Should you’re studying this, you’ve most likely already seen the brand new Muppet Present particular, which is at present out there to observe on Disney+. Should you haven’t, what are ya doing right here? Go watch it and are available again; I’ll wait.
Truly, I’ll be a part of you! It’s been just a few hours since I rewatched it…
You’re again? Fairly good, proper?
That Sabrina Carpenter certain can sing, huh? When she was first introduced because the visitor star, I used to be very excited. Not simply because she’s one of many few trendy Western pop stars I truly hearken to (no offense to those that take pleasure in that music; I’m only a Okay-Pop fan who additionally mentally lives in 1978). However as a result of she’s proven that she has the enjoyable vitality, the campiness, and the form of timeless theatrics that will be an ideal match with the Muppets, particularly in a basic theater setting.
However on high of that, I additionally knew that she has plenty of innuendo and outright sexual themes in her music and phases. She’s fairly good at turning the extent on that stuff up or down, relying on the viewers, however the potential to recapture that typically grownup vitality that was an actual a part of the unique Muppet Present left me in keen anticipation.
And to my delight, we did get a few of that! The “I really like a kink” joke that was included in some promotional movies might be probably the most blatant instance. However there’s additionally issues just like the lyrics to “Blinding Lights” together with references to being turned on, or the lyrics to “Manchild” alluding to, uh, let’s say ending a activity early.
Nothing actually stood out to me as explicitly inappropriate, although. Even the kink joke is the form of factor that oldsters will chuckle at, however children gained’t take into consideration an excessive amount of. There have been actually plenty of issues like that within the stuff I watched rising up, however that’s a bigger dialog.
Nevertheless, whereas the brand new particular has gotten general optimistic opinions, there’s some of us on the market that assume that is all nonetheless an excessive amount of for youths. Some assume there’s an excessive amount of innuendo. Some assume there’s an excessive amount of violence. Some assume there’s an excessive amount of peanut butter on this sandwich– wait, no, that’s me speaking about my lunch.
Perhaps these folks (and even you, studying this) haven’t seen the unique present since they had been children themselves, or they’ve simply by no means actually paid consideration to those issues. Or possibly they’re used to different, more moderen Muppet productions, that keep extra household pleasant. (Although that’s debatable, particularly with Pepe within the troupe.) It’s been 50 years since The Muppet Present went on the air, so I wouldn’t blame folks if their reminiscence differs from actuality.
So I’ve compiled a (non-comprehensive) record of some extra grownup moments from the unique Muppet Present, to present us all slightly refresher on the kinds of issues the Muppets had been placing out again in 1976 to 1981. We’ve written about the sort of factor earlier than, nevertheless it’s been 11 years since then! In addition to, I made a decision to focus totally on The Muppet Present this time, probably the most direct and apparent comparability to the brand new particular.
Let’s begin off with some Muppet violence! Yay, we like to see these guys get beat up!
Let’s see, there’s in fact the Piggy karate chops, the Loopy Harry explosions, and the monsters consuming smaller characters. However how about characters taking pictures one another with weapons, like within the Tremendous Sheep sketch within the Lynda Carter episode, or Eric the Parrot taking pictures the Swedish Chef within the face within the Glenda Jackson one?
A hunter shoots at some cute rabbits throughout “Run, Rabbit, Run”, whereas Fozzie scrambles to avoid wasting them. There’s a homicide thriller sketch within the Joel Gray episode that depicts a useless Muppet with a bullet wound in his again, and the entire Liza Minelli episode is a homicide thriller that has a number of Muppets killed on display screen. And heck, the “Comedy Tonight” quantity is stuffed with Muppets blowing issues up, taking pictures one another, and throwing knives!
But when I included all of the occasions the Muppets had been violent to one another, this might be a actually lengthy article. So how about some cases the place the visitor star will get in on the violence, the best way Sabrina did when she flung Boppity round like me on bowling evening (like Animal, I bowl overhand)?
The Rita Moreno episode is a basic (she even gained an Emmy for it!), and one of many main numbers is “I Get Concepts“, the place she performs with a full-bodied Muppet man and flings him in every single place like a ragdoll. However she’s not the one one throwing just a few punches. Jaye P. Morgan tosses Scooter a bomb that explodes in his face, Peter Sellers contorts Hyperlink into an uncomfortable pretzel, and Linda Lavin actually slaps some sense into an anxious Piggy earlier than stealing her musical quantity.
Zero Mostel factors a gun at Sam earlier than placing it into his personal mouth, Roger Moore tosses some villainous Muppets round, and Alan Arkin aggressively terrorizes these poor bunnies once more. After which there’s one among my favourite numbers: Marisa Berenson sings “You’re At all times Welcome in Our Home”, a darkly comedic music the place varied Muppets are trapped in a deceptively harmless home.
Maybe you’re already conscious that the Muppets are cartoonishly violent very often. However that’s very a lot what it’s, proper? Cartoonish. Loopy Harry’s dynamite doesn’t really feel so completely different from Wile E. Coyote’s. There’s all the time one thing tangible with puppets that makes issues really feel slightly extra actual, however on the finish of the day, the characters all stand again up and are advantageous by curtain name, identical to in a cartoon.
