Pepe the King Prawn

Pepe the King Prawn was introduced in Muppets Tonight in 1996, as a companion to Seymour the Elephant. The pair worked at the KMUP studios, as elevator operators in the first season and as commissary chefs in the second season, but they always aspired to onscreen stardom. When Muppets Tonight went off the air, Pepe ditched his partner, and Seymour never appeared again.

Pepe established himself as a "solo act" in the 1999 film Muppets from Space. He is often used as the butt of jokes or victim of accidents.

The four-armed Pepe is very proud of being a king prawn, and takes great offense if anyone refers to him as a shrimp ("I am not a shrimp! I am a king prawn, okay?"). He speaks with a heavy Spanish accent, often punctuating his sentences with "...okay?" Puppeteer Bill Barretta based the accent on his wife's aunt, who is known in the family as "Maria Theresa Okay".

He starred in several commercials for Long John Silver's in 2002.

He is an occasional correspondent on movies.go.com's Statler & Waldorf: From the Balcony, where - among other things - he interviewed Jodie Foster and other actors on the red carpet of Flightplan.

Pepe's popularity and irreverence, along with Bill Barretta's improvisational skills, have resulted in Pepe's becoming something of a go-to character when it comes to DVD extra features. Pepe introduces much of the behind-the-scenes material on the DVDs for It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie and The Muppets Wizard of Oz, while "Pepe's Profiles" of various Muppet characters are featured on the 'Kermit's 50th Anniversary Edition' releases of The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island.

Interviews
In July 1999, Pepe participated in an online chat at TVGuide.com, where he spilled some of his deepest secrets:

On his climb to stardom: "Originally, my name was Pepino Rodrigo Serrano Gonzales. This is too long, okay. I started from the bottom. I was a chef in Madrid, Spain. But the boss didn't like me to sing in the kitchen, okay. So I left Madrid quickly, okay, looking for a new lifestyle in Hollywood. There were one too many close calls in the kitchen. I was mistaken for an appetizer, okay."

On his Hollywood future: "I expect several (Oscar) nominations, okay. One for good looks. Acting. And choreography, okay. And foley. Also, I am currently speaking with Miramax head Harvey Weinstein, okay, on a remake of Don Quixote. I love Hollywood, okay!"

Who are his influences? "Marlon Brando, Ruth Buzzi, Topo Gigio, Mighty Mouse."

On the inevitable comparisons to Ricky Martin: "Eh, si, I understand this is a handsome man. But perhaps one day we could meet. I understand he can sing. Ees this true? If so, maybe he will sing with me, okay. I challenge him to a sing-off!"

Trivia

 * Due to his sometimes impenetrable accent, Pepe calls the Muppets "The Muffins" or "The Muppens." He regularly refers to Kermit as "Kermin," Fozzie as "Fotzie," and Rizzo as "Ritzo," and, in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, he calls Scooter "Scooper." This often subtle habit was brought to the fore, if not set in stone, when in Muppet Monster Adventure for Playstation, Pepe's speech was rendered, dialect intact, as onscreen text ("We got to save Kermin and the others, okay").


 * In the "test pilot" episode of Statler & Waldorf: From The Balcony, Pepe was played by Drew Massey.


 * In a TV appearance on CBS's "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson", Pepe shed some more light on his life:


 * The show's airdate (June 19th, 2006) was Pepe's 30th birthday. That makes his date of birth June 19th, 1976.


 * Pepe is finally engaged to a girl named Christina; she's from Madrid, Spain. No more "womens chasing" for the casanova from now on.


 * Together they already have a child of 3 years -- half human and half prawn -- which led to some problems for the mother (she didn't know if she should feed the baby, or eat it). Craig presented two photo-edited baby pictures, showing a human baby with antennae and a shrimp's tail.


 * A little later it was revealed that they didn't stop there, and as of June 2006 they have about 1,500 children total -- so Pepe might open his own sea food restaurant chain soon...