Your favorite Muppet:

[Petruchio]

Kermit the Frog

 43/5%

Cookie Monster

 55/6%

Gonzo the Great

 68/8%

Animal

 106/12%

Grover

 28/3%

Dr. Bunsen Honeydew

 21/2%

Beaker

 90/10%

The Sweedish Chef

 113/13%

Sir Didymus

 6/1%

Janice

 4/0%

Sweetums

 6/1%

Oscar the Grouch

 27/3%

Ernie

 12/1%

Bert

 10/1%

Fozzie Bear

 34/4%

Statler and/or Waldorf

 52/6%

Scooter

 5/1%

Sgt. Floyd Pepper

 4/0%

Rizzo the Rat

 16/2%

Count von Count

 28/3%

Miss Piggy

 8/1%

Mr. Aloysius Snuffleupagus

 12/1%

Crazy Harry

 15/2%

Vroom on a bad hair day

 15/2%

Where are the @#&$% Fraggles?

 61/7%

Other

 20/2%

859 total votes

[Petruchio]

I had a different poll ready to go... but after two weeks of semi-controversial programming topics, I figured things were getting a bit heavy. Hence the current topic, the closest thing to pure merriment I could think of.

The selection is large, but inevitably inadequate; there are too many Muppets that speak particularly to different people to attempt to list. And it's a slightly idiocyncratic selection. Rather than categorically offer the major characters, a guess at likely favorites seemed apropos. Elmo, though far and away the leading Muppet today, seemed a much less likely favorite for a programmer than the slightly obscure Crazy Harry and his explosives.

Major characters like Rolf the Dog, Dr Teeth, and Big Bird are missing. The lesser-known Lew Zealand, boomerang fish thrower, only just missed the cut, as did the estimable Dr. Julius Strangepork. The Fraggles were just too many to go into... I could find no reason to put Mokey on the list and leave Red off, or to choose between Wembley, Boober, and Traveling Matt. And having decided to offer a single Fraggle option meant dropping Cotterpin Doozer. *sob*

And this doesn't even touch upon the truly obscure characters, like the Vend-a-Face machine, the very hip Roosevelt Franklin, or H. Ross Parrot. Nor upon the characters of The Dark Crystal, nor those of Labyrinth... except for Sir Didymus. There's a certain amount of license in creating a poll, and I spent it on Sir Didymus.

On the subject of those listed... it is as interesting to note that the now-visible Mr. Snuffleupagus' first name is Aloysius as to find that Sgt. Pepper's first name was apparently Floyd. Three guesses as to who Janice's namesake was. The names Bert and Ernie were, of course, taken from "It's a Wonderful Life". If the name Gonzo was taken from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", I don't know of it... but it doesn't seem unlikely. He's as demented as Dr. Gonzo, and if he weren't disturbing and unnatural enough, his relationship with Camellia the Chicken certainly would be. And it's an interesting bit of trivia that Count von Count had two, two vonderful girlfriends on Sesame Street, Countess von Backwards, and Countess Dahling von Dahling. What else can you say? Count++

It seems odd that Jim Henson died in 1990... twelve years, already! Doubtless it seems much less odd to the younger monks. I sometimes wonder whether my nephew's generation will understand their significance at all. Sesame Street is pretty much The Elmo Show these days, and not much more the sort of thing adults want to watch with kids than Barney is. The Muppet productions of the '90s tried hard, but made it more clear than ever that the whole thing was truly Jim Henson's baby. It's hard to sense the energy that made the Muppet Show the best thing on television in the late '70s.

Oh, well... all things must pass. As Animal would say, "Poll over! Go Home! Go Home!"

update: Yes, Statler and Waldorf are the two crusty old hecklers in the balcony... jc would have had a fit if I'd left them off the poll. :-)

[kudra]

This brings back memories...not of the muppets, because I grew up without a TV. But my first internet access, via my university, was through a bunch of DECs that had been purchased roughly about the time of Jim's death. (I, however, did not use the system until early 1993).

The server was called 'henson' and the workstations were honeydew, janice, gonzo, animal, beaker, scooter, waldorf (and other names I can't remember--fozzie? statler? There were 9 workstations in total). It was set up so that the dial-in modems and the dumb terminals could connect directly to the workstations. I always did that, because henson had too many people logged in. Thus my favorites were honeydew and animal, because they tended to be ignored by others and have the lowest loads. From this I deduce that animal and honeydew are unlikely to win the poll, seeing as they already lost the popularity contest at the university, although animal seems to be off to a reasonable start.

