Beaker is a Muppet character from The Muppet Show. He is the shy, long-suffering assistant of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, and is likewise named after a piece of laboratory equipment. During the first season of The Muppet Show, Dr. Honeydew presented the Muppet Labs segments by himself; Beaker was added as his lab assistant from the second season on. Beaker has bulging eyes, a shock of red hair, and a drawbridge mouth. He was originally puppeteered and voiced by Richard Hunt until Hunt's death in 1992, when the role was taken over primarily by Steve Whitmire. Beaker is a magnet for disaster; he routinely suffers mishaps such as being blown up, electrocuted, eaten by large monsters, or afflicted with bizarre side effects from Dr. Honeydew's experiments. Beaker communicates in a nervous, high-pitched squeak that sounds like "Mee-mee-mee mee". In books and merchandise, the sound is spelled "Meep". In The Muppet Movie he appeared to say something other than "mee" or "meep". His tone or expression helps to communicate his meaning. "Meep" and "mee" are pronounced to rhyme with "beep" and "bee", respectively.