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* AccentuateTheNegative: InUniverse, Statler and Waldorf take great pleasure in mocking anything that wasn't perfromed by the episode's SpecialGuest. The only other thing they seem to enjoy unabashedly is when they perform old vaudeville-era song-and-dance numbers.
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* AccentuateTheNegative: InUniverse, Statler and Waldorf take great pleasure in mocking anything that wasn't perfromed performed by the episode's SpecialGuest. The only other thing they seem to enjoy unabashedly is when they perform old vaudeville-era song-and-dance numbers.
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* AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal: Kermit usually wears nothing but his collar, and will cover himself up if it's taken off. When they do an underwater performance of TheBeatles' "Octopus's Garden", he wears a bathing cap.
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* AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal: Kermit usually wears nothing but his collar, and will cover himself up if it's taken off. When they do an underwater performance of TheBeatles' Music/TheBeatles' "Octopus's Garden", he wears a bathing cap.
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** Floyd Pepper is patterned after [[TheBeatles Sergeant Pepper]].
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** Floyd Pepper is patterned after [[TheBeatles [[Music/TheBeatles Sergeant Pepper]].
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** And then there's his full name, [[TheBeatles Sergeant]] Floyd [[TheBeatles Pepper]].
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** And then there's his full name, [[TheBeatles [[Music/TheBeatles Sergeant]] Floyd [[TheBeatles [[Music/TheBeatles Pepper]].
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** In the episode with Lynn Redgrave, when Kermit and the others discover Miss Piggy dressed as Maid Marian and the real Maid Marian (Lynn Redgrave) is locked in a dressing room, the others abandon her and Gonzo comes up to her, sits beside her, and starts necking her, as she starts yelling.
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* AccentuateTheNegative: InUniverse, Statler and Waldorf take great pleasure in mocking anything that wasn't perfromed by the episode's SpecialGuest. The only other thing they seem to enjoy unabashedly is when they perform old vaudeville-era song-and-dance numbers.
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* {{Meat-O-Vision}}: Played with in the Pearl Bailey episode's "Pigs in Space" skit -- the explorers, hopelessly lost in space, start seeing each other as food... because of a NegativeSpaceWedgie that's ''actually turning them into'' food.
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* {{Meat-O-Vision}}: MeatOVision: Played with in the Pearl Bailey episode's "Pigs in Space" skit -- the explorers, hopelessly lost in space, start seeing each other as food... because of a NegativeSpaceWedgie that's ''actually turning them into'' food.
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Trivia.
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* ExecutiveMeddling: Averted in that Henson had a degree of immunity. The show's British producer Lord Lew Grade gave Henson one condition; that he produce the show in Grade's London studios. Apart from that Grade pretty much gave Henson ''carte blanche'' to do what he wanted. As a thank-you, Henson wrote a Lew Grade {{Expy}} into The Muppet Movie, played by Orson Welles.
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Repair Dont Respond. If it\'s not a correct example, remove it, don\'t make it longer.
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** There was a bit more executive meddling in the form of the LaughTrack.
*** No there wasn't. The series was supposed to be a throwback to vaudeville, the series needed to incorporate a LaughTrack for more realism, as the Muppets put on their show before a live audience (though the live audience was made up of Muppet characters as well).
*** No there wasn't. The series was supposed to be a throwback to vaudeville, the series needed to incorporate a LaughTrack for more realism, as the Muppets put on their show before a live audience (though the live audience was made up of Muppet characters as well).
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*** No there wasn't. The series was supposed to be a throwback to vaudeville, the series needed to incorporate a LaughTrack for more realism, as the Muppets put on their show before a live audience (though the live audience was made up of Muppet characters as well).
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**Apparently, to actual Swedes he sounds ''Norwegian''. They're generally not offended; they just don't see what's supposed to be so funny.
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* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny: Parodied. In one episode, Fozzie Bear decides to script everything so as not to leave anything to chance. When Kermit checks his script for one scene, it simply says 'Rolf and Lew do something funny'
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** Sandy Duncan's first number on her episode features her boozing it up, throwing herself at all the large male Muppet monsters, and getting her clothes ripped off. And it is ''glorious''.
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* OffscreenCrash: Many, varied, and usually hilarious.
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Cheerful, cool-headed Kermit the Frog was the emcee-slash-production manager-slash-eye of the storm for this truly 'far out' all-puppet VarietyShow. The setting was a tiny rundown downtown theatre and the tone was deliberately reminiscent of old-style vaudeville, where anything could happen and usually did. Other major members of the troupe included diva Miss Piggy, comedian Fozzie Bear, piano-playing Rowlf the Dog, daredevil performance artist Gonzo the Great, and Scooter the eager "go-fer".
to:
Cheerful, cool-headed Kermit the Frog was the emcee-slash-production manager-slash-eye manager-slash-[[OnlySaneMan eye of the storm storm]] for this truly 'far out' all-puppet VarietyShow. The setting was a tiny rundown downtown theatre and the tone was deliberately reminiscent of old-style vaudeville, where anything could happen and usually did. Other major members of the troupe included diva Miss Piggy, comedian Fozzie Bear, piano-playing Rowlf the Dog, daredevil performance artist Gonzo the Great, and Scooter the eager "go-fer".
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** Gonzo and PeterSellers staged one in his dressing room, with Sellers naturally dressed as [[Film/ThePinkPanther Inspector Clouseau]].
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Changed line(s) 9,10 (click to see context) from:
The immense popularity of TheMuppets they created for ''SesameStreet'' gave JimHenson, Jerry Juhl and Frank Oz the impetus to create a variety show for family viewing, but with social and political satire. {{ABC}} aired a pair of {{pilot}} specials, ''The Muppets Valentine Show'' (1974) and ''The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence'' (1975), but when all the U.S. networks rejected their ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KorhvVQRUM frankly awesome]]) pitch for a weekly series, they instead finagled a distribution deal with Britain's ITC, under the auspices of Lord Lew Grade.
to:
The immense popularity of TheMuppets they created for ''SesameStreet'' gave JimHenson, Jerry Juhl and Frank Oz the impetus to create a variety show for family viewing, but with social and political satire. {{ABC}} Creator/{{ABC}} aired a pair of {{pilot}} specials, ''The Muppets Valentine Show'' (1974) and ''The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence'' (1975), but when all the U.S. networks rejected their ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KorhvVQRUM frankly awesome]]) pitch for a weekly series, they instead finagled a distribution deal with Britain's ITC, under the auspices of Lord Lew Grade.
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**
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**
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** In the episode devoted to a musical about RobinHood, the "author of tonight's drama" is introduced in a backstage scene as William Shakespeare -- not ''the'' WilliamShakespeare, just ''a'' William Shakespeare.
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** In the episode devoted to a musical about RobinHood, the "author of tonight's drama" is introduced in a backstage scene as William Shakespeare -- not ''the'' WilliamShakespeare, Creator/WilliamShakespeare, just ''a'' William Shakespeare.
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**
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**
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* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Sam the Eagle, on the subject of Culture. In the episode guest-starring Rudolf Nureyev, Sam gushes that Nureyev is one of his favourite opera singers. In the episode guest-starring Lynne Redgrave, Sam pronounces himself a great fan of WilliamShakespeare -- why, he's seen ''TheSoundOfMusic'' at least a dozen times! -- and is greatly saddened to hear that Shakespeare is dead.
to:
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Sam the Eagle, on the subject of Culture. In the episode guest-starring Rudolf Nureyev, Sam gushes that Nureyev is one of his favourite opera singers. In the episode guest-starring Lynne Redgrave, Sam pronounces himself a great fan of WilliamShakespeare Creator/WilliamShakespeare -- why, he's seen ''TheSoundOfMusic'' at least a dozen times! -- and is greatly saddened to hear that Shakespeare is dead.
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*** He also has pink hair, making him a PinkFloyd.
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*** He also has pink hair, making him a PinkFloyd.Music/PinkFloyd.
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* StealthPun: Floyd, the house band's bassist, is [[PinkFloyd pink]].
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* StealthPun: Floyd, the house band's bassist, is [[PinkFloyd [[Music/PinkFloyd pink]].
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** Inverted in one episode where Kermit initially believes the guest star is an act called Lesley & Warren, and is pleasantly surprised to discover that it's actually the similarly named but more famous actor-singer-dancer Lesley Ann Warren.
to:
** Inverted in one episode where Kermit initially believes the guest star is an act called Lesley & Warren, and then is presented with the trio of Les, Lee & Warren, but is pleasantly surprised to discover that it's actually the similarly named but more famous actor-singer-dancer Lesley Ann Warren.
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the Namespace Changed
Changed line(s) 29,30 (click to see context) from:
Recurring sketches included Veterinarian's Hospital, starring Rowlf ("the continuing stoooooooory of a quack who's gone to the dogs"); Pigs in Space ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin yep, pretty much]]); Muppet Labs, with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his perpetually terrified assistant Beaker ("Now your family can be protected from the heartbreak of gorilla invasion!"); cooking segments with the game-but-goofy Swedish Chef; and the disaster-prone 'Muppet News Flash'. Piano-playing Doctor Teeth and his Electric Mayhem -- laid-back bassist and singer Floyd Pepper, groovy guitarist Janice, silent saxophonist Zoot and drummer Animal -- were the house band. And sitting high above it all in the balcony, in prime position to volley insults, were [[SourSupporter codger hecklers]] [[StatlerAndWaldorf Statler and Waldorf]]:
to:
Recurring sketches included Veterinarian's Hospital, starring Rowlf ("the continuing stoooooooory of a quack who's gone to the dogs"); Pigs in Space ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin yep, pretty much]]); Muppet Labs, with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his perpetually terrified assistant Beaker ("Now your family can be protected from the heartbreak of gorilla invasion!"); cooking segments with the game-but-goofy Swedish Chef; and the disaster-prone 'Muppet News Flash'. Piano-playing Doctor Teeth and his Electric Mayhem -- laid-back bassist and singer Floyd Pepper, groovy guitarist Janice, silent saxophonist Zoot and drummer Animal -- were the house band. And sitting high above it all in the balcony, in prime position to volley insults, were [[SourSupporter codger hecklers]] [[StatlerAndWaldorf Statler and Waldorf]]:
StatlerAndWaldorf:
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* {{Butt Monkey}}: Beaker was the king of this trope during the Bunsen Honeydew sketches from the second season on -- though on occasion, he managed to get revenge. Often overlapped with {{The Woobie}} because many fans couldn't help but laugh and feel sorry for him.
to:
* {{Butt Monkey}}: ButtMonkey: Beaker was the king of this trope during the Bunsen Honeydew sketches from the second season on -- though on occasion, he managed to get revenge. Often overlapped with {{The Woobie}} TheWoobie because many fans couldn't help but laugh and feel sorry for him.
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* IAmNotSpock: As far as the show is concerned, Christopher Reeve ''is'' {{Film/Superman}}. He doesn't seem to mind, though.
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* IAmNotSpock: As far as the show is concerned, Christopher Reeve ''is'' {{Film/Superman}}.Film/{{Superman}}. He doesn't seem to mind, though.
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**
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**
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** And in 2011, there came ''{{Film/The Muppets}}'', which is intended to {{Reboot}} the franchise and (hopefully) pave the way for further outings. This film features a traditional-style Muppet Show.
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** And in 2011, there came ''{{Film/The Muppets}}'', ''Film/TheMuppets'', which is intended to {{Reboot}} the franchise and (hopefully) pave the way for further outings. This film features a traditional-style Muppet Show.
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** PirateParrot: Assisting Cleese and Jackson. (It may even have been the same parrot on both occasions.) And a near miss in the episode guest-starring Gilda Radner; she plans to do a duet from ''{{The Pirates of Penzance}}'' with a talking parrot, but there's [[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/File:Gildaradner.jpg a slight misunderstanding]].
*** Cleese also gets to ask it [[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus "Do you want to be an ex-parrot?"]]
*** Cleese also gets to ask it [[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus "Do you want to be an ex-parrot?"]]
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** PirateParrot: Assisting Cleese and Jackson. (It may even have been the same parrot on both occasions.) And a near miss in the episode guest-starring Gilda Radner; she plans to do a duet from ''{{The Pirates of Penzance}}'' ''ThePiratesOfPenzance'' with a talking parrot, but there's [[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/File:Gildaradner.jpg a slight misunderstanding]].
*** Cleese also gets to ask it[[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus "Do you want to be an ex-parrot?"]]
*** Cleese also gets to ask it
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*** He also has pink hair, making him a [[PinkFloyd Pink Floyd]].
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*** He also has pink hair, making him a [[PinkFloyd Pink Floyd]].PinkFloyd.
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** The show's first season had a different (and far less epic) opening, the first few guests were given their own Muppets in their likeness (eliminated in part because of the cost), Gonzo's eyes weren't as expressive, some other characters looked and/or sounded different, etc.
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** The show's first season had a different (and far less epic) opening, the first few two guests were given their own Muppets in their likeness (eliminated in part because of the cost), Gonzo's eyes weren't as expressive, some other characters looked and/or sounded different, etc.
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It may have been an Affectionate Parody *as well*, but that doesn\'t mean it wasn\'t an Indecisive Parody.
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* AffectionateParody: The show always walked the line between being a full-blown parody of {{variety show}}s and a unique example of one.
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* IndecisiveParody: The show always walked the line between being a full-blown parody of {{variety show}}s and a unique example of one.
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* AffectionateParody: The show always walked the line between being a full-blown parody of .{{variety show}}s and a unique example of one.
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* AffectionateParody: The show always walked the line between being a full-blown parody of .of {{variety show}}s and a unique example of one.
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Changing trope to \"Affectionate Parody\" is it fits better.
* AffectionateParody: The show always walked the line between being a full-blown parody of .{{variety show}}s and a unique example of one.
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* IndecisiveParody: The show always walked the line between being a full-blown parody of {{variety show}}s and a unique example of one.
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* GrandFinale: While not technically an episode of the series, 1981's ''The Muppets Go to the Movies'' was meant to serve as this to ''The Muppet Show'' -- aside from a few clips from [[Film/TheGreatMuppetCaper the second Muppet movie]], the special is an extended theme episode focused on movie spoofs and tributes, with two guest stars (Lily Tomlin and Dudley Moore).
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* GrandFinale: While not technically an episode of the series, 1981's ''The Muppets Go to the Movies'' was meant to serve as this to ''The Muppet Show'' -- aside from a few clips from [[Film/TheGreatMuppetCaper [[Main/TheGreatMuppetCaper the second Muppet movie]], the special is an extended theme episode focused on movie spoofs and tributes, with two guest stars (Lily Tomlin and Dudley Moore).
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* GrandFinale: While not technically an episode of the series, ''The Muppets Go to the Movies'' was meant to serve as this to this series.
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* GrandFinale: While not technically an episode of the series, 1981's ''The Muppets Go to the Movies'' was meant to serve as this to this series.''The Muppet Show'' -- aside from a few clips from [[Film/TheGreatMuppetCaper the second Muppet movie]], the special is an extended theme episode focused on movie spoofs and tributes, with two guest stars (Lily Tomlin and Dudley Moore).
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Changed line(s) 36,37 (click to see context) from:
Ostensibly a family show, ''The Muppet Show'' in practice played freely with the dark side of Henson's vision, more familiar from his later work. Notable guest stars included Music/AliceCooper, VincentPrice, Jonathan Winters, [[ThePinkPanther Peter Sellers]], SpikeMilligan and SteveMartin. Songs from adult shows like ''{{Chicago}}'' and ''{{Cabaret}}'' were worked into the mix (to say nothing of EltonJohn singing "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", or Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare"...) Casual violence abounded, seemingly gentle skits often took a weirdly surreal turn. Typically, in the RobinHood episode, lovely Lynn "Maid Marian" Redgrave tricks Gonzo as the Sheriff into stretching out on his own torture rack -- and he appears to enjoy the experience.
to:
Ostensibly a family show, ''The Muppet Show'' in practice played freely with the dark side of Henson's vision, more familiar from his later work. Notable guest stars included Music/AliceCooper, VincentPrice, Jonathan Winters, [[ThePinkPanther Peter Sellers]], SpikeMilligan and SteveMartin. Songs from adult shows like ''{{Chicago}}'' ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}'' and ''{{Cabaret}}'' were worked into the mix (to say nothing of EltonJohn singing "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", or Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare"...) Casual violence abounded, seemingly gentle skits often took a weirdly surreal turn. Typically, in the RobinHood episode, lovely Lynn "Maid Marian" Redgrave tricks Gonzo as the Sheriff into stretching out on his own torture rack -- and he appears to enjoy the experience.
