Muppets imbibing alcohol

Kermit enjoys a mosquito mojito in a 2014 interview with ELLE.

Kermit samples some elderflower wine in The Frog Prince.

Cookie Monster drinks a cocktail in Julie on Sesame Street.

Jim Henson's drunk Whatnot on The Tonight Show.

The Terrace Restaurant

Moishe Oofnik downs an entire bottle of wine.

Johnny Fiama tends bar at Club Dot.

Oscar's Yucchy Scotch: Henson company liquor label production gift.

On-screen lyrics from Muppet Treasure Island (Muppet Sing Alongs).

Nurse Piggy is startled when the camera finds her spying a wine spritzer in the first aid kit.

Whatnots lure the listener in to drinking with them "Down at the Old Bull and Bush".

The Kermit and Piggy Story

A barfly Muppet in a Flip Wilson Show "sketch about drunks at a bar," per newspaper listing, with Flip Wilson and Dom DeLuise.

Uncle Traveling Matt toasting Germany with a glass of champagne in 1984.

Clueless Morgan in Ziggy Marley's "Love Power."

A drunk Constantine is nursed by Ricky Gervais.

Animal drinking beer in The Muppets episode "Pig Out."

The Swedish Chef drinking beer in "Pig Out."

Uncle Deadly holding a wine glass in "Pig Out."

Lips, Zoot and Floyd with beer in "Pig Out."

Bunsen and Miss Piggy with their Martini glasses in "Pig Out."

Uncle Deadly enjoys the "old, familiar burn" of a martini in "Swine Song".

Instances in which the Muppets imbibe alcohol, or where it is implied.

Early Muppets

• A sketch performed on The Muppets on Puppets and The Ed Sullivan Show featured the Southern Colonel having his personality altered to become a drunk.

• In the September 24, 1965 broadcast of The Jimmy Dean Show, Rowlf the Dog attempts to bring an end to the East Coast's drought problems with a special gypsy potion. It turns out to be merely a mix of various alcoholic drinks and Rowlf remarks, "Jimbo, you drink this and you don't care if it ever rains!"

• Jim Henson performs a drunk Whatnot singing "Let Me In" on The Tonight Show in 1965.

• In the Nov 11, 1971 episode of The Flip Wilson Show, a drunken Muppet named Marcus Welby (Frank Oz) joins Flip Wilson and Dom DeLuise at a bar.

• Rufus takes a shot during the "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" number in a 1975 appearance on Cher and is immediately disgusted.

The Muppet Show

• Rita Moreno drinks several shots of whiskey and some pigs have a bottle of wine at their table in "I Get Ideas".

• In the At the Dance sketch in episode 107, Purple Heap thinks it must be the wine talking when he admits how beautiful he finds Green Heap.

• Sandy Duncan sings "What's A Nice Girl Like Me doing in a place that never closes?" in a bar filled with rough and tough Muppets. Beautiful Day Monster tends bar which is adorned with signs advertising "Wines & Spirits" and "Bottled Beers". Although they're not shown drinking (Sandy downs several glasses), at the end of the number, Sweetums and the Mutations pass out.

• Miss Piggy toasts Ethel Merman with a wine glass in the talk spot from episode 122.

• In the Veterinarian's Hospital sketch from The Muppet Show episode 204, the following exchange takes place:

• Piggy: "Dr. Bob, are you ready for the next bear?"
• Rowlf: "Why, Nurse Piggy, I couldn't have a beer now, I'm about to operate!"

• Fozzie sings "You can tell a man who boozes, by the company he chooses" in "The Pig Got Up and Slowly Walked Away" from The Muppet Show episode 209.

• Gonzo serves Irish Whiskey at a saloon in episode 220.

• Paul Revere suggests he and Bob Hope stop for a beer in episode 221 of The Muppet Show.

• Nurse Piggy is seen hiding a bottle of wine at the beginning of the Veterinarian's Hospital sketch in episode 308 of The Muppet Show.

