Eras in Muppet History: The Recasting Era (2000-2008)

Eras in Muppet History: The Recasting Era (2000-2008)

Jerry Nelson (1934-2012)

As the Muppets enter a new era and a new millennium, there is a noticeable decline in major Muppet productions. The short lived, Muppets Tonight has ended, and it would be another decade until the Muppets hit the big screen again. Despite the lack of movies and TV shows, this era served an important purpose in Muppet history, which was to bring classic characters back to the foreground, which was becoming more and more of a necessity. Some of Jim Henson and Richard Hunt’s characters were still being underused, as well as Frank Oz deciding in 2001 to retire from performing his characters. On top of that, Jerry Nelson, while still performing at this point, was beginning to have health problems, leading him to slowly step back as well. It was clear that new performers would be needed to keep this franchise afloat.

Paul Williams sings with the Muppets in
The Muppet Show Live (2001)

In 2001, a comic-con-like convention called MuppetFest was held in Santa Monica, California. There were panel discussions with performers and producers, as well as The Muppet Show Live, a throwback to the original in front of a life audience. This was a very fun take on The Muppet Show, and the way it was put together was very creative. At this point, there were still some major Muppets who had yet to be recast. To fill in these gaps, clips of classic sketches were shown in order to include characters, such as Fozzie Bear who were otherwise absent. There was also a performance by the Electric Mayhem band which was puppeteered live to the audio of their song “Can You Picture That?” from The Muppet Movie (1979). In addition to including characters through archive footage, the live show also marked the beginning of the recasting era. The early 2000s is when many fan favorites came out of the background and started to find their way back to the spotlight. This process can be traced back to this live show as it’s starting point with some major recasts being showcased. Right in the opening of the show, Kermit has a conversation with Rowlf the Dog, performed now by Bill Baretta. This wasn’t the first time Baretta performed Rowlf as he had some minor mumblings during an episode of Muppets Tonight, however this was definitely Rowlf’s first major Post-Henson appearance. Later in the show, we even get to see Rowlf singing classic Muppet songs with Paul Williams.

Miss Piggy's "live" appearance in The Muppet Show Live

The most notable recast in The Muppet Show Live is Miss Piggy. Brian Henson had already announced that Frank Oz was not able to be a part of the show, hence the absence of his characters. In the second half of the show, Miss Piggy makes an appearance via “live” video message, where Piggy explains that she was unable to attend the show. Most fans assumed that this was pre-recorded by Oz. In reality, it was the first performance of Miss Piggy by performer Eric Jacobson. This video performance was the perfect opportunity to test out Jacobson in front of fans. While there were some die-hard fans who caught on to the difference, a majority of the audience believed they were hearing Frank Oz, which is a tremendous credit to Jacobson. The Muppet Show Live captured the essence of The Muppet Show and is still a very fun show to watch.

It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)

Before settling on The Recasting Era, I considered labeling this era, “The TV-Special Era”. Although there are no feature-films or prime-time shows at this time, the Muppets keep pumping out TV Specials. First, there’s It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002), which is the Muppets’ version of It’s a Wonderful Life, where Kermit sees how the Muppets would have ended up without him. A few years later, there was The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz (2005), the Muppets’ take on the classic story starring Ashanti as Dorothy. A few more years later came Letters to Santa (2008), in which Gonzo gets the Muppets to join him in his mission to deliver a little girl’s letter to Santa. There were also the promotional specials, Studio DC: Almost Live (2008) where the Muppets hung out with popular Disney Channel stars, since the Muppets had recently been purchased by Disney. I would consider these specials to be mediocre. They’re not terrible and I would say they each have their great moments, however they’re not the best that the Muppets have to offer. The interesting thing is that despite their mediocrity, these TV specials play an important role in the theme of this chapter: Recasting. In these specials, we get what we’ve been talking about for a while now, permanent recasts of classic characters.


L-R: Bill Baretta with Pepe, Dave Goelz with Gonzo, Steve Whitmire with Kermit

With Henson and Hunt gone, Frank Oz retired, and Jerry Nelson mostly retired, there are three prominent performers remaining into the 2000s. Steve Whitmire continues to perform Kermit the Frog, Rizzo the Rat, and Beaker, among others. Dave Goelz continues to perform many characters including Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Waldorf, and Zoot. Bill Baretta, who became a prominent performer with Muppets Tonight (1996) performs original characters Pepe the Prawn and Bobo the Bear as well as some of Jim Henson’s original characters, Rowlf the Dog, the Swedish Chef, and Dr. Teeth.

Eric Jacobson with Fozzie

Eric Jacobson continued to perform Miss Piggy after his debut in The Muppet Show Live. Jacobson then took on most of Frank Oz’s major characters, including Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam the Eagle. I think of this as the most important recast in this era as Piggy and Fozzie have been such prominent core characters ever since The Muppet Show (1976) and their recent absence had been very noticeable.

Matt Vogel with Floyd Pepper

Another gap that needed addressing was with Jerry Nelson’s characters. Nelson was still performing part time in this era, mainly through voice dubbing. His last uncredited voice work before his death in 2012 was the Announcer in The Muppets (2011). Even while he was alive, the recasting had started. Statler, a character Nelson took over from Richard Hunt, was passed again to Steve Whitmire, who still performs him today. The rest of Nelson’s major characters, including Floyd Pepper, Robin the Frog, Camilla the Chicken, Lew Zealand, and Crazy Harry were taken on by Matt Vogel.

David Rudman with Cookie Monster

The final characters that needed a performer were Richard Hunt’s characters, Scooter and Janice. Brian Henson performed both characters in It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002). However, Henson would not remain their permanent performer and would soon after stop performing with the Muppets. After a few other casting choices, Scooter and Janice would be taken over completely in 2008 by David Rudman.


As the Muppets move forward, we finally have all major characters present and accounted for with our new core group of performers. The team that entertained the world every week on The Muppet Show (1976) was made up of Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Richard Hunt, Steve Whitmire, and Jerry Nelson. Today, the Muppet team consists of Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Bill Baretta, Eric Jacobson, Matt Vogel, and David Rudman. A team that would go on to bring the Muppets back to the foreground of pop culture with two feature films and another prime time TV Show, but all of that will be covered in the final chapter, “The Returning Era”.

Letters to Santa (2008)

Continue on to The Returning Era (2008-Present)