Gonzo The Great - Species

Species

A running gag related to Gonzo is that it is not clear what species he is supposed to be. John Cleese, in his appearance on the show, referred to him as "the ugly, disgusting little one who catches cannonballs". In The Muppet Movie, Kermit, while having his inner conversation, says "And a thing, whatever Gonzo is. He's a little like a turkey," to which his inner self replied "Yeah, a little like a turkey, but not much." 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 the Muppet Treasure Island CD-ROM Game, Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat land in a bucket of molasses, following the dialogue of a carriage driver saying "It's raining rats and... whatevers". In The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, Gonzo played a Tin Man-ish character primarily known as the "Tin Thing". In Jim Henson's Muppet Babies, Gonzo (voice of Russi Taylor) was simply referred to, most often by Baby Piggy, as a "weirdo" or "blue weirdo". He has referred to himself as a "whatever", resigned to ignorance of his actual species. In one episode, he dreams that he is an anteater.

When Liberace, as a guest on The Muppet Show, organized a production number with birds, Gonzo longed to get his chicken friends into the act; when told by Liberace's Muppet bodyguard that Liberace had no interest in chickens, Gonzo tried to arrange an appointment for himself, claiming "I'm a bird! I'm a turkey!" When the bodyguard expressed doubt, Gonzo elaborated: "Have you seen my act?!" The bodyguard accepted Gonzo's turkey status without further argument. In contrast, in the holiday television special A Muppet Family Christmas, The Turkey says Gonzo is "not even a bird" to which Gonzo replies "Well, nobody's perfect".

In Muppets from Space, it is revealed that Gonzo is an alien and his alien family comes to Earth with a big party for him and before their departure they ask him to return to space with them. Gonzo sadly says farewell to The Muppets but he soon realizes that he would be abandoning his longtime friends who have been like his family all along and declines the Aliens' offer.

As the film gave a definitive answer as to what Gonzo is, the running gag of what his species may be has been semi-retired and is rarely used in current Muppet media.