Beaker

Beaker is the hapless assistant of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. He made his first appearance in Muppet Labs sketches in the second season of The Muppet Show.

Prior to Beaker's debut, Dr. Honeydew appeared in Muppet Labs segments by himself, but the timid assistant added a new level of comedy to the sketches. Dr. Honeydew's experiments and inventions always seem to go awry, and Beaker is their perpetual victim. He has been shrunk, cloned, deflated, turned invisible, and blown up, but he always comes back for more.

Beaker normally communicates through a series of high-pitched "mee-mee-mee" noises. (In books and merchandise, it's often spelled as "Meep".) In some of his earlier appearances, Beaker's language sounded more like that of someone who was too terrified to get any real words out of his mouth. His "meeping" language began in episode 219. He did manage to muster "Bye Bye" in the Banana Sharpener Muppet Labs segment. In The Muppet Movie, his words were the closest they ever got to being real words, as his line "Sadly temporary" was quite clear, as well as his line "Make-up ready!". He re-used the "Sadly temporary" line in Muppets From Space.

One key element to Beaker's development was that, unlike Bunsen, who was rarely seen outside the Labs, Beaker took more of an involvement in the show. He was often seen backstage, and had cameo bits in other numbers and sketches. He also served as an assistant stagehand to Beauregard, as well as an assistant video DJ to Dr. Teeth on the compilation video "Rock Music".

Beaker does a mean Little Richard impression and knows how to beatbox, as seen in Muppets Tonight.

On The Muppet Show, Beaker has sung "Feelings" and, accompanied by The Swedish Chef and Animal, "Danny Boy."

On a few occasions, such as in The Great Muppet Caper and The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show, his eyes have lit up when he got electrocuted.

Some of Beaker's more memorable roles in the specials have been in The Muppets Go To the Movies, in which Beaker plays the role of "The Angel of Death" in a foreign film, and in The Muppets at Walt Disney World, where he gets a bucket stuck on his head throughout the special.

In a 2004 Internet poll sponsored by the BBC and the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew were voted Britain's favorite cinematic scientists. They beat Star Trek's Mr. Spock, their closest rival, by a margin of 2 to 1 and won 33 percent of the 43,000 votes cast.

Main Performers

 * Richard Hunt - from The Muppet Show (1977) to Muppet*Vision 3D (1991)
 * Steve Whitmire - from The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) to Present

Alternate Performers

 * Kevin Clash - The Muppet Show Live (2001)

