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Talking Houses
DEBUT 1976
DESIGN Michael K. Frith

The Talking Houses appeared in their own recurring sketch during the first season of The Muppet Show. Each sketch consisted of a single joke told between two houses, usually about one of their relatives but always about a building of some sort. Because the Houses never appeared outside of their sketches, it was never made clear whether they were supposed to be full-sized or in scale with the show's other Muppets. However, comics that appear in The Muppet Show Annual 1977 depict talking houses as being located right outside of the theater, being full-sized in comparison to other Muppets.

The Houses' first six appearances featured jokes told between House #1 and House #2 on the left side of the screen. House #3 and House #4 only spoke in the final sketch on episode 119.

The House from a Federal Housing Administration commercial was a predecessor of the Talking Houses.

At the end of The Muppet Show Comic Book: Pigs in Space, Rizzo the Rat suggests a movie idea featuring the houses: "Talking Houses: The Next Generation". The Muppet Show Comic Book: On the Road #2 features a similar sketch, with talking caravans instead of houses.

The Houses were also given their own page in The Muppets Character Encyclopedia.

Performers[]

Sketches[]

Episode 104: Ruth Buzzi:

House 2: I hear your son, the hotel, has become interested in his religion.
House 1: Oh, interested isn't the word. He's seriously thinking about becoming a monastery.

Episode 106: Jim Nabors:

House 2: My wife's not feeling well.
House 1: Sorry to hear it. What's wrong?
House 2: She's got the shingles.

Episode 107: Florence Henderson:

House 2: My brother has ghosts in his attic.
House 1: Sounds scary.
House 2: Yeah, he's on the top 10 most haunted list.

Episode 108: Paul Williams:

House 1: My mother is very religious.
House 2: She's a fanatic?
House 1: No, she's a church.

Episode 110: Harvey Korman:

House 1: My insides are killing me!
House 2: Oh, ulcers?
House 1: No, movers.

Episode 117: Ben Vereen:

House 2: My uncle's into poetry, he loves Edgar Guest.
House 1: Why?
House 2: Why else? He's a guest house.

Episode 119: Vincent Price:

House 3: My youngest boy is very interested in medicine.
House 4: He's a doctor?
House 3: No, a hospital.

Book Appearances[]

See also[]

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