An R-Rated Muppet Chat

[00:00:00] This podcast is a production of Unfiltered Studios. If you would like to know more about joining Unfiltered Studios, please visit our website at unfpod.com for more information. Welcome all, welcome all once again. So, for this re-edit, I decided to take three different chats. One where we just talked about it all of a sudden as we were getting back on topic. And two chats that were primarily about tonight's subject.

[00:00:26] And so, you know, we've discussed the Muppets in the past and I said, you know, we had so many great chats. We got really detailed. We expressed why they lasted so many generations and all that and why they still appeal to all kinds of audiences. But that's all good and dandy. But now let's talk about just all the hysterical, inappropriate humor that they've generated. It's not out of line. And so, yeah, trigger warning, there is going to be some blue language in these clips.

[00:00:55] But we kind of said that going in. Yeah, you'll hear all kinds of outrageous, funny theories we had about all our favorite Muppet characters. As well as just sharing some amusing blooper clips in between I've found on the internet over the years. So enjoy and let us know what you think. He's sick. And he just got back from a long vacation. Oh, really, Bird? Where did you go?

[00:01:25] I was visiting my relatives in Southeast Asia. Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, Bird. You might have the bird flu. Do-do-do, do-do-do, do-do-do. What this? Cookies? This not cookies. This chicken. Me not chicken monster. Hmm. Oh, me kidding. Me eat anything.

[00:01:54] Me compulsive eater. Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom. Nom, nom. Oh, me don't feel so good. Me got chills. Me cold. Me so cold. Oh, my God. But now I'm watching it as an adult and I realize Sesame Street teaches kids other things. It teaches kids how to judge people and label people. That's right.

[00:02:25] They got a character on there named Oscar. They treat this guy like shit the entire show. They judge him right in his face. Oscar, you are so mean. Isn't it, kids? Yeah, Oscar. You're a grouch. It's like, bitch, I live in a fucking trash can. Mother fucker on Sesame Street. Nobody's helping me.

[00:02:56] Then you wonder why your kids grow up and step over homeless people. Get it together, grouch. Get a job, grouch. So don't even tell me how to get to Sesame Street. That is a terrible place. I wouldn't go there if I knew the way.

[00:03:11] Welcome to the show.

[00:04:10] Another all-star guest panel. We've got Natalie Gold. How are you? Hi. Doing good. How are you? I'm never better. We've got Max Wood from Galaxy of Film. What's going on, man? How have you been? Climbing. Ricocheting. And good beer, bad movie nights. Pete Quint. Hey. How is everyone today? I think we're hunting monsters. Great. It's good to meet you all. This is cool. I'm real excited to be here. Me too. Let's get it on.

[00:04:40] Yes. Yeah, man. The number one Tremors fan is on our show. So out of all subjects that we could agree on, we're just like, let's just talk about Jim Henson and his Muppet cast. Can't go wrong, man. It's Jim Henson, baby. Can't go wrong. Isn't it wild how not only how this has spawned, you know, like any famous cartoon, just multiple generations, but it's just second nature.

[00:05:08] I can't think of any time where anyone isn't referencing these characters in some capacity. It's just like if there's a character at work who someone who you know, whose name is Ernie, not going to take long before someone does a bird impression like. Yeah, exactly. I bet he never heard that joke before. You're right. That's a hard life to live. Aren't the Star Wars puppets from Henson? Yeah. Henson and Creation.

[00:05:37] He basically, yeah, he just lended Frank Oz to them, the puppetry and the voice. Yeah. Kind of unofficially, or I guess you could say unofficial cousins. I found out that the Muppets were on the first season of SNL. And yeah, they had a whole like monsters segment on SNL. Sweet.

[00:06:07] Wow. It didn't last very long. Exactly. It was probably actually funny. It was funny to me, but probably not for the right reasons. Like it definitely, I don't know if it was funny back then, like, you know, in the 70s. What you had. But it didn't land. And probably what it is about the Muppets, it is universally, it's not just that it's family friendly.

[00:06:34] Like it's just any age is really, it's accessible to them. There's something for everybody there. It's really wild. It's just adult humor throughout the show that it's great for kids and adults. I mean, it's truly a family show where everyone can watch it. Yeah, absolutely. Everyone's going to get something out of it. So wild, because you would think there'd be something that might not age well if it's been as far back in the 70s, but it's just a rarity. It's like somehow it's as universal as, say, like Rocky.

[00:07:04] I think the thing that ages is the guests on the original show. A lot of these kids. All these kids. Sorry about that. That's not what I meant. I'll tip your hand, Pete. Just the, you know, as actors and actresses age, they go in and out of the zeitgeist. And you don't quite, people don't remember them. Like that first Muppet movie.

[00:07:33] Who's going to remember Richard Pryor making a cameo? Steve Martin. I definitely remember Steve Martin. Steve Martin has stuck with me. There were so many cameos in that. Alice Cooper. Yeah. Yeah. You referenced Prince. I mean, God forbid people forget Prince. I think it was back when he was the artist formerly known as Prince. I think they referenced the symbol. I think so, yeah. I think they talked about it in that episode. Really? Mm-hmm. He was the symbol for that long, huh?

[00:08:04] Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Muppets Take Mahan was on ABC Family quite a lot. My sister would always try and rent the Muppet caper from the library. And I think we owned a tape of Muppets from Space. So it's like, yeah, we always saw a bunch of the movies and specials somewhere, you know, every few years. A classic theater. That's the one that I'm thinking of. And I never really messed with any of the direct-to-video stuff in 20-0. Oh, yeah. See what you brought up, I think, Cam, the straight-to-DVD stuff. I grew up on that, too.

