Gonzo (Muppet)
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Gonzo or The Great Gonzo is a puppet character, one of Jim Henson's Muppets. He is performed by Dave Goelz.
Gonzo, to say the least, is weird. He is blue, bug-eyed, and has a long hooked nose. On The Muppet Show he performed as a stuntman and daredevil under the name "The Great Gonzo" (or "Gonzo the Great"). He takes pride in his iconoclasm, all the while romantically pursuing Camilla the chicken.
A running gag related to Gonzo is that it's not clear what species he is supposed to be, though some say he resembles a buzzard. In the film The Great Muppet Caper, he is shipped to England in a crate labeled "Whatever" (while Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear are respectively labeled "Frog" and "Bear"). In Muppets From Space it is revealed that Gonzo is an alien. It is not clear whether this is to be considered a canonical statement of Gonzo's origins. In Muppet Babies Gonzo (voice of Russi Taylor) was simply referred to as a "weirdo."
Originally in the first season of The Muppet Show the character was underplayed with a permanently sleepy look. The producers noticed that he worked better in a more energetic form and modified the eyes to have movable eyelids which helped make him a more active character. As such, he became among the principal characters in the series.
His most well-known running gag is playing the final trumpet note of the opening Muppet Show theme and having some strange thing happen--the bell of the instrument explodes, sprays water, has an inflating balloon in it, or whatnot.
He has several memorable performances such as his song from The Muppet Movie, "I'm Going To Go Back There Some Day", or his rendition of "I Did It My Way". Gonzo fans would also recognise this quote: "I shall now eat a rubber tire to the music of the Flight of the Bumblebee....music Maestro!" *chomp chomp* Another famous performance is best summed up by his quote, "I shall now defuse this highly explosive bomb while simultaneously and at the same time reciting from the works of Percy Bysshe Shelley."