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Nothing against Reeve, but Milligan illustrates the point much better. :)
Changed line(s) 36,37 (click to see context) from:
Ostensibly a family show, ''The Muppet Show'' in practice played freely with the dark side of Henson's vision, more familiar from his later work. Notable guest stars included Music/AliceCooper, VincentPrice, Jonathan Winters, [[ThePinkPanther Peter Sellers]], [[{{Film/Superman}} Christopher Reeve]] and SteveMartin. Songs from adult shows like ''{{Chicago}}'' and ''{{Cabaret}}'' were worked into the mix (to say nothing of EltonJohn singing "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", or Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare"...) Casual violence abounded, seemingly gentle skits often took a weirdly surreal turn. Typically, in the RobinHood episode, lovely Lynn "Maid Marian" Redgrave tricks Gonzo as the Sheriff into stretching out on his own torture rack -- and he appears to enjoy the experience.
to:
Ostensibly a family show, ''The Muppet Show'' in practice played freely with the dark side of Henson's vision, more familiar from his later work. Notable guest stars included Music/AliceCooper, VincentPrice, Jonathan Winters, [[ThePinkPanther Peter Sellers]], [[{{Film/Superman}} Christopher Reeve]] SpikeMilligan and SteveMartin. Songs from adult shows like ''{{Chicago}}'' and ''{{Cabaret}}'' were worked into the mix (to say nothing of EltonJohn singing "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", or Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare"...) Casual violence abounded, seemingly gentle skits often took a weirdly surreal turn. Typically, in the RobinHood episode, lovely Lynn "Maid Marian" Redgrave tricks Gonzo as the Sheriff into stretching out on his own torture rack -- and he appears to enjoy the experience.
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* PunctuatedForEmphasis: "PIIIIIGS. IIIIIN. SPAAAAAAAACE!"
** Also, the end of the theme song. "This. Is. What. We. Call. The. Muppet. SHOOOOOOOOW!!!!"
** Also, the end of the theme song. "This. Is. What. We. Call. The. Muppet. SHOOOOOOOOW!!!!"
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* ThisIsSparta: "PIIIIIGS. IIIIIN. SPAAAAAAAACE!"
** Also, the end of the theme song. "This. Is. What. We. Call. The. Muppet. SHOOOOOOOOW!!!!"
** Also, the end of the theme song. "This. Is. What. We. Call. The. Muppet. SHOOOOOOOOW!!!!"
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Changed line(s) 43,44 (click to see context) from:
The concept was brought back and updated in 1989, with the "Muppet Television" segments of ''TheJimHensonHour'', which moved the show from a theatre to a TV station. A second short-lived revival in 1996, ''MuppetsTonight'', used a similar setting, this time a single studio instead of an entire network.
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The concept was brought back and updated in 1989, with the "Muppet Television" segments of ''TheJimHensonHour'', which moved the show from a theatre to a TV station. A second short-lived revival in 1996, ''MuppetsTonight'', ''Series/MuppetsTonight'', used a similar setting, this time a single studio instead of an entire network.
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* {{Revival}}: ''MuppetsTonight''
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* {{Revival}}: ''MuppetsTonight''''Series/MuppetsTonight''
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Changed line(s) 102 (click to see context) from:
* ChandlersLaw: Henson once commented on his pre-Muppet puppet sketches that when he couldn't think of how to close a sketch, he'd either have [[StuffBlowingUp an explosion]] or have [[ImAHumanitarian one character eat the other]]. It's pretty clear that this carried over to ''TheMuppetShow''.
to:
* ChandlersLaw: Henson once commented on his pre-Muppet puppet sketches that when he couldn't think of how to close a sketch, he'd either have [[StuffBlowingUp an explosion]] or have [[ImAHumanitarian one character eat the other]]. It's pretty clear that this carried over to ''TheMuppetShow''.''The Muppet Show''.
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[[quoteright:320:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/08-09_MuppetShow-2.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320: No MonochromeCasting here...]]
->''"It's time to play the music,\\
It's time to light the lights,\\
It's time to meet the Muppets\\
On the Muppet Show tonight!"''
The immense popularity of TheMuppets they created for ''SesameStreet'' gave JimHenson, Jerry Juhl and Frank Oz the impetus to create a variety show for family viewing, but with social and political satire. {{ABC}} aired a pair of {{pilot}} specials, ''The Muppets Valentine Show'' (1974) and ''The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence'' (1975), but when all the U.S. networks rejected their ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KorhvVQRUM frankly awesome]]) pitch for a weekly series, they instead finagled a distribution deal with Britain's ITC, under the auspices of Lord Lew Grade.
''The Muppet Show'' was produced for worldwide weekly syndication from 1976 to 1981. It was videotaped at the London studios of ITC's parent company ATV. The choreography for the human guests was created by Gillian Lynne, who later went on to design all of the ballet sequences in Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage version of ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera''.
The show became so popular that in at least one U.S. market, two stations broadcast different episodes of ''The Muppet Show'' in back-to-back time slots! The show was never actually cancelled; instead, Henson and company decided to end it so that they could work on films, ''TheMuppetMovie'' in particular.
-->''It's time to put on makeup,\\
It's time to dress up right,\\
It's time to raise the curtain\\
On the Muppet Show tonight!''
Cheerful, cool-headed Kermit the Frog was the emcee-slash-production manager-slash-eye of the storm for this truly 'far out' all-puppet VarietyShow. The setting was a tiny rundown downtown theatre and the tone was deliberately reminiscent of old-style vaudeville, where anything could happen and usually did. Other major members of the troupe included diva Miss Piggy, comedian Fozzie Bear, piano-playing Rowlf the Dog, daredevil performance artist Gonzo the Great, and Scooter the eager "go-fer".
-->''To introduce our guest star\\
That's what I'm here to do (or, what it's time to do);\\
So it really makes me happy\\
To introduce to you:''
A different human entertainer was featured as the show's guest performer in each episode, and the show's ''cachet'' quickly became such that they were frequently A-list--often uniquely so (ballet legend Rudolf Nureyev, anyone?). Each week, technical flubs, talent crises, rampaging egos and financial issues (when the pigs weren't rebelling, or angry clones weren't on the loose, or the ''StarWars'' cast wasn't rampaging through in search of Chewbacca) would bring the show teetering to the brink of disaster; each week, [[TheShowMustGoOn the show somehow managed to go on]].
Recurring sketches included Veterinarian's Hospital, starring Rowlf ("the continuing stoooooooory of a quack who's gone to the dogs"); Pigs in Space ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin yep, pretty much]]); Muppet Labs, with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his perpetually terrified assistant Beaker ("Now your family can be protected from the heartbreak of gorilla invasion!"); cooking segments with the game-but-goofy Swedish Chef; and the disaster-prone 'Muppet News Flash'. Piano-playing Doctor Teeth and his Electric Mayhem -- laid-back bassist and singer Floyd Pepper, groovy guitarist Janice, silent saxophonist Zoot and drummer Animal -- were the house band. And sitting high above it all in the balcony, in prime position to volley insults, were [[SourSupporter codger hecklers]] [[StatlerAndWaldorf Statler and Waldorf]]:
-->''Why do we always come here?\\
I guess we'll never know\\
It's like a kind of torture\\
To have to watch this show!''
Ostensibly a family show, ''The Muppet Show'' in practice played freely with the dark side of Henson's vision, more familiar from his later work. Notable guest stars included Music/AliceCooper, VincentPrice, Jonathan Winters, [[ThePinkPanther Peter Sellers]], [[{{Film/Superman}} Christopher Reeve]] and SteveMartin. Songs from adult shows like ''{{Chicago}}'' and ''{{Cabaret}}'' were worked into the mix (to say nothing of EltonJohn singing "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", or Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare"...) Casual violence abounded, seemingly gentle skits often took a weirdly surreal turn. Typically, in the RobinHood episode, lovely Lynn "Maid Marian" Redgrave tricks Gonzo as the Sheriff into stretching out on his own torture rack -- and he appears to enjoy the experience.
And it's likely that few viewers knew of the ultimate origin of "Mah Na Mah Na" , the song used in the iconic sketch of the same name -- the soundtrack of a 1968 Italian soft-core [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondo_film Mondo documentary]], ''Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso'' (''Sweden, Heaven and Hell''), where it was used as background music for a sauna scene that is remarkably tame by today's standards. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I48IXSbHsy8 Here's the track itself.]] (Henson also did [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtsKfzAwGRg an earlier version]] back in SesameStreet's younger days).
-->''Our show tonight will feature\\
Some stuff that goes like this!''
The concept was brought back and updated in 1989, with the "Muppet Television" segments of ''TheJimHensonHour'', which moved the show from a theatre to a TV station. A second short-lived revival in 1996, ''MuppetsTonight'', used a similar setting, this time a single studio instead of an entire network.
Currently revived in the form of a ComicBookAdaptation, ''TheMuppetShowComicBook'', and a [[http://www.youtube.com/user/MuppetsStudio Youtube channel]].
-->''But now, let's get things started!\\
(Audience: Why don't you get things started?)\\
It's time to get things started On the most sensational,\\
Inspirational\\
Celebrational\\
Muppetational\\
This is what we call the Muppet Show!!''\\
''([[CouchGag Gonzo plays something on his trumpet]]. HilarityEnsues, usually)''
See TheMuppets for various other Muppet productions, and MuppetCameo when they show up in other shows.
----
!!This series provides examples of:
* AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal: Kermit usually wears nothing but his collar, and will cover himself up if it's taken off. When they do an underwater performance of TheBeatles' "Octopus's Garden", he wears a bathing cap.
* AllAsiansWearConicalStrawHats: Including the Muppets representing Japan in the Spike Milligan-hosted "Salute to All Nations" episode.
* AllDrummersAreAnimals: Literally! According to legend, Animal was based upon [[TheWho Keith Moon]].
* AlmostFamousName:
** Inverted in one episode where Kermit initially believes the guest star is an act called Lesley & Warren, and is pleasantly surprised to discover that it's actually the similarly named but more famous actor-singer-dancer Lesley Ann Warren.
** In the episode devoted to a musical about RobinHood, the "author of tonight's drama" is introduced in a backstage scene as William Shakespeare -- not ''the'' WilliamShakespeare, just ''a'' William Shakespeare.
* AlmostKiss: Kermit and guest star Lynn Redgrave, in character as Robin Hood and Maid Marian, sing a beautiful love duet, and are about to kiss when Miss Piggy invents a blatant excuse to come on stage and interrupt.
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Let's see, an orange stagehand, a lime-green MadScientist, a dark green keyboard player, a teal sax player, a [[StealthPun pink Floyd...]]
* AscendedExtra: Several, although Rizzo the Rat may be the best example (unless you count Miss Piggy, who was originally conceived as a much more minor character).
* AshFace: A recurring gag whenever explosions are involved. Which is often.
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: the Swedish Chef.
* AttractiveBentGender: In one Muppet Labs sketch, their latest experiment-gone-wrong leaves Beaker with long curly hair -- and Bunsen Honeydew suddenly finds him "hauntingly attractive".
* AwardShow: The Phyllis George episode has the show throwing an awards show for ''itself''.
* BaitAndSwitch: In the Roger Miller episode, a weird disease causes the cast to one-by-one transform into chickens. When Statler and Waldorf appear for the stinger at the end of the credits, will they also be transformed? [[spoiler:Yes -- but not into chickens.]]
* BananaPeel: In the James Coco episode, Coco attempts to liven up the Swedish Chef's act with a chorus line of dancers, which keep interrupting the Chef's attempts to prepare a banana split. The Chef retaliates by dropping a banana peel in their path, making them all fall down.
* BarefootCartoonAnimals: Animal (of course!) who usually only wore a front-open T-shirt and tattered pants. Other regular characters in this group (though not always seen as such on camera) include Dr. Bob (played by Rowlf) from ''Veterinarian's Hospital'', Sweetums the ogre, Uncle Deadly (a blue reptilian-like creature that wore tattered Victorian-style morning dress with spats) and Beauregard the janitor. Kermit and Fozzie have also had a few stage costumes that applied this trope as well.
* BrandishmentBluff: Subverted - in a cowboy sketch, Fozzie has "a loaded pickle". It goes off.
* BulletDancing: In the RoyRogers episode, Waldorf gets Statler bullet dancing, and Statler starts doing ballet. When they try it the other way around, all that happens is Waldorf gets a bullet in his foot.
* {{Butt Monkey}}: Beaker was the king of this trope during the Bunsen Honeydew sketches from the second season on -- though on occasion, he managed to get revenge. Often overlapped with {{The Woobie}} because many fans couldn't help but laugh and feel sorry for him.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAtBki0PsC0 This Youtube sketch]] is probably the epitome of his Butt Monkey-dom.
* CarnivoreConfusion: A frequent problem encountered by the Swedish Chef, whose main courses tended to walk into his kitchen on their own four feet. Memorably lampshaded when he tried to cook Big Bird, and later when he tried to make frog's legs with Kermit's nephew Robin. In fact, sometimes it even gets into Herbivore Confusion!
* TheCatCameBack: The trope-naming song was featured as a sketch in the Linda Ronstadt episode.
* CastOfSnowflakes
* CatchPhrase: Several:
** Kermit: "Heigh-ho, everyone!", "YAAAAAAAY!" and "Will you get out of here?"
*** "Sheesh!"
** Fozzie: "Wocka wocka!"
** Scooter: "Fifteen seconds to curtain!"
** Swedish Chef: "Bork Bork Bork!"
** Miss Piggy's ''HI-YAAH!''.
** Beaker's meeping.
** Sam the Eagle: "You are all ''weirdos!''"
** And Statler and Waldorf's heckle-laugh: '''[[SignatureLaugh "DOOOHOHOHOHOHO!"]]'''
* CelebrityParadox: Played for laughs in the 'stars of StarWars' episode, as per CelebrityStar below. Luke Skywalker and his actor each made several appearances in the episode, but never appeared on screen together. The end of the episode, however, reveals that MarkHamill and Luke Skywalker are in fact separate people.
* CelebrityStar: Straight ''and'' subverted -- one episode featured a member of the production staff, writer Chris Langham, as the "guest". Langham, however, had to fill in for RichardPryor.
** Another spoof of sorts came when PeterSellers was the guest star. Kermit says that backstage, Sellers is free to be himself and not a character, but Sellers says he cannot do so: "There used to be a me, but I had it surgically removed." Sellers helped the writers create this skit because he simply ''wasn't'' willing to be himself, and it became one of his most famous quotes. In the "15 seconds to curtain" opening bit, he appears in character as [[Main/ThePinkPanther Inspector Clouseau]]. In RealLife, of course, this was Sellers' [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0352520/ particular neurosis]] - making it HarsherInHindsight.
** The episode featuring "the stars of ''StarWars''" [[IAmNotSpock introduced Mark Hamill and his 'cousin' Luke Skywalker separately]]. The former had to admit that the latter upstaged him.
*** Initially a subversion, as the original "guest star" of the Hamill episode was a Muppet named [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Angus MacGonagle, the Argyle Gargoyle, whose talent was gargling Gershwin ("Gorgeously!")]]. Then the StarWars cast bursts into his dressing room and Scooter decides they would be ''much'' better guest stars, so [=MacGonagle=] is tossed out. He later storms onto the stage, arguing his case with Kermit, who remains unimpressed. Later, though, [=MacGonagle=] sneaks back on stage to do his act -- with Mark Hamill joining in. Kermit finally has to resort to siccing Animal on the gargoyle.
** There was also the time Señor Wences guest starred. He was a puppeteer himself, so Kermit decides to do something "new": a puppet show.
** Several of the guest stars tried shamelessly to out-Muppet TheMuppets -- like SpikeMilligan, Creator/JohnCleese and PeterSellers -- with results that were indeed highly awesome.
*** "When the show first started, the producers would call upon friends in the entertainment business. However, about half-way through the second season when Rudolf Nureyev appeared, his appearance gave the show so much positive publicity, that other celebrities came to the producers instead of the other way around. " (from Wikipedia). Nureyev had seen the show whilst staying in London and liked it so much he actually called them up and asked if he could appear.
* ChandlersLaw: Henson once commented on his pre-Muppet puppet sketches that when he couldn't think of how to close a sketch, he'd either have [[StuffBlowingUp an explosion]] or have [[ImAHumanitarian one character eat the other]]. It's pretty clear that this carried over to ''TheMuppetShow''.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Hilda the seamstress and George the janitor are almost completely absent after the first season.
* ClipShow: Not in the original run, but in TheEighties the ''Jim Henson's Muppet Home Video'' series of ten VHS tapes were clip shows linked by newly-shot material with the regular characters. Notably many of the U.K. spots were included (thus making their U.S. debuts), as well as at least two Season One musical numbers ("All of Me" and "You've Got a Friend", the latter being the finale from the Vincent Price episode) that would not appear on the Season One DVD set due to music rights issues. Similar compilations appeared in TheNineties.