[00:08:33] So, like, I was... I'd argue I'm used to Steve more than Jim as Kermit. Yeah. Based off, like, swampier stuff. I watched the hell out of that on VHS growing up. Kermit, so swamp time. Anyone else watch that? I keep seeing the ads for it on every Sony release, but I never picked it up. Oh, my gosh. It is insane. It's, like, prepubescent Kermit, like, just giving into, like, some random activities.

[00:09:04] There's an analogy. You just reminded me of Muppet Babies. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I saw plenty of that back in the day. I was all up in that show. I grew up with that. I grew up with that. Like, that was actually on TV while I was growing up. It apparently did a new version. What's that? There is a new version of it. There's a new Muppet Babies? Is there? It's on Disney+. Oh. Can we see the nanny now, or was it still just comics? I don't know about that. I haven't watched all of it.

[00:09:34] I think I just, in passing, saw a couple clips. Muppet Babies was the best. Ugh. I would watch that today. I might have to go watch Swamp Beers again, man. Just thinking about it. It's like it's Kermit goes on this adventure with these two random friends who are never brought up in anything else Muppet related. And you know how, like, there's, what, Doc Hopper is his name from the first Muppet film is constantly after Kermit. Yeah. I think so. Yeah.

[00:10:01] There's a scientist that's after Kermit that wants to, like, dissect him. So there's this, like, it's horrifying for a Muppet film. Right. Like, there's this, like, even, like, scientist flashback of this scientist dissecting a Muppet frog. Have they ever answered any questions about that? About what is a Muppet? I feel like it's come up in some of the shows, some of the movies. Like, are they Muppets?

[00:10:28] Are they actual things they represent? Right? I think there's a joke in that if I remember correctly. And I could be wrong. Because they're in a pet shop. And there's real pets in the pet shop. And because there's, like, a mouse Muppet with them at this point, too. I think there's also a snake with them, like, on this little trip. Yep. So I remember there was a comparison at some point, I think, between a real frog and one of the little buddies that Kermit has with them. But there's, like, there's a blue frog with them specifically.

[00:10:58] I think it's a comparison between those two. Mm-hmm. But that's the closest I remember in this straight-to-video pre-pubescent Kermit adventure. To prepare for this episode, I decided to listen to the Who Would Win podcast episode of Sesame Street versus the Muppets. And so I believe it's a fun geekdom versus match. And I loved how one of them, the opposition, was defending Sesame Street.

[00:11:27] And they're like, yeah, Ernie is basically Tony Soprano. And basically, Oscar takes out the trash. No one fucks with Sesame Street. And so I kind of believe that same whole gist. It's like they were using all the various segments. I'm like, no, no. See, there's really nothing canon about any of this Muppet universe except basically this is like, yeah, these talking animals exist among humans. Interesting. Sully versus Big Bird. I want to see it.

[00:11:59] I used to think there was like Muppet Caper. I remember when I've watched Muppet Caper for the first time, I was mad because it wasn't like a third follow-up to the Muppet movie directly. Like they weren't referencing other ones my first time watching this. Like little four or five-year-old me was pissed watching Muppet. It is a bizarre kind of one. And yet at the same time, I can't blame them for doing that because it's like, yeah, it's like they were just making fun of all the on-star kind of cannonball run kind of Ocean's Eleven kind of movies.

[00:12:30] To me, the canon has always been that they had a show. Yeah. So then anything that ever deviated from their show origin, right, would always like weird me out a little bit. I'm like, I don't know. Kind of like Lincoln's. I'm with it. It exists in some kind of just ongoing. It goes on and on and on until it ends. Yeah. So does the Muppet Carol wig you out a little bit? Muppet Carol, yeah. That's a masterpiece. Man, that's a good film.

[00:13:01] I'm going to go out on a limb here and say. Go for it. Not my favorite. Oh, all right. Okay. I watched it a lot growing up. And then after a while, it was one of those like, I'm kind of sick of all these Christmas specials because it's just the thing. You know, it's a wonderful life. That's what it comes down to for me. I'm not a Christmas person. I love their segments. But then, yeah, and just the music goes on a little too long, even though it is fun seeing Michael Caine interact with the guys.

[00:13:31] Yes. All the guests are always fantastic. All these little cameos that happen on these movies are always worth it. Always worth it. Yeah. This is like one of the few franchises where they just were distributed through different outlets. It's, you know, Rago Rocks on HBO and then Sesame Street's on PBS and then Muppets are on, you know, whoever airs them that year. NBC or ABC often.

[00:13:57] And do you consider Dark Crystal and its, you know, animated follow up and Labyrinth kind of part of this universe? Or is that like Farscape where it's a whole different oyster altogether? I don't think there's any cross pollination there, but it's definitely the same company. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's just a man. Well, so I consider Yoda a Muppet, dude. Screw it. Let them all happen. Yeah. I just kind of do too. All right.

[00:14:28] Can't argue that. Yeah. Yeah. I think of it as, you know, an umbrella company, kind of like a George Lucas production. If you think about it, they do other things. They branch out into other stories. Loose colonies, different villages. Sure. I did see their recent special Haunted Mansion and it wasn't bad. It was kind of just very laid back. It was like, you know, I would definitely, out of the new ones, I would rather show kids

[00:14:58] this one as opposed to some of the recent movies because this one just had a better cast and it went by like No Tomorrow. It's only 50 minutes. I'm like, really? Okay. That's the one with Gonzo as the protagonist, right? Yeah. Basically, it's a Scooby-Doo type mystery. Right. Right. I remember that. That was fun. Oh, this is a great cast. Taraji P. Henson and Will Arnett and Yvette Nicole Brown. Yvette Nicole Brown. Danny Trejo. Yes.

[00:15:28] Making like his third appearance. What won't he be in? He's so old. Yeah. He was like in their last movie and I think he, well, and it's just so weird. He's definitely appeared in a few different like Hallmark specials or something that were like produced with Jim Henson and company doing the effects. So I think that's the other thing is like everyone's utilizing them some way or another.

