TVXOHOF, APRIL 2020 - WOKKA WOKKA WOKKA!

With the April showcase for the Television Crossover Hall of Fame, we celebrate the Fool.  Now, this could be the wise fool on the level of Feste, or of Lear’s Fool.  Or it could be someone like Gilligan.

The TVXOHOF Committee always wants to get at least one puppet character into the Hall each year and while they are usually consigned to June, it was felt that April was the better choice for our candidate this year….

FOZZIE BEAR

From Wikipedia:
Fozzie Bear is a Muppet character known for his lack of innate and effective comedy skills. Fozzie is an orange bear who often wears a brown pork pie hat and a red and white polka dot necktie.

The character debuted on ‘The Muppet Show’, as the show's stand-up comic, a role where he constantly employed his catchphrase, "Wocka Wocka!" Shortly after telling the joke, he was usually the target of ridicule, particularly from balcony hecklers Statler and Waldorf. Fozzie was performed by Frank Oz until 2001; Eric Jacobson has since become the character's principal performer.  

Fozzie also appeared alongside his fellow Muppets in the Halloween 2011 episode of ‘WWE Raw’, where he and Gonzo encountered Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler, and Vickie Guerrero backstage.

I’m only counting on the TV appearances for his tally which fall into Earth Prime-Time.  (This will include any serlinguistic work done in commercials and interstitials.  Fozzie is a performer and would be expected to toil for the Empire.)

The movie roles were not technically of Fozzie but of characters he played, including the fictionalized versions of himself.  But I stipulate that it was Fozzie who played those roles in the movies.

(The difference for ‘Big City Greens’ is that we have behind-the-scenes footage of him working on the cartoon.  The same holds true for the Muppets' version of "The Wizard of Oz".)

Maybe one day the Tooniverse version of Fozzie will gain entry into the Hall.  But as to including the ‘Family Guy’ appearances into the official tally?

Here are the TV shows I am including in his qualifications for Hall membership.

• The Muppet Show (1976–1981)
• Muppets Tonight (1996-1998)
• It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)
• The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005)(Appearance as Himself and the Cowardly Lion)
• A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008)
• Studio DC: Almost Live (2008)
• Lady Gaga and the Muppets Holiday Spectacular (2013)
• The Muppets (2015-2016)
• Big City Greens (2019)(Appearance as the voice of Dr. Enamel)

In one episode of ‘Sesame Street’, another Jim Henson production, Baby Bear says that "Fozzie" is a terrible name for a bear. (So they probably knew about Fozzie Bear.)

Fozzie was a contestant on the May 24, 2016, episode of "@midnight" and beat Kristen Schaal and John Hodgman.

Here is a list of appearances compiled by the fine folks at the Muppet Wiki:

TV Shows

• The Muppet Show (1976-1981)
• Little Muppet Monsters (1985)[But only as a puppet, not animated]
• The Jim Henson Hour (1989)
• Episode 103: Power
• Episode 108: Videotape
• Miss Piggy's Hollywood
• Muppets Tonight (1996-1997)
• Episode 103: Billy Crystal
• Episode 104: John Goodman
• Episode 108: Jason Alexander
• Episode 109: Whoopi Goldberg
• Episode 110: Martin Short
• Episode 204: Pierce Brosnan
• Episode 208: The Cameo Show
• Muppets TV
• The Muppets
• The Muppet Babies (2018)
• Carpool Karaoke: The Series (2018)

TV Specials

• Kagayake! Gorō Mapetto Geba Geba 90-pun! (1976)
• The Bob Hope All Star Christmas Comedy Special (1977)
• Julie Andrews: One Step Into Spring (1978)
• The Muppets Go Hollywood (1979)
• A Christmas Together (1979)
• The Muppets Go to the Movies (1981)
• I Love Liberty (1982)
• The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show (1982)
• Rocky Mountain Holiday (1983)
• The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years (1986)
• A Muppet Family Christmas (1987)
• The Muppets at Walt Disney World (1990)
• The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson (1990)
• Studio DC Hosted by Selena Gomez (2008)
• A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008)
• Lady Gaga & the Muppets' Holiday Spectacular (2013)

TV Appearances

• Kagayake! Gorō Mapetto Geba Geba 90-pun! (1976)
• The Orson Welles Show (1979)
• Good Morning America (1992, 2004, 2005)
• Saturday Night Live (2004, 2011)
• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (2005, 2010)
• Jimmy Kimmel Live (2005)
• America's Funniest Home Videos (2005)
• Chuck the Movie Guy (2008)
• The View (2008)
• Hollywood 411 (2008)
• D23 Expo (2009)
• Andrea Bocelli & David Foster: My Christmas (2009)
• The Early Show (2010)
• WWE (2011)
• Good Luck Charlie (2013)
• Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (2009, 2014)
• The Arsenio Hall Show (2014)

Commercials

• Polaroid (1981)
• National Wildlife Federation (1985-1990)
• MasterCard Commercials (2002-2003)
• Pizza Hut Commercials (2004-2005)
• Disney Channel Bumpers (2005)
• Will Rogers Institute (2006)
• The ESPYs (2008)
• Give a Day, Get a Disney Day (2009)
• Lipton (2014)
• Warburtons (2015)
• Facebook Portal (2019)

From Facebook:
Though his main job was to be the show's comedian, he has had a number of other roles on ‘The Muppet Show’. He sang and danced in many musical numbers, and frequently acted in sketches (most famously his recurring sketch “Bear On Patrol” where he plays an unlucky police officer). He also often helps backstage and even attempts to plan out the show in one episode, and write the script in another.

Welcome to the Hall, Fozzie!

My thanks to the Muppets Wiki for the list of shows.  And I'm sure in my search for pictures of Fozzie via Google Image Search, I probably grabbed quite a few of their pictures.

I hope they forgive me....

Wokka wokka!