Inside jokes (miscellaneous)

Muppet scenes mentioning names of performers, Henson employees, other Henson productions and other pieces of inside information.

The Muppet Show

 * Episode 108: In the Telephone Pole Bit, Fozzie names himself Mike Oznowiczky; Mike Oznowicz was Frank Oz' father.
 * Episode 119: Sheriff David Goelz is mentioned in Muppet News Flash. (However, the Season 1 DVD subtitles translate his name as Sheriff David Coles.)
 * Episode 215: Lou Rawls: During Lou Rawls' performance of "Bye Bye Blackbird", Lou mentions several kinds of birds, and jokingly lists Big Bird.
 * Episode 306: Jean Stapleton: There is sign backstage which reads: "NOTICE -- TRY-OUTS FOR DANCING PIGEONS Must be able to do the buck and wing -- Contact Bert of S.S." and a telephone number.
 * Episode 313: Muppet News Flash mentions Mr. and Mrs. Lazer attempting to break the record for overhand refrigerator throwing.
 * Episode 419: Muppet News Flash features a story on the crocodile god Rezal-evad-gib, which is "Big Dave Lazer" spelled backwards.
 * Episode 409: Muppet News Flash mentions French designer David Lazeur.
 * Episode 513: Tony Randall recites several magic words, which turn out to be Muppeteer names spelled backwards: Evets Erimtihw, Noslen Yrrej, Tnuh Drahcir, Zleog Evad, Oznog and, once again, Rezal Evad Gib.

The Muppet Movie

 * The opening scenes feature Bernie the Agent (Bernie Brillstein).
 * Kermit and the gang audition for Lew Lord (Lord Lew Grade).
 * When driving to Hollywood, Kermit and Fozzie encounter Big Bird, who is walking to New York City with dreams of breaking into public television. Later in the film, a picture of Big Bird can be seen in the Electric Mayhem Bus.

The Muppets Take Manhattan

 * Two of the dogs in Rowlf's pet shelter are named Jim and Frank.
 * Baby Rowlf has a plush doll of Big Bird.

The Muppet Christmas Carol

 * Amidst the shops in Victorian London, one sign reads "Duncan & Kenworthy, Booksellers."
 * There is a store called "Micklewhite." Michael Caine's real name is Maurice Micklewhite.
 * Another sign, on a haberdashery near the end of the film, says "Statler & Waldorf."

Muppets from Space

 * According to the book Muppets From Space: The Making of Muppet Movie Magic, the "door in a jar" provided by Muppet Labs was intended to be a replica of the front door of 123 Sesame Street. As realised, there are several differences. 123 Sesame Street's stoop has 6 steps and the "door in a jar" had 7, and the window above the door differs from the Sesame design. The "door in a jar" was also red whereas 123 Sesame Street's door was green (the door of 123 Sesame was red for a period of time but that did not happen until 3 years after Muppets From Space was released). However, the door is a replica of the the door used in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, which was filmed concurrently with Muppets From Space.
 * The newspaper that Kermit reads during the breakfast scene is called the "Hensonville News Observer".

Kermit's Swamp Years

 * There are several behind-the-scenes references in the pet store, including Muppet performer names and an ad for "Salmon Friends" (Sam and Friends) fish food.
 * Mr. Wilson's license plate is JMH-924 -- James Maury Henson, September 24 (his birthday).
 * Wilson also has an Animal keychain on his truck keys.
 * When Kermit speaks to the star from the swamp, he says, "You called my name," a reference to the lyric from "The Rainbow Connection."
 * The Hartis movie theater is name after Muppet builder Paul Hartis, who was heavily involved with this film.

The Muppets' Wizard of Oz

 * Scarecrow Kermit asks the Wizard if he is related to Frank Oz.
 * The call of the Galley-oh-hoop-hoop can be heard edited into the soundtrack as part of the noises of the forest.
 * Toto calls The Emerald City Guard "Big Bird".