* CloudCuckoolander. Most of the cast, really, but Gonzo is just batshit crazy.
* TheComicallySerious: Sam the Eagle.
* ComplainingAboutThingsYouHaventPaidFor: In the episode where Steve Martin guest starred, Statler and Waldorf debate whether they should leave after the show is canceled to hold auditions. Waldorf insists that they stay as they've paid for the tickets. When Statler points out that the tickets were free, Waldorf replies, "And overpriced, at that!"
* ComplimentBackfire:
** Newcomer Annabel Sue Pig tells Miss Piggy of her lifelong admiration of her.
** Pretty much everything DannyKaye says to Miss Piggy in his episode, including another go-round of "I've admired you for years and years".
* CouchGag: Many, the most famous being Gonzo's gong (Season 1) or trumpet note (Seasons 2-5) at the end of the theme song. Others are: Statler and Waldorf's opening (Season 2) and closing (entire run) comments, Fozzie telling a joke during the title sequence (Season 1), the "15 seconds to curtain" reveal of the guest star (Seasons 2-4), Pops the doorman greeting the host (Season 5).
* CrossdressingVoices: Most prominently, Frank Oz as Miss Piggy and Richard Hunt as Janice.
* CrossOver: ''SesameStreet'''s Big Bird appears in one episode; Bert and Ernie make a guest appearance in an early Season 1 episode. At the climax of the ArabianNights-themed Marty Feldman episode, most of the ''Sesame Street'' cast turns up for the finale as a pun on "OpenSesame!"
* CutlassBetweenTheTeeth: Fozzie at one point in his battle with the samurai in the Spike Milligan episode.
* DartboardOfHate: In the Leslie Uggams episode, there's a scene set in Camilla the Hen's dressing room, the decor of which includes a dartboard with Colonel Sanders' face on it.
* DashinglyDapperDerby:
** SpikeMilligan wears one while impersonating a QuintessentialBritishGentleman in a sketch.
** When Roger Miller guest stars, he sings a song about various kinds of hat, each of which is worn by one of the backup singers; there is a verse about a derby, and a corresponding English gentleman muppet in a DashinglyDapperDerby.
* DeadArtistsAreBetter: In the episode starring Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge, Gonzo learns a rumour has started that he was killed when his latest stunt went horribly wrong, and decides to go along with it in the hope of becoming, while still alive to enjoy it, one of those artists who become massively successful after they die.
* DeadpanSnarker: Believe it or not, this was Kermit's original schtick.
** He's still got shades of it that pop up from time to time.
--->'''Fozzie:''' I don't know how to thank you guys!
--->'''Kermit:''' I don't know ''why'' to thank you guys.
** Rizzo the Rat, after breaking out of his [[TheVoiceless Voiceless]] role, quickly revealed himself to be one.
* DealWithTheDevil: In the Music/AliceCooper episode, there's a subplot about Cooper offering various members of the cast a contract that will give them whatever they want in return for their soul. Kermit rejects the whole thing out of hand; Miss Piggy is tempted to do it for great beauty, until she finds out what Alice Cooper considers beautiful; and Gonzo is unreservedly enthusiastic about the whole idea, but has to pass because he can't find a pen.
--->'''Gonzo:''' I'd sell my soul for a pen! No, I have other plans for that.
* DemotedToExtra: Rowlf. As head-writer Jerry Juhl pointed out, Rowlf was mostly consigned to being used in musical numbers and skits, almost completely absent from backstage CharacterDevelopment. It's not that they didn't like the character, it's that Jim was busy performing Kermit, yet didn't want Rowlf recast. As a result, ideas Juhl had for developing relationships between Rowlf and Fozzie, Rowlf and Piggy, etc never came to fruition.
* DoubleTake: Leo Sayer's reaction when Dr Teeth explains the purpose of the line running across the floor of his dressing room.
* DropTheCow:
** Literally, [[DeadlineNews on the Newsman]].
** And in the little known Muppet special on various types of puppetry, a cow is dropped near the characters in a demonstration on how the Muppet team uses their special effects.
* DyingClue: Played for laughs in the Liza Minnelli episode:
--> '''Lew Zealand:''' Ack! Poison! ''(collapses to the floor)''\\
'''Fozzie:''' This man was murdered to shut him up!\\
'''Bunsen:''' No he wasn't, he choked on a fishbone!\\
'''Fozzie:''' But he yelled, ''"Poison!"''\\
'''Bunsen:''' Which, I believe, is the French word for fish!
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness
** The show's first season had a different (and far less epic) opening, the first few guests were given their own Muppets in their likeness (eliminated in part because of the cost), Gonzo's eyes weren't as expressive, some other characters looked and/or sounded different, etc.
*** There were also fewer celebrity interactions with the Muppets.
** ''The Muppet Valentine Show'' and ''Sex and Violence'' were hosted by now-obscure Muppets (Wally and Nigel respectively) instead of Kermit. And at the end of the latter, [[spoiler:the camera pulls back to show the Muppeteers running around]]!
* EenieMeenieMinyMoai: A moai head occasionally appears as a backing singer, for instance in the opening number of the SylvesterStallone episode.
* EndangeredSouffle: In a brief bit in the SpikeMilligan episode, a tap-dancer's conversation with Kermit comes to an abrupt end when the Swedish Chef rushes up and attacks him because his tapping has collapsed the Chef's soufflé.
* EverybodyLaughsEnding: Used frequently, especially if the guest was the butt of the joke of the sketch. Said guest would laugh with everyone else at the punchline to show that the sketch was an act and that there were no hard feelings.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Swedish Chef, the Newsman.
* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins... and chickens... and rats... and fish... and the occasional Argyle Gargoyle. One of the show's [[CatchPhrase catchphrases]] is "frogs and dogs and pigs and chickens [and things]"
* ExactWords: In one sketch, Sam claims that eventually he will receive his "just desserts" for acting as the moral centre of the show. [[PieInTheFace He's immediately hit by a pie.]] What was it according to the monster who threw it? "Just dessert."
* ExecutiveMeddling: Averted in that Henson had a degree of immunity. The show's British producer Lord Lew Grade gave Henson one condition; that he produce the show in Grade's London studios. Apart from that Grade pretty much gave Henson ''carte blanche'' to do what he wanted. As a thank-you, Henson wrote a Lew Grade {{Expy}} into The Muppet Movie, played by Orson Welles.
** There was a bit more executive meddling in the form of the LaughTrack.
* ExpositoryThemeTune
* ExpospeakGag: In a 'Pigs in Space' sketch, First Mate Piggy is highly gratified to be told that she alone can "operate the independent heating/unifying element across the horizontal equalizing plane and save the entire crew" -- until she works out that this means "iron the laundry".
* ExtremeOmnivore: Most of the larger Muppet monsters have had moments where they ate things that were not, strictly speaking, food, but there's one in particular for whom this is his main characteristic. He has no name, so he's generally referred to, in memory of one of the things he ate on his debut appearance, as the Luncheon Counter Monster.
* {{Fainting}}: A Muppet trademark. For the classic example see Kermit, in the Creator/JohnCleese episode, after nearly being hit by two heavy weights falling from the rafters.
* FallingChandelierOfDoom: A recurring setting is a ballroom with a large elaborate chandelier; sure enough, there is a sketch in which it falls on one of the dancers.
* FantasticComedy: It was not unusual for curses that force everyone to speak Swedish, diseases that cause people to spontaneously turn into chickens, the guest star trying to sell cast members' respective souls to the Devil, and other such fantastical things to be major plot points. (Not even touching the fact that within the context of the show, the Muppets were normally portrayed as real people, not "puppets".)
* FarSideIsland: In the episode featuring Cloris Leachman, there's a sketch in which she is washed up on one after a shipwreck.
* {{Fauxreigner}}: It was lampshaded on at least two occasions that the Swedish Chef is not actually speaking Swedish (presumably in case any ''really'' slow viewers were offended on Scandinavia's behalf). [[DoubleSubversion His real language is mock Japanese.]]
* FlatWhat: [[TheComicallySerious Sam the Eagle]] utters a disbelieving, "What." when he hears Kermit introduce Chopin's Polonaise in A-flat major... played by Dr. Teeth.
* FollowTheLeader:
** ''Le Bébête Show'' was the first French satirical puppet show. It represented major French political figures as characters similar to those of ''The Muppet Show'', with, for instance, President François Mitterrand portrayed as a frog named Kermitterrand (and naming himself ''God'').
** ''Series/FrenchAndSaunders'' was more or less ''The Muppet Show'' with people.
* FortuneTeller: James Coco appears as one in a sketch, complete with CrystalBall.
* FramingDevice: The antics backstage. Later seasons made them more story driven, something that was carried over to [[TheMuppetShowComicBook the comic book adaptation]].
* FriendlyTickleTorture: The Ruth Buzzi episode ends with a few of the Muppets tickling her.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Several of the guests have musical numbers where they're in a forest and have a backing group of animals. Depending on the guest and the song, this may be played straight, or twisted in some way (as in the case of Leo Sayer, whose animal companions spend half the time singing backup and the other half trying to eat him).
* FruitOfTheLoon
* GalleySlave: In the Elke Sommer episode, the closing number is Elke singing "Row, Row, Row" in a galley, with the galley slaves as the backing chorus. Animal plays the role of the guy beating time on a big drum, which causes problems when he gets bored halfway through the song and starts upping the tempo.
* GentleGiant: In the JulieAndrews episode, she sings one of her songs in a graveyard while trying to dodge several enormous ugly monsters with sharp fangs that keep pursuing her all over the set. It turns out that they're all big fans of hers, and just want her autograph.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** "Mah Na Mah Na" as noted above, among others. The song was actually a minor hit in the US in 1969. Seeing as how Henson also used the song in skits featured on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and (of all places) ''SesameStreet'', both in 1969, he may have just heard it on the radio and didn't know its ultimate origin either.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgfZVNv6w2E Sax and Violence]], anyone?
** The episode where Raquel Welch guest stars. Pretty much all of it, but especially the segment where she caresses Fozzie, sings him a sexy song, then invites him back to her dressing room for "tea".
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skkM2zPFPy0 Lady Wrestlers]]
** The song "I'm My Own Grandpa", which existed before the Muppet Show, plays around with the OedipusComplex trope. It's made slightly less disturbing because the weird family ties are ties of marriage rather than ties of blood, but still not something you'd expect on a fun-for-all-the-family show...
** The episode starring Alice Cooper involved Alice trying to convince Kermit (And later Gonzo) to [[DealWithTheDevil sell his soul to the devil]]
** The "Koozebanian Mating Ritual".
* GladiatorGames: SylvesterStallone appeared as a gladiator fighting a lion. When the lion realised who he was, it tried to escape, and failing that turned the fight into a rendition of "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off".
* GoodAngelBadAngel
* GrandFinale: While not technically an episode of the series, ''The Muppets Go to the Movies'' was meant to serve as this to this series.
* GravityIsAHarshMistress: One of Gonzo's outre stunts involves reciting the seven-times table while holding a grand piano over his head; partway through, he gets lost and stops to count on his fingers -- and the moment he realises this means he's no longer holding the piano (but not a moment before) it falls on him.
* GreekChorus: Statler and Waldorf.
* GroupieBrigade: The SylvesterStallone episode is the TropeNamer.
* GunTwirling: The villainous Bullets Barker in the Western-themed RoyRogers episode.
* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: Fozzie Bear only wears a trilby hat and polka-dot tie, which was once the basis for one of his routines. ("Good grief, the comedian's a bear!" "No he's a-not! He's a-wearin' a neck-a-tie!") Rizzo the Rat wears a jacket and ballcap but no pants, as does Pepe the Prawn. Of course, most of them are never seen from the waist down, so it's usually a moot point.
** In ''The Great Muppet Caper'' Fozzie and Kermit play twins. Nobody recognizes them as such until Fozzie removes his hat. Later on Kermit is sitting alone and a passerby mistakes him for a bear. Someone else corrects him; "Bears wear hats."
* HalfHourComedy
* HandcarPursuit: In the Loretta Lynn episode, a mix-up leaves Kermit and Gonzo stranded miles from the train station where the show is temporarily set, and they travel back by handcar. At one point they get chased by a locomotive.
* HawaiianShirtedTourist: One appears in several sketches in the episode guest-starring Jean Stapleton.
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Scooter's uncle, the owner of the theater. The gag of Scooter mentioning him to get what he wants was gradually phased out. He did actually appear a couple of times during the second season, but on the whole the writers felt that he worked better as an off-screen presence.
* HighDiveHijinks: In the Danny Kaye episode, the Flying Zucchini Brothers attempt a daredevil high dive into a bucket of water. While they're on their way down, the theatre's janitor notices somebody's left a bucket of water on stage and helpfully tidies it away.
* HookHand: Creator/JohnCleese has one when he's being a pirate. Over the course of the sketch, it switches from one hand to the other, and gets caught in the collar of his shirt, among other indignities.
* HornyVikings: Performing opera during the Rudolf Nureyev episode, and singing "In The Navy" in the Roger Moore episode.
* HostileShowTakeover
* HumanMail: In the episode with PaulWilliams, Paul plays a travel agent and a monster asks for the cheapest travel package he has. Paul flattens the monster with a weight, sticks a stamp on him, and mails him.
* HurricaneOfPuns: The "Veterinarian's Hospital" sketches, and to a lesser extent ''the entire show''.
* HypocriticalHumor: One sketch has Sam the Eagle giving a commentary in which he denounces the efforts "namby-pamby conservationists" to shackle American industry "for the sake of a few insignificant animals". He then pulls out a list of endangered species, which he begins to read from mockingly. When he notices that the American bald eagle is one of the animals on the list, he beats a hasty retreat muttering, "This list is now inoperative."
* IAmNotSpock: As far as the show is concerned, Christopher Reeve ''is'' {{Film/Superman}}. He doesn't seem to mind, though.
* IHaveThisFriend: In the episode where Miss Piggy goes on a diet, she asks the guest star for advice: "I have this ''friend'' who is absolutely devastating, except she has an ''itty-bitty'' weight problem..."
* ImAHumanitarian:
** Zero Mostel almost gets eaten.
** John Cleese's agent ''does'' get eaten.
** And the Muppets are constantly eating each other: one of the creepier instances of this was a Muppet eating another, then singing [[IncrediblyLamePun "I've Got You Under My Skin"]] -- while the smaller Muppet, still alive, struggles to escape. (And occasionally takes over the song for a line or two: "I've tried so hard not to give in...")
* InadvertentEntranceCue: Crazy Harry's appearances were usually presaged by another character making the mistake of uttering one of these.
-->'''Kermit:''' Good work, guys, that sketch was really dynamite!
-->'''Crazy Harry:''' Did somebody say, "dynamite"? (''[[StuffBlowingUp BOOM!]]'')
* IncessantMusicMadness: The "Salute to All Nations" episode ends with a rendition of "It's a Small World After All" that keeps going and going and going. It can be heard in the background as Kermit does the goodbyes at the end, and then swells again, drowning out the closing theme music.
* IncrediblyLamePun: A staple of the show, some of the sketches like "Veterinarian's Hospital" were made of this trope.
* IndecisiveParody: The show always walked the line between being a full-blown parody of {{variety show}}s and a unique example of one.
* INeedToGoIronMyDog: Gonzo tries to get out of looking after Miss Piggy's dog by claiming "Oh my god! I left an anvil in the oven!". Of course, this being Gonzo, it's entirely possible he actually ''had'' left an anvil in the oven.
* InstrumentOfMurder
* InsultBackfire:
**
--->'''Sam the Eagle:''' You, sir, are a demented, sick, degenerate, barbaric, naughty freako!\\
'''Music/AliceCooper:''' Why, thank you.
**
--->'''Maid Marian:''' You black-hearted, villainous swine!\\
'''The Sheriff of Nottingham (Gonzo):''' Oh, you silver-tongued flatterer.
* TheIntern: Scooter, in the first season.
* InterspeciesRomance: Where Piggy intends her relationship with Kermit to go, Gonzo's love affair with Camilla, and implied as part of Scooter's back-story. When Kermit inquires as to his species- "My mother was a parrot. We never knew my father. It was during the war!"
* ItsAllGreekToMe: The Swedish Chef speaks mock-Swedish. There were several episodes between his introduction and TheReveal that he wasn't speaking real Swedish InUniverse.
* JapaneseRanguage: The 'Japanese' muppets who sing "Yokohama" in the "Salute to All Nations" episode:
-->We berong to the rand\\
And the rand we berong to is gland!
