Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem
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Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem is the name of a Muppet rock band that appeared on The Muppet Show. Following The Muppet Show, they have appeared in various Muppet movies and television specials, and have also recorded album tracks. Dr. Teeth was designed by Jim Henson, while the rest of the original band members were designed by Michael K. Frith. Their most famous song was "Can You Picture That?" from the 1979 film The Muppet Movie.
The band consisted of Dr. Teeth (band leader and piano), Janice (guitar), Sgt. Floyd Pepper (bass guitar), Zoot (saxophone) and Animal (drums). In season five, Lips joined the band (trumpet). Animal, Floyd, Zoot and Janice also played in the Muppet Show pit band, performing the opening and closing themes and underscoring most of the Muppet Show performances.
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[edit] Members
[edit] Dr. Teeth
Dr. Teeth is the keyboard player and gravelly-voiced leader of the band. He is green-skinned and red-haired with, as his name suggests, a large grinning mouth of teeth, including a gold tooth that he claims he fashioned by melting down his gold records. He wears a scruffy beard, a fur vest, a striped shirt, and a floppy purple top hat. He has arms so long that additional puppeteers are required to guide them; this design enabled Henson to work the Teeth puppet while another performer acted as Teeth's "hands" in order to play the keyboard. His introductory lines in The Muppet Movie are: "Golden teeth and golden tones, welcome to my presence." Jim Henson based the character on the musician Dr. John.
Despite being the band leader, Dr. Teeth is not featured in the regular orchestra playing at the Muppet Show like the rest of the group. Instead, Rowlf the Dog is playing the piano in the orchestra pit. Presumably this is by Dr. Teeth's own choice, preferring not to play in a band led by someone else (Nigel the Conductor), since it otherwise seems incredible that Teeth (and his band, who frequently take issue when their musical credibility is challenged) would accept that only 4/5 of the band is regularly employed. In real life, the reason was probably that Henson (who puppeted both characters) preferred Rowlf as pianist, since Dr.´Teeth was a rather one-dimensional rock & roller.
Dr. Teeth only sings lead vocals on the second Muppet pilot and during the first season: those songs were written before Rowlf was firmly established as the regular Muppet pianist. Later performances feature lead vocals by Floyd or Janice. His speaking roles got even smaller after Jim Henson's death; Dr. Teeth's first major speaking role since Henson's death was in Statler & Waldorf's very own show, Statler and Waldorf From the Balcony.
[edit] Janice
Janice is a lead guitar player. She usually wears a brown hat with a turquoise gem and a feather. This flower girl was involved with Zoot in season 1 of "The Muppet Show", but paired up with Floyd Pepper starting in season 2. She also acts in sketches periodically, most notably as wisecracking Nurse Janice in "Veterinarian's Hospital", a recurring parody of medical dramas. She speaks in a "Valley girl" sing-song voice. Janice was performed by Eren Ozker during the first season of "The Muppet Show" (without the valley-girl voice), then she was performed by Richard Hunt until his death in 1992. Her name is an homage to Janis Joplin. However she is rumored to be based on Carly Simon with her low raspy voice and big lips. After Hunt's death, her character was faded back to brief non-speaking background appearances until the 2002 TV movie It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, in which she was performed by Brian Henson.
A running gag in some Muppet movies was that, during a scene where several characters were excitedly talking at once, and someone called for silence, Janice would be the last one still talking, on a topic with no apparent connection to the situation. An example from The Muppets Take Manhattan: "So I told him 'Look, man, I don't take my clothes off for anybody, even if it is artistic,' and...oh." (realizing everyone else had stopped talking)
Janice is the only member of the band apart from Animal to have appeared on the animated series Muppet Babies. In her single appearance she was portrayed as slightly older than the main characters, and able to read. Her hippie philosophy was already in place.
[edit] Sgt. Floyd Pepper
Sgt. Floyd Pepper plays bass guitar. A laid back hippie-type with a pink body and long orange hair, he usually wore a green army cap, or sometimes, while in the pit, a slightly fancier cap of stiffer, glittery material, and a red uniform with epaulets and ornate gold braid on the buttons. His name refers both to Pink Floyd and to the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. His jacket is a clear visual reference to the album. He is performed and voiced by Jerry Nelson.
