Funny / Muppets Tonight

• When the now-heavyweight Martin Short goes into his dance number, Nigel can barely show his surprise.
  Nigel: Oh, good grief. Does he look a tad heavier to you?
  Rizzo: Define 'tad'.
  Nigel: About two tons!
  Rizzo: Then yes, I'd say he looks a 'tad' heavier.
  • Then Martin dances with Ms. Piggy;
  Nigel: Next to him, even Ms. Piggy seems thin.
  Rizzo: Come off it, he's not that big.
  Piggy: I heard that!
• At the end of one episode, Miss Piggy wakes up during a flight to see something on the wing, and she freaks out. Meanwhile, seated next to her is William Shatner, who tries to calm her down by saying, "Oh, that guy. I've been complaining about him for years; no one does anything about it."
• The 'Lion Sleeps Tonight' sketch, where the singing is actually keeping the titular lion awake, to the point where he chases the other animals off the stage. And onto Clifford.
  • At one point, when the lion starts chasing the singing animals off the stage, if you listen closely, he shouts "Stop singing, Ernie! Stop it"
    • That's probably a veeeery inside baseball reference to Ernie Sabella, the voice of Pumbaa in The Lion King, who sings the same song with Timon.
• One of the "Tales from the Vet" sketches ends with Mulch playing The Patty Duke Show theme instead of the usual Tales from the Vet theme.
• In the Heather Locklear episode, Heather is hypnotized so that she switches from good to evil at the sound a double-clang. In the final number, Kermit keeps making that same noise with his cane. At one point, Heather begins hitting baby rabbits with her umbrella. Rizzo comments, "We're gonna hear from people."
• The Andie MacDowell episode, particularly Bunsen coping with a mid-life crisis with the absence of Beaker, who is out on a Star Trek cruise bearing George Takei's constant egotistic talking. Then it ends on Takei and Beaker stranded in a frozen island. As Beaker finally teleports away, Takei moans how annoying Beaker was, until he continues his rambling to a nearby penguin.
  • Bunsen getting left with a sad and lonely man, figuratively and literaly, with the random appearance of Ben Stein in his cabinet.
  • "Pretty Bunsen".
• Pierce Brosnan shows that if he's not playing James Bond, he's a total klutz.
  Clifford: Not exactly Fred Astaire, is he?
  Rizzo: More like Fred Falls-Down-The-Stairs.
  (They both look around at the total silence)
  Clifford: Even the laugh track didn't think that was funny.
  • The Running Gag of the "Istanbul" song played with a chorus whenever that country is mentioned.
  Brosnan: That annoying and repetitive rap song has given me time to think...
• They keep trying to get Garth Brooks to do a country song. However, they forgot to mention which country... cue "If I Were A Rich Man".
  • Special mention must go to the sight of the then-multi Platinum-selling country singer in full kabuki garb and makeup.
  • Apparently, much like the "whatever you want" policy on the Muppet Show, every weird thing really was Garth's idea.
• From the episode hosted by Prince (back when he was The Artist Formerly Known as Prince):
  • The entire beginning where Bobo doesn't believe that Prince changed his name to a symbol (even after being shown the Emancipation CD), and Prince getting in anyway while Bobo tries to find his symbol.
    • Special mention has to go to Prince's aside to the camera when Bobo first asks for his name:
    Prince: This is gonna be fun!
  • The video from Tales from the Vet called Christmas Party '93.
  • Rizzo the rat foolishly betting another $5 that Prince can't write another song from the cafeteria menu (especially since the dessert of the day is raspberry sorbet ^note a pun on the Prince song "Raspberry Beret" from his 1985 album Around the World in a Day).
• The skit "Murder On the Disoriented Express" has Jason Alexander trying to play Hercule Poirot, and doing all he can to play the role straight. Unfortunately, all the Muppets think he's playing Hercules and keep suggesting that he use his superhuman strength and abilities to solve the murder case. Except for Bunsen, who has Hercules confused with Superman.
  Mr. Poodlepants: ^note Who is playing the victim Jason, you're breaking character.
  Alexander: I'm breaking character? You're supposed to be dead!
• The Seinfeld Babies sketch from the episode with Sandra Bullock. Highlights include:
  • The sketch being created as a result of Gonzo and Zippety Zap running into each other with tapes of Muppet Babies (1984) and Seinfeld, leading to this exchange.
  Gonzo: Oh, no! You've got your Seinfeld all over my Muppet Babies!
  Zippety Zap: Well, you've got your Muppet Babies all over my Seinfeld!
  Gonzo: Hey, wait a minute! Why don't we run them together and see what we've got?
  (Beat)
  Gonzo: Well, it worked with peanut butter and chocolate.
  • Baby George wondering if he's going bald.
  • In a parody of the Seinfeld episode, "The Contest", the Seinfeld Babies have a contest, wherein whoever can go the longest without a diaper change wins. As with the episode the sketch is based on, Baby Kramer is the first one to lose.
  • Statler and Waldorf's opinion on the sketch;
  Statler: You know, this show really improves with age.
  Waldorf: Why? Because the jokes get better?
  Statler: No, because my hearing gets worse!
  (Statler and Waldorf laugh)
  • From the same episode, the entire Cold Opening with Clifford attempting to teach Andy and Randy how to use a telephone. Culminates in them getting a call that tells them that they've won fourteen million dollars, which they turn down because they can't count that high. Clifford calls them stupid for turning down that money, and then they confirm that they didn't - the call was for CLIFFORD.
• In the John Goodman episode, Andy and Randy decide they need to be his slaves after he saves their lives. Their total incompetence drives John insane, so he schemes to have them "save" him to even things out and let them off the hook. He proceeds to tie a rope around himself and dangle out his dressing room window, calling for help. When Andy and Randy arrive, they decide to "throw him a life preserver" and choose the radiator—the same radiator that John has used to secure the rope. Cue John tumbling out the window and into a truck full of mousetraps (and one bear trap).
  • Let's be honest here, ALL of Andy and Randy's antics in that episode are hilarious.
  "EEWAY ARE NOT ORTHYWAY! EEWAY ARE NOT ORTHYWAY!"
• "What do you get if you cross an elephant with a rhino?"
• the Dennis Quaid episode gives us a parody of Dragonheart where Quaid plays a warrior set to slay a dragon. Who's playing the dragon? Kermit the Frog.
  Dragon!Kermit: Hi-ho! Froggo the Dragon, here!

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