Why didnt Jerry Nelson have a regular character on the Muppet Show?

[BEAR]

I remember hearing a story about how Jim Henson specifically wanted and insisted that Jerry Nelson to play Gobo (who is basically the lead character on Fraggle Rock) even though the performers auditioned with each character. Henson apparantly felt that Nelson was needed to give the right strength and leadership to the group.

 

[BEAR]

One other thing I've noticed is that although Floyd was pretty much used outside of the electric mayhem more than the other members, he hardly did anything memorable without them in the movies. With the exception of Lips, the other members all had really memorable lines or scenes in the movies, but it seems like Floyd didn't.

You really think so? Hmm...I'm not sure if I see it, but oh well. Floyd had some great lines and moments in the films. Kinda seems like he did most of the introducing of the band when we first meet them in the Church (in TMM). In the Muppets Take Manhattan, Floyd got the solo line in "Saying Goodbye". He seems to be the one in the band to make the jabs at Miss Piggy's expense (especially in Muppet Family Christmas), he also had some awesome lines in The Great Muppet Caper. I don't think he has been treated any less than the rest of the band. I mean, if any of the band members should have a lower "billing" it's Zoot and that is just because of the way the character is. He doesn't say much. Many of the lines that Zoot was given in the scripts, Dave Goelz would often just pass them on for either Floyd or Dr. Teeth to say because he simply didn't know how to deliver them.

 

[minor muppetz]

You really think so? Hmm...I'm not sure if I see it, but oh well. Floyd had some great lines and moments in the films.

He did have some great lines and moments, but I feel like the other members did more memorable stuff. I guess you could say that Floyd introducing the band is memorable, and maybe also lines like "Zoot skipped the groove again" or him suggesting that the muppets put some hot mustard on the bars, but those are not as memorable (to me) as many other scenes.

Here is what I consider to be most memorable for the other members:

Dr. Teeth: reading the screenplay, telling Crazy Harry that he hears the muppet movie is dynamite, singing "You Can't Take Noe For An Answer", and telling Zoot that no one has landed.

Animal: too many to mention.

Janice: talking about wanting to live on the beach and run around naked, and saying that she doens't take her clothes off for anybody.

Zoot: forgetting who he is when introducing himself, saying that he doesn't have any other pants, waking up when Scooter says that all of the producers looked at the muppets like they were from outer space, and telling Kermit why Animal is mad during the "Happiness Hotel" number.

 

[Drtooth]

I don't really think it's fair to compare puppeteering to voice-acting. With puppeteering, the performer is on stage, and if that performer has multiple characters interracting with each other, the performer could only perform one character and then dub voices or edit later on. With voice acting, a voice actor could easily have a conversation with himself. On The Simpsons, for example, there are amny characters who normally interract with each other despite being voiced by the same person (examples: Homer and Barney, Homer and Grampa, Mr. Burns and Smithers, marge, patty and selma, etc.).

While I do agree with your point, I still think it's the same principle. If someone has a huge vocal range, instead of being given a bunch of main characters, often times they will get a series of smaller roles and incidentials. This is for several reasons, among others, the vocal difference between the main and background characters. But I do agree, unlike voice acting, the performers actually HAVE to be their together. I feel that the job has to fall on somebody to be the extras, since there is a completley different situation than animation. This is why I think Jerry was a good choice for the extras gig. He has the vocal range, and the lack of A-list characters (I.e. Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo) to pull it off. So, maybe he didn't want a main character, because it's more of a stretch to play several incidentals, and make them stand out.

 

[minor muppetz]

It seems like John Lovelady also didn't have any major characters. Heck, even in the first season, Jerry Nelson had more characters than John Lovelady. Jerry nelson would often perform many characters per epsiode, both regular, semi-regular, irregular, or one-shot, while john Lovelady would often be stuck performing background characters, right hands, and characters who had their vocies dubbed later. He would normally perform a significantly small number of characters that he actually voiced.

To compare regular first season characters, Jerry nelson had Floyd, Robin (who only had one significant role during the first season), Vendaface (who was only in three eisodes near the end of the last season), one of the houses, the Shouting lady, all of the shouting ladys dance partners, Miss Mousey (who only had one significant role in the first season), Uncle Deadley, and Thog (who only appeared in three first season epsiodes, and only spoke in two of them). he also sometimes performed paul (from the jugband) and baskerville, though others have also voiced them.

John Lovelady had Crazy Harry, Nigel the Conductor, one of the houses, and the veterinarians hospital announcer, all characters who only appeared every once in awhile. John also occassionally performed some frogs and rats (he seems to have performed the most rats during the first season). Crazy harry and the announcer were both taken over by Jerry nelson, though they weren't any more or less major in the first season than in the later seasons (and how do we know that the first season announcer was supposed to be the same one in all season?). Jim Henson originally performed Nigel, and I'm not sure why he stopped performing him. Nigel also seems like the kind of character who could have easily had his own backstage plots, or at least some major backstage involvement. However, John Lovelady didn't perform him in any vocal roles untill really late in the first season, and all of those lines were really small.

Also, while it's been said in the epsiode guide at Muppet Central that John Lovelady had a good singing voice, he didn't have any characters in The Gogalala Jubilee Jugband (or at least he never voiced any members) or The Electric Mayhem (though Richard Hunt, who's probably better known for having a great singing voice, didn't have any members of his own untill the second season).

There are many roels that John Lovelady could have performed, such as any of the roles that Peter Friedman performed (though I also think that Jerry nelson could have performed Andre the Artist or the lead-singign raggmopp).

 

[BEAR]

While I do agree with your point, I still think it's the same principle. If someone has a huge vocal range, instead of being given a bunch of main characters, often times they will get a series of smaller roles and incidentials. This is for several reasons, among others, the vocal difference between the main and background characters. But I do agree, unlike voice acting, the performers actually HAVE to be their together. I feel that the job has to fall on somebody to be the extras, since there is a completley different situation than animation. This is why I think Jerry was a good choice for the extras gig. He has the vocal range, and the lack of A-list characters (I.e. Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo) to pull it off. So, maybe he didn't want a main character, because it's more of a stretch to play several incidentals, and make them stand out.

Nelson has done a lot of that on Sesame Street too, atleast in recent years. Many times in episodes, he will only show up as a random cameo.

 

[BEAR]

Just something I've observed about Floyd's role and memorable scenes. He had that whole scene in at the ghost town in Bunsen's lab when he took Animal for a walk. That was a pretty funny bit. Also, notice how Floyd seems to be the one most responsible for Animal.

 

[golden teeth]

Yeah, true. But then again, what other character could they have used to get Animal in there? They had Dave Goelz as Hunnydew, Hunt as Beaker, Henson as Kermit, Oz as Animal....meaning they needed one more performer and Jerry was the only one left.

By the way, nice picture Bear. That was one of my favorite scenes from Follow that Bird.

 

[BEAR]

But what I meant in that last sentence was that it is interesting how in all the Muppet things we have seen, Floyd is the one who seems to take care of Animal as if he was a pet or something.

 

[Gorgon Heap]

Speaking of Nelson's range, my informal research shows that he has just two notes shy of a full four-octave singing range, and that's just what's recorded. This explains why he was able to play high-voiced characters like Robin, female characters like Miss Mousey, and low-voiced characters like Thog (who sings down to the third B flat below middle C- as far as I can remember I have never heard anyone besides Nelson hit that note).

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole