Welcome to Kermit the Week! Celebrating Kermit the Frog’s 60th birthday with a week’s worth of articles celebrating the life and career of the world’s most famous frog!
There are so, so, so many amazing, unforgettable moments from Kermit the Frog’s 60-year history. From his early pre-frog days to the recent Muppets Most Wanted, Kermit has not only been in the forefront of just about everything in the Muppets’ filmography, but almost always as the highlight.
So in honor of Kermit’s 60th birthday, we’re spotlighting 60 of our favorite Kermit the Frog moments.
Disclaimer: With the thousands of Kermit moments out there, we’re bound to miss a few of your favorites. So feel free to let us know what we missed, but be cool if we can’t match your own personal greatest hits.
So without further ado, in almost no particular order, the first half of our top 60 Kermit the Frog moments!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QwOweov1OA
60. I’ve Grown Accustomed to Your Face
An oldie but a goodie! Kermit is (obviously) not quite the Kermit we all know and love yet. He’s missing his collar, he doesn’t yet have flippered feet, and oh yeah, he’s a girl. Hey, we all have to start somewhere!
59. Kermit Insults Piggy’s Heritage
Kermit is rarely on the offensive, which makes sense for someone who’s constantly dodging karate chops. What starts out as a sad plea for understanding very quickly escalates to Kermit forcing Piggy to take a closer look at her own roots. Of course, that doesn’t save him from getting a solid wallop across the stage.
58. Pig Calypso
Kermit only comes at the end of this song from The Muppet Show, but boy, does he get the last laugh. Sure, it’s the classic “Piggy loves Kermit, Kermit doesn’t love Piggy, Kermit incurs bodily harm” bit , but it works so well here. I love the way Kermit has a well-rehearsed retort just ready to go. I should carry out all my insults in musical form.
57. Kermit the Coachman
Kermit’s character in Hey Cinderella is one he never really played again. He’s firmly the comedy sidekick – hanging around, cracking snarky jokes, and generally making a nuisance of himself. It’s a hilarious character, and Kermit invests himself in the role. His best scene is when he’s sitting on the front of the coach pulls on the reins, trying to control an off-screen Splurge.
56. Ukulele Lady
This is one of many, many sweet songs Kermit sings over the course of The Muppet Show. Add in Piggy and Scooter and some unnamed backup singer, the gentle strums of a ukulele, and a warm Hawaiian backdrop, and you’ve got a Muppet classic.
55. Once in a Lifetime
Kermit takes on this Talking Heads classic in an episode of Muppets Tonight, bringing his frogginess to the already-bizarre hit. Also, he looks great in an oversized suit.
54. Ocean Breeze Soap Will Get You Clean
Kermit proves that he’s a capable, smart leader even when he loses his memory in Muppets Take Manhattan. Not only does he stumble into a new non-showbiz career, but he does so with just one line of dialog: “Ocean Breeze Soap will get you clean”. Short and simple, just like Kermit.
53. Muppet Labs: Teleporter
A bit of setup: throughout the show, various cast members have been disappearing in the middle of conversations. Here, it’s finally revealed that they were accidentally test subjects for Muppet Labs’ new teleporter, and Kermit is not happy about that. It’s a great combination of Muppet Labs with a Kermit freakout, with a great punchline to boot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGUTTgLT51A
52. Lipton Commercial
Kermit shows off his coolness under pressure in a world filled with Animals in this recent Lipton commercial. More importantly, he inspired an entire internet meme. But that’s none of my business.
51. I Love My Elbows
Can you imagine how boring a song about elbows should be? Probably not, because Kermit can make anything sound interesting. Even our bodies’ most ignored joints.
50. “The heck you say!”
When Fozzie tells Kermit that his new comedy partner is a snowman in Muppet Family Christmas, Kermit responds with this gem of a line. It’s the perfect example of how Kermit takes everything in stride, rolling with the punches even when nothing makes sense. He shrugs his shoulders and asks for confirmation in the most charming way possible.
49. Sweet Vacation
Kermit leads the rest of his Jim Henson Hour crew in one of the best moments from the entire short-lived series. Thanks to Fraggle Rock songwriters Balsam and Lee, we have an anthem for our wanderlust and Kermit in a Hawaiian shirt. So, everything you could ever ask for.
48. Dancin’ in the Dark
Kermit and Piggy channel their inner Bruce Springsteen and Courtney Cox in this spoof of The Boss’ hit. Sure, it’s pretty much just another “Piggy is SO fat” joke, but it’s interspersed with a great cover and some hilarious visuals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmSHdMoKvNg
47. Kermit and Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show
With all due respect to the Muppet writers, sometimes the funniest moments come from off-the-cuff improv. Kermit beautifully fields an awkward question like “how’s your love life” with a snappy comeback. (Remember folks, this was before a certain porcine diva laid eyes on Kermit, and from then on, the frog had something to work off of.)