Filmography

 * The Muppet Show
 * Episode 202: Zero Mostel (Muppet Labs: Magnetic Carrots)
 * Episode 212: Bernadette Peters (Muppet Labs: Bunsonium)
 * Episode 215: Lou Rawls (Muppet Labs: Nuclear Shaver)
 * Episode 217: Julie Andrews (Muppet Labs: Hair-Growing Tonic)
 * Episode 219: Peter Sellers* (Muppet Labs: Teleporter)
 * Episode 221: Bob Hope (Muppet Labs: Automatic Wastebasket)
 * Episode 222: Teresa Brewer (Muppet Labs: Electric Nose Warmer)
 * Episode 301: Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge (Muppet Labs: Elevator Shoes)
 * Episode 303: Roy Clark
 * Episode 304: Gilda Radner* (Muppet Labs: Super Adhesive, "Tap Your Troubles Away")
 * Episode 305: Pearl Bailey (Muppet Labs: Edible Paper Clips)
 * Episode 306: Jean Stapleton (Muppet Labs: Shrinking Pills)
 * Episode 307: Alice Cooper (Muppet Labs: Germ Enlarger)
 * Episode 308: Loretta Lynn
 * Episode 318: Leslie Uggams (Muppet Labs: Fireproof Paper)
 * Episode 319: Elke Sommer*
 * Episode 402: Crystal Gayle (Muppet Labs: Banana Sharpener)
 * Episode 409: Beverly Sills
 * Episode 410: Kenny Rogers
 * Episode 414: Liza Minnelli
 * Episode 416: Jonathan Winters (Muppet Labs: Luggage Compressor)
 * Episode 418: Christopher Reeve (Muppet Labs: Milking Machine)
 * Episode 420: Alan Arkin
 * Episode 422: Andy Williams (Muppet Labs: Pet Converter)
 * Episode 424: Diana Ross ("Feelings")
 * Episode 502: Loretta Swit
 * Episode 504: Shirley Bassey (Muppet Labs: Alchemy)
 * Episode 514: Mac Davis* ("Another Opening, Another Show," Muppet Labs: Copying Machine, The Swedish Chef: Soup, "Poor Boy Boogie," Bear on Patrol: Outnumbered)
 * Episode 515: Carol Burnett
 * Episode 520: Wally Boag ("Danny Boy")
 * Episode 522: Buddy Rich*
 * Episode 523: Linda Ronstadt (''a * indicates that Beaker played a significant role in the Backstage plot)
 * The Muppet Movie
 * The Muppets Go To the Movies
 * The Great Muppet Caper
 * The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show
 * The Muppets Take Manhattan (Wedding Finale)
 * Rock Music with the Muppets
 * The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years
 * A Muppet Family Christmas
 * Family Computing
 * The Jim Henson Hour
 * Episode 107: Health and Fitness (Muppet Labs: Exercise Shoes)
 * The Muppets at Walt Disney World
 * The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson
 * Muppet*Vision 3D
 * The Muppet Christmas Carol
 * Holiday Greetings from the Ed Sullivan Show
 * Muppet Treasure Island
 * Muppets Tonight
 * Episode 101: Michelle Pfeiffer
 * Episode 106: Tony Bennett
 * Episode 107: Sandra Bullock
 * Episode 108: Jason Alexander
 * Episode 202: Rick Moranis (Muppet Labs: Micro Shrink-o-Matic Machine)
 * Episode 203: Heather Locklear
 * Episode 204: Pierce Brosnan
 * Episode 205: Don Rickles & Coolio
 * Episode 206: Paula Abdul (Muppet Labs: Robot Abraham Lincoln)
 * Episode 208: The Cameo Show (Little Richard impersonation)
 * Episode 210: The Gary Cahuenga Episode
 * Episode 211: Andie MacDowell (Star Trek cruise)
 * Muppets From Space
 * Muppetisms
 * Bunsen (the scientist) and Beaker (the guinea-pig)
 * Bunsen (the scientist) and Beaker (the assistant)
 * "Keep Fishin'" music video
 * It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
 * "We Are Family" music video
 * The Muppets' Wizard of Oz
 * Muppets TV
 * Disney Xtreme Digital

Album Appearances

 * The Muppet Christmas Carol (soundtrack)
 * Muppet Beach Party
 * Kermit Unpigged

Book Appearances

 * The Comic Muppet Book
 * Fozzie's Big Book of Sidesplitting Jokes
 * Muppets at Sea
 * Two for the Show
 * Gonzo and the Giant Chicken
 * The Muppet Guide to Magnificent Manners
 * Jim Henson's Bedtime Stories (Where's Beaker?)

Video Game Appearances

 * Muppets Inside
 * Muppet Race Mania
 * Jim Henson's Muppets
 * Muppets: On With the Show
 * Muppet Party Cruise
 * Spy Muppets: License to Croak

Character Merchandise

 * Igel doll, and the Sababa Re-release
 * Beaker Action Figure
 * Vanishing Cream Beaker Action Figure
 * Invisible Beaker Action Figure
 * Mega Beaker Action Figure
 * Beaker bust
 * Stepping Out Beaker Action Figure
 * Beaker Kubrick
 * Beaker bookmark
 * Super Beaker Action Figure
 * Poseable PVC
 * Mini Beaker
 * Muppets 25th Anniversary Happy Meal plush