The Land of Gorch



""Come with us now from the bubbling tarpits, to the sulfurous wasteland; from the rotting forest, to the stagnant mud flats, to the Land of Gorch."

The Land of Gorch was a recurring sketch on the first season of Saturday Night Live. Featured characters included King Ploobis, Queen Peuta, Scred, Vazh, Wisss and the Mighty Favog. Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson, and Frank Oz performed the roles of Ploobis, Scred, and the Mighty Favog respectively, while Alice Tweedie, Fran Brill, and Richard Hunt performed the roles of Peuta, Vazh, and Wisss.

The series of sketches lasted from SNL's very beginning in October of 1975 to April of 1976 (and became a recurring joke in the next season). The writing was seemingly done by whoever had an idea for a sketch, as the writing credits listed only a few of the writers normally associated with the Muppets. Other writing credits went to such diverse contributors as Chevy Chase and Al Franken.

According to the Muppet Morsels on The Muppet Show: Season One DVD, only hired writers for Saturday Night Live, and not Henson employees, were allowed to write Gorch sketches. Despite this, Jim Henson did end up writing one sketch, from the episode hosted by Raquel Welch.

During the middle of the season, after a deal to produce The Muppet Show in England had been made, the sets were destroyed, and all Muppet appearances for the rest of the year had to do with the fact that the Muppets had been fired from the show, and also revolved around the Muppets making attempts to get rehired.

"Gorch" is now seen by some as an attempt by Henson and company to show that the Muppets were capable of targeting a more adult audience. The much-beloved Muppet Show followed soon on the heels of "Gorch" chronologically speaking, and so Henson's plan to expand beyond the accepted Sesame Street audience succeeded.

The segments dealt with a number of racy issues: alcohol abuse, adultery, species extinction, drugs, and other "adult" topics, though each was treated with the expected SNL irreverence.

Skits were indeed performed live; the exception was the January 24, 1976 episode (hosts Peter Cook & Dudley Moore), that one was pre-taped on January 10 - during the pre-shoot of the Elliot Gould episode.

Cast

 * Jim Henson as King Ploobis
 * Jerry Nelson as Scred
 * Frank Oz as the Mighty Favog
 * Alice Tweedie as Queen Peuta
 * Fran Brill as Vazh
 * Richard Hunt as Wisss