[00:15:56] And I think they definitely kept practical. They're like some of the few practical effect companies still out there because you kind of need it if you're a puppet company. Yeah. How do you feel about the fact that these days they CGI out the little sticks that hold up the Muppet arms? Some of it's very noticeable.

[00:16:23] I really only had an issue with it in the recent movies just because the plots were just kind of very restricted to only kids. And like you say, the CGI was just stood out too much because there's just so much, many shots where they're walking on the ground and you see full body views. And it's, it's just too much. It's off-putting. Right. And same thing kind of annoyed me about Happy Time Murders where Brian decided let's do a rated Muppet movie.

[00:16:52] And I was like, they made it mostly in China, I think. And I was like, yeah, but it's just, it's kind of a negative. It's just too much. I was so disappointed in Happy Time Murders. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, but when I saw the making of, for the, you know, the DVD extras, everything's done on a green screen. Yeah. And there were times in that movie where I'm going, wow, how did they do that? And then it's a green screen. I'm like, ah, God damn it.

[00:17:21] I've been CG'd everything and the magic is gone. Yeah. I think part of, part of that, that magic has, has left. And it's, it's awful sad. I really enjoyed the, there's a level of creativity to get these things filmed by filming around the puppeteers. And as they interact with live, live actors, it's, I find that just as fascinating as the storylines. Yeah.

[00:17:50] I feel like it's enough to CGI out the, the puppet masters. You don't need to CGI out the sticks. Yeah. The sticks is weird. Like it doesn't, like it's noticeable sometimes, but it doesn't take me out of it. But the, the full body shots in the newer stuff is definitely weird. Yeah. I don't know what it is. He's my favorite Muppet. I love him to death, but there's something always so fucking creepy to me about full body Fozzie Bear. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:18:20] And they would always animate him very awkwardly to where you're like, like you say, it kind of takes you out of it a minute because you're, you're too carefully trying to analyze. It's kind of like when you're trying to see other technical stuff in a movie, you're trying to see how they creatively hide it and make it work. And it's like, you're showing off a little too much when you should just be telling the story. They don't move naturally enough to justify taking out the sticks. Yeah. That's a great point. Yeah.

[00:18:50] They're a puppet. Just embrace it. We'd rather it be more static if you're just trying too hard to go there. Sure. Or, or play with the, with the whole trope of it. You know, they're, they're Muppets. They're being manipulated. Especially when you have like characters on screen if like Kermit connects, compared to like Honeydew, where it's a character where we're using two human hands. And clearly that's not attached to the body. It's just the shirt or whatever. That looks weird if you have it compared to a Muppet with no stick arms or anything like that.

[00:19:18] There's a few Muppets that are people, like that are, that have people inside of them. Right. Oh yeah. Got man suits. Sully is one of them. It's the one with the big mouth. Sweetums. Sweetums. Yeah. Sweetums. Sorry. And Big Bird, his bird flu clan. Yeah. It's, it happens where it's just like, I'm just joking, but okay. Yeah. It was like, those are like the only full body ones.

[00:19:42] And it was like, the rest are just like you say, halfway through, like you say, the off-putting CGI erasing effect. And it is one of those, I do find some amusement in it, but it is kind of like a South Park episode that you can't fully recommend. You're like, it's going to vary by audience. But what's so funny is my sister really hated it and my father wanted to see it. And I'm like, oh, this is so not safe for work. So I, I'm not sure I can recommend it to you. I do forget. I did rent Elmo and Grouchland quite a lot.

[00:20:13] I was, I had that as well. That was a constant repeat. I don't know. That was either. I just remember Tickle Me Elmo when that first came out. And just my, I remember very vividly that there, it was just like that Schwarzenegger movie. The one with Sinbad. Oh, Jingle All the Way. There you go. Jingle All the Way. That's it. Like all these parents just trying to get a freaking Tickle Me Elmo.

[00:20:42] Yeah, that was, Tickle Me Elmo was the Cabbage Patch Kids. It was fantastic. Yeah. And they, they managed to get me one. It was. Wow. Yeah. But it was like a, I know it wasn't store bought. Like it didn't come in a package. It was just kind of. It was a back alley trade. I think it was a back alley Elmo. Go off the truck. That's wild. I never thought I'd hear that combination. Scarred for life having your puppet fall out of the window.

[00:21:12] Back alley Elmo. My niece has that Elmo now. I'm kind of pissed about it. I'm like, hey man, that was my freaking Tickle Me Elmo. Yeah. Oh, cool. That's great. Wow. Made it. Did anybody, the last big Muppet movie I watched, did anybody watch like Fall Out Bird? The big bird movie? Yeah. Rented it plenty of times. Yeah. So, so good. Is it?

[00:21:41] It's like from eating sticks. It's basically Ernie and Bert try to catch Big Bird. All the way. Well, that sounds familiar. Like the missing person's news reporter for the entire movie. And so like, you know, in the Muppet movie, obviously the Big Bird cameo that's in there. Whatever reason, again, four-year-old me, same one that's pissed off at Muppet Caper, was so confused. I mean, I was the whole meme from Always Sunny in Philadelphia of Charlie Day spreading out

[00:22:08] lines, trying to figure out how is Kermit over on Sesame Street importantness of Big Bird's going to Hollywood. They meet, but they don't know each other. I was trying to make ends meet, man. And he almost saw that cannon. And that was a huge contributor, was that movie. They contributed to the Ninja Turtles. Does that mean the Ninja Turtles are technically part of this? That's true. Are you talking about the Ninja Turtles Next Mutation show? Because I have that. No, the original.

