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Scooter is a Muppet character who first appeared on The Muppet Show. He was performed by Richard Hunt. On The Muppet Show, Scooter was the "gofer". His job included sticking his head into the dressing room door to introduce the guest stars (15 seconds to curtain!) and bringing Kermit's coffee, among other tasks. Scooter's uncle, J.P. Grosse, is the owner of the Muppet Theater, and Scooter wasn't above bringing up that connection whenever he thought it necessary. ("Well, my Uncle owns the theater..")
Scooter also appeared in many movies and specials in the 70s and 80s, but since Richard Hunt passed away in 1992, Scooter wasn't been in any Muppet productions. He finally appears again in the 1999 movie Muppets from Space, voiced by Adam Hunt, Richard Hunt's surviving brother. After that, Scooter became part of the Muppets major cast again. He was performed by Rickey Boyd in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, by Matt Vogel in Muppet Race Mania, by Brian Henson in Muppet Party Cruise and It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, and David Rudman starting with A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa.
Casting history
Main Performers:
- Richard Hunt: The Muppet Show (1976) - Muppet*Vision 3D (1991)
- David Rudman: Studio DC: Almost Live Hosted by Selena Gomez (2008) - present
Alternate Performers:
- Adam Hunt: Muppets from Space (voice only)
- Matt Vogel: Muppet Race Mania (voice only)
- Brian Henson: It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie and Muppet Party Cruise
- Rickey Boyd: The Muppets' Wizard of Oz
Specials
Scooter has appeared in a number of television specials. In the 1981 special The Muppets Go to the Movies, he played Porthos in The Three Musketeers, and the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz.
In The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years, he introduced a montage of guest star clips, saying that his favorite Muppet moments are those with the guest stars.
In A Muppet Family Christmas, he found an old film strip of the very first Christmas that the Muppets had ever spent together.
In The Muppets at Walt Disney World, he was paired with Bean Bunny. He got a few opportunities to make some cute jokes about Bean.
Scooter has also appeared in The Muppets Go Hollywood, John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together, The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show, A Rocky Mountain Holiday, and Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson. He also hosted the 1985 video compilation Songs and Stories and made appearances in Fozzie's Muppet Scrapbook and Rowlf's Rhapsodies with the Muppets.
Movie Roles
Scooter's movie appearances include The Muppet Movie (as The Electric Mayhem's road manager), The Great Muppet Caper, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Muppets from Space, It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie and The Muppets' Wizard of Oz.
In The Muppet Movie, Scooter is the road manager for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. In The Great Muppet Caper, he's a resident of the Happiness Hotel. In The Muppets Take Manhattan, he graduates with the other Muppets, and briefly works as a movie theater usher. In It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, it's revealed that if Kermit wasn't born, Scooter would've been a cage dancer. And in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, he plays the assistant to the Wizard.
In Muppet*Vision 3D, Scooter hosts the preshow film. Due to Richard Hunt's absence at the time, Scooter does not play a significant role in the movie itself; he makes a cameo appearance, riding a bicycle with Janice. Richard Hunt also performed Scooter at Jim Henson's memorial service.
Scooter's most recent movie appearance will be in the upcoming film The Muppets. Scooter takes the threat to Muppet Studios to heart. "I'm stage manager of the Muppet Theater," explains Scooter. :I try to help Kermit save the studio, 'cause without a theater and stage, there's really not much for a stage manager to do."
Scooter gets to play a new role in the movie - as host - when, in a pinch, Kermit calls on Scooter to fill in for him on stage. Unfortunately the classic advice Scooter gets to calm his nerves - pretend that the audience is naked-doesn't necessarily work for him.
Muppet Babies
Baby Scooter appeared in Piggy's dream sequence in The Muppets Take Manhattan, and he later was a featured member of the Muppet Babies animated series. The Baby Scooter seen on Muppet Babies was redesigned as a brainy, computer-knowledgeable child and he was given a tomboyish twin sister named Skeeter.
Notes
- In the first three Muppet movies, Scooter is seen working with popcorn. In The Muppet Movie, before the Muppets view the first screening, Scooter sells "organic popcorn." In The Great Muppet Caper, Scooter sells popcorn as the Muppets, Nicky Holiday, Marla, Carla, and Darla fight over the fabulous Baseball Diamond. In The Muppets Take Manhattan, Scooter works as an usher at a movie theater, where The Swedish Chef tosses popcorn into the air and calls it a 3-D effect. Though he never sells popcorn in the latter appearance, the Usher Scooter Action Figure, based on his Manhattan appearance, features an old-fashioned popcorn cart.
- Richard Hunt based the character's voice and personality on how he remembered himself from his youth.
- Though Scooter never made any appearances between 1992 and 1999, a framed photo of him appears on-screen in Muppets Tonight episode 106.
- After the death of Richard Hunt, Scooter would not have a consistent performer for 16 years until David Rudman took over.
Book appearances
- The Comic Muppet Book (1979)
- Muppets at Sea (1980)
- Robin Hood (1980)
- Bo Saves the Show (1982)
- Jim Henson's Bedtime Stories (1991)
- The Phantom of the Muppet Theater (1991)
- Jim Henson's Big Book of Muppet Stories (1994)
- If You Were Kermit (1994)
- The Muppet Show Comic Book (2009)
- Muppet Robin Hood (2009)
- Muppet Peter Pan (2009/10)
- The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson (2009)
- Muppet Snow White (2010)