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 Muppets breakout roles in "The Muppet Show" (1976–1981), a primetime television series that garnered four Primetime Emmy Award wins and twenty-one nominations during its five-year run. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Muppets diversified into theatrical feature films, including "The Muppet Movie" (1979); "The Great Muppet Caper" (1981); and "The Muppets Take Manhattan" (1984). The Walt Disney Company began involvement with the Muppets in the late 1980s, during which Henson entered negotiations to sell the Jim Henson Company. The Muppets continued their media presence in the 1990s with television series "The Jim Henson Hour" (1989) and "Muppets Tonight" (1996–98), both of