[00:22:37] That was by the Power Rangers, guys. I'm talking about the early first three, like, 90s. That was another one that was right in my wheelhouse, baby. Boy, oh, boy. Power Rangers Muppets. That'd be funny. Dude, I consider the Turtles Muppets. Screw it, dude. Do it. Do it. I want to see Raphael and Sweetums go at it. Yeah. But they're people, aren't they? Who's that? In the suits. The Turtles. Oh, yeah. But there are people as a person in it.

[00:23:06] They still had to do the puppeteering for, like, when you're seeing their mouse. The mouth. Yeah. I guess. And the eyeballs, too. It's a piece. It's not always. It's just for the full body shots that you see them in the suits. But there's, like, three operators for each turtle. And we just see the voice guy. I guess that's true. Yeah. Oh, God. Screw it. They're up. It's too. Yeah. But, I mean. It was all remote control. All that facial stuff was all remote control.

[00:23:36] I don't think there was any puppeteering in there outside of a guy in a suit. It still counts as puppeteering. I agree. Yeah. But, yeah. There wasn't any puppets in Turtles. It was a guy in a suit and these amazing puppeteers doing remote controls and blinking eyes and making lips move. Boy, that second one. Man. What they were able to do with their speech was incredible. It just. Secret of the Ooze. Oh, my God. It's a damn good movie.

[00:24:03] You just mentioned Mac's favorite movie right there. I have an active argument. My friends, they all love to just. They love everything Martin Scorsese puts out. I got my own thoughts on them. I love him as a director and all. But, like, his movies are great, but they're not my favorite movies. You know. Sure. And so, I have this very. That's a fair statement. I have this very passionate argument. Any day of my life, I'd rather watch Ninja Turtles 2 over Taxi Driver. So, I give my friend shit saying it's a better movie.

[00:24:33] I'm on your boat there, Mac. I don't know. We're going to have to work some. Taxi Driver is way too heavy for me to watch every day. But, boy. Every day would make me just. I will watch Ooze every day over Taxi Driver every day. Oh, man. We're going to work some now. I need you guys on Galaxy Film. I like you, too. Yeah. Let's do it. I think it was great. I have it on vinyl, too. The soundtrack. On vinyl. Oh, snap. In 1992, I was in Florida. I was, too.

[00:25:06] I was in the Ohio State University marching band. And we went to the Citrus Bowl. Of course you were. What does that mean? I'm just saying. Oh, that was so fun. You were so full of surprises. So that's awesome. Go ahead.

[00:25:36] I'll let you finish your story. I want to make you finish. Let me finish, man. So I'm an idiot freshman in college thinking we're going to Florida over a Christmas break. And we're going to pack shorts and t-shirts, right? Yes. Do it. This is relevant to the story, the whole conversation here. Okay.

[00:26:02] So we get to Orlando, and the first day or two is beautiful. And we're like, hey, this is great. Third day in, we are doing a parade at Disney. But before we do the parade, we're allowed in the park for like 35 minutes or whatever. No, no. It was a couple hours. Okay. But Florida in December is not as warm as you might think it is. I've been to Florida in December.

[00:26:33] And it rained that day while we were at the park, which made it colder. So it was about 40. That sounds like Florida, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was there in sandals and shorts and t-shirts running around the park because my uniform and everything was on the bus and I didn't think I needed anything but a t-shirt and shorts. So the row mates and I are running from place to place to place to get some shelter.

[00:27:02] So we're doing all these indoor roller coasters. Which are those hydraulic things or these theater things, whatever. This is, again, 92. It's been a while. So we did go into the Star Wars one, which was very cool. But we also got to go to the Muppet one. Yeah, Star Tours. That would be the one. Star Tours was there, yeah. Star Tours, yeah.

[00:27:31] But then whatever the Muppet one, it was like the Muppet Experience or something like that. It's still there, yeah. Muppet Experience. Is it still there? It was at, not Epcot, it's the other one. I went to it a couple years ago, yeah. MGM. So it's a big theater. You sit there and it was the first time I had experienced polarized lenses. I've only experienced the red and the blue for 3D. But this was, here's some glasses. They're not power. They were just polarized.

[00:28:00] You sat there in the theater and it blew my fucking mind. I couldn't believe how good the T was. And these Muppets would point right at you. And that's just how the 3D worked. And we all kind of went, whoa. Like, what was it? The Great Train back in 1910 or whatever, where people screamed that their train was running at them. We all kind of, the whole theater kind of went, whoa. Whoa. As they're pointing at you and throwing stuff at you.

[00:28:28] Because nothing was distorted by that red and blue. I saw Jaws 3D in the theater with the red and blue glasses. It sucked. But this was really, really cool. Yes. Because you didn't, you were just, it was shaded a little bit and everything, nothing was distorted. Oh boy, it was really cool. It was one of my favorite memories of, outside of freezing my ass off. We got in there and we warmed up and that was a really fun experience.

[00:28:57] So the old man's done telling his stories. I was trying to remember where I was in 1992, but that's the same year that Hurricane Andrew hit. True. So, but you're talking about Christmas time. So this would have been. Yeah, after Christmas before New Year's. So the Citrus Bowl was on New Year's Day. And we were there for the week after Christmas, like a day or two after Christmas. Still, it was cold.

[00:29:26] Ladies and gentlemen, Florida is cold. Florida is in September. Just a public service announcement. Please, pack up accordingly. Probably the coldest it gets down there is like maybe the lower 40s in the mornings, something like that. Oh, but it was raining and it was not, it was not pleasant. The rain probably doesn't help yet. And what I love about the rain in Florida is it just, it starts and then it stops. You can actually just walk right through it. Yeah, I've heard that. This was not that. This was a constant drizzle all day long.

