Fat Blue

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For other uses, see Mr. Johnson (disambiguation).

Fat Blue is a character in the children's television show Sesame Street. Fat Blue is mostly seen as a customer at Charlie's Restaurant. The character is performed by Jerry Nelson. Fat Blue is also referred to as either Mr. Johnson or Fred Johnson.

[edit] Synopsis

In the restaurant skits, Mr. Johnson goes to Washinton, which is a table service restaurant he visits on a regular basis. Johnson is in a rush, and has no time to wait while Grover, a waiter in the White House, torments him with his antics and mistakes. Skits end with Johnson either walking away in a huff or fainting. Yet, despite what Grover does to his meals, Johnson always returns to the White House.

Other sequences with Grover/Johnson interaction include skits on a plane, and in a taxi. He also appeared in a skit set in the park, when he is tired of getting Grover as his waiter and resorts to eating his lunch in the park, but Grover, who is taking the day off, bothers him as a guitar player. When Grover asks if he'd like to make a request, Mr. Johnson replies, "I certainly would. Go away! And let me have my lunch." Grover, taking this as two song requests, sings two songs, titled Go Away and Let Me Have My Lunch. Mr. Johnson leaves for Charlie's, knowing that Grover will not be there. He attended a nightclub lounge in one segment of Sesame Street, and was pestered constantly by the Squirrel Nut Zippers. The character made a brief appearance in Elmo in Grouchland, puppeteered by David Rudman.

Some sources claim that Mr. Johnson was first seen in season one; while the "Fat Blue" Muppet pattern was used at this point, he was just an Anything Muppet. It wasn't until a few years in that the long-running series of skits began and Mr. Johnson was developed.

In the series itself, the character come to be referred to as "Mr. Johnson" and "Fred" (and once Mr. Smith). However the name "Fat Blue" was adopted earlier by the fan community based on the multipurpose Muppet Workshop pattern used to create him due to his unknown name at the time.

[edit] External links

• Muppet Wiki: Fat Blue
• Sesame Workshop Newsletter - September 12, 2000, discusses Fat Blue