specifics here, no. This is a PG show, isn't

it? No, hell no. Screw that shit. I'll talk about

Animal later, though, so you guys can go ahead

and go with Animal. I don't know. I love Animal.

I love how crazy he is. And I don't know. I like

his just off -the -wall, batshit insane personality.

My favorite bit is in the first Muppet movie

or the one that came out. Oh, when was it? Muppets

take Manhattan when he's screaming woman. That

was his very first exposure to him. Woman! Oh,

man. Good times. All right. My number nine, also

not a Muppet. I'm guessing this is not on anybody's

list, but hopefully somebody remembers it. I'm

going back into the vault here of childhood again.

Captain O .G. Readmore from the ABC specials.

No clue. If you ever watch the ABC specials,

it was a thing on, I think it was usually on

Saturdays, and they would go into these different

stories, kind of like the CBS morning or whatever

break or whatever it was. And on the ABC specials,

they had a puppet that was O .G. Readmore, and

he would show up to introduce each story. There

was also actually an animated version of him.

but he was just a cool puppet that would introduce

the shows, and I just thought that was kind of

a cool way, and his voice was done by none other

than Frank the Legendary Welker, so that doesn't

hurt his case any. I thought you were going to

say Frank the Legendary Oz. No, we both have

some probably that are from that genius, but

no, I had to find a way to get Frank Welker into

our... discussion here. So OG Read More, hopefully

somebody listening actually remembers who the

heck I'm talking about. But if not, like I said

with Lamb Chop, go search OG Read More out or

ABC Weekend Special out on YouTube and maybe

it'll jog your memory a little bit. Mike, how

about your number eight? Red Fraggle. The girl.

Yes. For those of you that are confused. Yes.

I just liked how, again, she's not as crazy as

an animal or she's not as, like, really overdramatic

as a Burt, like from Sesame Street, but she's

still that high -energy type that will pretty

much do anything that she wants to do. Yeah,

I like what Red added to the mix in Fraggle Rock,

and I'm glad we have a Fraggle Rock person on

the list somewhere. I mean, we might have more

in the future, but I never loved Red myself.

I was more of a Gobo fan or some of the other

characters, but I do like the energy she brought

and the different dynamics she brought. If I

was going to say a top three Fraggle list, it

would be Gobo, Red, and then Wembley. Just because

I never really cared for Wembley. Like Boober,

too. Yeah. Where the heck are we? Glades 8. Wayne

and Wanda. Wayne and Wanda. I have no idea who

you're talking about. You remember the... Let's

see. Sam the Eagle would introduce them. The

moral... That's right. The moral part of their

episode. And it turned out that they weren't

exactly... Moral. Yeah. That's exactly why I

chose them. How can you not list them? Yeah,

they're immoral. How can you not list the immoral

people? Exactly. You have Sam the Eagle. Why

not the stark opposite? Yeah. I would have never

thought of that, but obviously some of the ones

on my list nobody would ever think about. I like

the diversity that we're getting on this one,

and I'm actually going to stay where Mike was

with Fraggle Rock for my number eight, and that

is Uncle Traveling Matt. And he might not be

the obvious choice for a Fraggle to put in there,

and I was debating him or Gobo. And the reason

I put Uncle Traveling Matt, which is voiced by

Dave Goels, in there is because I just love the

segments. I love that segment of Fraggle Rock.

I love when they were introducing human elements

to the Fraggle world and through his postcards.

And if you haven't listened to the Fraggle Rock

episode during the commercial, I have a couple

of Uncle Traveling Matt segments in there, so

you can kind of get a feel for what that is,

and there's lots of them on YouTube. But I just

loved his take on human things and how he interpreted

it from a Fraggle standpoint. Yeah, he was really

cool. So we got two Fraggles so far in the list,

and let's go to Mike's number seven. I like to

count things. One sheep, two sheep, three sheep,

four sheep, five sheep. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Yes,

the count. Actually, it's funny. As a kid, I

thought the count from Sesame Street was also

Count Chocula. He was a schizophrenic or a multi

-personality person. I love The Count. I loved

his skits. The Count, we didn't really talk about

this in the Sesame Street episode, but The Count

was a lot more dark and scary originally. And

they tamed him down as Sesame Street progressed

through its 40 -plus years on television. But

I just loved the way he did that. And it was

just kind of that thing, like when you're a kid,

you love habits and you love routines. And it

was fun to tune in every episode, and you knew

you were going to get to hear him count something.

