Anything Muppets

Four examples of Anything Muppet characters. Watch on YouTube.

Semi-blank versions of Green, Fat Blue, and Lavender, from "Fat Cat".

A large family of Anything Muppets.

Anything Muppets (or "AMs", as they're referred to in the studio) are "empty" Muppet heads. Facial features, bodies and clothes can be added to make any kind of character. A similar group of puppets known as Whatnots appeared on The Muppet Show.

The Anything People were introduced in the first episode of Sesame Street in a sketch involving Gordon. An Anything Muppet appeared without any facial features, and Gordon introduced her as an Anything Person and proceeded to give her and four other Anything Muppets who appeared in sequence eyes, noses, and hair to form a family.

During the first seasons of Sesame Street, they were known as "The Anything People" who could be anything they wanted. Usually the live actors, like Bob, would turn them into different characters. This concept was abandoned after a few seasons, although every once in a while an Anything Muppet character would take off his nose or lose his mustache.

Although these puppets were usually used to create human characters, animals were also sometimes concocted from Anything Muppets, until the late 1980s, including the Tortoise and the Hare, the Three Little Pigs and Captain Vegetable. This practice could be seen in The Miss Muffet Play. Aliens, such as The Gonk and The Geefle, and monsters such as Bennett Snerf and Arlene Frantic could also be made from Anything Muppets.

Main Sesame Street characters that are made from Anything Muppets include Count von Count, Prairie Dawn, Mr. Johnson, Roosevelt Franklin, Guy Smiley, Lefty the Salesman, the Twiddlebugs, and Sherlock Hemlock.

Types

The following types of Anything Muppets appear on Sesame Street; terms for these are derived from CTW style guides and other sources:

• Fat Blue (and live hand variant)
• Green
• Pumpkin (and live hand variant)
• Purple
• Lavender
• Large Lavender Live Hand
• Orange Gold (and live hand variant)
• Little Anything Muppets, a sub-group which includes Hot Pink, Reddish Magenta, and Orange Pumpkin

In addition, a few other types have been used less frequently; official titles are currently unknown.

• Large orange live hand

Laundromat Manager, King Fred Charming, Murray the Mediocre, Sir John Feelgood, Mo, The Grand Royal Square Lover, Geppetto

• Magenta

Flo, Smelly, Breakfast Club Singer

• Large pink live hand

Prairie Dawn's Mom, Sadie Schwartzbaum, Virginia Virginia

Notes

• The term "AM" is also used to refer to various background characters, such as monsters, animals, Honkers, Dingers, and other creatures. In these cases, scripts call AMs "animated Muppets".