How many times have you watched the “Bohemian Rhapsody” video on YouTube? Five? Ten? Fifty? With its mercurial rise to the top of the viral video charts, it’s a pretty sure thing that most people are watching the Muppet version of the Queen rock epic more than once. The coolest thing about it is that it’s a new Muppet production that’s both good and popular, which is a combination Muppet fans aren’t used to these days. The response has been amazing… and yet, I feel like I’m supposed to be more excited about it than I actually am.

The video itself is head-spinningly entertaining. There are so many Muppets in it! And they all get their little moment in the spotlight, from the major Muppet stars like Fozzie and Animal, to guys we don’t see nearly often enough, like Johnny Fiama and Beauregard. Not to mention the Muppet bananas. It looks great (Watch it in HD!), it sounds superb, and they even manage to censor the original song’s lyrics (apparently Muppets don’t put guns against heads or get stoned/spit in their eyes) in clever, character-appropriate ways. Then there’s the tag at the end with Kermit and Scooter, which is a perfect punchline to the whole thing.

It is a very, very good Muppet thing. And it is popular – sweet baby Ray’s, is it popular. Since November 23, it’s been watched nearly 10 million times. Ten million! It’s even been stolen and re-posted by various sneaky YouTube users, and most of those have views in the thousands. It’s been blogged, Facebooked, and tweeted more times than you can shake an arm-rod at, and it’s been featured on various TV shows. I bet more people have seen this video in two weeks than have seen Muppets From Space since it was released in 1999.

I’m not even sure why it’s so popular. The Muppets have been posting videos on YouTube since summer 2008, and they’ve all been wonderful, but even the Webby-award-winning “Ode to Joy” took over a year to reach its current tally of 7 million views. So what it is it about “Bohemian Rhapsody?” Is it the fact that there are so many beloved characters in it? Maybe it’s because “Rhapsody” is a hit rock song rather than a centuries-old Beethoven tune. Maybe it’s because the selection of such a grown-up song reminds people that the Muppets are (as they say) not just for kids. Orrrrr, maybe it’s just because it’s so dang good.

But here’s the thing. A lot of folks – both casual fans and hardcore geeks – have declared this to be the first sign of the Muppets’ “comeback,” but I just can’t join that parade yet. For one thing, the video is only four minutes and 47 seconds long. People are enjoying the Muppets while they’re wasting time at work, sure. But would they sit still for an hour-long TV special? Or a two-hour movie? Or (We can always hope!) a new TV series?

Also, clicking on a YouTube link is free. The current promotional push is presumably paving the way for an eventual new movie, but movie tickets cost more than free. And anyway, by the time a film is ready for release “Bohemian Rhapsody” will probably be two years old, and who knows if anyone will still care by then?

Yecch, okay. That’s enough Mr. Cynical-Pants. I will be delighted if my fears prove unfounded. This video is amazing, and I will continue to re-watch it and re-re-re-re-watch it. We already know there are more videos on the way – “Carol of the Bells,” "American Woman", "Stand By Me," and “Dust in the Wind,” which I’m especially intrigued about – and any of those could turn out to be just as huge.

If they can keep up this momentum, keep making these excellent videos, keep doing public appearances (and keep believing, keep pretending), then they can make sure audiences don’t forget two simple facts: 1) The Muppets are still around, and 2) They are awesome. And then we can all scaramouche, scaramouche and do the fandango.


Click here to wax rhapsodic on the Tough Pigs forum!

Labels: internet, The Muppet Show

Do you have your Thinking Cap on? Well, take it off right now and put on your Remembering Stuff About the Muppets Cap, because it's time once again for Wikitrivia! Below are a bunch of trivia questions about stuff that's on Muppet Wiki. Maybe you already know all this stuff because you're a great big geek, but if not, click on the answer links for the answers to the questions and craploads of further info.

And yes, I know you could just hover your mouse over the links to see the answers without reading the articles, but that would be cheating, and if you did that I would be very disappointed in you. I might even cry, and no one wants to see that.

1. According to his original performer Toby Towson, which Sesame Street character was initially conceived as "an acrobatic ape?"
Click here for the answer!

2. The town of Coos Bay, Oregon inspired the name for what far-out fictitious location occasionally seen on The Muppet Show?
Click here for the answer!

3. What's the name of the donkey from The Muppet Musicians of Bremen?
Click here for the answer!

4. Who is the only actor to make cameos in two theatrically released Muppet movies?
Click here for the answer!

5. From what college do the Muppets graduate in The Muppets Take Manhattan?
Click here for the answer!

6. Which of the three main characters on Little Muppet Monsters was performed by Richard Hunt?
Click here for the answer!

7. Who is the mayor of Waterville in Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas?
Click here for the answer!

8. Where can you find a statue of Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog sitting on a bench?
Click here for the answer!

9. In the Fraggle Rock episode "Boober's Quiet Day," who is Boober forced to impersonate?
Click here for the answer!

10. What's the name of the seedy dive where Kermit first meets Fozzie in The Muppet Movie?
Click here for the answer!

11. What starchy deity is briefly worshipped by the citizens of Pangaea in an episode of Dinosaurs?
Click here for the answer!

12. What's the closing number of the Peter Sellers episode of The Muppet Show?
Click here for the answer!

13. Which Muppet rock band performed the song "Rock 'n' Roll Readers" on Sesame Street?
Click here for the answer!

14. A robot version of which American president ran amok on the Paula Abdul episode of Muppets Tonight?
Click here for the answer!

15. According to a 1977 Sesame Street song, what is Bert's favorite number?
Click here for the answer!

So, how'd you do? Click here to compare scores on the Tough Pigs forum!

Labels: fanaticism, Sesame Street, The Muppet Show

The Muppet Show Comic Book: The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson #2 will hit comic book stores this Wednesday, August 26th. As we've come to expect, writer & artist Roger Langridge has once again written and artisted a very entertaining comic.

Unlike the first four-issue Muppet Show series, Peg-Leg Wilson contains several ongoing stories, so we get a recap on this issue's first page. It's delivered in song by this banjo-picking Muppet, whom the Muppet wiki refers to as "Hillbilly Singer," and his presence here nicely fulfills the obscure character quota for this issue.


So Kermit is still acting suspiciously un-Kermit-like, and in this issue we find out why. What's less clear is which version of Kermit Miss Piggy would prefer.



By the way, who do you think that Muppet girl on the right is supposed to be? I don't recognize her as a puppet ever seen on The Muppet Show.

Then there's Animal, who's also acting strangely... Last month it was revealed that Muppet Labs is behind his personality shift, but this month his Electric Mayhem bandmates try to bring the old Animal back. They miss their old insane, feral, dangerous pal (Who wouldn't?), and they miss his drumming skills even more, so they hire a hypnotist named Creepy McBoo to snap him out of his well-behaved stupor.

Creepy McBoo! If there's one thing Langridge is good at, it's silly names (see also last issue's Ninja Rogers). As for this month's obligatory "Which performer would play which character?" game, I'm hearing Steve Whitmire for this guy. Like, you know that "Girlfriend of the Whirling Dervish" song in the Marty Feldman episode? That's the voice I'm hearing. Which is a very important point in this review, so I'm glad I made that clear.

Elsewhere, we have a musical number that offers a clever variation on "Mahna Mahna" which I will not spoil...


I really like the way Langridge draws Mahna Mahna. He's a crazy-lookin' character to begin with, so he's a good fit for Langridge's style. Other bits include a Bear on Patrol sketch, a Muppet Labs scene, and a page of "Scooter, Boy Detective," which feels like an onstage segment of the show but really carries forward the backstage plots.

I do hope that issue #3 has a few more "onstage" bits that stand independent of the storylines, but as with last month's review, I don't really have any complaints about this issue. I don't think it made me laugh quite as much as Peg-Leg #1, but your mileage may vary. Oh, and here's one other thing I wanted to mention... There's a reference in this issue to "Rainbow Connection" being 30 years old. So if there was any doubt, this comic book definitely takes place right now, and not in the 1970s. I like the idea that the Muppets have been doing this show continuously for the past few decades... or did they stop for a while and then return to it? Either way, it's always fun to see these talented entertainers putting on a show.

Finally: For all you Miss Piggy fans, check out this panel from the issue's closing number:

Hubba hubba!

Click here to talk about this issue and be hypnotized by Creepy McBoo on the Tough Pigs forum!

Labels: comics/magazines, review, The Muppet Show

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of “Muppets.”

“But hold on there, Mr. Ryan!” you might say. “What about The Muppets Take Manhattan? Surely – surely, I say! – you’re not suggesting it should have been called The Muppet Take Manhattan?!?!?!?!?” To which I reply: “Don’t be ridiculous, you little Dickens, you!” Here’s the difference. In The Muppets Take Manhattan, the word "Muppet" is a plural noun.** In the other cases I’ve mentioned, "Muppet" is more or less an adjective. That’s a good way to remember it, anyway: If the title still makes sense when the word "Muppet" is replaced by an adjective, the singular should be used. Let’s try it on some other titles:

Labels: complaining, fanaticism, Muppet movies, The Muppet Show

Last month, The Muppet Show Comic Book ended forever. Until this month. This month, The Muppet Show Comic Book: The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson begins its four-issue run with a brand-new #1 issue. It's written and drawn by Muppet comics superhero Roger Langridge, and as its name suggests, the story arc is about the Muppets searching for a pirate’s buried treasure in the Muppet Theater. The Muppets haven't seen this much booty in years!

Issue #1 has a lovely cover A:


But cover B is truly fantastic:


If I weren’t already buying the Muppet Show comics every month, that cover would definitely pull me in. What the heck is going on with Animal?! (Also: Did he tie that tie himself?) Animal's seeming identity crisis is the ongoing mystery in this, part one of the story, which is called "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral."


There are a few ongoing storylines here, which is probably for the best... There are still three issues after this one, so it's best not to rush any of them. In story A, Scooter finds a treasure map. Some rats overhear him talking about it, and they want the treasure for themselves, so they start digging.

In story B, Animal is just not himself. He's wearing a suit, and correcting people's grammar... and worst of all, he's drumming like a wuss, which greatly worries the other members of the Electric Mayhem. How will it affect the band's big number in the show? Each issue of the original four-issue run of The Muppet Show Comic Book focused on one character, telling "Kermit's Story" and "Fozzie's Story" and so on, and it looks like this subplot is essentially going to be "Animal's Story" stretched over four issues.

In story C, Kermit is acting pretty strange himself.


"Sweaty orange guy." I love that. I have a pretty good idea what's going on with Kermit based on cover images that have been released for future issues, but I won't speculate here, in case a) You haven't seen them yet, and b) I turn out to be wrong.

As for the onstage acts, this issue has the most consistently entertaining batch since the previous issue #1. There's a Muppet Sports sketch, with a Louis Kazagger who somehow looks more like Howard Cosell than the puppet Kazagger. The sport in question is long-distance toast-hurling, which is bloody brilliant.

There's a Swedish Chef bit that's only one page, but which is sublime in its brevity. And it has an explosion.

Also: Pigs in Space, Fozzie, a musical number about the sinking of the Lusitania starring two obscure characters, and more. And all of it is entertaining and Muppety.

I guess this review is going to be shorter than usual, but I really have nothing negative to say about this issue. The ongoing plots are all funny and intriguing, and while they're all left "To Be Continued," there is a conflict that's resolved by the end of the issue, so there's some sense of closure. The treasure itself actually doesn't play much of a part... All we find out about it is that it exists, and Scooter and the rats want it, but I have no doubt it'll be satisfyingly fleshed out in later issues. I can't wait for the next one!

Oh, and more thing: For those of you playing the "Which new character would be performed by which Muppeteer?" game, I just want to say that "Ninja Rogers" in this issue would totally be a Jerry Nelson character.



Click here to hurl toast on the Tough Pigs forum!

Labels: comics/magazines, review, The Muppet Show

Wow. One hundred twenty Muppet haiku poems. It seems like just yesterday that Tough Pigs pal David Beukema started writing a haiku for every single episode of The Muppet Show... and now here we are at the final season. If you haven't seen the previous seasons' haiku, check out season one, season two, season three, and season four. And now I'll turn it over to David for the last batch of poetry.

Episode 501: Gene Kelly
Suave Gene serenades
Piggy, then Gonzo. Now, that’s
Versatility!






Episode 502: Loretta Swit
Thog makes the earth move,
Proving once and for all that
Seismic does matter.







Episode 503: Joan Baez
A rat coup d'état?!
Dear God, can you imagine?
Kiss New York good-bye...







Episode 504: Shirley Bassey
Fifty mil in gold
Buys more than a Goldfinger
Buy the whole Goldhand!







Episode 505: James Coburn
Calming Animal
With Buddhist meditation?
Yeah … good luck, Coburn.







Episode 506: Brooke Shields
Um, when you guys are
Done being brillig, please leave.
You’re freaking me out.







Episode 507: Glenda Jackson
Theaters ahoy!
This gives a new meaning to
Being all at sea.







Episode 508: Senor Wences
Lew Zealand’s manners
Are atrocious, but he sure
Hammers his point home.







Episode 509: Debbie Harry
The Frog Scouts go punk.

These kids, with their "rock 'n roll"...

And get off my lawn!







Episode 510: Jean-Pierre Rampal
Rockin’ in treetops
Works for birds, but you best have
A parachute, Zoot.







Episode 511: Paul Simon
Gonzo checks into
Vet’s Hospital. Pity it’s
Not for a nose job.







Episode 512: Melissa Manchester
The Chef chases some
Bouncing chickens with a knife –
Poultry in motion.







Episode 513: Tony Randall
Tony turns Piggy
Into solid stone. At least
Now she’s lost some weight.







Episode 514: Mac Davis
Multiple Beakers
Are really pissed at Bunsen.
They’re beside themselves!







Episode 515: Carol Burnett
Carol shouldn’t be
A lonely asparagus.
She looks quite tasty!








Episode 516: Gladys Knight
In ancient Egypt,
Singing mummies show us they
Can carry a tomb.







Episode 517: Hal Linden
The two old guys host,
While Fozzie gets to heckle.
A bear’s sweet revenge…







Episode 518: Marty Feldman
Googly eyes abound
When Marty and Cookie meet.
Long lost twin brothers?







Episode 519: Chris Langham
Hawaiian Cowboy
And Zen skiing – Chris Langham’s
A renaissance man!







Episode 520: Wally Boag
Leprechaun Brothers
Are easy to understand –
If you speak Moron.







Episode 521: Johnny Cash
Johnny insults Rowlf –
Or is “Egg-Sucking Dog” a
Term of endearment?







Episode 522: Buddy Rich
Buddy’s drum battle
With Animal results in
A sore winner! Ouch.







Episode 523: Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt sings
"When I Grow Too Old To Dream".
Sniff ... where's my Kleenex?







Episode 524: Roger Moore
Hey, join the navy!
All the ducks you can steal and
A great dental plan!

And there you have it! One hundred twenty episodes, one hundred twenty haiku. My thanks once again to David Beukema for his great work, and to Muppet Wiki for image assistance.