[00:29:55] It was miserable. Stop the rain. That happens too. That does happen. Here comes the rain again. Stupid Orlando. So we know Max's favorite Muppet. What's everybody else's favorite Muppet? Oh boy. We know Max likes Fozzie. All right, but favorite Muppets, favorite Muppets. Go, go, go, go, go. What do you got? It'd probably be Bert. We got to split this.

[00:30:25] We got to do Sesame Street and then we got to do Muppets. Because I can't just pick them. Sesame Street is 100% big bird for me then. For me, it's Grouch. Movie? Grouch? It's either Oscar or Ernie. Yeah, it's one of those. Yeah. If it's Sesame Street, it's the guy that can make any noise out of his mouth. He was blue and he was bald. Oh, wow. I don't remember his name. Are you talking Grouch?

[00:30:55] Are you talking Sesame Street or Muppets? He's talking Sesame Street. Okay. Because we have the blue eagle guy. No, not the blue. He could make a noise. He would open his mouth and a car horn would sound. I think it's Fozzie. I don't know who you're talking about. Harry Monster. I think it's Harry Monster. There's a pop figure of him, actually. Yeah, yeah. Because he would do all kinds of things with his mouth. So that would have to be. No.

[00:31:22] I think with Muppets, it's harder to nail down a favorite. Oh, God. There's just so many. There's so many good ones. There's so many good ones. But they all have their thing. Like, I love Statler and Wardour. Oh, yes. Yes. Yeah. Anytime on a film forum, you basically got to take them out and say, all right. It's so good. Here's the real thing.

[00:31:49] And then you've got Pepe, the shrimp. Is it shrimp? The prawn. I was watching Muppet from Space today, actually. I was thinking about how great and underused he is now. Is he underused now? Boy, he was. Was he even in 2011? Oh, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, he was. But I thought he took over for Rizzo for a while. He kind of did. Oh, Rizzo. That's another guy. Oh, I'm thinking about Rizzo. Yeah, Rizzo's the one we don't see often anymore. Okay.

[00:32:18] Yeah, Pepe, definitely the first I saw him was on Muppets Tonight, followed by, you know, Muppets from Space. So that makes sense. Hmm. And then you've got, you know, Beaker. I mean, come on. Oh, my gosh. Me, me, me, me, me. Like, he's just fantastic. And you've got Swedish Chef. He's ridiculous. Damn it. That was going to be my pick. That was yours? Yeah. I love Swedish Chef because of the nonsense. It's just so insane. He works here in the chocolate mousse.

[00:32:49] And we're here in the chocolate mousse. He's got his own segment on Muppets now. The mousse. His own baking segment. He deserves it. He does. And it's always like a competition series between him and someone who can actually cook. And it's chef's kiss. Mousse. Mousse. Ah, I see what you did there. Thank you. Thank you so much. Mousse. Mousse. Versus Iron Chef. Oh. That's a show I want to see.

[00:33:19] Oh. Okay. That would be interesting. I'm into that. I'd watch it. Isn't it wild, though, how so many of these specials for the longest time, some of them are still only on VHS. And other things like. Wow. Like the Jugman. Remember that? The Jugman. The Jugman. That. Even Willoughby's Christmas tree special they did with Leslie Nielsen and Stockard Channing. But yeah. Muppet Fairy Tales or whatever. Yeah.

[00:33:47] That's still only on VHS. They should totally do a transfer to Amazon or Disney Plus. Amazon. I think Disney owns that shit now. I know. But they still got the license. Classic Theater. That's the one I'm thinking of. I don't know why they wouldn't release that one. That one I watched in was. It was just so much fun to see them adapt like six different fairy tales. I think my favorite Muppet segment is.

[00:34:17] Everyone knows this one. It's the Monomena. Yo, that's the Muppet. Yeah. What do you mean no one knows this one? No, I'm saying everyone knows this one. Oh, everyone knows that one. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. Like, I cannot know it. I don't know it. What is that from? There was a petition in Chicago like five years back where people. We have a street called Menemone Street. Okay. Nice. Oh, no.

[00:34:43] Somebody petitioned to have the bus stop changed. Monomena. Monomena. So it's actually be that entire song instead of just Menemone Street. But it didn't pass. They should have passed it. Chicago doesn't have a sense of humor. Because people are stupid. Yeah. But it was pretty clever. I was into it. Oh, man. That's great. Yeah.

[00:35:18] Here's what's a bizarre thing. You're talking about Rizzo. Did you know that Steve Whitmire said the inspiration for him was Justin Hoffman's character in Midnight Cowboy? Oh. I'm trying to find parallels. And I don't. I mean, lest I check Rizzo does not sell his body. No, no. I see it. He had that Brooklyn. Oh, okay. Accent sort of thing. I'm going to say. Moxie. The time Muppets have sex on screen is, you know, it's not happening anytime soon. No, no, no.

[00:35:47] I don't think he had sex on screen. I think he was a. I think he had some issues. No, I'm pretty sure he had a lot of issues. I mean, I can see Gonzo and Rizzo being a couple if you want to go there. No, no, no. That's not what I meant. Damn it. So, well, since we're R-rated already, how much angry sex do you think Ernie and Bert have?

[00:36:17] Oh, God. Angry sex? Yeah. I feel like that would be daily at least. Ernie. Just on Bert's end, right? That's why I'm laughing. That's terrible. Yeah. Just to find out. I may have jumped the shark here. My goodness. I wasn't prepared for this conversation. Sorry, I just dived right in there. Everyone thought it. Don't hesitate. Don't hesitate.

[00:36:47] Pull that Band-Aid right off, man. What other Muppets might date each other, though, instead of just Bert and Ernie? Oh, Elmo and Zoe are definitely a thing. Boyfriend, girlfriend. Boyfriend. Okay. But that seems more, like, established, right? Like... That's a curvy. Yeah. I agree. If you were to ship Muppets, who would you ship?

