Animal
Animal is the drummer, appearing in The Muppet Show. He has also appeared on the Muppets Tonight show, as well as the Muppet Babies cartoon and all the Muppet movies. During performances, Animal is usually chained to the drum set, as his musical outbursts are extremely violent.
Animal: [roars]
Floyd Pepper: Oh, yeah, that's Animal. Show 'em what you do, Animal.
Animal: I what do: Eat drums!
[chews on a cymbal]
Dr Teeth: No, no, beat drums, beat drums!
Animal: Beat drums! Beat drums! [beats the drums with his head]
Floyd Pepper: Down, Animal!
Animal: Down!
Floyd Pepper: Back!
Animal: Back!
Floyd Pepper: Sit!
Animal: Sit! [He sits quietly for a moment, panting, then sniggers to the camera]
However, sometimes his wild and crazy appearance, attitude and antics are used as the source of a joke by way of a reversal of what the audience might expect from Animal, such as in this piece of dialogue during a break in the song, "Happiness Hotel", in The Great Muppet Caper:
Kermit the Frog: What's wrong with your drummer? He looks a little crazed.
Zoot: Oh, he's just upset about missing the Rembrandt exhibit at The National Gallery.
Animal: [Correcting him in a wild, angry tone] Renoir! Renoir!
He opts to wear football shoulder pads instead of a shirt (when he is not in his maroon band uniform). Despite the antics, Animal was a very good drummer, and was able to hold his own with legends such as Buddy Rich whom he played a drum battle with on the Muppets.
He usually speaks in grunts and monosyllables, and has a violent temper. Animal bowls overhand. He has been depicted as a literal skirt-chaser (in The Muppets Take Manhattan, he chases a female co-ed out of the auditorium, chanting "Woo-maaaan!" after her). He also chases cars. Animal is performed and voiced by Frank Oz while his drumming is performed by Ronnie Verrell.
It's quite obvious to fans of The Who that Animal is based on the infamous drummer Keith Moon (known for his wild antics and chaotic drumming style). However, there is no evidence in the original sketches for the character that suggest that he was based on anybody in particular. Three of the other members of the Electric Mayhem were created by Muppet designer Michael K. Frith,[1] and the sketches reproduced in the book Of Muppets and Men[2] show that they were based on famous musicians. Dr. Teeth is a cross between Dr. John and Elton John, possibly inspired by George Clinton of Parliament/Funkadelic; Sgt. Floyd Pepper is based on the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album and Pink Floyd, and the original concept for Janice was a skinny, long-haired male character based on Mick Jagger. Animal, on the other hand, was designed by Jim Henson, and the rough sketch (also seen in Of Muppets and Men) does bear a strange resemblance to the drummer Mick Fleetwood of the band Fleetwood Mac.
A regular shtick is that when someone says a figure of speech to him, Animal turns to the audience, his eyes go wide and then he goes berserk taking it literally. For instance, Jim Nabors once gave the traditional theatrical good luck wish to Animal, "Break a leg," and Animal decided to indulge him by trying to break Nabors' leg. The autism civil rights movement has, in a display of when a sense of humour is appropriate, used Animal breaking Nabors' leg as an example of autistic behaviour by Muppet characters.
In the movie The Great Muppet Caper, it is revealed that Animal has a passion for impressionist paintings, especially those of Pierre-Auguste Renoir. To get into the Gallery, Kermit asks if Animal can quietly eat through the iron bars. Animal responds by saying "eat through bars ahhhhhhh" and then ripping the bars apart, making as much noise as possible.
In the movie Muppets from Space, Animal meets his match in the form of a security guard played by Kathy Griffin - after chasing her down a hallway with his "Woo-man" call, he later comes running back around the corner, yelling "HELP HELP!" with Kathy Griffin calling after him about how they'll settle down, buy a house, and have children.
Ty Pennington commented that Animal had ADHD when the character appeared on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. This fact is disputable, as the appearance could easily be considered not part of the Muppets canon.
Animal recently revealed a talent for jazz, by appearing in a television advert for the Renault Clio car with French footballer Thierry Henry.
