Weekly Muppet Wednesdays: Sidebottom

Today's article is written by Ryan Dosier. 

SIDEBOTTOM

Performed by...
Dave Goelz

First appearance...
Fraggle Rock Episode 206: "Boober's Dream" (1984)

Most recent appearance...
Fraggle Rock Episode 403: "Sidebottom Blues" (1986)

Best known role...
Boober Fraggle's fun-loving, partying alter-ego; see also: the exact opposite of Boober

WHO IS SIDEBOTTOM?
Sidebottom is a psychological manifestation or personality quirk of constantly morose Boober Fraggle. Boober seemingly has little to no control over his alter ego for the most part, as Sidebottom has run amok in Boober's head and outside of it in three different episodes of Fraggle Rock. Sidebottom's existence is rather ambiguous--is he a projection of Boober's brain? Is he part of Boober's split personality? It's hard to say. What we do know is that Sidebottom is Boober's fun side that he keeps on the bottom--hence the name Sidebottom.

Sidebottom first appeared in the Season 2 episode "Boober's Dream." In the episode, Sidebottom is part of Boober's dreams (but for Boober they're more like nightmares). His fun-loving, party all the time attitude keeps Boober awake and plagues him for days. Boober decides to bring his friends Wembley, Gobo, Mokey, and Red into his dream to help. Sidebottom tries to sway the others to convince Boober that he should become a permanent part of Boober's personality. After realizing that Sidebottom is dangerous, the other Fraggles realize their friend Boober is wonderful just the way he is.

The first time Sidebottom came out of Boober to play and cause mischief was later in Season 2 in the episode "Boober's Quiet Day." In this episode, Sidebottom disrupts Boober's planned quiet day by convincing him to lie to the other Fraggles to avoid responsibilities and have his quiet day. Of course, this backfires and Boober ends up having to impersonate the Old Gypsy Lady because of his lies. With some coaching from Sidebottom, Boober does a fantastic song as the Gypsy Lady, but is caught in his lies when the actual Old Gypsy Lady appears. In the end, Boober realized that he had to integrate his two personalities and let himself have fun once in awhile.

Sidebottom's final appearance was in Season 4 in the episode "Sidebottom Blues." In this episode, Boober is worried that his friends think he's a bore (he just now worries about this?) and decides to let Sidebottom take over to show them a good time. Sidebottom takes on the role of Dr. Fun and leads Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, and Red into the Gorg's garden where he hypnotizes Junior Gorg, jeopardizes Wembley's life thanks to a bonkleberry allergy, and makes Boober realize that his friends think he's fun when he's himself. This episode also features a wonderful Sidebottom song "Fun is Here to Stay."

WHY DOES FRAGGLE ROCK NEED SIDEBOTTOM?
Sidebottom represents a wonderful, wacky, and zany side of Boober, showing that he isn't just a laundry-loving stick in the mud. However, what Sidebottom really does for Boober is allow him to recognize that he can let loose and have fun and still love laundry and fear germs and all of the things he usually does. Sidebottom gives Boober an excuse to have fun but keeps him grounded and reminds him that too much fun is just as bad as too much tedium and drudgery.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

Interview with Legendary Muppet Performer DAVE GOELZ, Part 3

Interview with Dave Goelz

By Ryan Dosier

Dave Goelz’s Answers © Dave Goelz 2013

PART 3

RYAN:   We’re back with the one and only Dave Goelz, who just cracked up over my joke about a goat and a dwarf and a jar of peanut butter. Any jokes you’d like to share, Dave?

DAVE:   Now Ryan, tell the truth. We didn’t go anywhere, and you didn’t tell me a joke. This is a written interview. And I can’t remember jokes.

RYAN:   Then came Fraggle Rock, a series that I know is very special to everyone involved in it. How did this show’s differences from The Muppet Show challenge and liberate the performers working on it?

DAVE:   At first I felt limited by the show’s agenda, with its focus on modeling good behavior for kids. Eventually I found that it became kind of therapeutic. It was a chance to develop as a person, and that triggered a lot of growth and change for me.

RYAN:   What was it like on the occasions when Jim came to perform in an episode of Fraggle Rock?

DAVE:   It was great fun. He did Convincin’ John and Cantus the Minstrel, both of whom were wonderful characters. Jocelyn Stevenson wrote the latter for Jim, and it captured his wisdom and whimsy perfectly.

