Gonzo

PERFORMER
Dave Goelz

DEBUT
1976

Gonzo, formally known as “The Great Gonzo” or “Gonzo the Great,” is the resident daredevil performance artiste on The Muppet Show. He is an odd looking, unclassifiable creature with blue fur, bug eyes, and a long crooked nose. He takes pride in his uniqueness and enjoys everything that he does — no matter how painful or ill-advised it may be.

Originally introduced as a frustrated performance artist, Gonzo would perform bizarre avant-garde acts such as demolishing a car with a sledgehammer to the tune of the Anvil Chorus.  Such acts nearly always ended with the audience booing him off the stage.

The notion of Gonzo, as a character who performs terrible acts but considers them artistic, was devised by Jerry Juhl. As Dave Goelz recalled, the character might have been forgotten were it not for Jack Burns, the show’s original head writer, who during an early meeting suggested Gonzo perform “these crazy acts like eating a tire to ‘Flight of the Bumblebee!'” So, in the show’s first episode, Gonzo did exactly that, and the character grew from there.[1] Burns also coined the character’s name.[2]

Early Life

Accounts of Gonzo’s early life are sketchy and often contradictory. For example, in episode 210 of The Muppet Show, he explains that his mother died before he was born, leaving a note to his father regarding the matter of his name. However, this is contradicted in episode 108 of Muppets Tonight, when Gonzo claims his mother liked his unique college interpretation of Death of a Salesman. Again it is contradicted on Muppets.com in a video where he answers a question about his first stunt–his birth. He proceeds to explain it as if his mother was giving birth to him.

As an infant, like many of the Muppets, he was under the care of Nanny (as seen in Muppet Babies). Looking at home videos of himself as a baby, Gonzo has said, “What a handsome little devil I was!”

According to the Muppet Kids book series, Gonzo was later raised by his grandmother and his aunt Grace, both of whom are, of course, the same species as he is. Grace’s young son Gander (Gonzo’s cousin) is also shown, and the four of them live together in a ramshackle house in the suburbs. Another cousin of Gonzo’s shows up much later in his career, when Kevin is revealed as his double in an attempt at stage magic in An Audience with Joe Pasquale.

Gonzo, along with his chicken girlfriend Camilla, became a traveling plumber. He met Kermit and Fozzie and joined them in their quest for Hollywood. He started his acting career as a daredevil performance artist, but would later evolve to play dramatic roles, including Charles Dickens.

According to The Muppets Take Manhattan, Gonzo, at one point in time, lived in a cement mixer (which was far inferior to lodging in an airport locker). In the home video Gonzo Presents Muppet Weird Stuff, he and Camilla reside in a mobile home on the Bide-A-Wee Trailer Court.

However, if Gonzo had never met Kermit, he would have ended up becoming a depressed street performer that plays guitar accompaniment for a dancing brick (that ironically does not dance at all), as depicted in Kermit’s parallel world in It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie.

Baby Gonzo

Gonzo’s grandma, aunt Grace and cousin Gander

Career

Gonzo’s acts frequently attempted to combine bizarre performance art with high culture: “I shall now eat a rubber tire to the music of ‘The Flight of the Bumblebee’…music, maestro!” Another famous performance is best summed up by his quote, “I shall now defuse this highly explosive bomb while simultaneously, and at the same time, reciting from the works of Percy Bysshe Shelley.” Other acts include dancing “Top Hat” in a vat of oatmeal, hypnotizing chickens, and being hammered feet first into a railway tie by two American Gladiators on Muppets Tonight.

Gonzo’s musical performances include his song from The Muppet Movie, “I’m Going to Go Back There Someday”, and his affecting rendition of “My Way” that he sang as his finale when he decided to leave The Muppet Theatre in Episode 411.

Gonzo had a prominent part at the start of each Muppet Show episode, playing the final trumpet note of the opening theme. In each episode, something different would happen — for example, the trumpet would explode, or spray water, or blow up a balloon. In the first season, Gonzo did not use a trumpet but instead attempted to hit the white space within the “O” in the “Muppet Show” sign like a gong, usually with bad results.

What is Gonzo?

The exact name of Gonzo’s species has never been revealed. The character originally evolved from Snarl, a Frackle from The Great Santa Claus Switch. However when “The Great Gonzo” appeared on the The Muppet Show, the frackle species trait did not carry over.

In episode 223, John Cleese referred to Gonzo as “the ugly, disgusting little blue creature who catches cannonballs.” And in The Muppet Movie, Kermit said that Gonzo looked “a little like a turkey,” to which his conscience replied, “Yeah, a little like a turkey, but not much.”

In 1985, a collection of Muppet comic strips were released in a book titled “Chickens are People, Too!…But what are Gonzos?“. The Muppet Babies also tackled the subject with the book What’s a Gonzo?.