Floyd is the most cynical member of the band and perhaps of the entire cast; in several episodes, he observes his fellow Muppet Show performers' backstage antics and pratfalls with great amusement and is not above outright laughing at them. His pink color is a little insider joke, and a reference - he is a Pink Floyd. He first appeared in The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence. Some of the Songs he sang on The Muppet Show include: New York State of Mind and Ain't Misbehaving. He has a close relationship with Janice, and is Animal's handler, and in books like The Case of The Missing Mother, by James Howe, Animal is practically Floyd's pet. His casting history includes: Jerry Nelson in The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence (1975) until It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002), John Kennedy in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005) and A Green and Red Christmas (2006). Around 2003, Palisades created two SGT Floyd Pepper action figures.
Floyd claims to considers himself an excellent songwriter but, with no apparent contradiction, admits that everyone hates his music. Not that he blames them. "If I didn't know I was a genius," he once declared, "I wouldn't listen to the trash I write."
[edit] Zoot
Zoot is a green, balding, blue-haired saxophone player with dark glasses and a high-crowned blue felt hat, and was generally a laid back fellow of few words. (Oddly enough, Zoot spoke much more in the first season, where he was often seen dancing with Janice in the "At The Dance" sketches.)
Perhaps his best line came in The Great Muppet Caper, when the gang is planning to stop a group of crooks from robbing a museum, and trying to get their supplies together unsuccessfully.
Fozzie mentions a particular item ("wax lips")
Zoot says, "Man, I just had 'em!"
"Did you leave 'em in your other pants?" Dr. Teeth asks.
Zoot comes back: "I don't have no other pants!"
Zoot's claim to fame was playing the final off key note to the end theme of the show, then looking into his saxophone with a bewildered expression, checks his music and gives a satisfied nod and looks around at the other musicians and gives the same nod. Curiously, the note played is the lowest note on the baritone saxophone, and most of Zoot's other playing has the sound of a tenor saxophone, while his instrument appears to be an alto.
His name comes from "zoot suit", a large-shouldered, taper-waisted, gaudy garment popular in the 1940s. It is alternately possible that his name comes from Zoot Sims, a great jazz tenor saxophone player. Others believe that he is based on the great blues saxophonist Lou Marini. Zoot's appearance seems to be an amalgam of Latin tenor saxophonist Gato Barbieri and Frank Tiberi, longtime member and current leader of the Woody Herman big band. Yet another version is that Zoot is based on tenor-sax player Yaroslav Yakubovich, Israeli jazzman, who immigrated to the USA and continued his stage career there during the 1970s. Zoot is performed and voiced by Dave Goelz.
[edit] Animal
Animal is the drummer, appearing in The Muppet Show. He has also appeared on the Muppets Tonight show, as well as the Muppet Babies cartoon and all the Muppet movies. During performances, Animal is usually chained to the drum set, as his musical outbursts are extremely violent.
Animal: [roars]
Floyd Pepper: Oh, yeah, that's Animal. Show 'em what you do, Animal.
Animal: I what do: Eat drums!
[chews on a cymbal]
Dr Teeth: No, no, beat drums, beat drums!
Animal: Beat drums! Beat drums! [beats the drums with his head]
Floyd Pepper: Down, Animal!
Animal: Down!
Floyd Pepper: Back!
Animal: Back!
Floyd Pepper: Sit!
Animal: Sit! [He sits quietly for a moment, panting, then sniggers to the camera]
However, sometimes his wild and crazy appearance, attitude and antics are used as the source of a joke by way of a reversal of what the audience might expect from Animal, such as in this piece of dialogue during a break in the song, "Happiness Hotel", in The Great Muppet Caper:
Kermit the Frog: What's wrong with your drummer? He looks a little crazed.
Zoot: Oh, he's just upset about missing the Rembrandt exhibit at The National Gallery.
Animal: [Correcting him in a wild, angry tone] Renoir! Renoir!
