Ricky Gervais in Talks to Star in 'Muppets' Sequel

[Reevz1977]

I don't see why. Any time in the movie Fozzie didn't sound like Fozzie, you can tell it was ADR. It was always off screen at the worst moments. Plus, it seems that Fozzie was Flanderized ever since MTi, and if he continued down that track, even with Frank, he would have been a blithering idiot instead of the naive comedian that we all know. Fozzie was pretty much his previous self ever since Eric took over. If you don't believe me, check out MFS. He seems particularly dumb in that one. MTI has the excuse he was playing a character.

Maybe you're right. My main problem with the more recent (other than the horrendous puppet with the spaced out look in his eyes) is that his "humour" seems to be solely in the emphatic pronunciation of certain words to "comic" effect. It just jars with me, Fozzie just doesn't seem right. It actually pains me to criticise Fozzie as I've always adored him - maybe it is just me and solely down to the affection I used to have for him.

 

[Muppet fan 123]

Maybe you're right. My main problem with the more recent (other than the horrendous puppet with the spaced out look in his eyes) is that his "humour" seems to be solely in the emphatic pronunciation of certain words to "comic" effect. It just jars with me, Fozzie just doesn't seem right. It actually pains me to criticise Fozzie as I've always adored him - maybe it is just me and solely down to the affection I used to have for him.

I actually have the same feeling as you.
Fozzie isn't the same as he was in his Muppet Show days. His jokes are still really bad, but his funniness of his unfunniness is gone.
I would bear-ly (aaaaaAAAAAaaaahh) find Fozzie's jokes funny in TMS days. But what was funny was how he said it. The way he said it was what made it funny for me. Fozzie barely makes me laugh anymore.

 

[Drtooth]

Maybe you're right. My main problem with the more recent (other than the horrendous puppet with the spaced out look in his eyes) is that his "humour" seems to be solely in the emphatic pronunciation of certain words to "comic" effect. It just jars with me, Fozzie just doesn't seem right. It actually pains me to criticise Fozzie as I've always adored him - maybe it is just me and solely down to the affection I used to have for him.

I think the character is down pat, with the exception of him cracking bad jokes (though the song on the Christmas album did it, and somehow made it the most depressing song on the CD... even worse than sad Gonzo's I wish I could be Santa Claus lament and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, sung by Kermit out of context... it's a depressing song and it's worse IN context). I don't know if that's a case of Characterization marching on or just not having an organic excuse to have a huge extended sequence like that outside of a television show (He was only really like that in the first movie, anyway... the one where he's booed off by the El Sleezo patrons). Still, I look at the "idiot" Fozzie they were trying to shove in the last 2 theatrical movies before this one and worry that was a "What could have been" situation. He was more or less himself in MCC, but tghey had to hammer the point home with it being a rubber chicken factory, his Ma, and Statler and Waldorf still heckling him. MTI played him as an idiot son of a wealthy person, so that's an excuse... but MFS really. He's one of the characters that's not Gonzo, Rizzo or any new characters that seem to be their for brand recognition. The Having to go to the bathroom, washing hands that reveal them and saying his mommy always told him to, and picking nose bit that seem far worse out of character than anything of late.

 

[Beauregard]

I don't see why. Any time in the movie Fozzie didn't sound like Fozzie, you can tell it was ADR. It was always off screen at the worst moments. Plus, it seems that Fozzie was Flanderized ever since MTi, and if he continued down that track, even with Frank, he would have been a blithering idiot instead of the naive comedian that we all know. Fozzie was pretty much his previous self ever since Eric took over. If you don't believe me, check out MFS. He seems particularly dumb in that one. MTI has the excuse he was playing a character.

I was thinking the other day about the time when Fozzie decided to try his hand at poetry, at magic and at memory tricks. The humor of Fozzie was not that he was stupid in real life, just that he was terrible...just terrible...onstage.

 

[Drtooth]

I was thinking the other day about the time when Fozzie decided to try his hand at poetry, at magic and at memory tricks. The humor of Fozzie was not that he was stupid in real life, just that he was terrible...just terrible...onstage.

Exactly. Fozzie isn't dumb, yet MTI he plays a dumb guy and MFS turns him into a dumb guy. To me, Fozzie is naive if anything, maybe a little hidden lack of self confidence off stage (Fozzie's extremely depressed state of failure to get the money to the bank in VMX for example. That sells it). Above all, he is very close to his friends and gets his confidence from them, even if they're too polite to say his jokes are lousy. I really think The Muppets nailed his relationship with Kermit to the level of the classic 3 movies. It really seems the most interaction Kermit gets is with Fozzie and Piggy in that film... also like the classic 3 films.

However, I do agree the puppet looks off, but that can be said for most of them. We arguably have the best Piggy since the 90's, and the Electric Mayhem, Bunsen and Beaker, and some of those very complex design characters look just as good as they always did, but there's something off about the lack of Fozzie's original fabric. Not half as bad as the low expression Gonzo, though. Hopefully that will be fixed in this film.

 

[jvcarroll]

I remember a few radio appearances that featured Kermit and Fozzie a year or two ago where Kermit was kind of boilerplate while Fozzie was funny like crazy! Maybe a little too funny. There was one interview in particular where I teared up laughing. I really think Fozzie, just like the rest of the cast, depends on writers providing good material and ideas even in improv situations. It isn't enough for the characters just to speak their soundbites. They must bite back like they did in the Frank & Jim dynamic. I believe that's what some people see missing. This really isn't a Fozzie issue. It's a writing and producing issue.

 

[Drtooth]

I really do feel those characters were in top form or very close to it in the last movie, considering it is a movie. Some things work better on the television version than in films, and I always hear complaints about this movie that things that never were in the movies (at least to the extent of the television show) was missing. Especially characters who never really had much play in other Muppet films having diminished roles or not appearing. It would be great if some of those who weren't in the last one would get some play in this one.

I really think Fozzie, just like the rest of the cast, depends on writers providing good material and ideas even in improv situations. It isn't enough for the characters just to speak their soundbites. They must bite back like they did in the Frank & Jim dynamic. I believe that's what some people see missing. This really isn't a Fozzie issue. It's a writing and producing issue.

I'll give MFS the excuse that Frank wasn't really on call and just did looping dialogue in that sequence. Other than that, everyone that wasn't Gonzo, Rizzo, or the new characters were just... well.. there.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

There'll be spectacle
There'll be fantasy
There'll be daring do
And stuff like you would never see
Hey! A movie!
Yeah! We're gonna be movie
Starring everybody
- And me

 

[muppetmommy]

Not Gervais, please not him. I would take Rowan Akinson as Mr. Bean or Johnny English over Gervais. He is so full of himself, there is not any room for anyone else on the screen. Please, please, please not Gervais. Nathan Lane would be great. I liked Jason Segal. I hope he is at least part of the writing team. He did wonderful fan justice to The Muppets.

 

[charlietheowl]

Hate to burst your bubble, but he has definitely signed on and been confirmed for the movie. The writers will definitely make sure that the Muppets carry the picture though.