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Hubba-Wha?! Episode #27 - But What If I Don't Like Wilkins Coffee? · Muppet Fan Podcasts with ToughPigs.com

• 0:07
  The platter they're playing on this TV show seems to have
• 0:10
  gotten stuck. It's got a swinging beat, but
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  it's repetitious, man. Maybe if I just hit the
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  television like this? Welcome to Hubblewa, a Muppet
• 0:49
  quiz show brought to you by toughpigs.com.
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  It's your favorite quiz show that's not like the others here.
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  Muppet fans, Muppet professionals, and everyone in
• 1:00
  between competes for fabulous prizes and to see who's this
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  week's toughest Pig. I'm your host Becca Petunia of
• 1:08
  toughpigs.com. And tonight I got a quick
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  question for you. Care.
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  For a cup of Wilkins coffee. That's right, we're going all
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  the way back to where it began. The pre Sesame Street years of
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  Jim Henson's career, Sam and friends commercials, appearances
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  on the Ed Sullivan Show. It's more than even Yorick could
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  eat. Jim Henson really hit the ground
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  running when it comes to creativity, making some amazing
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  characters and sketches right after beginning his puppetry
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  career. There's so much to talk about
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  here, so it was a real challenge narrowing things down.
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  That's why this time I turned not only to Muppet Wiki for my
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  research, but also the fantastic new book Sam and Friends, The
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  story of Jim Henson's first television show by Craig Shemin,
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  president of the Jim Henson Legacy and guy who once gave me
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  an enamel pin with animal on it. This book is fabulous and
• 2:10
  fascinating and everyone should get it.
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  But hey, if you already have it, let's agree not to use it today.
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  That's right. We're playing fair today and not
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  checking Craig's book or Muppet Wiki or any other resource
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  during this game. Cheating is bad for business.
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  Business. Before we peer into the past,
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  let's meet our guests. That's why we're going to play
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  our first game, to tell a face. Contestants, you will buzz in to
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  answer some questions about yourself.
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  Whoever buzzes in first will get introduced first.
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  Ready. Go.
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  All right, so that is our first guest stuff stuff.
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  What is your? Name my name is stuff.
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  Whoa, that. Works out so nicely and and
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  stuff. What pronouns should we use for
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  you? I use she and they.
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  She would be just lovely for tonight.
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  All right. She will be the one I use stuff.
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  So stuff you are actually. This is really exciting because
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  you are one of, if not the first person I've ever had on my
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  podcast who has, who has played one of the Muppet characters in
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  a Muppet production. Because you of course, were.
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  I'm going to say this for you. You were Lips's legs on Muppet
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  Mayhem. That's that's true.
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  Yes, the the greatest of all roles.
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  Lips's legs. Lips's.
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  Legs, I'm so excited to have you on the show, so I'm going to ask
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  you a couple of questions here, starting with what's your
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  history with The Muppets and the works of Jim Henson.
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  I'm pretty much a lifelong fan of of Jim Henson and The
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  Muppets, but Fraggle Rock and The Dark Crystal loomed very
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  large. It was a big part of what
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  attracted me to puppetry, and I've been a professional
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  puppeteer for a number of years now.
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  And in the last few years I have been working with The Jim Henson
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  Company and with The Muppets over at Disney.
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  So yeah, I think that answers the question.
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  Yeah, yeah. So you've you've been doing some
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  work Again, like you said, you're a professional puppeteer.
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  And you know, look, if folks want to want to hear even more
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  about what staff does as a professional puppeteer, they can
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  check out my Pride Month profile on staff from a few months back,
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  which I'll link in the show notes.
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  Because truly, could anyone, Could anyone say it better than
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  me? But but but stuff.
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  Why don't you tell us a little bit about some of what you do as
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  a professional puppeteer? Oh, sure.
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  Well, I'll, I'll jump straight to I, I think the reason we
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  started talking about me coming on for this particular episode
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  which is that I perform in Puppet Up, which is Brian
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  Henson's improv show. But it's not just an improv
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  show. It's this really wild evening of
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  theatre where amongst many other improv games with puppets, we do
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  recreations of Jim Henson's early sketches that he created
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  with Jane Henson and Jerry Jewell and Frank Oz.
