# What is that thing around Kermit The Frog's neck? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2008, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129 "2008-02-25T23:12:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Strain\_of\_Thought](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Strain\_of\_Thought](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strain_of_Thought)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/1 "2008-02-25T23:12:49Z")
What is that thing around [Kermit The Frog](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermit_the_frog)’s neck? I’ve never seen anything analogous to it on any frog. Has Kermit secretly been a tailess [frilled lizard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frilled_lizard) all this time or something? ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/2 "2008-02-25T23:16:07Z")
In the talk section of the linked wiki article someone says it’s a collar that they (vaguely) recall seeing him remove. I don’t know if that is true or not. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/3 "2008-02-25T23:27:35Z")
It’s a collar of High Explosives, remotely controlled. All the Muppets wear a version… It’s what permitted Henson to control these savage creature, & make them his slaves. Later, they _rose up against him!!_ Flesh eating disease my tuchus. It was Beaker that gnawed on him! ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/4 "2008-02-25T23:45:05Z")
I always assumed it was a stylized frog-puppet-type [jester’s collar.](http://images.buycostumes.com/mgen/merchandiser/17205.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/5 "2008-02-25T23:52:18Z")
Oddly enough Kermit started life as a vaguely Lizard like puppet and morphed into the Kermit the Frog we all know. Jim (Such an odd fact to know.) ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/6 "2008-02-26T00:17:04Z")
I’ve wondered this too. It looks like a pet’s collar to me. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/7 "2008-02-26T00:18:39Z")
Completely wild assed guess, perhaps it’s to signify he’s a prince? ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/8 "2008-02-26T00:27:09Z")
It’s definitely a collar. I remember an episode of The Muppet Show when someone ripped it off him and he reacted as if he were suddenly naked. Which of course, he was. [He wasn’t always so bashful.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9R5dov0VIw) ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/9 "2008-02-26T01:03:33Z")
What, no one remembers when he had fangs? ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/10 "2008-02-26T01:23:09Z")
Which, of course, I can no longer find evidence of. Honest I could’ve sworn he had fangs and bushy black eyebrows at one point ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/11 "2008-02-26T01:24:49Z")
[QUOTE=Grey] Which, of course, I can no longer find evidence of. Honest I could’ve sworn he had fangs and bushy black eyebrows at one point [/QUOTE] That was during Vincent Price’s visit to the _Muppet Show_, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/12 "2008-02-26T01:29:36Z")
Little known fact: pig snouts create amazingly unsightly hickeys. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/13 "2008-02-26T01:32:43Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] That was during Vincent Price’s visit to the _Muppet Show_, I believe. [/QUOTE] Brilliant! [link (missing eye brows though)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQALLGsn-Fk) ---
**Author:** ![Solfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Solfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Solfy)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/14 "2008-02-26T15:32:34Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] Oddly enough Kermit started life as a vaguely Lizard like puppet and morphed into the Kermit the Frog we all know. Jim (Such an odd fact to know.) [/QUOTE] If you want to go even further back, Kermit started life as Henson’s mother’s coat. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/15 "2008-02-26T15:50:15Z")
[Kermit Through the Years.](http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Kermit_Through_the_Years) ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/16 "2008-02-26T21:55:55Z")
It is something to keep him from looking so naked. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/17 "2008-02-27T09:12:12Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] Oddly enough Kermit started life as a vaguely Lizard like puppet and morphed into the Kermit the Frog we all know. [/QUOTE] [More details here](http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Kermit%27s_Origins). ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/18 "2008-02-27T17:17:51Z")
Examine most Muppets that are constructed in the same basic fashion as Kermit, and you’ll find that they usually have some costuming element around the throat. This is to help conceal the joint that allows the Muppeteer to rotate the character’s head. That’s what Kermit’s collar is for. Not that I am implying that Muppeteers are known for their use of joints, though that would tend to explain some of those episodes relating to the planet Koozbane. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/19 "2008-02-27T17:40:04Z")
The muppet with the fangs AND eyebrows sings in the introduction in the first season. There is a link to the episode w/ vincent price on the link posted above. Click that one and you’ll see him. He DOES look just like kermit though. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-thing-around-kermit-the-frogs-neck/439129/20 "2008-02-27T23:26:02Z")
[QUOTE=Acid Lamp] The muppet with the fangs AND eyebrows sings in the introduction in the first season. [/QUOTE] That’s [Green Frackle](http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Frackle). He’s sort of Kermit-shaped, but considered a monster.