So... I like that pick. Is that the first Sesame

Street person we've had? As far as I know, yeah.

I had Lamb Chop, Captain Oji, Readmore, and Uncle

Traveling Matt, so I haven't had any. All right.

Glade, what is your number seven? Well, I admit

I just changed it because I realized that I don't

like him as much as I thought I did, and I have

nothing to back him up with. So I changed from

Gonzo to Ernie. Okay. I'll talk about Ernie later

so you guys can cover this one. Stop giving away

what's coming up on your list. I said later.

I didn't say where. Might be an honorable mention.

So why Ernie Glade? He is the straight man, and

he also got to totally... Well, I'm not sure

if you guys saw the episode where he got to dance

with... I forget her name. It's in the first

season of The Muppet Show. But he totally got

to pimp it out. He was good. Some enchanted evening,

he got to dance with one of the guest stars,

and he was good. So I have to give him credit

for being... Well, I guess I can kind of relate

to him, because he's introverted, yet he has

a friend who's very outroverted. But that friend

also puts him down. I don't have that kind of

friend. Yes, you do, right here. Oh, yeah, that's

right. Slacky. Slacker. I have a nickname. That's

not it. My number seven, I'm not sure if Mike

thought of this one or not. I'm sure if he would

have thought of it, it's on his list. Maybe it

is on his list. But my number seven is Alf. Alf

from the sitcom by Paul Fusco or whatever you

want to call his name. Yeah, that's his name.

How can you not have Alf mentioned with our puppet

discussion? I wanted to get him in there somewhere,

and Seven's where he fell for me. I know Mike's

a huge Alf fan, so he can probably talk a little

bit about Alf. 1986, there was two shows I absolutely

had to watch. Season 4 of Knight Rider with Super

Pursuit Mode and Alf. 1986 to 1990, ALF was my

live -action TV show that I absolutely had to

watch whatsoever. Amazing, amazing, amazing stuff

on that show. I wish they would have kept it

going. It was just so fun. It was so funny. All

the different skits he did, all the different

stories, the bonding that happened on that show

between him and the Tanner family. was just amazing.

And him always getting the one -up on Mrs. Akhmanek.

Well, and who would have thought that a puppet

could have made it so easily on a sitcom with

nobody really thinking too much about it? It

was like he was just a regular character, and

him being a puppet wasn't a big deal. Yeah. So

I thought it was nice that it could work in that

type of environment, because we don't see a lot

of puppets in that type of show. Yeah. Got Alf

in there. So, Mike, what's your number six? Shmurdy,

shmurdy, shmurdy. The Swedish Chef. The Swedish

Chef, yes. Again, specifically for the Muppet

Studios YouTube video, Popcorn Shrimp. Just,

the Swedish Chef just has, like, if you had the

worst... cooking show award he get it seriously

if you had like a contest for the worst chef

ever he would win i used to do his voice all

the time excuse me dying over here uh it's just

so hilarious what what he would do in in the

skits in the muppet show and again I love how

Muppet Studios is, you know, even though there

is no Muppet Show or Muppets Tonight or there

really hasn't, I mean, there's supposed to be

a new Muppets movie coming, but there really

hasn't been like a new movie in a few years now.

I love that they've expanded to YouTube and are

using their characters in these skits on YouTube.

It's just, I just love that. That's so cool.

Because it's bringing the Muppets to a new audience.

Yeah, no, definitely. I love anything Muppets

and whatever they're going to do with it's cool,

especially if it's bringing it to a new generation.

Six, Glade. Crazy Harry. I brought him up on

the show on our Muppet discussion. I love the

random guy that just blows shit up. Yes. How

can't you? He's just awesome. Yeah. And they

used him really well on The Muppet Show just

to come in at random times, especially sometimes

at the beginning of the show or whatever. I loved

his little thing. He just pushes down and everything

blows up. Usually it was like Gonzo or something

was nearby or something. Yes. Blown up, but I

like that pick. I'm glad he's on our discussion.

