Statler and Waldorf are a pair of Muppet characters. They are two ornery, disagreeable old men who first appeared in the television series The Muppet Show heckling the rest of the cast from their balcony seats. They appeared in every episode of the show. In The Muppet Show, the two were always insulting Fozzie Bear's poor jokes, except for one occasion where Fozzie, with help from Bruce Forsyth, heckled them back. It is later revealed in the Muppet Family Christmas special that the two hecklers were friends with Fozzie's mother, Emily Bear. Despite constantly complaining about the show and how terrible some acts were, they would always be back the following week in the best seats in the house.They also had a penchant for breaking the fourth wall - at the end of one episode, they looked at the camera and asked "Why do you watch it?", and in another one, Waldorf stated that he didn't care for puppets, not finding them believable. Statler responded with "I don't believe you!"
Statler and Waldorf are named after two New York City hotels, the Statler Hotel and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The muppets are rumored to have been modeled after two of Jim Henson's college professors
