More From Decider

Throwback

‘The Muppet Show’ on Disney+: 10 Must-See Episodes You Should Not Miss

Where to Stream:

The Muppet Show

Powered by Reelgood

The Muppets have been part of the pop culture landscape since 1955, when Jim Henson and his future wife Jane Nebel created Sam and Friends, a series produced for WRC-TV in Washington, DC, but for all of Henson’s various successes after that, the Muppets didn’t truly become a phenomenon as the Muppets until the 1976 debut of The Muppet Show. From there, the series begat The Muppet Movie, and it’s been a long, funny ride ever since. 

To celebrate the arrival of all five seasons of The Muppet Show on Disney+ (minus two episodes and a smattering of songs that couldn’t be cleared), Decider has put together a list of 10 must-see episodes of the series, pointedly selecting two episodes from each season. As such, virtually no one will be happy with this list because there’s very little chance that we haven’t left out some episode that you, the reader, views as indispensable. This, of course, provides the perfect conversation starter, so after you read the piece and get irate about the omissions, be sure to share them on social media along with this article.

And with that, it’s time to put on makeup, it’s time to dress up right, and it’s time to meet Decider’s 10 must-see episodes of The Muppet Show tonight!

1

Juliet Prowse (Season 1, Episode 1)

MUPPET SHOW JULIET PROWSE
Photo: Disney+

Original Air Date: January 16, 1977

Why You Might Recognize Her: For playing Elvis’s leading lady in 1960’s G.I. Blues, which was by far her biggest film success, or for playing Doc’s ex-wife on several episodes of The Love Boat.

Why the Episode Stands Out: Although it wasn’t the first to air, this was the first produced episode of the series, and it’s damned impressive to see just how quickly Jim Henson and company had solidified their vision for what they wanted The Muppet Show to be. Sure, bits and pieces changed here and there over the years, but the first episode looks and feels virtually the same as the last episode.

Best Song: Toughest. Decision. Ever. But as much fun as it is to see Scooter singing “Simon Smith and His Dancing Bear” while Fozzie makes with some fancy footwork, as hilarious as Rowlf’s version of “You and I and George” is, and as awesome as the Muppet Glee Club’s version of “Temptation” might be, the fact of the matter is that when it comes to Muppet songs, they don’t come much more memorable than “Mah Nà Mah Nà” by Mahna Mahna. That’s just a stone-cold fact.

Best Sketch: The western parody “Kid Fozzie Comes to Town,” where Fozzie does a terrible John Wayne impression and comes armed with two loaded pickles, a carrot, and an apple with its fuse lit.

Best Visual Gag: Zoot (from the Muppet Show Band) comes onstage and asks Juliet Prowse, “What has one eye, sharp teeth and is long and fuzzy?” She doesn’t know. Neither does Zoot, but he  tells her she’s wearing it, at which point her “boa” suddenly pipes up and says, “Hiya, toots!”

Watch The Muppet Show – Season 1, Episode 1 on Disney+

2

Paul Williams (Season 1, Episode 8)

MUPPET SHOW PAUL WILLIAMS
Photo: Disney+

Original Air Date: October 10, 1976

Why You Might Recognize Him: He was a regular guest on variety shows throughout the 1970s, he was in the Smokey and the Bandit movies, and he’s both a prolific and popular songwriter and a successful singer in his own right.

Why the Episode Stands Out: Williams has a long history with the Muppets, having penned songs for The Muppet Movie, Emmett Otter’s Jugband Christmas, and other projects, so it’s great to see him actually interacting with Kermit and the gang.

Best Song: Williams singing his classic single “Just an Old Fashioned Love Song” with Muppet versions of himself.  It’s impossible to keep from smiling while watching him have a singalong with his other selves.

Best Recurring Sketch: In a panic about whether his new act will flop, Fozzie is convinced by Scooter to fall back on “the old telephone pole bit.” The bit itself is – not entirely surprisingly – absolutely groanworthy, but the lead-up as Fozzie prepares for the bit is far funnier.

Best Pop Culture Joke: While practicing to be a telephone pole, Fozzie encounters Hilda, who mocks his efforts and says, “No one would believe you were a telephone pole!” Immediately thereafter, a man walks up, wraps wire around Fozzie’s nose, and begins singing “Wichita Lineman.”