[00:37:13] Snuffy and Big Bird are definitely, you know, unofficial brothers. Big Bird's the only one that can reach him. Oh, thank you for that image. I just meant that they just seem to be just kind of brothers from other mothers. There's a size differential there from a lot of these Muppets. I think Sam the Eagle has some really... He and Oscar are definitely serial killers. They hate everybody.

[00:37:41] I don't know how sexually deviant Sam the Eagle is. Boy, oh boy. I think he's an insult. That closet. I'd be pleasantly surprised if he was just adept in romance and nothing more. Like, he's... He's a sociopath. He hates everybody. It's true. He doesn't hate everybody. You are all morons. Oh, Scooter. Scooter. Scooter and Robin are having a fling.

[00:38:08] Dude, if the Muppets, like, adult, like, the Muppets show, like, took off in 2015, I think it was. From the creators of South Park. Yeah, if we had, like, gotten multiple seasons, I would have loved to see, like, if Piggy had an affair with Scooter. Yeah. Interesting. Because, like, it's Kermit's assistant that he takes for granted nonstop throughout, like, all the, you know, the shows and the movies and whatnot. That'd be a cool dynamic they could have done. Totally.

[00:38:36] Their relationship makes no sense, Kermit and Miss Piggy. I love that they trashed it in that. I think it's a play on the odd couple or some bullshit, just having two unliked people do the unthinkable. And they're making fun of just all these people. I mean, you kind of always got the sense that they're unhappily, you know, involved, you know, boyfriend, girlfriend. You know, and they're just doing a play on that. It's like, why do you guys put up with each other? Shit. Right. Right.

[00:39:02] You have so many other Muppets around you, you know, that clearly want to give you attention and affection. Like, it's way freakier than Miss Piggy. No, yeah. I mean, you never know what could happen if Kermit actually just had a deviant mind all of a sudden. It's true. This is not all this podcast will go to. Yeah. We're pretty much across the X-rated line.

[00:39:33] How adept is Gonzo with that nose of his? Okay, I'm glad you were thinking it too, man. Okay. I know Gonzo's doing some freak shit. I didn't want to be... We got there. Well, Gonzo's got this whole thing with his chickens. Well, that's why he wants to be an actor. He's been brown-nosed all this time. There are layers on Gonzo. Excellent use of brown-nosed. I'm telling you, it's that ego. I'm the best acrobat that ever has. Oh, my God.

[00:40:03] I bet you are. You just know that Animal is performed with just so many rock and roll groupies, so he definitely got some action on the side. Animal's getting head all the time, for sure. Animal's a slut. Yeah. All the time. I don't want to even guess how the whole human versus Muppet interaction works. Don't ask me. I don't know. I mean, you gotta... Animal doesn't care. I just remembered a Geico commercial with Animal. You too. Thank you.

[00:40:32] I remember several Geico commercial with all of them. Yeah. All of them have been in something eventually. Animal's probably the best one. I wouldn't say Animal's my favorite, but he's the best. He's one of the best Muppets. I had an animal-stuffed animal. I did, too. It was cool because he had a plastic chain around his neck. Yeah. He had the same one. When I was like 11 or 12, I was like, I'm too cool for the Muppet. I had animal dinging from my ceiling.

[00:41:02] Yeah. That's amazing. Yes. I think I had that exact same animal Muppet. That one's so good. Well, if we're bringing up all these other Muppets, I mean, I lost track of how many rude jokes I said in the voice of Yoda. Yeah, dude. I couldn't tell. I got a Yoda hand. You can't even see him. I got a Yoda hand. I was up my ass. It is. Puppeteer. Not thinking, is he? I can't wait for when Grogu finally talks. I can make those Muppet jokes. Oh. Are Stetler and Waldorf living with each other?

[00:41:30] I was thinking the same thing, but I didn't want to say it because I felt like it got healthy enough. Are they at the retirement home with each other? Yeah. They're definitely the elderly. Yeah. They're the World War II buddies who couldn't stand women and couldn't stand anyone else, so they got a retirement home and lived together happily the rest of their lives. Yeah. The overall humor, I think, like you say, is definitely influenced from everything,

[00:41:58] whether it's subtle Lenny Bruce to Gaucho Marx. Lenny Bruce, yeah. And it's like the only thing with physical confrontation that I think my mom would let me watch growing up is just like everything else was just too much swordplay and just too imitable. Oh, did you say swordplay? I wasn't allowed to watch boring. Oh, my God. Stop. Oh, wait. So they didn't allow you to watch this?

[00:42:25] It was, I grew up in a Baptist evangelical house. I don't recommend it. Wow. And the belief was that, you know, dinosaurs weren't real or something like that. Oh, my God. So there was this conflict of, you know, thought with a muppet puppet dinosaur hanging out with little kids. We think it's flat.

[00:42:57] I don't know how they felt about it, about Earth, but for sure they didn't think dinosaurs were real. The Earth is round. Here. Yeah. That's another thing, too. I can't not get through that whenever someone's running around. We almost always have some muppet. Right. Yeah. I always loved the backstage stuff, too. All the backstage drama going on. And it's Scooter. I was calling him Skeeter earlier. Scooter.

[00:43:29] Scooter, the stage manager. Right. Always dealing with that stuff. That's so true. It kind of indirectly teaches you about responsibility, how everyone has a job title. Sure. Yeah. He's the assistant. Yeah, I think he has some educational value to it. Yeah. He's the assistant associate producer. Gonzo's the freaking nature who everyone. Kind of wants to work with, but doesn't want to really know personally because he's just too weird. And then. I know.