My number six is actually going to be another

obscure one that nobody's going to know. Knock

it off. From today's special, and that is Sam

Crenshaw, who was voiced by Bob Dermer. And there

was just something about this guy that was so

genuine and I could relate to so much. He really

could get me, like, emotional. And I don't know,

it was just, he just had that. I don't know,

nice, like, older guy that was, like, respectable,

but he had, like, really heartfelt, like, he

wore his emotions on his sleeves. And I just

liked him, and that's why I liked the show today's

special was because of the puppet Sam Crenshaw.

So hopefully somebody out there knows who the

heck I'm talking about. Because I know Mike doesn't.

I mean, I know, like, when we... When we were

deciding, because today's special is still the

quote -unquote lost episode of the telecast,

but when you and I were going back and forth

off -air about doing that show, and I searched

it out on YouTube, and the show in general. Cannot

watch, but I do know who you're talking about,

but it's just not one that I want to watch. But

anyways. All right, so we've had an interesting

first half. Let's start our second half off,

Mike. Waka, waka, waka. Number five. Fozzie Bear.

Fozzie is... He's... How am I going to put this?

He's that really, really bad comedian that wants

to be good. Yeah. Like, he will try to be funny

no matter what, and he will sit there, and he

will take tomatoes in the face, but at least

he never gives up on trying to be funny. And

he's so lovable, and he's so loyal. And I think

it was one of the Muppet movies. I think it was

A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Carol. Not Very

Merry Muppet Christmas. with Whoopi Goldberg

and David Arquette. Yeah, I think it's David

Arquette. I don't know. It was somebody. I don't

know. Whoopi Goldberg was God in that. Oh, yeah.

When is Whoopi Goldberg not God? I'm sorry. And

Fozzie, they gave him such character development

in that movie because he was supposed to deposit

the money in the bank. And it got stolen from

him and he felt so guilty about it. And he, you

know, he's like, Oh my God, we're going to lose

the theater because of something I did. And this,

that, and the other thing. And, you know, I mean,

deep at the core, Fozzie is really, you know,

he, he will tug on the emotions when, when they,

you know, when the character development is there,

but just, I mean, the waka, waka, waka, everybody

knows that, you know? Yeah. No, I, And I love

how loyal he is to Kermit and that bond that

they have, kind of as best friends, so to speak.

And you can't go wrong with, like I said, we

knew we were going to talk about him, Frank Oz,

doing the voice of Fozzie. So that's a great

pick. I'm glad we're talking about him. Number

five, Glade. Speaking of guilt and whatnot, Sam

the Eagle. Makes a second appearance on our countdown.

Yes. How can you not like Sam the Eagle? I like

where he shows up in a lot of the Muppet movies

because it's so left field. Yeah. Sam the Eagle.

Wasn't he in The Muppet's Christmas Carol? He

was Scrooge's teacher. Yeah, that's what it was.

Discipline. Hey, Kevin, there you go. Teacher.

There you go. He's just been, like you said,

he shows up all kinds of different places, and

it's just kind of interesting where he shows

up, especially in the movies specifically. I

don't know. I like how random it is, and I just

love his part. So I can't say anything bad about

Sam the Eagle. I'd like to quickly correct myself.

He didn't say discipline. He said business. Yes.

My number five is my first Sesame Street character,

and we've already talked about him a little bit,

and that's Ernie. I just love, as a kid, Rubber

Ducky and all the little parts he played and

the way he interacted with Bert. I always liked

him better than Bert. I don't know why, but I

was more drawn to Ernie than to Bert, even though

Ernie was kind of more of the bad. nuisance of

the group and and burt was more of the straight

-edged guy but i don't know ernie i just there's

just something about him that i i really liked

as a kid you know ernie is pure mischief and

i love that crap that's where i got it from um

mike number four ernie and uh you know the everybody

loves that um Really specifically, the one skit

that I absolutely love Ernie in, and we talked

about this in the Sesame Street episode, the

Egyptian temple skit with the double Ernie, the

Egypt Ernie and regular Ernie. He's like, statue,

didn't you just touch me? Of course I did. And

it's just – Ernie is – and there was another

one. I think I looked it up after we had got

done with that episode of Telecast. Ernie is

always taking Bert's stuff. He's always borrowing

Bert's stuff when Bert doesn't give him permission

and everything else. It was a clip of Ernie –

who stole Bert's cookies? And you should know

where this is going since it has to do with cookies.