In the late 90s, the question was posed in the Ask Henson.com web column, “What exactly is Gonzo?” Dave Goelz responded: “Nobody knows except his parents, and they’re not talking. It was always one of those taboo subjects around the dinner table.”

Gonzo the “Whatever”

It was in 1981 during The Great Muppet Caper that Gonzo solidified himself as a formal “Whatever.” When Kermit, Fozzie and Gonzo were shipped to England in crates. Kermit’s crate was labeled “Frog”, Fozzie’s was “Bear”, and Gonzo’s crate read “Whatever.”

“Whatever” was used thereafter whenever Gonzo’s species came into question. In one of the later Muppet comic strips, Gonzo is seen walking past a “Men” and “Women” bathroom to enter a third door labeled “Whatevers” (The strip can be seen in Jim Henson: The Works). He was called a “Whatever” in The Muppets Take Manhattan and Muppet Treasure Island. In Muppets from Space, Gonzo told Noah to put him down as a “Whatever” in his dream.

Gonzo the “Weirdo”

Gonzo is introduced as “The Muppet Show’s resident weird person” in the second episode of the series.[3]

Baby Gonzo on Muppet Babies is often described as “Weirdo.” In the episode “What’s New at the Zoo?,” Gonzo eventually became worried of being an endangered species, and briefly imagined himself as an anteater. In a parody of the Superman backstory in “Fozzie’s Family Tree,” Gonzo imagined being an alien from a distant galaxy, sent away by his family before a calamity on his home planet destroyed all its weirdness.

Gonzo the Alien

In Muppets from Space, Gonzo began to have disturbing dreams of abandonment and a feeling of aloneness in the world. He stated that he was “tired of being a one-of-a-kind freak.” Gonzo lamented that he didn’t know where he came from or what he truly was. Contradicting all past accounts of Gonzo’s youth, it is established that Gonzo has never known his family (or anyone of his species) and feels that he is not just a unique and distinct individual, but also part of a species on the brink of extinction.
Gonzo is contacted by aliens channeling his breakfast cereal, and a pair of Cosmic Fish soon reveal to him that he is, in fact, an alien from outer space, the planet Oznog according to the novelization. It is later revealed that many “zotons” ago as a baby, Gonzo was lost, and his family has been looking for him.

His alien family has been trying to contact him for some time by placing the message “R U There” all over Earth. After they make contact with Gonzo, they make plans (via a sandwich) to rejoin with their long-lost brother and take him home. They arrive at Cape Doom in their giant spaceship (guided by an egg-like light beacon).
The aliens displayed the same general physical characteristics as Gonzo’s (such as the nostril-less crook-shaped nose and blue/purple fur). They are a musical culture, and their “most ceremonious of ceremonies” includes blowing the honoree out of a cannon. Gonzo is ecstatic to discover what he is, and considers going with them; however, in the end, he realizes his true home is on Earth with his Muppet family.

In the years immediately following the release of Muppets from Space, most merchandise labeled Gonzo as an alien (his vehicle in Muppet RaceMania is a spaceship, and in A Very Muppet Christmas Gonzo wrote a letter to Santa Claus about how he learned he was an alien that year), but that direction with the character was soon abandoned and Gonzo was reverted back to being labeled a “whatever”. Gonzo and Goelz began telling audiences during live appearances (Becoming Real: A Muppeteer’s Journey with Dave Goelz and others) that his identity as an alien was done just for the movie. In The Muppet Show Comic Book Issue #3: Gonzo’s Story, the Muppets once again don’t know what Gonzo is.

Even before Gonzo was outed as an alien in 1999, the suggestion that he had otherworldly origins had been made several times, and minor references have continued:

• In The Muppet Movie Gonzo sings “I’m Going to Go Back There Someday”, a song in which he recalls his experience flying and expresses his longing to return to the sky.

• In the Muppet Babies episode “Fozzie’s Family Tree,” Gonzo traces his family to the Soup Galaxy and the planet of Crouton, where millions of weirdos lived. The planet was in the process of quickly becoming normal, and his parents Sor-Elbow and Weirda sent him to the Earth by rocket to be raised by chickens.

• During a dream montage of Baby Piggy’s press headlines in “This Little Piggy Went to Hollywood,” Baby Gonzo inserts a cover of a tabloid magazine featuring pictures of himself asking the question “Are Aliens Among Us?”

• Gonzo and Jimmy Buffet sing “Mr. Spaceman”, song about a close encounter with friendly aliens, on Kermit Unpigged. The track ends with a spaceship landing and Gonzo wanting to leave with Jimmy and the aliens for space (although Rizzo prevents him from doing so).

• In conjunction with the airing of Muppets Tonight on ABC, the Muppets hosted the TGIF programming block. In one bumper Clifford introduced the premiere of Aliens in the Family with the help of not one, but two Gonzos.