[00:43:58] Rizzo has his army of rats and they're got a special set of skills. And yeah. And Kermit is basically the charismatic leading man who thinks he's deeper and everyone just kind of knows him. Goes, hey, it's a frog. Go do some magic tricks for us. And Miss Piggy is basically the Julia Roberts gathering up for another time. Right. The diva. Yeah. The diva. And you have Fozzie who just wants to get his jokes on air. Oh yeah.

[00:44:27] Fozzie is basically, yeah, the Louis Anderson crude comic. Oh man. There were some great gags on that. That's now shit. When this is over, I got to rewatch their, that mockumentary Muppet show that they did because there were some great cameos, especially the Mindy Kaling one where she's coming all in and, and she thinks she's more entertaining than they actually, she actually is. And she, and they can't stand her. So they just put her in a different skit.

[00:45:00] Classic. There were some other guests on there too. I lost track. I know Muppets Tonight had George Takei singing on a boat in one segment or some bullshit. What? Yeah. Had Liza Minnelli. Liza Minnelli on the original Muppet show. Harry Belafonte. Belafonte. Who can forget the time that Kermit bit Vincent Price on the neck vampire style. Vincent Price. That's right. Shit.

[00:45:30] Vincent Price. Kigs in space. Is he dead? I'm not sure that Vincent Price is dead. He's long dead. Okay. Just making sure. Just making sure. I wasn't sure. Honestly, like I don't remember hearing about him. You never know, man. You never know. I mean, if you don't see a body, it's impossible. It's true. Wow. Well, yeah, I don't personally, I don't have anything else to add from Muppets. That pretty much covers all my dreams. Yeah, that dream.

[00:45:59] God damn it, Max. I need something more from you. No, I'm scared. We'll return after these messages. If you like small town mystery, crazy news, and wild history, then the Florida Men on Florida Man podcast is for you. Each week, Josh Mills and Wayne McCarty bring you the absolute best Florida has to offer.

[00:46:22] So if you're looking for a show that's safe for the family, but funny enough to help you escape everyday life, then listen to the Florida Men on Florida Man podcast. That's Florida Men, plural, on Florida Man podcast. Hey, it's Brent Pope, the host of Breakfast with Brent Pope. You've seen me on some of your favorite TV shows saying things like, give it up, Jimmy. You got to sink this putt to win. On Breakfast with Brent Pope, I sit down with guests from the entertainment world, and we do it all over breakfast. Or should I say Brent-fist?

[00:46:49] Every week on Brent-fist, you get inside Hollywood info and tips, great breakfast wrecks and booty debates. Most of all, you get the most delightful 30 minutes of your week. So dig in. It's Brent-fist time. Listen at Brent-fist.com, Apple Podcasts, or wherever fine podcasts are found. You know, I'm in a very dangerous position for you. Depends on how you look at it. That's true.

[00:47:19] Without teeth, it might be a great position for me. You're disgusting. You know that I just want to tell you. Hey, hey, Chiki. Come back here, Chiki. Hey, oh! Oh, Jesus Christ! Come on, Chiki-boo! Oh, somebody get a ladder!

[00:47:50] Guilt. Damn. Wattenies. Is this it? That's the end, okay? Lunch! You hear, Bert? Right here in the middle of Sesame Street. Wait a minute. I got caught. What are you doing? Wait, where are we? This is all fake, Bert. What do you mean?

[00:48:22] I'm just doing a little shopping. Mmm! Yeah!

[00:49:41] There's lots of things you can do with this stick, Elmo. Hey, maybe you can be playing hockey with it, like... Yeah, I've been a goalie now for about three years, and it hasn't affected me. Maybe it could be like a baton. Or it could be a cane. Well, Nancy and I are just happy to be here. Or you can play Pinocchio, the home game. I have two Academy Awards, Elmo. Stuff like that, you know, Elmo. Just simple things. Uh-huh. Yeah. Whoa! You know, I'm telling you what I'm going to do with this stick. What? I'm going to give it to you.

[00:50:16] Mr. Robbins? Taking the stick back, Elmo. You're going to shush me, right? Yeah, I'm going to...

[00:50:52] Stop it at the end of the stick. I found it appropriate to talk about all these creatures, all these unusual, supernatural, sci-fi blockbusters, and what other than talking about the movie that made Spielberg, box office draw. How would you handle a shark if it intruded upon your town and if it was a supernatural creature like the Jaws shark? Me? Mm-hmm. Oh, well, shit. I would... Wait, are we...

[00:51:22] We do curse on here, don't we? Shit, goddamn. Yes. Yeah. All right. So I would probably handle it the way that the mayor did at the end of the movie. It doesn't exist. No, no, no. Even later than that, just like, pay him. Pay him and let's get back to business. Oh, pay all the... Pay Quint. Unofficial heroes. Yeah. Have him hire a group of shark hunters.

[00:51:51] In fact... Yeah, right? Do you think Spielberg regrets not getting extra money from the awful sequels? Yeah. You know, they say... I don't know. Michael Caine never watched. Jaws. Yeah. Three or four? Four, and he just did the famous... It bought a great mansion. Yeah, exactly. Okay. I got a question. This is a question my daughter always poses. Okay. So you take Jaws. Ice cream? Huh.

[00:52:23] And everybody in the movie becomes a Muppet. Ah! Yes. Except for one person. Yes. Oh, my God. And we're going to have to have... Okay. So Gonzo is going to be a scientist Dreyfus plays. Kermit, I feel, should be the stupid mayor. I'm not sure on who should be Sheriff Brody, but Fozzie Bear by far is going to give the speech as Robert Shaw's character. See, I was thinking Sam the Eagle as Captain Quint. Oh, there you go.

