I absolutely loved the Muppet Show when I growing up. It was a part of my favorite memories - the time I got punished in 1st grade and was more traumatized by not getting to see it because I had been sent to bed early than anything else that had happened to me. It played a big part in the time my mother and I rebonded while I was in the hospital in 1994 (Disney Channel reruns). But certain episodes really stand out to me…or rather, skits:
Dyan Cannon singing Bongo Bongo
Harry Belafonte singing the Banana Boat Song and Turn the World Around
Elton John singing Benny and the Jets (I still can hear Muppets singing “Benny, Benny, Benny” every time I listen to that song)
Ruth Buzzi doing I Love You, Sweetum with Sweetum (I loved watching reruns of Laugh-In when I was in junior high)
Diana Ross singing Love Hangover
Julie Andrews doing the Lonely Goatherd song
The entire John Cleese episode
Veterinarian Hospital with Rolf, Janice, and Miss Piggy cracking bad puns over some poor, suffering patient puppet…
My memories are all coming flooding back as I decide which episodes I want to obtain first (these scenes were on the first ones I got ).
I remember during one of the rehearsals for State Honors Band in high school, two of the trombonists were laughing and the director asked them what was so funny. Then in unison, they sang, “Why do we always come here? I guess we’ll never know. It’s like a kind of torture to have to watch the show.” Their voices sounded exactly like Statler and Waldorf. The director, who was easily 50 years older than all of us couldn’t figure out why we were all laughing hysterically. Of course, we had all been kids when the show was still on the air.
I just watched the Carol Burnett episode. How could I have forgotten that one?! I’ll speed up the, uh, “obtaining” of the Alice Cooper episode…
Who do you think would have made a good guest star?
Personally, I think Ozzy Osbourne would have been interesting…if only to see him bite off the head of a muppet. I also think Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin would have been cool to see on there. They probably would have done some really psychedelic muppets in a musical number just for them. Me and Bobby McGee or Purple Haze.
I also think Stevie Wonder would have made a great guest star. And Rodney Dangerfield. And Sam Kinison for that matter.
The muppets were great, and they should have been put to rest when Jim Henson passed away
Its just not the same without his personality behind the scenes…
Im a huge Muppets fan, have boxes of the figures and toys back home, waiting for the day when I have kids of my own to share the joy with
Steve Martin did a great show back in the good old Muppet days, and I loved the Pigs in Space, and that crazy fish throwing madman used to give me nightmares as a kid
That is exactly my fave also. The old dudes singing in the beginning was what I lived for when I watched it. I think it was an early sign of my growing cyncism with the world.
But if you wanna see it in a whole another way check out this vid
[quote=“Mer”]I think I’ve got a few separate segments from the Alice Cooper - Muppets Show episode kicking around on hard-drive. Upload them to YouTube?
ImaniOU, are you sure Ozzy wasn’t on the Muppets? I seem to recall two sort of heavy metal guys on the show. I’m not totally sure though…[/quote]
Trust me, I am in possession of every episode made of the original series…or in the process of “obtaining” them all. I am not familiar with all of the stars of that time period, but Ozzy never made the show. I’m surprised Alice Cooper did. It doesn’t seem like Henson’s kind of music. Or maybe it was and he was just holding himself back because it was a kid’s show. I mean, he did invite Debbie Harry to guest star on the show.
).
