Dr. Bob, just phoning it in as usual
Dr. Bob, as played by Rowlf the Dog, is the jocular surgeon on the "Veterinarian's Hospital" sketches from The Muppet Show. Dr. Bob was invariably described by The Announcer as "a former orthopedic surgeon" and then "a quack who has gone to the dogs." Assisted by Nurse Janice and Nurse Piggy, Dr. Bob would crack horrible puns and old vaudeville jokes while attending to often unorthodox patients, ranging from cows to a telephone. Most of the patients join in the frivolity, and Dr. Bob almost never performs surgery on camera.
Outside of the sketches, however, Dr. Bob is occasionally referred to as a personage in his own right and not just a character played by Rowlf, such as in Episode 506, where he tries to fix up Humpty Dumpty (with condiments mostly).
In Jim Henson's Muppets Comic Strip, Rowlf very rarely appeared as himself, but Dr. Bob was a regular character, appearing as personal physician to such patients as Miss Piggy and Statler, and used as an outlet for medical humor rather than old puns.
Merchandise[]
- Sababa Toys released a small plush version of Dr. Bob in a special Veterinarian's Hospital four-pack, alongside Nurse Piggy, Nurse Janice, and Camilla.
- Palisades Toys produced a prototype Dr. Bob action figure as part of a planned line of Veterinarian's Hospital action figures, but a final toy was never released.