• Harry Belafonte sings "Work all night on a drink of rum" from "Day-O" in The Muppet Show episode 314.

• In episode 320, Sylvester Stallone sings "A Bird in a Gilded Cage" in a saloon with Fozzie, Gonzo and some Whatnots. Sly, Gonzo and a Whatnot hold mugs of beer throughout the somewhat drunkenly performance.

• "Down at the Old Bull and Bush" from episode 321 is a drinking song sung by Whatnots in a bar, encouraging the listener to come join them for a drink. The sketch ends with a cow and a dog clearing out the patrons, and sampling the liquor themselves.

• "Swanee" from episode 402 takes place in a beer hall with dozens of steins filled with sudsy beer.

• Beauregard plays a bartender at a saloon from the old west in episode 403 of The Muppet Show, but his customers only order two sarsaparillas.

• In exchange for some advice, the Gambler asks Kenny Rogers for a taste of his whiskey in The Muppet Show episode 410. The Gambler drinks the last drop, smokes a cigarette, and dies.

• Liza Minnelli's "Lola" character in the "Copacabana" number in episode 414 of The Muppet Show drinks from the bar tended by "Tony".

• In the same episode, Kermit provides narration for a noir detective story, explaining that he'd gone back to his office for a root beer. He places mild emphasis on "root"; the style of storytelling the script is spoofing would most likely have referenced the detective drinking an alcoholic beverage.

• The March Hare offers Alice (Brooke Shields, who was 15 at the time) some wine in The Muppet Show episode 506. She doesn't see any at the table, and the Hare responds that it's because there isn't any. Later in the same scene, when Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum (Statler and Waldorf) arrive, she does the same thing to them: offering them wine, they don't see it, and she says it's because there isn't any.

• In "Workin' at the Car Wash Blues" Gonzo sings, "don't expect to see me with no double martini in any high-brow society news."

• The Salzburg Sauerkraut Singers sing the "Drinking Song" in episode 517 of The Muppet Show. They perform the song in German, but the English lyrics include the lines "Drink! Drink! Drink!" and "lift your stein and drink your beer!"

• "Pecos Bill" is performed in a saloon in episode 520, but the glasses on the tables are empty.

• The Swedish Chef has trouble with a champagne bottle in episode 523 of The Muppet Show.

• "Gonzo's Song" states that Camilla is sweeter than wine or vanilla.

• "Cigarettes and Whiskey" will drive you insane (and Gramps plays a wino, who tosses his bottle after the song persuades him).

• Responding to a school's attempt to nominate Floyd Pepper for President in The Muppet Show Fan Club Newsletter volume 3 number 2, the bassist established a position on "the draft" by stating, "I like draft better than cans, but I prefer bottles."

Sesame Street

• Cookie Monster drinks a cocktail in Julie on Sesame Street. He downs the drink whilst Julie sings "Big Spender."

• Fred the Wonder Horse declines a glass of milk from the Short Branch Cafe in a Marshal Grover sketch, stating, "No thanks, I'm drivin'."

• Judy Collins sings "they're drinkin' beer and laughin'" in "The Fisherman Song."

• In a sketch originating in Episode 0873, Biff and Sully are seen at an after-work bar. The two drink sarsaparillas, however.

• After Cookie Monster finishes eating a plate of zero cookies at the end of "They Can't Take That Away from Me", he declares that the snack "taste great, and less filling too" ... an allusion to Miller Lite's long-running ad campaign.

• In Telling the Truth, a wolf has a French bistro setting in the woods. His table includes a glass of water and a glass of wine.

• In Episode 3670 of Sesame Street, the spider from "Little Miss Muffet" is seen on a vacation being served a "stinger" (a cocktail containing brandy).

• In "Birdwalk Empire," Nucky Ducky, Clucky Luciano, Agent Van Cuckoo and their bird posses head over to the "beakeasy," a pun on speakeasies, where illegal alcohol was sold during the Prohibition era.

