Line #32 Awesome/TheMuppetShow


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6	* After Milton Berle does a sincere and wonderful tribute to Vaudevile by performing "The Entertainer", Miss Piggy takes ''her'' turn at the song. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8SaXp30nSg And demonstrates why she's a star.]]
7	-->'''Miss Piggy:''' Put sum'n ''in it'', Rowlf!
8	* Ethel Merman outdoes Miss Piggy by belting a note capable of [[GlassShatteringSound shattering glass]].
9	* The Swedish Chef becomes the first Muppet in history to ''block Miss Piggy's karate kick'' (admittedly with a pot lid for a shield, but still...). Bonus: Miss Piggy was extremely rattled by the block
10	* Creator/HarryBelafonte's "Turn the World Around." (And not just the song, but the unique mask-like Muppets were incredible too.)
11	-->'''Harry Belafonte:''' I discovered that song in Africa. I was in a country called Guinea. I went deep into the interior of the country, and in a little village, I met with a storyteller. That storyteller went way back in African tradition and African mythology and began to tell this story about the fire, the sun, the water, the Earth. He pointed out the whole of these things put together turns the world around. That all of us are here for a very, very short time. In that time that we’re here, there really isn’t any difference in any of us, if we take time out to understand each other. The question is: Do I know who you are, or who I am? Do we care about each other? Because if we do, together we can turn the world around.
12	** How awesome was that song? Statler and Waldorf didn't even snark at it. Instead ''they joined in''.
13	** Gonzo actually performed his trumpet ''correctly''.
14	*** This performance was so beloved by Henson that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Em3vVwsm0 Belafonte performed the song at his funeral]].
15	* In the fifth season episode with Marty Feldman, they had an awesome song "A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight". During the song, a good number of ''Series/SesameStreet'' characters come out and sing their theme with Fozzie and the others joining, then another verse of "Hot Time". To top it all off, the song featured Fozzie, Cookie Monster, Grover, and Bert singing. All of them are voiced by Frank Oz (and usually puppetered, although that obviously wasn't a possibility for this). That meant Frank Oz had to sing at least a portion of the musical number four times. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWFWlzOR5YI&t=3m30s See it here.]]
16	* Buddy Rich vs. Animal: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJh9W3Gcpmo Drum Battle of the Century!]]
17	** Animal, the most manic Muppet ever, ''tires out'' and Buddy continues playing for an entire minute afterwards, to Animal's goggle-eyed shock.
18	* When Kermit found out Miss Piggy planted a false story about them getting married in Vegas, [[BewareTheNiceOnes Kermit snaps at Piggy and fires her.]] (Guest star Loretta Swit briefly took over Piggy's roles on ''Veterinarian's Hospital'' and ''Pigs In Space''.) Yeah, [[StatusQuoIsGod Piggy gets rehired in the end]] but still, after five seasons of having to put up crap from Piggy and the other assorted madness behind the scenes, seeing him getting pissed and yelling at the top of the lungs was a sight to behold.
19	** And of course when this summons Piggy's own temper, Kermit, now regained his composure, doesn't cower this time and takes her ego down a few notches.
20	-->'''Miss Piggy:''' You can't fire me! I'm the ''star''!
21	-->'''Kermit:''' You can be ''replaced'', Piggy.
22	-->'''Miss Piggy:''' ''furious'' Oh? oh? I see! Just ''try''!
23	-->'''Kermit:''' ''defiant'' I will! I will! I ''will'' replace you!
24	* Rudolph Nureyev's appearance. During the show's first season, they had a lot of trouble getting celebrities to appear on the show and often had to appeal to personal favors. Then Nureyev actually approached Henson and asked if he could appear, and suddenly made that job a whole lot easier. For himself, Rudolph really got to shine not only in ballet but also paying tribute to Creator/FredAstaire with a superb tap song and dance number of "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails".
25	--> '''Sam the Eagle:''' [[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry I am shocked! Shocked and appalled!]]
26	** Plus his partner in "Swine Lake", who's able to keep up with one of the greatest ballet dancers ever while wearing a very bulky costume. The ballerina pig was played by Royal Ballet dancer Graham Fletcher, who, later on in the series, would gain his own dancing character, the namesake Fletcher Bird.
27	** Which crosses over into heartwarming: the Swine Lake number came about because the one thing he wanted to do more than ''anything'' (which is basically impossible because she usually doesn't have legs) was dance a duet with Miss Piggy.
28	* In the "Put Another Log on the Fire" musical number, Candice Bergen plays a frontier wife whose husband keeps demanding that she do various chores while he just sits by the fire. Suddenly, she retaliates, swaps her clothes for a Women's Lib outfit, and threatens him with a shotgun before shooting her way out the door.
