Friday
Nov252011
Mr. Bimbo and all the Minor Muppet Magic
Friday, November 25, 2011 at 10:00PM Robert here. The universe of the Muppets has always overwhelmed me. The idea of naming a favorite character or film eludes me as I love so many of them. The bigness of the Muppet world seems to great to pick any one item and place it above the rest. Yet one of the small things I think of and come back to again and again, when discussing why I love the Muppets is in fact very minor element from a film that's not very good (though my wife would argue vehemently that no combination of Muppets, pirates and Tim Curry could ever be bad).
Meet Mr. Bimbo.
Mr. Bimbo is the little man who lives in the index finger of Fozzie Bear's left hand. This is, of course, Fozzie Bear starring as the character Squire Trelawny in Muppet Treasure Island, a concept that didn't always work for the Muppets, in a film that works even less. But I love Mr. Bimbo. I think it's because Mr. Bimbo epitomizes all that is innocent and pure and completely anarchaically ludicrous about the Muppets. It's a gag that requires not so much complexity as devotion and Fozzie is up to the task. And it's a sign that in every Muppet movie, regardless of quailty, there's something redeeming. Whenever someone mentions Muppet Treasure Island (it happens more than you'd expect) I don't think of how the film was a disappointment, or a sign that the Muppets were running on empty. I think of Mr. Bimbo.
What's your favorite small thing in a Muppet movie? Perhaps it's a minor character or a line reading or something else entirely.
tagged Muppets, Treasure Island
Muppets, Treasure Island
Reader Comments (10)
"Even the vegetables don't like him" - Muppet Christmas Carol. That. KILLS. Me.
The Muppet Christmas Carol is probably my favorite Muppet movie, and I especially love any of the moments involving Ms. Piggy and the Cratchit daughters.
I too love Mr. Bimbo. I think my favorite small muppet moment is in The Muppet Movie, when Kermit and Fozzie encounter Big Bird midway through the "Moving right along" number and he explains he is going to New York to break into public television. I just remember being a child and not knowing who all those grown-up celebrities were (I did however get the sense that they were celebrities), but I knew who Big Bird was and I appreciated that.
like like mr. bimbo..
Steve -- YES. me and my best friend are always doing their "rude, crude and badly dressed" banter.
I love everything about "The Muppet Christmas Carol," but my favorite minor moment is when Gonzo and Rizzo sit perched on a lamppost outside Fozziwig's old rubber chicken factory. As they watch the party inside, a lamplighter strolls down the street, "plying his trade." Reaching up for the wick of their lamp, he ignites Rizzo's tail instead, and Rizzo cries, "Light the lamp, not the rat! Light the lamp, not the rat!" Every year I laugh and laugh.
The chickens doing 'Forget You'.
Also from Muppet Treasure Island...a movie I don't particularly care for..but this line always send me to the floor laughing. Hmm... we see you have boom-boom sticks... bye bye.
I love everything about the Muppets, but one of my favourite things is the 'Happiness Hotel' song from The Great Muppet Caper - and especially the couplet, "We've got every kind of critter, we've got every kind of pest/But we treat them all as equals just like any other guest". As well as being funny and musical, it sums up for me the Muppet ideology perfectly!
Fozzie in The Muppet Movie, driving along a road through the woods in his uncle's car, says, "Ah, a bear in his natural habitat. A Studebaker". Made me laugh when I was ten. Makes me laugh now.