Sesame Street

 * The names in the song "J Friends" are names of people behind the scenes: Joe (Raposo), Jane (Henson), Jim (Henson) and Joan (Ganz Cooney).
 * Ernie brings home a puppy; Bert suggests calling it Jim, or Norman.
 * There are a number of scenes where a framed picture of Joe Raposo is used as decoration. Most notably, it hangs on the wall in Don Music's apartment, and in the home video Count it Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street, Count von Count has a picture of Joe Raposo on top of his television.
 * In Three Bears and a New Baby, Papa Bear reads from a book of bear names when trying to come up with a name for their new baby. One of those listed is Fozzie Bear.
 * Sesame Street News Flash: Old MacDonald: In this skit from the mid-1980s, Kermit begins by talking to a pig on the farm. "You remind me of somebody, I just can't figure out who."
 * A sketch with a lavender Anything Muppet, a set of teeth and a brush (pictured) features a framed photo of Miss Piggy on the wall.
 * When Kermit directed Forgetful Jones in "Oklahoma!," Frank Biondo's name appears as the cameraman on the clapboard.
 * On their way to Earth, The Martians encounter three "pigs in space" wearing spacesuits.
 * The segment "Worms in Space" featured a voice-over introduced by Jerry Nelson in the same way he used to introduce "Pigs in Space" on The Muppet Show.
 * In the book The Exciting Adventures of Super Grover, during the scene where they put on the play of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Bert wears a bear costume that somewhat resembles Fozzie Bear, complete with orange fur and a porkpie hat.
 * In the skit "Numberella," party guests can be heard using the words "rev" and "flooper." Both of these words are Doozer slang.
 * In the Monsterpiece Theater sketch "Upstairs, Downstairs," a picture of Dr. Teeth can be seen on the wall.
 * At the beginning of the Detective Grover sketch, photos of Dr. Teeth and Roosevelt Franklin's Mother can be seen by the bookshelf.
 * In The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, two Fraggle Rock books can be seen on Elmo's shelf: What's a Fraggle? and Traveling Matt's Adventures in Outer Space.
 * In Episode 4048, Baby Bear walks along Sesame Street reciting a grocery list: "A loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter." Later, in Episode 4119, Gordon is buying the same items at Hooper's Store.
 * In Elmo's World: Bugs, Elmo says a ladybug is going to be late for the Ladybugs' Picnic.
 * "Ladybugs' Picnic" also briefly plays on a tape player in the Jane Tuesday segment "The Case of the Letter L."
 * Don Music attempts his own remake of the "Sesame Street Theme Song."
 * The Street We Live On is essentially a one-hour self-referential special made explicitly to showcase an inner examination of Sesame Street from Elmo's point of view.
 * In Episode 4117, Maria is fixing a toaster belonging to Frank Oz.
 * In Episode 4142, Baby Bear appears with Abby Cadabby in a sketch singing the chorus of "I in the Sky" under his breath as he draws a capital I.
 * In "The Addition Game", Guy Smiley introduces a contestant as Mrs. Frances Oznowitz, a Lavendar AM woman (Frank Oz).
 * In Episode 4088, Action Elephant is interrupting Maria from reading her book entitled, The Monsters of Venice.
 * In Episode 3723, Bob tells Renata Scottie that he will get her in touch with a certain dog piano player he knows.
 * In "Alone in a Swamp", Oscar and Grundgetta pass a sunken boat named "Ol' Victor D.".
 * In Episode 1708, most of the names yelled out during the mail call are the same as the Sesame Street staff.
 * In Episode 1710. the Echo Rock award for best letter writer went to a kid name Norman Stiles.
 * In The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street, Grover mentions that among the people Kermit would like to thank for his award is "someone called Jim".
 * In the storybook Don't Forget the Oatmeal!, there is an issue of Sesame Street Magazine with Bert and Ernie on the cover, as Bert and Ernie are checking out. Among the other magazines is an issue of "Stars" with Miss Piggy on the cover. Rubber Duckie can also been seen on the cover of a box of "Rub-A-Dub" soap pads in the grocery store.
 * At the end of Elmo's World: Skin, a chameleon asks Elmo if he can play "The Rainbow Connection" on his piano.

Fraggle Rock

 * In the first episode, Doc receives a letter from Caroly.
 * In "Don't Cry Over Spilt Milk," Doc receives a letter from Kermit.
 * In "All Work and No Play," Doc receives a letter from Duncan.
 * In "Red's Club," Doc and Sprocket are compiling a list of dogs to be in Sprocket's club; one of the names mentioned is Rowlf.
 * The Traveling Matt sequence in "Boober's Dream" includes a clip from The Dark Crystal.
 * The Traveling Matt sequence in "Sir Hubris and the Gorgs" shows children dressed as Kermit and Miss Piggy for Halloween.
 * In "Junior Sells the Farm", Doc orders the Clark-McElcheran Dog Feeder, referring to the show's two special effect gurus: George Clark and Tim McElcheran.
 * The Travelling Matt sequence in "A Cave of One's Own" features Bert and Oscar the Grouch plush dolls in the playroom of two little girls.
 * In "The Cavern of Lost Dreams," Sprocket does an imitation of The Swedish Chef while inventing a cereal -- complete with theme song hum and "Bork bork!"