Click here to talk about mummies, asparagus, and egg-sucking dogs on the Tough Pigs forum!

ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com

Labels: guest bloggers, poetry, The Muppet Show

Hey, remember when Tough Pigs' close personal friend David Beukema wrote some terrific and entertaining haiku for season one, season two, and season three of The Muppet Show? Sure you do. Now guess which season he's doing haiku for this week.

TIME'S UP! It's season four. Go for it, David!




Thanks again to David for the groovy haiku! And big thanks to Muppet Wiki for huge major assistance with images! Click here to talk about moldy truffle jokes and kosher hats on the Tough Pigs forum!

Labels: guest bloggers, poetry, The Muppet Show

[Important note: The review below claims that The Muppet Show Comic Book #4 would be released on June 24th. This information was taken from the official Boom! Studios website, but has since proven to be completely untrue. Tough Pigs apologizes to Muppet fans, comic book fans, and our elderly Aunt Cloise for any confusion caused by Boom! making us dirty liars. The Muppet Show Comic Book #4 will, in fact, be released... someday. Who can tell with these silly comic book companies?]

This Wednesday, June 24th, is the release date for The Muppet Show Comic Book #4, by the series' regular writer and artist Roger Langridge. This is the last issue of the Muppet Show comic... until next month, when it returns with a new #1 as The Muppet Show Comic Book: The Treasure of Peg Leg Wilson for another four-issue run.

So the series is ending, but it's not really ending, it's just starting over again, four months after it started the first time, and going four more months until it ends again and then starts again. This kind of insanity is actually considered normal in comics.
So, the first thing I want to say about issue 4, which is the "Miss Piggy's Story" issue, is that I love both covers. Cover A, as seen above, has Piggy looking every bit as glamorous as Marilyn Monroe. Cover B is a Sound of Music deal, with Piggy's fellow Muppets apparently none too thrilled with her Julie Andrews impression.

One thing we've been wondering about since this series began is whether it would have guest stars. It seemed unlikely, as it'd be pretty hard to get Tom Hanks or Meryl Streep into a comic book. But this issue begins with Kermit and Scooter trying to track down a guest star for the show. And who are they trying to get?


That's right -- "Kim Jarrey." They throw around a bunch of other silly spoof names, and I don't know if it's because of some kind of crazy legal issues or just because it's funny that they don't use real names, but it works. It would probably be a little jarring to hear them talking about current stars anyway, as there haven't really been any indications as to whether this comic book series takes place now, in the 1970s, or somewhere in between.

Unfortunately, all the good guest stars are too expensive for The Muppet Show's meager budget, so they end up with Madame Rhonda, a psychic. Also she's a pig, but that's neither here nor there.


Would The Muppet Show really book a psychic as a guest star? How much can she really bring to a variety show? Well, they once scheduled Angus McGonagle, the Argyle Gargoyle Who Gargles Gershwin, which is a pretty limited talent, so I'll buy it.

As always, the comic alternates between backstage drama and onstage acts, but this time nearly all the acts are tied in to the theme of psychic ability. It's a departure from previous issues, and I could have done with a few more un-themed sketches, but it's still fun.

There's a Sam the Eagle bit, with Sam written completely in character. Sometimes I get a little tired of modern Muppet writers emphasizing only Sam's patriotism -- on the show, he was concerned with morality and sophisticated entertainment as much as Americanism. But Langridge manages to get that across even with Sam standing in front of a huge American flag.

But isn't this supposed to be Piggy's story? Well, Madame Rhonda is the driving force of this issue's backstage story, but Piggy quickly becomes its center. Madame Rhonda tells all the Muppets their fortunes, and they all fall for her schtick, but when Piggy gets her palm read, she misinterprets Rhonda's warning and becomes convinced that Kermit is going to leave her for another woman.


The thing is, there aren't that many female Muppets, so Langridge proceeds to draw Piggy seething while Kermit talks to just about all of them, including one character I never thought I'd see in comic book form. But that's the beauty of these comics... A Muppet who wouldn't be worth the time and expense to rebuild for a quick cameo in a TV special can appear in one frame of a comic with no fuss. What a great medium! Unlike Madame Rhonda.

That's all I'll give away about the backstage plot, but there are some other nifty things going on here, including a Veterinarian's Hospital sketch, and a Pigs in Space, which provides another example of Langridge's knack for clever uses of the comic book format to do things that can't quite be done onscreen.


Oh, and speaking of characters we never thought we'd see again... Guess who shows up on page fourteen?


It's the Talking Houses from season one of The Muppet Show! So that's clearly meant for the true fans in the audience, as most people in the world would have no memory of those guys.

Also notable: Toward the end of the story, the action moves to a location outside the Muppet Theater. As far as I can remember, this is the first time the comic has done this. And the TV show almost never did it... In fact, the Loretta Lynn episode is the only instance I can remember.

So the big question here is, How is the characterization of Piggy? Latter-day Muppet writers have had a hard time pinning her down, because it's so tempting to just make her go around yelling and hitting people. In this comic book, Piggy does get angry and violent, but it's all for the love of her frog, which is not as frustrating as the one-dimensional Piggy who karate-chops everyone, no matter how contrived the reason. And she gets to act in sketches and do musical numbers, which is something TV movies and specials haven't really allowed for, but it's good because it's so easy to forget that Piggy is an accomplished performer.

So, yeah. This is an okay Miss Piggy.


And that does it for the first run of Muppet Show comics. I've enjoyed these character-focused issues, and while I think there's still some potential in that format (Floyd's story? Beaker's story? Animal's story?), I'm looking forward to the Peg Leg Wilson arc, and I'm still pretty thrilled to have new Muppet stuff on a monthly basis.


Click here to discuss this issue and geek out about the Talking Houses on the Tough Pigs forum!

Labels: comics/magazines, review, The Muppet Show

If it's Thursday, that means it's time for more Muppet Show haiku from Tough Pigs' own David Beukema! David has already taken on season one and season two, so this week he's tackling season three. Take it away, David!

Labels: guest bloggers, poetry, The Muppet Show

Another month has gone by, another issue of The Muppet Show Comic Book has come out, and we've got another Q&A with Roger Langridge!

Read our review of this issue by clicking here!

Remember, if you've got questions for Roger Langridge, feel free to e-mail them to me and I'll include them in next month's Q&A. Enough about me, let's get to the good stuff!

ToughPigs: I love the two-page spreads at the beginning of each issue (as well as the gag of the Electric Mayhem dressed in different costumes for each one). Is this something you’ll be continuing after this first 4-issue arc?

Roger Langridge: In The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson I'll continue with the spreads, but they'll be backstage instead of onstage. And in the arc after that one... well, you'll just have to wait and see! But yes, I like to establish a bit of chaos nice and early, and those spreads seem as good a way as any.

TP: We've been seeing some minor background characters popping up in the background -- some of which are familiar (the Fazoobs, Koozebanians, etc), and some of whom appear to be your original designs. Are you keeping a character bible for the new creations and are you naming them? Do you plan on being consistent with individuals re-appearing in multiple issues, or are they just abstract background filler?

RL: I'm winging it! Really, I'm working at such a rate on these things that I don't have a whole lot of time to be precious about character sheets, as useful as they are. One of the nice things about drawing a comic is that I don't have to set aside time and money to make new Muppets - I can just make them on the fly!

TP: You’ve had original or whatnot characters sing songs in the comic. Will you have any of the Muppet bands (The Electric Mayhem, the Jug Band, the Country Trio, etc) sing in future issues?

RL: There's an appearance by a hillbilly character from the show in TOPLW #2 who gets to sing at both the front and back ends of that issue. And TOPLW #1 has a closing number which prominently features the Electric Mayhem, although Miss Piggy ends up doing the vocal honours there. I'm glad you mentioned the Jug Band - I'll make a note of that...

TP: Did you use a cryptogram-like language for the alien in the Pigs in Space sketch, or are they just random symbols?

RL: Oh, completely random. I hope I didn't send anybody scurrying off to decode it!

TP: In the latest comic, you addressed the issue of Gonzo’s species. Did you hear any comments regarding fact that Muppets From Space tried to claim that he is an alien? (By the way, the fans are very pleased to find that Gonzo’s alien heritage is not canon.)

RL: I haven't seen that one - to my shame, as my friend Paul Peart-Smith designed Space Gonzo for that movie. Anyway, nobody mentioned that to me, either at Disney or through less formal channels, until about a week ago when a friend brought it up. Too late to do anything about it by then!

On whether or not it's canon, I imagine you could reconcile both stories if you wanted to - by putting Muppet Show #3 earlier in the chronology than Muppets in Space. But it's probably best not to worry too much about these things as long as the story is good.

TP: In Peg-Leg Wilson, will the Animal subplot continue through all four issues, or is it just in the first one? If it’s the latter, then what can we expect to see in the other three?

RL: The Animal subplot runs through all four issues, being resolved by the end of issue #4. As do a couple of other subplots. This arc is an attempt to keep a lot of plates spinning in the air for four issues while at the same time making each issue as satisfying on its own terms as possible. It's turning out to be tougher than I expected! But I'm writing the final issue at the moment and I think it'll all hang together by the end. Just about.

TP: Are there any Muppet characters you aren’t allowed to use? Either via Disney mandate or your own personal censorship.

RL: I'm not allowed to use the Sesame Street Muppets, alas. I keep trying to sneak Ernie and Bert in there and they keep taking them out again!

TP: Will you have Lips play with the Electric Mayhem, or do you consider him not to be an official member of the band?

RL: It's not so much that he's not an official member as that I don't really know what to do with him. He seems not to have a clearly defined personality, and is kind of surplus to requirements in the stories I've written so far -- though if I can find a way to work him in that seems natural, I'm all for it.

TP: Now that we know what Gonzo is, what is Scooter?

RL: He's a gofer. I thought everybody knew that. (Seriously, his uncle is human, so I guess he's just got a good suntan.)

TP: How far into Peg-Leg Wilson are you? Are you already preparing for the third arc?

RL: I've got rough plots worked out for the next arc, yes, but they need another going-over before they'll be ready to go. Partly to address some concerns from Disney, partly to streamline it a bit for my own benefit after seeing how little breathing room I had in the Peg-Leg Wilson arc. I'm learning every issue!

Thanks again to Roger for taking the time to chat with us!
Click here to deduce Scooter's species on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: comics/magazines, interview, Roger Langridge, The Muppet Show

Last week I posted a set of haikus written by Tough Pigs' close personal friend David Beukema, one for each episode of season one of The Muppet Show. Today David's back with a complete set of haikus for season two. So without further ado, here's some haiku!

Labels: guest bloggers, poetry, The Muppet Show

You know what haikus are, right? Those poems with three lines consisting of five, seven, and five syllables, respectively? Over on the Tough Pigs forum, we recently had a thread (started by Tough Pigs' own Mo W) called "Muppet Haiku Time!" As the name implies, we filled the thread with haikus about every conceivable Muppet topic under the sun.

Tough Pigs regular David Beukema had so much fun getting in touch with his poetic side, he told us he bet he could come up with a haiku for every single episode of The Muppet Show. So that's exactly what he's going to do. David's going to write one hundred and twenty Muppet Show haikus, and I'll be posting them here, one season per week, until we're out of seasons. Now, what better place to start than with season one? Take it away, David Beukema!

EPISODE 103: JOEL GREY
Pachalafaka
Is the song you sing to meet
Turkish transvestites.

EPISODE 104: RUTH BUZZI
Buzzi and Sweetums
Are star-crossed lovers who fight.
How will the kids look?

EPISODE 105: RITA MORENO
Crazy Marvin Suggs
Bangs Muppaphones night and day.
I hope they’re insured.

EPISODE 106: JIM NABORS
Here we meet Scooter.
Please ignore his presence in
Three earlier shows.

EPISODE 107: FLORENCE HENDERSON
Galley Oh Hoop Hoop!
Kermit the Frog narrates some
Hot alien porn!

EPISODE 108: PAUL WILLIAMS
Send me to Pittsburgh,
Short travel agent. But got
Anything cheaper?

EPISODE 109: CHARLES AZNAVOUR
Gonzo wears a dress
The poor guy's got more issues
Than Reader's Digest

EPISODE 110: HARVEY KORMAN
Harvey does it all!
No one can accuse him of
Being chicken. Cluck!

EPISODE 111: LENA HORNE
R! I say R-A!
R-A-G! R-A-G-G!
Rag! George loves this act.

EPISODE 112: PETER USTINOV
The writing Hatrack
Is wed to a chair. Oh man!
Think of the splinters!

EPISODE 113: BRUCE FORSYTH
A burning question:
Who the hell is Bruce Forsyth?
Who cares? That duck rules!

EPISODE 114: SANDY DUNCAN
Downing whiskey shots
Dancing in bars with monsters.
A nice girl, indeed!

EPISODE 115: CANDICE BERGEN
Kermit tells Candice
Last week, Sweetums ate the guest.
Poor Sandy Duncan.

EPISODE 116: AVERY SCHREIBER
Honeydew invents
The Gorilla Detector.
Some bugs to work out…

EPISODE 117: BEN VEREEN
Ben says dynamite
And Crazy Harry pops up.
One airborne guest star.

EPISODE 118: PHYLLIS DILLER
Will someone please get
That Hugga Wugga dude some
Afrin nasal spray?

EPISODE 119: VINCENT PRICE
On the DVDs,
Thanks to Carole King’s demands,
Vincent’s got no friends.

EPISODE 120: VALERIE HARPER
Statler goes gaga
Over Valerie. Why not?
Rhoda was a fox!

EPISODE 121: TWIGGY
Uncle Deadly rocks.
Haunting the show and many
Poor Muppet fans’ dreams.

EPISODE 122: ETHEL MERMAN
Ethel versus Pig.
The all-time diva match-up.
Take some notes, Britney.

EPISODE 123: KAYE BALLARD
The band is on strike.
The frog’s gotta watch out for
Those puppet unions.

EPISODE 124: MUMMENSCHANZ
Mummenschanz are weird.
Let’s move on to normal guests,
Like Shields and Yarnell.

Big thanks to David for sharing his mad haiku skillz, and to Muppet Wiki for photo assistance! Come back a week from today for haikus about every episode of season two! Click here to comment on this article seventeen syllables at a time on the Tough Pigs forum!

ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com

Labels: guest bloggers, poetry, The Muppet Show

Last week saw the release of Muppet Robin Hood #1, and this week -- Wednesday, June 3rd to be exact – will be the release date of The Muppet Show Comic Book #3. It’s a great time to be a Muppet fan who can read. If you’re a Muppet fan who can’t read, you should ask the guy at the comic book store to read the issue to you. He’ll do it. He’s a nice guy.

Issue #3 is once again written and drawn by Roger Langridge, who previously told us a Kermit story and a Fozzie story and now gives us an issue focusing on Gonzo… although it’s interesting to note that Gonzo’s not really the protagonist, but rather the source of conflict in the story. Well, I thought it was interesting, anyway. Maybe you think it’s incredibly boring.

