The Great MacGuffin is a character in Muppets Haunted Mansion and the special's version of the Ghost Host.
Background[]
The Great MacGuffin, assisted by his Red Herring Pee Wee, was a legendary stage magician in the early 20th century that Gonzo looks up to. In the early 1920s, MacGuffin disappeared after spending Halloween night inside the Haunted Mansion, inspiring a Halloween challenge for daredevils to survive the night within the Mansion's walls which he would oversee as the Ghost Host. On the 100th Anniversary of his disappearance, he would invite the Great Gonzo to the Mansion to take on the challenge, with Pepe the King Prawn accompanying him. After ushering them through the Stretching Room and performing the song "Life Hereafter" with the Mansion's ghostly residents in the Grand Hall and, seeing Gonzo unfazed by the Mansion's happy haunts, he sends him to face his greatest fear in Room 999, the most dangerous room in the Mansion's Corridor of Doors that even the residents fear to enter. When Gonzo pulls through his harrowing experience in Room 999, he tells him that he's free to go, but that Pepe has fallen into Constance Hatchaway's clutches and will be stuck if he doesn't get out by sunrise. He sends a Floating Candelabra to guide Gonzo to the Attic to rescue Pepe and after they make it to the gates at sunrise, the Ghost Host reveals himself and congratulates Gonzo for doing what he could not. Having long since accepted his fate and his new friends in the Mansion, he and Pee Wee give Gonzo a pair of autographed playing cards as a parting gift.
Trivia[]
- The idea of the Ghost Host being a stage magician may be inspired by Phineas J. Pock, the fictitious author of Magic From The Haunted Mansion in Disneyland.
- The Great MacGuffin's death on a Halloween night in the 1920s parallels famous magician Harry Houdini.
- The word, "MacGuffin" is a portmanteau of McGuffin refers to the central object being sought after by characters in a story. Additionally, "Red Herring Pee Wee" is a reference to, "Red Herrings", a word used to describe story elements which intentionally mislead the audience and/or characters.
- MacGuffin's occupation as a magician might be a reference to the character of Gob Bluth from Arrested Development whom Will Arnett also played.
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