Boober Fraggle is a fictional puppet character from the television series ''

Fraggle Rock ''Fraggle Rock'' (also known as ''Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock'' or ''Fraggle Rock with Jim Henson's Muppets'') is a children's Musical film, musical Fantasy film, fantasy television comedy, comedy puppet television series about interconnected so ...

''. He was created by

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, actor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating ''Fraggle Rock'' ( ...

. He is performed and voiced by

Dave Goelz David Charles Goelz ( born July 16, 1946) is an American puppeteer and actor known for his work with the Muppets. He is best known for performing the characters Gonzo the Great, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Zoot, and Beauregard. He joined Jim Hens ...

in both the original series and its 2022 reboot '' Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock'', with

Frank Meschkuleit Frank Meschkuleit (born 1962) is a Canadian voice actor, puppeteer and comedian known for his role as Toopy on the Canadian television series ''Toopy and Binoo''. Early life Meschkuleit was born in Toronto to Anna (née Apke) and Siegfried Mesch ...

providing the puppetry in the latter. In the animated series, he was voiced by

Rob Paulsen Robert Frederick Paulsen III (born March 11, 1956) is an American voice actor and voice director, known for his roles in numerous animated television series and films. He received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Pro ...

. In both iterations of the show, Boober is one of the five main characters, alongside Gobo,

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

Mokey ''Mokey'' is a 1942 American comedy-drama film released by MGM, directed by Wells Root and starring Dan Dailey, Jr., Donna Reed and Bobby Blake. Plot Eight-year-old Mokey's widowed father Herbert remarries and the young stepmother Anthea has d ...

, and

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

. Boober is a misanthropic, depressed, and superstitious Fraggle. He lives alone in a small cave, and spends much of his time worrying about death and disease. His occupation is doing laundry for all the Fraggles in Fraggle Rock, and he also enjoys cooking, particularly with

radishes The radish (''Raphanus sativus'') is a flowering plant in the mustard family, Brassicaceae. Its large taproot is commonly used as a root vegetable, although the entire plant is edible and its leaves are sometimes used as a leaf vegetable. Origina ...

. He has an alter ego named Sidebottom, who represents the more extroverted side of Boober's personality. In ''Back to the Rock'', it is revealed that Boober's baloobius (the tip of his tail) glows when he feels most at ease with himself, something that happens to other Fraggles as well.

Development

Boober Fraggle was designed by

Michael K. Frith Michael Kingsbury Frith (born 8 July 1941) is a British artist and television producer. He is the former executive vice-president and creative director of The Jim Henson Company. His contributions to Muppet projects have been extensive and vari ...

, and built by Leslee Asch. Allegedly, his name came from an angry cow encountered by one of Jim Henson's daughters in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. According to an interview included in the ''Fraggle Rock: The Complete First Season'' DVD box set,

Jerry Nelson Jerry Nelson (July 10, 1934 – August 23, 2012) was an American puppeteer, best known for his work with The Muppets. Known for his wide range of characters and singing abilities, he performed Muppet characters on ''Sesame Street'', ''The M ...

originally wanted to play Boober, but Henson instead wanted Nelson to play Gobo, a role he would end up taking. The role of Boober went to Dave Goelz, who has played him ever since. Boober stemmed from something Goelz had said while working on the first season of ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a variety sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and starring the Muppets. It is presented as a variety show, featuring recurring sketches and musical numbers interspersed with ongoing plot-lines with ru ...

'', that he was so busy on the show that the only things he had time to worry about were death and laundry.

Behind the scenes

Boober is a rod puppet, meaning that his arms are controlled by rods attached to the puppet's hands, which the puppeteer controls with his left hand while moving the puppet's mouth with his right. For the 2020 short-form series '' Fraggle Rock: Rock On!'' on

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

, Goelz reprised his role of Boober vocally, as well as his other role of Uncle Traveling Matt, while Boober was physically performed by

John Tartaglia John Nicholas Tartaglia (; born February 16, 1978) is an American puppeteer, actor, and singer. Early life Tartaglia was born in Maple Shade Township, New Jersey, and graduated from Upper Dublin High School in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, i ...

. On the ongoing reboot series '' Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock'', Boober is performed by Frank Meschkuleit (who also voices Pa Gorg on the new series), with Goelz providing the voice.

References

Fraggle Rock characters Television characters introduced in 1983 Male characters in television {{character-stub