Foo-Foo is Miss Piggy's dog, who appeared in the fourth and fifth seasons of The Muppet Show. She speaks only in barks and other typical dog sound effects.
Background[]
Puppeteer Steve Whitmire recalled how he got the role:
In 2011, during the promotion for The Muppets, Miss Piggy told People Magazine that she has had to "re-home" Foo-Foo. As Piggy explained, "[Foo-Foo] really didn't much care for Kermit, it seems... She seems to be prejudiced against green people. Anything the color green, she would nip at. So in order to have a future with my Kermie, I had to make that sacrifice." Piggy assured People that she is sending Foo-Foo to pet therapy, and she'll be happy to welcome her dog back home when she gets over her aversion to Kermit.[2] She did return, however, in Muppets Most Wanted, hopefully indicating that the therapy was successful.
The Foo-Foo puppet made a few appearances on The Jim Henson Hour in the recurring "Fashion Dolls" sketch, where the dog was called Freddie. She also made a cameo in Kermit's Swamp Years.
According to The Muppets Character Encyclopedia, Foo-Foo has siblings named Oui-Oui, Poo-Poo, Num-Num, Goo-Goo, and Fred.
Performance[]
On The Muppet Show, Foo-Foo was portrayed both by a puppet and a live dog. A 1979 issue of The Muppet Show Fan Club newsletter (vol. 2, no. 2) provided a behind-the-scenes scoop:
- “Can you tell which is the live dog and which is the puppet? Miss Piggy's new dog, Foo-Foo, is not really one puppy, but two. The one on the left is a puppet, modeled on the live dog on the right. It took a long time to find a puppy small enough to be in scale with Miss Piggy. The live Foo-Foo was born on December 13, 1978. She is a special sort of toy poodle and is one of the last ten of her particular line, a line bred down to the smallest possible size from a standard poodle. Foo-Foo is still growing, and as she grows, the puppet Foo-Foo will be rebuilt to match. When fully grown, she will still be less than nine inches tall. Watch carefully when Foo-Foo is next on the show -- if she's running around, it will probably be the live version. If she's reacting in close-up, it will probably be the puppet... but you can't be sure...!”
- ―The Muppet Show Fan Club
Gallery[]
-S02E09-Foo-Foo.png "MuppetBabies-(2018)-S02E09-Foo-Foo.png (1.87 MB)")
References[]
- ↑ Plume, Kenneth. "Ratting Out: An Interview with Steve Whitmire", Muppet Central. July 19, 1999.
- ↑ Jones, Oliver and Liz Raftery. "Muppet Mess: Miss Piggy Forced to Choose Between Her Dog and Her Frog", People.com. Nov 11, 2011.
External links[]
