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[0:04] Fergie L. Phillipe: It's time to meet the Muppets, so let's turn on the mic for Muppet Show beginners and experts alike.

[0:13] Fergie L. Phillipe: Come on and join the party that's only just begun. Let's smile for a while. It's time to have some fun. We're taking a show tonight. It's curtain up and then it's time to meet the Muppets all over again.

[0:32] Fergie L. Phillipe: So take a break and take a load off. Let's all take a ride in a Muppetastic Time Machine with Fergie as your guide. So no more hesitation. Let's start the episode. We're moving right along. Let's get this show out of the show on the round podcast podcast.

[0:57] Fergie L. Phillipe: Hello, hello, hello. Yo, and welcome to another episode of It's Time to Meet the Muppets. I am your host, Fergie L. Philippe, and here is where you get to hear me recap the Muppet Show, talk about some of my favorite moments, spout out some fun facts, maybe even share a history lesson or two.

[1:15] Fergie L. Phillipe: Today we are gonna be talking about a truly legendary episode with a truly legendary guest star, Miss Rita Moreno. Of course. Well, maybe not, of course, not everybody knows. I have to, I'm really bad at that, guys. Like I'm really just assuming that everyone knows who everybody is. I don't know where you come from. I don't know anything about you.

[1:37] Fergie L. Phillipe: Anyway, um, all that to say, Rita Moreno, film television, and theater actress, singer, and dancer, known especially for her role in the West Side Story film as Anita. This is a pretty special episode because this episode was the first episode that was broadcast in many, many US cities, actually.

[1:56] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, and also, funny little story, when I recorded the first episode of Juliet Prowse, I was going off of the order of the first season DVD. I wanted to jumpstart and get ahead before Muppet Show dropped on Disney Plus, and little did I know that the order that's on Disney Plus would not be the order that the DVD lists the episode.

[2:22] Fergie L. Phillipe: So, haha on me. Um, so if it throws you off a little bit, understandably so, it's really okay. Obviously, there's nothing spoiled. There's no linear plot line throughout the entirety of the Muppet Show that's gonna ruin this. But um, uh sorry for the little uh kind of jump around. But uh here we are, we're back on track, Rita Moreno.

[2:41] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, before we jump into Rita Moreno, I wanted to do another brief Muppet history lesson. This time we're gonna be talking about how Jim Henson and Frank Oz met. So Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets, performer of Kermit the Frog, Rolf the Dog, Ernie, Dr. Teeth, Link Hog Throb, and so many more, and then of course Frank Oz, like I mentioned last time, performer of Fozzie Bear, Piggy, Bert, uh, Sam the Eagle, Animal, Grover, so many.

[3:14] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, they were a very tight and consistent duo when it came to a lot of their characters kind of performing um with each other. Um, they have a lot of famous duos together that include Bert and Ernie and Miss Piggy and Kermit, uh, Fozzie and Kermit. Um, there were a lot of bits between Rolf and Sam the Eagle or Rolf and Fozzie.

[3:35] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, they also, uh which is something we'll get into later, they also both performed The Swedish Chef together. Um, and when Frank Oz was first hired, um I'm getting ahead of him. Look at me, I'm already getting ahead of myself.

[3:48] Fergie L. Phillipe: So, uh Jim Henson was born in Greenville, Mississippi. I was wrong about that. I uh last time I thought it was Missouri. It was not Missouri, it's Mississippi. Please forgive me. Um when he was about ten, he moved to a little suburb in Maryland, which was just off of Washington, DC, kind of very close to it.

[4:06] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, it's actually the suburb is it's considered a suburb of Washington, DC. Um, but he started doing crafts when he was very young with his grandmother Deer, who he had a very close relationship with. Um, and he actually got onto the television puppetry scene real early with this character named Pierre the French Rat.

[4:22] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, he did it on a local Washington, DC show called The Junior Morning Show. Um, the show only lasted about three weeks, but then um Jim was uh asked to do another show called Afternoon on that same channel.

[4:36] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, when Jim got into college, he met Jane, and then this kind of links up back to the first episode I was saying. They asked him to put together his own show, and that's where Sam and Friends came from.

[4:45] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, with the success of Sam and Friends, he created his production company, which was called Henson Associates, ha with exclamation point, and he was frequenting the Puppeteers of America, where he met Frank Oz.

[5:02] Fergie L. Phillipe: I tried to find this, but I couldn't uh confirm it. I do believe that Jim met Frank through Frank's father, Mike Osniwis. Um Frank is the son of Mike and Francis Osnowis. Um he was born in London. He came over to the States, and Mike and Francis had their own marionette troupe, which Frank was a part of uh starting when he was about twelve.