Langridge’s designs for the Muppet characters have not been embraced by all fans, and his Gonzo in particular drew some criticism for being off-model. I think it’s recognizable enough, but if you hated the way Gonzo looked in the first two issues, you might want to avoid this one, because he’s all over it.

But I’m getting ahead of myself, so let’s start at the beginning. Issue #1 began with the Muppet Newsman, and Issue #2 kicked off with a Statler and Waldorf bit. The new issue starts with everyone’s favorite permanently squinting old guy, Pops the doorman, as he greets a newcomer to the Muppet Theater.


This works really well because Pops’s original role on The Muppet Show was to open every episode of season five by greeting the guest star at the door. Not only is it funny, it feels right. I’m going to make a prediction right now and say that a future issue of this comic will start with Scooter knocking on a guest star’s door as he did in seasons two through four.

But that guy’s not the guest star, he’s Osbert J. Smedley, an insurance agent visiting the theater for some risk assessment. This seems exactly like a backstage plot from the TV show. Smedley reminds me of Dave Goelz's Inspector LaBrea character from the Dizzy Gillespie episode, and as I read the issue and played the usual "Which performer would this be?" game, that's the voice I was hearing.

For medical purposes, Smedley needs to know identify the species of every Muppet Theater employee. (It’s a very specialized policy.) There’s just one problem: Nobody’s sure what Gonzo is.


Wait a minute! Didn’t Muppets From Space establish that Gonzo is an alien? Well, it did, but come on -- Who likes or cares about Muppets From Space? I’m actually really glad the Muppet people let Langridge do this… Honestly, the Muppets don’t have continuity. Sometimes they begin a production as strangers to each other, sometimes they all live together in a boarding house, sometimes they all live in a hallway. Nothing is set in stone.

And anyway, I hated the revelation that Gonzo was from another planet. So I’m totally in favor of applying some Wite-Out to that and saying Gonzo’s heritage is still a mystery. In this story, it’s up to Scooter to figure it out, and it won’t be easy. This is almost as much a Scooter story as it is a Gonzo story, and it’s nice to see the guy get so much screen time.

That’s the backstage plot. As before, there are lots of fun onstage acts sprinkled throughout the issue as well. There’s a chicken musical number, there’s a Pigs in Space sketch. There’s also a brand-new segment starring Gonzo, called “Gumshoe McGurk, Private Eye!” It’s a neat idea, but it doesn’t quite take off. A Muppet spoof of detective story clichés is a setup full of potential, but as it plays out it’s just not that funny. There’s really nothing here that’s even specific to Gonzo’s character – you could pretty much plug any other Muppet into this bit and it wouldn’t make much difference.


On the other hand, a Gonzo bit called “Twinkle Twinkle Little Rat” feels a lot like something from the first few seasons of The Muppet Show. It’s nuts. And hey, it has Rizzo! Rizzo was barely a character in the final season of the TV show, but in this issue he plays a pretty substantial role, with his real personality and everything, and it works quite well.


I’m going to go ahead and make the bold statement that The Muppet Show Comic Book #3 is better than #2 was. The jokes are funny, the familiar Muppet characters are plentiful, and the Gonzo story has a satisfying resolution. Also, it’s still fun to spot the British turns of phrase that pop up in Langridge’s dialogue. Scooter even says “No offence” at one point, spelling it with a “C” just like that.

There’s not one number in particular that makes innovative use of the comic book layout this time around (like “The Ubiquitous Quilp” in #1 and the car song in #2), but Langridge continues to take advantage of the medium by letting the Muppets do things they can’t do on TV. For example, we almost never get to see the Gonzo puppet do a full-body tap dance.


Speaking of Gonzo, it's nice to see him doing silly daredevil acts again. That's the guy he was created to be, but with the last few Muppet productions taking place way outside the variety show format, he hasn't gotten to act so much like himself. Here he gets to be the Great Gonzo again.

And here once again we have a lovely new episode of The Muppet Show, all between two staples and available for less than the cost of a venti mocha latte. Next month is the Miss Piggy issue… Here’s hoping it’s up to Piggy’s own lofty standards.


Click here to shoot yourself out a cannon while talking about this comic on the Tough Pigs forum!

Labels: comics/magazines, merchandise, review, The Muppet Show

I’ve hesitated to bring this up for a while now, because I’m afraid it may ignite the kind of controversy that could rip the Muppet fan community apart, pitting brother against brother and frog against pig, but I can hold my silence no longer. I must stand up and ask this question, which has been gnawing at my brain for untold ages:

What’s the correct way to pronounce the name of Rowlf the Dog?

Rowlf is one of the oldest and most beloved major Muppet characters. He’s been around for four decades, so you would think everyone would know his name by now, yet there doesn’t seem to be a universally agreed-upon standard.

Of course, I’m writing these words and not speaking them, so it would be pretty darn clever for me to just say, “It’s easy! His name is pronounced ‘Rowlf!’ HAW! HAW!” But no, that’s not good enough. I want to get to the bottom of this vitally important issue once and for all. So I’m writing this Muppet fan website article, which I believe will soon be considered one of the finest examples of journalism ever produced by man. Let’s look at the evidence.

One way is to say it like this: “Rolf.” It rhymes with “golf” (the popular sport) or “Dolph,” as in Dolph Lundgren (the popular actor who starred in the 1991 film Showdown in Little Tokyo). I had twelve of our Tough Pigs interns hit the archives for some research, and they found a few Muppet productions in which various actors used this pronunciation. For example, the audio clip below features Lesley Ann Warren on The Muppet Show. This is where she thinks she’s doing a song with Rowlf, only to find Marvin Suggs onstage.


But honestly, is the chick who played Cinderella on TV really an authority on Muppet names? So for further credibility, here’s another one. It’s the announcer from John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together.



It’s not unreasonable to think he received some kind of coaching on how to say the characters’ names at the recording session, right? Even more persuasive than that, though, is this clip from one of the recent Muppet videos on YouTube, in which Rowlf’s fellow Muppet, Rizzo, clearly says “Rolf.”



So that’s one pretty crappy example, one so-so example, and one good example. But I have to say, I don’t think this is the correct pronunciation.

For one thing, the name has a W in it. Where is that W when you make Rowlf’s name rhyme with 18 holes and the guy who played Ivan Drago? For another thing, Rolf is a German name, and while I don’t think it’s ever been revealed what breed of dog Rowlf is, he’s definitely not a German shepherd.

So let’s look at another option: Pronouncing it the same way as the name “Ralph.” Here’s one guy who says it that way: It’s Jimmy Dean, the fellow who gave Rowlf his big break on national television. This next clip is from a sketch on The Jimmy Dean Show, naturally.



So there’s that. But you might say, “Jimmy Dean is just some yokel country singer who happens to make delicious sausage-and-egg biscuits. What does he know?” And you’re absolutely right -- Jimmy Dean does make delicious sausage-and-egg biscuits. But here’s a presumably more reliable source, a lady who never had a hit country song in her life: It’s Jane Henson, and this clip is from the PBS Great Performances special, The World of Jim Henson.



And check this out… From the same documentary, a guy even closer to the character than Jane: It’s Frank Oz, the man who was chiefly in charge of making half of Rowlf’s fingers wiggle in the early days.



To my ear, they’re definitely pronouncing it “Ralph,” as does Rowlf’s co-worker Scooter in this clip from The Muppet Show.




You might think I’ve come to the conclusion that “Ralph” is definitively the correct way to pronounce Rowlf’s name. Well… not exactly. The way I’ve always understood it, Rowlf’s name should be pronounced almost like “Ralph,” but not quite. When I say it, it’s kinda like “Raowlf” or “Raoulf” or maybe “Raaouhwlff.” I’m pretty sure Jim Henson intended for the character’s name to recall the sound of a dog barking, so I figure “Rowlf” is the canine version of “Ralph.” Like, maybe if dogs could talk, that’s how they’d say it.

Fortunately, Rowlf is, in fact, a dog who can talk, so he’s the ultimate authority on his own friggin’ name. Now here’s where the definitive evidence comes in. This first clip is from The Muppets Go Hollywood.



And here’s one we’ve all heard at least fifty-five thousand times: It’s from the intro to “I Hope That Somethin’ Better Comes Along” on the Muppet Movie soundtrack.



I’ve just listened to those two snippets four thousand times each, and no matter how I twist and bend my ear, I just can’t get it to hear “Rolf.” To me, it sounds mostly-but-not-exactly like “Ralph,” so that’s the pronunciation I’m sticking with. If Lesley Ann Warren wishes to challenge me on this, she can contact me at the e-mail address below.

I’ve just written way, way, way, way, way too many words on this topic (way, way, way), but now I’m curious, and I’d love to know which pronunciation is more prevalent among Muppet fans, so I went ahead and started a poll on the Tough Pigs forum. It’s a poll, technically, but I see it more as a survey. The question: How do you pronounce Rowlf’s name? “Rolf?” “Ralph?” Or the more nuanced “Raoulf?” Or maybe you have yet another pronunciation.

So click here and place your vote now! Meanwhile, I can’t help but think that all this hullaballoo could have been avoided if Jim Henson had just named his dog puppet “Waggington” like he considered.
Click here to talk about Rowlf’s name on the Tough Pigs forum! Or did I already say that?

Labels: controversy, fanaticism, poll, The Muppet Show

Roger Langridge is currently the MVP for the Muppets, being the only one these days who has been writing The Muppets in a consistent and funny voice on a regular basis. The second issue of The Muppet Show Comic Book hit the stands this week (read our review here!) and Mr. Langridge joined us for another Q&A, because he's the coolest guy I know (sorry Dad).

If you've got questions for Roger Langridge, feel free to e-mail them to me and I'll include them in next month's Q&A. Now let's get some As for our Qs!

ToughPigs: I noticed that Pepe made a cameo in the opening 2-page spread. Is that just a tease to the fans, or can we expect him to have a role in future issues?

Roger Langridge: I confess I'm not that familiar with Pepe - if I'm requested to give him a bigger role I'd do my best to find out more about him, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't a part of the classic show, which is what I'm trying to evoke, and what my brief is, as it were. So it's low on my list of priorities at the moment. I'm not ruling anything out, though!
TP: In the latest issue, Fozzie is dealing with the pressure of having to be funny for a niche audience. Were you channeling your own turmoil for this one?

RL: Ha ha! Not really, though I can see the connection now that you mention it. It was more that I needed to find something central to Fozzie's character to build a story around, and his sense of himself as a "Funny Bear" seemed about as central as you could get.

TP: What has the feedback from Disney been like?

RL: I haven't heard anything from Disney directly, but the feedback Boom! have passed on to me has been very positive.

TP: Will we ever get to meet Flash McBuck?

RL: No plans, but you never know! I think the Pigs In Space situation works best when it's claustrophobic and the principals are getting on each other's nerves - introducing a supporting cast would dilute that somewhat.

TP: Both this issue and the first one ended with a nice message and the main character learning something about himself. While this is welcome territory for the Muppets, will this be a recurring theme, or will we see some more bizarre storyline endings that focus more on the zaniness of the Muppets rather than the heart?

RL: These issues, focussing on individual characters, sort of require some moment of heart, some statement of who they are - that's kind of the point of them. Further down the line, I expect I'll mix things up a bit more. But on the whole I'm trying to balance the wacky with the heartfelt without letting one overwhelm the other. Can't promise I'll get it right every time, but it won't be for lack of trying!

TP: How did your approach to the writing and art change between the first two issues? After the feedback of the first issue's release?

RL: The first four issues were completely written before the first one was released, so there wasn't any real difference in approach as a result of reaction to the first one. I hope there's no difference in approach afterwards, either! I'm trying to produce a comic I'd like to read myself; I've been doing that since day one, and I want to continue to do that. If I think it's funny or moving or whatever, presumably other people are going to think so too. I'm not sure I believe that trying to anticipate critical reaction and change things accordingly can ever produce anything of value.

TP: How did you come up with the sketch, "The Ubiquitous Quilp?" Between the nonsense language and your playing with the comic page as a multi-tiered set, it's very impressive, yet confounding!

RL: I'm always trying to come up with ways to make the comic book something unique, something that couldn't work on television - the graphic style is a part of that, and using the medium in ways that wouldn't work on screen is another part. Otherwise, the entire comic book project is kind of redundant - why make a Muppet comic when you could just watch the videos? So I try to come up with something that could only work as a comic in each issue. And I always liked the bits on the show that seemed to come from nowhere; that were, shall we say, aggressively strange. So that was something I wanted to do as well.

TP: Can you tell us anything about your next Muppet Show comic book, "The Treasure of Peg Leg Wilson"?

RL: It's a four-issue story where Scooter finds a map in a storeroom that reveals the existence of a treasure hoarde hidden somewhere in the theatre. Rizzo gets his fellow rats searching for it, and naturally this interferes with the smooth running of the show. Hilarity ensues! (Or something.) Meanwhile, Kermit starts acting very cool for no apparent reason, getting Miss Piggy all hot and bothered, and Animal... oh, poor Animal isn't himself at all. This story will be a bit stronger on subplots than the first four issues, hopefully all coming together in a satisfying way by the end. (Bit of a new way of working for me, so I hope I can pull it off!) And, of course, the skits and general mayhem will continue unabated.

TP: Again, is there anything you'd like to relate to the fans?

RL: Once again, I'd just like to express my sincerest thanks for the warm reception the book has received so far. It's very gratifying and means a lot to me. So thanks!

Thank you, Roger, for taking the time to chat with us!
Click here to discuss this article on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: comics/magazines, interview, Roger Langridge, The Muppet Show

Issue #2 of Boom! Studios’ Muppet Show Comic Book will be released tomorrow, Wednesday, April 29th. The publisher has already sold out the first printing and announced a second, so you might want to make sure you get to the comic book store on Wednesday if you want to grab a copy. The Muppets are the new superstars of comics! They should definitely fight Wolverine as soon as possible.

The first issue of the series got rave reviews all over the internet, and was loved by both diehard Muppet geeks and casual fans who couldn’t even tell you which one is Statler and which one is Lew Zealand. So the expectations are pretty high for the second outing, which is written and drawn once again by Roger Langridge.

As always, I abhor spoilers, so I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that Issue #2 follows the same format as its predecessor – It’s an episode of The Muppet Show in comic book form, with a combination of onstage acts and backstage story. Where last month’s story focused on Kermit, this one is all about Fozzie.

The book kicks off with a fun Statler and Waldorf exchange…


… followed by another two-page splash that serves as the “This is what we call the Muppet Show!” intro. I was pretty jazzed to see Thog…


…as well as a Very Brief Cameo from a post-Muppet Show character. But I never did quite figure out why the Electric Mayhem are dressed as beatniks. Then we get into the story, which involves Fozzie coming face-to-face with failure. That’s nothing new for Fozzie, but boy, he sure would love it if he could get the approval of the Muppet Theater’s audience.


I’m pretty sure that’s supposed to be Sweetums standing there, but it looks like he shrank in the wash.