RYAN:   How much of Boober exists within you? Do you admire socks, tedium, and drudgery as much as he does?

DAVE:   Each of my characters comes from a part of myself. In Boober’s case, it’s the part that fears interviewers and would rather retreat to laundry. Which reminds me I need dryer sheets.

RYAN:   Boober formed tight bonds with many other characters on the show. Which of his friends do you think is the most important to Boober?

DAVE:   That would be Wembley, for sure.

RYAN:   One of Boober’s most hilarious relationships is with Sidebottom, his fun-loving alter-ego. Can you talk about the episodes where you played both Boober and Sidebottom and the difficulties and rewards that came with this?

DAVE:   Jocelyn Stevenson thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if Boober could overcome his fear. She hit upon the device of Boober meeting his alter ego in a dream, with an ensuing power struggle.

My favorite of the three episodes is Boober’s Quiet Day, which is structured as a farce, and results in a compromise––hence, a little growth for Boober. It helped me find more fun in him thereafter.

The shoot was a challenge, as I performed both sides of Boober and Sidebottom’s dialogue. Someone read off-lines while I performed each character, using blue-screen for the second character. I worked closely with our director, Eric Till, and our video switcher, Harley Walker.

RYAN:   What was it like performing Philo while filming the Trash Heap scenes with Jerry Nelson as Marjory and Richard Hunt as Gunge?

DAVE:   I loved it. Jerry was incredible with Marjory. His character and manipulation are just so alive. Richard created Gunge, who was such a great character that I just did the same thing with Philo. The “yeeeaaahhhh” was Richard’s. My favorite part of them was doing background vocals when Marjory sang. Search youtube for “Fraggle Rock I’ve Seen Trouble.”

RYAN:   The World’s Oldest Fraggle is one of my favorite characters on the show. How did this character come about?

DAVE:   They wrote the character and our producer Larry Mirkin asked me to perform him. My contribution was to make him kind of senile, and that he compensated for his lapses by blaming his flunky, who was played by John Pattison.

RYAN:   What were filming the Traveling Matt segments like? Were people receptive to a Fraggle on their roller coasters, in their farms, and throwing their money into fountains?

DAVE:   I don’t remember too much about attention from the public while we were shooting, but we seemed to have access to every place we wanted to go.

RYAN:   What are your favorite Traveling Matt segments?

DAVE:   I love the episodes when the legendary Traveling Matt comes home to Fraggle Rock and is exposed as a fool. Gobo wants to be proud, but Matt is utterly incompetent, and Red makes fun of him. Great dynamic! I also adore the episode that shows Matt as a little boy who wants to be an explorer just like his Uncle Gobo, who was a very accomplished explorer. Matt, of course, was incompetent even as a child.

RYAN:   What about your favorite Boober moments?

DAVE:   Boober’s Quiet Day. See above. Also the episode Marooned.

RYAN:   One of the most important aspects of Fraggle Rock was the music. What were some of your favorite songs on the show?

DAVE:   I loved everything that Dennis Lee and Phil Balsam wrote. Those two were just fantastic together. I saw them recently at the Fraggle 31st Year Reunion. They are lovely people, and so talented.

RYAN:   What does Fraggle Rock mean to you?

DAVE:   Harmony.

Jeez, are you ever going to stop with the questions?

RYAN:   What do you think is the lasting legacy of Fraggle Rock?

DAVE:   I’m thrilled that people in their thirties and forties are passing it along to their children. What a great feeling.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

Brand New Fraggle Music Video!!

We have been wondering for years if we would ever see them again... but here we are, in the year of their 30th anniversary, that Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, Boober, Red, and Uncle Traveling Matt return in full force!! That's right, thanks to the combined efforts of The Jim Henson Company, Chris Hardwick, The Nerdist Channel, and the Ben Folds Five, the FRAGGLES ARE BACK!! Check out the amazing music video, also featuring Rob Cordry and Anna Kendrick, for the new Ben Folds Five song "Do It Anyway" below to witness the return for yourselves! (Be sure to watch the ENTIRE video!)



