Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, also known as The Electric Mayhem, are the house band on The Muppet Show. They mostly stick to rock music, but they're capable of playing other styles, including jazz and (unwillingly) classical. Despite the name, Dr. Teeth does not consider himself the leader, only being added to the name at the insistence of their producer. Dr. Teeth and Floyd Pepper are often lead singers on songs, and Janice is lead singer on a handful of songs.
They drive around in a brightly-painted bus with psychedelic swirls and colors.
A sixth member, a mostly-mute trumpet player named Lips, joined the band in the last season of The Muppet Show, He appeared sporadically with them for the next 30 years before finally becoming a permanent member starting with the 2014 film Muppets Most Wanted.
The band appeared as main characters in The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan. Following the deaths of Jim Henson (who played Teeth) and Richard Hunt (who played Janice), they were relegated to background roles. The sole exception was Animal, who would be the only member to have any dialogue in The Muppet Christmas Carol. He, Floyd, and Zoot also all have a single line each in Muppet Treasure Island.
While the other members (minus Zoot, who has always been played by Dave Goelz) would all have temporary performers throughout the 2000s, Animal remained the only member of the band to maintain a major presence until 2011's The Muppets, in which all five original members get some form of spoken dialogue. Since then, they have become regular characters again. Beginning with the 2015 series, Zoot and Lips both speak more frequently than before.
Lips was completely reinvented after Peter Linz took over the role from Steve Whitmire, now speaking mostly in a semi-comprehensible gibberish not unlike The Swedish Chef.
In an edition of Ask Henson.com, Karen Falk responded to a question about the origins of the Mayhem band:
"Music was always an important part of Jim Henson's work. He had a strong interest in all types and had an eclectic record library. When he began writing proposals and creating concepts for The Muppet Show in the late 1960s, they always included a house band that was to appear in each episode. At that time, Jim had a strong interest in the counter-culture movement (as evidenced by his experimental film Youth '68) and sought to reflect that in the composition of the band. One proposal from about 1970 says that the band would, "...do songs like "Sunshine" from Hair. In fact, they are all dressed to out-hair the Hair cast." The Electric Mayhem as we know it first appeared in 1975 on the Muppet Show pilot Sex and Violence. A page of ideas for the show written by Jim describes the band this way: "Rock act - far-out, elaborate weird equipment, big amps..."
The band is the focus of the 2023 Disney+ series The Muppets Mayhem, which sees them attempting to produce their first-ever album. The series also explores the band's origins, particularly those of Animal, Floyd, and Dr. Teeth.
After Dr. Teeth reveals that he never wanted to be in the band's name and views all of the members as equal, the name is officially shortened to just "The Electric Mayhem" in the episode "Track 7: Eight Days a Week".
Musicians
The original five members
Six members of The Electric Mayhem
Core Members
- Dr. Teeth – lead and backing vocals, keyboards
- Floyd Pepper – bass, lead and backing vocals
- Zoot – saxophones, clarinet, flute
- Janice – guitar, lead and backing vocals
- Animal – drums, percussion, lead and backing vocals
Additional Members
- Lips – trumpet (The Muppet Show Season 5, 1980; The Great Muppet Caper, 1981; A Muppet Family Christmas, 1987; The Muppets at Walt Disney World, 1990; The Muppet Christmas Carol, 1992; Christmas in Rockefeller Center, 2009; Muppets Most Wanted, 2014; all subsequent appearances)
Guest Members
Performing with Rowlf in The Muppet Christmas Carol
Performing in Christmas at Rockefeller Center
- Dolores on Trumpet (formerly) and Trombone (The Muppet Show)
- A Bongo Player (episode 413)
- A brass section consisting of a clarinet player and two trumpet players (one of whom was Bobby Benson) (season 2 of The Muppet Show)
- Clifford on percussion (The Muppets at Walt Disney World, 1990)
- Don Knotts on stand up bass (episode 201)
- Jim on banjo (The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence pilot)
- Rizzo the Rat on cymbals (episode 511)
- Rowlf on piano (episode 121 (German version only)), (episode 424, episode 513), in addition to Dr. Teeth (The Muppet Christmas Carol)
- Scooter on percussion (The Muppet Movie)
- Three frog backup singers (episode 406)
- Trombone player (episode 517)
- Trumpet Girl on trumpet (episode 123 of The Muppet Show) and trombone (episode 505, episode 513)
- Zeke on banjo (episode 424) and marimba (episode 523)
- A drummer (episode 505)
- Beaker on vocals (episode 424, Studio DC: Hosted by Selena Gomez)
- Ninja Rogers on drums (The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson)
- Hal Linden on clarinet (Episode 517: Hal Linden)
- A Trombone Player (Episode 517: Hal Linden)
Managers
- Scooter - The Muppet Movie
- Rizzo the Rat and Pepe the King Prawn - Studio DC: Almost Live!