• As a token of appreciation at the end of a crossover with Game of Thrones (for the Respect Brings Us Together campaign), Tyrion and Cersei Lannister propose a toast to Elmo for helping them learn how to respect one another. Elmo says he loves toast even though his table companions have raised wine as their offering.

• In a Rechov Sumsum episode Moishe Oofnik downs a bottle of wine during a Passover seder, becoming drunk and unusually affectionate. (YouTube)

Movies

• Most of the patrons at the El Sleezo Cafe in The Muppet Movie are drinking. After a brawl breaks out, Fozzie Bear poses as a bartender and tells everyone that drinks are on the house (which they take literally).

• Kermit and Piggy drink wine through straws at The Terrace Restaurant in The Muppet Movie. Waiter Steve Martin asks Kermit if he'd like to smell the cap. Piggy says it makes her feel giggly.

• After Kermit is ditched on his date by Piggy at the Terrace Restaurant, Kermit slumps into the bar and meets Rowlf. During the opening of the soundtrack version of "I Hope That Somethin' Better Comes Along," Kermit orders a grasshopper -- an alcoholic beverage made with crème de menthe.

• Rowlf says he drinks a beer every night in "I Hope That Somethin' Better Comes Along" in The Muppet Movie.

• The poster for The Muppet Movie by Drew Struzan features Kermit and Piggy in a boat with a jug of wine tied to the bow.

• Dismissing Neville in The Great Muppet Caper, Piggy says, "No time for cocktails."

• Champagne from The Dubonnet Club, with enough sugar, tastes just like ginger ale.

• Heather Henson serves drinks at a beer hall in The Muppets Take Manhattan.

• When Gonzo explains a Dutch angle in the commentary for the The Muppet Christmas Carol Blu-ray, Rizzo says he thought the camera operator just had a pint. Gonzo responds, "He did."

• Though alcohol is never actually consumed in the film, Muppet Treasure Island includes a scene in which Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, and Beaker make several attempts to drink brandy.

• "Shiver My Timbers" includes the lyric, "those buccaneers drown their sins in rum, the Devil himself would have to call them scum."

• In the song "Sailing for Adventure", a female rat tourist sings the line, "and margaritas at the midnight buffet" while she holds a margarita glass.

• In Ziggy Marley's music video for "Love Power," Clueless Morgan drinks from a rum bottle.

• In the Muppet Treasure Island CD-ROM, an eyepatch is required to enter the Spyglass Inn. Stevenson the Parrot comments that "Hawkins" shouldn't "wink and drive."

• Animal chugs nog in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie. While this could be non-alcoholic nog, the practice of chugging in this manner at a party is usually indicative of booze.

• Kermit drinks a root beer (placing emphasis on the "root" to the audience) at a French pub in the "Moulin Scrooge" number from It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie.

• Robin the Frog plays the "green fairy" that absinthe drinkers are fabled to see in the "Moulin Scrooge" number from It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie.

• In It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, Statler and Waldorf claim to have bought drinks at Club Dot. The bartender (Johnny Fiama) says "They're lyin!" as he pours shots.

• As a promotional stunt for the German release of Muppets Most Wanted, Kermit appeared in a photo set for German magazine Bild with television personality Sylvie Meis. The pair went on a date where they drank wine and champagne before being interrupted by Miss Piggy.

• Jean Pierre Napoleon drinks wine while watching Miss Piggy sing "My Heart Will Go On" in Muppets Most Wanted.

Specials

• Kermit gets tipsy on elderflower wine in The Frog Prince.

• According to "Barbeque" in Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, "if your tastes are like mine, you like cider, not wine."

• In The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence, Waldorf is seen holding a glass of brandy. He's also seen with a brandy glass in Bonnie Erickson's original sketch of Statler and Waldorf. The brandy glass reappeared in a photo mosaic on Muppets.com as promotion for The Muppets.