But Bert assumes that Ernie stole the cookies.

And then all of a sudden, someone steals Ernie's

cookies. And, of course, at the end, who else

is it but Cookie Monster. Yeah, that's awesome.

But, yeah, Ernie is – I absolutely love Ernie.

He is pure fun -loving mischief. He's not like

fad mischief to like, oh, my God. It's one of

those things where – His pranks, even though

they just drive Bert nuts, it's all in fun. Yeah,

and Jim Henson did a good job with Ernie, for

sure. Glade number four. Well, really quick,

I said the wrong Muppet for number seven. I meant

Bert, not Ernie. I just realized that he danced,

not Ernie. Ernie was like, dude, just do it.

And then in the end, he's like, yeah, you suck.

Nice. Okay, yeah, so it's Burt, not Ernie, my

mistake. Not that I don't like Ernie. Okay, number

four, Kermit. Kermit the Frog. Yes, yes. If only

Kermit was actually here, because we actually

have Kermit on staff. Yes. Another Jim Henson

character. Oh, man, love Kermit. I'm thinking

also in Sesame Street, because he'd always wear

the fedora and the stuff. Love that outfit. How

can you not love Kermit? Kermit's my mom's favorite

character, I know. Kermit's awesome. Yes, he

is the man. Well, he is the frog. It ain't easy

being green. My number four is a combination,

Uncle Waldorf and Uncle Statler, which is Richard

Hunt and Jerry Nelson. Those two add so much

to all the Muppet stuff, whether it's the Muppet

movies, the Muppet show. Just love their little

bits. That's why I put a few of them in the Muppet

Show episode of the Telecast, where you can hear

them intro and outro our show there. But they

just have some of the funniest lines, and how

can you not love Waldorf and Statler, Mike? I

mean, I'll talk about them later. I already know

who's threat. I already know the rest of Mike's

list just by what he said. No, you don't. Go

ahead with your number three, Mike. Hello, I

am Kermit the Frog. I can't do it as good as

Steve, but really Kermit and Robin the frog,

both Kermit and his nephew Robin. I put them

at number three because they – I really loved

Robin because they always put – for the majority,

they put Kermit and Robin together as the adult

and the kid in whatever type of thing you would

have there. And Kermit is – He's a very tolerable

frog. He puts up with a lot of stuff, and there

have been a few times that he would just go off

his rocker, but Kermit is just awesome. I love

when Kermit freaks out. Yeah, it's so funny.

And start waving, and he's just like, ahhh! Yeah,

so funny. And his facial expressions, well, Muppet

expressions, yeah. The way that his face is manipulated.

Right. How about your number three, Gladen? Oh,

Rolf the Dog. I like Rolf the Dog. I didn't put

him on my list, but I like Rolf the Dog. I like

him more on Muppet Babies, though, than on anything

else. I'm remembering him from the Muppet movie

where he's singing, he can't live with him, he

can't live without him. Yeah. Yes, he is. How

can you not like a piano -playing Muppet Dog?

Exactly. That's going to be my... He's hip to

the jive, man. Yeah. That's going to be my excuse

for all these characters. How can you not like

them? I just thought of what if Scatman Crothers

would have been Rolf's voice. Oh, man. Stop it.

I'm going to stick with the Muppets for my number

three, even though we've already talked about

them. Frank Oz's Fozzie Bear. I loved Fozzie

as a kid. I loved the look of Fozzie, first of

all. I think he had one of the best designs out

of the Muppets. He just looked... perfect as

a bear, and Fozzie is a perfect name for him,

and I love Frank Oz's voice, and we already talked

about his personality. Right, but Fozzie is,

again, one of those ones that shows up in the

strangest of roles in the Muppet -themed movies,

like a Muppet Christmas Carol, he showed up as

Fozzie Wig. Yeah. You know, like Fezzy Wig from...

Or the Treasure Island, or not Treasure Island,

the, uh, whatever the hell the one, the island

one. Yeah, Treasure Island, yeah. When he shows

up as the boat guy or the guy that's running

the show with his, like, revolutionary hairpiece

on and whatnot. So, yeah, he's just great. So

we're down to our final two for each of us. So,

Mike, start us off. Well, Glade already stole

my bit because he already stole my bit with the

one that I was going to introduce this one with.