Among the highlights of the issue are a musical number that seems just like some old, obscure British song they might have done on the TV show, a “sketch” that would be right at home alongside some of The Muppet Show’s weirdest bits (and which makes very interesting use of the comic book page layout in a way that could never be reproduced on television), and some familiar segments like “Veterinarian’s Hospital,” which leads to my favorite panel in the whole issue:


So I guess the big question is: Is The Muppet Show Comic Book #2 as good as #1? The answer, I would say, is: Aaaaalmost. It was so exciting to see the first issue hit the bullseye so spectacularly, but it’s inevitable that the follow-up doesn’t seem quite so novel.

Also, this time around there were a few jokes I didn’t understand (specifically one involving Statler), although that may be my own dumbitude rather than flawed writing. There were a few moments in reading the dialogue where I found myself thinking, Waaait a minute! Would [name of Muppet character] really say that? That kind of thing is less noticeable in print, I think, but it's still important to nail down the voice of the characters. Also, when the resolution of the backstage plot arrives, it seems a bit rushed and just isn't as satisfying as last issue's.

I suppose those are pretty minor complaints. It’s still great to spend time with the Muppets and watch them struggle to put on a show, and Roger Langridge has given us another good ink-on-paper episode. Again I have to wonder if I would like this stuff as much if it were the script for a live-action Muppet Show redux, and again I have to think I wouldn't, really. But it sure is a nifty comic book.

So far Langridge has done a commendable job with Kermit and Fozzie stories, and I’m curious to see what he comes up with for next month’s Gonzo-focused issue, and even moreso for the following month's Piggy-centric issue. Miss Piggy has proven to be the most difficult character for recent Muppet writers to get right, so I’ll be crossing my fingers and hoping Langridge’s Piggy can carry her own backstage plot. But no matter what, it’s just nice to have a new Muppet production that most (or all?) of the fans can agree on.


Click here to talk about ubiquitous quilps on the Tough Pigs forum!

Labels: comics/magazines, merchandise, review, The Muppet Show

Way back in January, we had ourselves a little chat with Roger Langridge, the writer and artist for BOOM! Studios' recent hit, The Muppet Show Comic Book, which is already selling out and garnering rave reviews (including one from your favorite Muppet fan site). In our first of what we hope will be a monthly feature, we'll be holding a Q&A with Roger Langridge after every issue. If you've got pressing questions for Roger, feel free to e-mail me or post on the ToughPigs forum. Now, let's get on with the gettin' on!

ToughPigs: What sort of updates in the writing and design did you make between the preview comic and the first issue? Gonzo's more-rounded nose, for example, is one obvious change you've made.

Roger Langridge: As I've mentioned elsewhere, the preview comic consisted of material originally produced for Disney Adventures magazine which was never published, and my brief on those stories was to do it in my own style, hence what some fans probably regard as my stylistic eccentricities. The Boom! comic was really a fresh start, and the expectations were somewhat different, so Gonzo's streamlined nose reflects that - the comic is more like "official merchandise", as far as that goes, despite not being commissioned by Disney directly. So it wasn't so much a case of making conscious changes, more a case of treating the Boom comic as its own thing and approaching it accordingly.

TP: Did you get any notes from BOOM! or Disney about Americanizing the dialog? (Note: Roger Langridge hails from New Zealand and currently lives in London.)

RL: Jim Lewis made a couple of suggestions and queried a colloquialism or two that wouldn't travel well. They're keeping their eyes open for the obvious ones!

TP: Aside from Jim Lewis, who we Muppet fans are intimately familiar with, who are the other names listed in the "Special Thanks" section? (Tishana Williams, Ivonne Feliciano, Jesse Post, and Susan Butterworth)

RL: No idea! (Apart from Jesse Post, who was one of the people who got me into Disney Adventures when he worked there.) The Thank-Yous were put in at editorial level - presumably they're all Disney/Henson liaisons of some kind or other.

TP: What is your process for writing original songs that appear only in print form like "Bang, Boom, Splat and Pow" and "In the Pond Where I Was Born"? Did you actually write or record music for them?

RL: Good lord, no! It's just doggerel, really - I don't have a musical bone in my body. Proper songs usually involve a lot more repetition (choruses, refrains), which is something that doesn't usually work on the printed page. I'm trying to get the idea of a musical number across, but in a way that works in print. My ideal here is Alice in Wonderland (the book, that is), where characters are constantly breaking into "song" but in a way that uses the printed page to full effect, like Carroll's "Tail of a Mouse", in which the text is actually shaped like a tail. I'm not there yet, but that's something to strive towards.

TP: I enjoyed the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards analogs in the comic. Will you have "celebrity" guest stars in future issues?

RL: If I can work them into the story artfully, I'd be up for that. Nothing in the ones I've yet written, though. Believe it or not, I didn't think of the Zimmer Twins as guest stars (except to use that as an excuse to wedge them in there) - I just thought "The Zimmer Twins" was a nifty gag! Kermit and Scooter discuss possible guest stars in issue 4 as an excuse for me to trot out some atrocious celebrity Spoonerisms, for what that's worth. I'm aware it's a part of the show's format that has to be addressed from time to time.

TP: When you create original characters like the hoptoads, do you envision certain puppeteers performing each one?

RL: I'm not as immersed in the behind-the-scenes stuff as most of your readers are, so the only puppeteers I'm aware of are the really well-known ones, the household names. But since these hop-toad characters were really just throwaways, here for two pages and then gone forever, I wasn't too concerned about giving them individual personalities - in fact, I think that would have been counter-productive in this context.

TP: Rumor has it that you're already starting work on a second Muppet Show miniseries. Can you give us any details on that?

RL: As far as my work schedule is concerned, The Muppet Show Comic is an ongoing monthly series, but Boom! Studios want to re-start the numbering every four issue for marketing reasons. So the next four-issue story arc is called "The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson", in which rumours of a hidden treasure inside the theatre lead to, one hopes, hilarious complications - all this as a background subplot to the usual songs, sketches and so forth. Nothing radically different to the initial four issues, except the subplot element is a bit stronger. And that will lead us into the next four-issue arc, which is a logical progression from this one, I hope.

TP: Do you have a favorite character to write for? A favorite episode of The Muppet Show?

RL: I'm finding Gonzo and Miss Piggy the most enjoyable so far, because they both seem to have layers like an onion. You think you know them and then they surprise you. But I can't think of a single character I'm not enjoying on some level.

Favourite episode: Probably the Spike Milligan one. I'm a huge Milligan fan and it just seemed like such a perfect mesh of sensibilities.

TP: Is there anything else you want to relate to the Muppet fans?

RL: Just to say thanks for being open-minded about the book, and thanks for giving it such a warm reception. I really appreciate it.
Super special thanks to Roger Langridge for chatting with us! And double super special thanks to him for making The Muppet Show Comic Book! Issue #2, "Fozzie's Story," hits the stands on April 29! And while you're at the comic shop, be sure to get the first issue of Muppet Robin Hood, which will be released on the same day.

Click here to break into (written) song on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: comics/magazines, interview, Roger Langridge, The Muppet Show

Who is Kermit the Frog? He's often described as the glue that holds the Muppets together. When Jim Henson's colleagues are asked which character Jim was most similar to, the frog is often the first one name-checked: He was the guy making everything work, a straight man in the middle of a throng of eccentrics. -"I wish I'd never been born!" Freakouts are seemingly rarer in Kermit's Steve Whitmire era, but Whitmire showed us he could bring the frantic with Kermit's Christmas Eve rant in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie. The Muppet Theater has been lost to a greedy corporate type, and Kermit blames himself. His self-loathing diatribe to Daniel the angel (which mostly consists of variations on "I WISH I'D NEVER BEEN BORN!") is really just a device to steer the movie into the "world without Kermit" sequence, but it manages to be sad and hilarious at the same time.
On the Freakout-o-meter: 9



-Stop That Bus Stop
Even rarer than a Kermit/Cookie Monster pairing is a Kermit/Oscar the Grouch pairing, and this one finds Kermit understandably displeased when Oscar tries to build a bus stop in his living room. "This is a terrible place for a bus stop! What kind of bus is going to drive into my living room?!" he demands, and of course the next thing that happens is a bus drives into his living room. You can't stop civic progress. As I was watching Sesame clips in preparation of this article, I noticed that they almost never used the same set more than once to represent Kermit's apartment, but if you think about it, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation: He keeps moving, in a desperate, futile effort to prevent the other Muppets from dropping by and annoying him.

On the Freakout-o-meter: 4
Watch it on the Sesame Video Player!


-Kermit's Telephone Demo
So we've seen Kermit abused by Grover, Cookie Monster, and Oscar. Now how about America's dumbest urban cowboy, Forgetful Jones? In this sketch, Kermit tries to teach Forgetful how to use the telephone, and of course everything goes smoothly and Forgetful gets it right on the first try and nothing funny happens whatsoever.

On the Freakout-o-meter: 3
Watch it on the Sesame Video Player!

-Piggy is fired
This is the one, right here. In the Loretta Swit episode of The Muppet Show, Miss Piggy leaks a story to a tabloid that she and Kermit are secretly married. To say that Kermit is unamused would be a vast understatement. "I will not stand around while you do dumb things like that!" he snaps, and when she asks what he's going to do about it, he has an answer: "I'll tell you what I'm going to do, Piggy, I'm going to fire you! Piggy, you are fired! You are fired, Piggy! You are fired! FIRED!" And he fires her! But of course she's back by the end of the episode. You know, sometimes when I watch this stuff it really hits me just how dysfunctional Kermit and Piggy's relationship is.

On the Freakout-o-meter: 10
Watch it on YouTube!


-"Go ahead and walk!"
In The Great Muppet Caper, Kermit confronts Piggy at a duck pond in the park, the day after she tricked him into believing she was Lady Holiday. This scene is really more about Kermit and Piggy snapping at each other...

PIGGY: I'm playing over 800 different emotions here!
KERMIT: Well, why don't you try playing one of them right?!
PIGGY: I have a career of my own! I don't need this lousy duck pond!
KERMIT: Okay, sure, go ahead, walk! Walk! Go ahead and walk!

...than a rant from Kermit, but it's entertaining as always to see him make scrunchy faces and breathe heavily. Naturally, this scene of Kermit and Piggy screaming at each other is immediately followed by the most romantic scene in the movie, the "Couldn't We Ride" number.
On the Freakout-o-meter: 5


-The Huggies
And here's another classic Kermit/Piggy scene that confirms the notion that for these two crazy lovebirds, yelling is like foreplay. Kermit's just discovered that Piggy (whom he thought was far away at a new job) has been spying on him and his new friend Jenny. If she's just a friend, Piggy demands, why were you giving her the huggies? And then I just have to quote the scene:

KERMIT: Jenny and I were hugging because we're friends! That's what friends do! Friends do not spy!
PIGGY: I spied because I care!
KERMIT: I care too!
PIGGY: Well, why don't you say so?!
KERMIT: I JUST DID!
PIGGY: ALL RIGHT!
KERMIT: AAAGH!
PIGGY: AAAGH!
KERMIT: AAAGH!
PIGGY: AAAGH!

So the only thing that can come next is a romantic carriage ride around Central Park.

On the Freakout-o-meter: 8


Now I'm trying to remember, and I honestly can't: When was the last time we saw Kermit yell? I can only hope it happens in the next Muppet movie. I mean, lots of Muppet characters and guest star cameos are great, but could we have Kermit flipping his lid, please? Thanks.

Click here to tell me which Kermit freakouts you can't believe I forgot on the Tough Pigs forum! And scroll down to the previous post for some Tough Pigs April Fools' Day merriment!

Labels: fanaticism, Muppet movies, Muppets on TV, Sesame Street, The Muppet Show

Does this really exist? A comic book based on a TV show that ended production 28 years ago? Did I really go to my local comic book store and find this thing on the "new releases" rack?

Yeah, I guess I did.

The first issue of the new Muppet Show Comic Book was released last Wednesday, and publisher Boom! Studios has reported that they've already sold out and will be doing a second printing. The people have spoken, and they are hungry for Muppets.

Now, it's worth noting that this publication is exactly what it says it is: The Muppet Show Comic Book. It's not about the Muppets having adventures between shows; they're not going to a haunted house or the moon, or becoming superheroes, or anything like that. It's really just an entire, brand-new episode of The Muppet Show in comic book form. That seems like a simple enough idea, but I don't think anybody's ever done it before.

I'll admit I'd read almost nothing by writer/artist Roger Langridge before this, but now I can't imagine anyone else doing a better job. It starts with a Muppet Newsflash, as the Muppet Newsman delivers a few typical gags, then warns us that The Muppet Show is making a comeback as a comic book.

And already we're off to a good start. This is clever stuff, and I can absolutely hear the Newsman doing these jokes. (Although he'd probably say "pants" rather than "trousers." There are a few other turns of phrase that pop up that sound a bit odd, but I'll allow it because Roger Langridge is from New Zealand.)

Turning the page, we get a nearly two-page spread full of Muppets under the Muppet Show logo, so this is clearly the start of the show. Langridge even throws in Nigel, George the Janitor, the "You Are My Sunshine" guy, and J.P. Grosse. This guy's not messing around. (But why does Scooter have teeth?)


Then there's a Statler and Waldorf bit, followed by a backstage scene. The only thing missing is a guest star, but that's not even a problem. I'm sure I'm not the first person to point this out, but in many of these panels, the Muppets are only seen from the waist up, which is, of course, the way we see them on the show. I don't know much of a deliberate choice that was on Langridge's part, but it's a nice touch.

Hey, you know what seems like a terrible idea? A musical number in a printed medium. I mean, it's ridiculous, really... but ridiculous has never stopped the Muppets from doing anything. And so we get this lovely thing:

And this is not just a musical number, it's a musical number about (spoiler alert!) a bunch of Muppets exploding. The timing's good, too. It doesn't get much more Muppet Show than this.

I guess if you were looking for things to complain about, you could say that those toads don't really look like Muppets, and that's true. They look like cartoon toads. And some of the characters in the comic are drawn a little looser and more exaggerated than you might expect. But they're all recongizable, so who cares if Fozzie's nose is a little long, or Robin has eyebrows? When we see these guys on our TV screen, it's the puppeteers' performances that bring out the characters, but in a comic book there're no voices and no puppetry, so Langridge uses the art to let the Muppets express themselves.


I don't want to give too much away here, but I will say that there's a backstage story that runs throughout the issue, and it's about everyone trying to figure out why Kermit is feeling sad. It's all wrapped up satisfyingly by the end, and there are some sweet moments between Robin and Kermit. My biggest critique of the issue would be that Robin sounds unusually mature here... I guess he's always been a little precocious, but at times here he sounds more like Kermit's therapist than his five-year-old nephew.

But it's fun to see Scooter get as many lines in one issue as he's spoken in the last 17 years, and a sketch with the Koozebanians, and an appearance by the Swedish Chef, whose dialogue doesn't make any more sense in word balloon form:

Yep, Muppet-on-Muppet violence. That's a nice balance to the sweetness of the Kermit story, and that kind of balance is one of the hallmarks of the Muppets at their best.