* {{Kayfabe}}: The Muppets have a long-standing tradition in appearances outside the show and in public events. The Muppeteers performing them are never seen and the humans interact with the puppets like regular people. The Muppeteers need to have perfect improv skills in order to say unscripted lines that would be appropriate for the characters!
* KentBrockmanNews: The "Muppet News Flash" sketch.
* KnifeThrowingAct: Leslie Uggams inadvertantly becomes part of one as Lew Zealand, Boomerang Fish Thrower gets carried away and starts throwing swordfish. The scene ends with Leslie surrounded by swordfish in a KnifeOutline.
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Sam the Eagle, on the subject of Culture. In the episode guest-starring Rudolf Nureyev, Sam gushes that Nureyev is one of his favourite opera singers. In the episode guest-starring Lynne Redgrave, Sam pronounces himself a great fan of WilliamShakespeare -- why, he's seen ''TheSoundOfMusic'' at least a dozen times! -- and is greatly saddened to hear that Shakespeare is dead.
* TheLadysFavour: In the Pearl Bailey episode, the finale is a jousting scene with Floyd and Gonzo as the knights. Floyd gets a favour from Janice; Gonzo gets a favour from Camilla.
* LampshadeWearing: Beaker attempts the disguise version in the Elke Sommer episode in an attempt to get out of a particularly hazardous Muppet Labs sketch. It works right up until Beauregard tries to plug him in.
* LargeHam: The cast in general qualify; but Miss Piggy qualifies in [[IncrediblyLamePun more ways than one]].
** Gonzo also cranks it up a notch or two.
** If the celebrity guest stars aren't keeping up with the Muppets in the scenery chewing department, then they're just flat-out doing it wrong. Exhibit A: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkdivOqq2pA Mark Hamill impersonating Kermit and Fozzie, followed by a bout of tapdancing]]. Exhibit B: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=benooTZH1i4 Roger Moore judo-chopping a laser-toting fluffy bunny while singing "Talk to the Animals"]].
** Arguably the only guest star to out-ham the Muppets was Zero Mostel.
*** Zero Mostel's right pointer finger out-hams several of the Muppets.
* LarynxDissonance: Miss Piggy
* LateToThePunchline: The George Burns episode begins with TheTeaser, featuring a silly "burns" pun, followed by the title sequence and then Kermit's opening monologue -- and ''then'' Waldorf gets the pun.
* LaughTrack: Used (much to the annoyance of Henson & co.) in every episode except the Steve Martin one where the only laughter heard is that of the Muppet performers who really were the audience at that time.
** Or at least that was the original intention for Steve Martin's episode. In the end, it turned out that Richard Hunt's laughter was so loud, they had to put in a bit of a laugh track anyway!
** For on-stage segments, it is justified as the laughter of the audience watching in the Muppet Theater.
* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: During the cowboy sketch in the BobHope episode.
* LetsSeeYouDoBetter: The Hal Linden episode had StatlerAndWaldorf run the show themselves while Kermit and Fozzie watch from the balcony.
-->'''Kermit:''' Y'know, I don't miss me at all.
* LiteralMinded: The butt of many, ''many'' of the show's jokes.
** After a scene in which guest star Juliet Prowse dances and then artfully fades out of view:
-->'''Waldorf:''' Hey, she just vanished! How did she do that?
-->'''Statler:''' Probably like this! ''[takes a deep breath and fades out]''
-->'''Waldorf:''' Yep, that's probably how she did it!
** When Scooter shows up backstage with a large wooden crate:
-->'''Kermit:''' Scooter, what is this?
-->'''Scooter:''' It's a crate, chief!
-->[...]
-->'''Kermit:''' May I ask you what is in it?
-->'''Scooter:''' Sure, go ahead!
-->'''Kermit:''' ''What is in it?''
** C-3PO, as per the usual, in the StarWars episode.
--> '''Luke Skywalker''': Threepio, you cover that exit!
--> '''C-3PO''' ''[to Kermit]'': What shall I cover it in?
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* LookBehindYou: In a sketch where Cloris Leachman is trapped on a FarSideIsland with a monster, she shouts "Look! Up there! Quick!". When the monster announces he's not going to fall for that old gag, a coconut from the island's lone palm tree falls on his head.
* MadBomber: Crazy Harry.
* MadScientist: Dr. Bunsen Honeydew is a mild example of this.
* MadScientistLaboratory: Dr. Honeydew's lab is generally too clean and functional to qualify, but there's an excellent example, with lots and lots of colorful bubbling liquids, in the "Time in a Bottle" sketch.
* MagnificentMoustachesOfMexico: At one point during his episode, Creator/JohnCleese is dressed in a Mexican mariachi costume, complete with a magnificent false moustache -- worn over his ''real'' moustache.
* ManShapedHole: The outcome of Rudolf Nureyev's encounter with Miss Piggy.
* MayTheFarceBeWithYou
* {{Meat-O-Vision}}: Played with in the Pearl Bailey episode's "Pigs in Space" skit -- the explorers, hopelessly lost in space, start seeing each other as food... because of a NegativeSpaceWedgie that's ''actually turning them into'' food.
* MinskyPickup: In the theme song intro.
* MoralGuardians: Sam the Eagle is a parody of moral guardian types and expressed [[StrawmanPolitical Strawman Conservative]] sentiments on occasion, such as decrying nudity while wearing no clothing and endangered species protection while being a bald eagle.
* MorphicResonance: In the Roger Miller episode, the cast is swept by an outbreak of cluckitis, a disease which turns the afflicted into chickens. The Swedish Chef retains his mustache and eye-covering eyebrows. Lew Zealand, Rowlf, Miss Piggy, Floyd, and Janice keep their respective eyes; Kermit does, as well, and even has his pointy collar. Only the main cast retains Morphic Resonance, however, and some don't even get that: extras and even some of the main cast turn into indistinguishable chickens. Maybe they'll have a hat or necklace, which they keep.
* TheMovie: Creatively called ''TheMuppetMovie'', it was so popular that five more theatrical features followed over the next 20 years:
** ''TheGreatMuppetCaper''
** ''TheMuppetsTakeManhattan''
** ''TheMuppetChristmasCarol''
** ''MuppetTreasureIsland''
** ''MuppetsFromSpace''
** And in 2011, there came ''{{Film/The Muppets}}'', which is intended to {{Reboot}} the franchise and (hopefully) pave the way for further outings. This film features a traditional-style Muppet Show.
* NameTron: In the Harry Belafonte episode, the "Pigs in Space" sketch revolves around Dr Strangepork's new invention, the Dissolvatron.
* NinjaProp: The ping pong ball in ''TheCoconutEffect''
* NoFourthWall: The fact that the series takes place on a stage show seems like justification for the lack of such... until you realise that the Muppets constantly break it backstage. And the audience keeps laughing at everything said and occuring off stage, even though there's absolutely no way they'd be seeing or hearing them.
* NoKillLikeOverkill: The Swedish Chef ends up "cutting" a ([[NinjaPirateRobotZombie sentient, Japanese]]) cake in half with a "[[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign cakenschmooscher]]" (baseball bat). Of course, the cake was more crushed than sliced, but by that point the Chef didn't really care too much...
* NonFatalExplosions
* NoodleImplements: Gonzo once attempts to perform an act using a torch, a tire swing, and a cow. Exactly what he was planning to do with these is never shown, as he was booed off stage before he could start, but he had originally planned to use a typewriter instead of the cow (they didn't have a spare typewriter he could use).
* NoodleIncident: On the episode with Loretta Lynn, Scooter tells Fozzie to use the joke about the electricians and the polar bear, saying, "I laughed for days." Sadly, the middle of the joke is lost due to a passing train...
** The Sandy Duncan episode: "You never heard of the ''banana sketch''?!"
* NoSenseOfHumor: Sam the Eagle.
* OhCrap: Plenty. Beaker's face was even MADE to always be in shock.
* OldFashionedRowboatDate: A Wayne and Wanda sketch where the two were enacting such a date while singing "Row, Row, Row". It's one of few Wayne and Wanda sketches that make it to the song's chorus, Then the boat springs a leak.
* OldNewBorrowedAndBlue: In the Marisa Berenson episode, Miss Piggy plots marriage to Kermit and tells Marisa that her wedding will feature "something old, something new, something borrowed, and something ''green''".
* OminousPipeOrgan: During the "Veternarian's Hospital" segments.
* OnceAnEpisode: Miss Piggy becoming furious.
* OnlyOneName: Gonzo, Scooter, Sweetums...
* OnlySaneEmployee: Arguably the inspiration of the trope, as [[http://bloglynch.blogspot.com/2009/06/30-rock-is-rip-off-of-muppet-show.html one blog post]] humorously points out.
* [[Main/OnlySaneMan Only Sane Frog]]: Kermit, and at times even he was [[WildTake just hanging on]] by his metaphorical fingernails.
-->'''Lesley Ann Warren''' (guest): You know, Kermit, I thought you were the ''one'' person on this show who wasn't crazy.
-->'''Kermit''': Me not crazy? I hired the others.
* OrphanedPunchline:
** "...but the wallpaper is delicious!"
** The ''Sex and Violence'' pilot has Statler telling Waldorf one of these. "...And so the waiter says, 'Excuse me, but you're dancing with my umbrella!'"
* PainfulRhyme: InUniverse in the "Robin Hood" episode; Scooter, doing exposition in the role of Alan a Dale, rhymes "in sooth" with "living fast and looth", prompting a complaint from Fozzie.
* PantsFree: In a "Muppet Newsflash" sketch, the newsreader reads a report about a newsreader who forgot to put on his pants before going on air -- then realises that the newsreader in question is himself.
* PaperThinDisguise: In the "Robin Hood" episode, Robin Hood's disguise for the archery contest is a pair of NerdGlasses and a bright red false beard. Apart from that, he's wearing the same outfit he wears in every other scene.
* ParachutePetticoat
* ParentalBonus: ''Tons'', which was part of the show's point. Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl saw it as a show aimed at ''everyone'' watching, not just children or adults.
* ParodyFailure: Not the Muppets themselves, but most attempts to parody them have focused on CarnivoreConfusion and InterspeciesRomance, ''which were constantly lampshaded and analysed in the show itself''.
* {{Pirate}}: Notably portrayed by Creator/JohnCleese and Glenda Jackson in their respective episodes.
** PirateParrot: Assisting Cleese and Jackson. (It may even have been the same parrot on both occasions.) And a near miss in the episode guest-starring Gilda Radner; she plans to do a duet from ''{{The Pirates of Penzance}}'' with a talking parrot, but there's [[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/File:Gildaradner.jpg a slight misunderstanding]].
*** Cleese also gets to ask it [[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus "Do you want to be an ex-parrot?"]]
* APirate400YearsTooLate: One "Pigs In Space" sketch had John Cleese attacking the Swinetrek as a pirate- of the swashbuckler variety. Link Hogthrob informs him that he's a few centuries out of place, which leads to an argument between John and his parrot.
* PlotBasedVoiceCancellation: The one time Fozzie tells a guaranteed hilarious joke, it's the episode at the railway station, and the joke is drowned out by a passing train.
* PoorCommunicationKills: During the Swedish Chef skit for the Dyan Cannon show, Miss Piggy loses her pet Foo Foo. She asks the Chef where her dog went, and the Chef -- who has ''just'' finished plopping hot dogs into a pot of boiling water -- responds, "De doggies en de pottie!" (In 30-odd years since, who else has put one over on Miss Piggy without getting knocked into next week?)
* PunnyName: Fleet Scribbler, a play on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_Street Fleet Street]].
* QuintessentialBritishGentleman: In the "Salute to All Nations" episode, Sam the Eagle's contribution is to hold a conversation on Anglo-American relations with a "proper English gentleman", who appears dressed in a DashinglyDapperDerby and pinstripe suit and carrying a brolly. The illusion that SpikeMilligan is actually a proper English gentleman disappears as soon as he opens his mouth (if not before that when he started pulling faces behind Sam's back).
* ReadingTheStageDirectionsOutLoud: In the "Robin Hood" episode, Fozzie's idea of cavorting involves literally saying "Cavort, cavort, cavort, cavort, ..."
* RedHerring: Literally, once...
* TheReveal: During the closing credits of the ''Sex and Violence'' pilot, the camera pulls back to reveal Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and the other Muppeteers performing the characters during the chaotic scene.
* {{Revival}}: ''MuppetsTonight''
* RooflessRenovation: The theater gets one of these in the Gladys Knight episode.
* RougeAnglesOfSatin: See PirateParrot, above.
* RuleOfThree
* RunningGag: Lots of them. Lampshaded in the Rita Moreno episode with a series of backstage phone calls ("Is there no end to this running gag?!").
** Perhaps the most spectacular example was Dudley Moore's crazed, robotic music machine, which managed to work its way into virtually ''every single sketch''.
* SawAWomanInHalf: Fozzie attempts this trick in the SylvesterStallone episode, but is unable to find a volunteer and has to settle for a robot in a blonde wig. He ends up cutting into its main power cable, giving himself an electric shock and making the robot explode (for the second time in the episode).
* SecurityCling: The Pigs in Space sketch where Link and Miss Piggy explore the alien planet Koozebane has the exaggerated leap-into-his-arms version -- but it's dashing hero Link who leaps into Piggy's arms, much to her disgust.
* SelfDeprecation: Frequent jabs at the quality of the show:
-->'''[[strike:Mark Hamill]] Luke Skywalker''': Listen pal, we're on a mission. There's no way we're gonna be involved in some third-rate variety show!
-->'''Kermit''' ''(deeply wounded)'': ''Second''-rate variety show!
** Statler and Waldorf ''exist'' for this, in-show.
* SerendipityWritesThePlot: Miss Piggy's trademark karate chop was scripted on its first appearance as a face slap. Oz couldn't figure out a way to get the puppet to do the slap convincingly, and in a fit of frustration ad-libbed a karate chop. Everybody watching fell about laughing, and the rest is history.
* ShirtlessScene: Played entirely straight in a long scene featuring Rudolf Nureyev wearing nothing but a towel.
* ShooOutTheNewGuy: Fleet Scribbler, an aggressive gossip reporter introduced in season 2. While the British press loved the character, the writers quickly tired of him and he was dropped after just a handful of appearances.
* ShoutOut:
** Occasional mentions of ''SesameStreet'', ''aka'' "that cute little children's show with the ''puppets''".
** The Creator/JohnCleese episode, perhaps inevitably, includes a bit where he winds up shouting about an ex-parrot.
** Floyd Pepper is patterned after [[TheBeatles Sergeant Pepper]].
*** He also has pink hair, making him a [[PinkFloyd Pink Floyd]].
** Dr. Teeth is a dead-on impersonation of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._John Dr. John]].
** Miss Piggy originally had the last name "Lee".
* ShowWithinAShow: The stage show itself, and within that the recurring sketches.
* SignatureLaugh: Several, most notably Statler and Waldorf's "'''DOOOHOHOHOHOHO!'''".
* SillyLoveSongs: The "Robin Hood" episode includes a love scene between Robin Hood (Kermit) and Maid Marian (guest star Lynne Redgrave) in which Marian brings up the fact that he's a frog and she isn't, and he sings a song to reassure her that he loves her anyway.
-->Your eyes are not bulgy, you don't live in a swamp,\\
You don't hop, or turn somersaults,\\
Your feet are not webbed, and you never eat flies.\\
(I'm sorry to dwell on your faults.)\\
And yet I still love you, I always will love you\\
You shine in my mind like a dream\\
And yet I still love you, I always will love you\\
Although you are not even green.
* SketchComedy
* SmokingBarrelBlowout: The villainous Bullets Barker in the Western-themed RoyRogers episode.
* {{Snapback}}: In one first season episode, the Electric Mayhem threatens to, and eventually quits, leaving Rowlf to have do the closing theme by himself. By the next episode, they're already back.
* SneezeOfDoom: In the Leo Sayer episode, Miss Piggy attempts to recite "The Daffodils", with incidental music by Rowlf, but the flowers decorating the set cause a massive sneezing fit that results in parts of the set, and even Rowlf and his piano, being blown away. Then the audience sneezes as one, blowing Miss Piggy away.
* SomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** The Steve Martin episode focuses on the audition process instead of the resulting show.
** In the Loretta Lynn episode, the show takes place at a railroad station because the theatre's being fumigated.
** The Lynne Redgrave episode takes the form of a production of ''RobinHood'', with only backstage skits breaking from the theme.
** In the Glenda Jackson episode, pirates hijack the theatre and sail it out to sea (...somehow).
** During Cloris Leachman's episode, the show is taken over by the pigs -- including pig copies of a few of the regulars.
