Kermit the Murdering Extortionist

                 Jim Henson, if you didn't know, created and originally voiced a little tv show called The Muppets.

Pretty underground, it didn't teach an entire generation basic
life skills or anything. 

               One of the main characters, or arguably the main character, is a frog named Kermit. Kermit is known for many things, chief among them are his lovable if not slightly melancholy songs...

Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor

                 ... And being one of the most recognizable puppets from the late 50's to the late 80's. Only then being rivaled by Big Bird. But before Kermit made his first appearance in 1955, Henson had a sort of proto-Kermit. And its name was Wilkins.

                Yup, thats proto-Kermit on the right. He hadn't really morphed into frog form yet. And that depressed looking thing on the left is named Wotkins. And they were both part of Henson's many, many Wilkins Coffee commercials. Each ad is only about 10 seconds, and they're all roughly the same.

So it starts off with Wilkins saying how great the coffee is, then asking Wotkins if he drinks Wilkin brand coffee. Wotkins says no, then Wilkins inflicts bodily harm/murders Wotkins and makes a joke. Wotkins method of murdering Wotkins includes running him over with a steam roller, pushing him out of a hot air balloon, throwing knives at him, shooting him out of a cannon, and full-out shanking him.

               In one commercial, after shooting Wotkins in the head with a pistol, Wilkins turns to the camera and asks if anyone else doesn't like Wilkins Coffee. The implication here being that if you didn't go buy Wilkins Coffee, Wilkins would murder you. 

It's always the one you'd least expect to kill you
because of your choice in coffee. 

              So as times changed, the Wilkins character changed too. He first became a humanoid lizard named, then later evolved into a green frog with banjo playing abilities. Hopefully one day Wilkins will return to the Muppets, possibly curb stomping Fozzie Bear out of rage that Wilkins Coffee no longer exists.