Dr. Bunsen Honeydew is the resident scientist on The Muppet Show, and host of the Muppet Labs sketches. In season one of The Muppet Show he worked alone, but in season two, his assistant Beaker was added to the show. Bunsen is always eager to show off his latest scientific discovery, but his excitement about progress tends to render him short-sighted. Beaker usually ends up being harmed by Dr. Honeydew's inventions. Bunsen Honeydew's name comes from the scientific instrument called the Bunsen burner, and the shape of his head, which looks like a honeydew melon.

Bunsen's inventions have included a gorilla detector, exploding clothes, edible paper clips, a banana sharpener, hair-growing tonic, and a machine that can turn gold into cottage cheese.

He has appeared in every Muppet movie, often with a large role contributing to the film's plot. In The Muppet Movie, Kermit the Frog meets Bunsen and Beaker in an old ghost town, where Honeydew shows off his latest invention, "Insta-Grow Pills," which can temporarily make things grow bigger. In The Muppet Christmas Carol, Bunsen and Beaker portray charity workers. In Muppets from Space, Bunsen invents a number of devices for the Muppets to use when they rescue Gonzo.

In a 2004 Internet poll sponsored by the BBC and the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew were voted Britain's favorite cinematic scientists. They beat Star Trek's Mr. Spock, their closest rival, by a margin of 2 to 1 and won 33 percent of the 43,000 votes cast.