NBC Pipes

NBC Pipes
In 1964, Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Don Sahlin and Jerry Juhl were guests on The Jack Paar Program on NBC. Having some time to fill in between the rehearsal and the performance, Oz looked in the closet and was startled to discover that the closet was filled with dark, dusty pipes. Since the Paar studio was not far from Henson's company headquarters in New York, Jim suggested that the crew go back to get some paints and fake fur and decorate the pipes.

The group worked hard on decorating the pipes in as many silly and imaginative ways as possible. The pipes soon had monstrous eyes, goofy noses, and multi-colored faces. Jim later revealed that part of the brown fabric had come from the original Grover (then known as Fuzzyface). Everyone intended to leave the pipes behind without mentioning it to the folks at NBC, as sort of a light practical joke. Someone at NBC discovered their work almost immediately, though, and Paar loved the pipes so much that he brought a camera backstage during the show so that people could see it.

NBC told Jim and company that the pipes would be painted over the next day. Since the painting had come about as a lark, and they were just passing time, Jim and the others didn't have a problem with that. However, the next day's painting somehow never happened, and the pipes went largely forgotten about for 16 years.

In 1980, while doing some remodeling in (what was at that time known as) the RCA building, the construction workers discovered the pipes. Though they had been told to knock out everything, the bizarre-looking pipes caught the workers' attention, and they asked NBC for confirmation that the pipes should be removed. After further investigation, it was decided to keep the pipes as they were, and Jim was brought in to film a segment of The Today Show with Gene Shalit, explaining the history of the pipes. Shalit jokingly commented that the pipes would now be kept forever in the building as a museum piece.

In 1992, a photo of the pipes appeared in Christopher Finch's book Jim Henson: The Works. It remains unclear if the photo was from 1964, 1980, or taken just before the book's publication.

In 1993, the backstage area began being used for Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The pipes were in a closet in Max Weinberg's dressing room. In 2009, Jimmy Fallon took over late-night duties, and he strongly encouraged NBC to make the pipes part of the backstage 30 Rock tour. In 2010, Brian Williams brought Frank Oz back to see the pipes for the first time in many years, causing Oz to emotionally comment that he was "the last man standing" from the original group. Soon, Fallon's plan came to fruition, and the pipes were officially unveiled as part of the tour with a "ribbon-cutting" ceremony featuring Oz, Fallon, and Jane Pauley, once again on The Today Show. Just as Shalit once jokingly predicted, the pipes will now forever be part of the tour as a testament to the creativity of Jim Henson and his business associates.