The Muppet Show

About the series

Contains story spoilers.

The Muppet Show is Jim Henson’s 1976–1981 variety series, made in England and built around a weekly revue staged at the Muppet Theatre. Kermit tries to hold together a company whose backstage needs regularly collide with the next song, sketch or guest appearance. Miss Piggy’s ambitions, Fozzie’s comedy, Gonzo’s stunts, the Electric Mayhem’s music and the heckling from Statler and Waldorf give the ensemble different sources of disruption. The celebrity guest is part of the company for an episode, not simply an outside performer introduced between sketches. It is the original five-season series, distinct from later Muppet productions and films.

The format becomes its own story in Steve Martin’s visit. Kermit announces that the evening is cancelled because he has mistaken the date and scheduled auditions instead. The audience begins to leave, but Martin arrives in a bathrobe and shower cap, irritated that nobody told him he would no longer be the guest star. He walks out after making his complaint, leaving Kermit to proceed with auditions. The promised show becomes an evening of acts: Martin returns as a banjo-playing “Ramblin’ Guy,” while would-be performers and the Muppets fill the bill. The ending keeps the joke alive by thanking Martin for the pleasure of not being on the cancelled show.

Elton John’s episode lets one recurring backstage gag grow out of several separate mishaps. He opens with “Crocodile Rock” in a swamp, where the crocodiles drag him toward the water until Kermit reminds them that guests should not be eaten. Scooter tries to get his song to Elton; Kermit resists, then helps move the piano when he learns the theatre owner is Scooter’s uncle. The performance is a mangled “Bennie and the Jets,” and Kermit only recognizes it after dismissing the tune. Meanwhile, the Swedish Chef’s chicken lays ping-pong balls, prompting a chase that spills into “Pigs in Space.” Sam the Eagle’s objections to Elton’s clothes are overturned by a Mozart painting, forcing Sam to dress extravagantly for the introduction.

Julie Andrews’s visit builds comedy around the unexpected presence of a real cow backstage. She sings “The Lonely Goatherd” with Kermit as a prince and a chorus of Muppet characters, while Kermit separately tries to learn who owns the cow. The animal becomes a continuing problem for the staff and a fascination for Gonzo, who invites it to dinner after his bagpipe act ends when a beaver chews through the flagpole supporting him. Andrews also sings to Kermit in his dressing room, and the closing sequence gives the cow one last beat when Zoot’s saxophone imitates a moo. The episode’s polite musical showcase and unruly animal business keep interrupting one another.

The “Star Wars” episode turns a guest booking into an invasion of the show’s plans. Kermit expects a scheduled act, but Luke Skywalker, C-3PO and R2-D2 crash through a wall searching for Chewbacca and refuse to perform. Luke retrieves his “cousin,” Mark Hamill, who can sing, dance and do impressions, giving Kermit two versions of the same guest to manage. The episode’s Pigs in Space segment folds the visitors into a rescue story: Piggy serves as Princess Leia while the crew confronts Gonzo as Dearth Nadir and tries to free Chewbacca. The finale joins the casts in “When You Wish Upon a Star,” then keeps Luke and Hamill together for a final tailor joke.

Cloris Leachman’s episode begins with the pigs taking over. They capture Kermit and put a pig lookalike in the host’s place, while Fozzie tries to devise an escape from the boiler room. His plan collapses when he realizes there is no window; a disconnected telephone offers little more help. Leachman, meanwhile, spots that the new emcee is not Kermit when he confuses the running order and puts her with Sweetums too early. She explains that her number belongs at the end and refuses to accept the pig impersonator’s identity until he ribbits. Fozzie’s accidental blows and Gonzo’s later attempt to tunnel out add more failed rescue efforts. Leachman finally draws the invaders away with a hog-calling contest, allowing Kermit to resume hosting. Gonzo only breaks through the wall during the goodnights, after the others are already free.

Across the series, the guest star’s skills and public image give the writers material, but the durable comic engine is the production itself: a running order to maintain, performers with competing ideas and a backstage mishap that interrupts the next cue. Elton’s wardrobe troubles, the cow in Andrews’s episode and Kermit’s cancelled show each create different kinds of pressure, while recurring acts such as “Pigs in Space” or “Veterinarian’s Hospital” provide recognizable anchors. The five seasons preserve this loose variety structure while letting character relationships and theatrical disasters take more room. The result is a fictional show about putting on a show, where a missed cue or unruly guest can become the night’s central plot. The audience and critics may heckle, yet Kermit’s job is less to control every performer than to get enough of them back on stage for the next number. Alice Cooper’s visit creates a darker variation: monsters fill his dressing room, Kermit flees an eerie introduction, and Alice offers the troupe fame in exchange for their souls. Gonzo wants to sign but cannot find a pen, while Miss Piggy tests and rejects the bargain. Robin’s gentle “Over the Rainbow” gives Fozzie one welcome calm moment before Cooper and the monsters close with “School’s Out.”