Any Big Mean Carl fans?

beaker

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I have to say one of my absolute favorite Muppets now has to be Big Mean Carl. You saw him in last year's "Muppets Take Over Today Show" in the control room, you saw him as a postal clerk in Letters To Santa, and now he's in Bohemian Rhapsody

My hope is someday we'll get Big Mean Carl toys, figures and plushes...heck I say he could have his own children's books! Who's with me?

Some random newer pictures of Carl:

(Carl grabbing a random fan who snuck onto the Letters set)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3080/2896313859_9490c080ab.jpg

(Carl at the NBC Today Show controls)
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/File:Today_Big_Carl.jpg

(Big Mean Carl profile)
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Big_Mean_Carl

I liked him on Muppets Tonight...I liked him in the early 90's Muppet Business Meeting short films. But now...he's really blossomed, and for whatever reason Disney's Muppet Studio heads have decided to have him become one of the main reoccurring secondary characters. Strangely enough while he looks like it, he is a 90's character like Pepe and not from the Muppet Show.

Of course...I'm a strange one. I love Digit, Zondra, Lindburgh,
Mo Frackle, Joe The Armadillo, Droop and various random obscure characters:smile:
 

ploobis

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I love Big Mean Carl too!

He brings back the Classic Muppet tradition of Muppets being eaten by other Muppets!

I always wonder how much does that puppet weigh and how Bill Barretta preforms him.

I'm guessing that Bill preforms the head and mouth while another puppeteer preforms his hands.

It's also great that BMC is back with the Muppet Gang these days! He's a great addition to The Muppets!

"THANK YOU!"
 

GonzoLeaper

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Oh yeah- I like Big Mean Carl- I think he's a great addition to The Muppets. It's been cool to see him showing up in some recent productions.:smile: And he was hilarious on Muppets Tonight!
 

Drtooth

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Any muppet show monster is a GOOD character as far as I'm concerned. Carl is no exception. I'm so glad they brought him back (as well as some of the pirates from MTI)... facinating to look at, and it's almost a wonder he wasn't one of the original Muppet Monsters. He holds that spirit very well.
 

beaker

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I love Big Mean Carl too!

He brings back the Classic Muppet tradition of Muppets being eaten by other Muppets!

I always wonder how much does that puppet weigh and how Bill Barretta preforms him.

I'm guessing that Bill preforms the head and mouth while another puppeteer preforms his hands.

It's also great that BMC is back with the Muppet Gang these days! He's a great addition to The Muppets!

"THANK YOU!"
I think he may be performed a bit differently than Bobo, although I'm not sure.

I just have this really strong feeling BMC could be a cult hit breakaway character like Beaker and Swedish Chef with enough marketing. While I'm happy we got a Doglion figure, I would absolutely love to see a Carl shirt, plush and figure. Something about the character to me just seems larger than life, and there must be a reason Muppet Studios has been using him a lot lately.

Have you seen him on Muppets take Over Today? Here's an exclusive outtake from that, where he ends up eating a rat
"Where's Ann Curray with my cupcakes?"
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891#27721378


Any muppet show monster is a GOOD character as far as I'm concerned. Carl is no exception. I'm so glad they brought him back (as well as some of the pirates from MTI)... facinating to look at, and it's almost a wonder he wasn't one of the original Muppet Monsters. He holds that spirit very well.
Yeah, it's funny I truly did think he was from the original Muppet show along with Luncheon Counter and the rest of his contemporaries.
 

the weirdo

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"Hi, I'm Carl... and now I'll eat these bagpipes."
I love BMC <3 He's really funny, especially when he's Carl the Big Mean Bunny.
 

rexcrk

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Unfortunately I'm not familiar with him :sympathy: I never saw Muppets Tonight and he wasn't featured heavily in MCC, MTI, MFS, VMMCM, or MWoO.

Although I did like his cameo in LTS and in the Bohemian Rhapsody vid.
 

Drtooth

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MFS would be the earliest movie he could have appeared in (though he wasn't in there). MCC and MTI (while MTI featured the monkey who would become Sal, but performed by someone else) came before that series, so he couldn't very well have been introduced before MT, when he was clearly a character created from a scripted sketch.

My guess about his new found stardom? They really want to bulk up the Muppet cast without having to spend all that capital creating new characters. We're seeing a lot of old MTI pirates in these new virmups as well. I really like this idea, myself. They have all these perfectly good older characters that they can use instead of just trying to create even more characters in a very very big cast.

Plus, Carl really does embody the old spirit of the Muppet Monster, as I said earlier. Luncheon Counter, Beautiful Day, Doglion, Big Mama... Tommy... even unnamed ones... even classic 70's and 80's Sesame Street monsters. They really needed more of that in the main TMS character assortment.
 

rexcrk

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MFS would be the earliest movie he could have appeared in (though he wasn't in there). MCC and MTI (while MTI featured the monkey who would become Sal, but performed by someone else) came before that series
Right. I don't know why I listed Christmas Carol and Treasure Island lol.
 

dwmckim

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MFS would be the earliest movie he could have appeared in (though he wasn't in there). MCC and MTI (while MTI featured the monkey who would become Sal, but performed by someone else) came before that series, so he couldn't very well have been introduced before MT, when he was clearly a character created from a scripted sketch.
Actually the puppet has existed since 1992 so (even though he didn't) he could have been used in MCC or MTI if they decided to use him in either one. Although there were a lot of Muppets built due to accomodate scripts during MT! several new characters came about due to workshops during pre-production where Muppeteers would pick up various puppets and improv possible new characters with the writers observing. This is how Sal went from an anonymous monkey puppet to Johnny Fiama's assistant. The same thing probably occurred with Carl.
 
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