[5:28] Fergie L. Phillipe: And Frank, you know, for those who are big Muppet fans, people famously know that Frank obviously appreciates and adores puppets because it's in his familial blood and obviously his work with the Muppets, but it was never something he necessarily anticipated doing as a career or or or something that he anticipated doing uh the rest of his life.

[5:48] Fergie L. Phillipe: He just kind of found it as a means of expression. But, you know, Jim met Frank when Frank was about seventeen, and he was very impressed with Frank's talent and actually wanted to hire him there.

[5:59] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, but Frank I believe kind of turned him down, and when he was nineteen, um, that's when Jim and him ended up working together. So Frank, you know, went out to New York, um, and they started performing together.

[6:12] Fergie L. Phillipe: Uh obviously doing commercials and such, but but more consistently, Frank and Jim would perform Rolf together on the Jimmy Dean show. Um, and there's actually a funny story about that.

[6:22] Fergie L. Phillipe: The uh part of the reason that we call him Frank Oz is because the guy who was announcing his name whenever they were finished with this show and they were trying to announce the performers of Rolf, he would always go Frank Ozwr, because he did not know how to pronounce Osnowitz, and so that's when Frank decided to just start uh start going by Frank Oz.

[6:43] Fergie L. Phillipe: So yeah, so that's a little tiny brief history on how Jim and Frank met. Um also I have one more correction that I want to make. Last time I said Jim filmed two pilots for what would be the Muppet Show.

[6:55] Fergie L. Phillipe: He did film two pilots, however, they were both for ABC. I said MBC in there somewhere, and MBC was not uh involved. There was a pitch reel done for CBS and uh the two episodes that were shot, or the two pilots that were shot were both for ABC.

[7:15] Fergie L. Phillipe: So, let's uh just go ahead and jump right in. Um things about the you know, the theme song kind of stay the same for me, uh off the bat, Fozzie's joke, which I I foolishly did not write down on my notes, Fozzie's joke is genuinely funny in the bit, and I don't know if that messes with his character development.

[7:37] Fergie L. Phillipe: Of course, this is obviously in the beginning of the show, so they're still working with character development and all that stuff, but I remember saying in the moment, like, this is a genuinely funny joke. Does that take away from who Fozzie is? I don't know. You guys tell me.

[7:51] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um we later on see uh that that kind of glimpse I was telling you about, like right after Kermit says, you know, uh to introduce our guest star, that's what I'm here to do. We we we get a glimpse into Rita, um, and she's actually hanging with Animal, which is such a a good uh foreshadow for what happens later in the show.

[8:10] Fergie L. Phillipe: But but Rita and Animal I think are a comedy match made in heaven. It's just the funniest thing ever. You know, Rita really made a a career, um off of kind of this really funny uh but really like aggressive and and and kind of headstrong kind of woman, and I think that the clash with animals truly like ridiculous and obviously animalistic behavior is just some of the funniest uh combinations um ever.

[8:42] Fergie L. Phillipe: It's it's really great. So y we get through the theme song, um there's a great kind of uh there's a great kind of back and forth between Kermit and Fozzie. Kermit tries a joke that Fozzie wrote for him and and Fozzie comes out and goes, I gave him that joke, and Kermit says, I wish I gave it right back.

[9:02] Fergie L. Phillipe: And I think those kind of one-liners really uh that really is such a Muppet style tone. And it's not like, you know, it's not it's not directly only for the Muppets, but I do think that that that really defines a lot of the kind of Muppet humor.

[9:17] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um and and that was a moment that I I really chuckled to myself. And most interactions between Kermit and Fozzie, especially on stage, are usually Kermit being annoyed, and and as I've said before, and I've and I'll probably say a million times more.

[9:30] Fergie L. Phillipe: Kermit being annoyed, I think is one of the funniest things ever. Um, and so this kind of leans right into that idea. Uh so we get into the opening number.

[9:39] Fergie L. Phillipe: Uh you know, Rita Moreno does uh this song uh called I Get Ideas. This is a really great kind of dance piece, dance mime movement, I whatever you want to call it. Dance piece. It's a dance piece.

[9:52] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um it's a great dance piece about Rita Moreno's character, who is this very hot-tempered woman who picks a fight with her boyfriend, who is this kind of full-bodied Muppet, um, but they call him humanoids. They're they're called full-bodied humanoids.

[10:11] Fergie L. Phillipe: She catches him flirting with Miss Piggy, and so, you know, they get into uh a big fight, but it's obvious it's done through a tango. Um and it's really smart, it's really funny.

[10:22] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um the big giant humanoid puppet is actually uh performed and danced by puppeteer John Lovelace. John Lovelady, um was a puppeteer who only worked on the first season of the Muppet Show.

