Craig here with a small post for one of the smallest Muppets: the most appetising member of the crew, Pepe the KING Prawn. (Don’t call him a shrimp.)
Pepe (short for Pepino Rodrigo Serrano Gonzales) is one of the next, or later, generation Muppets. Obviously he doesn’t carry the cultural cache of Kermit and co., yet, but he’s eked out a place of singular significance for himself with fans of entertainment and seafood alike. He’s not called a Crustacean Casanova for nothing. He stands out from the crowd of other ‘Muppens’ and is living, swimming proof that four arms are better than two. His story is a true classic decapods to riches tale.
His behind-the-scenes work on film and TV makes him the most hard-working, the most alive-to-the-possibilities-of-the-business, Muppet there is. He’s a prolific profiler and an interviewer extraordinaire, one to test the resolve of any leading chat show host either side of the Atlantic (a place he’s quite familiar with). He’s an all-round auteur in my book. As an accomplished actor he’s a safe bet for a future Oscar win (For Your Consideration Best Supporting Actor 2012: Pepe as Pepe in The Muppets), but as an entrepreneurial entity he’s matchless. He interviewed Jodie Foster for Flightplan (which was miles better than actually watching Flightplan), shook his “bon bons” at Ricky Martin and has extensively worked the behind the scenes on The Muppets’ movies, producing riveting on-set insights next to none. Tireless, he is; talentless, he’s most certainly not. All that and he’s fathered 1,500 children. He’s busy and he’s happy, okay?
In a piece of radical casting perfection, Pepe was the first non-dog to star as Toto in The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz. This was my introduction to him. He gave the film’s best performance – he certainly out-acted Queen Latifah and Quentin Tarantino in the film – stealing the thunder right from under Kermit’s, Fozzie’s, the wizard’s and even Miss Piggy’s noses. Any sea creature who has the tenacity to confidently say, "Si, I'm so gosh darn sexy, it hurts," is worth a million. He’s quick-fire, he’s crazy, he’s capable of anything. I can’t wait to see him in The Muppets, okay? After that, it's certainly Pepe for President!