** The Liza Minnelli episode was a Whodunnit murder mystery.
* SoMyKidsCanWatch: The reason why SylvesterStallone, of all people, ended up in an episode.
* SoundtrackDissonance: Miss Piggy and [[Series/CharliesAngels Cheryl Ladd]] practicing karate and trashing Ladd's dressing room to the tune of "I Enjoy Being a Girl," a song that extols the virtues of traditional femininity and being a ProperLady.
* SourSupporter: StatlerAndWaldorf. There every single show.
* SpacePirate: Attacks the ''Swinetrek'' during the "Pigs in Space" sketch in the Creator/JohnCleese episode. Technically just a normal pirate (complete with HookHand and PirateParrot) who's very, very lost.
* ElSpanishO: In one episode, the Porcelino brothers call their muppet pyramid "el pyramido". (The real word is "pirámide".)
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: In the Marisa Berenson episode, Miss Piggy nearly manages to trap Kermit into marrying her. During the ceremony, the priest does the "speak now or forever hold your peace" bit and there is a long, long pause while Kermit looks around hopefully, but nobody says anything.
* SpecialEditionTitle:
** The Loretta Lynn episode takes place at a railroad station instead of the theater, so the opening and closing were changed to go along with it. Though it was less "SpecialEdition" and more "StylisticSuck", with an off-key [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJVzZiq8sGs opening]] (and closing) theme and a [[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/File:TMSbadlogoLynn.jpeg (badly) hand-drawn Muppet Show sign]].
** Several episodes have normal titles but specially recorded closing credits to reflect the events of the show. These include the Harry Belafonte and SpikeMilligan episodes, where the final song continues over the credits; an episode where the band quits, leaving Rowlf to play the closing music on his own; and the Roger Miller episode, where the band (along with nearly everybody else) gets turned into chickens.
* SpeciesSurname: Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy - just a couple of the most prominent examples.
* SpinoffSendoff: In one of the pilots, Bert and Ernie from SesameStreet show up to perform a skit, where Bert worries that their little kid's show comedy wouldn't cut it on the new show meant for older audiences.
* SpontaneousHumanCombustion: Played for laughs (naturally).
--> '''The Newsman''': "Reports are coming in from all over the world that television news reporters are blowing up! These unlikely rumors have--" ''Ka-BOOM!''
* StatlerAndWaldorf: We have this show to thank.
* StealthPun: Floyd, the house band's bassist, is [[PinkFloyd pink]].
** And then there's his full name, [[TheBeatles Sergeant]] Floyd [[TheBeatles Pepper]].
* {{Sting}}: Lampshaded in the Roger Miller episode when Gonzo asks for a "dramatic sting" when he announces an outbreak of "cluckitis"... and gets it. Later, when Scooter mentions the disease, the sting happens again... and he and Kermit react to it.
* TheStinger: Provided each week by StatlerAndWaldorf.
* StopTrick
* StrawmanPolitical: Sam the Eagle is a conservative one, though like everything else on the show, it's taken to humorous extremes. His monologue about people being naked underneath their clothing is a good example.
* StuffBlowingUp: Crazy Harry, particularly in the Ben Vereen episode. This trope was a favorite go-to gag for the writers in general, and it's a RunningGag in the first half of the Jaye P. Morgan episode.
* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: The characters have a problem with this in "The Rhyming Song" in the Loretta Lynn episode.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial:
** "We're not turning into chickens."
** Invoked by Fozzie in a sketch in the RoyRogers episode, where he plays a deputy trying to deal with a gunslinger who's come to kill the sheriff. When the gunslinger realises that the sheriff must be hiding in the somewhere nearby, Fozzie nervously denies that he's in the overnight cell, then locks the gunslinger in when he goes to check.
* TakeOurWordForIt: Kermit the Frog does a virtuoso display of tap-dancing to the tune of "Happy Feet" -- filmed, like nearly everything he does, entirely from the waist up.
** This also applies to Fozzie and company's roller skating in the Lou Rawls episode.
* TakeThat: Statler and Waldorf raised this to an art form.
* TalkingAnimal
* TheTeaser: Every episode after the first season had a brief one featuring the guest star preparing backstage. By season five, the most common cold opening was the guest star greeting Pops, the elderly stage doorman.
* ThatRussianSquatDance: Done by pigs in Cossack costumes.
* ThisBananaIsArmed: One sketch features Fozzie as an Old West-style criminal whose entire arsenal consists of fruits and vegetables.
-->I-I'm sorry, I didn't know the pickles were loaded!
* ThisIsSparta: "PIIIIIGS. IIIIIN. SPAAAAAAAACE!"
** Also, the end of the theme song. "This. Is. What. We. Call. The. Muppet. SHOOOOOOOOW!!!!"
* ThreatBackfire: Milton Berle runs afoul of this trope more than once while trying to make Statler and Waldorf stop heckling him.
-->'''Milton Berle''': If you don't stop, I'll have the usher throw you out!
-->'''Waldorf''': He can't, he's too busy.
-->'''Milton Berle''': Doing what?
-->'''Waldorf''': Keeping people in!
* TrashCanBand
* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: In-universe, this is The Great Gonzo's guiding principle in his acts.
-->'''Floyd Pepper''': If I didn't know I was a genius, ''I'' wouldn't listen to the trash I write!
* {{Tsundere}}: Miss Piggy. Making a grand entrance dressed as Princess Leia: "Listen, Skywalker -- just go with it or I'll break you in half."
* TwoForOneShow
* TheUnintelligible: Beaker and the Swedish Chef. The Chef slips just enough English into his monologues to give the viewer an idea where he's going ("Now ve takin ana boomin de shootin!"), while Beaker just squeaks. Note that Dr. Honeydew has [[IntelligibleUnintelligible no trouble understanding Beaker]], regardless.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: One can learn a lot about 70s pop culture by watching this show.
* VarietyShow: Duh.
* VaudevilleHook: Deployed in several episodes, including multiple times during the episode that showed the audition process for the show.
* VerbalTicName: Mahna Mahna, who can only utter his name, grunt, and [[SingingSimlish scat-sing]].
* VerbThis: Piggy usually does this before punching somebody.
* VetinariJobSecurity: Whenever Kermit isn't around to run the show, things quickly get out of hand -- moreso, anyway.
* VisualPun: The show practically ''ran'' on these. No Muppet could use an expression without triggering one. Often, especially in the "backstage" parts, the Visual Puns would involve Muppets who walked onscreen just to make the Visual Pun, then promptly disappeared, never to be seen again.
* VitriolicBestBuds: StatlerAndWaldorf. You can tell that they can't live without each other, although they constantly heckle, make fun of, insult and sometimes even hit each other! Fozzie and Kermit also count.
* TheVoiceless: Rizzo the Rat, in his early appearances. According to the book ''Of Muppets and Men'', this was because his actor, Steve Whitmire, while a fantastic puppeteer, was in the beginning reluctant to do voices. Whitmire got more confident in towards the end of the show, and Rizzo began getting speaking roles, evolving into the Brooklyn-accented DeadpanSnarker we know him as today.
* WalkThisWay: In the "Pigs in Space" sketch where Fozzie stands in as one of the crew.
* WantedPoster: In the "Bear on Patrol" sketches, the walls of the police station are decorated with Wanted posters for the members of the band.
* WeaponsGradeVocabulary: Guest star Avery Schreiber engages in a duel with Sweetums. The weapon of choice: insults.
* WheelOFeet: In the Don Knotts episode, there's a creature running around the Theatre -- and when he stops running, it turns out it's not just a movement illusion, he really does have a wheel of feet. In the same episode, the creature performs (appropriately) "Windmills of Your Mind (The Thomas Crown Affair Theme)" ("Like a circle in a spiral/Like a wheel within a wheel--")
* WhosOnFirst: When Teresa Brewer, who had a number one hit beginning "Put another nickel in / In the nickelodeon", guest-stars on the show, there's a bit that begins with Animal finding a jukebox and inserting a nickel:
-->'''Floyd:''' Hey, now we'll really hear some music!\\
'''Animal:''' Yeah... what music?\\
'''Floyd:''' "Put Another Nickel In".\\
''[Animal inserts another nickel]''\\
'''Animal:''' I put nickel in. What music?\\
''(and so on)''
** A more notable example happens between Fozzie and Kermit. The duo have agreed that upon Fozzie's saying "hear" at a certain point in his act, Kermit is to rush on-stage and yell, "Good grief, the comedian's a bear!!". Except that Fozzie naturally keeps saying "''here''" throughout his routine, causing Kermit to keep rushing out before his cue. The confusion escalates until Fozzie comes up with a different prompt.
*** "No he's-a not! He's-a wearing a-neck-a-tie!"
* WidgetSeries
* WilliamTelling:
** In the Music/AliceCooper episode, a William Tell routine was playing onstage, but all that is seen are the stray arrows falling backstage. At the end, the boy walks offstage with an arrow through his head. "You know me. In one ear and out the other."
** In the SylvesterStallone episode, an orchestra performs the William Tell Overture and finishes with the cellist firing the bow from his cello to shoot an apple off Beauregarde's head.
* WraparoundBackground:
** When a WheelOFeet critter sings "Windmills of Your Mind" in the Don Knotts episode.
** During the cowboy sketch in the BobHope episode, as Cowboy Bob rides his horse across the lone prairie.
** In the Loretta Lynn episode, as Kermit and Gonzo travel by handcar.
** The "Jogging" item in the Danny Kaye episode and the the "Dog Walk" item in the immediately subsequent SpikeMilligan episode use the same wraparound background (and the singer from each appears as a background event in the other).
** Another cowboy-riding-aross-the-lone-prairie example is the "Four-Legged Friend" bit in the RoyRogers episode, although this time there's two of them -- and they're riding cows.
* YouCanSayThatAgain: At the end of the Leo Sayer episode:
-->'''Statler:''' That was an amazing mess of mediocre mediocrity.\\
'''Waldorf:''' You can say that again.\\
'''Statler:''' Wanna bet?
----
-->'''[[StatlerAndWaldorf Statler]]''': We raised "TakeThat" "to an art form?"\\
'''Waldorf''': It looks to me like they "took that" and ran with it.\\
'''Statler''': If only we'd done the same, eh? \\
'''Both''': Dohhhhh-ho-ho-ho-ho!''
----
[[caption-width-right:320: No MonochromeCasting here...]]
->''"It's time to play the music,\\
It's time to light the lights,\\
It's time to meet the Muppets\\
On the Muppet Show tonight!"''
The immense popularity of TheMuppets they created for ''SesameStreet'' gave JimHenson, Jerry Juhl and Frank Oz the impetus to create a variety show for family viewing, but with social and political satire. {{ABC}} aired a pair of {{pilot}} specials, ''The Muppets Valentine Show'' (1974) and ''The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence'' (1975), but when all the U.S. networks rejected their ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KorhvVQRUM frankly awesome]]) pitch for a weekly series, they instead finagled a distribution deal with Britain's ITC, under the auspices of Lord Lew Grade.
''The Muppet Show'' was produced for worldwide weekly syndication from 1976 to 1981. It was videotaped at the London studios of ITC's parent company ATV. The choreography for the human guests was created by Gillian Lynne, who later went on to design all of the ballet sequences in Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage version of ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera''.
The show became so popular that in at least one U.S. market, two stations broadcast different episodes of ''The Muppet Show'' in back-to-back time slots! The show was never actually cancelled; instead, Henson and company decided to end it so that they could work on films, ''TheMuppetMovie'' in particular.
-->''It's time to put on makeup,\\
It's time to dress up right,\\
It's time to raise the curtain\\
On the Muppet Show tonight!''
Cheerful, cool-headed Kermit the Frog was the emcee-slash-production manager-slash-eye of the storm for this truly 'far out' all-puppet VarietyShow. The setting was a tiny rundown downtown theatre and the tone was deliberately reminiscent of old-style vaudeville, where anything could happen and usually did. Other major members of the troupe included diva Miss Piggy, comedian Fozzie Bear, piano-playing Rowlf the Dog, daredevil performance artist Gonzo the Great, and Scooter the eager "go-fer".
-->''To introduce our guest star\\
That's what I'm here to do (or, what it's time to do);\\
So it really makes me happy\\
To introduce to you:''
A different human entertainer was featured as the show's guest performer in each episode, and the show's ''cachet'' quickly became such that they were frequently A-list--often uniquely so (ballet legend Rudolf Nureyev, anyone?). Each week, technical flubs, talent crises, rampaging egos and financial issues (when the pigs weren't rebelling, or angry clones weren't on the loose, or the ''StarWars'' cast wasn't rampaging through in search of Chewbacca) would bring the show teetering to the brink of disaster; each week, [[TheShowMustGoOn the show somehow managed to go on]].
Recurring sketches included Veterinarian's Hospital, starring Rowlf ("the continuing stoooooooory of a quack who's gone to the dogs"); Pigs in Space ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin yep, pretty much]]); Muppet Labs, with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his perpetually terrified assistant Beaker ("Now your family can be protected from the heartbreak of gorilla invasion!"); cooking segments with the game-but-goofy Swedish Chef; and the disaster-prone 'Muppet News Flash'. Piano-playing Doctor Teeth and his Electric Mayhem -- laid-back bassist and singer Floyd Pepper, groovy guitarist Janice, silent saxophonist Zoot and drummer Animal -- were the house band. And sitting high above it all in the balcony, in prime position to volley insults, were [[SourSupporter codger hecklers]] [[StatlerAndWaldorf Statler and Waldorf]]:
-->''Why do we always come here?\\
I guess we'll never know\\
It's like a kind of torture\\
To have to watch this show!''
Ostensibly a family show, ''The Muppet Show'' in practice played freely with the dark side of Henson's vision, more familiar from his later work. Notable guest stars included Music/AliceCooper, VincentPrice, Jonathan Winters, [[ThePinkPanther Peter Sellers]], [[{{Film/Superman}} Christopher Reeve]] and SteveMartin. Songs from adult shows like ''{{Chicago}}'' and ''{{Cabaret}}'' were worked into the mix (to say nothing of EltonJohn singing "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", or Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare"...) Casual violence abounded, seemingly gentle skits often took a weirdly surreal turn. Typically, in the RobinHood episode, lovely Lynn "Maid Marian" Redgrave tricks Gonzo as the Sheriff into stretching out on his own torture rack -- and he appears to enjoy the experience.
And it's likely that few viewers knew of the ultimate origin of "Mah Na Mah Na" , the song used in the iconic sketch of the same name -- the soundtrack of a 1968 Italian soft-core [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondo_film Mondo documentary]], ''Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso'' (''Sweden, Heaven and Hell''), where it was used as background music for a sauna scene that is remarkably tame by today's standards. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I48IXSbHsy8 Here's the track itself.]] (Henson also did [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtsKfzAwGRg an earlier version]] back in SesameStreet's younger days).
-->''Our show tonight will feature\\
Some stuff that goes like this!''
The concept was brought back and updated in 1989, with the "Muppet Television" segments of ''TheJimHensonHour'', which moved the show from a theatre to a TV station. A second short-lived revival in 1996, ''MuppetsTonight'', used a similar setting, this time a single studio instead of an entire network.
Currently revived in the form of a ComicBookAdaptation, ''TheMuppetShowComicBook'', and a [[http://www.youtube.com/user/MuppetsStudio Youtube channel]].
-->''But now, let's get things started!\\
(Audience: Why don't you get things started?)\\
It's time to get things started On the most sensational,\\
Inspirational\\
Celebrational\\
Muppetational\\
This is what we call the Muppet Show!!''\\
''([[CouchGag Gonzo plays something on his trumpet]]. HilarityEnsues, usually)''
See TheMuppets for various other Muppet productions, and MuppetCameo when they show up in other shows.
----
!!This series provides examples of:
* AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal: Kermit usually wears nothing but his collar, and will cover himself up if it's taken off. When they do an underwater performance of TheBeatles' "Octopus's Garden", he wears a bathing cap.
* AllAsiansWearConicalStrawHats: Including the Muppets representing Japan in the Spike Milligan-hosted "Salute to All Nations" episode.
* AllDrummersAreAnimals: Literally! According to legend, Animal was based upon [[TheWho Keith Moon]].
* AlmostFamousName:
** Inverted in one episode where Kermit initially believes the guest star is an act called Lesley & Warren, and is pleasantly surprised to discover that it's actually the similarly named but more famous actor-singer-dancer Lesley Ann Warren.
** In the episode devoted to a musical about RobinHood, the "author of tonight's drama" is introduced in a backstage scene as William Shakespeare -- not ''the'' WilliamShakespeare, just ''a'' William Shakespeare.