[10:37] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um I actually don't know the full story behind that, so I'll get that for you guys, and I'll I'll bring it next. I'll bring it next episode. Um he performs this puppet, and what really struck me is that I had to go back and look this up, but you know, he also dances in the piece, and he's a really wonderful dancer, and then I I come to found out that he he I came to find out that he was a trained dancer.

[11:03] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, which was part of the reason that he ended up uh being in uh the puppet. Um he also built the puppet himself. Um obviously incredibly talented man.

[11:15] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um I think he went on to perform in the Great Space Coaster, uh, and do a couple of other projects. Um he so this piece, you know, goes on, goes on, goes on, and and what's funny about this is that they uh purposely cut between John Lovelady being inside the actual humanoid and then a lifeless dummy of the puppet, um, so that Rita could truly just like throw it around and bust it against the wall, throw it under some table, run it through the bar, and it it's truly one of the most ridiculous things ever, but it's so funny.

[11:46] Fergie L. Phillipe: And that's our opening number. That's how the show starts off. Starts off with a true bang. Um, it's clear that in this episode, Richard Hunt performed Piggy. I was saying the last time that, you know, back and forth there was a bit of uh, you know, uh switching off between Frank Oz and Richard Hunt in terms of who's playing Miss Piggy. Um, so yeah, so this episode's definitely Richard Hunt. Um, okay, great. So that takes care of the first number. Uh, we then go into kind of the backstage storyline. Um, which you know, I did a little bit more research into how the structure of the show works, and you know, there's a through line always the through line of every episode is the backstage life.

Um, and then as the seasons go on and they definitely do it in the beginning but but as I'm personally going through the fourth season right now because the fourth season and the fifth season are the two seasons I've seen the least of so I'm going through those like on my own time uh on Disney Plus. Um, they incorporate so much more of the numbers that happen on stage and and you know incorporate a lot of different elements of drama by bringing it onto the stage and bringing it off. Um, in later seasons, but the first season there's obviously always kind of a linear plot going through and this time there's this really great running gag which is actually my favorite running gag they've ever done.

Um, and it's uh the phone rings Fozzie answers it and he goes Muppet Show Theater and water just starts spouting out and then Kermit comes in and goes who was it and Fozzie goes the water department. Uh, and the best part is this gag continues on the rest of the show.

[12:21] Fergie L. Phillipe: There's another time when Fozzie answers it and an explosion comes out and it's the fire or smoke it's smoke. It's not explosion yet. Um, Fozzie goes it's the fire department then he the the phone calls again and a bunch of tokens and coins fall out. It's Las Vegas and then an explosion happens and this is like the set in stone one. Um, Fozzie goes it was the Atomic Energy Commission. And then at the end, uh when Fozzie goes to pick it up, Fozzie by the way, thinks this is hilarious. Fozzie thinks this is the funniest joke ever. Fozzie lives for the bit, obviously. Um, and so the last time the phone rings, you know, Fozzie's like, I'll get it, I'll get it, and Kermit's like, nope, nope, no, nope, don't answer the phone.

And Fozzie's like, please, please, so many funny things keep happening. And Kermit's like, well, that's exactly why I don't want you to get it. Um, Animal comes in and rips the phone off of the wall and terrifies the both of them. Um, and I think that this it's a really funny way how Animal I think over the years we kind of soften Animal and and we get like such a warm uh spot in our hearts for him because he becomes more of like a pet, but in these first few episodes of when he's first introduced, he's truly like he's a wild animal.

[14:51] Fergie L. Phillipe: There's no other way to put it. He is like a like a Tasmanian devil almost. There is just something so scary about him, and nobody quite knows what he is, nobody quite knows what's happening. Um, and again, you know, Frank Oz just has the best description of his own characters, and he said, Animal only lives by a few I think it's five words, and it's sex, drugs, music, and pain. There might be a fifth one, but those those are like some of his like keywords and when it comes to tapping into Animal. And he says the thing with Animal is that you know, between the people only see Animal at the theater, and when the show is over, Animal goes and walks along the train tracks and the alleyways, and God only knows what he's doing during that time.

[15:47] Fergie L. Phillipe: And then he comes back to the theater to perform in the band. Um, and and there's such there is a scariness to that. There is truly a kind of like horror, honestly, to that, and and they very much play into that uh in these first few episodes. So you know that's the running gag throughout the backstage life. So then we go into Veterinarian's Hospital, which actually is um this is the first time we ever get to see Veterinarian's Hospital.

