Talk:Animal

Jim and Frank quotes

Are there sources on the Jim and Frank quotes? I know I'm being a source queen, but it's really easy for people to misquote if they're going from memory. I think backstage info should always use direct quotes from published sources, either in the text itself or under a References heading at the bottom. -- Toughpigs 02:41, 3 Jan 2006 (UTC)

Casting Note

The Casting History currently lists David Rudman as playing Animal on SNL. In fact, David puppeteered Animal, but Eric Jacobson (who was performing Fozzie) threw his voice to do the vocals live. I heard David was visible onscreen at some point (during the curtain call maybe?) so it might be worth keeping David in as a footnote, but should this be clarified on the list? How? Does someone with more formatting nous want to tackle it? TV's KB 15:15, 18 Dec 2005 (UTC)

If someone wants to put it under trivia, I guess that would be OK, but I'd probably list it under the SNL appearance instead of here. I, for one, am not prepared to start listing every time a character was puppeteered but not voiced by a different performer.--Pantalones 16:05, 20 Dec 2005 (UTC)

My guideline for the Recast FAQ was: "This FAQ tracks voices, not puppets, so it won't include instances of the original performer looping the character's voice." I think once you get into who manipulated which puppet, you go into a very complicated place that you can't escape from. -- Toughpigs 18:00, 20 Dec 2005 (UTC)

Keith Moon

A new user posted: "It is believed the character of Animal is based at least in part upon the likeness of Keith Moon, drummer for the seminal British rock band The Who." Can I ask where that rumor comes from? "It is believed" doesn't seem like a good enough source to me. -- Toughpigs 17:57, 17 Dec 2005 (UTC)

It's one of those baseless rumors that people put on IMDb I'm sure. -- Scarecroe 18:45, 17 Dec 2005 (UTC)

True: it seems to be an accepted fact as published in the biography of Moon and several websites including wikipedia, but it is difficult to find an actual source. -- 69.237.42.83 14:24, December 17, 2005

It may be an urban legend among Keith Moon fans; I've never heard of it, and it isn't in any of the Muppet references I've seen. Early sketches have been published in the book Of Muppets and Men that show that Elton John was the inspiration for Dr. Teeth, that the Beatles "Sgt. Pepper" look inspired Floyd, and that Janice was originally a cross between Mick Jagger and Janis Joplin. All of those concept sketches were done by Michael K. Frith, who did them as part of a set. Henson did the concept sketch for Animal (also in Of Muppets and Men), and it doesn't seem like he based Animal on anybody. Also, that early sketch shows Animal as the shaggy big-nosed creature that he is, while the pictures of Keith Moon on Wikipedia show that he was extremely dapper and clean-cut. I don't think there's much of a case. I'd suggest changing the sentence to "Keith Moon fans believe..." or something like that. -- Toughpigs 19:37, 17 Dec 2005 (UTC)

Well, Keith Moon went through several distinct phases in appearance. True the very young Moon was clean cut (by today's standards), but he very quickly did look not unlike Animal (he certainly has the big nose, wild eyes and crazy wild hair, not to mention the manic playing style).

I thought I had read (maybe in the Morsels?) that Dr. Teeth was inspired by someone called Dr. John, not Elton John. Was it both? I have nothing to add re: Animal, by the way. I'd never even heard the rumor before.--Pantalones 16:03, 20 Dec 2005 (UTC)

I Love Muppets has three speakers comparing Animal to Keith Moon, with a montage of shots switching from Animal to Keith drumming. Either Alice Cooper or Leo Sayer then remarks that Keith was very honored with Animal as his parody. Not much of a fact, but it's a reference at least... Dr. Teeth is clearly inspired by Dr. John (I saw him on TV; he's technically a human version of Dr. Teeth), but with Elton John's dressing style (his original name in Michael Frith's sketches was "Dr. Eltonjohn Don'tshoot (The Piano Player)". -- Jogchem 17:41, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

My take was that Animal looked more like the drummer Mick Fleetwood. The big hair and the beard depict the look that Mick had throughout the 70s. It is merely a guess, at best. Cortwist 18:29, 20 June 2008 (UTC)Cortwist