* AlmostKiss: Kermit and guest star Lynn Redgrave, in character as Robin Hood and Maid Marian, sing a beautiful love duet, and are about to kiss when Miss Piggy invents a blatant excuse to come on stage and interrupt.
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Let's see, an orange stagehand, a lime-green MadScientist, a dark green keyboard player, a teal sax player, a [[StealthPun pink Floyd...]]
* AscendedExtra: Several, although Rizzo the Rat may be the best example (unless you count Miss Piggy, who was originally conceived as a much more minor character).
* AshFace: A recurring gag whenever explosions are involved. Which is often.
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: the Swedish Chef.
* AttractiveBentGender: In one Muppet Labs sketch, their latest experiment-gone-wrong leaves Beaker with long curly hair -- and Bunsen Honeydew suddenly finds him "hauntingly attractive".
* AwardShow: The Phyllis George episode has the show throwing an awards show for ''itself''.
* BaitAndSwitch: In the Roger Miller episode, a weird disease causes the cast to one-by-one transform into chickens. When Statler and Waldorf appear for the stinger at the end of the credits, will they also be transformed? [[spoiler:Yes -- but not into chickens.]]
* BananaPeel: In the James Coco episode, Coco attempts to liven up the Swedish Chef's act with a chorus line of dancers, which keep interrupting the Chef's attempts to prepare a banana split. The Chef retaliates by dropping a banana peel in their path, making them all fall down.
* BarefootCartoonAnimals: Animal (of course!) who usually only wore a front-open T-shirt and tattered pants. Other regular characters in this group (though not always seen as such on camera) include Dr. Bob (played by Rowlf) from ''Veterinarian's Hospital'', Sweetums the ogre, Uncle Deadly (a blue reptilian-like creature that wore tattered Victorian-style morning dress with spats) and Beauregard the janitor. Kermit and Fozzie have also had a few stage costumes that applied this trope as well.
* BrandishmentBluff: Subverted - in a cowboy sketch, Fozzie has "a loaded pickle". It goes off.
* BulletDancing: In the RoyRogers episode, Waldorf gets Statler bullet dancing, and Statler starts doing ballet. When they try it the other way around, all that happens is Waldorf gets a bullet in his foot.
* {{Butt Monkey}}: Beaker was the king of this trope during the Bunsen Honeydew sketches from the second season on -- though on occasion, he managed to get revenge. Often overlapped with {{The Woobie}} because many fans couldn't help but laugh and feel sorry for him.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAtBki0PsC0 This Youtube sketch]] is probably the epitome of his Butt Monkey-dom.
* CarnivoreConfusion: A frequent problem encountered by the Swedish Chef, whose main courses tended to walk into his kitchen on their own four feet. Memorably lampshaded when he tried to cook Big Bird, and later when he tried to make frog's legs with Kermit's nephew Robin. In fact, sometimes it even gets into Herbivore Confusion!
* TheCatCameBack: The trope-naming song was featured as a sketch in the Linda Ronstadt episode.
* CastOfSnowflakes
* CatchPhrase: Several:
** Kermit: "Heigh-ho, everyone!", "YAAAAAAAY!" and "Will you get out of here?"
*** "Sheesh!"
** Fozzie: "Wocka wocka!"
** Scooter: "Fifteen seconds to curtain!"
** Swedish Chef: "Bork Bork Bork!"
** Miss Piggy's ''HI-YAAH!''.
** Beaker's meeping.
** Sam the Eagle: "You are all ''weirdos!''"
** And Statler and Waldorf's heckle-laugh: '''[[SignatureLaugh "DOOOHOHOHOHOHO!"]]'''
* CelebrityParadox: Played for laughs in the 'stars of StarWars' episode, as per CelebrityStar below. Luke Skywalker and his actor each made several appearances in the episode, but never appeared on screen together. The end of the episode, however, reveals that MarkHamill and Luke Skywalker are in fact separate people.
* CelebrityStar: Straight ''and'' subverted -- one episode featured a member of the production staff, writer Chris Langham, as the "guest". Langham, however, had to fill in for RichardPryor.
** Another spoof of sorts came when PeterSellers was the guest star. Kermit says that backstage, Sellers is free to be himself and not a character, but Sellers says he cannot do so: "There used to be a me, but I had it surgically removed." Sellers helped the writers create this skit because he simply ''wasn't'' willing to be himself, and it became one of his most famous quotes. In the "15 seconds to curtain" opening bit, he appears in character as [[Main/ThePinkPanther Inspector Clouseau]]. In RealLife, of course, this was Sellers' [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0352520/ particular neurosis]] - making it HarsherInHindsight.
** The episode featuring "the stars of ''StarWars''" [[IAmNotSpock introduced Mark Hamill and his 'cousin' Luke Skywalker separately]]. The former had to admit that the latter upstaged him.
*** Initially a subversion, as the original "guest star" of the Hamill episode was a Muppet named [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Angus MacGonagle, the Argyle Gargoyle, whose talent was gargling Gershwin ("Gorgeously!")]]. Then the StarWars cast bursts into his dressing room and Scooter decides they would be ''much'' better guest stars, so [=MacGonagle=] is tossed out. He later storms onto the stage, arguing his case with Kermit, who remains unimpressed. Later, though, [=MacGonagle=] sneaks back on stage to do his act -- with Mark Hamill joining in. Kermit finally has to resort to siccing Animal on the gargoyle.
** There was also the time Señor Wences guest starred. He was a puppeteer himself, so Kermit decides to do something "new": a puppet show.
** Several of the guest stars tried shamelessly to out-Muppet TheMuppets -- like SpikeMilligan, Creator/JohnCleese and PeterSellers -- with results that were indeed highly awesome.
*** "When the show first started, the producers would call upon friends in the entertainment business. However, about half-way through the second season when Rudolf Nureyev appeared, his appearance gave the show so much positive publicity, that other celebrities came to the producers instead of the other way around. " (from Wikipedia). Nureyev had seen the show whilst staying in London and liked it so much he actually called them up and asked if he could appear.
* ChandlersLaw: Henson once commented on his pre-Muppet puppet sketches that when he couldn't think of how to close a sketch, he'd either have [[StuffBlowingUp an explosion]] or have [[ImAHumanitarian one character eat the other]]. It's pretty clear that this carried over to ''TheMuppetShow''.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Hilda the seamstress and George the janitor are almost completely absent after the first season.
* ClipShow: Not in the original run, but in TheEighties the ''Jim Henson's Muppet Home Video'' series of ten VHS tapes were clip shows linked by newly-shot material with the regular characters. Notably many of the U.K. spots were included (thus making their U.S. debuts), as well as at least two Season One musical numbers ("All of Me" and "You've Got a Friend", the latter being the finale from the Vincent Price episode) that would not appear on the Season One DVD set due to music rights issues. Similar compilations appeared in TheNineties.
* CloudCuckoolander. Most of the cast, really, but Gonzo is just batshit crazy.
* TheComicallySerious: Sam the Eagle.
* ComplainingAboutThingsYouHaventPaidFor: In the episode where Steve Martin guest starred, Statler and Waldorf debate whether they should leave after the show is canceled to hold auditions. Waldorf insists that they stay as they've paid for the tickets. When Statler points out that the tickets were free, Waldorf replies, "And overpriced, at that!"
* ComplimentBackfire:
** Newcomer Annabel Sue Pig tells Miss Piggy of her lifelong admiration of her.
** Pretty much everything DannyKaye says to Miss Piggy in his episode, including another go-round of "I've admired you for years and years".
* CouchGag: Many, the most famous being Gonzo's gong (Season 1) or trumpet note (Seasons 2-5) at the end of the theme song. Others are: Statler and Waldorf's opening (Season 2) and closing (entire run) comments, Fozzie telling a joke during the title sequence (Season 1), the "15 seconds to curtain" reveal of the guest star (Seasons 2-4), Pops the doorman greeting the host (Season 5).
* CrossdressingVoices: Most prominently, Frank Oz as Miss Piggy and Richard Hunt as Janice.
* CrossOver: ''SesameStreet'''s Big Bird appears in one episode; Bert and Ernie make a guest appearance in an early Season 1 episode. At the climax of the ArabianNights-themed Marty Feldman episode, most of the ''Sesame Street'' cast turns up for the finale as a pun on "OpenSesame!"
* CutlassBetweenTheTeeth: Fozzie at one point in his battle with the samurai in the Spike Milligan episode.
* DartboardOfHate: In the Leslie Uggams episode, there's a scene set in Camilla the Hen's dressing room, the decor of which includes a dartboard with Colonel Sanders' face on it.
* DashinglyDapperDerby:
** SpikeMilligan wears one while impersonating a QuintessentialBritishGentleman in a sketch.
** When Roger Miller guest stars, he sings a song about various kinds of hat, each of which is worn by one of the backup singers; there is a verse about a derby, and a corresponding English gentleman muppet in a DashinglyDapperDerby.
* DeadArtistsAreBetter: In the episode starring Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge, Gonzo learns a rumour has started that he was killed when his latest stunt went horribly wrong, and decides to go along with it in the hope of becoming, while still alive to enjoy it, one of those artists who become massively successful after they die.
* DeadpanSnarker: Believe it or not, this was Kermit's original schtick.
** He's still got shades of it that pop up from time to time.
--->'''Fozzie:''' I don't know how to thank you guys!
--->'''Kermit:''' I don't know ''why'' to thank you guys.
** Rizzo the Rat, after breaking out of his [[TheVoiceless Voiceless]] role, quickly revealed himself to be one.
* DealWithTheDevil: In the Music/AliceCooper episode, there's a subplot about Cooper offering various members of the cast a contract that will give them whatever they want in return for their soul. Kermit rejects the whole thing out of hand; Miss Piggy is tempted to do it for great beauty, until she finds out what Alice Cooper considers beautiful; and Gonzo is unreservedly enthusiastic about the whole idea, but has to pass because he can't find a pen.
--->'''Gonzo:''' I'd sell my soul for a pen! No, I have other plans for that.
* DemotedToExtra: Rowlf. As head-writer Jerry Juhl pointed out, Rowlf was mostly consigned to being used in musical numbers and skits, almost completely absent from backstage CharacterDevelopment. It's not that they didn't like the character, it's that Jim was busy performing Kermit, yet didn't want Rowlf recast. As a result, ideas Juhl had for developing relationships between Rowlf and Fozzie, Rowlf and Piggy, etc never came to fruition.
* DoubleTake: Leo Sayer's reaction when Dr Teeth explains the purpose of the line running across the floor of his dressing room.
* DropTheCow:
** Literally, [[DeadlineNews on the Newsman]].
** And in the little known Muppet special on various types of puppetry, a cow is dropped near the characters in a demonstration on how the Muppet team uses their special effects.
* DyingClue: Played for laughs in the Liza Minnelli episode:
--> '''Lew Zealand:''' Ack! Poison! ''(collapses to the floor)''\\
'''Fozzie:''' This man was murdered to shut him up!\\
'''Bunsen:''' No he wasn't, he choked on a fishbone!\\
'''Fozzie:''' But he yelled, ''"Poison!"''\\
'''Bunsen:''' Which, I believe, is the French word for fish!
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness
** The show's first season had a different (and far less epic) opening, the first few guests were given their own Muppets in their likeness (eliminated in part because of the cost), Gonzo's eyes weren't as expressive, some other characters looked and/or sounded different, etc.
*** There were also fewer celebrity interactions with the Muppets.
** ''The Muppet Valentine Show'' and ''Sex and Violence'' were hosted by now-obscure Muppets (Wally and Nigel respectively) instead of Kermit. And at the end of the latter, [[spoiler:the camera pulls back to show the Muppeteers running around]]!
* EenieMeenieMinyMoai: A moai head occasionally appears as a backing singer, for instance in the opening number of the SylvesterStallone episode.
* EndangeredSouffle: In a brief bit in the SpikeMilligan episode, a tap-dancer's conversation with Kermit comes to an abrupt end when the Swedish Chef rushes up and attacks him because his tapping has collapsed the Chef's soufflé.
* EverybodyLaughsEnding: Used frequently, especially if the guest was the butt of the joke of the sketch. Said guest would laugh with everyone else at the punchline to show that the sketch was an act and that there were no hard feelings.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Swedish Chef, the Newsman.
* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins... and chickens... and rats... and fish... and the occasional Argyle Gargoyle. One of the show's [[CatchPhrase catchphrases]] is "frogs and dogs and pigs and chickens [and things]"
* ExactWords: In one sketch, Sam claims that eventually he will receive his "just desserts" for acting as the moral centre of the show. [[PieInTheFace He's immediately hit by a pie.]] What was it according to the monster who threw it? "Just dessert."
* ExecutiveMeddling: Averted in that Henson had a degree of immunity. The show's British producer Lord Lew Grade gave Henson one condition; that he produce the show in Grade's London studios. Apart from that Grade pretty much gave Henson ''carte blanche'' to do what he wanted. As a thank-you, Henson wrote a Lew Grade {{Expy}} into The Muppet Movie, played by Orson Welles.
** There was a bit more executive meddling in the form of the LaughTrack.
* ExpositoryThemeTune
* ExpospeakGag: In a 'Pigs in Space' sketch, First Mate Piggy is highly gratified to be told that she alone can "operate the independent heating/unifying element across the horizontal equalizing plane and save the entire crew" -- until she works out that this means "iron the laundry".
* ExtremeOmnivore: Most of the larger Muppet monsters have had moments where they ate things that were not, strictly speaking, food, but there's one in particular for whom this is his main characteristic. He has no name, so he's generally referred to, in memory of one of the things he ate on his debut appearance, as the Luncheon Counter Monster.
* {{Fainting}}: A Muppet trademark. For the classic example see Kermit, in the Creator/JohnCleese episode, after nearly being hit by two heavy weights falling from the rafters.
* FallingChandelierOfDoom: A recurring setting is a ballroom with a large elaborate chandelier; sure enough, there is a sketch in which it falls on one of the dancers.
* FantasticComedy: It was not unusual for curses that force everyone to speak Swedish, diseases that cause people to spontaneously turn into chickens, the guest star trying to sell cast members' respective souls to the Devil, and other such fantastical things to be major plot points. (Not even touching the fact that within the context of the show, the Muppets were normally portrayed as real people, not "puppets".)
* FarSideIsland: In the episode featuring Cloris Leachman, there's a sketch in which she is washed up on one after a shipwreck.
* {{Fauxreigner}}: It was lampshaded on at least two occasions that the Swedish Chef is not actually speaking Swedish (presumably in case any ''really'' slow viewers were offended on Scandinavia's behalf). [[DoubleSubversion His real language is mock Japanese.]]
* FlatWhat: [[TheComicallySerious Sam the Eagle]] utters a disbelieving, "What." when he hears Kermit introduce Chopin's Polonaise in A-flat major... played by Dr. Teeth.
* FollowTheLeader:
** ''Le Bébête Show'' was the first French satirical puppet show. It represented major French political figures as characters similar to those of ''The Muppet Show'', with, for instance, President François Mitterrand portrayed as a frog named Kermitterrand (and naming himself ''God'').
** ''Series/FrenchAndSaunders'' was more or less ''The Muppet Show'' with people.
* FortuneTeller: James Coco appears as one in a sketch, complete with CrystalBall.
* FramingDevice: The antics backstage. Later seasons made them more story driven, something that was carried over to [[TheMuppetShowComicBook the comic book adaptation]].
* FriendlyTickleTorture: The Ruth Buzzi episode ends with a few of the Muppets tickling her.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Several of the guests have musical numbers where they're in a forest and have a backing group of animals. Depending on the guest and the song, this may be played straight, or twisted in some way (as in the case of Leo Sayer, whose animal companions spend half the time singing backup and the other half trying to eat him).
* FruitOfTheLoon
* GalleySlave: In the Elke Sommer episode, the closing number is Elke singing "Row, Row, Row" in a galley, with the galley slaves as the backing chorus. Animal plays the role of the guy beating time on a big drum, which causes problems when he gets bored halfway through the song and starts upping the tempo.
* GentleGiant: In the JulieAndrews episode, she sings one of her songs in a graveyard while trying to dodge several enormous ugly monsters with sharp fangs that keep pursuing her all over the set. It turns out that they're all big fans of hers, and just want her autograph.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** "Mah Na Mah Na" as noted above, among others. The song was actually a minor hit in the US in 1969. Seeing as how Henson also used the song in skits featured on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and (of all places) ''SesameStreet'', both in 1969, he may have just heard it on the radio and didn't know its ultimate origin either.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgfZVNv6w2E Sax and Violence]], anyone?
** The episode where Raquel Welch guest stars. Pretty much all of it, but especially the segment where she caresses Fozzie, sings him a sexy song, then invites him back to her dressing room for "tea".
