Muppet Meeting Films Muppet Meeting Films are a series of short films produced for public screening during business meetings and training sessions . The films are two to three minutes long , and provide some comic relief in a long , dull meeting . The early films in the series , produced in 1975 , featured puppets that would soon become stars on " The Muppet Show " - - Kermit , Sam the Eagle , Janice , Gonzo and Waldorf . In 1979 , Jim Henson and Frank Oz created a new comedy team for the films - - Leo , a master speechmaker and wordsmith , and Grump , a cynical crank . IBM films . Beginning in 1956 , Henson ' s company produced a successful range of television commercials , most famously the " Wilkins and Wontkins " ads for a Washington , D . C . coffee company , Wilkins Coffee . In the mid - 60s , Henson also produced special presentation films for the sales meetings of some of his clients , including Pak - Nit , La Choy and Wilson ' s Meats . In 1965 , information technology company IBM commissioned a set of films for their sales meetings . Henson worked on these films with David Lazer , the head of IBM ' s film and television division ; Lazer went on to leave the company and work for Henson , producing many of the Muppet productions over the next twenty years , including " The Muppet Show " and " The Muppet Movie " . One of the IBM films , " Coffee Break Machine " , features an early version of Cookie Monster , who devours a complex machine as the machine describes its purpose and construction . At the end of the sketch , the talking machine explains that it ' s wired with a security system set to explode if tampered with . The monster promptly combusts . This film was so successful that Henson performed the sketch in 1967 for " The Ed Sullivan Show " , and it was remade as a " Muppet Show " sketch . Other IBM films included Rowlf the Dog playing the piano and singing " My Way " , and " The Paperwork Explosion " , a non - puppet film which included a soundtrack by Raymond Scott . Muppet Meeting Films . The IBM films were a hit , and in 1975 , Henson Associates created the Muppet Meeting Films , which could be licensed to other companies . The films were produced as collections of three or four skits , usually running about two or three minutes each . The first collection , " Muppet Picker Upper " , used puppets that would soon become major characters on " The Muppet Show " . After this collection , the Classic Muppets didn ' t appear in the Meeting Films , except for a brief Kermit cameo in 1993 , and one film featuring Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in the late 90s ( which was a clip from " The Muppet Show " ) . The films produced from 1979 to 1987 feature Leo and Grump , a comedy duo performed by Henson and Frank Oz . Leo is the optimistic salesman , always trying his best ; Grump is an old grouch who complains about everything . In 1987 , the cast and characters were featured in a short , behind - the - scenes segment for " Entertainment Tonight " . It was around this time that some new puppets were introduced , but none of them have constant identities , personalities , or voices . The most prominent is the David Lazer Muppet , an orange supervisor character ( and a caricature of producer David Lazer ) . The character was identified on Henson . com as " The Company Man " but unnamed in the films until 1992 ' s " Executive Island " , where he was referred to as Finneman . The only other character that maintains a constant voice and identity is Big Head , a grumpy boss character played by David Rudman , also introduced in 1992 . In the Meeting Films made after Henson ' s death , Frank Oz no longer performed in the films , and Leo and Grump were retired . A team of Muppet performers appear in the rest of the films , including Dave Goelz , Steve Whitmire , Jerry Nelson , Joey Mazzarino , David Rudman , Kevin Clash , Peter Linz , Camille Bonora , Noel MacNeal and Julianne Buescher . Other characters to appear included Beautiful Day Monster , Luncheon Counter Monster , and a monster who was later used on " Muppets Tonight " as Big Mean Carl . Several of the generic supporting characters were later adapted as characters for " Statler & Waldorf : From the Balcony " , notably Ted Thomas and The Weather Guy . Known directors of the various films include Brian Henson ( who helmed a few of the 1992 entries ) and David Gumpel . The films continue to be distributed as rentals for business use by Enterprise Media . According to the company ' s website , popular titles include " Sell , Sell , Sell " ( the top - ranked release ) , " Let ' s Have the Dam Break " , " The Meeting That Would Not Die " , " The Sky ' s The Limit " and " Win ! Win ! Win ! " . External links . _ _ NOWYSIWYG _ _