Original air date: March 13, 1980
The Muppet Show is a wacky comedy show, full of oddball characters. It’s always fun to see a relatively normal guest star do their thing while surrounded by Muppet insanity. It’s also fun to see a guest star with a flair for silliness play along with the Muppets and participating in the chaos.
But what happens when The Muppet Show features a guest star whose whole thing is being wacky, oddball, insane, and silly? Jonathan Winters was a comedian whose standup work and appearances on variety and talk shows was funny because he seemed to be from another planet. He’d jump from one character to another, doing accents and sound effects and who-knows-what. He was a major influence on Robin Williams (and he played Williams’s son on Mork and Mindy!).
The Muppet Show had featured zany guest stars before, and the writers had done a great job of incorporating them into the show. In the Steve Martin episode, that meant “cancelling” the show and letting Steve Martin do his stand-up act as an “audition” for Kermit. In the Peter Sellers episode, that meant letting the Muppets take a step back and allowing Sellers to be the weirdest part of every scene he was in. And in the Spike Milligan episode, that meant doing an especially chaotic show so the guest star’s craziness fit the tone.
I think they were trying to do something similar to that last one when they made the Jonathan Winters episode. And it almost works. There’s a storyline involving a “gypsy” who has put a curse on the show. These days, we know not to use the word “gypsy” to refer to Romani people, and we know that it’s not great to perpetuate stereotypes about them. Back in 1980, the world was not as enlightened.
So this lady has cursed the show, which causes everything to go wrong. A performance of the song “Hold That Tiger” ends abruptly when the tiger is liberated by a gun-toting lion. A meteor crashes backstage. Muppet Labs’ demonstration of a new luggage compressor machine goes awry, resulting in Beaker getting flattened.
Yep, all these things go wrong. But so what? These kinds of things happen on The Muppet Show every single week! If these mishaps hadn’t been presented as the effects of a curse, we wouldn’t think twice about them.
And even though Jonathan Winters is wacky and this episode tries to be wacky, Winters doesn’t really do much. He does take the stage to do his act where he puts on different hats and becomes a new character with each one, but it doesn’t really go anywhere. It’s probably the kind of act that needs the laughter of a live audience to fuel it, and although I’m sure the cast and crew were chuckling, the laugh track just doesn’t have the same energy.
Beyond that, Winters’s appearances are all brief moments backstage, including two extremely short gags in his dressing room, and these are my favorite parts of the episode. In one, a shark wanders in looking for Jacques Cousteau. In the other, an alien enters and introduces himself as Jonathan Winters. They feel like they might have been improvised, and they’re so short and surprising that they don’t have a chance to wear out their welcome.
They should have done more stuff like this, with Winters just riffing with the Muppets. Why didn’t he play a character in a sketch? Like, Jonathan Winters as a psychiatrist and Muppets come to him with their problems. Or Jonathan Winters at a movie studio, pitching movies to a Muppet executive. Or something better than both of those because the Muppet Show writers were full of great ideas.
Eventually, the stakes are raised when the final phase of the curse causes everyone to turn Swedish. This is a welcome development because we get to hear all the characters talk like the Swedish Chef – including three different Jim Henson characters! (For the record, that would be Kermit, the Newsman, and Waldorf.) We also find out that Statler and Waldorf hired the lady to put the curse on the show. Those rascals. They’re always complaining that the show is bad, and they paid money to make it worse?!
Anyway, next week the guest star will be an Academy Award-nominated actor. That’s promising. That means the Muppets can leave all this absurd chaos behind for a completely new round of absurd chaos.
Best Joke:
Newsman: “Not everyone on the show is turning Swedish! I for one have remained my normal self. ”
Gypsy Lady: “There is one type person unaffected by the curse.”
Newsman: “I am that type.”
Gypsy Lady: “The boring and stupid type person!”
Newsman: “Well, actually, I am starting to feel Swedish… Smorgasbord! Stockholm! Ingmar Bergman! Meatball!”
MVM (Most Valuable Muppet): Fozzie is reliably frantic as things are falling apart. Speaking of which…
Most Classic Moment: This episode has my second-favorite “Bear on Patrol” sketch, with Fozzie struggling to subdue an eight-armed crook before Link tells him to go investigate a new case of a missing octopus.
Most Dated Joke: The “gypsy” schtick, obviously. Also, Winters’s hat act includes a stereotypical Indian chief who does a ceremonial dance. And Jacques Cousteau is not as universally known today as he was in 1980, although I can’t think of a current “famous oceanographer” who could be inserted into the joke today.
Coolest Puppetry Effect: A caterpillar sings “You’ll Never Walk Alone” while walking in a rainstorm, and all ten of his legs move in sync with each other.
Musical Highlight: That caterpillar song is a charming number.
Missed Opportunity: Seriously, why doesn’t Jonathan Winters play a character in a sketch? It would have been fun to see his salty old lady character Maude Frickert sparring with Statler and Waldorf.
Obscure Character Watch: The three full-body trolls who do the final dance number weren’t seen frequently on the show, and have rarely been seen since.
One More Thing…: One of the acts booked for this episode is “Patty Saverne and Her Trained Chair.” I love this show.
Okay, One More Thing…: Miss Piggy’s not in this episode. She’s not in every episode, but it’s notable that the producers didn’t feel like they had to spotlight their breakout character every week.
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by Ryan Roe – Ryan@ToughPigs.com
