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The Muppet Show | |
Guest | John Cleese |
Production | August 9-11, 1977 |
Premiere | December 1977 |
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Gonzo catches a cannonball with his bare hand, which stretches his arm out. Fozzie and Floyd crack jokes about the situation. Gonzo turns to John for help, but John ends up pulling the rest of his limbs out to match.
Episode
Picture | Segment | Description |
---|---|---|
Guest star John Cleese is tied up and gagged. "It's no use struggling, Mr. Cleese," Scooter says. "You can't leave until you've done the show." | ||
"The Muppet Show Theme": Statler groans, "They'll never get this started." Gonzo plays his trumpet note perfectly; he looks surprised. | ||
Kermit the Frog welcomes the audience to the show. Fozzie Bear brings Kermit a note from the stagehands, apologizing for the heavy weight that they dropped -- which narrowly misses Kermit. Actually, they dropped two weights... | ||
Lubbock Lou and His Jughuggers sing "Somebody Stole My Gal". | ||
Statler: What's wrong with you? Waldorf: I've got a sore thumb. Statler: Why don't you get it taken care of? Waldorf: It helps keep my mind off the show. | ||
The Great Gonzo catches a cannonball with his bare hand. His lovely assistant Crazy Harry fires a muzzle-loading cannon directly at Gonzo. Kermit excitedly announces that Gonzo has caught the cannonball -- but catching the cannonball has stretched his arm out. | ||
Waldorf: I've seen my share of cannonball catching acts but that had something different. Statler: What was that? Waldorf: A survivor. | ||
Floyd Pepper and Fozzie make jokes about Gonzo's long arm. Kermit talks to John backstage, and finds out that he's not pleased -- there's pigs all over the place, and his contract has a no-pigs clause. "It says that I only work with the frog -- that's you, right? -- the bear, and the ugly disgusting one who catches cannonballs. That's it, no pigs! And that goes for monsters, too." Having stood his ground, John is alarmed to see the Luncheon Counter Monster eat his contract -- and Mean Mama eating his agent. All of a sudden, John is a lot more interested in working with pigs. | ||
Muppet News Flash: The Newsman reports that a man has discovered how to synthesize a complete Italian dinner out of wool. | ||
Rowlf at the Piano: Rowlf plays "Rowlf's Polka", accompanied by a chicken. At the end of the number, the chicken clucks and rushes offstage. Rowlf is surprised; normally the chicken is a great performer, but tonight she laid an egg. | ||
Pigs in Space: Captain Link Hogthrob is alone on the deck of the Swinetrek, on a late-night watch. Suddenly, the deck is invaded by a pirate, Long John Silverstein, who lays siege to the ship. Hogthrob informs the pirate that this is a spaceship; he's supposed to be on an ocean someplace. Silverstein tries to regain control of the situation, while being nagged by his parrot. | ||
Fozzie irritates Gonzo by using his long arm as a clothesline. | ||
At the Dance: The dancers make fly-in-the-soup jokes. | ||
UK Spot: Dressed as a pregnant, jilted bride, Miss Piggy sings "Waiting at the Church", accompanied by a caddish Kermit. | ||
Robin the Frog and Sweetums sing "Two Lost Souls". | ||
Floyd and Fozzie make more arm jokes. | ||
Gonzo comes to John's dressing room for help. He tells John that he wants his arms to be the same length again. John helps by stretching the other arm out, so that they're both long. John brings Gonzo's arms back to their normal length by stretching Gonzo's legs out. Gonzo ends up pulled completely apart. | ||
Kermit reports from the Planet Koozebane, where he interviews the Koozebanian Spooble, an alien made entirely of liquid. The Spooble ends up getting drunk. | ||
Waldorf: Hey, what do you suppose would happen to a Spooble if you put him in a kettle and turned the heat on under him? Statler: Oh, he'd probably get steamed | ||
Kermit introduces John's final number, "The Impossible Dream". Onstage, John tells Kermit that he doesn't do old showtunes. Kermit apologizes, the curtain closes -- and when they open again, John is dressed for a Wagnerian opera number, and Sweetums is singing "Ride of the Valkyries". John objects, and Kermit asks for one more chance. When the curtain opens for a third time, John is dressed for a Mexican maraca solo. Kermit brings on a glee club of pigs, chickens and monsters to accompany John. Frustrated, John screams at Kermit... but the glee club finally ropes him into singing "The Impossible Dream". | ||
Fresh from his success as a singer, John announces his new album, "John Cleese: A Man and His Music". | ||
Statler: Well, see you next time. Waldorf: Yes, unless I get lucky and break a leg. |
Notes
- John Cleese worked with Jerry Juhl on the script for the episode.[1]
Cast
Muppets:
- Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, The Great Gonzo, Scooter, Rowlf, Statler, Waldorf, Floyd Pepper, Robin, Sweetums, The Newsman, Chickens, Link Hogthrob, Lubbock Lou, Slim Wilson, Lou, Gramps, Zeke, Koozebanian Spooble, Eric the Parrot, Pigs, Whatnots
Background Muppets:
Performers
- Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog, Link Hogthrob, Rowlf, Waldorf, The Newsman, and Zeke
- Frank Oz as Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, and Gramps
- Dave Goelz as Gonzo, Koozebanian Spooble, Marvin, and Lubbock Lou
- Jerry Nelson as Jerry, Floyd Pepper, Crazy Harry, Waiter, Parrot, and the Announcer
- Richard Hunt as Scooter, Statler, Sweetums, Bubba, and Pig
Video releases
Edits
- Nickelodeon: The U.K. spot "Waiting at The Church" was cut.
- CTS: Same as above.
Sources
- ↑ Finch, Christopher. Of Muppets and Men. p. 161
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