We are now at our second Muppets villain and whereas IMO, Hopper was a foil to Kermit, I don’t believe the same is true of today’s villain. Nicky Holiday is a fun villain but I don’t know if I’d say that he’s a foil to any particular Muppet. This is admittedly a stretch but in some ways you could argue that he is a parallel to Miss Piggy. Both are over the top, hammy and love expensive things.
This is also case where we kinda have a love triangle but not really as Nicky is infatuated with Piggy but Piggy is loyal to her frog. As Piggy says, Kermit is right and Nicky is wrong. This is so fascinating as I do believe that Nicky’s feelings for Piggy are genuine but his greedy tendencies override his feelings for Piggy.
There is something else to keep in mind with The Great Muppet Caper compared to the first movie, Caper is more of a full blown comedy. The Muppet Movie had moments where the broke the fourth wall but Caper obliterates the fourth wall to the point that it doesn’t exist by the time the movie is over. This is something you’ll see when I talk about Nicky’s first appearance.
First Appearance
We first see Nicky during one of the best opening numbers of any movie, the aptly titled Hey, A Movie. It’s a simple set up as the movie goes on about all the things you’ll see in a movie and Nicky looks at the camera and says
“And me”
Implying he will see him in the movie. This introduction is so interesting as it goes against the type of character that Nicky is. It’s much more sinister than Nicky comes off in the actual movie. I’ve already discussed this a bit and I will more in the next section but Charles Grodin plays Nicky as a human Muppet. So, this sinister line delivery doesn’t match the tone of the type of villain that Nicky is. I know, I know I’m overthinking a two word line.
This also presents another interesting facet of this movie, Great Muppet Caper is a mystery but with this line, it’s not really the traditional whodunit type of mystery to the audience even though that is the type of mystery it is for the characters It’s not a one for one but in some instances, it’s closer to the lesser talked about style of mystery known as the howcatchthem. We know Nicky is the bad guy and we know what he’s after, so the question remains how will the Muppets stop him.
Personality
I went over this a bit in the previous section but Nicky is a bit of a ham. Now could argue that this is a front to hide his cat burglar persona from his sister, Lady Holiday but honestly it feels so real to who he is. In many ways, I’d say that both the campy side, we side of Nicky and the serious side we see when he’s focusing on stealing the baseball diamond are both true of who he is.
Think of it this way, Nicky can be a ham and over the top like when he’s stupidly dancing next to his sister at the club but when going over the items needed for the heist with Carla, Darla, and Marla, he’s focused as this mission is important to him. This also ties into his infatuation with Piggy, his feelings for her are very real but as I’ve said throughout, he is obsessed with getting the baseball diamond.
Grand Desire
The movie sets it up as though he wants to steal the baseball diamond and that is true. But let’s also look at Nicky says when Kermit asks him why he’s doing this.
“Why am I doing this? Because I’m a villain, it’s pure and simple”
Now this again could be looked at breaking the fourth wall and Nicky acknowledging his role in the story but stay with me here and it is a bit of a stretch but I also think it’s a commentary on his place in the Holiday family. We don’t know too much about the rest of the Holiday family except that Lady Holiday is a successful fashionista and Nicky lives in the shadow of his sister. Maybe Nicky is the black sheep of his family and cat burglar antics is a way of him acting out against the attention his sister gets.
Most Evil Deed
This one is easy to place for me. It’s when he frames Piggy for stealing Lady Holiday’s necklace. Again, make no mistake he loves Piggy but I believe that he views Piggy as a distraction and needed to get her out of the way so that he could focus on the mission at hand.
Song
Piggy’s Fantasy
This song is great and imo again goes back to something I’ve brought up throughout when we hear Nicky sing, he truly cares about Piggy. Even if he was dubbed and fyi years later the actual signer was discovered by ToughPigs to possibly be opera singer, Stuart Kale. But take that with a grain of salt as The Jim Henson Archives couldn’t verify.
Lackeys
Carla, Darla, and Marla
Honestly, these three are useless. There is something funny about the models that work for his sister being his henchmen (women) but they have no discernible personalities. They’re just there.
Demise
After a fun bout at the Mallory Gallery Nicky is arrested and has one last moment with Piggy nod it’s clear he’s not over here and it’ll be sometime before ever will be. Nicky was meant to have a cameo in the 2011 movie still being in prison supposedly but honestly with the gulag in Most Wanted that would’ve made more sense. Grodin turned down the cameo and I get it.
Is Nicky Holiday a Good Villain?
Heck yes, Nicky Holiday is my favorite Muppet villain. He’s so campy and fun and silly while also posing as a true threat to the gang. And that he has feelings for Piggy even if they are played for laughs adds another layer as deep deep deep down, their might be a sliver of good in him but he lets his obsession with the baseball diamond override his feelings for Piggy.
Now I’ve already looked at Tim Curry’s Long John Silver years ago comparing the different Disney adaptions of Treasure Island so we will be skipping him. And despite what some try to claim Manhattan and Christmas Carol do not have villains. So our next entry takes to space as we look at
K. Edgar Singer
About Author
I haven’t seen Muppet Caper in a while so I don’t remember too much about Nicky Holiday or the movie as a whole. I may have to do a refresh watch.
Please do, it’s one of the best Muppets movies
Muppet Caper is my favorite Muppet Movie, and Nicky is just a perfect character for it. Charles Grodin’s portrayal is akin to Leslie Nielsen’s from some of his spoof movies, alternating between playing things straight or going over the top, the latter of which he revels in. I can understand why they brought Grodin back as Quentin the guard in the Walt Disney World special – he’s a perfect foil for the Muppets.
He works so well playing against the Muppets
There are so many great fourth-wall breaking lines in The Great Muppet Caper that it’s hard to pick just one or two favorites. In addition to the opening number and Miss Piggy’s calling out Nicky for his singing voice being dubbed, there’s also the balloon sequence where they read the credits and comment on them MST3K-style (MST3K wouldn’t be a thing for another decade, but you know what I mean), Oscar the Grouch’s self-described ‘very brief cameo’, and Lady Holiday telling Miss Piggy (and by extension the audience) a lot of things about her brother Nicky that shouldn’t be Miss Piggy’s business at this point.
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Miss Piggy asks “Why are you telling me all this?” Lady Holiday’s response is “Plot exposition. It’s got to go somewhere.”
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The Great Muppet Caper is indeed more of a full blown comedy than the previous movie. The same could be said of ‘Muppets Most Wanted’ when comparing it to ‘The Muppets (2011)’.
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Speaking of which, I agree that if they wanted to have a Nicky Holiday cameo, Nicky would have fit in better with ‘Muppets Most Wanted’. I only heard about the cameo recently, and I was wondering just how it would have worked, since Nicky would have visibly aged while the Muppets (even though everyone aside from Dave Goelz’ characters are performed by different performers) don’t look like they’ve aged a day since The Great Muppet Caper.
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The Villains Wiki gives the crooked phony producer as the closest thing The Muppets Take Manhattan has to a villain, but he’s only in one scene so I agree with you that he doesn’t really count. I don’t know if Constance Hatchaway from The Muppets Haunted Mansion counts, either, but she’s certainly memorable (but I think you might have already done a villain profile on her).