
The Muppet Show (1976)
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Chris Langham — Writer
Episodes 48
Gilda Radner
Sketches/Songs: ""The Lullaby of Broadway"", ""Modern Major General"", ""Muppet Melodrama"", ""Witch Doctor"", ""A Saucy Little Bird on Nellie's Hat"", ""Muppet Labs"", ""Muppet Newsflash"", ""Tap Your Troubles Away""
Read MorePearl Bailey
Sketches/Songs: ""My Soul is a Witness"", ""Muppet Labs"", ""Muppet Newsflash"", ""In the Good Old Summertime"", ""An Actor's Life For Me"", ""Pigs In Space"", ""At the Dance"", The Camelot joust
Read MoreJean Stapleton
Sketches/Songs: ""Tico Tico"", ""Play a Simple Melody"", ""At the Dance"", ""Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow-Wow"", ""Talk Spot"", ""Muppet Melodrama"", ""Muppet Labs"", ""I'm Just Wild About Harry""
Read MoreLoretta Lynn
Sketches/Songs: ""You're Looking at Country"", ""I'm All Alone"", ""Muppet Newsflash"", Fozzie's Act, ""At the Dance"", ""Sentimental Journey"", ""Oh, Lonesome Me"", ""Veterinarian's Hospital"", ""Muppet Newsflash"", ""The Rhyming Song"", ""One's on the Way""
Read MoreRaquel Welch
Fozzie heard that Roy Clark was going to bring Country to the show and sent all of the stagehands out to the country. Matters are complicated even more when a fire breaks out backstage and Fozzie tries to keep it a secret from Kermit.
Read MoreAlice Cooper
Miss Piggy becomes increasingly jealous as Kermit appears to give a young pig performer attention.
Read MoreHelen Reddy
Sketches/Songs: ""Staying Alive"", ""How Can You Be"", Fozzie's dance number, ""Muppet Newsflash"", ""Beethoven's Sonata No.8, Opus 13"", ""You and Me Against the World"", ""Veterinarian's Hospital"", ""Tie Me Kangaroo Down"", ""We'll Sing in the Sunshine""
Read MoreJames Coco
Sketches/Songs: ""Octopus's Garden"", ""The Medium"", ""Eight Little Notes"", ""Swedish Chef"", ""Catch a Falling Star"", ""Veterinarian's Hospital"", ""Short People""
Read MoreMarisa Berenson
Sketches/Songs: ""Russian Pig Dance"", ""Dance"", ""Muppet Sports"", ""Someone to Watch Over Me"", ""Do-Re-Mi"", ""Our House"", ""The Wedding""
Read MoreKris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge
Sketches/Songs: ""Help Me Make It Through the Night"", Gonzo's Act, ""Muppet Labs"", ""My Wild Irish Rose"", ""Muppet Newsflash"", ""We're All Alone"", ""A Frog He Would a Wooing Go"", ""New York State of Mind"", ""An Actor's Life For Me"", ""A Song I'd Like To Sing""
Read MoreDanny Kaye
Sketches/Songs: "Aquarius," "Lunchtime," "Cheek to Cheek," "Jogging," "Swedish Chef," "The Flying Zucchini Brothers," "The Municipal Vermin Abatement Code," "Inchworm"
Read MoreCheryl Ladd
Sketches/Songs: ""True Love"", ""South Rampart Street Parade"", ""Pigs In Space"", ""There's a New Sound"", ""I Enjoy Being a Girl"", Gonzo's Act, ""Sunshine on my Shoulder""
Read MoreHarry Belafonte
Sketches/Songs: ""Day-O"", ""Tea For Two"", ""Pigs In Space"", ""Honeysuckle Rose"", Animal and Harry play the drums, ""Muppet Sports"", ""Turn the World Around""
Read MoreLesley Ann Warren
Sketches/Songs: Gonzo's first motorcycle jump, ""Beauty and the Beast"", ""Pigs In Space"", ""Mack the Knife"", ""Just the Way You Are"", Gonzo's second motorcycle jump, ""Last Dance""
Read MoreLeslie Uggams
Sketches/Songs: ""Hey There, Good Times"", ""Muppet Labs"", ""Here You Come Again"", ""Mad About the Frog"", ""Bear on Patrol"", ""Vendawish"", ""Camilla"", ""Love Will Keep Us Together""
Read MoreElke Sommer
Sketches/Songs: ""Pennsylvania 6-5000"", ""Animal Crackers"", ""Pigs In Space"", ""Tuxedo Junction"", ""Pigs In Space"", ""Muppet Sports"", ""Row, Row, Row""
Read MoreSylvester Stallone
Sketches/Songs: ""Hawaiian War Chant"", ""Let's Call the Whole Thing Off"", ""Lady Be Good"", ""The William Tell Overture"", ""Veterinarian's Hospital"", Fozzie's Act, ""Bird in a Gilded Cage""
Read MoreRoger Miller
Song: Penguins in Mayflower: ""Alabama Bound"" Cluckitis (best running gag they ever had IMHO) Roger sings with watermelons Bear on Patrol: assaulting an officer Song: Roger: ""A Hat Like That"" Rowlf Vet's Hospital Song: Roger: ""Whack-a-Doo"" Song: ""Dang Me"".
