From the Balcony

The two cranky fellows above are Statler (on the right), and Waldorf (on the left). Of course, today isn't their birthday(s), but I figure by now, since I am this close to the finish, all bets are off. Once again, my blog, my rules, and chaos is a rule of sorts. The bigger debate I have having is how to count them, should I say they are one because they are a team? Or since they are separate characters count them as two?

Either way these two ornery fellows are the hecklers that sit in the balcony during the Muppets show, and dislike pretty much everything they see (in that regard we have a lot in common, hence their hero status). They made their first appearance in 1992, and one of their most memorable performances in "The Muppets Christmas Carol." In that wonderful film, they played Marley and Marley, and sang a lovely song to Scrooge about where being rotten had gotten them. Also it contains the lovely lines "It's good to be heckling again" "It's good to be doing anything again!" They are classical curmudgeons, and don't like anything they see on the show. The closest they ever came to liking something was when they made fun of a speech by Fozzy Bear, saying that "at least it was short." They are just that mean, and it is hilarious.

They were both named after famous New York hotels, Statler for the Statler Hilton, at which I have actually stayed (under its new name The Hotel Pennsylvania), and Waldorf after the Waldorf-Astoria (at which I could not afford to stay). They even had their own show called "From the Balcony" where they would do movie reviews. I confess I never got the chance to see it, but it certainly sounds like something I would love. Word on the street is that sometime this year they will release a book with the same title. I guess I am going to wander over to amazon. com, and start looking.

So, for heckling everything and everybody with equal disdain, which is the key to heckling (you can't play favourites), Statler and Waldorf (???-present) you are my (354th) hero(s) of the day.