46. Muppet Glee Club: Temptation
This may be my favorite Muppet sketch that focuses squarely on Kermit’s back. Which is appropriate for him, since he’s usually the character who’s trying to control the crazies who are taking center stage. Oh, and there’s also a lust-filled pig making her first-ever real advance toward our fearless froggy leader.
45. Frogs
In The Frog Prince, Kermit’s first foray into froghood (though history tells us that he became a frog a few years earlier), he really goes all in (“knee deep”, as it were) to celebrate his newfound species. He does this through a fantastic little song that makes me wish I was nearly as proud to be a human as he is a frog.
44. I Won’t Dance
One of Kermit and Piggy’s few musical duets, and one of their best moments together. The song is from 1935, but it could just as well have been written for the Muppets, because it captures the Kermit/Piggy dynamic perfectly – she really wants him to dance with her, and he really has no interest in that at all.
43. Lime in the Coconut
Kermit gets himself hurt pretty badly in this episode of The Muppet Show, but the very best cure for him (and for us) is this bizarre tune that transforms a hospital room into a jungle, all while Kermit sings about some sort of potent and possibly poisonous fruit drink.
42. Kermit Flirts with Cher
As we recently covered here on ToughPigs, Kermit’s appearance on The Cher Show is fantastic. But the highlight is when the unlikely duo shamelessly flight with each other, as if they didn’t even know the cameras were rolling. Where else would you hear Kermit ask a pretty woman if she “fools around”?
41. I Hope That Something Better Comes Along
We’ve seen Kermit in love, and we’ve seen him rebel against love, but we so rarely see him lovelorn. Luckily, we sings a catchy song with his drinking buddy Rowlf the Dog in The Muppet Movie all about it, and it’s a highlight in a film already chock full of highlights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TZRB6dLIdG8
40. Kermit and Piggy Fight in The Great Muppet Caper
The essence of Kermit and Piggy’s relationship, boiled down to a single scene. When I try to sum up how Kermit feels about Miss Piggy, the only words I can think of to describe it are “I know all about your career, pig!”
39. “What the hell was that about?”
The original pitch reel for The Muppet Show ends with the Muppets’ most recognizable character, Kermit the Frog, pointing out the ridiculousness of their entire endeavor. With one brief line of dialog, Kermit not only shocks the viewer by his appearance (remember, he’s best known for Sesame Street at this point), but by uttering a naughty word, solidifying the intended audience for this upcoming production.
38. Caribbean Amphibian
Okay, it’s just a great song. No hidden meanings, no secret history. Just Kermit on the beach. Heck yeah.
37. One More Sleep ‘Til Christmas
In the early 90’s, people had a lot of doubts as to whether or not Kermit and the Muppets at large would survive without Jim Henson. To me, this is the moment I knew that the frog was in good hands with Steve Whitmire. There’s just something about the pure joy and love in this song that is just purely Kermit. It’s one thing to get the voice and mannerisms down when taking over a character. It’s another to get the heart and soul. And to me, Whitmire is a very worthy successor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEfELVFsrHw
36. Pictures in My Head
For whatever reason, “Pictures in My Head” is such a great number from The Muppets. There’s something so sweetly nostalgic about it. This is just a theory, but maybe it’s because of all the nostalgia in the song.
35. Oklahoma
Kermit gets to play showrunner away from The Muppet Show in this Sesame Street sketch, which is also home to one of the all-time great Kermit freakouts. To be fair, Forgetful Jones had it coming.
34. “Lagies and Genglefenz”
Kermit and Fozzie are probably my favorite Muppet duo, and bits like this one from the Harry Belafonte episode of The Muppet Show are exactly the reason why. Kermit doesn’t really get mad at Fozzie very often (with exceptions like the also-amazing “Good Grief, the Comedian’s a Bear”, coming later in this list). Mostly he’s just mildly annoyed, as he is here. Somehow that’s just as funny. I don’t know of any other dynamic quite like it.
33. Inchworm
In another pre-frog Kermit appearance, he satisfies his hunger by snacking on some worms, only to find himself the snack himself. It’s a classic Muppet-sketch-ends-with-someone-getting-eaten sketch, in quite possibly the purest form.
32. If I Were
A plaintive love song in which Kermit lists all of the things he’d give you if he had them. All of Kermit’s most famous songs (you know the ones) are thoughtful and contemplative, and this lesser-known song fits right in with that lineup. A lovely song that deserves a bigger audience.
31. We’re Doing a Sequel
Kermit headlines the first scene in the recent Muppets Most Wanted film, both delivering some hilarious lines and getting us prepped and primed for a fantastic movie.
And what a great place to take a short break! Head on back here shortly for the next 30 of our favorite Kermit the Frog moments! What do you think will make the list??
Click here to eat and be eaten on the ToughPigs forum!
by Joe Hennes, Julia Gaskill, Matthew Soberman, and Anthony Strand