Muppet Babies

 * In "Close Encounters of the Frog Kind," a brief shot from The Muppet Movie, of Kermit's legs exiting Bunsen's laboratory, is used during the Western scene between Baby Kermit and Baby Gonzo.
 * In "Once Upon an Egg Timer," when Baby Skeeter as a police officer is chasing after Baby Piggy for taking Baby Rowlf's voice, she calls on the radio for a roadblock on Henson and Fifth Street.
 * As the curtain rises on Baby Piggy in "Musical Muppets," the college auditorium audience scene from the beginning of The Muppets Take Manhatten is used as a backdrop for the animated characters.
 * In "When You Wish Upon a Muppet", after Baby Kermit wishes that the Muppets stay together and make movies and TV shows when they grow up, a clip from The Great Muppet Caper is shown.
 * In "The Daily Muppet," a clip featuring Oscar the Grouch is shown during the title song.
 * In "Fine Feathered Enemies" when Scooter and Skeeter get angry with each other and "divorce" each other from being siblings, they are told to become the siblings of two other people. They turn out to be two Skeksis from The Dark Crystal (SkekAyuk and SkekEkt), who flee from them. This shot was originally used in The Dark Crystal, when the two Skeksis scream in horror and run from Kira.
 * "The Incredible Shrinking Weirdo" features a scene where a live-action adult Kermit interacts with an animated Baby Gonzo. A clip from The Muppet Show (Episode 223: John Cleese) was used, with Frank Welker dubbing new lines for Kermit and with Baby Gonzo matted into the scene. This fantasy sequence also featured a shot of the audience that was frequently used on The Muppet Show.
 * At the beginning of "This Little Piggy Went to Hollywood", the babies watch a TV special on Hollywood that showcased still photo of stars including Bert and Ernie, as well as a photo of Jim Henson.
 * In "Muppets Not Included," a live-action Dr. Teeth appears as one of the hundred of celebrities in Baby Piggy's game show, "Celebrity Circles."
 * In "Babes in Troyland," features clips from Labyrinth and The StoryTeller: Greek Myths. During the Minotaur's maze, scene clips include the Illusionary maze and the Labyrinth.
 * In "Muppet Babies: The Next Generation", when the other babies think that Baby Rowlf is playing charades, one of Piggy's guesses is "The Muppets Clean Manhattan".
 * "Gonzee's Playhouse Channel" features a parody of Sesame Street, called "Sesame Seed Boulevard". Highlights include Baby Kermit's attempts to teach viewers about the letter B, Baby Fozzie in the role of "Big Joke", Baby Animal appearing in a trashcan like Oscar the Grouch, and Kermit and Baby Scooter using paper bags in the roles of Kert and Bernie.
 * In "Get Me to the Perch on Time," as Baby Kermit and Piggy fly in a plane, they pass Mount Rushmore, as seen in The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence, with dubbed dialogue. Later, Gonzo and Fozzie are trying to find a missing penguin in the arctic. They decide to put his picture up on their blimp board, but Fozzie includes an image of Big Bird instead.
 * "Nice to Have Gnome You" features clips from both Labyrinth and The Witches. Several of the Babies appear as characters from Labyrinth, intercut with footage of the actual Creatures, including Baby Gonzo as Hoggle, Animal as Ludo, and Scooter as The Worm.

The Jim Henson Hour

 * When Digit has a case of "the reruns" in Episode 101: Science Fiction and strings together a number of television catch phrases, one of the sentence fragments he utters is "Today's show is brought to you by the letter--", a reference to the sponsor letters on Sesame Street.

Dinosaurs

 * In "Family Challenge", the credits for the Dinosaur TV show Pangea's Funniest Home Injuries lists Polly Smith, BC. as head of wardrobe, David A. Caplan and Brian Lapan as Executive Producers, and Tim Doyle as Term Writer.
 * In "Georgie Must Die," Roy Hess uses "Bob Young" as a fake name. Later, on Georgie's set, a street sign reads "Says Me Street."