Clifford: Just wait until you see the premiere of Aliens in the Family. You see, half of this family is from another planet.

Gonzo #1: What’s so weird about that?

Gonzo #2: Sounds perfectly normal to me.

• In Muppet RaceMania, Gonzo’s vehicle is a flying saucer with the special move of abduction. The character’s description reads:

“Borrowed from his alien relatives, Gonzo zooms through space and time in his Flying Saucer. Also borrowed from his relatives is the special Alien Abduction move, guaranteed to make every other race take an unceremonious time out!”

• A 2019 episode of Muppet Babies explores the idea of Gonzo being an alien from Planet G0N0 (a planet filled with creatures just like him).

Gonzo the “Thing”

Despite Muppets from Space’s seemingly definitive answer as to what Gonzo is, the movie, as with any other Muppet movie, leaves some room for interpretation. Interviews with Gonzo and Dave Goelz suggest that the events of Muppets from Space were “just a movie”[4] and his designation is still up in the air.

At MuppetFest in 2001, Gonzo speaks about his origins:

“Y’know, when you’re a new Gonzo, and you’re a block of foam, and you’re in the middle of it… They’re just rolling you around on the table. And then you hear some snipping, and you know you’re in there, but they haven’t gotten to you yet. And then you see a little bit of light… and then Jane nicks you! Ow! A little off the tip of your nose. You can see it getting lighter and lighter, and then she’s doing your nose – and you can see it, it’s right in front of your eyes… And then you’re born.”

In the 2002 BBC documentary, I Love Muppets hosted by Gonzo, he welcomes the viewer to the show, “an hour of company with your favorite pigs, frogs, dancing cheeses, lobster banditos, and uh… [looks at himself] er, things.”

In 2005, instead of playing The Wizard of Oz’s Tinman in The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz, Gonzo is dubbed the Tin Thing.

In Muppets Most Wanted, Gonzo refers to himself as a handsome long-nosed purple thing.

Gonzo’s Romances

In episode 124 of The Muppet Show, Gonzo falls in love with Miss Piggy, who is disgusted and annoyed by him. He transfers his affections to guest star Madeline Kahn in episode 209, and informs Miss Piggy that he doesn’t love her anymore. Gonzo is confident that Madeline will marry him, and is crushed when he finds out that she doesn’t have any romantic interest in him. However, they agree to be friends. Although Gonzo tells Miss Piggy that he doesn’t love her anymore, in the Muppets from Space junior novelization book, when he is saying goodbye to everyone and tells Piggy goodbye he confesses that he’s always had a crush on her.

In addition to the aforementioned episodes, in The Muppet Movie, Gonzo briefly shows interest in the prospect of a romantic dinner with Miss Piggy. He also tries to get Miss Piggy to dance with him in Episode 217, but only because he needs a partner. On Muppet Babies, Baby Gonzo has an ongoing crush on Baby Piggy, going so far as to view Baby Kermit as a rival.

In episode 217, Gonzo is briefly attracted to a live cow that appears backstage. However, Gonzo’s amorous desires are most often centered on chickens. This poultry passion first surfaced in Episode 204, when he held auditions for dancing chickens. Dave Goelz ad-libbed the line, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you… nice legs, though!” After this, the writers decided that Gonzo should have an attraction to chickens.

In Episode 217, despite the cow crush, Gonzo’s chicken attraction was further developed. In the episode’s Talk Spot, he complains to Kermit that Sweetums and Thog were playing badminton with his chicken. He sings “Won’t Somebody Dance with Me”, looking for a dance partner before settling for a chicken (The video Gonzo Presents Muppet Weird Stuff retroactively claims this was how Gonzo first met Camilla). When Gonzo learns that the cow is missing, he comments that he can still take a chicken out on a date.

Episode 318 introduced Gonzo’s regular chicken girlfriend, Camilla. This did not prevent him from developing a brief fascination with Big Bird, however.

In The Muppets episode “Bear Left Then Bear Write,” Gonzo (using a photo of Liam Hemsworth) has an online romance with a woman named Debbie.

Gonzo and Rizzo

Beginning with the 1992 movie The Muppet Christmas Carol, Gonzo has been paired with Rizzo the Rat, beginning a years-long pairing in multiple projects.

The two co-hosted The Muppet Christmas Carol (Gonzo as Charles Dickens and Rizzo as himself). The team connected with audiences, and Gonzo and Rizzo continued to be paired (often as the stars of the show) throughout the 1990s. The two, as a pair, hosted Muppet Classic Theater (1994) and appeared as a team in Muppet Treasure Island (1996). Gonzo and Rizzo were also teamed together for most of Muppets from Space (1999), in which it was shown that the two are roommates in The Muppet Boarding House.

In episode 104 of Muppets Tonight, they hosted a one-shot segment called “Gonzo and Rizzo’s Incredible Discoveries”. The segment focused on what happens after a series of painful circumstances (Rizzo gives them all the same response: “It hurts!”). On the Kermit Unpigged album in 1994, they sang “Mr. Spaceman” with Jimmy Buffet, and teamed up for “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” for 2006’s A Green and Red Christmas.

Gonzo and Rizzo were often teamed with Pepe on the 2015 series The Muppets, as they were established as the main writers for Up Late with Miss Piggy. In the episode “A Tail of Two Piggies,” the three of them buy a house together.

In the “Pepe’s Profiles” segment on Gonzo, Rizzo claims they first met in The Muppet Theatre, when Gonzo crashed into a wall Rizzo was living in.

Gonzo’s Outfits

Gonzo’s style of fashion, according to a Disney.com profile, includes purple tuxedos, checkered suits, and anything with chili peppers on it.[5] Originally, Gonzo wore a purplish-red tuxedo. In The Muppet Movie, he donned a light blue shirt and a black vest, which he occasionally wore in later seasons of The Muppet Show, in addition to his tux. Starting with The Great Muppet Caper and lasting throughout the 1980s, Gonzo’s regular outfit was a white button-down and a gray sweater vest. For most of the next couple decades, his common attire included a variety of loud (often checkered) suits and other unusual clothing elements (e.g. chili pepper patterned shirts). In Muppets From Space, he wore a similar outfit, consisting of a vest and a tie with a chicken on it. In It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, he wore an ordinary gray suit jacket with a blue-white stripe pattern shirt and golden necktie.

See also: Gonzo’s stunt gear

Performing Gonzo

Gonzo first appeared as Snarl the Cigar Box Frackle in the 1970 special The Great Santa Claus Switch, where he was performed by Daniel Seagren. In 1974, he appeared on the Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass special in the musical number “Five Minutes More”. He was performed by Jim Henson during this special, but was completely silent. Since then, Dave Goelz has been his performer. In 2006, Gonzo was performed and voiced by puppeteer Brett O’Quinn for The Disney Cruise Line’s Muppets Ahoy! stage show.

In the first season of The Muppet Show, the character was underplayed with a permanently sad look. The producers noticed that he worked better in a more energetic form, so Dave Goelz modified the eyes to have movable eyelids which helped make him a more active character. As such, he became one of the principal characters in the series.
Goelz spoke of the mechanism and how it works;

“They are the same in theory as Big Bird’s eyes. I didn’t invent that mechanism. I looked at Big Bird and used the same idea. You activate the left eye to open both of them.[6]”

In 2008, Gonzo received a new eye mechanism that allows him to lift one eyelid separately. Goelz commented on the origin of the new mechanism;

“When I went on the Today show a few years ago, his eyes malfunctioned. During the bit, I realized that only one eye was opening. It was a fantastic expression. We made it into a funny thing because it just happened on live television. I immediately asked the Workshop if we could incorporate that, and eventually, when they built some more Gonzos, they did do it. So I have the ability to open one eye separately, and it gives you a very perplexed, crazy expression that I love.[7]”

Jerry Juhl stated on many occasions that Gonzo was his favorite character to write for and develop. He said he had a special connection with the blue weirdo. Juhl gave a presentation at the American Film Institute talking about long term character development and used Gonzo as the example. Juhl has said that he really enjoyed evolving and developing the character with Goelz from his debut eating the tire to “The Flight of the Bumblebee” through his evolution up to Charles Dickens in 1992. For this reason, Gonzo has become one of the deepest and most developed characters. Juhl developed Muppets from Space (originally titled “Star Gonzo”) as a film to focus solely on the emotional arc and development of Gonzo.[8][9][10][11]

Notes

• According to a Disney.com character bio, Gonzo’s likes are being shot out of cannons, balancing pianos on his nose, hypnotizing chickens, and tap dancing on roller skates on a vat of oatmeal. His only dislike is insurance agents.[5]

• At a Muppets, Music & Magic Q&A session in June 2007, when Gonzo was asked which Muppet he least liked working with, he responded, “Well, I can’t really go into that or she’ll karate chop me.”[12]

• In his first appearances on The Muppet Show, Gonzo used to take popular expressions literally. For instance, in Episode 103, when Joel Grey proposes to him to go for a spin (with his new car), Gonzo spins round and round. In Episode 109, when Kermit tells him “I can give you my ear for a moment,” Gonzo asks what he would do with the ear (Kermit answers, “Van Gogh impressions”). In the same episode, he makes a mess of the Panel Discussion, taking literally all the expressions used by the other participants.

• Gonzo’s memoir “The” Is My Middle Name (as ghost-written by Muppet Show scribe Chris Langham) was at least partially completed and intended for release sometime after 1982, but a publisher was never found.

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