It's tempting for me to just list all the stuff I liked about this comic, but I'm not going to do that because I think you should buy it and discover it for yourself. But the point is, I liked it. Next month's issue will be a Fozzie-centric story, followed by a Gonzo issue, and so on. Starting in late April, Boom! Studios will be also be publishing a four-issue series called Muppet Robin Hood. Which is cool, I guess, but honestly I'd could do with or without the literary adaptations, just as long as we get more Muppet Show comics.

And yet, as much as I dug this comic, I should point out that I do not want to see a new television series called The Muppet Show that takes place in the Muppet Theater. Whenever I hear fans or semi-fans say, "They should bring back The Muppet Show!", my response is, Well, no, they shouldn't. I'm all for the Muppets returning to series TV, but to attempt an exact duplicate of the series that was the apex of Jim Henson's career... That's just not a good idea, and it would only invite unfavorable comparisons: Scooter doesn't sound like Scooter! The Miss Piggy puppet's not as pretty! The new "Veterinarian's Hospital" sucks without the original performers! And so on.

But with this comic book, none of that matters. As I read Scooter's word balloons on the page, he sounded exactly like Scooter in my head. Roger Langridge's cartoon version of Miss Piggy looks like a cartoon version of Miss Piggy, so I wasn't thinking for a second about whether the puppet's wig was too short or too long or too curly or too flat. If they tried to produce this issue's script as an episode of a new TV series, I don't think it would work as well. But for 20-odd pages, we have the chance to enjoy a new Muppet Show, and that's good news for Muppet fans.

Click here to talk about exploding toads on the Tough Pigs forum!

ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com

Labels: comics/magazines, merchandise, review, The Muppet Show

posted by Ryan Roe  # 7:00 AM

When was the last time you checked out the Muppet Wiki? You can learn a lot just by clicking around randomly for a few hours... There's really a ton of information there that you never knew, even if you're a huge geek, which, let's face it, you are.

So let's play a little game I'm calling Wikitrivia. Below are a bunch of trivia questions about stuff that's on the wiki. Maybe you already know all this stuff, but if not, click on the answer links for the answers to the questions and craploads of further info.

And yes, I know you could just hover your mouse over the links to see the answers without reading the articles, but come on, man. That's no fun.

1. What is the name of Elmo's large-headed father?
Click here for the answer!

2. Which Muppet performer played Scred in the Land of Gorch sketches on the first season of Saturday Night Live?
Click here for the answer!

3. Which Muppet Show guest star appeared in the film Cabaret alongside considerably more famous fellow Muppet Show guest stars Joel Grey and Liza Minelli?
Click here for the answer!

4. Which episode of The Muppet Show included a writing credit for "The Hatrack?"
Click here for the answer!

5. In Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas, which member of the Riverbottom Nightmare Band was performed by Richard Hunt?
Click here for the answer!

6. In 1981, the Muppets appeared in commercials for what camera company?
Click here for the answer!

7. What direct-to-video Muppet production featured Caroll Spinney's own puppet creations, Picklepuss and Pop?
Click here for the answer!

8. What 1974 Muppet TV special includes the "Froggy Went A-courtin'" sequence with Kermit riding a bicycle... five whole years before The Muppet Movie?
Click here for the answer!

9. The name "Rgllmzaxpoops" was briefly considered for which group of Fraggle Rock characters?
Click here for the answer!

10. Who was the guitarist for The Jim Henson Hour's house band Solid Foam?
Click here for the answer!

11. Which Frank Oz character sang the instant classic song "Accidents Happen" with Elmo in the 2007 Sesame Street home video release Elmo's Potty Time?
Click here for the answer!

12. What future teen drama star appeared in an episode of the Henson sitcom Aliens in the Family, in which he was eaten by the family pet?
Click here for the answer!

13. What's the name of the Egyptian prince who befriends Big Bird and Snuffy in the Sesame Street special Don't Eat the Pictures?
Click here for the answer!

14. What's the name of the restaurant -- well, it's more of a supper club -- where Kermit and Piggy dance and Lady Holiday's necklace is stolen in The Great Muppet Caper?
Click here for the answer!

15. What actor appeared with the Southern Colonel Muppet in the "Change Your Face" sketch on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969?
Click here for the answer!

Click here to talk about incredibly interesting/obscure Muppet facts on the Tough Pigs forum!

Labels: fanaticism, Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street, The Muppet Show

We've got some pretty talented people over on the ToughPigs forum. We've got jugglers, balloon artists, didgeridoo players, contortionists, and all sorts of freaks, geeks, and squeaks. More than one of our pals is good with the art thing. You've already seen some great work from Smig on our site, and now we're pleased to introduce Peter Savieri, who has made some beautiful images of some of our favorite Muppet characters.

Peter will be showcased here on ToughPigs as he continues to create his Muppet works, so hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more of him. Going back, here's a collection of his completed works, and his new images will pop up here soon.

And because you demanded it, here's two new Smig cartoons, the first of which he presented to Street Gang author Michael Davis at a recent book signing. WARNING: the image may or may not confirm some risqué rumors. Bert was unavailable for comment.Click here to get all artsy-fartsy on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: fan art, Peter Savieri, Sesame Street, Smig, The Muppet Show

Last month, we had the unique opportunity to speak with Paul Morrissey at BOOM! Studios about the upcoming Muppet Show comic books. Seeing as the comic is still en route to your local Android's Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop, we decided to reach out to the man himself, Roger Langridge, to talk all things Muppet.

Roger is a London-based cartoonist, best known for his strip, "Fred the Clown." Feel free to peruse his wares at his website by clicking here. He was also responsible for the one-page Muppet comic from the last issue of Disney Adventures magazine.

Let's check in with Roger and see what he's got to say. Roger?

ToughPigs: What is your relationship with Muppets Studios (Disney) for the creation of the comic? Do they have to approve of all of the character designs? Plot elements?

Roger Langridge: I deal with Paul Morrissey at Boom Studios directly. Paul passes all plot outlines, finished scripts, pencils and presumably finished art on to Disney (I'm still inking issue #1 at this writing), who then send it back to Paul, who sends it back to me, and I make any changes that might be requested. I know my work is looked over by Jesse Post at Disney and Jim Lewis at Henson, and no doubt by others I'm not aware of. Mr Lewis, in particular, is very generous with notes, gags, character bits and so forth - many of the gags in issue #1 are his!

TP: What went into making the decision to make the Muppets more caricaturized, as opposed to something more photo-realistic?

RL: I should probably explain a little about where this particular incarnation of Muppet comics came from. A couple of years ago, I was approached by the now-defunct Disney Adventures Magazine to do a Muppet strip for them. They'd been running a version of Mickey Mouse and Goofy drawn in a completely off-model, undergroundish kind of style, and this had proven to be very popular, so they were looking to do more of the same with some other Disney properties. The staff at Disney Adventures knew my comics work and liked it, and I think were particularly taken with the vaudeville elements and oddball, Monty-Pythonesque humour I like to play around with in my own comics, so they thought I'd be a good fit for the Muppets. I was somewhat concerned to begin with, because I'm not that great at drawing on-model, but they mentioned the Mickey strips and said they wanted me to use my own stylistic approach on the Muppets material, so I thought I'd give it a try - not going completely underground-y, but leaning towards that aesthetic a little bit, which seemed to be what they wanted. As it turned out, of the fifteen or so pages I drew, only one was used before the magazine was cancelled (although a few more of them ended up in the San Diego Comic Con preview booklet eventually), so that was that... I thought! While I was resigning myself to never getting a chance to work with the Muppets, my work was being shown to people at Disney and Boom, and several months later things started rolling again. With the Boom incarnation, essentially my instructions have been to keep doing what I was doing on Disney Adventures... so there's your long, roundabout answer as to why the strip looks the way it does. I'm refining things as I go, though - fixing stuff that I felt looked wrong, making changes as requested by Disney and the aforementioned Mr Lewis, and generally trying to make it look as good as I can. I expect there'll be a settling-in period as I get the hang of it!

On a more general note, my feeling is that drawing all the characters precisely on-model would be to do them a disservice, as paradoxical as that sounds. On the screen, they have vibrant, eccentric, nuanced vocal characterizations to carry their personalities; on the printed page, the absence of those voices has to be compensated for visually. So my solution to that dilemma is to make the faces more expressive and more cartoony. I'm resigned to the fact that this will not please everybody, but my job is to make a good comic, and this is the approach that my instincts and experience point me towards in order to achieve that. It's a balancing act, to be sure; I'm walking a tightrope between authenticity and expressiveness, and no doubt I'll fall off occasionally. But I'll keep trying to get it right!
TP: I noticed some Easter eggs in the preview comic, like background characters that might or might not be Bert, Big Bird, Mildred, and Thog. Will you continue to throw a few bones to the fans like this? If so, can you give us an idea of what to expect?

RL: I'm sure there'll be things that pop up as we go along -- I'm not really thinking of them as Easter Eggs, more as part of the necessary texture required to evoke the Muppet Show we all remember. I don't really have a big list of obscure characters I'm trying to shoehorn in there, but I'm throwing things in as the opportunity arises... and as the whim takes me! Nothing planned enough to tell you what's coming up, I'm afraid. I'll be as surprised as you are.

TP: Given that this is a "Muppet Show" comic, will the characters be exclusively from The Muppet Show, or can we expect to see characters from The Jim Henson Hour and Muppets Tonight? Pepe, for example, is a much more recent character, and he appears on the cover to the preview comic.

RL: I didn't have anything to do with the cover of the preview comic, but my gut feeling is that I should stick with the old Muppet Show cast and format as much as possible, although that doesn't rule out cameo appearances, just for the fun of it. And Rizzo the Rat will pop up a bit - I think he's a later character, but there were a lot of anonymous rodents in the old show, so I sort of lump him in with them!
TP: Speaking of the covers, will you be providing the covers as well as the interior art? Or will we be seeing more photo covers? If so, will they be comprised of stock art or new photos? And is there any chance of guest artists providing covers to your work?

RL: At the moment, Boom have asked me to draw the covers. I don't know what their plans are down the line, but I for one would love to see some guest artists take a crack at it. Their standard approach at the moment seems to be multiple covers on everything, so there's plenty of room for other artists.

TP: As Paul Morissey mentioned in our previous interview, each issue of the first miniseries will focus on a different character. Will there be a continuing storyline going through the series, or will each stand alone as its own "episode"?

RL: When Boom first approached me, they asked me to pitch ideas for four-issue story arcs, which initially threw me somewhat - I had trouble imagining the comic working any other way apart from self-contained stories. I think I've found ways to make it work, with ongoing subplots tying largely stand-alone stories together. The first four issues - which I guess is now a miniseries (which nobody's mentioned to me!) - were added as an afterthought, at Disney's request; they're all completely self-contained, which is probably best as people get used to it. Then we'll jump into slightly longer stories, though each issue should work on its own as well.
TP: In the preview comic, we saw elements such as Pigs In Space and At The Dance. Will the first miniseries have more of this? Can we expect to see one-to-two page Veterinarian's Hospital or the Swedish Chef skits? How about the more obscure bits like the Talking Houses and Muppet
Sports?

RL: There will definitely be plenty of skits! My goal is to try to make each issue seem like an undiscovered episode of the Muppet Show, and the skits are an essential part of that. The first issue will feature the Swedish Chef, Pigs in Space and the Planet Koozebane for starters. Plenty more on the way! On the topic of Pigs in Space, I'm trying to get one of those into every issue. Whenever I mention that I'm working on a Muppet comic to my friends, they all say, "Pigs in Space! Lots of Pigs in Space!"

TP: What goes in to your research for writing the series? Did Disney provide him with complete series of The Muppet Show on DVD? Are you aware of the Muppet Wiki? If so, is it a part of your in-depth research?

RL: I don't have a complete set of DVDs by any means, though I'm gradually acquiring them when I can afford them. I have a "Best Of" set, a few books (including the excellent Muppet Show Book from 1978 or thereabouts, full of lavish colour illustrations), a ringbinder full of photo reference, character sheets, the "Muppet Bible" which Disney Adventures sent me way back when I did the strips for them, and images scavenged from the internet - including the Muppet Wiki. I'm adding to the pile all the time. And a lot of stuff is coming from my creaky old memory! That's usually where the initial spark comes from; then I'll research the things I recall and which I think would be fun to do, and sometimes that leads to other ideas as I stumble across other items or characters I'd forgotten. It's kind of an organic process in that way.
TP: Lastly, there's been some concern on our forum about the character designs for Gonzo and, to a lesser extent, Kermit. Were there any formal discussions about why you chose to go with those designs? Was there any concern from Disney or the fans? (On the other hand, most of the designs are spot-on, like Sweetums and Bunsen Honeydew)

RL: Well, as I've mentioned, the character designs in the preview are from the material produced for Disney Adventures, in which drawing the characters off-model was not only tolerated, but actively encouraged. The new comic is still being drawn in my own style, and I've been encouraged to stick with that approach to a large extent, but as I mentioned, there'll be tweaks and refinements. And no doubt I'll improve with practice! At the moment I'm in the deep end, really - trying to keep on schedule and learn all the characters' physical nuances at the same time. I hope it'll get easier! So far, the only art comment I've had from Disney is regarding Gonzo's nose, which I was basing on the version in the Muppet Show Book - pointier, more gnarled-looking than the current version - so I've had another look at Gonzo all round, and I hope the fans will be pleased with how he looks in the first issue. Beyond that, all I can say is I hope I improve with practice!
Special thanks to Roger Langridge for answering a few pressing questions for us!

The Muppet Show Comic Book will hit stores March 25, 2009!

Click here to talk about the specifics of a weirdo's nose on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: comics/magazines, Disney, interview, Roger Langridge, The Muppet Show

The production: Elmo's World: Happy Holidays
The gift: Elmo gives Dorothy a drawing he made

Elmo spends this entire special trying to think of a good present for Dorothy, but gifts such as a new sweater, a bottle of wine, or a puppy are just not appropriate for a fish. On a suggestion from a fat guy in a red suit, he uses his imagination and comes up with an original work of art called "Dorothy's World," which depicts Elmo inside Dorothy's fishbowl. (Presumably in Dorothy's World Elmo has gills.)

Score: 4/10
This is a last-minute gift that looks like something scribbled by a three-year-old. I'm only scoring it this high because Elmo trekked all the way to North Pole and sat through a boring song about the Christmas spirit in order to get Santa's advice.


The production: A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa
The gift: The Muppets' neighbor Claire asks Santa for, and receives, Christmas with the Muppets

Santa grants a few different wishes in the new Muppet Christmas special from this year: Nathan Lane gets a tricycle, which, sadly, we don't get to see him ride. Pepe gets an opera voice, which should really come in handy when they get around to making The Muppets' Gotterdammerung. Claire's letter to Santa, the plot device that drives the whole special, is simply to spend Christmas with all her Muppety friends.

Score: 8.5/10
Claire lives in the same building as the Muppets, so she gets to see them every day anyway. So I was going to rate this one pretty low... but then I got to thinking, How great a present would it be to have the Muppets come to your house on Christmas Eve? It would blow 1987's ThunderCats Cat's Lair playset out of the water, that's for sure.