Songs Performed by the Electric Mayhem
The Electric Mayhem, as seen in The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence
The band's theatrical debut in The Muppet Movie
The Electric Mayhem in an American Bandstand parody
Performing in Muppet Treasure Island
Performing at a subway station in The Muppets
The Muppet Show Season 1
- Episode 102: Connie Stevens - "Ain't Misbehavin'" (UK Spot)
- Episode 104: Ruth Buzzi - "Sunny"
- Episode 106: Jim Nabors - "Money"
- Episode 110: Harvey Korman - "Love Ya to Death"
- Episode 110: Harvey Korman - "Sweet Tooth Jam" (UK Spot)
- Episode 116: Avery Schreiber - "Tenderly"
- Episode 118: Phyllis Diller - "Lazybones" (UK spot)
- Episode 120: Valerie Harper - "Searching"
- Episode 123: Kaye Ballard - "Fugue for Frog"
- Episode 124: Mummenschanz - "Mr. Bassman" (with Scooter)
The Muppet Show Season 2
- Episode 202: Zero Mostel - "Chopin's Polonaise in A Flat"
- Episode 209: Madeline Kahn - "New York State of Mind" (UK spot)
- Episode 211: Dom DeLuise - "Don't Blame the Dynamite"
- Episode 213: Rudolf Nureyev - Boccherini's "Minuet in A Major"
- Episode 222: Teresa Brewer - "Cheese Cake" (UK Spot) (performed by Dr. Teeth on solo piano)
The Muppet Show Season 3
- Episode 301: Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge - "New York State of Mind"
- Episode 314: Harry Belafonte - "Honeysuckle Rose" (UK Spot)
- Episode 315: Lesley Ann Warren - "Mack the Knife" (UK Spot)
- Episode 317: Spike Milligan - "America"
- Episode 320: Sylvester Stallone - "Lady Be Good" (UK Spot)
The Muppet Show Season 4
- Episode 418: Christopher Reeve - "Sam's Song" (UK Spot)
- Episode 419: Lynda Carter - "With a Little Help From My Friends"
- Episode 419: Lynda Carter - "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
The Muppet Show Season 5
- Episode 503: Joan Baez - "Blackbird"
- Episode 504: Shirley Bassey - "Barnyard Boogie"
- Episode 504: Shirley Bassey - "After You've Gone" (UK Spot - performed by Orchestra)
- Episode 510: Jean-Pierre Rampal - "Rockin' Robin"
- Episode 511: Paul Simon - "Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover"
- Episode 513: Tony Randall - "Poison Ivy"
- Episode 524: Roger Moore - "How High the Moon" (UK Spot - performed by Orchestra)
Specials
- Julie Andrews: My Favorite Things - "Your Mamma Won't Like Me"
- Sex and Violence - "For the Birds"
- Sex and Violence - "Love Ya to Death"
- The Muppets Go Hollywood - "Can You Picture That?"