[bassplayer]

As if I don't learn enough great new stuff on this site, now I know Mr. Snuffleupagus's first name. Thanks, petruchio.

Are Statler and Waldorf the two crusty old guys in the balcony?

Update: Visible? Did you say Mr. Snuffleupagus is visible now? Did everyone on Sesame Street apologize to poor Big Bird for all of the therapy that they probably caused him to undergo?

bassplayer

[Kozz]

Yeah, I think they made him "real" for the sake of being P.C. Something perhaps about not wanting children to think that adults won't believe them when they're telling the truth, or some such nonsense.

I tried to find a page that explained the "why", but no luck. Just a bunch of noisy Elmo flash stuff LOL

[belg4mit]

Seems kinda lame. Considering they justify Elmo speaking in the thrid personn because it's a common stage of child development. Aren't imaginary friends as well?

[cecil36]

Hunds doon, it's zee Sveedeesh Cheff. Vhu ilse-a cuoold inspure-a a Guugle-a prugremmer tu incheffereeze-a zee inture-a vebseete-a. Bork Bork Bork!

www.google.com/intl/xx-bork

[chicks]

At one point in the dim Internet past there was an encheferizing proxy server. The entire Internet through the chef. Ah, those were the days. There is a site that sort of does the same thing - for perlmonks, microsoft, or whatever. I still miss the proxy server implementation, but seeing Microsoft's page encheferized makes the universe make much more sense.

[belg4mit]

• :-D, Munge
• Filters Hmm, think I'll do some perl ports
• Discomobobulator
• Google l33t

--
perl -pew "s/\b;([mnst])/'$1/g"

[pdcawley]

Hmm... nowhere to vote for 'The entire cast of the original, muppetational, Muppet Show without any of those vile Johnny-come-latelies who made Muppets Tonight so joyless in comparison'? I can't pick a favourite muppet, the original shows were perfect ensemble pieces, picking out a favourite would be invidious.

[zakzebrowski]

"C is for cookie, that's good enough for me, c is for cookie, that's good enough for me, c is for cookie, that's good enough for me, oh, cookie cookie cookie starts with c!"

----
Zak
"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism" ~ Theodore Roosevelt (1915)

[lachoy]

At Pirates games in PNC Park they have a tradition of fans voting on the song they want to hear during the mid nth inning. They name all three songs, then play a snippet from each song in turn so people can clap and hoot for their favorite and make it the "most popular". The next inning they hear the song that won.

At the game I went to on Tuesday, "C is for Cookie" beat out both "Rock and Roll all Night" by Kiss and some modern song I don't remember. Not only that, but "C is for Cookie" was the defending champion for 3 games running!

Chris
M-x auto-bs-mode

[brianarn]

I'd deffeenitely hefe-a tu sey thet zee Svedeesh Cheff is ebsulootely zee best mooppet eruoond. Bork bork bork! Yuoo cun leern tu speek leeke-a zee Svedeesh Cheff tuu! Check oooot zee Deeelectizer, it's evesume-a. Yuoo shuoold elsu check oooot Guugle's lungooege-a tuuls - leenks ere-a beloo.

Seerch Guugle-a es zee Svedeesh Cheff!

Soorff zee veb oor trunslete-a text es zee Svedeesh Cheff!

~Brian

[jeffa]

AN-EE-MAL!
AN-EE-MAL!
How could someone who uses a drum pattern as his sig not vote for Animal! ;)

Although Fozzie rules, especially in The Great Muppet Caper when he adds sugar to champagne and comments that it makes it taste like ginger ale. Classic.

Now, anybody wanna help fry up Miss Piggy for some bacon? >:P

jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)

[shotgunefx]

Don't forget the classic Fozzy joke. "How do you clean a Paper Plate?"
"With an eraser! Waka Waka Waka!"

-Lee

"To be civilized is to deny one's nature."