Also don't miss this fantastic behind the scenes video below to hear Red Fraggle (Karen Prell) discuss how much fun she's had making this thing called a video with "Mr. Ben With His Three And The Other Two Once They Show Up." Enjoy!!

WELCOME BACK, FRAGGLES!!!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com

Weekly Muppet Wednesdays: Boober Fraggle

Today's Weekly Muppet Wednesdays post is written by our very own Lisa the Intern!

BOOBER FRAGGLE


Performed by...
Dave Goelz


First Appearance...
Fraggle Rock Episode 101: “Beginnings” (1983)

Most Recent Appearance...
Fraggle Rock Episode 513: “Change of Address” (1987)


Best known role...
Laundry-washer, cook, and medic for the Fraggle Five; superstitious pessimist.

Memorable quote...
“I’m worried about enclosed spaces and death and pain and spiders and words with R in them and—did you want the whole list, or just a general overview?”


WHO IS BOOBER FRAGGLE?
On the surface, Boober seems to be the anti-Fraggle. He doesn’t like singing, dancing, games, swimming, jokes, parties, noise, or… well, just about anything else that Fraggles live by. Or at least, he claims he doesn’t. Boober prefers the quiet drudgery of endless loads of laundry, peacefully watching the dust settle and the laundry dry, cooking up delicious feasts for his Fraggle friends, and listening to the gentle drip-drip drop-drop of stalactites. He devotes his life to the avoidance of germs and injury—two of the things he fears most. (There is, of course, a very long list of the things he fears most… but those two are somewhere near the top.)

Boober is Fraggle Rock’s self-proclaimed expert on death, doom, and destruction, but he does have a fun side. He represses this side of himself as best he can, which is how he ended up with an alter-ego, a second personality, known as Sidebottom—the fun side of Boober that he keeps on the bottom. Sidebottom comes out every once in a while to help (or force) Boober to cut loose and have fun, but Sidebottom is nothing if not extreme, going so far as to dress up as the Old Gypsy Lady or hypnotize a Gorg for the sake of a laugh.

But Boober doesn’t always need Sidebottom’s help to have fun; like it or not, he is a Fraggle, and Fraggles live for fun. Boober is as prone to burst into song as any of his friends, and you can often find him laughing with everyone else when there’s a big party going on (see, for example, “Catch the Tail by the Tiger,” “Mirror, Mirror,” and “The Honk of Honks”). He will even play tricks on his fellow Fraggles with the excuse of testing their beluviouses (Fraggle tails, which flair out when the Fraggle is scared).

Because Boober is so dedicated to the avoidance of illness and injury, he knows all sorts of remedies for just about any ailment a Fraggle may encounter. With this expertise, he is something of a medic for the other Fraggles. He is also more than happy to do all their laundry—cleanliness is another great way to avoid germs, after all—and although his cooking skills are sometimes questionable, he enjoys whipping up any sort of dish.


BOOBER FRAGGLE SONGS
Despite his occasional protests that the Fraggles sing too much, Boober enjoys a good song as much as anyone else in the Rock. Here are some of his classics…

• “Get Blue” – episode 115: “I Don’t Care”
• “The Friendship Song” (with Red Fraggle) – episode 117: “Marooned”
• “I’m Never Alone” – episode 202: “Boober Rock”
• “Party Hard (Who Knows What You See)” – episode 206: “Boober’s Dream”
• “Dump the Stuff Out” – episode 219: “The Doomsday Soup”
• “I Sniff the Rose” – episode 223: “Boober’s Quiet Day”
• “Talkin’ ‘Bout Germs” – episode 306: “Pebble Pox Blues”
• “Fun is Here to Stay” – episode 403: “Sidebottom’s Blues”

WHY DOES FRAGGLE ROCK NEED BOOBER FRAGGLE?
Well, who else is going to do all that laundry?

Seriously, though… Fraggle Rock needs Boober for balance. It’s easy for the Fraggles to get carried away without realizing when they could be in danger, and Boober forces them to be aware of the possibility of trouble. Yes, he thinks that everything is dangerous, but it takes quite an extreme Fraggle to balance out the entire rest of the Rock. And though his extremist attitude makes him easy for the other Fraggles to write off, he can and does take action when it’s necessary. Without him, Fraggle Rock would be a much dirtier and more dangerous place.

Besides… he has all the funniest lines in the show.

 The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier