Top Annoying Misnaming People Do

i have a tshirt with animal on it, and most people ask me why i'm wearing an elmo shirt. i was like....wow. does elmo look like this? i don't think so.

On a youtube clip featuring Alice Cooper's apperance on the Muppet Show, several people in the comments continued to insist that the Muppets were strictly for the kiddies, therefore making Cooper too 'adult' to be on the show. And of course, there were the usual comments from people who got the Muppet Show mixed up with Sesame Street.

But what really annoyed me was that somebody was bold enough to 'confirm' everybody's suspision by stating that clip couldn't have possible have been from The Muppet Show, because it was actually from Fraggle Rock!

Oh dear. I could see people mixing up TMS and Sesame clips (especially SSt with Kermit or TMS with Big Bird, B and E, etc.), but Fraggle Rock? They didn't even have any (on-screen) human characters besides Doc.

I'm just paraphrasing from memory here, but I saw a comment like that.

The commenter was trying to use a clip of the opening number as an example of how Disney has ruined the Muppets and how they would never do something like that back on The Muppet Show. What's worse is that the video's description even said that it was from The Muppet Show.

I mean, how clueless can you be?

I just thought up of some more annoying mistakes that, to quote a Toughpigs article, "Fumblenoggins" often make.....

*The Muppets haven't been active at all until the movie that just came out - Which is not entirely true, yet it did seem that way because most of the stuff they did during the last decade were pretty much hit-or-miss. That, and because people weren't paying that much attention.

*Miss Piggy is a drag queen, or a tranny --- All I have to say is, are they sure that they're not confusing her with...oh, I don't know...Miss Poogy?

*The Muppets were all "good, wholesome, clean" fun and never relied on cynicism for humor - I believe uppitymuppity and frogboy/jamie even brought this up several times in the "Disney Enlists Segel and Stoller to helm New Muppet Movie" thread some years back when the new movie was first announced. They had to refute this over and over again. And if people want role models, don't turn to fictional characters, or entertainment in general.

*Disney is screwing up the Muppets - Oh, yeah, surre... Those Disney $%$###$% are indeed ruining the Muppets. I mean, look what those cruel, soulless whackjobs did: they released a bunch of super-awesome online videos, brought back a huge chunk of characters that have been neglected for many years (Thog? Uncle Deadly? Anyone?), putting them up to the forefront like there's no tomorrow, with stuff too numerous to mention, like the comic books. But more importantly, being aware of the fact that the Muppets were never just for kids, by having them appear on WWE, and taking over the March issue of Loaded magazine (*sniff* god bless 'em!)

And I guess we can all just moan and complain, wishing that they'd go back to the 1990s, the good ol' days when the Muppets were treated like a property rather than a puppet troupe/celebrities, and a kids' property one at that. Even Henson seemed to have bought into this B-S. And Kermit was nothing but a smiling corporate mascot, and a whole group of characters who were once major players either not speaking anymore or having been abandoned completely after the deaths of their performers.

Yeah, Disney is really destroying the Muppets.

*Oscar had been "watered down" in recent years - Anyone who says this really needs to watch Sesame Street more often. But look through any episode from the 2000s, and try to compare it to 1986, 1977, 1992, and tell me, do you see any difference?
The correct answer should be........uh........ No.

Character-wise, he's still the same snarky pessimist and occasional prankster that he was back in 1994, 1975, 2002, and 1983. There is no difference. Okay, there actually was a difference, albeit subtle, during the early seasons (pre-1973/74), which Drtooth and I have pointed out before. 2 sketches that come to mind here are the E/B chocolate ice cream skit and the one where Ernie loses his rubber duckie.

And...as if everyone else on Sesame Street was all "goody goody", "nicey nicey", not capable of being grumpy, sarcastic, or be annoyed at one another, thus making him the only "crazy person" on the street (he's not even the only grouch in the Sesame universe, mind you). These people obviously never thought twice about the many times Bert lost his temper at Ernie and his hare-brained antics, or the times when Grover drove Kermit and Mr. Johnson up the wall with his incompetence and/or foolishness. And it's not just the Muppets that were prone to this; what about the beginning of Herry's "I Can't Help It" song at the Fix-It-Shop? (it's up on Youtube). Let's not forget a good chunk of sketches from season 1, where there's been a bunch of name-calling (with words like "dingaling" and "meatball")

*The "Cookie Monster has been converted to Veggie Monster" and "Cookie Monster has been taken off of Sesame Street" nonsense. It hurts my head every time I see people make these comments on Youtube. I'll repeat what I just said, these people clearly need to watch more Sesame Street.

*Snuffy was imaginary --- Well, only to the adults. But that's because they kept missing him every time.

And finally...

*People referring to The Muppets as "sock puppets". Out of all the lazy, half-baked mistakes people can make, THIS one really gets on my nerves. Not only is it annoying but it's an insult to Jim and everything he's done (and not to mention it's an insult to puppeteers in general).

I mean, look. Here's a group of Muppets --- your typical puppets:


And this is a sock puppet:


See the difference, people?

Heck, one time, someone showed me a video of Kermit's appearance on "America's Got Talent" a few years ago (that I was already aware of), but he was not sure if it was the real Kermit. Seriously.

I'm the only american at my school and this is what happened the other day
me: why are you guys saying manom manom it's mahna! mahna!
kids in class: ok...
me: i love the muppets! and sesame street!
kids in class: is sesame street like american the muppets?
me:

This kind of thing comes down to a question of extremes. The Muppet Show certainly did make risque and suggestive jokes, but you could still call the show wholesome overall. But that balance wasn't always achieved in the later projects. It's the difference between subtle writing and in your face shock value.