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skkM2zPFPy0 Lady Wrestlers]]
** The song "I'm My Own Grandpa", which existed before the Muppet Show, plays around with the OedipusComplex trope. It's made slightly less disturbing because the weird family ties are ties of marriage rather than ties of blood, but still not something you'd expect on a fun-for-all-the-family show...
** The episode starring Alice Cooper involved Alice trying to convince Kermit (And later Gonzo) to [[DealWithTheDevil sell his soul to the devil]]
** The "Koozebanian Mating Ritual".
* GladiatorGames: SylvesterStallone appeared as a gladiator fighting a lion. When the lion realised who he was, it tried to escape, and failing that turned the fight into a rendition of "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off".
* GoodAngelBadAngel
* GrandFinale: While not technically an episode of the series, ''The Muppets Go to the Movies'' was meant to serve as this to this series.
* GravityIsAHarshMistress: One of Gonzo's outre stunts involves reciting the seven-times table while holding a grand piano over his head; partway through, he gets lost and stops to count on his fingers -- and the moment he realises this means he's no longer holding the piano (but not a moment before) it falls on him.
* GreekChorus: Statler and Waldorf.
* GroupieBrigade: The SylvesterStallone episode is the TropeNamer.
* GunTwirling: The villainous Bullets Barker in the Western-themed RoyRogers episode.
* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: Fozzie Bear only wears a trilby hat and polka-dot tie, which was once the basis for one of his routines. ("Good grief, the comedian's a bear!" "No he's a-not! He's a-wearin' a neck-a-tie!") Rizzo the Rat wears a jacket and ballcap but no pants, as does Pepe the Prawn. Of course, most of them are never seen from the waist down, so it's usually a moot point.
** In ''The Great Muppet Caper'' Fozzie and Kermit play twins. Nobody recognizes them as such until Fozzie removes his hat. Later on Kermit is sitting alone and a passerby mistakes him for a bear. Someone else corrects him; "Bears wear hats."
* HalfHourComedy
* HandcarPursuit: In the Loretta Lynn episode, a mix-up leaves Kermit and Gonzo stranded miles from the train station where the show is temporarily set, and they travel back by handcar. At one point they get chased by a locomotive.
* HawaiianShirtedTourist: One appears in several sketches in the episode guest-starring Jean Stapleton.
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Scooter's uncle, the owner of the theater. The gag of Scooter mentioning him to get what he wants was gradually phased out. He did actually appear a couple of times during the second season, but on the whole the writers felt that he worked better as an off-screen presence.
* HighDiveHijinks: In the Danny Kaye episode, the Flying Zucchini Brothers attempt a daredevil high dive into a bucket of water. While they're on their way down, the theatre's janitor notices somebody's left a bucket of water on stage and helpfully tidies it away.
* HookHand: Creator/JohnCleese has one when he's being a pirate. Over the course of the sketch, it switches from one hand to the other, and gets caught in the collar of his shirt, among other indignities.
* HornyVikings: Performing opera during the Rudolf Nureyev episode, and singing "In The Navy" in the Roger Moore episode.
* HostileShowTakeover
* HumanMail: In the episode with PaulWilliams, Paul plays a travel agent and a monster asks for the cheapest travel package he has. Paul flattens the monster with a weight, sticks a stamp on him, and mails him.
* HurricaneOfPuns: The "Veterinarian's Hospital" sketches, and to a lesser extent ''the entire show''.
* HypocriticalHumor: One sketch has Sam the Eagle giving a commentary in which he denounces the efforts "namby-pamby conservationists" to shackle American industry "for the sake of a few insignificant animals". He then pulls out a list of endangered species, which he begins to read from mockingly. When he notices that the American bald eagle is one of the animals on the list, he beats a hasty retreat muttering, "This list is now inoperative."
* IAmNotSpock: As far as the show is concerned, Christopher Reeve ''is'' {{Film/Superman}}. He doesn't seem to mind, though.
* IHaveThisFriend: In the episode where Miss Piggy goes on a diet, she asks the guest star for advice: "I have this ''friend'' who is absolutely devastating, except she has an ''itty-bitty'' weight problem..."
* ImAHumanitarian:
** Zero Mostel almost gets eaten.
** John Cleese's agent ''does'' get eaten.
** And the Muppets are constantly eating each other: one of the creepier instances of this was a Muppet eating another, then singing [[IncrediblyLamePun "I've Got You Under My Skin"]] -- while the smaller Muppet, still alive, struggles to escape. (And occasionally takes over the song for a line or two: "I've tried so hard not to give in...")
* InadvertentEntranceCue: Crazy Harry's appearances were usually presaged by another character making the mistake of uttering one of these.
-->'''Kermit:''' Good work, guys, that sketch was really dynamite!
-->'''Crazy Harry:''' Did somebody say, "dynamite"? (''[[StuffBlowingUp BOOM!]]'')
* IncessantMusicMadness: The "Salute to All Nations" episode ends with a rendition of "It's a Small World After All" that keeps going and going and going. It can be heard in the background as Kermit does the goodbyes at the end, and then swells again, drowning out the closing theme music.
* IncrediblyLamePun: A staple of the show, some of the sketches like "Veterinarian's Hospital" were made of this trope.
* IndecisiveParody: The show always walked the line between being a full-blown parody of {{variety show}}s and a unique example of one.
* INeedToGoIronMyDog: Gonzo tries to get out of looking after Miss Piggy's dog by claiming "Oh my god! I left an anvil in the oven!". Of course, this being Gonzo, it's entirely possible he actually ''had'' left an anvil in the oven.
* InstrumentOfMurder
* InsultBackfire:
**
--->'''Sam the Eagle:''' You, sir, are a demented, sick, degenerate, barbaric, naughty freako!\\
'''Music/AliceCooper:''' Why, thank you.
**
--->'''Maid Marian:''' You black-hearted, villainous swine!\\
'''The Sheriff of Nottingham (Gonzo):''' Oh, you silver-tongued flatterer.
* TheIntern: Scooter, in the first season.
* InterspeciesRomance: Where Piggy intends her relationship with Kermit to go, Gonzo's love affair with Camilla, and implied as part of Scooter's back-story. When Kermit inquires as to his species- "My mother was a parrot. We never knew my father. It was during the war!"
* ItsAllGreekToMe: The Swedish Chef speaks mock-Swedish. There were several episodes between his introduction and TheReveal that he wasn't speaking real Swedish InUniverse.
* JapaneseRanguage: The 'Japanese' muppets who sing "Yokohama" in the "Salute to All Nations" episode:
-->We berong to the rand\\
And the rand we berong to is gland!
* {{Kayfabe}}: The Muppets have a long-standing tradition in appearances outside the show and in public events. The Muppeteers performing them are never seen and the humans interact with the puppets like regular people. The Muppeteers need to have perfect improv skills in order to say unscripted lines that would be appropriate for the characters!
* KentBrockmanNews: The "Muppet News Flash" sketch.
* KnifeThrowingAct: Leslie Uggams inadvertantly becomes part of one as Lew Zealand, Boomerang Fish Thrower gets carried away and starts throwing swordfish. The scene ends with Leslie surrounded by swordfish in a KnifeOutline.
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Sam the Eagle, on the subject of Culture. In the episode guest-starring Rudolf Nureyev, Sam gushes that Nureyev is one of his favourite opera singers. In the episode guest-starring Lynne Redgrave, Sam pronounces himself a great fan of WilliamShakespeare -- why, he's seen ''TheSoundOfMusic'' at least a dozen times! -- and is greatly saddened to hear that Shakespeare is dead.
* TheLadysFavour: In the Pearl Bailey episode, the finale is a jousting scene with Floyd and Gonzo as the knights. Floyd gets a favour from Janice; Gonzo gets a favour from Camilla.
* LampshadeWearing: Beaker attempts the disguise version in the Elke Sommer episode in an attempt to get out of a particularly hazardous Muppet Labs sketch. It works right up until Beauregard tries to plug him in.
* LargeHam: The cast in general qualify; but Miss Piggy qualifies in [[IncrediblyLamePun more ways than one]].
** Gonzo also cranks it up a notch or two.
** If the celebrity guest stars aren't keeping up with the Muppets in the scenery chewing department, then they're just flat-out doing it wrong. Exhibit A: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkdivOqq2pA Mark Hamill impersonating Kermit and Fozzie, followed by a bout of tapdancing]]. Exhibit B: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=benooTZH1i4 Roger Moore judo-chopping a laser-toting fluffy bunny while singing "Talk to the Animals"]].
** Arguably the only guest star to out-ham the Muppets was Zero Mostel.
*** Zero Mostel's right pointer finger out-hams several of the Muppets.
* LarynxDissonance: Miss Piggy
* LateToThePunchline: The George Burns episode begins with TheTeaser, featuring a silly "burns" pun, followed by the title sequence and then Kermit's opening monologue -- and ''then'' Waldorf gets the pun.
* LaughTrack: Used (much to the annoyance of Henson & co.) in every episode except the Steve Martin one where the only laughter heard is that of the Muppet performers who really were the audience at that time.
** Or at least that was the original intention for Steve Martin's episode. In the end, it turned out that Richard Hunt's laughter was so loud, they had to put in a bit of a laugh track anyway!
** For on-stage segments, it is justified as the laughter of the audience watching in the Muppet Theater.
* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: During the cowboy sketch in the BobHope episode.
* LetsSeeYouDoBetter: The Hal Linden episode had StatlerAndWaldorf run the show themselves while Kermit and Fozzie watch from the balcony.
-->'''Kermit:''' Y'know, I don't miss me at all.
* LiteralMinded: The butt of many, ''many'' of the show's jokes.
** After a scene in which guest star Juliet Prowse dances and then artfully fades out of view:
-->'''Waldorf:''' Hey, she just vanished! How did she do that?
-->'''Statler:''' Probably like this! ''[takes a deep breath and fades out]''
-->'''Waldorf:''' Yep, that's probably how she did it!
** When Scooter shows up backstage with a large wooden crate:
-->'''Kermit:''' Scooter, what is this?
-->'''Scooter:''' It's a crate, chief!
-->[...]
-->'''Kermit:''' May I ask you what is in it?
-->'''Scooter:''' Sure, go ahead!
-->'''Kermit:''' ''What is in it?''
** C-3PO, as per the usual, in the StarWars episode.
--> '''Luke Skywalker''': Threepio, you cover that exit!
--> '''C-3PO''' ''[to Kermit]'': What shall I cover it in?
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* LookBehindYou: In a sketch where Cloris Leachman is trapped on a FarSideIsland with a monster, she shouts "Look! Up there! Quick!". When the monster announces he's not going to fall for that old gag, a coconut from the island's lone palm tree falls on his head.
* MadBomber: Crazy Harry.
* MadScientist: Dr. Bunsen Honeydew is a mild example of this.
* MadScientistLaboratory: Dr. Honeydew's lab is generally too clean and functional to qualify, but there's an excellent example, with lots and lots of colorful bubbling liquids, in the "Time in a Bottle" sketch.
* MagnificentMoustachesOfMexico: At one point during his episode, Creator/JohnCleese is dressed in a Mexican mariachi costume, complete with a magnificent false moustache -- worn over his ''real'' moustache.
* ManShapedHole: The outcome of Rudolf Nureyev's encounter with Miss Piggy.
* MayTheFarceBeWithYou
* {{Meat-O-Vision}}: Played with in the Pearl Bailey episode's "Pigs in Space" skit -- the explorers, hopelessly lost in space, start seeing each other as food... because of a NegativeSpaceWedgie that's ''actually turning them into'' food.
* MinskyPickup: In the theme song intro.
* MoralGuardians: Sam the Eagle is a parody of moral guardian types and expressed [[StrawmanPolitical Strawman Conservative]] sentiments on occasion, such as decrying nudity while wearing no clothing and endangered species protection while being a bald eagle.
* MorphicResonance: In the Roger Miller episode, the cast is swept by an outbreak of cluckitis, a disease which turns the afflicted into chickens. The Swedish Chef retains his mustache and eye-covering eyebrows. Lew Zealand, Rowlf, Miss Piggy, Floyd, and Janice keep their respective eyes; Kermit does, as well, and even has his pointy collar. Only the main cast retains Morphic Resonance, however, and some don't even get that: extras and even some of the main cast turn into indistinguishable chickens. Maybe they'll have a hat or necklace, which they keep.
* TheMovie: Creatively called ''TheMuppetMovie'', it was so popular that five more theatrical features followed over the next 20 years:
** ''TheGreatMuppetCaper''
** ''TheMuppetsTakeManhattan''
** ''TheMuppetChristmasCarol''
** ''MuppetTreasureIsland''
** ''MuppetsFromSpace''
** And in 2011, there came ''{{Film/The Muppets}}'', which is intended to {{Reboot}} the franchise and (hopefully) pave the way for further outings. This film features a traditional-style Muppet Show.
* NameTron: In the Harry Belafonte episode, the "Pigs in Space" sketch revolves around Dr Strangepork's new invention, the Dissolvatron.
* NinjaProp: The ping pong ball in ''TheCoconutEffect''
* NoFourthWall: The fact that the series takes place on a stage show seems like justification for the lack of such... until you realise that the Muppets constantly break it backstage. And the audience keeps laughing at everything said and occuring off stage, even though there's absolutely no way they'd be seeing or hearing them.
* NoKillLikeOverkill: The Swedish Chef ends up "cutting" a ([[NinjaPirateRobotZombie sentient, Japanese]]) cake in half with a "[[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign cakenschmooscher]]" (baseball bat). Of course, the cake was more crushed than sliced, but by that point the Chef didn't really care too much...
* NonFatalExplosions
* NoodleImplements: Gonzo once attempts to perform an act using a torch, a tire swing, and a cow. Exactly what he was planning to do with these is never shown, as he was booed off stage before he could start, but he had originally planned to use a typewriter instead of the cow (they didn't have a spare typewriter he could use).
* NoodleIncident: On the episode with Loretta Lynn, Scooter tells Fozzie to use the joke about the electricians and the polar bear, saying, "I laughed for days." Sadly, the middle of the joke is lost due to a passing train...
** The Sandy Duncan episode: "You never heard of the ''banana sketch''?!"
* NoSenseOfHumor: Sam the Eagle.
* OhCrap: Plenty. Beaker's face was even MADE to always be in shock.
* OldFashionedRowboatDate: A Wayne and Wanda sketch where the two were enacting such a date while singing "Row, Row, Row". It's one of few Wayne and Wanda sketches that make it to the song's chorus, Then the boat springs a leak.
* OldNewBorrowedAndBlue: In the Marisa Berenson episode, Miss Piggy plots marriage to Kermit and tells Marisa that her wedding will feature "something old, something new, something borrowed, and something ''green''".
* OminousPipeOrgan: During the "Veternarian's Hospital" segments.
* OnceAnEpisode: Miss Piggy becoming furious.
* OnlyOneName: Gonzo, Scooter, Sweetums...
* OnlySaneEmployee: Arguably the inspiration of the trope, as [[http://bloglynch.blogspot.com/2009/06/30-rock-is-rip-off-of-muppet-show.html one blog post]] humorously points out.
* [[Main/OnlySaneMan Only Sane Frog]]: Kermit, and at times even he was [[WildTake just hanging on]] by his metaphorical fingernails.
-->'''Lesley Ann Warren''' (guest): You know, Kermit, I thought you were the ''one'' person on this show who wasn't crazy.
-->'''Kermit''': Me not crazy? I hired the others.
* OrphanedPunchline:
** "...but the wallpaper is delicious!"
** The ''Sex and Violence'' pilot has Statler telling Waldorf one of these. "...And so the waiter says, 'Excuse me, but you're dancing with my umbrella!'"
* PainfulRhyme: InUniverse in the "Robin Hood" episode; Scooter, doing exposition in the role of Alan a Dale, rhymes "in sooth" with "living fast and looth", prompting a complaint from Fozzie.
* PantsFree: In a "Muppet Newsflash" sketch, the newsreader reads a report about a newsreader who forgot to put on his pants before going on air -- then realises that the newsreader in question is himself.
* PaperThinDisguise: In the "Robin Hood" episode, Robin Hood's disguise for the archery contest is a pair of NerdGlasses and a bright red false beard. Apart from that, he's wearing the same outfit he wears in every other scene.
* ParachutePetticoat
* ParentalBonus: ''Tons'', which was part of the show's point. Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl saw it as a show aimed at ''everyone'' watching, not just children or adults.
* ParodyFailure: Not the Muppets themselves, but most attempts to parody them have focused on CarnivoreConfusion and InterspeciesRomance, ''which were constantly lampshaded and analysed in the show itself''.
