Muppet of the Fortnight: Big Mean Carl

I do believe I've fallen behind and am a week late in posting a new Muppet of the Fortnight.  It doesn't seem like these are my most popular posts so I don't know if anyone really gives a hoot.  I will apologize regardless.  Keep your hoots, you might need them later.

Now let's talk about Big Mean Carl!

["Hi everybody, my name is Carl!"]

Alright, I'm going to be honest in saying that me and Carl aren't overly familiar.  Truth be told, when I went to write this column, I just Googled 'Muppets' and looked at the images to pick somebody to write about.  I saw the above picture of Carl and was like, "Yes!"  But I only recognized the face, I didn't recall the name, and had to think a bit about any appearances I could remember...and I only came up with one: the shitty Christmas special with Lady Gaga from last year.

Ok, so truthfully, it wasn't all shitty.  The Muppets had some decent segments in between the musical performances.  The rest of it was the problem.  I don't hate Lady Gaga, I'm fairly indifferent to her, but it was just a big-ass commercial for her new album disguised as a Christmas special.  It was pretty unpleasant.  But again, the Muppet segments in between were fairly ok and saved it from being a complete waste of time.  Anyway, as it pertains to Big Mean Carl, our man of the hour, I do distinctly recall him being a highlight and perhaps the highlight as I remember my wife and I laughing at his bit more than anything else.  He auditions to be on it with a magic act that involves making his assistant disappear...by eating him.

[Let's be honest, that assistant looks delicious...]

Now, I had to go and do some research on ol' Carl and apparently he did a few variations on this skit on Muppets Tonight.  I have to admit, big of a Muppets fan as I am, I only recall seeing a few episodes of that show when I was younger and have never managed to revisit it since.
...oh crap, there goes my credibility...

So enough about me, let's get back to Carl!

 

["Hi everybody, I'm still Carl!"]

So the bit is usually that Carl comes out with an act (ventriloquist, psychic, etc.) and ends up eating the other character.  That's his gimmick.  Simple but effective.

[Finally a psychic that's not a fraud!]

There's something about muppet-eating-muppet scenes that I really like even though they kind of break the magic and make it clear it's just a puppet getting shoved into the mouth of another puppet that's got an opening somewhere in the back of their black fabric gullet.  It's like that peek behind the curtain where understanding the magic doesn't kill the magic but makes you appreciate it more.  They're so goddamn good at this puppetry that you forget they're puppets and then for that split second when Big Mean Carl shoves some poor bugger into his gaping maw you're like, "I see how they did that" and for a moment, they are puppets, but that's fine because HE ATE THE OTHER ONE.

So what else can I say about Big Mean Carl?  He's got an amusing and memorable look with his horns, bulging eyes, bulbous nose, and cavernous mouth, and he's got a good shtick that makes for memorable skits.  He's funny stuff.  You don't always have to be a layered superstar like Kermit, sometimes you can just be the big hilarious monster that eats things/people and be awesome in your own right.  Keep up the good work, Carl.

[Oh yeah, sometimes he's a bunny...Carl rules.]