- The Muppets Go to the Movies - "Act Naturally"
- A Muppet Family Christmas - "Jingle Bell Rock"
- The Muppets at Walt Disney World - "Rockin' All Around the World"
- Christmas in Rockefeller Center - "Run, Run Rudolph"
Movies
- The Muppet Movie - "Can You Picture That?"
- The Great Muppet Caper - "Night Life"
- The Muppets Take Manhattan - "You Can't Take No for an Answer"
- The Muppet Christmas Carol - Fozziwig's Party Waltz
- The Muppets' Wizard of Oz - "Nap Time"
- The Muppets - "Pictures in My Head" (Along with Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, and The Swedish Chef.)
Albums
- A Christmas Together - "Little Saint Nick"
- A Green and Red Christmas - "'Zat You, Santa Claus?"
- A Green and Red Christmas - "The Man with the Bag"
- A Green and Red Christmas - "Run, Run Rudolph" (also included on Disney's Holiday Celebration 2007)
Online video
- "Bohemian Rhapsody" (rock music section)
Songs Where The Electric Mayhem Play Back-Up
The Muppet Show
The Electric Mayhem provides back-up to Elton John
Providing back-up to Rowlf and Mary Roos
Back-up for "The Rainbow Connection" on The Muppets
- Episode 114: Sandy Duncan - "A Nice Girl Like Me"
- Episode 118: Phyllis Diller - "The Entertainer" (performed by the orchestra)
- Episode 121: Twiggy - "Lean on Me" (German Die Muppet Show only)
- Episode 123: Kaye Ballard - "One Note Samba" (performed by the orchestra)
- Episode 201: Don Knotts - "Lullaby of Birdland"
- Episode 214: Elton John - "Crocodile Rock"
- Episode 214: Elton John - "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"
- Episode 214: Elton John - "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"
- Episode 215: Lou Rawls - "Bye Bye Blackbird"
- Episode 215: Lou Rawls - "You're the One"
- Episode 216: Cleo Laine - "It Don't Mean a Thing"
- Episode 218: Jaye P. Morgan - "That Old Black Magic"
- Episode 222: Teresa Brewer - "Old Cotton Fields Back Home" (performed by Zoot, Janice, Floyd and Trumpet Girl as a Dixie band)
- Episode 301: Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge - "Make It Through the Night"
- Episode 302: Leo Sayer - "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing"
- Episode 306: Jean Stapleton - "Play a Simple Melody" (performed by the orchestra)
- Episode 313: Helen Reddy - "Blue"
- Episode 406: Linda Lavin - "The More I See You"
- Episode 407: Dudley Moore - "How High the Moon"
- Episode 413: Dizzy Gillespie - "St. Louis Blues"
- Episode 414: Liza Minnelli - "Pass That Peace Pipe" (UK Spot)
- Episode 415: Anne Murray - "Walk Right Back"
- Episode 415: Anne Murray - "Everything Old Is New Again" (performed by the orchestra)
- Episode 417: Star Wars - "Six String Orchestra"
- Episode 420: Alan Arkin - "Pig"
- Episode 424: Diana Ross - "Feelings" (UK Spot)
- Episode 424: Diana Ross - "Last Time I Saw Him"
- Episode 505: James Coburn - "The Varsity Drag"
- Episode 505: James Coburn - "Alexander's Ragtime Band"
- Episode 511: Paul Simon - "Loves Me Like a Rock"
- Episode 513: Tony Randall - "Ti-Pi-Tin"
- Episode 514: Mac Davis - "I Believe in Music" (performed by the orchestra)
- Episode 517: Hal Linden - "When the Saints Go Marching In"
- Episode 523: Linda Ronstadt - "Blue Bayou"
Movies
- The Muppet Movie - "Can You Picture That?"
- The Great Muppet Caper - "Happiness Hotel"
- The Muppets Take Manhattan - "Together Again"
- The Muppets' Wizard of Oz - "The Witch Is in the House"
- The Muppets - "The Rainbow Connection"
Specials
- Studio DC: Almost Live - "G.N.O. (Girls' Night Out)"
Gallery
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