Forget Wife Guys: It’s Time To Celebrate Muppet Guys

We once lived in a world where Wife Guys — men who publicly shower their wives with love and affection — were seen as a sort of gold standard. How devoted these men incessantly celebrating the women in their lives must be, people initially thought. But over time, Wife Guys started receiving the meme treatment. And the label was tragically tarnished in recent years when prominent Wife Guys including John Mulaney, Adam Levine, and Ned Fulmer were accused of…cheating on their wives! Nowadays, if a man’s entire personality is his wife it’s a suspicious red flag. Wife Guys are officially out, and I’m here to argue that Muppet Guys are in.

For the uninitiated, the term “Muppet Guy” has no relation to the British slang word “muppet,” which means foolish person. Where Wife Guys are obsessed with their wives, Muppet Guys are simply obsessed with the Muppets — you know, the beloved puppets that the late Jim Henson began creating in the 1950s. If you’ve never heard the term “Muppet Guy,” that’s probably because I just made it up. But Muppet Guys have walked among us for decades, and in honor of The Muppets Mayhem‘s Disney+ debut on May 10, I thought it was time we properly celebrate them and their wholesome taste.

If you consider yourself a present-day pop culture connoisseur, one man should immediately spring to mind when thinking about Muppet Guys: Brett Goldstein. The Ted Lasso writer and star is an unabashed Muppet superfan who once performed an ambitious six-minute rendition of The Muppets Christmas Carol for charity. He never passes up an opportunity to praise the “perfect movie” or share his love for Henson’s characters through social media, his podcast, a poster on his wall, or in interviews. In 2020, Goldstein told Esquire that his “ultimate goal” was to work with the Muppets. “I do that, then I’m dead,” he said. Two years later, the man achieved that goal, guest starred on Sesame Street, and experienced “the best fucking day” of his life.

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Thankfully, Goldstein is still alive today, and baking cookies with Tamir, celebrating the “F-Word” of the day (FAIRNESS!), playing hide and seek with Elmo and Grover, and hanging in trash cans with “kindred spirit” Oscar The Grouch only strengthened his Muppet enthusiasm. “You see the people holding their arms up this thing, but the second you make eye contact with the puppet, it changes you. You’re talking genuinely, with your heart, to a piece of cloth. I don’t know quite how it works on the brain, but that’s impossible with CGI. [With CGI] you can tell something is missing, and what’s missing is magic. Muppets are actual magic,” he told Fast Company. In honor of The Muppets Christmas Carol‘s 30th anniversary later that year, Goldstein interviewed Kermit, Miss Piggy, Robin, and Gonzo about making the masterpiece, and even Goldstein’s Ted Lasso character Roy Kent has sung the puppets’ praises, as well as adopting Ernie’s signature laugh in a Season 3 episode.

Few Muppet Guys are as diehard and open about their adoration as Goldstein, but his fellow Shrinking co-creator Jason Segel has undoubtedly earned a spot on the Muppet mega-fan tier. In 2011, Segel revived The Muppets by writing, executive producing, and starring in a film of the same name. It was the first Muppets movie to hit theaters in 12 years, it won an Academy Award for best original song “Man or Muppet”, and it left Segel — who admittedly cried when he met Kermit the Frog for the first time — starstruck. “They were my first exposure to comedy,” the actor told Rolling Stone. “They taught me what kind of comedian I wanted to be. They never get laughs by making fun of anybody, but there’s a sense of controlled chaos, that they could bubble over at any minute, but never at anyone’s expense.” In case you were wondering, Segel and Goldstein absolutely bonded over their mutual puppet love when they teamed up for Shrinking. “All they did was talk about the fucking Muppets,” Shrinking co-creator Bill Lawrence said at a January panel in New York. Beautiful.

Another longtime Muppet Guy is Daveed Diggs, who’s made a number of musical, on-screen, and voice-acting Muppet contributions throughout the years. The Hamilton star even filmed a Super Bowl commercial with Cookie Monster to raise awareness for Sesame Street‘s nonprofit, the Sesame Workshop in 2021, and told People, “I think you’d have been hard-pressed to get me to say no to anything involving Sesame Street. I’m a pretty big fan.” The list goes on and on.

Bobby Moynihan? Muppet Guy. Mark Hamill? Muppet Guy. Ty Burrell? Muppet Guy. Elton John? Muppet Guy. Patton Oswalt? Seth Rogen? Josh Gad and Ben Schwartz? Dave Grohl? Steve Martin? Questlove? They’re all Muppet Guys! Jack Black gets a special shoutout for a rare Muppet Guy/Wife Guy crossover. He’s such a Muppet Guy that he’s married to Tanya Haden, a puppeteer for The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t note that even Brian Cox has some Muppet love inside of him, as illustrated in this brilliant Succession/Cookie Monster crossover. And I don’t know if Jury Duty‘s Ronald Gladden gives a single hoot about the Muppets, but let the record show that man has Big Muppet Guy Energy. If he wants to team up with Sesame Street to do a parody teaching kids about the judicial system, we would not stop him.

When seeking out high-profile Muppet Guys, men who guest starred on Muppet shows or films, appeared alongside the puppets in some professional capacity, or are followed by official Muppet social accounts are good places to start. (When in doubt, check MuppetWiki to confirm your suspicions.) But this isn’t to say that every man who’s had the honor of being in the Muppets’ presence is a Certified Muppet Guy, nor is it to imply that the label solely applies to celebrities. Muppet Guys are all around us and can give themselves away with Muppet-related profile photos, references in social media or dating app bios, or frequently used reaction GIFs.

A public love of the puppets is all that’s needed to identify a Muppet Guy, and that pride and passion illustrate an endearing appreciation of comedy, playfulness, childhood nostalgia, kindness, education, and formative television. Another reason fervent Muppet fans are so charming is because they’re championing the earnestness, care, and heart of the original Muppet Guy, Jim Henson. In lifting up his work, they’re helping preserve and grow his iconic legacy. And for that, I’m grateful.

I’m not saying Muppet Guys are perfect, but if you’re looking for hope in a man post-Wife Guy era, what’s more wholesome than someone who stans a bunch of life-changing puppets?