Muppeturgy: A "The Muppet Show" Rewatch Podcast

Did this episode make us love it? It all depends on your feelings for old jokes and even older guest stars. Everyone loves OUR guest star, Anthony Strand, who joins us while George Burns to discuss runaway trains, conniving little twinks, the short but powerful life of Fleet Scribbler, and how many teats Miss Piggy might show on Page Three. https://muppeturgy.com/episodes/george-burns

This episode may seem pedestrian, but it’s really quite a happy feat, with the great Madeline Kahn jumping in to a sweet and sad backstage plot with Gonzo, some questionable but fun toe-tapping with the Mutations, and a role in a classic Muppet variety show sketch. Plus one of Kermit’s most iconic numbers, some space feminism, and…gun-toting lobsters? We’re on a roll! https://muppeturgy.com/madeli...

We weren’t wild and crazy about this episode, or about Kermit’s baffling inability to properly schedule what is presumably a weekly show, but we were intrigued by the experimental format that had us feeling the ribbit of the night from some rats straight out of the Moulin Rouge, along with Mary Louise (and friend), various forms of performing food, and old friends Marvin Suggs and Baskerville. Sta...

Read our lips: We consider ourselves to be fans of this episode! We’d be dummies not to enjoy something that gives us labor organizing, two chicken numbers, some extremely 70s styling, Fozzie at his most vulnerable, and even cameos from Uncle Deadly and Droop! https://muppeturgy.com/episodes/edgar-bergen

Here’s our Nancy Walker episode, I guess. This one isn’t exactly a bounty, but it does have Sweetums dancing, some decent puns, Fozzie and Scooter being adorable, a naked eagle, and a guest star who’s clearly game for anything. Quick! Pick up your podcast player and cover your mouth while you listen! https://muppeturgy.com/episodes/nancy-w-alker

Just in time for Halloween, unhinge your jaw and send in the most seventies clowns that ever seventiesed. We had a good time this week and we hope you will too, as we talk about folk bullshit, Stephen Sondheim, canonical throuples, Link Hogthrob’s chest hair, and of course, folk bullshit. https://muppeturgy.com/episodes/judy-collins

We didn’t get the best impression of the 70s from this episode, and some people even say it’s the worst Muppet Show episode of all time. But we won’t count our chickens before they’re hatched on that front. We will, however, get into all the ways we hated Rich Little…and maybe a couple of things we liked? https://muppeturgy.com/episodes/rich-little

Are you not entertain…ered?! This was a weird one: creepy clowns (no, not those creepy clowns yet, another one), the same song twice that we didn’t like the first time, and a sometimes challenging guest. But then there’s Fozzie at his most joyful, the very first Pigs in Space, and a very cute owl. We guess that MAKES UP for it. https://muppeturgy.com/episodes/milton-berle

It’s a booooooooooooo-nus episode about the new Disney+ special, Muppets Haunted Mansion! Join your grim grinning hosts as we try to make sense of our feelings about this very strange mix of Disney Parks commercial, classic Muppet bits, highly specific references that may or may not be jokes aimed directly at the venn diagram of our interests, and…Gonzo confronting his mortality in deeply upsettin...

Balancing all the elements in a Muppet Show episode is tricky. Some might say it’s as shaky as King Henry the VIII…wait, what? This wasn’t any of our favorite episode but it did have its high points, like Muppy being adorable, and the first appearance of Beaker! Plus our own very special guest star, Ben Liebert! https://muppeturgy.com/episodes/zero-mostel

We’re back! It’s season two and The Muppet Show is starting to take the form we all remember. 15 seconds to curtain! The arches! Gonzo’s trumpet! Beaker! (Next week.) Uh…nightmare gingerbread people? Horrifying music hall numbers? Deeply stressful mental breakdowns? Hey look, a puppy! Aw, a tribble/fizzgig thing! We’re gonna be okay. Let’s pour one out for Mildred, George, Wayne, and Wanda, and we...

This episode is super late! We weren’t abducted by Swiss mimes, nor did they put us off this project entirely, we just had some scheduling issues. And now we’re back and super excited to bring you this extra dose of pedantry and fish puns. This episode is packed with 70s nightmare fuel (but you know, for kids!), plus Gonzo is horny for Piggy, Scooter is horny for Floyd, Statler is horny for Waldor...

