Fozzie Bear

Fozzie Bear is The Muppet Show's resident comedian. He's an orange, fuzzy Muppet bear who tells bad jokes, usually punctuated with his catchphrase, "Wocka wocka wocka!" Fozzie is also best friends with Kermit, although they occasionally have differences of opinion.

During the first season of The Muppet Show, Fozzie's monologues usually consisted of Fozzie telling simple setup/punchline jokes, while being heckled by Statler and Waldorf. After the first season, most of his monologues had gimmicks, such as ventriloquism or telling jokes on roller skates. Fozzie also told a joke during the opening sequence of every episode during the first season.

In Jim Henson: The Works, Christopher Finch wrote: "One of the biggest problems [with the first season] was with Fozzie Bear. Fozzie was crucial to The Muppet Show because he was conceived as Frank Oz's main character, and the success of the show would depend to a significant degree on Frank having the opportunity to display the full range of his virtuoso performance and comedic skills.

"It was logical to have a comedian as a primary character on The Muppet Show, particularly once the Muppet Theater had been established as its basic setting. And given the spirit of the Muppets, it was almost inevitable that he would be a bad comedian. The problem with Fozzie was that his bad jokes and failure to win over an audience provoked more embarrassment than sympathy. For instance in Episode 122, Fozzie gets so fed up with the heckling that he demands everyone but true Fozzie fans leave the auditorium.  As a result, the seats are left completely empty;  even Fozzie's own cousin leaves; Fozzie departs the stage almost in tears.

"Jerry Juhl and Frank Oz gradually transformed Fozzie by building up the positive aspects of his personality. They allowed his perpetual optimism to offset his onstage failures until he became a more rounded character. Fozzie's virtues ultimately made his ineptness acceptable -- and even endearing. So successful was this metamorphosis that he became one of the most popular of all the Muppets."

As Brian Henson notes in a generic Muppet Show introduction, "Fozzie is always telling terrible jokes, but he's just trying so hard you've got to love him."

Fozzie's Filmography

 * The Muppet Show: Himself
 * The Muppet Movie: Himself
 * The Great Muppet Caper: Fozzie Bear (Kermit's Identical Twin Brother)
 * The Muppets Take Manhattan: Himself
 * The Muppet Christmas Carol: Fozziwig (Scrooge's First Employer)
 * Muppet Treasure Island: Young Squire Trelawney (and Mr Bimbo)
 * Muppets Tonight: Himself
 * Muppets From Space: Himself
 * It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie: Himself
 * The Muppets' Wizard of Oz: The Cowardly Lion

Fozzie's family
Fozzie's mother is Emily Bear. Fozzie has a cousin (who looks just like him) who appeared on The Muppet Show, but apparently he has no more respect for his relative's talent than anyone else. Fozzie also mentioned an uncle in The Muppet Movie.

Family Members
 * Emily Bear (Mrs. Bear) -- Mother
 * Mr. Bear -- Father
 * Freddie Bear -- Younger brother
 * Fozzie's Grandpa
 * Fozzie's Uncle
 * Fozzie's Cousin
 * Kermit the Frog -- Twin brother ("The Great Muppet Caper" only)
 * Kermit and Fozzie's Dad -- ''("The Great Muppet Caper" only)

Performing Fozzie
In the two pilot episodes of The Muppet Show Fozzie had a mechanism which allowed his cheeks to move and his voice was very gruff. During the remainder of the first season, Fozzie was a bit more plump, and had ears that wiggled.

Fozzie was rebuilt for the second season of The Muppet Show; he was given a brighter orange hue, a tighter overall design, and a less "dopey" appearance. A special mechanism allowed his eyebrows to move, but the effect was barely noticeable, especially when he wore his hat. This eyebrow feature was removed, when he was replaced with yet another puppet just seven episodes into the second season.

Trivia

 * Fozzie was named after puppet builder Faz Fazakas, who created the mechanism that allowed Fozzie to wiggle his ears.


 * Kermit and Fozzie play identical twins in The Great Muppet Caper.