Uncle Deadly

 Performer: Jerry Nelson

Uncle Deadly is known as the phantom of the Muppet Show. He made his debut on the Muppet Show in Ep. 119 guest starring Vincent Price in Season 1. In this episode, he appeared with Vincent Price in the sketch where Fozzie Bear and Gonzo the Great rented a house for the weekend and they realized it was haunted. However, Uncle Deadly did not receive a proper introduction until Ep. 121 guest starring Twiggy where he frightened all of the Muppets in the theater while Kermit was in disbelief of them, until he first saw Uncle Deadly. Uncle Deadly explains that he used to perform at this theater and he did "a wonderful Hamlet." Until his next performance where he was killed, "Who killed you?" "The critics."

In later seasons of the Muppet Show, Uncle Deadly performed in Melodramas with Miss Piggy and Wayne.

Uncle Deadly has had no major roles in any of the Muppet Movies. However, he did appear in the final group scene at the end of The Muppet Movie.

He appeared in the 1979 appearance of The Tonight Show where Kermit the Frog hosted.

Uncle Deadly's last known appearance was in a non-speaking cameo during Michael Eisner's introduction to the NBC presentation of The Muppets at Walt Disney World in 1990. Uncle Deadly is part of a large collection of Muppet monsters who "help" clean a spot on Eisner's shirt, of course leaving him more dissheveled than before. The introduction has not appeared on other airings of this special.

In the December 2000 issue of the Writers' Guild magazine "Written By," which featured interviews with Muppet writers Jim Lewis, Kirk Thatcher and John Derevlany, it was mentioned that one of the projects Kirk had in development was a silly "Goosebumps"-type TV show called "Uncle Deadly's House of Badness." The project never got off the ground, and it's unknown if a pilot was filmed or if a script was even completed.

Uncle Deadly has also been made into an action figure in the Palisades Toys line of Muppet Show Action Figures. He was made into three variations, a classic, a "Steppin' Out", and a black and white "Flashback" version that glows in the dark. Each variant is packaged with a Muppet ghost and a Muppet skull.