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− | | [[image:snlep6.jpg|center|200px]]<br>[[image:igotyoubabe1.jpg|center|200px]] || November 22, 1975||<center>[[Lily Tomlin]]</center> ||Scred falls for Lily Tomlin, and they sing a duet of "[[I Got You Babe]]." |
+ | | [[image:snlep6.jpg|center|200px]]<br>[[image:igotyoubabe1.jpg|center|200px]] || November 22, 1975||<center>[[Lily Tomlin]]</center> ||Scred falls for Lily Tomlin, and they sing a duet of "[[I Got You Babe]]."<br>''The introduction to the duet can be seen on [[Hulu]].'' |
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| [[Image:Scred_and_ploobis_drunk.JPG|center|200px]] || December 13, 1975||<center>[[Richard Pryor]]</center> ||Ploobis and Scred "hit the sauce" and go see the Mighty Favog. |
| [[Image:Scred_and_ploobis_drunk.JPG|center|200px]] || December 13, 1975||<center>[[Richard Pryor]]</center> ||Ploobis and Scred "hit the sauce" and go see the Mighty Favog. |
Revision as of 17:07, 22 December 2009
The Land of Gorch was a recurring sketch on the first season of Saturday Night Live. Lorne Michaels, executive producer of the show, stated in a Tomorrow Show interview prior to the series' premiere that these sketches would feature "a whole new group of Muppets which are adult Muppets and who can stay up late." These new "adult" Muppet characters included King Ploobis, Queen Peuta, Scred, Vazh, Wisss and the Mighty Favog. Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson, and Frank Oz performed the roles of Ploobis, Scred, and the Mighty Favog respectively, while Alice Tweedie, Fran Brill, and Richard Hunt performed the roles of Peuta, Vazh, and Wisss. Opening narration for the sketches was supplied by Saturday Night Live staff announcer Don Pardo.
The series of sketches lasted from SNL's premiere in October 1975 to April 1976 (and became a recurring joke in the next season). The original proposals and scripts refer to the sketches as Gortch rather than Gorch; over time the spelling was changed, and both versions are found in the Henson files.
According to the Muppet Morsels on The Muppet Show: Season One DVD, only hired writers for Saturday Night Live, and not Henson employees, were allowed to write Gorch sketches. Other writing credits went to SNL contributors Chevy Chase and Al Franken. Despite this, Jim Henson did write one sketch, for the episode hosted by Raquel Welch. In a 2009 interview Jerry Nelson revealed that he wrote the sketch with Lily Tomlin and Scred.[1]
The writing staff were generally less than pleased with the presence of the Muppets. Writer Alan Zweibel expressed his views on the topic:
During the middle of the season, after a deal to produce The Muppet Show in England had been made, the sets were destroyed, and the Muppets were officially "let go" from the show's regular cast. All of the Gorch sketches from the second half of the season revolved around the idea that the Muppets had been fired, and were trying desperately to get their jobs back. In 1983, Jim Henson commented on what happened behind the scenes at Saturday Night Live:
In early 1999, Frank Oz also commented on the show:
The segments dealt with a number of racy issues: alcohol abuse, adultery, species extinction, drugs, and other "adult" topics, though each was treated with the expected SNL irreverence.
Skits were indeed performed live; the exception was the January 24, 1976 episode; that sketch was pre-taped on January 10th, during the pre-shoot of the Elliot Gould episode.
The Muppets were supposed to have appeared on the Saturday Night Live episode hosted by Gerald Ford's press secretary, Ron Nessen, as evidenced by a behind-the-scenes photo and Don Pardo's announcing the Muppet cast during that episode's credits. Nessen explained at the end of the episode that they could not be there due to "technical complications."
The Gorch sketches from the first season were included on the Saturday Night Live: The Complete First Season DVD set.
While the Gorch characters were never significantly utilized following their expulsion from SNL, they can be glimpsed in the crowd of Muppets during the "Rainbow Connection" finale in The Muppet Movie (1979).