When I saw Muppets take Manhattan at the very

beginning, Kermit's giving this great, great

speech about graduating college and everything

else. And what is funny is that in the back,

in the very back, you see this woman. It's not

even what animals say. I literally fell out of

my chair laughing when animals says it, but it's

the... Two beats before he says it because they

do those camera shots where they'll look at Animal

and he'll turn and look at the woman and he'll

turn and look at Kermit. And it's that moment

of silence because you just don't know. And all

of a sudden, woman, woman. And he starts chasing

her. Oh, my God. Anything Animal does is hilarious.

Yeah, Animal's just great, and he's been in a

lot of different roles, too. Whether it be with

the band or just this crazy guy just in the side

thing, he always shows up in kind of weird places.

That's what's cool about the Muppets. They always

show up in weird places. Glade, you're number

two. I can't do the voice. Too deep a voice,

but Beaker. I like Beaker. Beaker almost made

my list. He was one of the final cuts. Oh, man.

Even though he doesn't, he's like, I hate to

say it, I hate to say it, but even though he's

like a Pokemon, he's still awesome. No, he's

not like a Pokemon. He doesn't speak a real language.

That's the only comparison. I swear, I hate Pokemon.

Well, Beaker speaks in Morse code, dude. I like

Beaker and Bunsen, but I always liked Beaker

better. I always feel sorry for Beaker because

Bunsen always makes shit explode in his face.

Yeah, true, true. Oh, in the Muppet. let's see

the great muppet caper he made beaker touch the

electrical field i know okay beaker touch this

with a with a screwdriver yeah and then another

great job by richard hunt on that one too um

yes my number two has already been mentioned

by both of you guys so uh kermit the frog you

just how can you not have Kermit the Frog near

the top of your list of top puppets of all time?

I think that's why we all had him in our top

five. And again, really quick on Kermit, again,

in the movies, some of the movies, his character

development, specifically Christmas Carol, you

know, when I forget if they called him Tiny Tim

or if they called him by his real name. Robin

played Tiny Tim. And when Tiny Tim passes, you

can tell the emotion on Kermit's face. I mean,

you can tell on how he's reacting to that, and

it's just good character development. What sold

me on Kermit, I believe, it was either the Muppet

movie or Muppets Take Me Ahead. And I think it's

a Muppet movie. When he has that scene where...

basically everybody abandons him and leaves him

alone, and he's just sitting by himself, and

he sings a song or whatever. It's just that tender

moment where you could relate to him, where all

of a sudden he didn't have any friends around,

and you really felt for him, and he was just

genuine. He always had his emotions on his sleeve,

and that's what... made me fall in love with

Kermit as a kid when I saw that scene. I almost

wish you hadn't phrased it like that because

the 80s music fan in me keeps singing in my head,

Billy Joel, can't we leave a tender moment alone?

It's not easy being green. Yeah, I know. So we're

down to our top picks of all -time puppets, starting

with Mike. Statler and Waldorf. I mean, no, I

didn't choose that. Originally, I had Kermit

at number one, but Statler and Waldorf, because

they are just so hilarious. And really what makes

them more hilarious nowadays is, again, I'm going

to go back to Muppet Studios YouTube. Almost

after every single YouTube video, it's like we're

seeing the video like Bohemian Rhapsody. We're

seeing that. But at the very end, you hear these

clicks, and you hear, you know, I think for some

of the time you see them. You'll see them, and

they're actually looking back at you like they're

watching you. And they're just so, so awesome

and so hilarious. Yeah, and, you know, that's

something, too. Like you mentioned, Kermit almost

made your number one. I was really thinking Kermit

was going to be my number one until I thought

of something else. But I like Waldorf and Statler

as number one. easily think they're deserving

of that. So Glade, what's your number one? Yeah,

Statler and Waldorf. So we have two for two.

I had them at four, you guys have them at one,

but you can't say much wrong about these two.

No. And if you do, you have no geek cred whatsoever.

You have no soul. So we've basically had... a

lot of different things. We've had some Sesame

Street, we've had Muppet Show, we've had Fraggle

Rock, and then some random stuff with the...

