| Animal | |
|---|---|
Animal playing drums |
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| First appearance | The Muppet Show |
| Created by | Michael K. Frith (designer) Dave Goelz (builder) |
| Portrayed by | Frank Oz (1975–1999) Eric Jacobson (2002–present) |
| Information | |
| Occupation | Drummer |
Animal is the primitive man and crazed drummer of Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem, the fictional band from The Muppet Show. He is one of the Muppets originally created by Michael K. Frith.
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Animal was performed by Frank Oz from his first appearance in the pilot for The Muppet Show until his 1999 appearance in Muppets from Space, and has been performed regularly by Eric Jacobson since his 2002 appearance in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie. On The Muppet Show, his drumming is performed by Ronnie Verrell.[1] Animal has had roles in all of the Muppet movies, and was the only member of The Electric Mayhem to be included regularly on the Muppet Babies cartoons. He was voiced by Howie Mandel in the first two seasons of Muppet Babies, followed by Dave Coulier in subsequent seasons. Drew Massey operated Animal in Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony. In Jim Henson's Little Muppet Monsters, Animal was voiced by Hal Rayle (who also voiced Miss Piggy and Gonzo).
Animal's vocabulary is generally limited to guttural shouts and monosyllabic grunts, often repeating a few simple phrases. During performances, Animal is usually chained to the drum set, as his musical outbursts are extremely violent.
From The Muppet Movie:
Throughout his tenure on the show, Floyd seems to be the only person who can, at least partially, control Animal with a few simple commands suggesting dog training (such as "Sit!" or "Heel!").
It has been suggested that Animal's character was partially inspired by The Who drummer Keith Moon,[2][3] mainly due to the bushy eyebrows, the hair and the outrageous behavior behind the drumkit and otherwise. However, there is no evidence in the original sketches for the character that suggest that he was based on Moon. In fact, many of Animal's physical attributes have supposedly been based upon Grammy Award-winning drummer Steve Mitchell, a friend of Jim Henson's.[4] Animal is portrayed as an excellent drummer, playing with and/or against both Buddy Rich and Harry Belafonte in separate drum-offs on The Muppet Show as well as Questlove on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in 2011. He shows a talent for jazz in a television advert for the Renault Clio car with French footballer Thierry Henry.[5]
Animal has also run afoul of Muppet Show guests, such as the aforementioned scene with Buddy Rich. When he kept interrupting Rita Moreno's rendition of Fever with loud drumming outbursts, she appeared to become so annoyed that she slammed his head between a pair of cymbals (to which Animal responded by saying "Uh, that's my kinda woman!", before passing out). Animal's attitude towards Dudley Moore became quite hostile when Moore tried to replace the band with a programmable, music-playing robot.
A regular gag involves someone imparting a figure of speech to Animal: Animal turns to the audience, his eyes go wide and then he goes berserk, taking it literally. For instance, Jim Nabors once spoke the traditional theatrical good luck wish, "Break a leg," whereupon Animal decided to indulge him by trying to break Nabors' leg. Another gag would occasionally occur when the band plays a slow song: Animal will get about halfway through and then after announcing "Too slow!" launch into a faster paced version of the song. The band would usually comment that Animal lasted much longer than they thought he would.
Animal 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. 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 dialog from The Great Muppet Caper, where it is revealed that Animal has a passion for the impressionist paintings of Pierre-Auguste Renoir:
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, he later comes running back around the corner, yelling "HELP HELP!" with Griffin calling after him about how they'll settle down, buy a house, and have children.
Ty Pennington commented about the possibility of Animal having ADHD when the character appeared on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.[6]
Animal was the official mascot of the U.S. Ski Team during the 1998 Winter Olympics.[7] He was also featured in one of eleven commemorative stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service.[8]
In 2010, Animal was featured in a viral video alongside power-pop band OK Go, where he challenged the band's drummer, Dan Konopka, to a staring contest. Animal ultimately wins and forces Dan to be his roadie for a year. Also featured in the video are actor and comedian Zach Galifianakis and radio host Ira Glass, as spectators.
Animal is present in the 2011 film The Muppets, having gone into anger-management therapy since the Muppets broke up. He also made a special appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon as a guest drummer with the Roots house band.