Carrying from both ends

Fozzie's ladder trick

Grover deals with a long ladder.

A gag used in cartoons and films where a character is seen carrying a comically long object. We see them holding from the front, then when the end is reached, the same character is holding it.

For the Muppets, the technique is often achieved with the use of two puppets of a single character on both ends of the object.

References

• In a Sesame Street lecture sketch, Kermit and Grover show short and long using two ladders. Grover carries them both, insisting that he tackle the long one alone. He passes by Kermit with the front and by the end of his talk, he passes by again with the end to Kermit's shock.

• Biff is seen carrying a ladder from both ends (with Sully in the middle) in "We Coulda."

• Big Bird acts as both the locomotive and caboose of a pretend train made up of kids in Sesame Street Episode 3002.

• Niki's dad is seen at the front and back end of a ladder in the Sesame English episode, "All in the Family."

• In a short clip seen on the "Do Not Push" button on The Muppets' DxD site, Fozzie Bear is seen carrying a ladder from both ends, taking to the camera as he carries the end through.

• In "Elmo's World: Building Things," three Telly Monsters are seen carrying a long plank through the frame.

• Two Fozzies push a long cake in the 2015 "Pure Imagination" music video.

• Furgus Fuzz carries both ends of a ladder in the Furchester Hotel episode "Changing Rooms."

• Cookie Monster carries a long plank of wood from the beginning, middle, and end in Episode 5003.

Animation/Illustration

Although not as technically impressive as live-action and puppetry which use camera tricks or duplicates to achieve the effect, the trope has been employed in animated instances as well.

• Baby Animal demonstrates the effect twice while building a house in the Muppet Babies episode "Six-to-Eight Weeks": once with a ladder, and again with a wooden plank.

• An early sketch in the third part of The Muppet Show Comic Book: Family Reunion has what appears to be Beauregard doing this gag. But at the end, it's revealed that Beauregard's identical Cousin Mo is helping out at the theater.

• The animated lyric video of "ABC-DEF-GHI" twice shows Big Bird walking past holding a banner of the titular "word" attached to signposts at both ends.

• Through stop-motion, George the Farmer shows the "beginning" and "end" of a ladder.

See also

• Duplicate characters