However how about what you’re most likely actually right here to learn: some cases the place issues are slightly extra particularly grownup?
Let’s begin at first, and probably the most famous instance of us cite: the sheer incontrovertible fact that the pilot episode of The Muppet Present is named Intercourse and Violence. That set the tone and helped present audiences that it is a present extra geared toward adults. And this pilot isn’t any Sesame Avenue. It’s hardly crass, however a Gene Shalit parody, a rock group performing “Love Ya to Dying”, and Muppets depicting every of the Seven Lethal Sins (sure, together with Lust), isn’t precisely kids’s programming. Jim himself stated of the pilot: “we hope to have the ability to reveal that puppetry could be very stable grownup leisure.”
Previous that pilot, the present continued to have moments that match that invoice. Twice the present featured the basic “galley-oh-hoop-hoop” sketch, depicting an alien mating ritual (that includes aliens which might be considerably suggestively formed). The John Cleese episode has the quantity “Ready on the Church”, by which Piggy performs a pregnant bride who’s been jilted by a person who’s already married (carried out by Kermit). Sandy Duncan does a line of pictures and dances with some monsters in a dive bar whereas performing “A Good Woman Like Me.” Then after the music ends, Statler and Waldorf have this change:
Statler: “You already know, she makes me really feel like a younger boy.”
Waldorf: “Yeah, she makes me really feel like a younger lady. I feel I’ll go discover one.”
(Yeesh, I forgot about that line till I rewatched the clip the opposite day.)
And my goodness, the Raquel Welch episode alone is full of moments that will most likely have among the at present scandalized folks protesting within the streets. Welch wears some revealing outfits, male characters are outwardly lusting over her all through the episode, she’s extraordinarily flirtatious with Fozzie (even calling him “attractive” and “sex-sational”, and welcoming him as much as her dressing room), and she or he is known as an “worldwide intercourse goddess”.
Miss Piggy’s had loads of moments herself the place she’s approaching fairly robust to the good-looking male visitor stars. Fawning over Christopher Reeve, flirting with Roger Moore and Mac Davis, swooning as Kris Kristofferson sings to her, and kissing Elton John‘s naked chest throughout their duet of “Don’t Go Breaking My Coronary heart”. Then there’s the “Child, It’s Chilly Exterior” quantity with Rudolf Nureyev, the place she comes on so robust in a sauna that he escapes her advances by crashing via a brick wall, dropping the towel that’s protecting him within the course of.
And there’s loads of extra lowkey moments that also would most likely flip some heads if the Muppets did them right now. Flirtations between Muppets and people is fairly frequent: Juliet Prowse feedback on how good-looking Kermit is, calling him the “Robert Redford of frogs”, Charles Aznavour drives Piggy wild along with his French “candy nothings”, Statler refers to Valerie Harper as a “scorching trying tomato”, and Sly Stallone has a gaggle of ogling Muppet fangirls within the theater which might be known as “groupies”.
Then there’s issues like (the shady and continually smoking) Bobby Benson getting arrested within the Victor Borge episode, the titular Gambler dying on display screen as Kenny Rogers sings, and numerous smoking jokes. And let’s not neglect that the complete backstage plot of the Alice Cooper episode is Alice making an attempt to influence the Muppets to promote their souls to the satan. However each one among these examples (even that final one) is lighthearted and humorous and written in a approach that’s completely in step with the Muppets.
So, what does all this imply for the Muppets going ahead? Nicely, it signifies that there’s a precedent set for grownup humor, particularly on this setting. I’ve seen some folks declare the Muppets’ audience is toddlers; however as we’ve seen, that’s not the case, and by no means has been. Maybe these persons are complicated the Muppets with Sesame Avenue. That may be ironic in that case, contemplating it’s precisely the pigeonholing Jim was making an attempt to keep away from by creating this very present.
Sesame Avenue was airing its sixth season when Intercourse and Violence premiered on ABC, and it was tough for the corporate to get The Muppet Present picked up. This was partially as a result of they had been identified for the work they had been doing in kids’s media, but additionally as a result of puppetry typically, particularly in america, was seen as “children’ stuff”. It could possibly be argued that The Muppet Present was a serious success, very a lot as a result of it included grownup humor, not despite it. And I do assume there’s a bigger dialog available about what we protect the children in our lives from viewing, what we don’t, and why we draw the traces that we do.
Now right here we’re 50 years later, again on ABC, with The Muppet Present (2026). With as trustworthy as this new particular has been to the unique present, it’s solely pure that that grownup humor comes together with all of the lights, curtains, and rubber chickens. The 2015 collection had extra grownup humor, nevertheless it was fairly completely different in tone. If this new particular will get picked up as a collection, I’m very curious to see if they will sustain with placing the identical chord the unique present did. I, for one, would like to see it.
Okay, break’s over! Time to observe the particular once more.
Due to Muppet Wiki for a lot of of those photos! Click on right here to get an image unfold on web page three on the Robust Pigs Discord!
by Meagan Barbeau