[16:18] Fergie L. Phillipe: And what's interesting is that in this so as I'm saying, you know, all these different performers are doing all of these different characters and stuff. And in the first few episodes, Janice is actually not performed by Richard Hunt. Janice is performed by another performer who only got to do the show for one year. Her name was Erin Oscar or Aaron Oscar. I can't remember the pronunciation um but she performs Janice in the first few episodes and what everybody loves about Janice is that obviously Janice talks like this for sure like very crazy like Valley Girl, California to a T. Um, but Erin Oscar and Oscar's portrayal of her is very like this and very ingenue and you know th there's a certain quality in her voice that is just so opposite of what Richard Hunt ends up doing with the character and you know, going in this idea again I I'm sorry if I'm repeating myself but but it it bears repeating.

[17:25] Fergie L. Phillipe: Like there there was such a leaning into um letting ever like letting them try and fail. And not that this interpretation of Janice is even considered failing, but they really took their time in developing these characters. They really took risk and they tried a lot of different things, and you know, it it's something that should be admired because it you know, not a lot of TV shows, and I mean I'm sure you know that there's not a lot of time to do this these days, but you know, the the number of creative risks that they took during the show, especially the first few episodes, is really impressive because they really allowed themselves to find the rhythm and to find the style and to find the essence of what the show would eventually be and what these characters would eventually be.

[18:21] Fergie L. Phillipe: And that's why the characters later on in life work so well, is because they didn't just come up with them on the spot, they tried so many different things, they rebuilt the puppets, they tried new performers on each, and uh and uh until something clicked. Um, you know, when when eventually they kind of settled on Frank Oz for Piggy, and and I'm probably ruining it because it's gonna come in another episode, but but it's I think it's important to share, you know, Frank Oz had a really uh difficult time tapping into Piggy all the time because he was like, Well, it it just seems like she's just angry, like she's just the angry crazy pig the whole time.

[18:56] Fergie L. Phillipe: And um there was one sequence where she had to hit Kermit, and it was supposed to be that she either I think she slaps him, I think it was supposed to be like a backhand slap. And for some reason, Frank Oz has no idea why, but for some reason, instead of doing the slap, he lets out a hoo and absolutely like karate chops Kermit. And when they yelled cut, everyone in the theater and in the studio was laughing so hard, and you know, they everybody had tears in their eyes because it was so unexpected, and that was the hook.

[19:17] Fergie L. Phillipe: That was the hook for Frank Oz. He was like, I completely figured it out from that point forward. Um, and again, all of that to say, like this is they had to try and try and try and try again. And they even had to let things air. That really did not work. But the only way they knew if it was gonna work is if they did it and they stuck to their guns and and just, you know, really put themselves out there. Um, which I'm sure, you know, every performer wishes they had the gumption to be able to do something like that.

[20:02] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, so we have the introduction of Veterinarian's Hospital. Veterinarian's Hospital is a great sketch that uh it l in later seasons when when Don Hinckley I actually don't know if Don Hinckley Um started out with Veterinarian's Hospital, he might have not come until later. Um, but Veterinarian's Hospital is very much uh just a spoof of like medical soap operas.

[20:28] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, and they're honestly just horrible jokes. The entire sketch is just truly a vehicle for terrible jokes, and there's a great relationship between Rolf, Miss Piggy, and Janice, where they are just you know, setting each other up for bad jokes, and the bad jokes are always at the expense of the patient. The patient never gets better, the patient never gets fixed, um, and there's always a a a great gag.

[20:56] Fergie L. Phillipe: And this was also kind of like a good introduction into the role of like the announcer on the show, which eventually becomes Jerry Nelson, the man of a million voices, and and trust me, there'll be a time when we discuss the true brilliance and just wonderful human and performer that Jerry Nelson was. But for this first season, again, alternating between different performers, the announcer role was back and forth between John Lovelady and Jerry Nelson.

[21:23] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, but in this sketch, I the reason I mentioned Don Hinckley, and I can't find anything on it, but with Don Hinckley, um Don Hinckley who who ended up being one of the writers on the show, it kind of became almost his weekend update. Like that was Don Hinckley's special. Um, he was always the one writing the terrible jokes for Veterinarian's Hospital. That was his um, that was his specialty.

[21:48] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, which I think is just a really cool thing. You know, uh Jim was so good about understanding where people and and it was obviously a group effort, um, and I'm not trying to diminish the work that others did on the show, but obviously Jim Henson was kind of the creative force and the creative leader behind it all, and and Jim was so good about knowing where people belonged and where people were gonna shine, and and he he wasn't picky about where it came from, and he wasn't uh precious about it either.