Jeff Dunham. Jeff Dunham, or Alf, Lamb Chop,

stuff like that. I found another way to get a

different one in, and I put them all the way

up at number one, and the nerd fan of me of this

franchise had to do it. My number one is Frank

Oz as Yoda. You know, I know he's not always

been a puppet in everything that's been Star

Wars related, but that's basically what he was

in the original movies. And how can you not have

Yoda on the list? So Yoda's my number one, basically

just for his language and the way he speaks and

because he's a little green Jedi. I mean, I shouldn't

need to talk anymore about Yoda. I should just

be able to say Yoda and people should understand.

Yeah, we do. Let's move on to the honorable mentions.

I actually have a list now. Go ahead. Oh, okay.

Well, I don't have all of them down, but in no

particular order, like you said, Yoda, Jeff Dunham.

Wait, hold on. Did you give your number? Yeah,

you gave your number one, so yeah, okay, never

mind. Yeah, honorable mentions. No order. Okay.

But yeah, Yoda was mentioned. I thought of Edgar

Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. I'm not sure if

they're really Muppets, but that's ventriloquism.

Yeah. Jeff Denham. And then I'm probably going

to lose all cred for this, but I'm not sure if

you've seen it or not, but Dead Silence had Mary

Shaw and Billy. I thought that was really good.

I know it's by the creators of Saw, but it's...

Oh, God. I know, I know, but I think it's better

than Saw. Nice. I'm not aware of those. I hate

the Saw. Don't watch the Saw. Okay, let's move

on. Is that all your mentions, Glade? Last one.

Count. Okay. Yes. That's it. Mike. Ralph. The

interaction between Gonzo and Rizzo in A Muppet

Christmas Carol. I love the two of them in that.

Yes. Super Grover. Oh, I forgot Grover. Oscar

the Grouch. Yeah. Cookie Monster. Burt, only

because he is Ernie's straight man as far as

the comedy, and he plays up to Ernie's mischief.

Yeah. And Miss Piggy for the hi -yah! Crotty

chop. Yep. I agree with a lot of those. Some

of them you already mentioned, obviously. Grover

and Gonzo got to get a mention just because they're...

I love them. I know some people don't, but I

love both Grover and Gonzo. You already mentioned

Cookie Monster and Beaker you already mentioned.

The other, as far as Sesame Street Muppet characters

that I want to throw a shout -out to, Elmo, first

of all, just because Elmo's Elmo. Kevin Clash

and Elmo, I loved him even when I was starting

to get out of that phase. The Menomina guy. I

had him on there. Guy Smiley and Snuffleupagus.

I want to mention one other one. You mentioned

Guy Smiley. I want to mention his counterpart,

the Muppets newscaster. I had him on there, too.

I always laughed at him. The Muppets newscaster

is hilarious. And then I had some on my list

that aren't Muppets, but I wanted to at least

mention them. King Friday from... Mr. Rogers

neighborhood. Those technically are, well, they're

not, well, they're not Muppets, but they're puppets.

Okay. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. I got it.

So, uh, King Friday. Um, I wanted to mention

the doozers from Fraggle Rock. I know those are

Muppets, but I forgot about them. Um, I wanted

to throw a shout out to the mystery science theater,

3000 guys. Some of those were actually puppets.

Not all of them, but some of those were puppets,

so I thought that was kind of a clever thing

to throw in there. And I want to piss Mike off

by throwing in a mention of Triumph the Insult

Comic Dog by Robert Smigel from Conan. You know

what? Honestly, Triumph on his own, I like. It's

just Conan I fucking hate. So, I don't know.

I think we've covered a whole lot of different

puppets in some mention or another. and hopefully

some of them other people will be able to relate

to, or hopefully we hit everybody's favorite.

Mike, give us your final thoughts on puppets

in general or anything we've talked about. I

can, even though by now they're dated and right

now he hasn't put out a new DVD yet, I'm hoping

soon he will put out a new DVD, I can watch Jeff

Dunham DVDs. all day long and laugh my ass off.

