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| DEBUT | 1996 |
The Muppets Tonight Band was the zydeco house band on Muppets Tonight. They played Clifford onstage at the beginning of the show, and were only present for the episodes produced during the first season. A script for the series refers to the group as the Muppets Tonight Gestures, aka the "M.T. Gestures."
There were five members of the band:
- Jowls, the guitar player
- An accordion player
- A bass player
- A drummer
- A violinist
The members of the zydeco band rarely appeared on the show outside of their bandstand. The actual musical performance was supplied by the Zydeco Party Band, consisting of Doug Legacy (accordion), Mark Shark (guitar), Richard S. Greene (violin), Freebo (bass, tuba), Billy Butler (percussion), and Michael Jochum (drums).
The bass player was seen later in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie as a part of the Muppet Theater orchestra. The drummer resurfaced in Muppets Most Wanted amongst the Gulag 38B prisoners during the "Together Again" finale.
According to The Muppets Character Encyclopedia, the band joined the show because the Electric Mayhem was on tour at the time.