Beaker rapidly became a favorite with audiences, who both sympathized with and enjoyed laughing at his humorous sufferings. Occasionally, Beaker was able to take revenge, particularly in a segment when he inadvertently made numerous copies of himself and spent the rest of the episode chasing Dr. Honeydew around the theater. (This segment of "Muppet Labs" was from the
Mac Davis episode.) In the 2008
TV special,
A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa, Beaker is even more fortunate when he tests a wish machine and gets the company of model
Petra Němcová, who can speak his meeping language, and not only refuses Honeydew's order to send her back, but then also successfully teleports away with her to apparently enjoy his first wish for the rest of the story. Beaker has also appeared as a musical performer, singing "
Danny Boy", "
Carol of the Bells", and "
Habanera" with the
Swedish Chef and
Animal, and "
Feelings" and "
Dust in the Wind" solo. He also sang "
Ode to Joy" with his clones who were accidentally formed by Honeydew's copying machine. The "Danny Boy" performance was marked by the Chef's singing in his trademark gibberish and Animal's inability to remember anything but the first three words. For "Feelings", Animal had to shush the increasingly unruly crowd (who tormented the Muppets throughout the episode) so Beaker could finish: "QUIET!!...Thank you." In the 2011 film
The Muppets, Beaker sang a comedic
a cappella version of
Nirvana's "
Smells Like Teen Spirit" as part of a
barbershop quartet with
Sam the Eagle,
Rowlf the Dog and
Link Hogthrob. Because of Disney's designation of
the Muppets franchise as being for family audiences, Beaker was given a crucial role replacing the song's more questionable lines like "a
mulatto" and "my
libido" with "mee-mee-mee-mo." The two scientists were later incorporated into the
Muppet Babies animated series.
Howie Mandel (during early seasons) and
Dave Coulier voiced Bunsen, and
Frank Welker provided Beaker's squeaky meeps. Unlike his puppet counterpart, Baby Beaker can smile. An animated Beaker was also voiced by Richard Hunt, his usual performer during that period, when he appeared in the short lived
Little Muppet Monsters series. Beaker was performed by
Kevin Clash in
The Muppet Show Live, as all live scenes that featured him also featured Kermit, who was a higher priority for Steve Whitmire to play. Additionally, for his appearance at
The Game Awards 2019, Beaker was performed by
Peter Linz due to David Rudman being unavailable to attend. ==In popular culture==