[22:17] Fergie L. Phillipe: So I think that you know the fact that you know, eventually he realized, oh, this writer really and and Jim Henson contributed to writing, he contributed to jokes and he made bits and things like that, but but to be able to see, oh, this guy has a knack for telling these kind of jokes and it makes the show better. Um, I'm gonna keep him there. Instead of, you know, which I guess I'm preaching now, I guess this is what I'm doing, you know, instead of this idea that I think a lot of artists struggle with, and and I including myself, that when it's work that we create and we decide to bring people into the fold, it can become very difficult because we're so precious about our work, we're so attached to it that I know for me that sometimes if I have other people's opinions or even other people's take, I get worried that it's no longer my work and it's no longer um I can no longer say I did that.

[23:09] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, but the beauty behind how Jim did it was that it was never about Jim. And it was never about him; it was about what was gonna make the show great. Um, it was always about, you know, how am I gonna give the best product possible? How am I gonna make the best jokes? How are the characters gonna come out the best? What is the best version of what I'm doing right now? Um, and that's why when I say like he wasn't precious about where it came from, it's true, you know. People say all the time, if the janitor came by and said, you know, it'd be funny if you did this, this, this, and that, Jim would consider it, and Jim would listen and be like, you know what, maybe that is a good idea, and he would try it.

You know, Jim took inspiration from anywhere that it came. Um, and he was not picky about it, and he wasn't egotistical about it. And um, hearing that Don Hinckley's, you know, main thing was basically writing the Veterinarian's Hospital is so great because he, you know, he let somebody shine in the way that they needed to shine, and it's part of the, you know, working machine that makes the Muppet Show as great as it is. Um, thank you. I will now get off my soapbox, which is very worn and very used. Um, after Veterinarian's Hospital, we move into the Swedish Chef.

[24:26] Fergie L. Phillipe: Okay. What can I say about the Swedish Chef? The Swedish Chef is amazing. The Swedish Chef is just absolutely incredible. Um, I don't believe we talked about the Swedish Chef last time. The Swedish Chef is this insane character. This supposedly Swedish person who is the chef of the Muppet Show and has like a cooking segment. Um, he does not speak real English. He speaks faux—uh, wait, what did I say? He does not speak real Swedish. He speaks faux Swedish. Um, literally that. Um, and the character is obviously a terrible cook from what we can see. Usually his sketches aren't—or his segments aren't um, aren't real cooking. Um, you know, there's a segment where there's one particular one where he talks about chocolate moose, but he’s quite literally just puts chocolate on a moose.

[25:35] Fergie L. Phillipe: Like that's all he does. He just puts chocolate on a literal moose. Um, and that's it. So that's the kind of thing we're looking at with the Swedish Chef. Um, the great thing about the Swedish Chef is the way that it's performed. Jim Henson and Frank Oz perform the Swedish Chef together. Jim Henson performing the um mouth and performing the voice and Frank Oz doing the hands. One of the great things about the Swedish Chef is that they um, when they were first rehearsing the character, um, had not created puppet hands for the character just yet. So Frank Oz was using his real hands um in um in the sketch just, you know, just for practice. Then they started shooting, and they completely forgot that they had never created puppet hands. Um, but the bit worked so the bit of the Swedish Chef having real hands was so funny and worked so unbelievably well that it stayed that way throughout the rest of time.

[26:31] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, so now the performers of the Swedish Chef are um, Bill Beretta, who has taken over uh a good number of Jim's characters, including Dr. Teeth and Rolf. Um, Bill Beretta performs the Swedish Chef, and um, Peter Lins now performs The Hands. Excellent. Um, oh, but in this sketch, um, the Swedish Chef, he's preparing flapjacks or like, you know, pancakes, and uh, I think they're crepes though, um, because they're very thin, but you know, he goes to flip the flapjacks and they all stick to the ceiling. Um, so the only way that he can get them down is by shooting them. And well, you know, obviously hilarity ensues and things go wrong.

[27:16] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, next we have At the Dance, same thing as usual. Uh, and there's nothing really new here. Um, so yeah, there's At the Dance. And then, okay, so the next spot is the UK spot. And the UK spot, I don't know if I explained this the last time, but the UK spot, um, in London, um, they have much uh their commercial breaks are much shorter than the ones in America, and so often there was about a four-minute chunk of time that they had to account for. So they probably had time for another sketch, another song, or something like that, and they were typically songs. And so um, if you hear people refer to the UK spot, it was because in place of a lot of the commercials that would usually show in America, they would have like another number in um, in the UK.

[28:05] Fergie L. Phillipe: And for this number, um, for this UK spot, it is a song called "I'd Like to Go Tomorrow," which is performed by the Hillbilly Trio. And the really great thing about the Hillbilly Trio, if you don't know, is that those puppets are actually Muppet likenesses, which we touched on briefly with Juliet Prowse, but you know, the Juliet Prowse is a little bit more horrifying. Um, but these Muppet likenesses are uh, Frank Oz, who's the orange-haired one, Jerry Nelson, who has the hat, and Jim Henson, who has kind of the long face. Um, and also "I'd Like to Go Tomorrow" is just, it's one of my favorite songs, and I think it's a really, really um, it's just a really fun song and there's a lot of fun wordplay.

