When Frank Oz appeared on Travis Smiley this weekend, in order to talk about his upcoming movie "Death at a Funeral" -- which, we can't help feeling, sounds both morbid and tres convenient -- he couldn't escape a series of questions about his history with The Muppet troupe.
Tavis: What is it about the Muppets that worked so well?
Frank Oz: I have no idea.
Frank Oz, as you probably know if you're lingering around a shady fan-site, was the creator and performer of Miss Piggy, and lent his voice and hands to a myriad of other characters, from Grover to Yoda, Bert to Fozzie Bear.
On the subject of the Muppets, Frank had this to say: "They were good characters. They were good, but they were hip and they weren't namby-pamby." -- And you've gotta pause and just love the moment when a successful movie director uses the words "Namby-Pampy" in an interview. Do go on. -- "They weren't, like, goody two-shoes good. They were still irreverent, anarchic. And we as performers, when I used to perform, we actually cared for each other. There's a lot of affection there. So even though the characters are fighting, you know there's affection within that fight. And beyond that, I think there's - each character that I do or Jim Henson did or the other guys still do, they're aspects of ourselves, and they're aspects of you. If you don't have those aspects, you can't be touched. And I think that irreverent, anarchic - the familiarity and mirroring your own self, I think part of those things."
To read the full interview, go to Travis Smiley's website here.
Tavis: What is it about the Muppets that worked so well?
Frank Oz: I have no idea.
Frank Oz, as you probably know if you're lingering around a shady fan-site, was the creator and performer of Miss Piggy, and lent his voice and hands to a myriad of other characters, from Grover to Yoda, Bert to Fozzie Bear.
On the subject of the Muppets, Frank had this to say: "They were good characters. They were good, but they were hip and they weren't namby-pamby." -- And you've gotta pause and just love the moment when a successful movie director uses the words "Namby-Pampy" in an interview. Do go on. -- "They weren't, like, goody two-shoes good. They were still irreverent, anarchic. And we as performers, when I used to perform, we actually cared for each other. There's a lot of affection there. So even though the characters are fighting, you know there's affection within that fight. And beyond that, I think there's - each character that I do or Jim Henson did or the other guys still do, they're aspects of ourselves, and they're aspects of you. If you don't have those aspects, you can't be touched. And I think that irreverent, anarchic - the familiarity and mirroring your own self, I think part of those things."
To read the full interview, go to Travis Smiley's website here.
