Also called Muppet Hecklers · Muppets Balcony · Old Men Muppets
The Muppet balcony critics have a comment ready. Write a short question at the top and a dry comeback below their seats.
The two spectators turn what they have just watched into material for a joke. A seemingly ordinary question gives the second line an opening for a complaint or backhanded compliment.
They work well as a pair who agree that something could have been better. The exchange sounds like commentary from the audience rather than an argument between the two people in the picture.
Statler and Waldorf are the Muppets known for heckling performers from their theater box. The characters appeared in the 1975 pilot The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence, then became regular balcony critics on The Muppet Show in 1976. [1]
Their routine pairs complaints with jokes that amuse each other. Disney’s official Statler & Waldorf Online clip uses that same back-and-forth style for a joke about their difficulty getting online. [1] [2]
Place the opening line above the pair and the reply across the front of the balcony. Keep their faces visible so their expressions can accompany the exchange.
Make the reply answer the opening while undercutting it. Praising the ending because a meeting is finally over is more specific than simply saying the meeting was bad.
Original captions to try with this template.
The apparent compliment turns out to be relief that the meeting stopped.
The answer praises the moment when there was no song to hear.
The reply accepts the word fast while changing what is supposed to be moving.
References for this template. Example captions are original.
Describes the 1975 debut, the regular theater-box setting, and their heckling routine.
An official comedy clip featuring the pair joking about getting online.