Read MoreRoy Rogers & Dale Evans
Sketches/Songs: ""Blue Skies"", ""Skyball Paint"", ""Muppet Sports"", ""Deep in the Heart of Texas"", ""A Four Legged Friend"", ""Bear on Patrol"", Cowboy and Skyball sketch, ""Medley""
Read MoreSpike Milligan
Sketches/Songs: ""Oklahoma"", ""An Editorial by Sam The Eagle"", ""The Music of Scotland"", ""Muppet Newsflash"", ""Dog Walk"", ""America"", ""The Intergalactic Brotherhood of Man, Including Things"", ""It's a Small World""
Read MoreLynn Redgrave
The Muppets perform the classic tale of Robin Hood.
Read MoreRoger Moore
Kermit calls the Secret Service to hire real spies for Roger's closing number. (They're listed in the Yellow Pages.) However, Roger wants to do a cute, cuddly version of "Talk to the Animals". The spies, anxious for a chance to rub out James Bond, pose as fluffy animals to infiltrate the number.
Read MoreLoretta Swit
How well can Loretta fit into Miss Piggy's roles? It all comes to a dramatic climax with the ""Pigs in Space"" installment.
Read MoreJames Coburn
Animal hits it off with tough guy James Coburn -- but James decides that Animal isn't centered enough, and introduces him to meditation and Zen. Animal doesn't take well to Zen.
Read MoreLinda Ronstadt
Afraid that Linda will steal her frog away, Piggy locks Kermit up in a chest owned by Gonzo when Scooter helps him move his mildew ""collection"" and hides it.
Read MoreTony Randall
Browsing through an old book of magic spells, Tony accidentally turns Miss Piggy into stone. He considers bringing her to a stonemason for help. Fozzie, Gonzo and Floyd crack stone jokes as Kermit and Tony try to find a spell to change her back. Of course, the show must go on, and the Piggy statue takes the stage for "Pigs in Space".
Read MoreBrooke Shields
Thinking she was booked to do "The Muffin Show," Brooke finds herself growing and shrinking as the Muppets stage Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Read MoreMelissa Manchester
Kermit is plagued by a night of backstage crises. A group of skiers get hurt during the opening number, and after Kermit says that the theater will cover their medical costs, Scooter forgets to cash the check. The Teeterini Family are angry that their teeter board won't fit on the stage. The Swedish Chef prepares spring chicken, and the bouncing chicken drives Kermit crazy. And let's not even talk about the blindfolded, hang-gliding yodelers.
Read MoreSeñor Wences
In honor of Señor Wences and his puppets, Kermit decides to do something new -- a puppet show! Fozzie wants to do a marionette act with a Dancing Clown puppet, but the marionette eventually pulls Fozzie down on the stage with him and takes control of the strings himself.
Read MoreJean-Pierre Rampal
Miss Piggy is cornered by flautist Jean-Pierre, who wants to speak French with her. She claims to have laryngitis, whispering, "My vocal coach told me not to speak French. I'm not even supposed to eat French fries!"
Read MoreGladys Knight
The theater is under repair, but the workers have to destroy in order to build. They take the roof right off, leaving this show victim to the elements.
Read MoreJoan Baez
Rizzo and the other rats bother Kermit for a spot on the show, so Kermit asks Beauregard to "take care of them." Of course, Bo takes that literally, and treats them as guests. The rats make Beau their president, and manipulate him into giving them food. The rats eventually become so bold that they decide to take over the show. Kermit says Beau has to kick them out, or he goes with them. Beau chooses to stick with his new rat friends, until Miss Piggy enlightens him.
Read MoreMarty Feldman
The Muppets present their version of 1001 Arabian Nights, with guest star Marty Feldman playing the role of Scheherazade, telling tales to an evil Caliph (played by the Swedish Chef).