Groucho Marx was an expert at suggestive humor but still urged comedians to "be clean and be funny." It's all about maintaining that balance.

The funny thing is, the movie was as far from an actual Stoller/Segal movie in terms of adulteress as possible. But they did manage to give a depth to the romantic storyline between Kermit and Piggy that was lost for quite some time. There's always a range of adult humor in the Muppets. Look at Gonzo's "nice legs" comment about a chicken. Even the Counts "you'll never forget your first time." comment when Abby learned to count.

Other than the fact I think the merchandise could have been a little more present, Disney's done them proud. Things haven't disappeared since the movie. We're still getting some appearances and magazine articles... other then the fact I think they need to go back and do more virals ASAP, they're on the right path. Hopefully by the second film, Muppetdom will explode completely.

We all love Jim, but Carol gave Oscar an amazing depth that was never intended for the original character. The whole Grouch Paradox he came up with (Being angry makes him happy, but when he's happy he's angry, but being angry makes him happy) was just brilliant. Oscar seems to have had different phases of Grouchiness... he started out as someone who just growled at people, then he went into teasing, then pranking... and now he's just as grouchy as ever, but has a grouchy grampa figure also. And I really like that grumpy grandfather role model he is for Elmo. Every character should have a different dynamic with other characters. Still, i wish they'd do more Oscar/Telly pairings. They're a wonderful comedic duo.

I don;t know who bungled that worse. The News media, or Sesame Workshop itself.

I've said it a million times. Cookie Monster isn't funny just because he eats Cookies... he's funny because he'll eat EVERTHING! He once ate up Sesame Street in an attempt to resist eating Big Bird's cake. And the way he goes overboard with everything he eats... that"s the magic of the character.

I swear that's said mostly by humorless people who hate the Muppets specifically enough to want to insult Jim and his body of work. I really wish the show Greg the Bunny made a joke about calling a puppet a "sock" was tantamount to a racial slur. It is to me. Unless the puppet is specifically a sock.

Last Halloween, I wore an Animal Costume, and people were saying, "Wow. Evil Elmo. Sesame Street must be turning Monsterish now."

First of all, it's ANIMAL. And, uh, Sesame Street is about monsters.

I also made my own DR. Teeth t-shirt for it, and they thought Elmo was in some sort of evil band.

LOL, wow that's pretty sad.

Not that an Evil Elmo costume wouldn't be cool.

If someone over the age of 3 doesn't recognize the Muppet Show character that's the most marketed (over Kermit at this point), they really don't know anything, do they?
Of course, the connection isn't that screwy. Animal DOES look like a feral Elmo... to some extent... I guess...

OK, I'll have to add some of the misconceptions I've heard from people:

Y'know how the Swedish Chef has been running around with a clever a lot lately? Well there's now people thinking that he runs around and chops people's heads off with it.

One time two of my friends (who were casual fans), decided to dress up as the Yip-Yip Martians for Halloween. And people kept commenting in the background to others, "Hey look, it's Cookie Monster!" for the blue one and "Hey, it's Elmo!" for the red one.

People are really confused about how the Muppets are performed. Some people think that they are on sticks and the puppeteers hold up these characters on sticks. One person even thought that there was a person inside every single Muppet and was shocked to find out that only the big ones like Big Bird have people inside of them.

I used to think Crazy Harry's name was Bruno. You have to admit, the two do look alike.

I was looking at Youtube comments for the Muppet Movie, and here are a few misconceptions that showed up with that:

Robin's name is Tiny Kermit.
Frank Oz has always performed Kermit.
Jim Henson trained a bunch of people to do Kermit's voice.
Jim Henson was able to still do a fine Kermit in the 2011 movie before he died.
Follow That Bird is Jim Henson's first movie.
Kermit was lip synching in TMM
Bernie the Agent was played by Don Rickles.
Arnie is the name of Dom DeLuise's character.
Elton John was the El Sleezo piano player.
Brian Muehl was the El Sleezo piano player.
Disney has always owned the Muppets.
Jim Henson performed Kermit, Fozzie, Miss Piggy, Big Bird and Oscar.
Frank Oz performed Oscar.
Bernadette Peters played the myth woman.

And then people always misspell Muppet names:
Kermet
Mrs. Piggy
Big Birth
Fauzy
Fozzy
Fonzie
Fozy

You mean someone was wrong on the Internet?! GASP!

Yeah clearly not, though I'm very impressed with Richard Hunt's Kermit voice in that Henson Workshop clip. I couldn't believe that wasn't Jim!

Well, when I was a little kid, I didn't make the connection that Muppets were puppets... so, considering they're smaller than people, I had assumed that there were little kids "wearing" them like costumes, while adults did the voices.

There actually was an episode of Greg the Bunny where they do this. Someone apparently wrote the "S word" (as they prefer to call it) in the men's bathroom wall, and the whole cast and crew had to undergo a puppet sensitivity training session.

What Henson Workshop clip?

It's in one of the threads in the Classic Muppet section here:

http://www.muppetcentral.com/forum/threads/video-the-muppet-workshop-1977-from-historic-films.51468/

another one for the muppets 2011 i was in the theater and a boy asked his mom where was elmo ernie and bert i told him these were the muppets not sesame street

At least he knew who Ernie and Bert were! I find kids today get more fixated on Elmo, Abby, and Cookie Monster than the other guys. Ernie and Bert were always my favorite characters!

yeah i agree i love my bert and ernie but yet i love grover too