* {{Pirate}}: Notably portrayed by Creator/JohnCleese and Glenda Jackson in their respective episodes.
** PirateParrot: Assisting Cleese and Jackson. (It may even have been the same parrot on both occasions.) And a near miss in the episode guest-starring Gilda Radner; she plans to do a duet from ''{{The Pirates of Penzance}}'' with a talking parrot, but there's [[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/File:Gildaradner.jpg a slight misunderstanding]].
*** Cleese also gets to ask it [[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus "Do you want to be an ex-parrot?"]]
* APirate400YearsTooLate: One "Pigs In Space" sketch had John Cleese attacking the Swinetrek as a pirate- of the swashbuckler variety. Link Hogthrob informs him that he's a few centuries out of place, which leads to an argument between John and his parrot.
* PlotBasedVoiceCancellation: The one time Fozzie tells a guaranteed hilarious joke, it's the episode at the railway station, and the joke is drowned out by a passing train.
* PoorCommunicationKills: During the Swedish Chef skit for the Dyan Cannon show, Miss Piggy loses her pet Foo Foo. She asks the Chef where her dog went, and the Chef -- who has ''just'' finished plopping hot dogs into a pot of boiling water -- responds, "De doggies en de pottie!" (In 30-odd years since, who else has put one over on Miss Piggy without getting knocked into next week?)
* PunnyName: Fleet Scribbler, a play on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_Street Fleet Street]].
* QuintessentialBritishGentleman: In the "Salute to All Nations" episode, Sam the Eagle's contribution is to hold a conversation on Anglo-American relations with a "proper English gentleman", who appears dressed in a DashinglyDapperDerby and pinstripe suit and carrying a brolly. The illusion that SpikeMilligan is actually a proper English gentleman disappears as soon as he opens his mouth (if not before that when he started pulling faces behind Sam's back).
* ReadingTheStageDirectionsOutLoud: In the "Robin Hood" episode, Fozzie's idea of cavorting involves literally saying "Cavort, cavort, cavort, cavort, ..."
* RedHerring: Literally, once...
* TheReveal: During the closing credits of the ''Sex and Violence'' pilot, the camera pulls back to reveal Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and the other Muppeteers performing the characters during the chaotic scene.
* {{Revival}}: ''MuppetsTonight''
* RooflessRenovation: The theater gets one of these in the Gladys Knight episode.
* RougeAnglesOfSatin: See PirateParrot, above.
* RuleOfThree
* RunningGag: Lots of them. Lampshaded in the Rita Moreno episode with a series of backstage phone calls ("Is there no end to this running gag?!").
** Perhaps the most spectacular example was Dudley Moore's crazed, robotic music machine, which managed to work its way into virtually ''every single sketch''.
* SawAWomanInHalf: Fozzie attempts this trick in the SylvesterStallone episode, but is unable to find a volunteer and has to settle for a robot in a blonde wig. He ends up cutting into its main power cable, giving himself an electric shock and making the robot explode (for the second time in the episode).
* SecurityCling: The Pigs in Space sketch where Link and Miss Piggy explore the alien planet Koozebane has the exaggerated leap-into-his-arms version -- but it's dashing hero Link who leaps into Piggy's arms, much to her disgust.
* SelfDeprecation: Frequent jabs at the quality of the show:
-->'''[[strike:Mark Hamill]] Luke Skywalker''': Listen pal, we're on a mission. There's no way we're gonna be involved in some third-rate variety show!
-->'''Kermit''' ''(deeply wounded)'': ''Second''-rate variety show!
** Statler and Waldorf ''exist'' for this, in-show.
* SerendipityWritesThePlot: Miss Piggy's trademark karate chop was scripted on its first appearance as a face slap. Oz couldn't figure out a way to get the puppet to do the slap convincingly, and in a fit of frustration ad-libbed a karate chop. Everybody watching fell about laughing, and the rest is history.
* ShirtlessScene: Played entirely straight in a long scene featuring Rudolf Nureyev wearing nothing but a towel.
* ShooOutTheNewGuy: Fleet Scribbler, an aggressive gossip reporter introduced in season 2. While the British press loved the character, the writers quickly tired of him and he was dropped after just a handful of appearances.
* ShoutOut:
** Occasional mentions of ''SesameStreet'', ''aka'' "that cute little children's show with the ''puppets''".
** The Creator/JohnCleese episode, perhaps inevitably, includes a bit where he winds up shouting about an ex-parrot.
** Floyd Pepper is patterned after [[TheBeatles Sergeant Pepper]].
*** He also has pink hair, making him a [[PinkFloyd Pink Floyd]].
** Dr. Teeth is a dead-on impersonation of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._John Dr. John]].
** Miss Piggy originally had the last name "Lee".
* ShowWithinAShow: The stage show itself, and within that the recurring sketches.
* SignatureLaugh: Several, most notably Statler and Waldorf's "'''DOOOHOHOHOHOHO!'''".
* SillyLoveSongs: The "Robin Hood" episode includes a love scene between Robin Hood (Kermit) and Maid Marian (guest star Lynne Redgrave) in which Marian brings up the fact that he's a frog and she isn't, and he sings a song to reassure her that he loves her anyway.
-->Your eyes are not bulgy, you don't live in a swamp,\\
You don't hop, or turn somersaults,\\
Your feet are not webbed, and you never eat flies.\\
(I'm sorry to dwell on your faults.)\\
And yet I still love you, I always will love you\\
You shine in my mind like a dream\\
And yet I still love you, I always will love you\\
Although you are not even green.
* SketchComedy
* SmokingBarrelBlowout: The villainous Bullets Barker in the Western-themed RoyRogers episode.
* {{Snapback}}: In one first season episode, the Electric Mayhem threatens to, and eventually quits, leaving Rowlf to have do the closing theme by himself. By the next episode, they're already back.
* SneezeOfDoom: In the Leo Sayer episode, Miss Piggy attempts to recite "The Daffodils", with incidental music by Rowlf, but the flowers decorating the set cause a massive sneezing fit that results in parts of the set, and even Rowlf and his piano, being blown away. Then the audience sneezes as one, blowing Miss Piggy away.
* SomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** The Steve Martin episode focuses on the audition process instead of the resulting show.
** In the Loretta Lynn episode, the show takes place at a railroad station because the theatre's being fumigated.
** The Lynne Redgrave episode takes the form of a production of ''RobinHood'', with only backstage skits breaking from the theme.
** In the Glenda Jackson episode, pirates hijack the theatre and sail it out to sea (...somehow).
** During Cloris Leachman's episode, the show is taken over by the pigs -- including pig copies of a few of the regulars.
** The Liza Minnelli episode was a Whodunnit murder mystery.
* SoMyKidsCanWatch: The reason why SylvesterStallone, of all people, ended up in an episode.
* SoundtrackDissonance: Miss Piggy and [[Series/CharliesAngels Cheryl Ladd]] practicing karate and trashing Ladd's dressing room to the tune of "I Enjoy Being a Girl," a song that extols the virtues of traditional femininity and being a ProperLady.
* SourSupporter: StatlerAndWaldorf. There every single show.
* SpacePirate: Attacks the ''Swinetrek'' during the "Pigs in Space" sketch in the Creator/JohnCleese episode. Technically just a normal pirate (complete with HookHand and PirateParrot) who's very, very lost.
* ElSpanishO: In one episode, the Porcelino brothers call their muppet pyramid "el pyramido". (The real word is "pirámide".)
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: In the Marisa Berenson episode, Miss Piggy nearly manages to trap Kermit into marrying her. During the ceremony, the priest does the "speak now or forever hold your peace" bit and there is a long, long pause while Kermit looks around hopefully, but nobody says anything.
* SpecialEditionTitle:
** The Loretta Lynn episode takes place at a railroad station instead of the theater, so the opening and closing were changed to go along with it. Though it was less "SpecialEdition" and more "StylisticSuck", with an off-key [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJVzZiq8sGs opening]] (and closing) theme and a [[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/File:TMSbadlogoLynn.jpeg (badly) hand-drawn Muppet Show sign]].
** Several episodes have normal titles but specially recorded closing credits to reflect the events of the show. These include the Harry Belafonte and SpikeMilligan episodes, where the final song continues over the credits; an episode where the band quits, leaving Rowlf to play the closing music on his own; and the Roger Miller episode, where the band (along with nearly everybody else) gets turned into chickens.
* SpeciesSurname: Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy - just a couple of the most prominent examples.
* SpinoffSendoff: In one of the pilots, Bert and Ernie from SesameStreet show up to perform a skit, where Bert worries that their little kid's show comedy wouldn't cut it on the new show meant for older audiences.
* SpontaneousHumanCombustion: Played for laughs (naturally).
--> '''The Newsman''': "Reports are coming in from all over the world that television news reporters are blowing up! These unlikely rumors have--" ''Ka-BOOM!''
* StatlerAndWaldorf: We have this show to thank.
* StealthPun: Floyd, the house band's bassist, is [[PinkFloyd pink]].
** And then there's his full name, [[TheBeatles Sergeant]] Floyd [[TheBeatles Pepper]].
* {{Sting}}: Lampshaded in the Roger Miller episode when Gonzo asks for a "dramatic sting" when he announces an outbreak of "cluckitis"... and gets it. Later, when Scooter mentions the disease, the sting happens again... and he and Kermit react to it.
* TheStinger: Provided each week by StatlerAndWaldorf.
* StopTrick
* StrawmanPolitical: Sam the Eagle is a conservative one, though like everything else on the show, it's taken to humorous extremes. His monologue about people being naked underneath their clothing is a good example.
* StuffBlowingUp: Crazy Harry, particularly in the Ben Vereen episode. This trope was a favorite go-to gag for the writers in general, and it's a RunningGag in the first half of the Jaye P. Morgan episode.
* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: The characters have a problem with this in "The Rhyming Song" in the Loretta Lynn episode.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial:
** "We're not turning into chickens."
** Invoked by Fozzie in a sketch in the RoyRogers episode, where he plays a deputy trying to deal with a gunslinger who's come to kill the sheriff. When the gunslinger realises that the sheriff must be hiding in the somewhere nearby, Fozzie nervously denies that he's in the overnight cell, then locks the gunslinger in when he goes to check.
* TakeOurWordForIt: Kermit the Frog does a virtuoso display of tap-dancing to the tune of "Happy Feet" -- filmed, like nearly everything he does, entirely from the waist up.
** This also applies to Fozzie and company's roller skating in the Lou Rawls episode.
* TakeThat: Statler and Waldorf raised this to an art form.
* TalkingAnimal
* TheTeaser: Every episode after the first season had a brief one featuring the guest star preparing backstage. By season five, the most common cold opening was the guest star greeting Pops, the elderly stage doorman.
* ThatRussianSquatDance: Done by pigs in Cossack costumes.
* ThisBananaIsArmed: One sketch features Fozzie as an Old West-style criminal whose entire arsenal consists of fruits and vegetables.
-->I-I'm sorry, I didn't know the pickles were loaded!
* ThisIsSparta: "PIIIIIGS. IIIIIN. SPAAAAAAAACE!"
** Also, the end of the theme song. "This. Is. What. We. Call. The. Muppet. SHOOOOOOOOW!!!!"
* ThreatBackfire: Milton Berle runs afoul of this trope more than once while trying to make Statler and Waldorf stop heckling him.
-->'''Milton Berle''': If you don't stop, I'll have the usher throw you out!
-->'''Waldorf''': He can't, he's too busy.
-->'''Milton Berle''': Doing what?
-->'''Waldorf''': Keeping people in!
* TrashCanBand
* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: In-universe, this is The Great Gonzo's guiding principle in his acts.
-->'''Floyd Pepper''': If I didn't know I was a genius, ''I'' wouldn't listen to the trash I write!
* {{Tsundere}}: Miss Piggy. Making a grand entrance dressed as Princess Leia: "Listen, Skywalker -- just go with it or I'll break you in half."
* TwoForOneShow
* TheUnintelligible: Beaker and the Swedish Chef. The Chef slips just enough English into his monologues to give the viewer an idea where he's going ("Now ve takin ana boomin de shootin!"), while Beaker just squeaks. Note that Dr. Honeydew has [[IntelligibleUnintelligible no trouble understanding Beaker]], regardless.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: One can learn a lot about 70s pop culture by watching this show.
* VarietyShow: Duh.
* VaudevilleHook: Deployed in several episodes, including multiple times during the episode that showed the audition process for the show.
* VerbalTicName: Mahna Mahna, who can only utter his name, grunt, and [[SingingSimlish scat-sing]].
* VerbThis: Piggy usually does this before punching somebody.
* VetinariJobSecurity: Whenever Kermit isn't around to run the show, things quickly get out of hand -- moreso, anyway.
* VisualPun: The show practically ''ran'' on these. No Muppet could use an expression without triggering one. Often, especially in the "backstage" parts, the Visual Puns would involve Muppets who walked onscreen just to make the Visual Pun, then promptly disappeared, never to be seen again.
* VitriolicBestBuds: StatlerAndWaldorf. You can tell that they can't live without each other, although they constantly heckle, make fun of, insult and sometimes even hit each other! Fozzie and Kermit also count.
* TheVoiceless: Rizzo the Rat, in his early appearances. According to the book ''Of Muppets and Men'', this was because his actor, Steve Whitmire, while a fantastic puppeteer, was in the beginning reluctant to do voices. Whitmire got more confident in towards the end of the show, and Rizzo began getting speaking roles, evolving into the Brooklyn-accented DeadpanSnarker we know him as today.
* WalkThisWay: In the "Pigs in Space" sketch where Fozzie stands in as one of the crew.
* WantedPoster: In the "Bear on Patrol" sketches, the walls of the police station are decorated with Wanted posters for the members of the band.
* WeaponsGradeVocabulary: Guest star Avery Schreiber engages in a duel with Sweetums. The weapon of choice: insults.
* WheelOFeet: In the Don Knotts episode, there's a creature running around the Theatre -- and when he stops running, it turns out it's not just a movement illusion, he really does have a wheel of feet. In the same episode, the creature performs (appropriately) "Windmills of Your Mind (The Thomas Crown Affair Theme)" ("Like a circle in a spiral/Like a wheel within a wheel--")
* WhosOnFirst: When Teresa Brewer, who had a number one hit beginning "Put another nickel in / In the nickelodeon", guest-stars on the show, there's a bit that begins with Animal finding a jukebox and inserting a nickel:
-->'''Floyd:''' Hey, now we'll really hear some music!\\
'''Animal:''' Yeah... what music?\\
'''Floyd:''' "Put Another Nickel In".\\
''[Animal inserts another nickel]''\\
'''Animal:''' I put nickel in. What music?\\
''(and so on)''
** A more notable example happens between Fozzie and Kermit. The duo have agreed that upon Fozzie's saying "hear" at a certain point in his act, Kermit is to rush on-stage and yell, "Good grief, the comedian's a bear!!". Except that Fozzie naturally keeps saying "''here''" throughout his routine, causing Kermit to keep rushing out before his cue. The confusion escalates until Fozzie comes up with a different prompt.
*** "No he's-a not! He's-a wearing a-neck-a-tie!"
* WidgetSeries
* WilliamTelling:
** In the Music/AliceCooper episode, a William Tell routine was playing onstage, but all that is seen are the stray arrows falling backstage. At the end, the boy walks offstage with an arrow through his head. "You know me. In one ear and out the other."
** In the SylvesterStallone episode, an orchestra performs the William Tell Overture and finishes with the cellist firing the bow from his cello to shoot an apple off Beauregarde's head.
* WraparoundBackground:
** When a WheelOFeet critter sings "Windmills of Your Mind" in the Don Knotts episode.
** During the cowboy sketch in the BobHope episode, as Cowboy Bob rides his horse across the lone prairie.
** In the Loretta Lynn episode, as Kermit and Gonzo travel by handcar.
** The "Jogging" item in the Danny Kaye episode and the the "Dog Walk" item in the immediately subsequent SpikeMilligan episode use the same wraparound background (and the singer from each appears as a background event in the other).
** Another cowboy-riding-aross-the-lone-prairie example is the "Four-Legged Friend" bit in the RoyRogers episode, although this time there's two of them -- and they're riding cows.
* YouCanSayThatAgain: At the end of the Leo Sayer episode:
-->'''Statler:''' That was an amazing mess of mediocre mediocrity.\\
'''Waldorf:''' You can say that again.\\
'''Statler:''' Wanna bet?
----
-->'''[[StatlerAndWaldorf Statler]]''': We raised "TakeThat" "to an art form?"\\
'''Waldorf''': It looks to me like they "took that" and ran with it.\\
'''Statler''': If only we'd done the same, eh? \\
'''Both''': Dohhhhh-ho-ho-ho-ho!''
----