[chiller]

Yes, Animal rocks. Any muppet based on John Bonham is tops in my book. :)

[jynx]

not there,

Although i couldn't expect Zoot to make it to the cut, since he pretty much never says anything. For those not remembering, Zoot is the Electric Mayhem's saxophonist. For those with further recollection problems, The Electric Mayhem is the band for which Animal is the drummer.

Like, can you get behind it? For sure, really...
jynx

[thelenm]

Not just Grover... Super Grover!!

And wow, I'm surprised to see that anyone thought to put Sir Didymus on the list. He's the fox-like creature from Labyrinth, right? I like him a lot... now that I think about it, I probably should have voted for him.

[Molt]

Same here, only I was reading it as characters from The Muppet Show. The Sesame Street ones somehow got under the radar as being a 'vaguely similar' show, as did the Fraggles.. poor Sir Didymus just got an 'I guess this is an obscure muppet I've not heard of' though'.

Maybe we should demand a recount? The title of the election was misleading to idiots like me, and Sir Didymus has been robbed of his rightful place as most well-loved muppet-like-thing.

SirDidymus++

[talexb]

Nice to see something light instead of a Rage War about a favourite editor or Linux distro.

In the mid-80s our shiny new VAX 11/780 up in Brampton (near Toronto) was networked in with the two brother VAXen down in Mansfield, MA. Ours was (unimaginatively) called MISLTO, for Motorola Information Systems Ltd., Toronto, Ontario (Toronto, Ontario is often abbreviated by locals as T.O.).

The geeks in Mansfield however, had much neater ideas and called their machines Bert and Ernie. I dealt with the SysOp Anna Flynn who was at the time trying to get management to buy one more VAX so she could call it Grover.

Good memories.

--t. alex

"Nyahhh (munch, munch) What's up, Doc?" --Bugs Bunny

[lemming]

One of my most favorite shows while growing up was "The Muppet Show"

During that time, I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite, but Animal, The Swedish Chef, Gonzo, and Crazy Harry would be near the top.

Not that he should be in the poll, I really liked Pepe "I am not a shrimp, I am a King Prawn!" from Muppets in Space.

[TStanley]

I grew up watching the Muppet Show, and for me, I tended to relate to Animal the most. He is just an extremely wild and unpredictable creature who follows his base instincts.

TStanley
--------
"Suppose you were an idiot... And suppose you were a
member of Congress... But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain

[Anonymous Monk]

Fozzie Bear is my favorite... Here's another joke: what did the hungry computer say? I could sure go for a BYTE! Ha! A BYTE! Wocka! Wocka! Wocka!

[o(o_o)o]

hhhmm... cool poll!!! Beaker all the way!:D:D:D

but 1 thing... i'm sure Count Von Count, and Bert 'n Ernie arn't Muppet characters... but are from seseame street right??? am i correct? or are those all muppet's too? surely muppets and seseame street are 2 different things?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i would slit my wrists for you

[belg4mit]

They are different TV shows, but all the puppets were created by Jim Henson production and I believe classified as muppets. As well as the creatures in Fraggle Rock (doozers rule!), and I think another show or 2 as well(quite a few in fact). Jim Henson prod. also creates the creatures for Farscape, though they are decidely *not * "muppets".

--
perl -pew "s/\b;([mnst])/'$1/g"

[higle]

I never laughed so hard in my life as when I saw Crazy Harry for the first time, detonating loads of dynamite on the stage of a Broadway musical type thing on The Muppet Show.

Chorus girls singing, Harry nowhere to be seen. Harry suddenly appears, insanely wide eyes pointing right at the camera, with frighteningly large smile.

Crazy Harry: (in time with music) Dah dah, dah dah, dah dah (depresses handle of detonator)

B O O M!

Chunks of stage fly everywhere. One chorus girl flys from the stage with a scream. Harry dances to music.
....................

Now THAT'S comedy.

  higle

[Chainsaw]

As some monk said there are many muppets missing. but no my favorite muppet Animal. I remember every time he play the drums was greate. And my second is the Cookie Monster. mmm... nice memories...



---

God help me always to see the other face of the coin. And prevent me from accusing of betrayal those who don't think just as I do.

[tlay]

deeeewwwwieeeeee deeeewwwwieeeeee deeeewwww bork bork bork!

[tretin]

I was raised on fraggles... WHERE THE @#$#@ are they??????