• Following their rejection at the end of "Froggy Went A Courtin'" in The Muppets Valentine Show, Big Mouse offers to buy Kermit a beer.

• Many of the guests at the Coconut Grove are drinking in The Muppets Go Hollywood, most notably Statler and Waldorf.

• In "A Frog Too Far" from The Muppets Go to the Movies, Piggy plays a waitress who takes an order from Kermit playing a soldier at a USO club. "Bring me another grasshopper... oh, and a root beer to go with it. Those grasshoppers are pretty salty."

Muppets Tonight

• Polly Lobster serves Mr. Callahan a tall, frothy beer in Muppets Tonight episode 105, giving the audience a POV perspective to Mr. Callahan's imbibement.

• Dr. Phil van Neuter gets drunk on egg nog in a "Tales from the Vet" sketch from Muppets Tonight episode 201.

• Rick Moranis plays a hippie activist accompanied by Andy and Randy Pig in a sketch from Muppets Tonight episode 202. Their hide-out is littered with empty beer bottles and they reference drug-induced tripping.

• Bill Barretta played a drunk in Muppets Tonight episode 205.

• The Pickled Egg in episode 205 of Muppets Tonight is drunk due to the fact that he's pickled.

• Champagne has been set at Kermit's place at the table where he sits in the Four Weddings and a Funeral sketch in Muppets Tonight episode 211.

• George Takei orders two more sakes (Sulu style) and a Spock-and-soda (scotch and soda) for Beaker on a Star Trek celebrity cruise in Muppets Tonight episode 211.

• In episode 212 of Muppets Tonight, Statler and Waldorf are drinking brandy as they watch the show. Waldorf comments, "This show is like a glass of brandy. It's old and it makes my head hurt."

The Muppets

• Piggy mentions buying a "light Burgundy" at Trader Joe's in the presentation pilot.

• When the moderator of the panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2015 asked how Kermit is as a boss, Rizzo the Rat (being performed in plain view by Steve Whitmire) replied, "Well, he's in a box over here." Gonzo added, "I probably shouldn't say this, but Kermit's half in the bag right now," a phrase used to mean that he's drunk.

• Rowlf the Dog owns a tavern, an establishment typically like a bar where the menu is primarily alcoholic beverages that may sometimes also offer food.

• Kermit talks about hanging out at Rowlf's Tavern on Popcorn with Peter Travers where he names Scotch as his drink of choice.

• Zoot wakes up when he hears that he's in a meeting in The Muppets episode "Pig Girls Don't Cry" and begins to introduce himself. Floyd Pepper tells him it's "not that kind of meeting," alluding to the conduct at a typical meeting for substance abuse, such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

• Fozzie Bear asks if he should bring a bottle of champagne when meeting his parents in "Pig Girls Don't Cry" and then asks if the bottle of champagne in the Up Late with Miss Piggy kitchen belongs to anyone. Later, when meeting Becky's parents, Holly and Carl serve white wine with dinner, and after a small outburst, he asks if any of it was used in the dill sauce.

• Rizzo the Rat and Yolanda Rat dress up and enjoy champagne inside Fozzie's podium in "Pig Girls Don't Cry".

• The Muppets episode "Bear Left Then Bear Write" has a scene of Fozzie and Kermit drinking pumpkin-spice beer at Rowlf's Tavern.

• Jay Leno invites Fozzie to open for his act in Las Vegas in The Muppets episode "Hostile Makeover" and celebrates with two glasses of champagne. They never partake however, as Leno discovers Fozzie has been stealing trinkets from his house.

• The Muppets episode "Pig Out" shows almost the entire crew of Up Late with Miss Piggy drinking or holding alcoholic beverages at Rowlf's Tavern. Several promotional stills show even more of what whet the characters' whistles.

