Link Hogthrob

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Captain Link Hogthrob

Link Hogthrob is the blonde, cleft-chinned pig with a high opinion of himself, who debuted on the second season of The Muppet Show as the not-so-fearless captain of the Swinetrek, where his unbridled machismo was often a source of conflict with his co-star, First Mate Piggy.

Unlike Dr. Julius Strangepork, whose role on The Muppet Show would be primarily relegated to the Pigs in Space sketches, Link would feature regularly both in the show's onstage acts and backstage mayhem.

His singing talents were first featured in his second appearance, where he sang "I Talk to the Trees." Other musical numbers including solos ("Sonny Boy"), duets with Miss Piggy ("La Ci Darem La Mano"), and group numbers ("Sea Chantey," "The Rhyming Song").

Starting in the show's third season, Link was also featured as the police chief in the recurring "Bear on Patrol" sketches, where his dimwittedness was often the source of phsyical trauma to Patrol Bear.

Link was later one of the few classic Muppet Show characters to be used regularly in the Muppet Central control room on The Jim Henson Hour.

Though largely retired after Jim Henson's death, Link has since appeared occasionaly in silent cameos in such productions as The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppets Tonight. His only speaking roles since 1990 have been in the video games Muppet Race Mania and Muppets Party Cruise, where he was voiced by Steve Whitmire.

An action figure of Link was produced in 2003 as part of Series 4 of Palisades Toys' line of Muppet action figures.

Trivia

• Though Link was primarily a Live-Hand Muppet, a Hand-Rod Muppet was used occasionally on The Muppet Show.

• In episode 524, it is revealed that Link wears a toupee. (His latest one looks like a frisbee and is often mistaken for one.)

• According to Brian Henson in one of his generic introductions for The Muppet Show, Link's voice was one that Jim Henson used in real life:

As a kid, whenever my dad did some stereotypical fatherly chore, like carving the Thanskgiving turkey, that would be the voice he would use. I guess when the character of this pompus, not-too-bright pig came along, he figured well that voice would fit just perfectly.

• An animated version of Link was seen in Pigs in Space segments in Little Muppet Monsters and an episode of Muppet Babies; a walk-around version of Link was created for The Muppet Show On Tour.

Filmography