The production: A Special Sesame Street Christmas
The gift: Big Bird gives Leslie Uggams a hat that everyone hates

This is the little-seen Sesame Christmas special (Danny wrote about it on this site a while back) in which Leslie Uggams is inexplicably hanging out on Sesame Street on Christmas. The humans all chip in to buy her a present, and they entrust Big Bird to pick it out, which is a pretty terrible idea. Was he established as being six years old back then? I wouldn't want a six-year-old picking out my present. Anyway, Leslie doesn't even pretend to like the hat, but she turns it into a cue for an inspiring song about really crappy Christmas presents.

Score: 1/10


The production: Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas
The gift: Emmet attempts to give his Ma a piano, while she attempts to give him a guitar

You know the story. The otters have noble gift-giving intentions, but each of them sacrifices the other's prized possession, then they both lose the talent contest, so they don't make any money, so they can't buy any presents so they did it all for nothing. But they still have each other... and then there is that happy ending. Hmm.

Score: I can't decide. What do you think?


The production: The Great Santa Claus Switch
The gift: Santa Claus gives Thog and Thig a toy truck and a teddy bear, respectively.

In this very first Muppet Christmas special, the guy who played Ed Norton on The Honeymooners teaches two naked, monstrous beasts that Christmas is all about giving toys away without expecting anything in return. Rumor has it that Thig was so touched by this lesson that he quit the Muppets and became the head of the Salvation Army.

Score: 7/10


The production: A Muppet Family Christmas
The gift: Robin gives Grover a Fraggle pebble

A tiny rock is just about the cheapest, most worthless gift you could ever give... but when it's changing hands between the two cutest Muppets in the world in a gesture of selflessness, it seems a lot better than one of those XBox 3whatchamacallits. Besides, Grover seems genuinely touched to receive it, and he's not one to fake sincerity. This gifting also happens to connect three different Muppet worlds, which is the point of the whole special.

Score: 10/10
The best part of the Fraggle pebble is that Grover can pawn it off on the first monster, rat, or chicken he sees, and rather than seeming ungrateful, he's just following the tradition!


The production: Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
The gift: Mr. Hooper returns Bert's paper clip collection and Ernie's rubber duckie to their rightful owners

If only they used money on Sesame Street, this story never would have happened. Bert trades Mr. Hooper his paper clips for a soapdish for Rubber Duckie, and Ernie trades Mr. Hooper Rubber Duckie for a cigar box for Bert's paper clips. Then Mr. Hooper gives everything back, which means he gets absolutely nothing from the whole deal except the satisfaction of selflessness, which, of course, is the true meaning of blah blah blah.

Of course, it's not like he would have had much need for a used rubber duckie anyway. The really important thing here, though, is this: Is this the only time a grown-up human was ever seen in Bert and Ernie's apartment? He looks very tall.

Score: 9/10

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone! I hope you get presents that don't suck!

Do you agree with my assessments? Disagree? Which ones did I leave out? Click here to talk about this article on the Tough Pigs forum!

ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com

Labels: Christmas, Fraggle Rock, lists, Sesame Street, The Muppet Show

While we eagerly await the release of the upcoming Muppet Show comic book, due out in 2009 from BOOM! Studios, I find myself chomping at the bit, wondering what this thing's gonna be like. And that's not easy. First I had to find a bit, which is only sold in Chinatown, and then take a bite. And those things taste like black licorice. Blecch.

I had a chance to ask a few questions to Paul Morrissey, BOOM! Studios' editor for the Disney-related comics. This interview took place before I had the preview comic in-hand (which includes all of the images used in this article), which explains why I didn't ask any questions about Gonzo's beak or other script-related issues.

But don't take my word for it, here's Paul Morrissey. And, um, me.
ToughPigs: In what aspect (besides Editor in Chief) is Mark Waid involved in the Muppet comic books? I heard a rumor that he was writing some of the content, but that sounded to me to be false.

Paul Morrissey: Unfortunately, that's just a rumor. One of our press releases announcing the books was reprinted wrong on a comic news site. Though I'm sure Mark would write a brilliant Muppet comic, he's a bit too busy scripting other projects--including BOOM!'s "Incredibles" comic book.
TP: Is Roger Langridge submitting short pieces for the comic (like his one-page Muppet comic in Disney Adventures), or will he be working on full 20-30 page scripts?

PM: Roger Langridge is a mad genius, so we didn't want to restrict him to just short pieces. We miraculously found a way to have Roger write and draw full 22-page scripts. They are classic Muppets. Each one is full of hilarious skits and gags and irreverence, but Roger's stories also manage to tug at the heartstrings, too.

TP: Will Roger be the sole writer and artist for the book, or will it be a compilation of different talents?

PM: Right now, Roger is the only writer/artist on "The Muppet Show" comic. However, down the road, we'll have some exciting announcements about other writers and artists contributing their own "The Muppet Show" arcs.
TP: Are the "sequel" books (like "Muppet Prince Charming" and "Muppet Sleeping Beauty") planned already, or is that conjecture on BOOM's part?

PM: BOOM! is very much committed to having the Muppets bring their chaos to classic fairy tales and legends. Expect to see "Muppets Robin Hood" (with Sweetums as Little John!), "Muppets Peter Pan" and "Muppets King Arthur" shortly after Roger's "The Muppet Show" comic book hits stands. We're finding the funniest writers to script these projects. The tone we're aiming for is an all-ages Monty Python. That's setting the bar pretty high!

TP: Regarding the teaser comic released at the San Diego Comic Con, will there be a way for Muppet fans to see the art?

PM: BOOM! created a "Muppet Show" preview comic for San Diego Comic-Con that featured 9 pages of Roger's amazing art and hilarious gags. Most of this material is so exclusive, that it will not appear in Roger's first "The Muppet Show" arc. In fact, the preview comic has become a bit of a collector's item. I've seen them on eBay!
TP: How many issues will the first Muppet comic series run?

PM: Roger's first arc will be 4 issues. Issue #1 will focus on Kermit, issue # 2 will put Fozzie in the spotlight, Gonzo will headline issue #3, and Miss Piggy will ham it up in issue #4. Subsequent arcs, including the Muppet parody books, will also have four issue-arcs.

TP: Will there be any promotions attached to the Muppet series?

PM: Certainly! But nothing we can reveal at this point. As you may know, Disney is orchestrating the Muppets' return in a major way, and BOOM! is thrilled to a part of this new Muppet era!
Keep an eye on this space for Part 2 of our Q&A with Paul Morrissey!

Thanks to Paul for chatting with us, and special thanks to BOOM! Studios' Chip Mosher for setting the whole thing up!

Click here for an animated conversation on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: comics/magazines, Disney, interview, The Muppet Show

We've heard a lot lately about Disney's big plans for the Muppets in the near future, and it's all very exciting, because it means there will soon be lots of new Muppet stuff for us to buy. I mean, we all love watching new Muppet TV specials and movies and crap like that, but what we really want is more merchandise to take up space in our houses.

I just have one very important request to present to whoever is in charge of these things: Please never use this image of the Swedish Chef again.


I have no idea how long this photo has been around... Since the early 2000s at least, and probably longer. But I've seen it on jigsaw puzzles, coasters, magnets, and various other merchandise for years, and it just showed up on the new 2009 Muppet calendar.

Did nobody at the photo session realize that this pose makes it look like the Chef is smoking a joint? It's practically begging for a quick, effortless PhotoShop job! In fact, I'm going to do an image search right now and show you all the different places on the web where people have taken this shot and turned the Chef into a pothead.

. . .

Huh. Okay. Well, I can't find any. For the first time ever, I'm actually disappointed that the people of the internet have refrained from corrupting one of my favorite family-friendly characters.

But my point still stands! It's not like this is a trademark gesture for the Chef. Has he ever even done this? Usually he uses his hands for much broader movements, like throwing rolling pins, or throwing spoons, or throwing chickens. Basically, he throws stuff. And anyway, it's not like there aren't other, better shots available. What's wrong with this one?


Isn't that better? Why can't that be the default Chef shot? So far all I've done is complain, but I want to help too. So here are my suggestions for Five Other Things for the Swedish Chef to Do with His Hands:

1. Smack a lobster.
   
2. Perform the old "detachable thumb" trick.
3. Juggle.
4. Toss a pizza.
5. Some other thing.

I've made my point, and now it's time to take action. I strongly recommend that all Muppet fans, Swedish or not, join me in aggressively rolling our eyes every time we see that picture from now on. I believe it will make a real difference. Thank you for your time.

Click here to roll up and discuss this article at my favorite joint, the Tough Pigs forum!

Labels: complaining, controversy, fanaticism, merchandise, The Muppet Show

You know what I can't get enough of? Art by ToughPigs' own Smig! That guy sure can draw. Lucky for us, he likes to draw Muppety things! Just like these here:

Click here to wear spandex on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: fan art, Fraggle Rock, Smig, The Muppet Show

A few months ago, we wrote about the new Muppet videos that popped up on YouTube. (Those articles are here and here.) Now they're popping again: Fozzie and Rizzo have started their own YouTube accounts, joining Beaker, the Swedish Chef, Sam, Gonzo, and Statler & Waldorf.

Fozzie's video is "Rolling with the Skateboarding Dog"...

...and Rizzo's is a video response to Fozzie's, called "Skateboarding Dog gets served."



So these are pretty exciting, especially given the prominence of Rowlf, even if Bill Barretta's Rowlf still sounds a lot like Bobo. Here's what I find interesting about these new clips (other than the fact that we've yet to see Kermit and Piggy): Those other videos they posted -- Stars and Stripes Forever, Habanera, etc. -- were all presented as performances by the Muppets, whereas these look like the characters were bored on a Saturday afternoon, so they picked up their camcorder and went to the beach to see if anything happened.

As Peter mentioned in his review, there was something about the Studio DC specials, with the Muppets squeezed uncomfortably into a show starring fresh-faced preteens, that made the Muppets seem old. I was a little worried there for a while... Does Kermit's unfamiliarity with text message shorthand mean he's over the hill, out of touch, and completely irrelevant to anyone too young to vote, drink, or buy cigars?

But now we see that the Muppets not only have YouTube accounts, they also go out and shoot random, pointless, shaky, handheld video to post online. Suddenly they're more contemporary than ever!

Welcome to the internet age, Muppets. Just don't pay too much attention to the Comments.

Click here to discuss this article, and how funny it is to see Rizzo's legs, on the Tough Pigs forum!

Labels: internet, news, The Muppet Show

It's that time again! Time for more Muppety art by ToughPigs' own Smig! What's notable in this installment is the piece at the end of this post, which was published in a recent issue of The Comic Buyer's Guide in his regular strip, "For Art's Sake." Enjoy the enjoyment! And as always, click on the images for embiggenment.


Click here to feast on a vegan at the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: comics/magazines, fan art, Sesame Street, Smig, The Muppet Show

Has everyone read Joe Hennes' article from September 9th, in which he told the story of visiting the set of the new Muppet TV special Letters to Santa? (If you haven't, you should click on this link right here and read it.) In Joe's article he mentioned that he was invited by some of the Muppet people to come back for day of studio shooting. He recently took them up on that offer, and this time I got to come too.

I met Joe at the studio in the early afternoon. As we entered the stage, Joe said, "Nathan Lane is here," and yeah, actually, there he was. He's playing an airport security official in the special, which will also include appearances by Uma Thurman, Jane Krakowski, Jesse L. Martin, Tony Sirico and Steve Schirripa from The Sopranos, Richard Griffiths, Disney Channel star Madison Pettis, and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. But with all those celebrities, is there any space in the special left for Muppets?

As a matter of fact, there is space, which is good, because the first scene I saw them shoot featured Bobo, and the Bobo puppet is frigging enormous. He's so bulky that when Bill Barretta performs him, he has to wear a harness kinda thing to keep Bobo steady. One take ended abruptly with Bobo toppling over, which cracked up everyone in the room, including Nathan Lane. Lane found Bobo pretty hilarious in general, and he struggled to get through a few takes without laughing. Hearing Bobo speak inspired several people in the room to do their own Bobo impressions, which makes me wonder if the annual informal holiday Talk Like a Pirate Day should be replaced by Talk Like Bobo Day.

Between takes, Joe introduced me to director Kirk Thatcher, who told us that Letters to Santa was greenlit and put into production quite suddenly. The whole shoot, in fact, will total only 15 days, which is less time than I take between trips to the laundromat.

After the scene was finished, I met and chatted with Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz, and Noel MacNeal. Here's the thing about real live Muppet people: They're impossibly friendly, and they're almost as interested in the Muppet fan community as we are in them. Several of them commented on the recent New York Times article about Disney's big plans for the Muppets, which they described as "mostly accurate." They did not, however, comment on the difficulty of the Sudoku in that issue of the Times.

After the scene was finished, it was time for the cast and crew's favorite part of the day: lunch break! Joe and I talked some more with Steve and Kirk, as well as Bill Barretta. Among other things, they mentioned that Frank Oz had briefly dropped by the set last week to say hello. Apparently he's a bit of a Muppet fan himself.

One thing that came up over and over again throughout the day was a feeling of optimism among everyone involved. All the puppeteers believe Letters to Santa is a genuinely good Muppet production in the spirit of the classic stuff. Dave Goelz described it as the best thing they've done since Muppet Treasure Island, with "the perfect mix of lunacy and heart." I think every single puppeteer we talked to used the word "heart" in their assessment of the new special. This thing is lousy with heart. Which is great news for all the fans, unless maybe there's a faction of fans who've always felt the Muppets would be better if they were really mean.


During the break, we also got to talk to Andrew Samson and Scott Ganz, two of the writers on the project (along with Hugh Fink, who wasn't there that day). They have a lot of ideas for the Muppets, and I really got the impression that they're One of Us. Or Two of Us, or whatever. They're a couple of guys who grew up watching and loving The Muppet Show and the movies, and they want to see the characters get back to doing the kind of material they did in their heyday. Also notable: Scott's wife Brooke ran the "Sesame Seventies" fan website a few years ago, which was a fun and groovy celebration of Sesame Street's crazy disco records.

Soon it was time to start shooting again, and it was more airport stuff. One thing that struck me as the day went on was the fact that, although we only saw a tiny portion of the production, every single shot we saw them do had a joke in it, and all the jokes were funny. Unless we just happened to see the only funny scenes in the entire special, that bodes well. And as Joe pointed out, the performances seemed to get funnier with every take. If that's always the case, how do they know when to stop?

Another thing I noticed: Muppet performing is hard work. The scenes we saw them shoot had several human extras, but the sets were not "built up" to allow the puppeteers to perform standing up, so they had to sit and kneel and crouch and contort and roll around on wheely things (which probably have a real name other than "wheely things"). And while we tend to take for granted that a Muppet can do anything a human can do, the mere act of Rizzo putting his coat in an airport security bin required several attempts to get right.

Of course, it would have been easier to just cut the Rizzo coat-placing. I'm sure it's not crucial to the plot, but they kept doing it until it worked. I know this is going to sound cheesy, so maybe you want to skip this paragraph, but somehow it seemed very true to the spirit of the Muppets, and even to Jim Henson's own creative philosophy. From Kermit playing the banjo in an actual swamp in The Muppet Movie to Gonzo driving a lawn mower in Muppets From Space, it's always been about creating a world in which the Muppets are real, living beings. So they did take after take until Rizzo got it right. Man, if it had been a real airport, the people in line behind Rizzo would have been seriously ticked off: Just drop your coat, already! (And by the way, what's this talking rat doing at the airport?)

And after all that trouble with the Rizzo shot? They immediately did it again, with a shot requiring Pepe to hold various objects in each of his four hands, and drop them in the bin one by one. This required Bill Barretta, Matt Vogel and Peter Linz to squeeze in close together so they could each perform a prawn hand or two. I couldn't help but think it's a good thing none of the Muppet performers smell bad. Marty Robinson called that gag "a joke that's easy to write, but hard to do"... but once again, they did it until it worked.

While this stuff was going on, Joe and I got a chance to talk to the aforementioned Marty, Matt, and Peter, and they were all a bunch of jerks. No, of course that's not true at all. Like everyone else, they were as nice as could be and very enthusiastic about the new special. This was also about the time I saw one of the puppet wranglers stapling Kermit's winter shoes together so he could hold them in the next scene. I think it would be amazing, when your friends ask you what you've been doing at work, to be able to say, "Oh, today I stapled Kermit the Frog's shoes together."

To a humble, slack-jawed yokel like myself, the whole process of shooting a big TV project like this is pretty impressive. Great care was taken for every shot to ensure that no puppeteers' hands or heads were seen onscreen. Kirk Thatcher made sure Fozzie carried the same candy cane from shot to shot, for "continudity" purposes. And a few times, Kirk and the writers had to confer on whether or not a particular joke would be allowed in a Muppet special.


Speaking of which, here's an interesting tidbit: Remember Gonzo/The Tin Thing's line "Those are my nipples" in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz? I thought that was pretty darn funny, but I was surprised it made the cut. Well, the story behind that came up during a discussion about what the Muppets can and can't get away with: Dave Goelz thought up the line and jokingly suggested it to Kirk Thatcher, prefacing it by saying, "We'll never actually use this, but it would be funny if Gonzo said..." And then Kirk put it in the movie! And that's the story of Gonzo's nipples.

The next scene we saw was an interaction between Fozzie and Bobo. Have we ever even seen those two talk to each other before? Here you have two of the greatest fictional bears ever (equal to Winnie the Pooh, and miles above Andy Williams' Cookie Bear) and they're both part of the same entertainment franchise, but I really don't remember ever seeing them in the same scene. I predict that once viewers find out about this moment, they'll flock to the special by the billions.

During this scene, Scott Ganz told us that a lot of the last-minute additions to this production were "stolen" directly from the script he and Samson and Fink wrote for the now-canceled election special. Which is reasonable. If you're working on a new Muppet special, and you happen to have a perfectly good, unused Muppet script lying around, you might as well use it, right?

At one point, there was a young kid present on the set... I'm not sure who he belonged to, but he was having a good time. As things were getting set up for one of the last scenes of the day, Bill Barretta brought Pepe over to talk to him, which was pretty great, although I'm not sure the kid had any idea who Pepe was. Pepe asked him about school and his favorite subjects, but he politely rebuffed the kid's attempts to stick a candy bar wrapper in his mouth.

It was also around this time that some glossy photos of the main Muppet cast (not to be confused with The MuppetCast) were making their way around the room. These were being autographed to give away to kids, and each puppeteer actually signed his characters' names on each copy. Of course, they could have easily gotten some intern to do that, but instead they guarantee that those kids get the authentic John Hancocks of Kermit, Bunsen, Animal, et al. And for the record, Eric Jacobson does a lovely Piggy signature.

The last shot of the day required Kermit, Gonzo, Pepe, Rizzo, Fozzie and two penguins, so it was all hands on deck for the puppeteers (For those of you keeping score: Steve was Kermit while Noel was Rizzo, Peter was Fozzie's right hand, and Matt and Marty were the penguins). This was some kind of POV shot, apparently taken from the perspective of another character watching the Muppets from a distance, and there didn't seem to be any specific scripted dialogue.

This allowed the puppeteers to ad lib, and danged if they didn't come up with something different to say for every single take. Once, Gonzo confided to Kermit, "If you run fast enough [through the metal detector], you don't have to take your belt off." Another time, Kermit noted that the security checkpoint is easier to get through when you don't wear clothing.

After a few successful takes of this shot, Kirk Thatcher announced that it was a wrap for the day, and everyone quickly dispersed. Joe and I, amazed that we were allowed to stay so long without being politely kicked out, said our thank-yous and exited to the real world, a world where prawns can't talk and bears rarely wear sweaters.

There's still a lot we don't know about Letters to Santa. And we know even less about the Muppet feature film that's being planned for 2010. But I have to say, I'm feeling more optimistic about the future of the Muppets today than I have in quite a while. The creative people know -- and they know that we know -- that not every production from the last 10 years or so has been a home run. But the enthusiasm on that set was pretty infectious, and while I've been "cautiously optmistic" about most of the recent Muppet productions, this time around I think I'll drop the adverb and just look forward to seeing what my favorite characters are up to this Christmas.

Click here to comment on this article on the Tough Pigs forum!

ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com

Labels: celebrities, Christmas, in development, interview, Muppet performers, Muppets on TV, The Muppet Show

We at ToughPigs.com are happy to have Chris Smigliano, better known around our offices as "Smig", on our team. He's had a close relationship with ToughPigs, dating back to the MuppetZine days.

Smig has agreed to create some exclusive art for ToughPigs, which we'll be spotlighting here. And keep an eye or two on this space for a few more Smig-related surprises in the near future!

And without further ado (that's right, not one more ado to do), ToughPigs and Chris Smigliano present: New Tux.
Click here to discuss the tuxedo/dinosaur rivalry at the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: fan art, Smig, The Muppet Show

Check out part 1 of Season 3: A to Z by clicking here! You can't expect to understand N-Z without reading A-M first, now can you?

N is for the Nazi Salute. When Spike Milligan participated in the Nod to all Nations, he felt it Necessary to also acknowledge the genocidists of the world. Thankfully, it’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it salute. Not-so-thankfully, it forever tarnished “It’s a Small World” for me.

O is for Onions. Oh, that Beauregard! So Obtuse! So Obvious! He Ordered Onions for Harry Belafonte’s big number! Me say Day-O indeed!

P is for Penzance. Perchance, when Gilda Radner first Perceived of a Penzance Plot, she Planned on a Parrot. Instead, Kermit Purchased a giant vegetable. Punniness ensued.

Q is for Quintuplets. That’s the only way I could explain Roy Clark’s doppelganger number.

R is for Rocky III. Really, when Sylvester Stallone Ran for a new Rocky film, he Reused footage from this episode of The Muppet Show. Mr. T was unavailable for comment.

S is for Sex. Raquel Welch and Fozzie Bear practically do it backstage of the theater. And no, that’s not innuendo.

T is for Tuned Clams. Too bad, we didn’t Tune in To see Manny Kaye play his Tuned clams Tonight. Instead, we had to watch that hack, Danny Kaye. No relation.

U is for Unitard. Unfortunately, the Alice Cooper episode of The Muppet Show is decidedly Un-scary. But that Unitard: Ugh!

V is for Violence. Jean Stapleton claims Victory as she duets with Crazy Harry and his Valuable Explodaphone! And yes, that’s really Jean in the photo above, and not an exploding Victor Borge.

W is for What makes Muppets Work? In the special feature, Muppets on Puppets, Jim Henson and his Weirdo friends explain Who the Muppets are and Why they are so Wacky. Shot in amazing black and White.

X is for X-tra sensory perception. Hey, you try coming up with something besides Xylophone for the letter X! We came this close to an entry on James Coco’s insistence on XXX dancers.

Y is for Yodeling. Yikes, Kermit almost calls Roy Rogers a Yellow-bellied Yankee! His Yodeling made Kermit Yearn for a black Yarmulke!

Z is for Zippity Zip Zap Shabadoo Yeah! Pearl Bailey put some Zing into her spring with Floyd in one Zazztastic number. (The writer of this article obviously has no rhythm)

And there you have it, 26 entries chock-full of alphabetty goodness, plus the added benefit of generic Muppet jokes! Who could ask for anything more?

Come on back when the fourth season of The Muppet Show comes out and I find a link between each episode and every color in the rainbow!

Click here to spell your name with Muppet Show guest stars on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: celebrities, DVD, lists, The Muppet Show

We at ToughPigs.com are always striving to keep our readers abreast of all Muppet trivia that comes across our desks. Education is a priority for us, as it was for our forefathers. This is why I want to make sure that you’re all aware of the basic Muppet facts, no matter how minute and obscure they may seem.

For example, did you know that Uncle Deadly was originally built to be the spokesman for Gatorade? Or that Muppeteer Bill Barretta is half chupacabra?

The latest factoid that I heard was about the “missing year” of 1978-1979 in which the TV-watching public saw neither hide nor hair of the Muppets or any other Jim Henson production. But Secret Squirrels have discovered the missing season of The Muppet Show, which apparently aired in between Season 2 and Season 4. The Muppet fan community has taken to calling this “Season 3,” though the name hasn’t been confirmed by Disney or The Jim Henson Company.

What’s that? I’m sorry, speak into my good ear. Oh, you’ve heard of the third season of The Muppet Show? And you know this because you purchased the DVD set that came out back in May? And you’ve watched it a zillion times and memorized every line? And you’ve counted the points on Lew Zealand’s head to enter on his Muppet Wiki article? And you think this whole paragraph sounds like a Bob Newhart routine?

Well, maybe there are some people out there in Internetland who haven’t heard of Season 3. Or, if they have, then maybe they haven’t been able to tear themselves away from the LOLcat blogs for long enough to go out and buy the DVDs. And it’s for those people (and, y’know, everyone else) that I give you The Alphabet of Season 3! So without further ado, I present to you the not-so-missing season of The Muppet Show in a bite-sized educational nugget.

A is for Animal cruelty. Lesley Ann Warren brings her A-game as an Actress as she Amazes at Marvin Suggs’ vicious mauling of some helpless furry creatures.

B is for Bird auditions. Liberace Brings a Bunch of Birds to his dressing room where they’re offscreen for the entire episode. What these auditions involve, we’ll never know. (And, for some reason, he shows up halfway through the episode to remind us that he’s down to his last 10 finalists, even though every Muppet with a beak shows up in his final number. I apologize for my Bitching.)

C is for Cavorting. You Can’t have the Chronicle of Robin Hood without a good Cavort. Lynn Redgrave Cavorts with the best of them. She’s a Cavorting fool! Cavort, Cavort, Cavort.

D is for Disease. Dang, the Muppet Show theater is rife with a Deathly Disease! The Cluckitis epidemic is turning the Muppets into not Ducks, not Dolphins, not even Doorknobs, but strangely familiar chickens! Roger Miller is, for some reason, immune.

E is for Elke. E is also for “Elkee”. E is also for “Elkeh.” See if you can spot how many different pronunciations the Muppets have for Elke Sommer’s name. Egad!

F is for Flat dog. Baskerville the Hound does his Finest Flat-Faced Figure in one of the Purina Dog Food ads on the DVD set. He could have a great career as a Fence.

G is for Girdle. Marisa Berenson Gives Miss Piggy some help in hiding her Girth. Great Googly moogly!

H is for Hunting Season. Leo Sayer gets Harassed by some local Hooligans. How will he get out of this Horrible mess? I Hope it doesn’t end with a Hanging!

I is for Incredibly creepy. My apologies to Leslie Uggams for not mentioning her in the entry for the letter I, but how weird is it that Gonzo falls in love with a 6-year-old male canary, who Invented this silly ABC shtick? Incredible!

J is for Jingle Bells. The Helen Reddy episode contains what may be the best moment of the entire season: The Swedish Chef and Animal singing a Jaunty tune in Helen’s dressing room.

K is for Karate. Cheryl Ladd and Miss Piggy Kick some butt in a Kung-Fu number. Unfortunately, the butt in question belongs to Kermit, which makes me Kringe.

L is for Lots of kids. Loretta Lynn Learns to Love her Little ones. Like, 30 of them. That Lady must’ve Liked getting Laid!

M is for Morbid. Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge can’t even Make eye contact with Gonzo after hearing about his plan to fake his own death for Monetary gain. Ok, so Maybe their reaction is More “Meh”.

Click here for part 2: N-Z!

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Labels: celebrities, DVD, lists, The Muppet Show

Season 3 of The Muppet Show comes out on DVD May 20, which is TODAY! Or, depending on when you read this, yesterday. Or two days ago or three days ago or five years ago if you read this in 2013. But the point is, I'm happier than a termite at a ventriloquist's dummy convention about the new DVDs, and I can't wait to hold Fozzie's huge face in my hands.

The season three shows I'm familiar with are full of hilarious/bizarre stuff. Pigs sing in Hawaiian! Gonzo falls in love with Big Bird! Miss Piggy sells her soul to a rock star! All these moments are terrific, but they're not the only reason I'm jazzed. See, I've been looking over the list of episodes over at Muppet Wiki, and I realized that almost half of these are episodes I've never seen before.

The third season was when The Muppet Show got all country & western, so many of the new-to-me episodes are the ones guest-starring country singers, like Kris Kristofferson (whose hits include "Help Me Make It Through the Night"), Roy Clark (whose hits include "Yesterday When I Was Young"), and Jean Stapleton (whose hits include "Boot Scootin' Boogie").

Other never-seen-by-me episodes include the ones guest-starring Cheryl Ladd, who is my third favorite Charlie's Angel, and Elke Sommer, whom I know nothing about. I think she's an actress, unless "Elke" is a man's name, in which case she's probably not an actress.

Maybe one of these episodes will have the funniest Veterinarian's Hosptial sketch ever. Maybe one of them will feature a musical number that will become my new favorite Muppet song. Maybe some of the non-comedian guest stars will surprise and delight me with their ability to share the stage with Muppets. I won't know until I watch the DVDs. Still, I can be certain of one thing: I will like these episodes of The Muppet Show.

I don't have to tell you that these are uncertain times we live in. Prices are up on every single thing that costs money, the airline industry and the housing market are both in dire straits, and nobody knows just what is wrong with Paula Abdul.

So it's incredibly comforting to know that I can purchase season three of The Muppet Show secure in the knowledge that it will be a good investment. I have no idea what gas prices will be tomorrow, but I know that The Muppet Show will make me chuckle and snicker and guffaw and sing along. When I get my DVDs home today, I can forget about plagues, famine and pestilence for a while and just get a kick out of Fozzie's bumbling attempts to write the script for the Harry Belafonte episode.

In these trying times, the Muppets are a sure thing. I, for one, plan on voting for these new DVDs for president in 2008, and I invite you all to do the same. Frog bless America.