• Kermit promised Denise that he'd set some boundaries between their relationship and his job over a "boozy" game of Monopoly in The Muppets episode "Swine Song".

• Also in "Swine Song", Uncle Deadly unwinds after work with "the old, familiar burn" of a martini. His refreshment is interrupted by Gloria Estefan getting into his drink. By the end of the episode, he's learned his lesson and orders two drinks, but Gloria Estefan vomits on his suede boots.

• Pepe the King Prawn takes a shot, followed by lime, followed by a beer in "Little Green Lie" while watching Chip, Big Mean Carl and Sam the Eagle attempt to whoo Lara Spencer and friends at Rowlf's Tavern while Gonzo stays home with Camilla. Later he's completely drunk as the three wingmen leave with Spencer and her friends, as Gonzo arrives at the tavern.

Other

• Ploobis and Scred hit the sauce in a Land of Gorch sketch (December 13, 1975)

• Kermit tries to avoid his date with Dolly Parton by hiding out in a bar during a 1987 Dolly episode. However, he reveals that he's just been crying into his glass of Perrier.

• In the German TV special Jetzt geht die Party richtig los, Kermit, Piggy, Statler and Waldorf drink champagne to celebrate New Year's Eve.

• Miss Piggy chills a bottle of champagne as she waits for Santa Claus in a spoof of The Saturday Evening Post for The Miss Piggy Cover Girl Fantasy Calendar.

• Attending the ballet for a Great Performances presentation, Kermit and Piggy order sparkling banana chamblee wine during the intermission of Prokofiev's Cinderella.

• The back cover of Miss Piggy's Aerobique Exercise Workout Album shows Miss Piggy's floor littered with champagne bottles.

• On a 1983 Enesco mug illustrated by Guy Gilchrist, Kermit orders a shot of milk and a chaser from a bartender.

• Pops serves root beer and some other beverage at a saloon attended by Kermit, Piggy and Gonzo in a photo from The Muppets Look at TV spoofing Gunsmoke.

• Piggy demands that Kermit have champagne in the dugout if he joins Bob Hope's baseball team in Bob Hope's Salute to the 75th Anniversary of the World Series.

• Uncle Traveling Matt toasts the new year with a glass of champagne on a January 1984 cover of German TV guide magazine HÖRZU.

• In the Fraggle Rock episode "Wembley and the Mean Genie", the Genie has a mug in his hand and says to Wembley: "Hey there big nose, want some radish beer?" Wembley replies, "No! And you shouldn't be drinking that stuff either! It's bad for you!"

• Kermit and Piggy share glasses of champagne in the 1985 Playhouse Video The Kermit and Piggy Story.

• Recipes from In the Kitchen with Miss Piggy call for alcoholic ingredients such as Lena Horne's "Strawberry and Champagne Sorbet" and Yo-Yo Ma's "Barbecued Spareribs with Beer and Honey."

• In a Muppet Meeting Film, "The Coffee Break Machine," Luncheon Counter Monster comes across the COMP-U-COFFEE 2000, a modernized coffee machine. He inspects the small section where the coffee beans are grown, which are bathed in with a polymer-alcohol solution. As the monster sips some of the solution, he lets out a hiccup.

• Fran Sinclair gets drunk in "Wilderness Weekend."

• Earl Sinclair enjoys being left alone to drink beer.

• Gonzo plays a satyr in Muppet Classic Theater to replace Dionysus, the god of wine.

• In a Template:Medialink, Kermit holds a martini (presumably shaken, not stirred).

• Kermit orders "grasshoppers for everybody" at a bar in a 2003 sketch on Jimmy Kimmel Live. (VIDEO)

• Statler and Waldorf claim Miss Piggy's "hittin' the sauce again" after she dunks her pizza strip into some dipping sauce in a Pizza Hut commercial.

• A baby from a black-and-white number in The Muppet Show Comic Book #5, holds a mug that says "Repeal the 18th!" The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution established Prohibition in the United States making the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol for consumption illegal.

