From Muppet Wiki

Mahna Mahna is a purple Muppet with wild, orange hair and a furry, green tunic who is most famous for performing the nonsense song "Mahna Mahna" with the Snowths. His vocabulary is essentially limited to saying his own name and scatting.

Mahna Mahna made his debut on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1969, where he sang "Mahna Mahna" for the first time. In a later appearance on the variety show, he played a drummer filling in for a violinist in a string quartet performing Beethoven's "Minuet in G Major."

Mahna Mahna reprised his performance of "Mahna Mahna" in the opening number of the very first episode of The Muppet Show and appeared several times throughout the episode: backstage, dancing with Wanda in "At the Dance", and in Statler and Waldorf's theater box. Although he was also featured prominently in episode 102, appearing in "Sax and Violence" and At the Dance, most of Mahna Mahna's future appearances on the show would be in the background or in the audience of the Muppet Theater.

Mahna Mahna was puppeteered by Bill Barretta to a vocal track by Jim Henson at The Muppet Show Live at MuppetFest; at one point, the character left the theater to go to a fast food restaurant. Barretta reprised the role, providing both puppetry and voice for Mahna Mahna in his first original speaking role since Henson's death, in the 2005 "Bandanana" commercial for the Australian charity CanTeen. In this most recent appearance, te puppet has brighter colors and softer features than previous incarnations.

Palisades Toys released a mini figure of Mahna Mahna, and also had plans for an action figure.

Contents 1 Bip Bippadotta 2 Casting history 3 Filmography 4 Book Appearances 5 See also

Bip Bippadotta

"Mahna Mahna" was also performed on the first season of Sesame Street by an Anything Muppet, originally identified on albums as "Mahna-Mahna." He would later come to be called Bip Bippadotta. Although the character would evolve to look more like Mahna Mahna over the years, the characters have generally been considered completely separate entities.

Casting history

• Jim Henson: 1969-1976
• Bill Barretta: 2001-present

Filmography

Book Appearances

• The Muppet Show Annual 1977
• The Muppet Show Book
• Jim Henson's Muppet Show activity book

See also

• Bip Bippadotta
• "Mahna Mahna" (song)
• Mahna Mahna Through the Years