Recommended music: The Muppet Show Episode 209: Floyd Pepper – “New York State of Mind”
Finally, this #SomethingElseSunday, we’re still celebrating 70 years of the Muppets! From the Palisades Toys Muppets line, it’s Sgt. Floyd Pepper!
The bass player of the Electric Mayhem, Floyd first appeared in the second Muppet Show pilot “The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence” back in March of 1975. Besides his role in The Electric Mayhem house band, he was involved in humorous sketches in each of the five seasons of The Muppet Show and appeared in 85 of the 120 episodes.
Floyd’s last name and the overall look of his typical costume are a direct reference to the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album by the Beatles. Puppeteer Jerry Nelson said of Floyd: ““I always thought of Floyd as a character who had probably been a beatnik first, and then — just like real life — probably been a beatnik, and then he was into jazz and poetry, and then he probably went along with the chase into rock and roll, because he needed a job.”
In the Palisades Muppet toy line, Floyd appeared in wave 2, just after Dr. Teeth to add to the Electric Mayhem lineup. The standard version seen here came with a red shirt and red bass guitar, while the variant came with a blue shirt and white bass. Both versions came with a stand and cord to connect the guitar to an included amp. With Floyd’s puppeteer using their right hand to perform the body, he is naturally left-handed, which means it was pretty tricky to get him to hold his (now somewhat oversized) guitar like this, as I usually have him posed righty. 😄
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