Read MoreGlenda Jackson
Glenda reveals herself to be Black Jackson the pirate captain, and she takes over the Muppet Theater with the help of Short John Silver (Sweetums) and Eric, a heartless pirate parrot (in disguise as a penguin). They tie Kermit up, turn the theater into a ship, and cast off to look for buried treasure. The show ends with a musical battle at sea, with Gonzo and a crew of chickens fighting to save Kermit and the theater.
Read MoreGene Kelly
Gene is under the impression that he's a "guest" -- that is, he's going to sit and watch, but not perform onstage. Frantic, Kermit tricks him into performing by asking him to give him a dance lesson on-stage. Kermit plans a surprise closing number, "Singin' in the Rain," Gene refuses, saying that he doesn't think he'll ever sing the song as good as he did in the movie, but he does eventually sing it backstage. Meanwhile, Scooter uses his Tarot cards to predict that the world is coming to an end. Beauregard believes him, and tries to convince the rest of the cast the apocalypse is near.
Read MoreHal Linden
Statler and Waldorf get their chance to do a better show than Kermit--they play host, while Kermit and Fozzie heckle from the balcony. Unfortunately, Statler and Waldorf's acts don't turn out exactly as they plan.
The Berlin National Opera Company cancels and are replaced by the Salzburg Sauerkraut Singers. Hal's Fourth of July number is invaded by Gonzo on a sleigh singing Christmas songs. Finally, Statler and Waldorf admit that the show is harder to put together than it looks and happily go back to complaining from the balcony.
Read MoreWally Boag
In honor of vaudeville-influenced guest star Wally Boag, the Muppets salute vaudeville, with a balloon animal act, a bagpipe player and a hypnotist. Wally performs acts he made famous at the Golden Horseshoe Revue at Disneyland, including the Pecos Bill teeth-spitting sketch.
Read MoreDebbie Harry
Robin's Frog Scout troop visits the show, getting in everyone's way backstage. They ask Debbie for help earning their punk merit badges, and she teaches them how to do the pogo. When Gonzo cancels his act, the Frog Scouts get their chance to do a performance of close-order drills.
Read MoreJohnny Cash
In honor of Johnny Cash's appearance, the show is simulcast over country radio station WHOG, and the radio broadcast threatens to overwhelm the actual show. The head of WHOG, Big Tiny Tall Saddle, insists on making all the decisions. He refuses to let Rowlf go on, and instead schedules Grampaw McGuire and his whistling bricks. Kermit tries to run his own show, but Big Tiny is one of the toughest men alive -- when he's annoyed, he has a habit of wrapping microphone stands around people's necks. Fozzie is replaced by Wally Whoopie, a stand-up comedian who makes fun of the bear -- which inspires Kermit to stand up for his friend, and his show.
Read MoreCarol Burnett
There's no show today, almost; the theater is turned into a dance marathon hosted by Gonzo.
Read MoreBuddy Rich
Thanks to Gonzo's refrigerated mildew collection, the power goes out in the theater, and Beauregard almost electrocutes himself trying to fix it. Half of the acts have to perform in the dark, until Dr. Bunsen Honeydew hooks up a generator that runs on Beaker-power. Beaker runs on a huge wheel to generate power, and when he gets tired, Bunsen helps to motivate him by releasing a hungry tiger onto the wheel.
Read MorePaul Simon
Paul inspires Gonzo to be a songwriter. Unfortunately, Gonzo writes songs like "For You": "For youuu... I'd wash my hair with stinky glue, I'd fry my legs and eat them too, I'd put a spider in my shoe -- for yoouuuu!" Paul is stunned. Later, Gonzo's chickens run off with Paul, so Gonzo develops a new obsession -- asparagus. But at the end of the episode both the chickens and the asparagus run away when Paul asks for chicken with a side of asparagus.
Read MoreChris Langham
A messenger brings a message from the scheduled guest star -- Benny Brillstein, the Yiddish yodeler. Benny refuses to be on the show, so Kermit asks Chris, the messenger boy, to be the guest. Chris knows a joke, so Kermit introduces him as a comedian.
Read MoreShirley Bassey
Kermit borrows fifty million dollars worth of gold for Shirley's closing number, "Goldfinger". Security guard Bruno is suspicious that Kermit wants to steal the gold, but keeping an eye on the frog makes him overlook a band of pig thieves, who steal all the gold as Shirley sings.
Read More