[28:44] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, it's "I'd Like to Go to Morrow," as if morrow is a place. Um, and so, you know, it's about a person who continually is getting the train schedules mixed up because he can't differentiate between morrow being a place and the word tomorrow. Um, and it again, just a very, very Muppety kind of, you know, good song. Lots of fun, lots of fun happening there. Um, so yeah, so that's the UK spot of the Hillbilly Trio. Oh, um, and actually just learned this about the Hillbilly Trio. I think I read this in an article Frank Oz was giving a couple years ago, but the Hillbilly Trio was actually created for the Perry Como special first, um, where they performed a certain number, but those Muppet likenesses were created on, you know, obviously they were created on purpose, but they were purposely created for the Perry Como special, which I think is really cool.

[29:34] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, yeah, as a matter of fact, I'll put a link to it in the show notes so that you all can see um, so that you all can see it. Um, because it is really—and I’ll put a link to "I'll Go Tomorrow" because that's a great song too. Um, the next segment is uh, Marvin Suggs and his Muppa phones.

[29:58] Fergie L. Phillipe: Okay, y'all remember when I would say like I would talk about the weird stuff? Yeah, this is weird. This is very weird. Um, Marvin Suggs is a performance artist who—or I don't know what to call him. He's a performance artist that Kermit discovered uh waiting at a bus station in Toledo, Ohio. Marvin Suggs is a very violent man from some country that I do not know, and he has uh these Muppa phones, which are these balls, these like little furry balls that are orange and pink. And the way he—and they are alive. These things are alive; that should be noted. Um, the way he performs them is that he smashes them with a hammer, and based on the frequency of the pitch when they say "ow" is how music is formed. Truly absurd, truly bonkers, but also absolutely hilarious.

[30:52] Fergie L. Phillipe: Frank Oz performs Marvin. Um, it's really funny. It is really, really, really funny. Um, they perform "Lady of Spain," um, and we will see, and that's it. It he just violently assaults these little Muppa phones, and they say "ow" on pitch to sing "Lady of Spain." Um, and that's about it. Um, next is another sketch segment that um only happens in the first season, which was called Panel Discussion, um, which were, you know, it was like a round table of talks with certain characters throughout the shows, usually Piggy, Kermit, S—uh, I can't remember if Sam the Eagle's in this one, but sometimes Sam the Eagle was in it, and then like some whatnot Muppets, which ding ding-ding-ding ding.

[31:43] Fergie L. Phillipe: That actually, that ding-ding was spontaneous. That was not planned. Whatnot Muppets. That's a great time to explain what whatnot Muppets are. And so whatnot Muppets um are essentially, you know, puppets that are in the back. Uh, I mean, hmm. It's kind of hard to explain because whatnots not the same thing as like a uh, an AM or an anything Muppet from Sesame Street. But a whatnot is essentially kind of uh a base Muppet that you could change out its features, like its eyes or its nose or its, you know, hair and things like that, and you could create all these kind of different characters and stuff.

[32:17] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, different from like a frackle; the frackles are like legitimate characters. Um, and you can have them interchange by putting them in different costumes and stuff, but the whatnots are kind of like a base puppet, and you can change all of the features on them to make them different characters. Um, the reason that I'm having a hard time differentiating between this and the anything Muppets on Sesame Street is that I believe—and you know, Muppet fans will come for me. I'm expecting it at this point if I'm wrong. Um, anything Muppets on Sesame Street are a little bit easier to decipher what they are because in terms of the features that you are replacing, they are not as grandiose as perhaps the Muppets.

[32:56] Fergie L. Phillipe: Like with the Muppets, you know, you could replace hair, you can replace uh, you know, I mean, you can do all that stuff with the anything Muppets too. I don't know. I think with the Muppets, they're a little bit more complex, and you know what I also think it is with the whatnots for the Muppets, you know, there's a kind of like a goldish puppet who's a live hand that has a lot of hair all over that's kind of resemble an old man. And I'm sure they've taken the hair off of that puppet um and put a hat on him and made him something different, but this specific puppet that's older with all this hair, I've seen in other sketches before, I believe.