29	* The man-sized Muppet managing to punch Rita Moreno during a skit where she has been tormenting him non-stop and gets the last laugh by managing to literally kick her out of the bar they're in.
30	** And then Rita in turn smashing Animal in an enormous pair of cymbals after the drummer keeps screwing around while she's trying to sing "Fever."
31	** Rita finally got the last laugh; she won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Variety or Musical Show for her stint with the Muppets, which made her only the third person in history (after Richard Rodgers and Helen Hayes) to achieve the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony).
32	* Bruce Forsyth gets karate chopped by Piggy and promptly starts fighting back.
33	* The epic pirate battle at the end of the Glenda Jackson episode.
34	* In the Connie Stevens episode, [[Series/SesameStreet Ernie and Bert]] guest star. Bert is nervous, Ernie tries to trick him into making a fool of himself. The result is Bert ''belting out'' "Some Enchanted Evening" and dancing with Connie Stevens. Seeing Ernie's reaction as his prank fails ''magnificently'' sells the whole thing. (Though he still gets one last dig at Bert in the end.) See it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUPv-8OSJIo here.]]
35	* Most fans will admit that seeing Beaker finally getting back at Bunsen and chasing him around the theater with his many, many clones in the Mac Davis episode was pretty awesome and much-deserved.
36	** In the ending, the Beaker clones take over the orchestra and play all the instruments, as well as invade Statler and Waldorf's booth to give the final quip. To do that, they would have had to overpower and subdue at least ''nine'' different Muppets, one of whom is ''[[AxCrazy ANIMAL]]''. And yet, the Beaker clones pulled it off.
37	* The whole episode with the ''Franchise/StarWars'' characters, and Creator/MarkHamill, pure concentrated genre parody silliness at its best. Perhaps climaxed by [[http://youtu.be/vSe2FD9Vn1k?t=1m58s the one thing that can stagger the Mighty Chewbacca]].
38	* In the Pearl Bailey episode, nothing could be more fierce than Pearlie Mae and house bassist Floyd jamming backstage to a SWINGIN' cover of "In the Good Old Summertime."
39	* This exchange between Sam the American Eagle and Music/AliceCooper:
40	-->'''Sam:''' Let me come right to the point. You, sir, are a demented, sick, degenerate, barbaric.. ''naughty''.. freako!\
41	'''Cooper:''' [[InsultBackfire Why, thank you!]]\
42	'''Sam:''' ... Freakos one, civilization zero.\
43	'''Cooper:''' [makes a "one point for me" mark in the air]
44	* Creator/RichLittle does a takeoff on Fozzie, to which Waldorf and Statler say he's too funny for it to be a good impression. He retaliates by doing an impression of ''them''.
45	* In the George Burns episode, George handles Fleet Scribbler (a gossip column writer who, as Kermit says, will do anything for sensationalism) in truly epic fashion, using each question to segue into a joke.
46	* An awesome moment for the production team; during the Brooke Shields episode, in which the whole half-hour was devoted to ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'', they designed an original [[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Jabberwock Jabberwock Muppet]] for a recitation of "Jabberwocky" which looked almost exactly like John Tenniel's original illustrations.
47	* In the Lola Falanna episode, Gonzo prepares to leave the Muppet Show, and he is replaced by "Trevor the Gross," who immediately starts to hit on Camilla. Gonzo takes this in stride until Trevor tries one of Gonzo's stunts (tap-dancing in a vat of oatmeal). That's enough to make Gonzo want to stay. Of course it all goes horribly wrong, but Gonzo's artistic integrity will not be besmirched!
48	-->'''Gonzo''': ''That's it!'' You can steal my job, you can steal my girl, but you ''will not'' steal my act!
49	* Shirley Bassey's GenreSavvy entrance into the theater, freaking out Pops by pulling an alligator out of her pocket.
50	* When Bruce Forsyth does a comedy number, Statler and Waldorf typically try to heckle him, only to find out that he can even out-heckle them! [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99g1LkglghY Bruce even helps Fozzie get some long-overdue payback on their trolls in residence!]]
51	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGfx3QAV64M Something similar happened]] when Creator/MiltonBerle guest-starred, with the duo and Berle flinging insults back and forth. (One could see this as LaserGuidedKarma on Berle's part, as he was a notorious {{Jerkass}} and joke thief in real life.)
52	* In the Candice Bergen episode Fozzie does a running gag that involves telling Kermit there's a delivery for him and handing him objects as puns. The final gag has Fozzie pouring flour on Kermit which Piggy witnesses and responds to with karate chopping Fozzie. Kermit himself gets even with Fozzie by turning the delivery joke on him and delivering a PieInTheFace.
