Dr. Teeth is the leader of the Electric Mayhem, the house band on The Muppet Show. Originally performed by Jim Henson, Dr. Teeth plays the keyboard and is also the lead singer of the band. He first appeared in The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence in 1975 and had a prominent role in Muppet productions until Henson's death in 1990.

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Dr. Teeth is green-skinned and red-haired with, as his name suggests, a large grinning mouth of teeth, including one gold tooth on his upper jaw (which either he got from a voodoo princess named Tianna in Tupelo, MS[1] or is made from his gold records, melted, putting his money where his mouth is).[2] He wears a scruffy beard, a fur vest, a striped shirt, and a floppy purple top hat, though during the 1980s he switched to wearing a black leather vest. He has very long arms so additional puppeteers are required to guide them; this design enabled Henson to work the Teeth puppet while another performer acted as Teeth's "hands" in order to play the keyboard.

Dr. Teeth had been less involved in Muppet productions due to Jim Henson's death. Since then, he was performed by John Kennedy in various projects until 2005, when the role was assumed by Bill Barretta.

He has also appeared in all of the Muppet movies, from his prominent roles in The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan, to his much smaller, often non-speaking roles in The Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island, Muppets from Space, It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, The Muppets' Wizard of Oz and A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa. He has since had more prominent speaking parts in the OK Go music video for "The Muppet Show Theme", The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted (particularly the extended cut).

Notes

Casting History

Primary Performers

Bill Barretta - The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005) to Present

Other Performers

Victor Yerrid - Statler & Waldorf: From the Balcony Episode 9 (2005)

Martin P. Robinson - A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008, undubbed first line)

Filmography

Book appearances

Video game appearances

Merchandise