[33:35] Fergie L. Phillipe: And so I think there is a little bit more of consistency with the types of whatnots that they make to put in certain sketches as opposed to the anything Muppets, which I think the features are a little bit um not as complex, so it's kinda easier to say, oh, well, that's different and that's different. Um, I could be overanalyzing, which honestly, this whole podcast just might be me overanalyzing the Muppets, which in any case, welcome. Um, so we have the panel discussion, and the discussion is a conversation at dying art, and the gag of the whole thing is that um it features Rita Moreno and Miss Piggy, which in this scene is actually performed by Frank Oz.

[34:14] Fergie L. Phillipe: Again, you know, not really consistent. I guess you can't really, I can't say episode by episode who was the main performer of Piggy. I think it just depended on the sketch. Um, but for this sketch, um, Rita Moreno, um, whose character is Tiffany Gonzalez, um, gets into a huge argument with Miss Piggy, and they just fight the entire time. One of the highlights being how would you like a high heel in your ham hock? So then, uh, after the panel discussion is over, we then go into the talk spot, which is, you know, the place where Kermit gets to talk to the guest star. And in this one, we see Sweetums, which I do believe is the first performance of Sweetums with Richard Hunt. Um, Sweetums was originally in The Frog Prince.

That is the first time he ever appeared. Um, he is Taminella's ogre. Um, The Frog Prince was in 1971. In that performance, um, he's not performed by Richard Hunt. He's performed by Jerry Nelson. Um, and then in The Muppet Show, uh, Richard Hunt takes over as the performer. Um, Jerry Nelson A wasn't a fan of full-bodied Muppets, kinda like Frank Oz; they both were not big fans of performing full-body Muppets, but also, um, Jerry Nelson ended up developing some really bad back problems, which made it hard for him to perform full-body characters, specifically, um, Snuffleupagus in the eighties, which is how Marty Robinson, um, ended up being hired. Marty Robinson, who ends up playing Telly, um, and Snuffleupagus now, but that was the reason that Marty was hired back in the eighties to help replace um, Jerry Nelson as Snuffleupagus specifically.

Anyway, um, this is the first performance um, of Sweetums with Richard Hunt, um, which, you know, Jerry Nelson did a great job with it in The Frog Prince, but Richard's, I guess because I'm used to Richard's, but Richard's just feels so full and so connected to Sweetums, and it's really great. I hope to get somebody, you know, I hope I have some really fun, fun people coming to interview people who have either been on Broadway or people who've worked with the Muppets, um, and I'm excited to finally know the answer, which I've wanted to know for years, like how is Sweetums performed? Um, because it's truly fascinating to me. I know one of his hands is stuffed, um, but specifically the mechanics of the mouth, I'm so curious because it's such a big mouth. How is that controlled? I'm imagining there's some kind of rod or pole inside um, that helps uh, control that mouth.

[36:58] Fergie L. Phillipe: So we move out of the talk spot and we go into another recurring sketch um, that uh, the history—not the history, but the continuity of it is a little complicated. It happens a lot in season one and then it's kind of a gag in later seasons, but it's not as consistent at all. As a matter of fact, I can't remember what episode it is, but it comes up in season four. I'll explain that in a minute. So we're about to get into this recurring sketch called Wayne and Wanda. Wayne and Wanda are these two singers for The Muppet Show that are absolutely terrible, and that's actually not true. They sound very good, but they just are very like this, I guess um, I guess I should be Wayne now. But you know, they're very classic; they sing these very, uh, I mean they sing all kinds of stuff.

They sing all kinds of classic music, mostly like I want to say like legit classical, but sometimes musical theater, whatever. I'm getting way too much into this. They sing uh some great songs, but the gag is that it's always stopped because they get horribly injured by some outer force, whether that is, uh, the stage, you know, implodes from the inside, the curtains come down on them, or usually it's in direct reference to something they're singing about. Um, yes, so I do believe that this is our introduction to Sam the Eagle, a great description by Frank Oz; he calls Sam the Eagle a Republican who has a bad relationship with his daughter. And Sam the Eagle's function on the show is to really uphold the decorum and respectability in the show.

And, um, you know, it's very often he calls the Muppets weirdos and he often either asks the guest stars what is wrong with them for coming on the show or he apologizes to them. Um, but Wayne and Wanda is a really, really good running gag as well. Um, but like I said, they're used predominantly in the first season, I think a bit in the second season as well. And they have moments in the later seasons, but the thing is um, they've made more comebacks in like the recent movies, and when they did the O2 and the Hollywood Bowl shows, they had um, they had comebacks, uh, they had their own skits again, um, which is fun. It's really fun. That one I almost said that in the beginning, but I know that it was just in the live show and not in the actual Muppet Show. But there was one song they sing in the O2 where Wayne and Wanda are eaten by a shark. Um, and I can't remember what song they sing. But anyway.

