Lips

From Muppet Wiki

Lips, sitting in with the orchestra

Lips is the trumpet player from The Muppet Show. The character was created for performer Steve Whitmire, to give him his own member of the Electric Mayhem. He debuted in the fifth and final season of the series, and played trumpet for both the Electric Mayhem and the orchestra. Lips also appeared as part of the Electric Mayhem in The Great Muppet Caper, A Muppet Family Christmas, and The Muppet Christmas Carol.

Lips rarely spoke. Steve Whitmire once commented upon Lips' silence:

I felt great whenever he played the trumpet, and I felt terrible whenever he spoke, because I wanted to do this Louis Armstrong kind of voice, and at that point and time, there was some question about whether or not we would offend African-American people by this white guy doing a black voice as a trumpet player... We might offend people who liked Louis Armstrong. We weren't sure. I never quite got anywhere with Lips. I'd probably be real comfortable with him now, but at that point I wasn't sure. I still wasn't ready to do a character. [1]

Two rare examples of Lips speaking include "Barnyard Boogie", in which he sings a verse, and The Great Muppet Caper, where he says "How 'bout a little travellin' music?" before he plays trumpet for "Night Life", and "And me!" during the finale.

Despite his obscurity, Palisades Toys released a Lips Action Figure in 2004.

Appearances

Book Appearances

• Jim Henson's Muppet Show Bill
• The Muppets Look at TV

References

1. ↑ Plume, Kenneth Muppet Central interview with Steve Whitmire