The Great Puppet Bears: Fozzie, Bobo & Ojo Bear

Greatest Puppet Bears, starting with Fozzie Bear…
Fozzie Bear puppet

The Great Puppet Bears: Fozzie, Bobo & Ojo Bear.

Fictional bear characters dominate out culture. From our own personal teddy bear to the literary greats and famous bears like Winnie the Pooh and Paddington. Here, with her own memories, is Joan…

“Bears on Strings and Sticks – A Reminiscence” A Guest Blog by Joan C

Here’s a confession, I actually am not all THAT fond of puppets. I prefer cartoons. Yogi Bear, Booboo and company. But my obsession with bears stretched all the way to the puppet world too. So here are just a few puppet bears that played a part in my childhood and continue to do so up ’til today.

For those of you out there who grew up with Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, may this be a trip down memory lane for you too. After all, Jim Henson was the Master of Puppets.

Fozzie Bear

Ah, Fozzie! Who can watch the pale orange bear trot about on screen and not think he’s adorable? Everything about him, from his brown hat to his polka-dotted necktie and his open-mouthed grin, is just so cheerful! It doesn’t matter that his jokes are lame, I thought and, still think, that he’s great.

One of my fondest memories of Fozzie was this Muppets episode where Harry Belafonte (I think) was a guest star on Muppet Show. He sang The Banana Boat Song with the Muppets helping him with the chorus. The first part everyone had to sing the signature ‘Day-O’ beginning together in unison.

Everyone was able to sing the ‘Day’ at the same time, on cue, except Fozzie. First time he was slower than everyone else – his ‘day’ came after everyone else had ‘day-ed’. And to the exasperation of everyone, he continued to miss the cue many times after that (he was either too slow or too fast). I thought that was simply hilarious! Now, I can’t remember if they ever completed the song or even got beyond that very first ‘day'(I suppose they did), but I’ll remember that scene with Fozzie missing the cue forever!

Another fond memory of Fozzie happened while I was pursuing my degree. I had a good friend, C, in the same course of study, who is as fond of bears as I am. One day, we were in Macdonald’s for lunch. Mac’s was selling Muppet character stuffed toys with each meal purchased. We were really poor then, and happened to be broke just at the time Fozzie came on sale.

So we stared at the stuffed Fozzies on display longingly. We actually hatched a semi-serious plot to distract the staff and steal a Fozzie each. Ah, tertiary education certainly does have its merits. It really was a great plot. Well, C, you know who you are. And if you happen to read this, call me!

Bobo Bear

The Muppets Bobo was only added as a Muppet way after Fozzie. Although he’s a boring brown colour, I thought his hang-dog face and his heavy brows were very charming. I think he’s a watch man or security guard on Muppets Tonight.

He’s also really delightfully slow-witted at times. The episode I remember him most vividly was the time Cindy Crawford guest starred in Muppets Tonight. My brother and I were wathing the show together. Bobo was so taken with Cindy he could barely speak when she was around! He just made his funny ‘Ahhhh…’ sound. M brother and I guffawed so loudly my dad thought we had gone crazy! It made me wonder how Cindy could NOT like this bear!

Ojo Bear

Ojo is the little cub from Bear in the Big Blue House. My first encounter with this little bear happened only a few years back when I was already (supposedly) a matured adult in a responsible profession. I was on board a plane and flipping through the channels and programmes offered. I remembered watching a movie or two.

Then, I got so bored with the other programmes I channel surfed to the children’s channel. There, I saw Ojo (didn’t know his name then) talking to Bear. And he was the cutest thing I’ve seen in a really long time! The cutest part about Ojo is the way his nose and snout moves whenever he speaks. How did the animators do it? Kudos to whoever came up with the idea of moving Ojo’s nose in such a manner! I literally couldn’t bear to change channels until the programme ended.

From that day on, whenever I happen to see a trailer for Bear in the Big Blue House, I think of plane travel. And when I travel in a plane, I think of Ojo.

About the Author: Joan C is a bear collector and former host of a website for bear lovers to share pictures.

Did You Enjoy this Puppet Bears & Bear Stories Post?

How the Bear Lost its Tail – A Traditional Bears in literature folk tale If so, then you’ve gotta read our retelling of the oldest known Bear Story of them All! Listen!

“Long ago — when our Sacred Green Earth was young and much more alive — Bear, like his cousins the Wolf and the Fox, had a long beautiful tail.

“One chilled winter day, Bear shuffled down to the lake and saw that Fox was feasting on some fish. Licking his chops, Bear asked him, ‘Say, Fox, ol’ friend, how did you manage to catch all those fish?’
“The cunning fox saw his chance to make a fool of Bear…”