Sketches
Image | Airdate | Guest Host | Summary |
---|---|---|---|
October 11, 1975 | Ploobis and Scred are sent to The Mighty Favog for medical advice. | ||
October 18, 1975 | The Mighty Favog provides fiscal assistance. | ||
October 25, 1975 | Ploobis and Scred find out that Wisss is smoking craters, and they do what they can to get Wisss to stop. | ||
November 8, 1975 | Ploobis wants to eat some Gligs, but there are only two left. He goes to the Mighty Favog for advice on making more, and Favog charges a Glig as payment. | ||
November 15, 1975 | Scred does everything he can to cure Ploobis' headache. | ||
November 22, 1975 | Scred falls for Lily Tomlin, and they sing a duet of "I Got You Babe." The introduction to the duet can be seen on Hulu. | ||
December 13, 1975 | Ploobis and Scred "hit the sauce" and go see the Mighty Favog. | ||
December 20, 1975 | Ploobis throws a Christmas party. However, most of the invited guests have chosen to go to the Killer Bees' Christmas party instead. Even Vazh and Wisss duck out to go to the Bees' party. Candice Bergen shows up, and is disappointed with what she sees. Candice, Ploobis and Scred sing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", and then Scred invites Candice to go to the Bees' party with him. | ||
January 10, 1976 | Peuta reveals to Scred that she feels guilty about their affair, and that he should confess to Ploobis or else risk losing her. Ploobis, meanwhile, vows to kill whoever has been fooling around with his wife. Scred seeks advice from the Mighty Favog, who refers him to page 212 in "The Joy of Sex." | ||
January 17, 1976 | With Ploobis out of town, Scred is able to show Peuta the new sex device he just got. Rollin Krewson served as assistant puppeteer for this sketch. | ||
January 24, 1976 | Gilda Radner is about to introduce the musical guest when Scred, in bee costume, comes on-stage. Scred has been asked to participate in a Bee sketch, a bee version of The Andy Griffith Show (he was supposed to play Aunt Bee), but learns that the sketch has been cancelled. Gilda lets him introduce musical guest Neil Sedaka. | ||
February 28, 1976 | The Muppets are at the Grammy Awards in California, so Chevy Chase performs a sketch on the Gorch set. | ||
March 13, 1976 | Ploobis and Scred ask Anthony Perkins to help them get back their jobs on the show. They come back during the middle of a later sketch for help, and at the end of the episode, they come on-stage during the credits. | ||
April 24, 1976 | Backstage, Ploobis and Scred face facts: the Muppets just aren't welcome on the show. They can't even "get lucky" with Raquel Welch because, as she points out, they "don't exist below the waist." Chevy Chase comes by to tell them that their act has been cancelled.
Later in the show, Scred and Ploobis encounter The Mighty Favog, who tells them the Muppets have no choice but to get in the trunk. They enter a big trunk along with Peuta, Vazh and Wisss. Now that they're all inside, Favog thinks he has a chance at stardom... According to the Henson Archives, this is the only sketch not written by the regular SNL writing staff; it was written by Jim Henson. | ||
May 8, 1976 | Scred and the Mighty Favog try to cut a deal. They ask Chevy Chase to tell Lorne Michaels that if the Muppets get rehired to appear on the show, the Mighty Favog will get the Beatles to appear on the show for free. | ||
September 18, 1976 | Having been asleep in a filing cabinet for quite some time, the Gorch Muppets wake up and assume they must be in the afterlife. Lily Tomlin visits them, and tries to sing "I Whistle a Happy Tune". Unfortunately, the Muppets can't whistle. The characters appear later on towards the end of the episode to join everyone in "The Antler Dance." |
Cast
- Jim Henson as King Ploobis
- Jerry Nelson as Scred
- Frank Oz as the Mighty Favog
- Alice Tweedie as Queen Peuta
- Fran Brill as Vazh
- Richard Hunt as Wisss
See also
- Land of Gorch Characters
- Land of Gorch Goofs
External links
Sources
- ↑ Nelson, Jerry Tough Pigs Interview
- ↑ Shales, Tom and James Andrew Miller. Live From New York. Little Brown & Co. 2002 p. 69-70
- ↑ Jim Henson Interview by Judy Harris
- ↑ Star Wars Insider #42, p. 69, 70