Click here to discuss the season 3 DVDs on the Tough Pigs forum!

Labels: DVD, merchandise, The Muppet Show

Special thanks to ToughPigs' own Michal for providing the magazine!

Click here to discuss how creepy "Inside Ed Asner" is as a headline on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: comics/magazines, The Muppet Show

Every day I receive Google news alerts for the word "Muppet," informing me of when and where that delightful word has come up on the web. It seems like at least once a week a result comes up that's somebody posting a video clip of "Mahna Mahna" in their blog or on their website. I've been getting these alerts for over a year now, and "Mahna Mahna" still shows up on a regular basis. It seems like it’s been passed around the internet more than any other clip that doesn’t involve breath mints and cola or rock stars on exercise machines. Often it's accompanied by enthusiastic comments like "I love this one!" or "this is my favorite muppets song!!!!!!!11"

Why is this the single most beloved and best remembered musical number from the show? There were hundreds of musical moments over the 120 episodes of the series, and yet the representative one is a bit from the very first episode that stars none of the regular characters. Why? Is it because the arrangement of the song is infectiously catchy? Is it because the design of the puppets is pleasing to the eye? Is it the brilliant performance by Jim Henson as Mahna Mahna?

I believe it goes deeper than all of these. Clearly, when we watch "Mahna Mahna," we're seeing a reflection of ourselves that causes a spark of recognition to flare up inside us, and it’s this spark that draws us – internet users from all walks of life – to revisit this clip over and over again.

Perhaps there are those who, on some level, see themselves as the Snowths, the pink cow/pig creatures who sing the "doo-dooo doo doo-doo" part. These people crave order and reason; to them, the Snowths represent the Apollonian ideal of self-control. The Snowths have clearly spent copious amounts of time carefully rehearsing for this performance, and they are determined to get it right. You can see it in their reaction to Mahna Mahna: They are completely unamused when he starts ad-libbing, threatening to derail the whole number with his random shenanigans. Those who view the clip and respond positively to the Snowths have the same desire for things to go precisely as planned; additionally, they may have horns.

On the other hand, there are those in the audience who (consciously or not) identify with Mahna Mahna. Mahna Mahna is the shaggy humanoid character who sings the “mahna mahna” parts of the song, and he is a true free spirit. He has an insatiable urge to express his individualism, and he’s going to do it even if it the results are too chaotic for the Snowths to handle. He’s the nonconformist, the iconoclast, the scruffy, unwashed hippie, representing the Dionysian philosophy of following one’s natural instincts. It’s highly likely that he never even looked at the sheet music before showing up for the show that day, instead relying on improvised scatting to make his way through the song. He believes rehearsal would only serve to destroy the energy in his spontaneous performance, a belief echoed in the hearts and minds of those who view the clip in silent admiration of him.

And yet, in the Muppet Show musical number “Mahna Mahna,” neither of the two differing viewpoints is presented as superior to the other. Can you imagine what it would be like if the song consisted of the Snowths alone on the stage, singing “Doo-dooo doo doo-doo” without any kind of counterpoint? Unbelievably boring is what it would be like, despite their any attempts at arm-swinging choreography. But if it were a solo by Mahna Mahna, it wouldn’t be any better. It would just be some fellow repeatedly stating his name and mumbling nonsense syllables, and without the presence of the Snowths as “straight men” it simply would not be funny.

The message, then, is that both lifestyle choices are valid. Some people may be Mahna Mahnas and other people may be Snowths, but that doesn’t mean they can’t produce a heck of a catchy song when they get together. It’s quite obvious to me that this is the true reason for the enduring popularity of this Muppet Show segment, and any other simplistic interpretation (e.g. “It’s funny!”) is unquestionably wrong.

So keep circulating that clip, citizens of the internet! Blog it all over the world! Continue spreading the archetypal message of tolerance and cooperation! And perhaps one day we will finally divine the answer to the only question still remaining: Are those supposed to be sunglasses or his eyeballs?

Click here to discuss the Mahna Mahna phenomenon on the Tough Pigs forum!

ToughPigsRyan@yahoo.com

Labels: internet, The Muppet Show

There's been a lot going on in the news over the last few weeks, and unfortunately our news writers are all on strike. So here's a brief catch-up on the highlights:

The Muppet Show: Season 3 has been announced for a May 20, 2008 release. All 24 episodes are there, and they'll hopefully be edit-free. Fozzie's extreme closeup made the cover, and the special features include the new documentary, "The Making of the Muppets" and the old documentary, "Muppets on Puppets."

Fraggle Rock: Season 4, also known as Seasons 4 and 5 (HBO split the final production season into two broadcast seasons) will be out on DVD this fall. Not much more information than that has been added, but we're all that much closer to owning all documented footage of Fraggle spelunking.

And most recently, the Jim Henson Company has announced that they will be making the entire series of Fraggle Rock and Farscape available on iTunes. Episodes will cost $1.99 each, and the first seasons of each are already online.

So there you have it, lots of old Muppety stuff to watch and to watch out for.

Take a peek at the ToughPigs forum to discuss the above newsbits!

Labels: DVD, Fraggle Rock, Jim Henson Company, The Muppet Show

The second season of The Muppet Show has now officially been out on the market for about two weeks. And if you're a decent sort of Muppet fan, you'll have already watched it several times, nitpicked it to death, and cried over all of the scenes with Miss Mousey.

But if you haven't watched the second season yet, you are in luck. I have gone through the trouble of picking out the very best scenes from every episode and prepared them in an easy-to-read format for your enjoyment.

So without further ado-doo-do-do-doo, here are 24 spectacular scenes and riveting reasons to watch The Muppet Show: Season Two.

Episode 1 - Don Knotts

The many faces of Don Knotts!

Episode 2 - Zero Mostel

There is nothing in the world more satisfying than Zero Mostel trying to murder Sam the Eagle with a hammer. Except maybe when he points his gun at Sam, then points it into his own mouth when Sam turns around, while Sam hardly flinches.

Episode 3 - Milton Berle

MAKEUP!

Episode 4 - Rich Little

It's comforting to know that world-famous impersonator Rich Little crashes and burns when he attempts to do the voices of Fozzie, Kermit and Piggy.

It's more comforting to know that Mark Hamill can do a better job at it.

Episode 5 - Judy Collins

Judy Collins' strung-out performance. Note her muffled bewilderment at Crazy Harry's explosion and the sincerity with which she sings a ballad in front of three incredibly creepy clowns.

Episode 6 - Nancy Walker

The biting honesty when Nancy Walker admits to Fozzie that the show is a flop, right after picking up his spirits with a jaunty song. It's like I'm watching an episode of "Rhoda"!

Episode 7 - Edgar Bergen

Charlie McCarthy does nothing but insult the Muppets in any way he can muster, only to be asked to join their motley clan. And how does he thank them? More insults! Thanks, you wooden jackass.

Episode 8 - Steve Martin

Richard Hunt's laugh. Go ahead, try not to think about it. You can't.

Episode 9 - Madeline Kahn

Because Madeline Kahn was once the sexiest, most talented women in entertainment.

Episode 10 - George Burns

Didn't want to dooo ittt...

Episode 11 - Dom DeLuise

Because where else will you find a sci-fi Dom DeLuise playing whack-a-mole with Merdlidops? Other than that one episode of "Studio 60", I mean.

Episode 12 - Bernadette Peters

Because all you really need is for Gloat, Miss Mousey, and Droop to believe in you.

Episode 13 - Rudolph Nureyev

Because Sam the Eagle spends a half hour convincing the Muppets to wear tuxedos, only to feel insulted when Rudolph Nureyev wears one.

Episode 14 - Elton John

Two words: shag carpet.

Episode 15 - Lou Rawls

Because no other show has a blurry Lou Rawls as a guest star.

Episode 16 - Cleo Laine

Because you can pinpoint the exact moment when Cleo Laine's career ended. Here's a two-word hint: Bruce Schwartz.

*EDITED to say that according to ToughPigs contributor David, despite Bruce Schwartz's best efforts, Cleo Laine's career apparently is alive and well. You can read all about it here.

Episode 17 - Julie Andrews

Because Julie Andrews owns a cow.

Episode 18 - Jaye P. Morgan

Because at one point, Jaye P. Morgan's head gets caught on fire.
And then she imitates Dr. Teeth's mouth-open-and-head-nodding-thing-that-Muppets-do-after-a-song-thing.

Episode 19 - Peter Sellers

Because it's the only Muppet Show episode that can possibly get away with a Nazi-esque character.

Episode 20 - Petula Clark

Shameless promotion.

Episode 21 - Bob Hope

Because I been through the desert on a horse with no knees...

Episode 22 - Teresa Brewer

Because Teresa Brewer is a fatty fatty boom batty. Lookit all those treats!

Episode 23 - John Cleese

Because the pirate sketch is the best non-Monty Python sketch ever performed by 1/6 of the troupe.

Episode 24 - Cloris Leachman

Because Cloris Leachman gets booed in the first 15 seconds of the show. By a bunch of vegetables.

And there you have it, folks. 24 episodes, 24 great reasons to buy season 2 on DVD. And if that ain't enough, maybe you should try the H.R. Pufinstuf fan site.

Click here to discuss awkward guest stars and animated gifs on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: DVD, fanaticism, lists, The Muppet Show

Hey, remember when the Muppets used to make funny things? Cast your mind back. I have fond memories of those days, and I've been missing them terribly.

So here's an example. Gonzo and Rizzo are asked by an interviewer, "What is friendship?" And Gonzo says, "Well, if you look at, you know, from his point of view -- or, actually, cause you're asking from my point of view... Okay, well, from my point of view, I look at it, see, what I do is I look it through his point of view."

He goes on. "And when I'm looking through Rizzo's eyes at me, feeling things about him, to describe our friendship... then, what I'll do is, I'll get some therapy, and, uh..."

"Wait a second, wait a second," Rizzo interrupts.

Gonzo says, "Wait, what was the question?"

"This is a very complicated answer," Rizzo shrugs.

Gonzo explains that he's been in therapy for fifteen years. The interviewer asks, "Ever thought of changing your therapist?"

"I don't have a therapist," Gonzo says. "I do it myself."

"Self-therapy," Rizzo adds.

"Yeah," Gonzo nods. "It's cheaper that way."

And there you go, it's as easy as that. Point a camera at a couple of Muppets, and that's what they do; they act funny. Now that you think of it, it's amazing that they haven't tried it before.

This exchange, by the way -- I should explain where this exchange comes from -- it's from the new Muppet Show: Season Two DVD set, which is coming out next week. There's a bonus feature called "The Muppets on Muppets", which is twelve minutes of this kind of stuff.

Miss Piggy claims that she has a vacation house in Maine where she hosts elaborate parties. Fozzie asks Kermit why he gets so upset when he talks about Piggy. Pepe says that he has three secrets for success, which he calls Pepe's three secrets for success, okay, and he can't tell you the first one, because it's a secret. Animal, straining at the end of his chain, admits that he likes bunny rabbits.

It's just good stuff, good ol' fashioned Muppets being amusing type stuff. It feels like it's improvised -- but it might just be the kind of writing and performing that makes you think it's improvised. The performers slip right into these characters with a natural, easy charm, as if it hasn't been two years since their last movie.

Oh, and there's also some Muppet Show episodes on this set, a whole season's worth, and it's a great season, too. John Cleese is forced to sing "To Dream the Impossible Dream", Rudolf Nureyev performs "Swine Lake" with a giant pig ballerina, Miss Piggy hires Scooter to bribe the audience, Bernadette Peters sings "Just One Person" to cheer up Robin the Frog.

They're comfortable enough with the show at this point to start playing with the format, so they hold auditions for new acts in the Steve Martin episode, and the pigs take over the show in the Cloris Leachman episode. "Pigs in Space" is introduced, Beaker joins Bunsen Honeydew in the Muppet Labs skits, and the whole show just comes together in surprising and remarkable new ways. If you haven't seen these episodes in a long time -- this is where your fond memories of the show begin.

The episodes are uncut, which is unbelievably great, and they look gorgeous and clear. And The Muppet Valentine Show is on it, and the Weezer video. I even like the packaging; they didn't use the tired old ugly poser photos that have been ruining my day since 1999. I honestly can't say a bad thing about this set, and anybody who can is just being persnickety for the sake of it.

Remember when the Muppets were funny? They're being funny right now on my TV -- old funny stuff and new funny stuff, just like we've been waiting for. I love it. Make more of everything.

Labels: DVD, review, The Muppet Show

With just over 2 weeks until the second season of The Muppet Show finally graces us with its presence, all of our internal timers have begun their ultimate countdowns here at ToughPigs.com. There has been a couple of early reviews popping up around the interweb and the news sounds good. But we would like to know what you're most excited about.

Is it The Muppet Valentine Show? Or how about the fact that Disney managed to get all of the episodes out without any unnecessary edits? I'm guessing it's the new Muppets on Puppets featurette. Yeah, definitely that. Or the ever-elusive Teresa Brewer episode. Yep, one of those two. Oh wait, I know, I know. You're a Weezer fanatic, so you're excited about their "Keep Fishin'" music video. Oh, what college has done to you!

Then again, you've been thinking about these titillating extras for months now. Perhaps you're more concerned about the features that didn't make it onto the new DVDs. What could those features be?

There's a very good chance you're missing the [sic] and twisted Muppet Morsels. Or maybe you had your hopes up for some straight-up commentary. Better yet, some interviews with the Muppeteers and writing staff. Or perhaps you're feeling jilted at the prospect of the Weezer music video without the accompanying making-of documentary that aired on MTV2. As for me, I'm quite upset at the gaping hole that is the Kermit-Gonzo-Animal Skateboarding picture. No Muppet production is complete without it. Or maybe you're upset that the Steve Martin episode has been completely cut. Just kidding.

So be a dear and head on over to the ToughPigs forum where you can cast your vote for stuff that doesn't exist and for stuff that will exist on August 7.

Click here and here to take the poll and the other poll on the ToughPigs forum!

Labels: fanaticism, poll, reader participation, The Muppet Show

Look at your Muppet Show: Season One DVDs. I bet they're pretty lonely sitting there on the shelf with no other Muppet Show DVDs to pal around with, forced to make awkward small talk with your Munsters and Murphy Brown discs.

Well, now they're in luck, and so are you, and so am I, because it's been reported on numerous websites that The Muppet Show: Season Two will be available on DVD on August 7, with 24 episodes on four discs. Bonus features will include a featurette called "The Muppets on the Muppets," a feature on the Muppet-centric Weezer music video for "Keep Fishin'," and The Muppet Valentine special. Now fans of Don Knotts, Rivers Cuomo, and Mia Farrow all have reason to celebrate!

Season two is where we first meet Beaker, and the Pigs in Space crew, and of course it's packed with hilarity and music and comedy and probably some chickens, so it's great that this is finally being released, two years after the release of season one. In fact, this announcement has me so excited, I'm going to go watch the entire season one set again to prepare.

Discuss the season two discs on the Tough Pigs forum!

Labels: DVD, The Muppet Show