Fozzie bear is one of the most famous and popular characters on Jim Henson's "The Muppet Show" The inept stand-up comedian is a large orange bear, dressed only in a small brown hat and a white scarf with pink spots tied in a bow around his neck.
Fozzie was touring small comedy venues around the USA when Kermit the Frog discovered him and asked him to join his entertainment company as his sidekick. Fozzie accepted Kermit's offer and swapped touring for the theatre where Kermit worked. This didn't stop rotten fruit being thrown at Fozzie, due to his bad knock, knock jokes. As well as having missiles thrown at him he was regularly heckled by Statler and Waldorf. Fozzie also liked performing chicken jokes, had a rubber chicken as a prop and had a catchphrase of "Wocka! Wocka!"
Through "The Muppet Show", Fozzie performed alongside greats such as Bob Hope, George Burns and the late Milton Berle. He also appeared in many films, television shows and was featured on several records.
Rumour has it that Fozzie Bear was named after his performer, Frank Oz. The official story is that Fozzie was supposed to be called "Ozzie" and due to legal problems, this was not possible. This is when his name was changed to Fozzie as a tribute to Faz Fazakas, a puppet builder.
Sources
http://www.mbcnet.org/archives/etv/M/htmlM/muppetshow/muppetshow.htm
http://www.henson.com
http://www.muppets.com/
http://www.cobweb.nl/wcoumans/fozzie.htm