I don't care if I watch them multiple times a

day. He's a great comedic performer. He has great

timing with his puppets. He does give a lot of

emotion to his puppets as well. Specifically,

Achmed the Dead Terrorist, because in one of

his skits, Achmed tells him he has something,

and then later on, Jeff's like... Well, if you

have poliosis, because they had mentioned polio

and scoliosis, and Jeff combined them in his

own voice, and he's like, oh, my God. Just amazing,

amazing performer. Everybody knows the silence,

I kill you bit. Jingle bombs. Yeah, jingle bombs,

yeah. You know. I mean, I really can't say much

more. I actually like a lot of the Statler and

Waldorf stuff that they do on YouTube because

it's just them looking like they're talking to

us, like the whole one. And I'm hoping you'll

put it in this episode. Oh, that's great. Oh,

it was okay. It was pretty good. Oh, it was horrible.

That's terrible. That's, you know, I love that.

I love that clip. And, you know, just... Overall,

I mean, if you don't like puppets, Muppets, you

know, these type, the ones that we, not specific,

like all the ones we've talked about, but as

long as, as well with every other Muppet and

Sesame and whatever other character, if you don't

like them, there's something wrong with you.

Yeah, and I don't know. I think puppets are just

kind of a magical thing because it's not quite

animation, so it seems a little bit more real

even though you know they're fake. It's something

you get attached to as a small kid. That's why

a lot of mine were from more of my younger days,

childhood -wise. And you can't go wrong with

the ones we had up towards the top of the list,

Waldorf and Statler, Kermit the Frog, Yoda. Those

are all just... Fantastic characters. Ernie made

it on multiple of our lists. Fozzie the bear.

So these are just some really memorable puppets

slash Muppets. And the thing about puppets, really

quick before you close it out, the thing about

puppets is Jeff Dunham said it well. If he said

half the jokes he was making with his puppets,

like with Walter, who is the grumpy old man who

will just cuss out anybody, if he said any of

the stuff that he uses in his act himself, it

would be so politically incorrect. Because it's

coming from an animatronic doll, it's okay. It's

a different character. It's not Jeff's opinion.

It's the character development opinion of the

character. And, I mean, you can get away with

anything. Doing puppetry. Yeah, and it shouldn't

be a surprise or a shock that there's only certain

people that have really mastered that art, like

a Jeff Dunham or a Jerry Nelson, Frank Oz, Jim

Henson. There's a few select people in the world

that can do really great puppet work or even

kind of like the ventriloquist work. It's an

art form, and I appreciate it. Glade, any last

words or thoughts on puppets in general? I wish

they would come back with another kind of Muppet

show. That'd be great. Even though I haven't

watched all of the original, I think that kids

these days need something that is... Well, they

don't need it, but it would be awesome just to

have the Muppets come back, and not in movie

form, but like... Yeah, another show. Well, again,

I see what you're saying there, Glade, but again,

that's kind of what... I mean, it's kind of like

evolving through the times. That's what Muppet

Studios' YouTube channel is for. Okay, yeah.

Go over to that channel. It's Muppet Studios.

There's no space. It's all one word. And look

through the videos that they've uploaded. Yeah,

it's covers of Bohemian Rhapsody and stuff like

that, but, I mean, it's stuff like that that

they're still using the Muppets. They're not

using them in, like, the Muppet Show type of

format, but they're still bringing them. I mean,

I don't think that the Muppets are not present

today as far as people know who the Muppets are

today. I mean, it's not like... They're not going

away. Yeah. Just like Sesame Street's not going

away. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I gotcha. Well, okay,

in that case, then just come out with a better

Muppet movie. There's supposed to be one coming

out, I think, another one. I don't know what.

No, never mind that. I'm not sure, though. Yeah,

I mean, I'm sure they will keep doing those.

They've been pretty consistent with that. So

hopefully we'll see more stuff with the Muppets,

like Glade said. So I think that's going to do

it for our third supplemental episode. I would

like to thank Glade and Mike for joining me and

sharing their list and putting the work into

coming up with their list. Like I normally do

with the supplemental episodes, we're not going

to go through all the different ways you can

contact us. Hopefully you're listening to the

telecast and you're listening to the regular

episodes so you can find out all the ways to

get in contact with us or to interact with us.

And we have our next block of shows coming up

next, starting with episodes 16 through 20, which

is game shows from our childhood. And we're starting

off with Guts. So hopefully you'll tune in to

episode 16 and hear us talk about the first of

our game show block. For now, I am your host,

Optimus Solo, with... DFG1 Mike. And... Podcasterify,

not Slack. The Slacker, Glenn Becker. GSP. So

tune in in a few days for episode 16 of the Telecast.

Discover this.