Whoopee cushions

Fozzie's "Fart shoes" in The Muppets

Willard Scott's gift to Fozzie.

The Swamp of Whoopee

Fozzie's Comedy School - Props 101

"Fozzie's Comedy School"

A whoopee cushion is a practical joke device which produces a noise resembling a fart. It is made from two sheets of rubber that are glued together at the edges. There is a small opening with a flap at one end for air to enter and leave the cushion. To use it, one must first inflate it with air and then place it on a chair or squeeze it. If placed on a chair, an unsuspecting victim will sit on the whoopee cushion, forcing the air out of the opening, which causes the flap to vibrate and create the sound of flatulence.

References

• While reading the check list of items needed to foil the diamond heist in The Great Muppet Caper, Fozzie Bear reads off whoopee cushion. Rowlf says he thinks it's on the bus.

• In the Fraggle Rock episode "Boober's Dream," a flying whoopie cushion (a literal cushion that repeatedly yells "Whoopie!") appears as one of the creatures that inhabits Boober's dreams.

• In The Jim Henson Hour episode " Monster Telethon", Willard Scott tries to entice Fozzie Bear back into comedy by showing him a slightly used whoopee cushion he found in his closet. Fozzie refers to the cushion as an "old friend."

• In the Muppet Babies episode "This Old Nursery", Baby Fozzie is at a junk yard at the foot of the mountains of Ararat. Offscreen (behind piles of junk) he says, "I can't findeth my whoopie cushion." As he continues to search a fart noise is heard and he responds, "There it iseth!"

• In "Skeeter and the Wolf", Baby Fozzie places a whoopee cushion on Baby Scooter's chair while they're playing checkers and asks, "Is that your move?" After Scooter sits on the prop, Fozzie laughs and says, "Boy, that's a whole bunch of moves!"

• In "Nice to Have Gnome You", Baby Gonzo takes Baby Piggy to the Swamp of Whoopie. The fantasy scenes show the two navigating their way across flatulating rocks based on the Bog of Eternal Stench from Labyrinth. But the non-imaginary scenes reveal that Gonzo and Piggy are walking across whoopee cushions.

• In The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson, Gonzo introduces a tap dancing whoopee cushion, aptly named Whoopie Cushions, to be a part of the Jim Henson tribute. Near the end of the special, after reading the letters from Jim's fans, Fozzie is discouraged that they can't do a proper tribute because "all we have are silly songs and whoopee cushions."

• Fozzie never leaves home without his whoopee cushion, according to his profile from the DVD menus on The Very Best of the Muppet Show: Volume 1.

• In a 2008 "Fozzie's Comedy School" video produced for Muppets.com, Fozzie Bear teaches about comedy props - including rubber chickens, whoopee cushions, and custard pies. Fozzie calls the whoopee cushion the "time-honored classic of sophisticated comedy." He says "We all know why this is funny," presses on the cushion to make it fart and says, "Aha ha ha, I love that one."

• In The Muppets, Fozzie creates "Fart Shoes" by strapping two whoopee cushions to ordinary footwear. On the Blu-ray commentary for the film, Jason Segel claims that the appearance of fart shoes earlier in the film was really the setup for the scene where the Muppets are being kicked out of the theatre. A seemingly sad moment, Fozzie is still wearing them as they make their slow walk up the aisle, with the resultant noise prompting Rowlf to say, "not now, Fozzie."
  Disney's marketing for the film changed the narrative of Kermit's reaction to the fart shoes in several trailers, TV spots and promos. In the re-cut clips, the shoes contradict Kermit's previous statement that "The Muppets have always been about artistic integrity, not cheap tricks," a comment originally intended for Gonzo, Bunsen and Beaker's bowling ball trick.

See also

• Whoopie Cushions, the character
• Flying Whoopie Cushion
• Fart jokes