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| The "Toothache" sketch on The Muppet Show | |
| DEBUT | 1978 |
From "Bats: the Musical" on Muppets Tonight.
Speleothems are cave formations that can be produced in the form of stalactites, which hang from the ceiling, and stalagmites, which rise from the ground.
A set of two stalactites and four stalagmites appear in a sketch in episode 307 of The Muppet Show, in which one stalagmite complains of a toothache while the rest of the speleothems echo him. After a series of jokes about the voices that the central stalagmite hears, the sketch ends by zooming out to reveal the first set of speleothems to be the teeth of a second set of speleothems, which, in suggesting an infinite regression, begin to repeat the sketch verbatim. The two lead stalagmites were performed by Richard Hunt and Jerry Nelson.
In episode 108 of Muppets Tonight, a set of four differently designed stalactites can be seen on the set of Jason Alexander and Gonzo's closing number, "Bats: the Musical."