History Series / MuppetsTonight

** One episode was nothing ''but'' cameos.

** The "Phenomena" sketch with Creator/SandraBullock.

* [[ChasteToons Chaste Puppets]]: Miss Piggy mysteriously acquires two nephews, Andy and Randy.

* TheDitz: [[ThoseTwoGuys Andy and Randy]] may be just the two stupidest Muppets ever created.

''Muppets Tonight'' was a TV series featuring Franchise/TheMuppets that originally ran from 1996 to 1998, initially as part of ABC's TGIF block. (A ChannelHop to Creator/DisneyChannel followed.) An update of the premise of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', it featured the Muppets producing a television variety show with the help (or otherwise) of the episode's guest star. Kermit the Frog was replaced as host by Clifford, a catfish-esque "humanoid" first seen on ''Series/TheJimHensonHour'', but retained his role as producer. ''[[Series/LostInSpace Pigs In Space]]'', a recurring sketch from ''The Muppet Show'', returned as ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Dish Nine]]''.

* ADayInTheLimelight: The last episode centered around Johnny Fiama moving out of his mother's house and into the studio, while Sal tried to get Johnny to go back.

* TemptingFate: In the episode featuring Creator/DennisQuaid, Kermit leaves the studio in Clifford's hands, then comments, "It's not like bowling balls gonna come falling out of the sky the minute I leave." GenreSavvy Clifford expects this to happen, only other things end up going wrong. When Dennis is able to fix everything, Rizzo comments there weren't even any falling bowling balls. Cue everyone but Clifford sidestepping away as bowling balls pummel him.

* MonkeysOnATypewriter: In the Creator/Andie [=MacDowell=] episode, we learn that the show's scripters are actual Muppet monkeys, mindlessly pounding at typewriters going "Ook-ack-ook!". Once they come up with a satisfactory script, Kermit lets them [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey go touch the monolith]].

* MonkeysOnATypewriter: In the Creator/Andie[=MacDowell=] episode, we learn that the show's scripters are actual Muppet monkeys, mindlessly pounding at typewriters going "Ook-ack-ook!". Once they come up with a satisfactory script, Kermit lets them [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey go touch the monolith]].

* MonkeysOnATypewriter: In the Andie MacDowell episode, we learn that the show's scripters are actual Muppet monkeys, mindlessly pounding at typewriters going "Ook-ack-ook!". Once they come up with a satisfactory script, Kermit lets them [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey go touch the monolith]].

** One "Tubmans of Porksmith" (a British-only sketch) had Howard Tubman being offered a massive inheritance from his great-aunt if he loses a hundred pounds before noon on the fifteenth. Given that the telegram announcing this news arrives around 11:45 AM ''on'' the fifteenth, it doesn't end well (although his great-aunt somehow recovers from death, as she's incredibly stubborn).

* CoolShades: Averted. Unlike Clifford's other appearances, he was featured with eyes in this incarnation instead of his sunglasses. Kevin Clash was not pleased about it.

* ShownTheirWork: Larry King tries to past security guard Bobo the Bear to become a guest on Muppets Tonight in the third episode by claiming that his show is broadcast in 220 countries. Bobo disputes this by proving to King that there are only 191 countries. Bobo was, in fact, correct; when the episode aired, there were 191 countries known to exist.

* EarpieceConversation: In the Creator/CindyCrawford episode, mumbling security guard Bobo the Bear develops a crush on her. They hook him up an earpiece so that Rizzo the Rat can feed him the lines, but it comes to a bad end after Rizzo's nephews (coming home from the fair carrying balloons) walk in, leading Bobo to hear and repeat: [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar "That's a nice set of balloons you've got. Maybe you'll let me play with them later."]]

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: It's the Muppets. What do you expect?
** Particularly the aforementioned Cindy Crawford "balloons" joke and Music/GarthBrooks singing "It's Not Unusual" and inciting various Muppets ''including Bobo the Bear'' to throw their underwear onstage, including a teeny-tiny bra he seems inordinately fond of...
** In the "Seinfeld Babies" sketch, they make a very unsubtle reference to "The Contest".
** On Creator/BillyCrystal's episode, he re-enacts the ImmodestOrgasm scene from ''Film/WhenHarryMetSally'' with Miss Piggy, in which she explains how easy it is for women to fake a sneeze to [[PlayingSick play sick]] and get out of a date.
** During the credits of the Music/{{Prince}} episode, Pepe kisses Seymour's butt for whatever reason.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: A majority of the Swift Wits contestants such as Nate Leakey, Buster and Colfax, Philo Zilfinger, Lester, and Agnes Stonewick. Until Arthur Modell came along, all of the afermentioned characters got the answer to Snookie Blyer's questions wrong.

** The Andie [=McDowell=] episode prominently focuses on Dr. Bunsen Honeydew going through his midlife crisis.

* TheAce: Dennis Quaid is portrayed as such in his guest appearance, making Clifford very jealous. Ends up being an inversion, as Dennis claims all his great feats were either lucky guesses or just bluffs.

** At the end of the John Goodman episode, he is seen relaxing on the set of ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' (or at least a very authentic looking replica).

* CirclingVultures: A variation. In the Whoopi Goldberg episode, a vulture warns Miss Piggy she might be lunch after Andy and Randy get their car lost in a desert.

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: In the Whoopi Goldberg episode, three Kermits end up singing "Once In A Lifetime" by the Talking Heads. They all go backstage and we see Clifford say, "Nice job, Kermit", and a Kermit responding "Thank you" all 3 times.