[00:52:53] Yeah. Oh, I think he should be the sheriff. He's like, you all are morons. Doing his usual line. Of course, Piggy is Ellen Brody. Miss Piggy will be the first victim because get... Oh, so there you go. So Kermit can be the... I missed out on some serious bacon. And I had someone I wanted to pork. And we could have the critics, Walter and What's-His-Face, they could be talking shit while people are getting slaughtered. Oh, oh, oh, oh. We told you not to go in the water. Oh, oh, oh. Sorry.

[00:53:23] See, I was thinking that they would both be Harry's of some sort. Sit in front of the chief. Oh, there you go. You know? I'll deal with that. Who do you think should be the hunter who gets the shark that's not the right one? Oh. What was... Who's the guy that throws the exploding fish? Oh, oh, oh, oh my God. How about Animal and Honeydew and... I don't know. Mr. Teeth.

[00:53:52] Mr. Yeah, Dr. Teeth. That's it. Dr. Teeth. Dr. Teeth. So who would stay human? One person has to stay human. I would think Richard Dreyfuss should stay human. Oh. Okay. Defend it. Sheriff Brody. Because I'd like to see him do some comedy. Well, he looks like a Muppet in this movie, so... Okay. You just couldn't tell. We could change it up a bit where he's... I'm afraid of the stairs. Maybe one of the Muppets can be his deputy and he's still the sheriff.

[00:54:22] And he's just along for the ride. There'd be some great scenes if Quint was the human. And everybody else around him was Muppets. Yeah. I love it. Either way, you can't lose with this because... You're gonna just go far until it hurts. Like, my sides would probably be killing me, like, the many times I grew up watching Treasure Island. I mean, I was gonna say, they've done Treasure Island. They've done Muppet Carols. They've done... I think Jaws is next.

[00:54:52] I mean, we really should fight for that, you know? Yeah, I love this. I will fund either of you guys' idea. I will totally fund anime. I will totally fund that. This is amazing. But you can have a Muppet play the shark as well. You know that really, really big Muppet? The massive one that's like... The tall guy that's like the... He sweeps up and stuff? Nine foot tall with the massive head. Oh, oh, oh. Big Bird?

[00:55:22] No. No, not Big Bird. That's similar. Yeah, you're talking about the one with the giant-ass lips. He looks like Animal, but giant. Yeah. Okay. But he's huge. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know what you're talking about. Giant Muppet character. He could be the shark. Sweetums! Sweetums. Okay. Look at you. Thank you, Google. You know, you'd look a lot smarter if we couldn't see the reflection in your thoughts. I'm just saying. Sweetums is the gay character I write in every movie. Or the prostitute you write in a vigilante for Roger Corman.

[00:55:52] I don't know. We totally... I love how we just add into the fun B-movie mythology. Because, like, Jaws is like a total, like, B-movie love letter. And, like, the most mainstream B-picture. Just showing... Because, like, you look at all the Jaws knockoffs, and some of them are fun, and some of them are bad. But they're kind of at the same time. They're just reminding you how Jaws had more time, money, effort, style. Yeah, but Corman doesn't need any of that. Right.

[00:56:21] And so Corman is his own special thing. But then you see the other knockoffs and how the Italian ones vary. And you're like, well, I think overall, I mean... I don't... I think if you just... Like we were saying before, if you touch any part of this, for the most part, it's probably going to become garbanzo beans. So you're telling me that there are Italian knockoffs of Jaws? Yes. Does that make it seafood Cabernaro? Oh.

[00:56:51] Well, I mean, it makes it very fishy, that is for sure. But, um... That was deep, C. That was deep. That was so deep. And I remember, like, watching, you know, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. And you don't realize later that's the Pointer Sisters doing the soundtrack to that. I didn't know that. Wow. Or the one I loved was, who is it? It's me, the plumber. I'm here to fix the sink. Who is it?

[00:57:19] It's, you know, that's the great thing about the joke. You know, that joke, that running gag was, you know, the whole thing. So Sesame Street, to me, is his top achievement. He wanted to make a show that was funny and informative for kids. Like, he makes Bert and Ernie, you know, the odd couple. That's what they're based on. They're based on Oscar and Felix. Let's not, you know... That's what it is. You know, Bert is the uptight one. And, you know...

[00:57:46] It took us a while to find out they're also a closeted couple, but yeah. No, I don't think that's... That's a bunch of bullshit that I heard when I was a kid, you know. There was a big room going around. They're going to have, like, one of them die of AIDS. My friend... Because, you know, my friend... One of my friends was like, You know, they... This is typical North Jersey stupidity, you know. You know they're fags, right? I'm like, no, they're not. They're puppets. Okay, wait. First off, they're made of felt. They're... Okay, so... Come on.

[00:58:15] According to Sesame Workshop, the organization says it's official that they are not straight, but they are simply best friends. Yeah, you know. Okay. I'm just a rat ass. They're crazy either. Again, they're made of felt. Come on. You know. They're puppets. Back here. I mean, who doesn't like to hear, you know, them arguing in the middle of the night, you know. Bert? Yeah, Ernie. Bert, I want a glass of water. Get out of bed, Ernie, and get it. Get it.

[00:58:45] I don't want to get it. Why? It's too far. I mean, it's just so silly to hear these things. But the thing was... I just thought it was funny either way that this came up. I'm like, because I just never thought of it. I always thought they were just angry brothers that lived together. I thought they were just two guys that just lived together like the odd couple, you know. Yeah, I was going to just say that. I wonder if the odd couple influenced that a little bit, you know. Yeah.

[00:59:11] And Bert was the intolerant one, and Ernie was just a happy-go-lucky one, you know. Yeah, yeah. In a different way, yeah. Follow us on the web on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The podcast is available on Podbean, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Anchor, Apple, and anywhere else podcasts are available.

[00:59:38] Feel free to review our show and leave comments on any of those sites. Thanks a million for listening. It's a jacked up.