But the sweedish chef owns all as well...

work it harder make it better do it faster makes us stronger more than ever hour after our work is never over.

[kendo]

Statler and Waldorf. They had to be drinking the whole time, in that little booth. They easily took the Wakka out of Fozzie...
Statler: Shakesphere would have hated that!
Waldorf: You should know, you dated his sister!
Both: (laugh)
Statler: Boy, was she ugly.

[Mr. Muskrat]

Statler & Waldorf profile


---

Matthew Musgrove
Who says that programmers can't work in the Marketing Department?
Or is that who says that Marketing people can't program?

[belg4mit]

/me notes ob triv: Sesame Street is broadcast in Holland

--
perl -pew "s/\b;([mnst])/'$1/g"

[ailie]

I'm really glad you can vote more than once in these polls. For once this contributes to a more accurate tabulation of monk sentiment regarding the Muppets!

I actually wrote a college admission essay about the Muppets. The question was something like "If you could be any fictional character for a day, who would you be?" I think I settled on Kermit, but I seriously considered Miss Piggy (circa the Great Muppet Caper) and Gonzo. Also Beaker, because he invented a teleporter!

Really, though, I can't pick just one.

[Animal]

hmm, i think my choice is fairly self-evident :)

[George_Sherston]

Bert, obviously, for his timely intervention in the psychological war against terrorism

§ George Sherston

[Mr. Muskrat]

Don't miss Ask Dr. Honeydew and the Ask Dr. Honeydew Archives. They are great!
My favorite question from the archives:


Dear Dr. Honeydew,
What exactly is MMX technology?

-Bill, Bellevue, Washington

MMX is the latest technology from Intel that speeds up the
performance of microprocessors. It stands for Multimedia X-
cellerator... or something like that. Other performance
enhancing technologies in development include:

EABS: Eliminates AOL Busy Signals
CDIBGP: Cash Directly Into Bill Gates' Pockets
NNBTGNDHI: Not Necessary, But The Guy Next Door Has It 

---

Matthew Musgrove
Who says that programmers can't work in the Marketing Department?
Or is that who says that Marketing people can't program?

[munchie]

Where is Pepe ohhkay? How couldn't you love the shrimp? I think him and Rizzo and Gonzo make a hilarious tag team trio in Muppets Tonight and especially Muppets from Space (btw- the DVD commentary is hilarious!).

Select Muppet Scenes with my main man Pepe

• Gonzo: It's.... an egg...
• Pepe: Hey, it might be full of chocolate ohhkay!?
• Pepe: If you build a jacu-u-zzi we will come

PEPE FOR PREZ

-munchie
Look ma! I'm on CPAN!
munchie does perl: my very own perl site

[Anonymous Monk]

Pepe is the bong . He is ohhkay! Listen here Ohhkay! I made some Bologna and cheese sandwiches oohkay! [e-mail] write me wiht some interesting new about pepe

[admiralh]

And don't forget the USENET group

alt.fan.swedish-chef.bork.bork.bork

launcher of lots of imitators, my favorites being

alt.fan.icelandic-waif.bjork.bjork.bjork

and

alt.fan.wesley-crusher.die.die.die

Why anyone would consider Bjork a waif is beyond me. :-)

[Anonymous Monk]

My 2 favorite muppet characters are FozzieBear and The Sweedish Chef

[Anonymous Monk]

she rocks i love her i own a janice doll

Considered by jdporter - Retitle: "My favoriate Muppet is janice"
Unconsidered by castaway - Keep/Edit/Delete: 10/7/5 - heh ?

[Anonymous Monk]

Animal's awesome, but I also like Kermit. Ooh! Fozzie Bear's cool too

[Anonymous Monk]

the sweedish chef

[Anonymous Monk]

[Anonymous Monk]

I THINK THAT SCOOTER IS THE MOST WONDERFUL AND THE VERY BEST MUPPET AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED.I ALWAYS LOVE TO ENJOY LOOKING AT HIS WONDERFUL ORANGE HAIR AND LOVELY ORANGE SKIN AND I LOVE HIS LOVELY GLASSES. I THINK HE IS PRETTY FUNNY AND AWSOME AT THE SAME TIME.I DON'T THINK THAT THE THE MUPPET SHOW IS COMPLETE WITHOUT HIM NOR THE SAME EITHER.