* EasilyForgiven: The threat of a [[Film/{{Speed}} bomb that would go off if the ratings go under 50%]] turned out [[spoiler:to be a false threat made up by Sandra Bullock in an attempt to keep the ratings up, due to her being worried that they would blame her if the show wasn't popular. The Muppets don't show any resentment for her, let her do whatever she wants (which includes a terrible act), and Clifford assures her she can come back to the show any time.]]

** In Sandra Bullock's episode, she complains that the muffin basket left in her room only had one muffin in it. Rizzo points out that it has too--any more, and it would be a muffinS basket.

** On Billy Crystal's episode, he re-enacts the ImmodestOrgasm scene from ''Film/WhenHarryMetSally'' with Miss Piggy, in which she explains how easy it is for women to fake a sneeze to [[PlayingSick play sick]] and get out of a date.
** During the credits of the Prince episode, Pepe kisses Seymour's butt for whatever reason.

* HollywoodPudgy: A rather odd in-universe example. In Martin Short's episode, he gets a taste of Mama Fiama's delicious pasta sauce and eats so much that he balloons up. While Short was a slim guy to begin with and certainly looks convincing as bigger in his fat suit (complete with a large stomach and double chin), all of the characters act as if he's become monstrously obese; Clifford says he's "500 pounds" and others call him "two tons." It's used for jokes, but since he doesn't really appear as fat as they're making him out to be, it comes across as mean-spirited.
* HostileShowTakeover: In one episode, the lobsters from the "Rock Lobster" sketch take over the show. The day is saved by the guest star, Pierce Brosnan, who goes undercover as... James Prawn. In a gigantic lobster costume.

** From the Heather Locklear episode:

* IAmNotSpock: Pierce Brosnan is mistaken for 007 at the beginning of his episode.[[invoked]]

* IOweYouMyLife: John Goodman saves Andy and Randy's life, so they dedicate themselves to being his slaves out of gratitude. Naturally, they only succeed in annoying him. They even follow him to the set of ''Roseanne'' afterwards.

** Pretty much every Muppet performed by Creator/FrankOz, thanks to Oz being too busy with his own project to perform them full-time. Piggy became a "special guest star" (such as in the Michelle Pfeiffer episode) while Fozzie, Sam and Animal were only used in the occasional skit or segment.

* PigLatin: In the John Goodman episode:

* SleepDeprivation: In the Billy Crystal episode, various animals sing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", making so much noise the lion can't get to sleep, and ends up chasing them away.

* SpinOffBabies: A sketch in which two tapes of old network shows got tangled together, resulting in the creation of "Series/{{Seinfeld}} [[WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984 Babies]]".

** In another episode, [=Andie McDowell=], after a fling with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, demands more dangerous adventures, such as sitting through a Creator/PaulyShore movie.

* TemporaryBulkChange: Both Martin Short and Clifford become huge when they get a taste of Mama Fiama's pasta sauce--it's [[ImpossiblyDeliciousFood so delicious]] that they can't stop stuffing their faces.
* TemptingFate: In the episode featuring Dennis Quaid, Kermit leaves the studio in Clifford's hands, then comments, "It's not like bowling balls gonna come falling out of the sky the minute I leave." GenreSavvy Clifford expects this to happen, only other things end up going wrong. When Dennis is able to fix everything, Rizzo comments there weren't even any falling bowling balls. Cue everyone but Clifford sidestepping away as bowling balls pummel him.
** At the beginning of John Goodman's episode, he remarks that he's expecting a nice, relaxing evening on the show. Clifford promises him that nothing will stress him out at all...not two minutes later, John keeps Andy and Randy from electrocuting themselves, and they decide that they [[IOweYouMyLife need to be his slave]] to thank him. They spend the rest of the episode generally making John's life a living hell.

* VerbalBackspace: John Goodman is fighting in a war with a bunch of rats:

* WholePlotReference: Sandra Bullock's episode has a "Mad Bomber" calling into the studio and warning the cast that if the ratings drop below 50%, the explosives he's packed into the place will go off--that's the basic plot of ''Film/{{Speed}}'' (only it's a bus that needs to stay above 50 miles per hour). Sandra lampshades the trope and gets upset when no one seems to have seen the movie. [[spoiler: It's later revealed as a JustifiedTrope in-universe--Sandra was the Mad Bomber in disguise, so it makes sense that she'd base her scheme on one of her own films.]]

** Johnny Fiama, Sal Minella and Dr. Phil van Neuter became core characters in post-Muppets Tonight Muppet productions for a few years, but fell victim to this trope after the mid-2000s, though Johnny and Sal made one final appearance in the "Music/BohemianRhapsody" viral video in 2009. This is largely because Sal and van Neuter were performed by Brian Henson, who stopped performing on a regular basis when the Muppets were sold to Disney.

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDeptartment: In the Whoopi Goldberg episode, three Kermits end up singing "Once In A Lifetime" by the Talking Heads. They all go backstage and we see Clifford say, "Nice job, Kermit", and a Kermit responding "Thank you" all 3 times.

* SpoiledSweet: Howard Tubman, the title character of "The Tubmans of Porksmith," is incredibly rich, as he comes from "America's oldest and fattest family." But he's also a genuinely kind and cheerful person, and while he has a (literal) taste for fine food, he's not attached to his material possessions in the slightest.

* MonkeysOnATypewriter: In one episode, we learn that the show's scripters are actual Muppet monkeys, mindlessly pounding at typewriters going "Ook-ack-ook!". Once they come up with a satisfactory script, Kermit lets them [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey go touch the monolith]].

** InUniverse, where the monster of one sketch is played by Kermit.