Original air date: December 14, 1978
There are certain celebrities who just stick with you over the years. They bring you fond memories of youth; nostalgic flashes of times you thought you’d long forgotten.
In this series of reviewing every episode of The Muppet Show, I’ve aimed to choose episodes I don’t remember all that well – guest stars I’m not super familiar with. I like finding surprises (or, in terms of the Teresa Brewer episode, disappointments) in episodes I can’t quite recall. This time, however, I made an exception and chose a favorite.
Gilda Radner has been an important figure to me since I was a teenager. At fourteen I was discovering my brand of comedy, so of course Gilda would appeal to the weird, lil theatre kid that I was. I had a fervent love of the original cast of Saturday Night Live, but Gilda was the cherry on top. What’s more, and most of all, Gilda Radner relentlessly reminds me of my mother, even to this day. My mother passed away when I was thirteen, and a year later I discovered this funny woman who not only looked a lot like her, but who also had a similar sense of humor to my mom.
Gilda Radner has been a person I’ve looked up to for half my lifetime, so of course I adore her episode of The Muppet Show. It’s not a perfect episode, but damn if it’s not wonderful.
First and foremost, I just want to say that Gilda is perfect for this show. After all, she had such deep roots in sketch comedy – not only with SNL, but Second City and National Lampoon Radio Hour as well. Radner’s experience in being a regular cast member on a variety show – wherein she created characters, did sketches, sang, and danced – is so evident in her Muppet Show episode. She feels right at home jumping from joke to song to sketch; an absolute natural.
As a whole, Gilda’s Muppet Show episode works, but it does feel almost like there’s a Part A and a Part B, making the episode feel like it’s two different episodes entirely.
I
n the first half of the episode, we get the much-beloved “Carrots of Penzance” sketch – with Gilda finding out backstage that her request for a seven foot-tall parrot was wildly misinterpreted. She and the Seven Foot-Tall Talking Carrot perform a medley of songs from The Pirates of Penzance, at first making fun of each other for not making it through the “Major General” song but in the end coming together to sing the song in tandem.
(One also has to wonder what ever happened to the Seven Foot-Tall Talking Carrot puppet? Surely it could’ve been used again, either in another defined role or even as a background character from time to time. Who knows, maybe he’ll pop up in a future Muppet production!)
Then three completely unrelated sketches take place, which Gilda Radner is not present for (Muppet Melodrama, “Witch Doctor”, and “Bird on Nellie’s Hat”) – all fun bits that have nothing to do with the overarching plot of the episode.
Then we go back to Radner in Muppet Labs, where Bunsen Honeydew plans to use her as his “guinea pig” by super gluing a piece of rope to her forehead so he can lift her off the floor. Then by accident, Radner sprays the bottle of super glue everywhere, thus starting the progression of everyone getting stuck to … well, everything. Beaker gets stuck to his chest exercise coil. Zoot gets stuck to his sax. The Newsman gets stuck to his chair. Gilda gets stuck to the set. Chaos ensues! Everyone is still stuck together when the episode ends and they all attempt to bow as one! Hilarious!
Both facets of this episode – “Carrots of Penzance” and the super glue gag – are extremely successful. I just wish the super glue gag had been introduced earlier in the episode? Muppet Labs introduces the gag at about the 16 minute mark of the episode. I don’t think “Carrots of Penzance” needed to be incorporated with the gag (it’s too good as is), but I guess I would’ve liked to see Muppet Labs happen after that first sketch so that we could see mayhem ensue for longer throughout the episode? Who knows, maybe in doing it that long the gag would’ve fallen flat on its face, but we really only get to see the results of Muppet Labs in a short sketch with Zoot and Rowlf, Muppet Newsflash, Radner’s final number, and some backstage segments. The lack of the glue gag in the beginning makes the episode feel a bit disjointed – though still enjoyable – overall.
Gilda shines in her final number, which is “Tap Your Troubles Away.” She tap dances through it (for the first half with only one shoe on), progressively getting stuck to more of the set. Whereas “Carrots of Penzance” so much of the humor comes from her facial expressions and rapport with the Carrot (props to Peter Friedman’s performance), “Tap Your Troubles Away” depends on
physical comedy, which Radner aces.
We also see, in the intro of the episode, Radner doing one of her SNL characters, Emily Litella, who gets confused about why she’s been asked to do “The Muffin Show”. (My favorite line in the entire episode may very well be, “What kind of a show is it about muffins? Why, the next thing you know, they’ll have me do a show with rye bread, or little, tiny lovely biscuits!”) I assume this sketch might confuse people not familiar with the character, but for me personally I found it utterly delightful. It shows that Gilda, again, understands the art of the variety show and sketch comedy; she has, after all, done this before. It makes me wonder why she didn’t trout out Rosanna Rosanna Danna, Lisa Loopner, or Judy Miller, but maybe that was a good thing. Starting out with Emily Litella, Radner gets to flex her sketch comedy chops, thus allowing her to just be herself for the rest of the episode.
All the other sketches in the episode are wonderful, as per usual. “Bird on Nellie’s Hat” is a fun vaudevillian-esque number, “Body and Soul” is quick but has a humorous payoff, Muppet Melodrama has a lot of off-the-cuff Piggy improvising (gotta love when Frank does that), and “Witch Doctor” is kooky and weird. I especially got a kick out of “Lullaby of Broadway” on this rewatch. That sketch in particular shows the ingenuity of The Muppet Show. To take such a classic showtune and put it in such a bizarre setting (ie. the Arctic full of pigs and other animals) and somehow make it work is simply magic.
MVM (Most Valuable Muppet): No Muppet really pulls focus this episode, so I have to give this one to Miss Piggy. She has two sketches, one of which (“Bird on Nellie’s Hat”) is pretty entertaining, and the other (“Muppet Melodrama”) 
she has a hilarious reaction to Wayne and Deadly dancing near her fingers. Plus she has some great moments backstage with Kermit – first her utter joy that Kermit is “stuck on her” and then her sudden bewilderment to being glued to him. Frank Oz always shines when he improvises with his characters, and he gets in a few great moments with Piggy in this episode.
Best Joke: I mean, just the overall joke of everyone getting glued to each other and the entire set is pretty brilliant. Again, I wish the gag had been introduced / foreshadowed earlier in the episode, but still it’s completely successful.
Worst Joke: “Why did they want the igloo?” “Well, maybe someone broke their ig.”
Most Dated Joke: Something about Wayne recognizing Uncle Deadly as a Flamenco dancer from Kansas City seems a bit dated. Still funny, but I’m not sure it’s a joke we’d hear these days.
Most Classic Moment: “Carrots of Penzance”, obviously.
Should-Be Classic Moment: I completely forgot about “The Bird’s On Nellie’s Hat” since my last watch of this episode, and I was pretty charmed by it this time.
Obscure Character Watch: The Seven-Foot Tall Talking Carrot. He’s hard to miss in this episode. *ba dum psst*
First Appearance Of: The Walrus puppet in “The Lullaby of Broadway” sketch, who’d go on to appear in five more TMS episodes in seasons 4 and 5.
Musical Highlight: “Tap Your Troubles Away” has me hook, line, and sinker.
One More Thing: Near the end of his rumpus performance of “Witch Doctor”, you can see Marvin Sugg’s mustache fly off before the Witch Doctor appears and turns his head into a Muppaphone.
Okay, One More Thing: This is pretty well known, but Jim Henson’s been quoted in response to the “carrot/parrot” mix-up joke in this episode: “It’s a perfectly terrible joke, but it’s worthy of us.”
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by Julia Gaskill
