This year he's 40 years old, and he's one of the first of his kind I ever looked up to (so to speak).Gonzo The Great, formerly Cigar Box Frackle, (performed with nothing short of genius by Dave Goelz), star of The Muppet Show on stage and screens large and small, appearing in comics, cartoons, theme parks and lunchboxes, this anything muppet is not so much a favorite character as he is one of my very first personal heroes.
Without shame, I assure you, I love Gonzo.
While I have never pursued his interests (I don't even endure roller coasters well, so I won't be catching cannonballs any time soon) and I never dated outside my species (I'd never knock Camilla the Chicken, it seems to work for them), I certainly admire Gonzo's unquenchable enthusiasm.
I hope never to live in a bus station locker or cement mixer, but I'm glad someone can, does, and loves it.
I can't twist my nose completely upside down (oh, not for lack of trying, thanks for the memories, six-year old Mike), but I want to never be afraid to try new things.
Obscure of origin, snazzy of suits, and with the finest of friends, he's known as a weirdo or a whatever.
In one of my favorite exchanges in Boom! Studios The Muppet Show Comic Book by the splendid Roger Langridge, Scooter, pressing for information on Gonzo's species for the insurance forms, approaches him in hospital following a mad, daredevil stunt with a good question:
Weirdo. Artist. Whatever.
1 comment:
I realise that as a vegetarian I'm not much of an expert in avian anatomy, but how the hell did you get 'turkey' out of that? Are your supermarket Butterballs getting gamma radiation?
P.S. Why does Gonzo's schnoz look like someone took a tire pump to it in that comic?
P.P.S. Write the book.
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