 

 

Watch The Muppet Show – Season 1, Episode 8 on Disney+

3

Edgar Bergen (Season 2, Episode 7)

MUPPET SHOW EDGAR BERGEN
Photo: Disney+

Original Air Date: October 7, 1977

Why You Might Recognize Him: Once upon a time, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy Charlie McCarthy were among the biggest stars on radio, which is more a testimonial to Bergen’s comic timing than his skill as a ventriloquist. (Think about it.) These days, his daughter Candice is the far better known Bergen, but if you’re a Muppet fan, you may also remember Bergen and Charlie turning up as beauty pageant judges in The Muppet Movie.

Why the Episode Stands Out: It’s the bringing-together of two generations of puppeteers, both of which knew the value of a well-timed smart-ass remark, making for a perfect combination of sensibilities.

Best Song: “Time in a Bottle,” during which an elderly scientist drinks different potions, each one making him a little bit younger, until the end, when drinking the wrong one sends him back to his original age. Fair warning: the older you are, the more likely it is to make you start tearing up.

Best Running Sketch: Fozzie’s ill-advised decision to follow in Bergen’s footsteps and try his hand at ventriloquism, using his little friend, Chucky.

Worst Pun:  Kermit tells Charlie McCarthy to just relax and act natural, and when Charlie retorts that he is acting natural, Kermit replies, “Really? You look a little wooden to me.” (In response, Charlie admits, “If you’re gonna do jokes like that, Bergen and I will feel right at home.”)

Watch The Muppet Show – Season 2, Episode 7 on Disney+

4

John Cleese (Season 2, Episode 23)

MUPPET SHOW JOHN CLEESE
Photo: Disney+

Original Air Date: October 21, 1977

Why You Might Recognize Him: Oh, you know, maybe from a little show called Monty Python’s Flying Circus? Or perhaps Fawlty Towers. Or how about A Fish Called Wanda? Surely one of these will do the trick.

Why the Episode Stands Out: It’s a recurring joke throughout the series that getting a gig on The Muppet Show isn’t exactly a badge of showbiz honor, but this is the first episode where the host spends the cold open tied to a chair to keep him from leaving and then spends the remainder of the proceedings grousing about just how awful the experience is. Cleese gets bent out of shape over the fact that his contract’s “No Pigs” clause is being flagrantly ignored, and he’s in full Basil Fawlty mode during the closing number, refusing to be drawn in to singing a song and only getting progressively more furious as the Muppets create a number around his rantings. In other words, it’s hilarious.

Best Song: “Two Lost Souls,” because how often do you get to see Sweetums teamed up with Kermit’s little nephew, Robin?

Best Sketch: “Pigs in Space,” with John Cleese playing Long John Silverstein, a pirate who – along with his mouthy parrot – hijacks the Swine Trek. It’s pure Python-esque madness, with Cleese assuring a skeptical Link Heartthrob, “Of course I’m a pirate! I’ve got a hat, a parrot and a hook. What else should I be? A management consultant?”

Best Pop Culture Joke: During the aforementioned pirate sketch, Cleese finally gets fed up with his feathered co-conspirator and snaps, “Do you want to be an ex-parrot?”

 

 

Watch The Muppet Show – Season 2, Episode 23 on Disney+

5

Gilda Radner (Season 3, Episode 4)

MUPPET SHOW GILDA RADNER
Photo: Disney+

Original Air Date: April 2, 1978

Why You Might Recognize Her: For her stint as one of Saturday Night Live‘s original Not Ready for Prime-Time Players or, failing that, for Hanky Panky, The Woman in Red, or Haunted Honeymoon, the three films she did with husband Gene Wilder.

Why the Episode Stands Out: Saturday Night Live was one of the biggest shows in television at the time, so it was a pretty big deal for one of the cast members to make an appearance on another series, but it’s worth mentioning that this was also a reunion of sorts, since the Muppets had a recurring segment during the first season of SNL.

Best Song: Although Gilda’s Gilbert and Sullivan medley is pretty great, we’re giving the edge of Marvin Suggs and his Muppaphone doing “Witch Doctor.” Yes, it’s Muppet abuse, but it’s no less funny for that.

Best Recurring Sketch: After a visit to Muppet Labs, where Dr. Bunsen Honeydew uses Gilda as a guinea pig to test his new Super Adhesive, only for the adhesive to spill everywhere. In turn, virtually everyone on the show ends up sticky, resulting in some great moments with Kermit and Piggy, Rowlf and Zoot, and Gonzo, not to mention the havoc it wreaks on Gilda’s closing song and dance number.

Worst Pun: There are several, and they’re all found within the backstage scene where Gilda discovers that her request for a seven-foot-tall talking parrot was misheard, resulting in the arrival of a seven-foot-tall talking carrot, leaving Gilda without an opening number because “I was going to do selections from The Parrots of Penzance.” There’s also a terrible pun involving Cole Porter, but better you should suffer that one on your own.

Watch The Muppet Show – Season 3, Episode 4 on Disney+

6

Alice Cooper (Season 3, Episode 9)

MUPPET SHOW ALICE COOPER
Photo: Disney+

Original Air Date: November 24, 1978

Why You Might Recognize Him: He was – and remains – the living embodiment of shock rock, and he’s managed to maintain a chart presence in one way or another from the late ‘60s all the way into present day. Behold the staying power of scary schtick!

Why the Episode Stands Out: Between Alice Cooper’s popularity and just the general unlikeliness of seeing him working alongside the Muppets, it’s damned near impossible for anyone to construct a list of the best Muppet Show episodes of all time and leave this one out. Also, it’s pretty freaking dark for a show that tended to skew young with its viewership.

Best Song: Anyone who suggests that it’s anything other than “Welcome to My Nightmare” clearly has no idea what they’re talking about, because this is one of the most iconic performances in the history of the show.

Best Running Gag: The suggestion that Alice has a side gig getting people to sign their souls over to the devil, which makes Kermit nervous but gets Gonzo extremely excited, and ultimately ends with a very inside-baseball joke when Gonzo is holding a piece of paper and Kermit asks if it’s the contract with the devil. “No, it’s worse than that,” replies Gonzo. “It’s the bill from Special Effects!”

Worst Literary Joke: For the closing tag, Statler asks Waldorf, “So that was Alice Cooper?” Waldorf replies, “You should see his sister: James Fennimore.”

 

 

Watch The Muppet Show – Season 3, Episode 9 on Disney+

7

Angus McGonagle Luke Skywalker / Mark Hamill (Season 4, Episode 17)

muppet-show-star-wars-fozzie-luke
Photo: Disney+

Original Air Date: February 29, 1980

Why You Might Recognize Him: [In our best Kermit the Frog voice.] Would you get out of here?!

Why the Episode Stands Out: Because it was a collision between two of the greatest pop culture franchises ever, featuring not only the aforementioned Jedi and the actor who played him, but also C3P0, R2-D2, and Chewbacca. Plus, it shows that Star Wars and variety shows really can work together if they’re a) only 30 minutes long, and b) done with tongue placed firmly in cheek rather than with deadly seriousness.

Best Song: Well, it’s got to be Angus McGonagle and Mark Hamill gargling George Gershwin’s “Summertime,” surely. It just doesn’t get any better than that. Plus, Hamill’s sheer glee whilst participating in this performance may be his single best moment in the episode.

Best Sketch: You have to give it to the extended “Pigs in Space” epic, which over the course of two sketches features the introduction of Gonzo as the despicable black-helmeted Dearth Nadir, a trip to the planet Koozebane to find Chewie, and a song and dance section during which C3P0 favors us with a bit of soft-shoe.

Most Prescient Pop Culture Moment: The closing number finds the Star Wars gang and the Muppets singing “When You Wish Upon a Star” in front of an approximation of Cinderella’s castle, little realizing that both of their franchises would eventually be owned by Disney.

Watch The Muppet Show – Season 4, Episode 17 on Disney+

8

Christopher Reeve (Season 4, Episode 18)

MUPPET SHOW CHRISTOPHER REEVE
Photo: Disney+

Original Air Date: February 15, 1980

Why You Might Recognize Him: He was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings with a single bound. Also, he was in Somewhere in Time.

Why the Episode Stands Out: It’s a reminder of just how much the world lost when we lost Chris Reeve, and how cruel it was that he had to spend the last part of his life confined to a wheelchair and battling to breathe. He was a sweet, handsome, and funny man, and you can see just how much fun he was having here.

Best Song: “Disco Frog.” Do not question us on this selection. It’s a goddamned work of art, and we won’t hear otherwise.

Best Sketch – Celebrity: Christopher Reeve flexing his acting muscle to perform a scene from Hamlet, only for things to descend into a rendition of “Brush Up on Your Shakespeare.”

Best Sketch – Muppets: Muppet Labs, where the testing of a heated milking machine goes awry and Beaker ends up all the worse for it.

Best Running Joke: Miss Piggy’s crush on Christopher Reeve…or as she calls him, “Christopher ‘Perfect Body’ Reeve.” It’s a rare occasion where we see Kermit showing some semblance of jealousy, as he mutters, “Gee, she never called me ‘Perfect Body.'”

 

 

Watch The Muppet Show – Season 4, Episode 18 on Disney+

9

Glenda Jackson (Season 5, Episode 6)

MUPPET SHOW GLENDA JACKSON
Photo: Disney+

Original Air Date: December 28, 1980

Why You Might Recognize Her: Either for one of the two films that earned her Academy Awards for Best Actress – 1969’s Women in Love and 1973’s A Touch of Class – or for one of the two comedies in which she co-starred with Walter Matthau (1978’s House Calls and 1980’s Hopscotch).

Why the Episode Stands Out: Because it’s arguably the single weirdest installments in the five-season run of the series…and, boy, is that saying something! Granted, season five was when The Muppet Show let its freak flag fly more than a few times – this was, after all, the same season Carol Burnett had to endure a dance marathon taking place throughout her episode – but Jackson’s is on a whole other level, and it starts out that way from the very beginning, when she shows up at the theater with a penguin in tow. No, scratch that: it starts even before that, with Pops on the phone, asking for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, adding, “And make sure it talks!” Jackson and her penguin arrive immediately after that bizarre moment, and in short order, she reveals herself to be Black Jackson the Heartless Pirate Captain, her penguin reveals that he’s actually a parrot in disguise, and the two of them are soon joined by several pirate mates as they commandeer the episode and the theater, which has seemingly turned into a ship…like, to the point where it’s even rocking and listing like one, too!

Best Song: Gonzo and his Chickens singing Jim Croce’s “Working at the Car Wash Blues”

Best Sketch: The absolutely insane grand finale, which – in addition to the inevitable medley of maritime favorites – also features the Flying Zucchini Brothers, a plethora of explosions, some pirate trolls, and a sword fight between Kermit and Glenda Jackson.

Worst Pun: One of the pirates asks if parrots have always known how to talk, and the parrot explains that the first school for talking parrots began over 2,000 years ago by one of Ben Hur’s great aunts. When the pirate asks if the school was any good, the parrot asks incredulously, “You mean you haven’t heard of the famous ‘Pirates of Ben’s Aunts’?” (If you didn’t groan immediately, try reading those last four words out loud, but without pausing between the last two. You’re welcome.)

Watch The Muppet Show – Season 5, Episode 6 on Disney+

10

Johnny Cash (Season 5, Episode 21)

MUPPET SHOW JOHNNY CASH
Photo: Disney+

Original Air Date: February 1, 1981

Why You Might Recognize Him: He’s the Man in Black, the subject of the Joaquin Phoenix-starring biopic Walk the Line, and a bona fide country music legend.

Why the Episode Stands Out: The Muppet Show had a number of country and western stars on the show over the course of its run, and they always proved to be among the most entertaining guests, mostly because they always seemed to be happy to go along with whatever was thrown their way. Cash is right up there with the best of the bunch.

Best Song: “Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog,” partly because it’s a funny song, but mostly because Johnny tries to persuade Rowlf not to accompany him on piano while actively avoiding mention of the song’s title, only for Rowlf to look horrified – and Johnny to look apologetic – when it becomes evident what the song is about.

Best Running Sketch: Because Johnny’s hosting, the show is being broadcast live on country music station WHOG, owned by Big Tiny Tallsaddle, who has no intention of letting Kermit run the show just because it’s his venue and he’s in charge. Between the Kermit / Big Tiny tension and the struggle to do the broadcast in the middle of the usual show, it’s all very funny.

Worst Pun: Lew Zealand and the Gills Brothers singing “Goodnight Sardine.”

Will Harris (@NonStopPop) has a longstanding history of doing long-form interviews with random pop culture figures for the A.V. Club, Vulture, and a variety of other outlets, including Variety. He’s currently working on a book with David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker. (And don’t call him Shirley.)

Watch The Muppet Show – Season 5, Episode 21 on Disney+