53	* The Phyllis Diller episode has a sketch about a purple creature with an air horn nose called Hugga Wugga that sings a song that repeats its name a lot. Hugga Wugga threatens other creatures into singing its song and anyone that doesn't agree gets blasted by steam from its nose. A yellow creature starts singing You Are My Sunshine and dodges all of the enraged Hugga Wugga's attacks and even manages to continue singing after its head gets blasted off. The sketch finishes with a shocked Hugga Wugga leaning close to see if what it's hearing is actually real and the creature blasts Hugga Wugga with steam from its neck.
54	** Perhaps the best part is that most versions of the song end with “Please don’t take my sunshine away.” The yellow creature’s version ends with “Do not take my sunshine away”, as if it’s telling the unconscious Hugga Wugga that messing with him was a bad idea. When the two head backstage after the sketch, we see that Hugga Wugga is ''still'' out cold and George the Janitor has to carry him off.
55	* In the Lesley Ann Warren episode karma catches up with Statler and Waldorf for all their heckling when Gonzo's act involves riding a motorcycle into their balcony box. Especially one for Gonzo who has a moment of being CrazyPrepared by chaining the two to their chairs so they can't leave and follows it up by having the act succeed.
56	* In the Danny Kaye episode Rowlf gets one by being the first Muppet to intentionally dodge Miss Piggy's karate chop.
57	* Kermit manages several on Miss Piggy in the Lynn Redgrave episode. First he dodges Piggy's karate chop, then when Piggy has her fellow pigs keep Lynn trapped in her dressing room and attempts to take over as Maid Marian for their Robin Hood themed show Kermit leads the Merry Men to rescue her while leaving Piggy tied up and at the mercy of Gonzo.
58	* In the Phyllis George episode Kermit manages to sweet talk Miss Piggy into not karate chopping him.
59	* Christopher Reeve spends his entire guest appearance ducking Miss Piggy's advances and trying to get her to leave him alone, but true to form, she won't take "No" for an answer. When he finally gets her to take the message, she retorts with her usual angry karate chop.... Reeves just stands there and {{No Sell}}s it. Well, the guy ''is'' friggin' ''Superman.''
60	** The icing on the cake is Kermit’s reaction: “He REALLY IS the Man of Steel!”
61	* The Beverly Sills episode has Kermit finally tire of Statler and Wardolf's heckling and tells them LetsSeeYouDoBetter. Rather unexpectedly, the two are actually eager to do so, quickly and systematically setting up a showy burlesque performance of "Take Ten Terrific Girls". Fozzie does get a small dose of payback by heckling their gags in the middle, however.
62	* In the Cloris Leachman episode the pigs take over the theater and lock Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo in the boiler room. Gonzo proudly displays a teaspoon that he plans to dig an escape tunnel with, which is played for laughs...but then he actually does it.
63	-->"FREEDOM IS MINE!"
64	* In the Roy Rogers & Dale Evans episode, Fozzie manages to trick Bullets Barker, the outlaw looking to shoot Sheriff Link Hogthrob, into getting into a jail cell, then locking him in. All the more impressive since this is ''Fozzie'' we're talking about.
65	* In Johnny Cash's episode, it's Scooter who manages to get rid of the obnoxious Big Tiny Tallsaddle by telling him his horse has a puncture, tricking the guy into leaving the theatre. While Scooter admits he panicked and thought up the first thing he could, it still ''[[CrazyEnoughToWork works]]''.
66	* The Muppets manage to trick John Cleese into doing a musical finale, despite his protests.
67	* Ben Vereen and his amazing performance of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVadsxGNWRs&ab_channel=MuppetSongs "Mr. Cellophane"]]
68	* Madeline Kahn gets one in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiirjuMxzPc "Happy Woman Meets a Monster"]], itself a take on an equally-awesome ''Sesame Street'' sketch. Kahn plays a cheerful woman enjoying a sunny day in the park, only for Doglion, a monster, to repeatedly attempt to ruin her good mood. But no matter what Doglion throws at her, Kahn never loses her smile--he makes it start to pour, but she says the rain is refreshing; he tries to destroy all of the things she enjoys looking at in the park, but she always finds something else to praise. Then, when Kahn finally acknowledges Doglion, she ''congratulates'' him for being "the perfect example of beautiful awfulness" and working so hard to be mean and nasty. Her kindness proves an example of GoodHurtsEvil, as Doglion shrinks away to near-nothingness as she lays on the compliments--and as the icing on the cake, she gets a PreAsskickingOneLiner, showing that she [[GuileHero knew what she was doing all along.]]
69	-->'''Madeline Kahn''': Sometimes, you have to talk your troubles down to a size where you can handle them.
70	-->''(She whacks the now-tiny Doglion with her umbrella and continues on her merry way)''

Context Awesome / TheMuppetShow