Lips

Lips is the trumpet player from The Muppet Show. The character was created for performer Steve Whitmire, to give him his own member of the Electric Mayhem. He debuted in the fifth and final season of the series, and played trumpet for both the Electric Mayhem and the orchestra. Lips went on to appear as part of the Electric Mayhem in The Great Muppet Caper, A Muppet Family Christmas, The Muppet Christmas Carol and more. Lips has a special mechanism that allows his eyelids to turn inwards, usually used when he's blowing into his trumpet. He has an additional mechanism that allows his fingers to press on his trumpet's valves.

Compared to the other Mayhem members, who participated in skits or the backstage action, Lips functioned primarily as a musician only (with trumpeter Tommy McQuater doing the horn playing) and seldom even spoke. He did have trumpet solos in several episodes, most notably duetting with Hal Linden on "When the Saints Go Marching In" in episode 517.

Subject ID: 144448

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Lips is the trumpet player from The Muppet Show. The character was created for performer Steve Whitmire, to give him his own member of the Electric Mayhem. He debuted in the fifth and final season of the series, and played trumpet for both the Electric Mayhem and the orchestra. Lips went on to appear as part of the Electric Mayhem in The Great Muppet Caper, A Muppet Family Christmas, The Muppet Christmas Carol and more. Lips has a special mechanism that allows his eyelids to turn inwards, usually used when he's blowing into his trumpet. He has an additional mechanism that allows his fingers to press on his trumpet's valves.

Compared to the other Mayhem members, who participated in skits or the backstage action, Lips functioned primarily as a musician only (with trumpeter Tommy McQuater doing the horn playing) and seldom even spoke. He did have trumpet solos in several episodes, most notably duetting with Hal Linden on "When the Saints Go Marching In" in episode 517.

Two rare examples of Lips speaking include "Barnyard Boogie", in which he sings a verse, and The Great Muppet Caper (yelling "Ding ding!" and "Let's hit the road! How 'bout a little travelin' music?" before "Night Life", and "And me!" during the finale).

Despite the character's obscurity, Palisades Toys released a Lips Action Figure in 2004. A Lips costume was released as part of the Xbox Live Marketplace.

In 2009, Lips appeared with the rest of the Electric Mayhem in the NBC special Christmas in Rockefeller Center, his first appearance in over a decade. He appeared again in 2011's The Muppets, where he is seen performing in the orchestra pit as he did on The Muppet Show. He would later be seen as part of The Electric Mayhem again in Muppets Most Wanted and as a part of the house band for Up Late with Miss Piggy on ABC's The Muppets. For the latter production, the puppet was completely rebuilt, as the original puppet actually came apart during a YouTube video shoot earlier in the year. He spoke his first full line in over thirty years in the episode "Hostile Makeover" of The Muppets, declaring, "And we love us some gas station sushi!" He would later get more dialogue in "The Ex-Factor", "Going, Going, Gonzo" and "Little Green Lie." Lips performed with the band again in The Muppets Take the Bowl and The Muppets Take the O2, now performed by Peter Linz.

By 2022, Linz fully inherited the character for his expanded role in The Muppets Mayhem. For this series, Lips now speaks in mumbles intelligible to primarily the other band members and Moog. Prior to the series' debut, this new take on Lips was first seen publicly during the Electric Mayhem's live appearance at the D23 Expo 2022.

According to The Muppets Character Encyclopedia, Lips earned his nickname one cold day in elementary school when his lips got stuck to his trumpet while practicing outside. Behind-the-scenes, Lips was named after the imagery used to promote The Rocky Horror Picture Show, one of performer Steve Whitmire's favorite movies.

Subject ID: 144448

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