[39:39] Fergie L. Phillipe: So after Wayne and Wanda, we go to kind of the final bit of um, the telephone gag that I explained earlier. Um, Fozzie kind of comes back from performing his comedy act, um, and this is when Animal comes in and rips it off. Something that is incorporated with Fozzie that ends up getting cut or something that like isn't used as often anymore is actually uh, a really good mech, and for those who might not know, mech is puppeteer talk for mechanism. Uh, there are different kinds of mechs that it can happen in a puppet, such as eyelids closing and opening like in Animal or in Gonzo or in Scred from Land of Gorge. Um, but there's also other mechs. Um, one mech that was really popular with Fozzie in his first couple of builds, um, was that his ears could wiggle.

Um, and it was often used kind of as a punchline sometimes. Um, but I remember reading somewhere or hearing somewhere that Frank kind of stopped using it after a while because he did feel like it became a crutch for him. Um, but that is something just really funny about Fozzie and kind of his earlier stuff. Um, so then we move out of that and we go into the final number of the show, which is the iconic "Fever." Now, something I didn't explain earlier is that um, Rita Moreno won an Emmy for her performance on The Muppet Show, and because she won the Emmy, she was one of the only few to covet the, you know, very prestigious EGOT, which is when an artist um, attains all four of the performance or all four of the artistic awards, which is the Tony, the Oscar, the Emmy, and the Grammy.

Um, and the reason I think I can almost guarantee the reason that she won her Emmy is because of her performance of "Fever." As I was saying earlier today, uh, as I was saying earlier, her energy and her, you know, her kind of go-to character along with Animal just complement each other so well, and it's so funny. And something that becomes incredibly apparent with this specific performance is that Rita really knew how to play off of the Muppets, and all of the guest stars are great, but there are obviously some guest stars who really worked on The Muppet Show, and others who may, you know, it may have not clicked as brilliantly. Um, Rita Moreno was one of those people that it clicked with the Muppets immediately so much that she ended up hosting The Muppets Go to the Movies, um, or The Muppets Go to Hollywood.

Um, I think it's The Muppets Go to Hollywood. Um, and it's clear in this number why. I mean, they are just so funny, her and Animal. Um, I mean, she's trying to sing "Fever," and Animal is just, you know, drumming incredibly loud to make her angry, and then at the end she smashes him with some cymbals, and Animal's like, "Hmm, that's my kind of woman." Again, sex, pain, drugs, food. I can't remember that fifth word. I have to go find that fifth word. Um, maybe it is just four. I know it's five, though.

[42:57] Fergie L. Phillipe: Anyway, um, yeah, so it's just, it's really wonderful, and um, it's one of the most, it's again one of the most iconic numbers ever done. It's referenced pretty frequently. Um, yeah. And that takes us to the end of The Muppet Show, where uh, Rita grabs that giant humanoid by uh, John Lovelady. She gets that uh, she gets the stuffed one and throws it across the stage. Um, and they kind of exit out. Um, so yeah, so that was that episode of The Muppet Show, uh, with Rita Moreno. Next week is going to be Sandy Duncan, which is another great episode, Sandy Duncan of The Hogan Family fame, and also early, early, early, early on when she was the mother in those Barney specials when Barney first was coming out.

If you don't know about that, you have to look it up. It's pretty astounding. Um, like I said earlier, I know that I said that Connie Stevens was next in the last episode, but unfortunately that was because I recorded that before I knew what the order of The Muppet Show was gonna be. That was my B. Um, so we're not actually gonna get to Connie Stevens for a minute, um, because our next episode is Sandy Duncan.

[44:11] Fergie L. Phillipe: Um, another thing I wanted to correct. At the dance actually doesn't just get killed off after season two. We actually see at the dance quite a few times after the second season. But the thing is, you know, after the second and third season, Jerry Juhl, who is the head writer of The Muppets, um, made kind of an executive decision to really pull back on those sketches. So I was right about that. It just wasn't as um, there are quite a number in the third, fourth, and fifth season, um, but they purposefully made sure not to do as many just because they just thought it was kind of a cheap function for just one-liners, um, and they didn't think it really served anything. So yeah, uh, make sure you head over to Muppet Weekly, Muppet Central, and the Muppet Mindset if you want to get some more Muppet on, and if you want to listen to some more podcasts, make sure you hit up Puppeteers by Ken Garrity and Adam Kreutinger, Under the Puppet by Grant Paciocco, Below the Frame by Matt Vogel, and of course, if you want to do some nice old pop culture things, make sure that you are listening to The DJ Bob Show and you are listening to Defunctland and watching Defunctland on YouTube.

[45:20] Fergie L. Phillipe: This has been It's Time to Meet the Muppets. I will see you at the show next week. Bye bye. Let's get this show on the road.