Your Fave(& Least Fave)Modern Characters?

[beaker]

Just curious what some of your favorite and least favorite modern Muppet characters are? I guess I would use Jim Henson Hour to present. So 1989-2010 as "modern", which is fairly modern in the 55 year span of the Muppets.

Some examples I guess would be:

Digit
Leon
Big Mean Carl
Chef Angelo
Mo Frackle
Joe the Armadillo
Nigel the director
Goggles
Croaker
Big Head
Denise(Muppets Tv France)
Mopatop
Zondra
Pokey/Easy Peasey
Lester Possum
Lindburgh
Waldo
Chip
Bean Bunny
Sal
Johnny Fiama
Bobo the bear
Puppyduck
Seymour
etc etc etc

I'd have to say my absolute favorite Muppets of the last two decades have been Big Mean Carl, Digit, Joe The Armadillo,
Lindburgh, Zondra, Bobo The Bear, Bean Bunny, Mo Frackle, and Leon.

My least favorites/most annoying to me would be:

Bad Andy, Bill Bubbles, Mr Poodlepants, Randy and Andy, and Spamela Hamderson

 

[beatnikchick300]

Least favorite is easy:
PEPE. Andy and Randy are pretty annoying, too. There's funny stupid, but then there's just stupid stupid. And THEN, there's annoyingly stupid, which Andy and Randy are.


Favorite, though? Probably Johnny and Sal.

 

[Slackbot]

Hmm. My least favorite are easily Andy and Randy. When they're onscreen I want to fast-forward. After them, Pepe. Not because I hate his schtick so much as because he's so bleedin' overused. He was one of the biggest flaws in MWoO, in my opinion. And finally, Digit. He always looked out of place to me. I got the feeling that he was the love child of Data from ST:TNG and Beaker, with a dash of Christopher Lloyd for his voice.

Faves: Bobo. At first I thought he was boring, but he's since grown on me. It's nice to see low-key, laid-back characters once in a while. Then Big Mean Carl, but I wouldn't want to see too much of him or he'd become as irritating as Pepe.

 

[Nick22]

i love bobo and i like johnny fiama. i dunno who i hate. i don't think i necessarily hate any of em yet, but i haven't rully watched to much of them yet either

 

[Frogpuppeteer]

Fves are Pepe and Johnny Fiama and Sal ...love those guys

least fave...Bubble bill...he creeps me out a little everytime he blows bubbles out i think he is gonna take a dump

 

[beaker]

Man, how did I forget Pepe? He's like my second favorite Muppet of all time. I LOVVVVE Bobo as well. Disney NEEDS to make a Bobo vinylmation.

 

[Drtooth]

Bad Andy, Bill Bubbles, Mr Poodlepants, Randy and Andy, and Spamela Hamderson

The worst new Muppet characters... well, the worst of any characters (and the Simpsons is SOOOOO guilty of this) is a one note joke they keep forcing down your throat, trying to make them a character, yet not giving them a personality beyond their joke stereotypes.

All those ones just listed were basically one note jokes that came into being characters... Johnny and Sal actually grew in the series, and Pepe, Bobo, VanNeuter transcended their segments and became funny characters in their own right.

I will say, the Muppet comics version of Andy and Randy was actually quite the improvement. Their only really good bit was during the John Goodman episode when they vowed to be his slaves, driving John up the wall. Other than that, they were the prerequisite dumb guys doing dumb guy stuff. Spamella was one of the off pop culture jokes in the series. There were a lot of genuine good pop culture gags in the series... Co-dependents day, Seinfeld Babies (I dare anyone to not laugh at Seinfeld Babies)... VanNeuter's version of "She Blinded me with Science." That stuff was GOLD. But the stuff with the Pigs (Bay of Pigs Watch, Deep Dish 9) was just fail.

I don't count any JHH characters as "New" since Jim was still around when they were made... but I'm hard pressed to find a JHH character I don't like. Digit NEEDS to make a comeback somewhere. Video games don't count. Maybe Vicky in a design point of view I don't care for... but everyone else was not only a great character, but a great Muppet design. They REALLY blurred the line between Creature Shop and Muppet Workshop there.

 

[beaker]

The worst new Muppet characters... well, the worst of any characters (and the Simpsons is SOOOOO guilty of this) is a one note joke they keep forcing down your throat, trying to make them a character, yet not giving them a personality beyond their joke stereotypes.

All those ones just listed were basically one note jokes that came into being characters... Johnny and Sal actually grew in the series, and Pepe, Bobo, VanNeuter transcended their segments and became funny characters in their own right.

I will say, the Muppet comics version of Andy and Randy was actually quite the improvement. Their only really good bit was during the John Goodman episode when they vowed to be his slaves, driving John up the wall. Other than that, they were the prerequisite dumb guys doing dumb guy stuff. Spamella was one of the off pop culture jokes in the series. There were a lot of genuine good pop culture gags in the series... Co-dependents day, Seinfeld Babies (I dare anyone to not laugh at Seinfeld Babies)... VanNeuter's version of "She Blinded me with Science." That stuff was GOLD. But the stuff with the Pigs (Bay of Pigs Watch, Deep Dish 9) was just fail.

I don't count any JHH characters as "New" since Jim was still around when they were made... but I'm hard pressed to find a JHH character I don't like. Digit NEEDS to make a comeback somewhere. Video games don't count. Maybe Vicky in a design point of view I don't care for... but everyone else was not only a great character, but a great Muppet design. They REALLY blurred the line between Creature Shop and Muppet Workshop there.

Well it's telling that we've seen Bobo, Sal, Johnny, Van Neuter, etc post MT 96-97 era. Have we seen Andy/Randy, Bill Bubbles, Poodlepants or Spamela in the last decade?

Yeah Digit was amazing, Lindburgh, Zondra, and Leon I'd add in too(I think Chip and Zondra have been used since then) Digit has that total Christopher Lloyd thing going on which rocks(sooo glad they changed his voice from the Inner Tube pilot) I always wondered why they never used Digit or the others since then.

It's funny how Pepe became one of the permanent "main 5", bumping Animal..and in the last two years we've seen Bobo the bear and Big Mean Carl get a huge push by Disney and used as starring characters in a number of skits and specials(Muppets Take Over Today, Muppets.com and Youtube content, even Letters to Santa) Big Mean Carl to me is the best looking Muppet character in some time, and I'm hoping they have toys, shirts and plushes planned for him. That guy just lends himself to being a new cult classic character ala Beaker and Swedish Chef.

You're right, I should have said "Post JH" era. And yeah, some of the stuff on MT parody wise works WONDERS still. I made a dvdr specifically of all my favorite Muppets Tonight and Sesame Street tv, band and movie parodies. LOVED Co-Dependence Day, the Devo spoof, the Talking Heads spoof, Seinfeld Babies, etc.

 

[Frozann]

Randy and Andy are least favorite. I don’t see any point in them. Stupid pigs... so what?
Pepe could be annoying, but overally, I like him. Bobo is something, I don’t know how to exactly explain — something out of Muppets for me. He’s more of creature, especially in compare with another bear — Fozzie.

 

[GarlicGuy]

I actually like Andy and Randy. Pepe is fine. Johnny and Sal are my favorite.