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Kermit grew up with thousands of siblings and has talked occasionally about other members of his family. His childhood adventures were chronicled in the 2002 direct-to-video film *Kermit's Swamp Years*. Kermit also has a nephew named Robin.

Miss Piggy insists that she and Kermit were married in *The Muppets Take Manhattan*, and that they're very happy. Kermit disagrees, claiming that it was just a movie and that in real life, they have a "professional relationship" (meaning he thinks they're professionals and she thinks they're in a relationship).[1]

Kermit's most well-known catchphrase is "Hi-ho, Kermit the Frog here!" He typically introduced acts on *The Muppet Show* by waving his arms wildly and shouting "Yaaaay!" (a technique he learned from his old acting coach, Mr. Dawson).

Kermit has been credited as the writer of three books: *For Every Child, A Better World*; *One Frog Can Make a Difference*; and *Before You Leap*.

## Character originsEdit

[1]Kermit on *Sam and Friends*.
[2]Kermit, collared and flippered, as seen on *Sesame Street*.
[3]Kermit (abstract) and Kermit (the Frog).
The earliest version of Kermit first appeared in 1955 on *Sam and Friends*, Jim Henson's five-minute puppet show that aired twice daily on WRC-TV. The soon-to-be-famous frog had humble origins, as Henson explained in 1977: "I'd paint the scenery, and Janie would carry it in the station wagon. We made the first Kermit from one of my mother's old coats with Ping-Pong balls for his eyes."[2] Kermit was built in March 1955.[3] The character, however, was first copyrighted in 1956. Kermit's voice was inspired by a similar voice that Stan Freberg used to do.[4]

In the early days of the character, Kermit wasn't yet a frog -- he was more of a lizard-like, abstract character. As Henson explained, "Kermit started out as a way of building, putting a mouth and covering over my hand. There was nothing in Kermit outside of the piece of cardboard -- it was originally cardboard -- and the cloth shape that was his head. He's one of the simplest kinds of puppets that you can make, and he's very flexible because of that... which gives him a range of expression."[5]

In later years, Henson said that Kermit didn't become a frog until the 1971 special *The Frog Prince*,[6] a claim that made its way into the 1993 book *Jim Henson: The Works*.[7]

However, Kermit's froghood asserted itself as early as 1965, when Johnny Carson referred to him as "Kermit the Frog" on a December 31st *Tonight Show* appearance.[8] The 1966 Montgomery Wards catalog which featured the Ideal Muppet puppets refers to Kermit as a "fanciful frog". Kermit refers to himself as a frog in the 1968 special *The Muppets on Puppets*. The special *Hey Cinderella!*, which was recorded in 1968,[9] featured a redesigned Kermit puppet; his round feet were replaced with flippers, and he was given a fringed collar with thirteen points.[10] By the time that Kermit appeared on the Sesame Street Pitch Reel, he was a full-fledged frog.

Kermit sported a double collar for a brief period in the early 1970s, including in the TV special *The Frog Prince* and several early seasons of *Sesame Street*, but by the time he took over as the level-headed but often exasperated host of *The Muppet Show*, it was changed to the trademark single collar with eleven points that he still wears today.