Muppets!

CNN.com has an article titled Surprising stories behind 20 Muppet characters, which I find quite humorous. I just bought Jim Henson's Labyrinth and forgot how much I love those crazy puppets.

Here are a few Muppet background checks:

Miss Piggy is apparently from Iowa. She started as a minor character on "The Muppet Show," but anyone who knows Miss Piggy can see that she wouldn't settle for anything "minor." Her first TV appearance was actually on an Herb Alpert special. It wasn't until 1976, when "The Muppet Show" premiered, that she became the glamorous blonde with a penchant for frog that we know and love today. Frank Oz once said that Miss Piggy grew up in Iowa; her dad died when she was young and her mother was mean. She had to enter beauty contests to make money.

**THOUGHTS FROM ME: MISS PIGGY REMINDS ME OF A VOLUPTUOUS AND LOUD FRIEND WHO HAD A PHYSICALLY SMALLER BF WHOM SHE SNOODLED IN HER BREASTISIS AND ADORED DEARLY.

Oscar the Grouch is performed by the same guy who does Big Bird, Carroll Spinney. Spinney said he based Oscar's cranky voice on a particular New York cab driver he once had the pleasure of riding with. He was originally an alarming shade of orange. In Pakistan, his name is Akhtar and he lives in an oil barrel. In Turkey, he is Kirpik and lives in a basket. And in Israel, it's not Oscar at all -- it's his cousin, Moishe Oofnik, who lives in an old car.

**THOUGHTS FROM ME: I WANT TO SEE THIS MOISHE OOFNIK CHARACTER. HE SOUNDS LIKE A REAL GROUCHMAHOLIC!

Gonzo: What exactly is Gonzo? Nobody knows. Even Jim Henson had no particular species in mind. Over the course of "The Muppet Show," "Muppet Babies" and various Muppet movies, Gonzo has been referred to as a "Whatever", a "Weirdo" and an alien. Whatever he is, he first appeared on the scene in 1970's The Great Santa Claus Switch. His name was Snarl the Cigar Box Frackle. In 1974, he showed up on a TV special for Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. He became Gonzo the Great by the first season of The Muppet Show and developed his thing for Camilla the Chicken almost accidentally: During one episode where chickens were auditioning for the show, puppeteer Dave Goelz ad-libbed, "Don't call us, we'll call you... nice legs, though!" It was decided then and there that Gonzo would have a bizarre romantic interest in chickens.

**THOUGHTS FROM ME: GONZO IS DEF A PEDOPHILE/CREEPSTER IN MUPPET FORM.