Muppets Tonight

 * Episode 105 opens with a shot of a newspaper, featuring an ad for Muppet Treasure Island.
 * When Bobo the Bear puts The Mad Bomber on hold in episode 107, an audio clip of Kermit singing "The Rainbow Connection" can be heard.
 * In Episode 107. when Gonzo suggests putting on an episode of Muppet Babies, he carries the Muppet Babies video "Explore With Us".

The Animal Show

 * In Spoonbill & Salmon, Stinky and Jake interview Yorick the Salmon, who not only shares the same name as a previous Muppet character, but notes that one of the fish in the video he brings is one of his "salmon friends".
 * In Colobus Monkey & Flying Squirrel, during the "Animal Awards", Armstrong the Chicken Hawk gives a shout-out to his friend Jim Lewis.

Farscape

 * In "Thanks for Sharing," Crichton names several alien villains. Among them are the Skeksis.
 * In "Kansas," Aeryn tries to learn to speak English by watching Sesame Street -- specifically, the Muppet & Kid Moment in which Kermit and Joey say the alphabet and she keeps adding "Cookie Monster!"
 * In Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, John Crichton comments that he's being chased by The Electric Mayhem.

Ghost of Faffner Hall

 * In "Improvised Music", a Muppet director wears a necklace with a miniature Kermit dangling from it.
 * In "Notation: The Sign That Gets the Sound, a nursery set is decorated in with Muppet Babies wallpaper.

MirrorMask

 * One of the books that fly off the library shelves is entitled "Muppets in Space."

Sesame Beginnings

 * In "Moving Together" during "Buggy Baby Boogie," a framed picture of Ethel Mermaid is used as a decorative in Cookie Monster's Grandma's house.
 * During "Swing Baby Swing," Louie has two framed pictures of the two Alphabeats on his shelf.

Sid the Science Kid

 * Arnie, Sid's stuffed dinosaur, is similar in design to Dog from Living with Dinosaurs (albeit much larger and with a horn on his nose).
 * In the episode "Sid's Amazing Lungs", Gerald pretends to be various characters during playtime; when pretending to be a baby he looks directly into the camera and exclaims "I'm a baby, gotta love me!" with the same style and tone as the baby on Dinosaurs.

Pajanimals

 * Squacky has a copy of It's Not Easy Being Green on his bedside table.

Emmet Otter musical

 * While sifting through a box of old objects, Jane's dad pulls out an old Elmo doll.
 * A piano and guitar amp are branded as "Henson" manufactured.

Unstable Fables

 * In the closing credits for 3 Pigs and a Baby, with producer's names on a space-themed mobile, Lisa Henson's name was attached to model of the Swinetrek from The Muppet Show's Pigs in Space.

A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa

 * An announcement for a Francis Oznowicz is heard over the airport intercom. This was similarly done over an airport intercom in Into the Night. Later in the same scene, Jerry Nelson's name is called.

Follow That Bird

 * The plane Big Bird rides on is called the CTW 1138.

The Muppet Show Comic Book

 * In the Meltdown Comics variant cover for issue #1, a poster in the background advertises Time Piece, and also mentions Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and Jerry Nelson.

Plaza Sésamo

 * In Episode 835, during Maria's song about hands, scenes of kids drawing are shown. Some kids are seen drawing Plaza Sésamo characters, including Kermit the Frog.
 * In various episodes, official Plaza Sésamo party supplies are seen being used by the characters.
 * Also in assorted episodes, a photo of Big Bird is used as a stamp on various letters an packages (including a letter sent to Abelardo by Big Bird himself).
 * In Episode 885, Pancho's radio studio is covered with various posters featuring the Sesame Street characters and the book "Elmo's World: Music!".
 * In one episode, La Abuela reads "C is for Cooking: Recipes from the Street", but with a modified, Spanish cover.
 * In a healthy tip closing insert, Mauricio Barcelata and a parrot show Pancho pictures of people who keep their hair neat. A picture of Roosevelt Franklin is used.

Muppet Classic Theater

 * During the song Gotta Get That Name, two of the names that are used include Ernie and Fozzie.

Good Morning America

 * In the "Pop Psychology" sketch, Behemoth's inner child babbles "Mama. Mama. Bert and Ernie!"