• When Kermit interviewed Johnny Depp at the premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, he appeared in a costume inspired by Depp's character from the movie, mimicking his drunken disposition. Depp informs him that it requires rum. "I like that even better," Kermit replied. "I might pickle myself."

• During a radio interview on On Air with Ryan Seacrest, Piggy is asked if she drinks. She responds that she never touches the stuff. Seacrest always assumed she was a drunk.

• In an appearance on the Australian Today, Murray Monster describes an Ozzie slang word as a food dish and orders one with a side of Merlot. Karl Stefanovic says he enjoyed a beer in a New York City restaurant, but Zoe says they don't know anything about drinking. Stefanovic offers to take Murray to a bar; Murray says he's ready with his fake ID (claiming he can pass for eight years old).

• Jason Segel and Kermit recall a recent trip they made together to Mexico in an interview segment for Unscripted. They tried a drink there called "The Muppet": a mix of Sprite and tequila which involves having your head shaken around like a Muppet (Segel demonstrates with Kermit). On ENERGY Berlin 103,4, he mentioned he drank Sambuca there; he also likes the worms at the bottom of vodka. (YouTube)

• During their November 2011 appearance on Saturday Night Live, Rowlf the Dog and Gonzo sing in a bar about drinking cinnamon beer.

• Singing "Somethin' Stupid" with Robbie Williams in One Night at the Palladium... "Afterwards, we drop into a quiet little place and have a drink or two." Piggy ad-libs, "or three or four!"

• At the beginning of a London press conference for The Muppets, Kermit excuses Miss Piggy's tardiness saying the last time he saw her, she was leaving a bar. "I'm not saying she was drinking, I'm just saying she was leaving the bar."

• According to their Muppet File in The Muppets Character Encyclopedia, The Barbershop Cactus Quartet's favorite song is "How Dry I Am" (or "The Near Future" by Irving Berlin), a drinking song from the Prohibition era ironically using "dry" to refer to being sober.

• In a March 24, 2014 interview on BBC Radio 1, Piggy's answer to a listener about how to handle a hangover is to not drink so much in the first place.

• Appearing on Alan Carr: Chatty Man in March 2014, Kermit and Constantine are served Sambuca by the show's host. They make jokes about not being able to reach the glasses from the couch, but promise to drink it off-camera. After commercial break, Constantine is offered a Jägerbomb, but it's clear that he's already had too much to drink and starts a fight with Carr. Gary Barlow performs a song during the final segment who is joined by Carr and Kermit. The camera cuts to Constantine several times being nursed by Ricky Gervais holding a bowl under his head.

• Sam the Eagle wakes up at a restaurant at the end of "Jungle Boogie", having just experienced a fever dream, looks at his drink and asks, "What exactly is in a Mai Tai anyway?"

• Beaker has a glass of white wine with a dummy of Bunsen in the "Flowers on the Wall" music video.

• Julie Bowen sends a bottle of champagne to Kermit and Piggy's table in a commercial for Audi. While Piggy leaves the table, Kermit has several glasses before Piggy tells them they're leaving without ordering food.

• Prior to the Electric Mayhem's appearance at Outside Lands, Floyd tells Pitchfork.com that Animal will be hanging out with drummers from other bands, "A very strange tribe, those drummers. As for me, I’m lookin’ forward to the beer."

• During the performance of "Bohemian Rhapsody" in The Muppets Take the Bowl, Dr. Teeth sings, "So we didn't rehearse this much before tonight/But if you drink enough wine, we might sound alright."

• Miss Piggy dispenses wisdom about wine in a Muppet Thought of the Week released on August 27, 2018: "Like a fine bottle of wine, appearance only improves with age. And trust moi, with several bottles of wine, almost anyone can look absolutely gorgeous!" (YouTube)

See also

• Smoking Muppets
• Muppets with anatomically functioning mouths