We’re not gonna lie: we’re tired this week, and we wonder if the Muppet People were too as they got to the end of this season in 1976. This episode should work. It has a classic backstage plot and a game guest star. But like one of Vend-A-Face’s customers, the parts don’t quite come together and it’s all a little…one note. https://muppeturgy.com/episodes/kaye-ballard

As you may have heard, there’s no business like show business. Kermit and Fozzie lean into the business side with some intense contract negotiations, while the legendary Ethel Merman brings the show. It’s a surprisingly sweet episode for a guest star known for being so brassy, and the Muppets petty starstruck by the living legend in their presence. Are we starstruck by our guest, award-winning act...

You might not expect an episode featuring British supermodel, actress and pop star Twiggy to also feature what our esteemed guest, NPR’s Glen Weldon, called “a disquieting gay pride Langolier,” a potentially nightmare-inducing (for small children or fans of continuity) Uncle Deadly threatening to literally murder Kermit, and (sigh) the Gogolala Jubilee Jugband, but here we are. Okay, it doesn’t so...

Valerie Harper proves she’s a Broadway Baby and a total Muppet freak while Statler fails to prove worthy of her love…and also Tarzan’s? Rhoda expert Jennifer Keishin Armstrong joins us for some frank talk about creepy Muppets and how Rowlf makes us feel (spoiler: not creepy). As always, tons more at https://muppeturgy.com/episodes/valerie-harper

Just in time for Pride, 2021 or Groundhog Day, 1977 it’s…a super spooky Halloween episode? Whatever the season, we loved this episode, the first theme episode of The Muppet Show’s run. Vincent Price is a great guest, fully embracing the Muppet ethos and bringing his own creepy/campy/fun sensibility. Plus the first appearance of Uncle Deadly and a Droop sighting! We wouldn’t have minded some better...

The backstage plot could stand to have some work done, though as always we love Hilda just the way she is. We also love the great Phyllis Diller, who is our favorite Muppet of the week despite quite clearly being a human. Her chemistry with Fozzie and Rowlf is a joy to behold, and her laugh is infectious. We loved this episode. Just don’t ask about the feet. https://muppeturgy.com/episodes/phyllis...

We were hoping Ben Vereen would have more magic to do with the Muppets, but he mostly dances around them in a way that suggests he has too much something on his mind, and it’s not Heaven. (It might be quaaludes but who are we to say?) At least our beloved Droop doesn’t say bye bye love, and Fozzie’s big act is only visually like Pippin’s. Show notes and many many Droop GIFs at https://muppeturgy.c...

ToughPigs’ delightful Anthony Strand joins us this week and we sure hope he’s willing to come back after we mostly crap on his favorite episode of Season 1. Oops! Of all the Muppet Show guests we’ve discussed so far, Avery Schreiber might be the most 1976. Or the most 1926. His face could be in silent movies, or on a Pringles can, or…a Muppet! Plus we’ve got dogs, cats, gorillas, koozebabies and…b...

The Muppet Show tries to do a feminism and takes an unexpected turn into distinctly yee-haw territory, always expected praise for Dorothy Fields, and off-brand Droop. This may not be our favorite episode but Ms. Candice Bergen is one of our favorite guest stars — and frankly still one of our favorite actors. Never mind that jazz, listen to this episode and let us know if it’s better than a pie in...

This was only the fourth episode we recorded, before Disney+ changed the order on us. We’re excited to finally share to with you! But we also think, like Fozzie, our act has gotten better over time, so please be gentle with us. Fortunately this is a pretty great Muppet Show episode in this stretch of season one we’ve been not-so-hot on. Perky is kind of Sandy Duncan’s whole brand, and she absolute...

It's another very British guest star, but this time all-singing, all-dancing, all…duckling? We are definitely feeling mixed here in the middle of the season, but this episode has some delightful puppetry, Miss Piggy coming into her full star power, and an extremely memorable duck. And snerfs! Snerfs? https://muppeturgy.com/episodes/bruce-forsyth

We found this episode insufficiently arresting, but still had a lot to talk about even with one of our usual panelists missing. Will you want to hang your hat on Peter Ustinov's talents, or will they send you running through the Field of Angst to the Forest of Despair? Is it easier bein’ green or getting through this episode? Listen and find out! https//:muppeturgy.com/episodes/peter-ustinov

Unsurprisingly, miss Lena Horne is a gracious, charming, and classy guest. It's a little bit surprising just how well she gets the Muppets, no not when you consider that this is not her first time working with them. She fits right in, and we loved this episode though we're a bit divided on her 70s-tastic clothes. Listen to our conversation including a much-too-deep dive on "Sing," proto-yays, and...