Super Grover

I know I've been focused on The Muppet Show so far (and there are many more of those to come) but it's time for a short detour into Sesame Street.

Who couldn't use the help of a cute, adorable superhero once in a while (even if he doesn't help all that much?)

Obviously, this is old-school Super Grover. He's the one I grew up with and I love him. However, even though I'm usually a Sesame Street/Muppet purist, I'm also totally digging the updated, extra superhero-y Super Grover 2.0. (In case you're not familiar, here he is explaining his new upgrades with Jimmy Fallon. Check out the adorable t-shirt bit they do.) SG 2.0 is irresistible.

The Frog Issue

To those of you wondering why I haven't done Kermit yet, there are two reasons:

1.) This project is a work in progress and I'm working through the Muppets in no particular order.

2.) I'm waiting on the right Kermit-color balloons. They're not here yet. It's hard enough being green, let alone being the wrong shade of it.

Patience. Kermit is coming soon, along with more bears and chickens and frogs and things!

Lew Zealand

I've had a couple of requests for Lew Zealand (and by requests, I mean people writing "FRESH FEESH!" on my Facebook page. You know who you are.) The fact is, I was planning to do Lew anyway because I love boomerang fish, his righteous mustache and that swell frilled collar.

Next time I eat Pepperidge Farms goldfish, I'm going to throw them at someone while screaming "FRESH FEESH!" I plan to act surprised when the fish crackers don't perform their boomerang action. 

Miss Piggy

This SNL clip doesn't really have all that much to do with The Muppets but in a way, it's partly responsible for this project. Ever since we saw it, my husband and I have been walking around saying "Hiiii-YA!" and I've had Miss Piggy on the brain. 

Sorry for the pre-video commercial but trust me--it's worth the wait.

Crazy Harry

Crazy Harry is The Muppets' resident pyrotechnics enthusiast.

There's not a lot out there about him, so here's a video where he appears for about a second. Tonight being the State of the Union address and all, Stars and Stripes Forever (and a little Sam the Eagle action for good measure) feels appropriate.

Rowlf

I love this clip of Rowlf singing "I Hope That Somethin' Better Comes Along" in The Muppet Movie. Rowlf, Kermit, a sad song and a little bit of Steve Martin at the end? Perfection. Not to mention the fact that this song is Jim Henson pretty much singing a duet with himself.

Research (okay, googling) shows that some believe Rowlf is based on singer Tom Waits. I have no idea if the theory's true but I dig it. More research shows that people with a lot of time on their hands make videos of Rowlf playing piano with TW songs dubbed in. Seeing as I spend my time making balloon animal Muppets in my glass house, I won't throw any stones.

As a balloon, Rowlf was one of my favorite kind of challenges. He totally stumped me for a week and then suddenly, it all made sense. Bonus: I now know that I love balloon candelabras. How cute is that thing? I'm going to shoehorn them into as many other designs as possible.

Fozzie Bear

My favorite Fozzie Bear line appears in the Raquel Welch episode of The Muppet Show.

Backstory: Fozzie's started going to therapy and has become more assertive. Good stuff! He eventually goes back to his old ways and sums it up here (the line happens at 1:35 but why skip ahead? It's all good.)

The aggro Fozzie storyline serves to distract from an episode that's basically just a bunch of aroused Muppets. Raquel's appeal apparently crosses all boundries of age, species and one's status as a Fabricated American (to borrow a term from Greg the Bunny.)

Also, this episode has the Muppaphones!

The Swedish Chef

My job gives me some unique opportunities. I get to meet lots of people, travel a bit and hang out at parties (and those parties often have cake!) I get to be creative and look at things from different perspectives. That's all great but my favorite part is getting to say things like this:

"Does this chicken look properly terrified?"

Animal

I like Animal. Apparently, though, a lot of people like him way more than I do. When I did my first two Muppet balloons (Beaker and Gonzo) the response was always the same: "Cool! Where's Animal?" Now the response is just "WOMAN!" People really like yelling that.

Gonzo

Gonzo the Great: mixes highbrow performance art with tire-eating and being shot from a cannon. Frequently bombs onstage. He's the kind of Muppet a balloon twister can really relate to (except for that chicken-loving thing.)

Beaker

Beaker was the first Muppet I did.

My kids were obsessed with this clip http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysIzPF3BfpQ of Beaker, the Swedish Chef and Animal singing a Christmas song. I couldn't get his little voice out of my head, so I exorcised my demons through balloons.

Muppets

I'm always trying to find something new and fun to do, balloon-wise. A girl gets bored with dogs and swords and flowers.

I've loved The Muppets for as long as I can remember and now my kids are starting to get hooked. I love watching the old Muppet Shows with them as they have no idea who any of the guest stars are or what's going on but if there are flipping penguins to be seen, they will watch.

With that in mind, my new project is to twist as many Muppets as possible. Everyone's got a favorite and I intend to get to each of them. If I have to watch hours of Muppet Show dvds and YouTube clips for research, so be it. I'll suffer nobly for the sake of the project.