The legal weasel of the Muppets is an interesting and unique character who is fantastic in small doses administered at the right time. Joe is funny and a nice addition to the current Muppets roster. But producers, writers and creators who work behind the scenes at Muppets Now should resist the urge to increase the frequency with which Joe appears on the show in Season 2. Less is more in some cases, and Joe from Legal is a prime example. Joe the Legal Weasel (sometimes referred to as “Joe from Legal”) was introduced in early commercials for the Disney + Muppets Now series. The first press release in the series, released on August 23, 2019, was a signed letter from Kermit the Frog with adaptations of Joe; including some sections blackened with black felt pens and a stamp that read “Restricted Until I Say So.” Yes, that`s right: in his youth, Joe was a shameless criminal. I do not know how we can justify listening to his legal advice when we do. And now here we are, pretending that Joe is a new character and also a weasel. He`s there, laughing awkwardly and talking in a dead pan, and he`s certainly not a weasel. Joe made his first physical appearance in the Muppets Now teaser video, which aired during the Disney+ panel at D23 Expo 2019 on August 23.
Joe listens attentively to Kermit announce the new series and constantly prevents her from revealing certain details of the series. Joe speaks in a low, monotonous voice and laughs at his own jokes. Joe, a brand new member of the Muppets family, made his first appearance in a Muppets Now teaser video released on D23 in August 2019. At this point, the legal weasel has only been around for just over a year. Fortunately, the premise of the character is quite easy to understand. Joe is the Muppets` legal counsel and works primarily to protect everyone and not be sued. He`s lucky Gonzo isn`t on the show anymore. Where is Joe from? Why do the Muppets trust this man, who is clearly not a weasel? Well, even though Joe looks like a new character, he`s actually been with the Muppets since the days of The Muppet Show. There were many more Muppet productions during this period, but Joe`s team wasn`t there for most of them.
Oddly enough, though, they went back to ground squirrels, especially in your favorite Muppet movie, Billy Bunny`s Animal Songs. You remember that movie, don`t you? Billy is looking for a new song to sing, and he stumbles upon Gopherville and learns from the Gophers that animals can sometimes look alike but have different personalities. For example, the animals sometimes look identical, but are prairie dogs, ground squirrels, marmots and weasels. Sometimes these animals are kleptomaniacs and sometimes they are defenders. My friends, meet EUGENE, an oft-recycled weasel from the Muppet Classic Theater and the Muppets Tonight who lived in the studio`s control panel and never did anything remarkable. In the series itself, Joe appeared alongside Kermit to provide safety warnings before each “Muppet Labs Field Test” segment. He participated in the segment of the episode “Socialized” and tried to deter them from dangerous chemical experiments. He also made a brief appearance in the first scene of “Getting Testy”. Fans fell in love with Joe and his annoying but infectious laugh.
During Season 1, Joe`s presence increased slightly, although he is still a secondary character at best. With Muppets Now Season 2 already lit up in green, it wouldn`t be surprising if Joe gets a lot more screen time in the future. But a bigger boost wouldn`t turn out to be the best thing for the character or the show. He`s awesome and, more importantly, funny just the way he is. Before the first episode of Muppets Now came out on Disney+, the producers did a great job building the character. He was featured in videos celebrating Talk Like a Pirate Day and Groundhog Day, exposing key traits of the character. The little brown weasel wears a suit and glasses and wears a tiny, adorable briefcase. His behavior is superficial and annoying until he delivers a terrible joke that only he finds funny. Then Joe unleashes a barrage of disgusting laughter that often chases away all the other Muppet within earshot. Ian Goodwillie is a freelance writer from Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
He holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Saskatchewan and completed the Vancouver Film School writing program. More importantly, Ian is also a wrestling fan, comic book reader, video player, and photographer. He loves to write and writes about what he likes. Ian is also an unrepentant and uncompromising fan of Cougar Town, a series he will defend until his death. Follow him on Twitter at @ThePrairieGeek. Here, he briefly emerges from a hole to explain how marmots can predict the weather. Let me spoiler you: it says they can`t. Joe is recycled by one of the prairie dogs featured on The Muppet Show and other productions. Standing out as a member of the ever-growing Muppets team is no easy task, especially on a show like Muppets Now.
The 24-minute running time combined with a six-part first season meant there were few opportunities to break through on screen. One Muppet who made the most of these opportunities was Joe de Legal, aka Joe the Legal Weasel. He may not have had much screen time, but what he did with it was certainly funny. Joe works best when he`s a supporting character. Considering that his business card follows a bad joke with an obnoxious laugh, viewers won`t want to hear this multiple times in a segment during each episode of Muppets Now. It would become exhausting and run out pretty quickly. An increased presence in the series will force the creators to develop more character for him than necessary and lose the mysticism that his current shtick has created. In the first season of Muppets Now, Joe was featured primarily alongside Kermit in the warnings that led to Muppets Lab field test segments with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker.
As such, Kermit was the main muppet, tormented by Joe`s sense of humor. But in the final episode of season 1, Joe showed up with honeydew and a cup to conduct science experiments.
