Cross-dressing characters



The Muppets have borrowed many motifs from vaudeville or burlesque, especially in their earliest variety show appearances. Drag, or female impersonation, was one of these recurring motifs, sometimes deliberately intended as such, or simply recycling a male puppet in a wig or dress for a specific sketch. The practice has its roots in many vaudeville comics who had female characters, as well as the concept of the pantomime dame (where matrons or ugly stepsisters in stage fairy tales were always men in drag).

Kermit the Frog in particular, in his earliest years, often donned a wig to lip synch to female vocalists such as Keely Smith or Rosemary Clooney. In an early appearance on The Today Show, the host complimented Jane Henson, performing the character opposite Jim Henson's Sam, on the "feminine" quality she brought to the character (though Jane tried to stress that the puppet was named Kermit, and normally male). In particular, the many Muppet Monsters have appeared incongruously as females, with their heavy brows, teeth, and generally fearsome features contrasting with feminine hair or attire; a typical example is Beautiful Day Monster, in a wig and bow, playing Lulu in the Sesame Street skit "Lulu's Back in Town."

On still other occasions, instead of a drag performance, a puppet is refurbished or recycled as a differently gendered character, a practice done with both male and female Muppets.

Characters in Drag

 * Wilkins: Several Wilkins Coffee commercials


 * Wontkins: Several Wilkins Coffee commercials


 * Baskerville the Hound: as Rowlf's dance partner in The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence


 * Cookie Monster:
 * - A "Near and Far" segment on Sesame Street.
 * - as "Little Red Cookie Hood" in multiple skits
 * - in Cindrella's dress in Episode 4061
 * - playing dress up in the book When Is Saturday


 * Kermit the Frog:
 * - singing I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face in early appearances
 * - singing in the Old Black Magic episode of Sam and Friends
 * - on an episode of What's My Line?
 * - dresses as "Ms. Mask", a lady wrestler in Episode 202 of The Muppet Show


 * Fozzie Bear: dresses as First Mate Piggy in Pigs in Space on Episode 216 of The Muppet Show


 * Beautiful Day Monster:
 * - in Episode 109 of The Muppet Show,
 * - in the skits "Lulu's Back in Town" and "Everyone Knows It's Windy" on Sesame Street
 * - in Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass


 * Gonzo: doing female impersonatons in Episode 109 of The Muppet Show


 * Telly:
 * - Telly dresses in his duck costume from Peter and the Wolf in order to play "mother" for a baby duckling he cares for in Episode 4051.


 * Gorgon Heap: Episode 201 of The Muppet Show as a chorus girl, sharing Don Knotts' dressing room.


 * Pepe the King Prawn:
 * - in a "see-through nighty" to demonstraite what not to see on TV in a V-Chip commercial
 * - Muppets From Space (in a tutu)
 * - as Miss Piggy in Episode 109 of Muppets Tonight


 * Bruce Monster: in female wig in "Me Lost Me Cookie at the Disco"


 * Maurice Monster:
 * - in female wig in "Me Lost Me Cookie at the Disco"
 * - in a dress from the 1990 Sesame Street calendar


 * Kermit the Forg: in female wig from "Me Lost Me Cookie at the Disco"


 * Icky Gunk: as female singer in "Under My Skin" from Sam and Friends


 * Harry the Hipster: as Doggy in Powder-Burn episode of Sam and Friends


 * Bert: as Mama in A Muppet Family Christmas, in Ernie's T'was The Night Before Christmas pageant.


 * Sprocket: as a poodle in Episode 410: Red's Blue Dragon of Fraggle Rock


 * Whatnot as a Turkish dancer in Pachalafaka from Episode 103 of The Muppet Show


 * Boober Fraggle: as the Old Gypsy Lady in Episode 223: Boober's Quiet Day of Fraggle Rock


 * Big Head: as an operatic fat lady in the Muppet Meeting Film "How to End a Meeting."


 * Scudge: An early Sesame Street game show as Beautiful Day Monster's wife.


 * Animal: auditioning as Miss Piggy in Episode 109 of Muppets Tonight


 * Bill the Bubble Guy: as Miss Piggy in Episode 109 of Muppets Tonight!


 * Seymour the Elephant: as Miss Piggy in Episode 109 of Muppets Tonight!


 * Johnny Fiama: as Miss Piggy in Episode 109 of Muppets Tonight!


 * Earl Sinclair:
 * - as one of the Sinclair Sisters in episode 220 of Dinosaurs.
 * - as Earletta in the Dinosaurs episode, "A Working Girl."


 * Ernie: as the Queen in The Sesame Street 1977 Calendar.


 * Bob: as Prairie Dawn in a pageant.

Gender Changes

 * Featherstone: turned into The Queen in Episode 121 and Episode 202 of The Muppet Show


 * Taminella Grinderfall: became Tommy for a series of Kerns Bakery commercials.


 * Mudwell the Mudbunny: male in his one appearance on Fraggle Rock, recycled as a Dickensian London housewife (wed to the Murray the Minstrel puppet) in The Muppet Christmas Carol


 * Hillary the Owl: debuted on The Animal Show as female, performed by Karen Prell, later recycled on the same series as Timmy the Owl, portrayed by Bill Barretta.


 * Pearl: Debuted as a girl with Deena and became a male monster in a monster barbershop quartet song about the number 4.


 * Big Head: refurbished as a female "fat lady" opera singer on Sesame Street.


 * Splurge: Although he is male, he played the mother monster in the "Monster Family" sketch on The Ed Sullivan Show. (He doesn't wear any female clothing)


 * Mean Mama: Debuted as a female in Episode 201: Don Knotts, as the angry mother of a caged animal, and later made more explicitly female through a dress and a wig. Occasionally also male.


 * Male Koozebanian Creature: briefly appeared in Episode 308: Loretta Lynn in the opening theme in the female chorus line, implying he was female.


 * Shakey Sanchez: refurbished as Princess Lulabelle in an episode of Mopatop's Shop