Every year, I expect the same things fromThe Game Awards. There will be trailers galore, often for some of the biggest games of the next few years. Awards will be handed out in record time so as not to interrupt those trailers. Celebrities will wander out on stage and say something about how they don’t know anything about video games, then cue up another trailer.
You know what else has been equally consistent at The Game Awards?The Muppets.
The Game Awards Are An Expression Of Geoff Keighley’s Pure Id
More than any other awards show, The Game Awards are the product of their creator. You probably have no idea who runs the Academy Awards, Emmys, Grammys, or any other major annual awards show. You might spot their name in the credits after the show, but that’s about it. The Game Awards are the only major awards show with a human mascot who also happens to be the host, creator, and producer. Keighley also seems to do a lot of the booking himself, as hefrequently talksabout meeting with studios, playing their games, and putting together an exciting line-up for the big night.
If you’ve followed games at all over the last decade, this is all old news. We’re used to it. But imagine you had never seen The Game Awards, got into gaming in 2024, and decided to tune in. Would it not be incredibly bizarre to find out that the host is also the producer, and the creator, and the talent booker, and will be the show’s host indefinitely? Imagine if, when Conan O’Brien was announced as this season’s Oscars host, the Academy also made him Oscar host for all future ceremonies, put him in charge of finding musical acts to perform, and tasked him with organizing the show. That would be weird, right?
That unique circumstance has led to The Game Awards increasingly revealing more and more of Keighley’s personality and interests. The fact that The Muppets appear at the show nearly every year has shown us that, despite Keighley’s empty suit persona, there is at least one thing that he likes an unreasonable amount.
What Do The Muppets Do At The Game Awards?
Pepe the King Prawn showed up in 2018 to hand out the award for Best Independent Game with streamer Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins. Pepe offered some incredibly weak wordplay — using a selfie stick to take “shell-fies”, callingFortnite"Fork Knife”, and when Ninja said the award was for games made outside the triple-A system, Pepe quipped about batteries. It was pretty groan-inducing and Ninja’s ‘Uh, actually it’s called Fortnite’ rejoinders just made it feel like they were doubling down on a bit that wasn’t funny to begin with.
In 2019, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker showed up for a truly interminable bit where Beaker wore VR goggles so that he could enter ‘Untitled Beaker Game’, which was justUntitled Goose Gamewith Beaker wandering around in it. Eventually, he ran into the eponymous goose, who chased him around the town.
When Beaker got out of the game, the goose somehow followed, and then there was some unfunny slapstick as Beaker and Honeydew tried to shut the puppet goose up as Honeydew announced the winner of Games for Impact. It ended with a pun, as the goose honked and Honeydew corrected, “Not geese… Gris!”
The Muppets have continued to show up in recent years, with the Swedish Chef Zooming in for the announcement that he had been added toOvercooked! All You Can Eat, Animal making an appearance in 2022 to help announce Best Score and Music, and Gonzo and Camilla the Chicken presenting Best Debut Indie in 2023. Keighley has already announced that Statler and Waldorf will have some part to play in the show this week.
Best Indie Game? Worst Muppets Bit!
It all reminds me of the discourse Jimmy Kimmel stirred up in 2022 when a bit had him lying on the Emmys stage, where he stayed as Quinta Brunson came onstage to accept her award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series. Viewers were understandably angry on Brunson’s behalf, since her big moment was overshadowed by a dude lying on the stage for some reason. When the Muppets are at the show, it feels like The Game Awards have the same issue. The Swedish Chef’s bit was the rare time it felt like a Muppet appearance actually made sense. Having these puppets hand out the awards feels increasingly disrespectful, like the awards aren’t worth taking seriously.
Especially because The Muppets never get called in to give away the big prizes like Game of the Year or Best Direction. That would be unthinkable. But, sure, Best Indie and Games for Impact can be handed out by fictional characters. It all adds up to the feeling that The Game Awards don’t care that much about the games they’re awarding. If someone besides Geoff Keighley had a say in how the show was run, they would probably see that.
