Beaker (Muppet) Bunsen, and Frank Welker provided Beaker's squeaky meeps. Beaker was performed by Kevin Clash in "The Muppet Show Live". An animated Beaker was also voiced by Richard Hunt, his usual performer during that period, when he appeared in the short lived "Little Muppet Monsters" series. Beaker's "meep" sound has become a well-known catchphrase, and is referenced in various media. In a 2004 Internet poll sponsored by the BBC and the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew were voted Britain's favourite cinematic scientists. They beat Mr. Spock, their closest rival, by a margin of two
The Muppet Show Prowse. The high cost and effort of creating these unique Muppets, scheduling conflicts, and potential legal issues contributed to the decline of this practice, although Muppet caricatures and parodies would continue to appear. The first episode opens on a character called Wally and develops as he types the script on his typewriter. In the second pilot, a new character called Nigel acts as the backstage boss. Statler and Waldorf grumble from a living room while watching the show on television (This setting for Statler and Waldorf would be revisited in the first series of "Muppets Tonight"). In both pilot episodes,