He opts to wear football shoulder pads instead of a shirt (when he is not in his maroon band uniform). Despite the antics, Animal was a very good drummer, and was able to hold his own with legends such as Buddy Rich whom he played a drum battle with on the Muppets.
He usually speaks in grunts and monosyllables, and has a violent temper. Animal bowls overhand. He has been depicted as a literal skirt-chaser (in The Muppets Take Manhattan, he chases a female co-ed out of the auditorium, chanting "Woo-maaaan!" after her). He also chases cars. Animal is performed and voiced by Frank Oz while his drumming is performed by Ronnie Verrell.
It's quite obvious to fans of The Who that Animal is based on the infamous drummer Keith Moon (known for his wild antics and chaotic drumming style). However, there is no evidence in the original sketches for the character that suggest that he was based on anybody in particular. Three of the other members of the Electric Mayhem were created by Muppet designer Michael K. Frith,[1] and the sketches reproduced in the book Of Muppets and Men[2] show that they were based on famous musicians. Dr. Teeth is a cross between Dr. John and Elton John, possibly inspired by George Clinton of Parliament/Funkadelic; Sgt. Floyd Pepper is based on the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album and Pink Floyd, and the original concept for Janice was a skinny, long-haired male character based on Mick Jagger. Animal, on the other hand, was designed by Jim Henson, and the rough sketch (also seen in Of Muppets and Men), but does bear a strange resemblance to the drummer Mick Fleetwood of the band Fleetwood Mac. A regular shtick is that when someone says a figure of speech to him, Animal turns to the audience, his eyes go wide and then he goes berserk taking it literally. For instance, Jim Nabors once gave the traditional theatrical good luck wish to Animal, "Break a leg," and Animal decided to indulge him by trying to break Nabors' leg.
In the movie The Great Muppet Caper, it is revealed that Animal has a passion for impressionist paintings, especially those of Pierre-Auguste Renoir. To get into the Gallery, Kermit asks if Animal can quietly eat through the iron bars. Animal responds by saying "eat through bars ahhhhhhh" and then ripping the bars apart, making as much noise as possible.
In the movie Muppets from Space, Animal meets his match in the form of a security guard played by Kathy Griffin - after chasing her down a hallway with his "Woo-man" call, she later returns with him, with Animal acting submissive and sheepish, and lets him go (after reminding him to call her and blowing him a kiss).
Ty Pennington commented that Animal had ADHD, when the character was appearing on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. This fact is disputable, as the appearance can easily be considered not part of the Muppets canon.
Animal recently revealed a talent for Jazz, by appearing in a television advert for the Renault Clio car with French footballer Thierry Henry.
[edit] Lips
Lips, a hippie, joined Electric Mayhem for several numbers in the later episodes of the series, playing the trumpet. Marked by his yellow afro and goatee, and a permanent squint, Lips was never considered by fans to 'really' be a part of the band. His appearances on the Muppet Show were few and far between, and when he did appear in the episodes or the later movies, never did anything that drew audience attention to him.
[edit] Parody
In an episode of Adult Swim's Robot Chicken, Dr.Teeth and The Electric Mayhem were in a fake VH1 Behind The Music sketch detailing the band's activities after The Muppet Show. It shows Dr. Teeth earning a living as a piano teacher, and claims that no one has seen Zoot since he was arrested in Japan with a suitcase filled with thirty-five pounds of hash. Also, in a fake episode of The Howard Stern Show, Janice reveals that Tommy Lee gave her Hepatitis C and that she only has 5 years to live (referencing similar claims made by actress Pamela Anderson); when Stern ignores her distress and asks if Janice will show him her breasts, she angrily refuses. Finally, a possible comeback for the Electric Mayhem--a performance on Star Search--ends in tragedy when Animal has to be put down for a vicious attack on host Ed McMahon after McMahon makes fun of Animal (saying that Animal looked like an "epileptic rag doll"). The sketch ends with Dr. Teeth sadly stating that a reunion of the Electric Mayhem is all but impossible without Animal and Zoot, as he plays a piano duet with Rowlf the Dog and a sickly Janice coughs in the background.