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  So I I'm still anxious about getting stumped because there's
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  so much stuff from those early years, but but I I have
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  performed in some of the sketches, so I'm I'm hoping that
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  there's some kind of niche knowledge that I possess from
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  some specific moment I've done in these sketches that will
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  somehow help me tonight. And you also you also have your
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  own like puppet sketch show the creatures of yes in the style of
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  a lot of this old stuff, correct?
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  That is true yeah. Our our show the Creatures of
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  Yes, which you can find on YouTube is it takes a lot more
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  inspiration from from Jim Henson's early material than
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  from his later material. I so, so people seeing it for
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  the first time often compare it to Sam and friends or those
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  other early projects. So yeah, I just, I love vintage
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  puppetry and retro puppetry generally, yeah.
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  All right. And what's something cool you've
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  done with puppets recently? That's a good question.
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  Well, in the last Creatures of yes, special.
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  Which I still haven't watched yet, so please don't spoil it.
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  Oh, OK, I'll think of something else.
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  Cool. Well, no, no, no, no, no, no.
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  You give me give me an A spoiler free answer.
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  OK, well that will still be a different answer than what I OK,
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  we we used a Marionette for the first time on this new Creatures
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  of Yes Special. That's not too much of a
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  spoiler. Well, now I don't even need to
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  watch it. No, I'm kidding.
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  No. All right, that's great stuff.
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  So stuff. You've already earned yourself
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  20 points. Oh, take that, Richard.
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  You got all those questions right?
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  So so that's that's 20 points. And now we're going to jump to
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  our other contestant who as stuff just spoiled again.
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  Stuff's just just shouting out so many spoilers today.
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  Oh my gosh, as as stuff just spoiled, our next contestant is.
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  Do I say my name? My name is Richard Michael
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  Gomez. Hi, how are you?
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  Hi, Richard, Richard, what pronouns should we use for you?
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  I use he hem. Thank you so much.
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  All right. And Richard, you know you're
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  you're a pretty well known figure in the the The Muppet Fan
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  community. You've certainly appeared on
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  some Tough Pigs podcasts before, including this podcast two
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  seasons ago. But in the meantime, because it
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  has been a while, can you just let us know real quick what's
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  your history with The Muppets? Well, you know, I've loved The
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  Muppets ever since I was little. This was sort of thing, you
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  know, you watch with your folks and then you get into it as you
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  grow older. And it never really left me.
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  Jim Henson's work has always been a really important part of
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  my identity. So you also work in puppetry,
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  correct? It's.
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  True. It's true.
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  I build puppets professionally. I like to think.
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  And I like to puppeteer, you know, for funzies, so I can be
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  spotted here and there and just about everywhere.
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  What's something cool you've done lately lately with puppets?
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  Well, let's see. A lot of NDA walks.
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  Not a lot I can talk about, but I did.
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  Oh, come on. Oh, come on.
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  What's what's? What's a little secret between
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  me and staff and, you know, the hundreds of people who listen to
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  this podcast? There there is a lot of stuff I
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  can't talk about. Oh oh this is something huge.
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  I created a this is literally huge.
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  I I'm a fan of the Rocky World Picture Show movie and I
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  recently created a 5 foot Boon Raku puppet.
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  That might be contradictory because Boon Raku literally
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  means Japanese puppet, but a 5 foot puppet of Doctor Franken
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  Portal that I performed a couple of days ago.
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  I saw this on my my my daily one look at Twitter before I get
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  disgusted and leave. And it was disgusted by by
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  Twitter, not by you Richard. And it is it is an amazing
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  puppet. It's so cool.
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  It's it really captures the spirit of the character and it
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  is huge. It is huge.
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  Thank you, it was a ridiculous labour of love and it has child
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  sized go go boots which I adore but I was able to find and use
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  on the puppet. I really.
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  I picked the right, the right two people to be to be on this
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  episode. This is, this is great.
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  I love this stuff. Richard.
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  You've also earned yourself 20 points and everybody should
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  check that out. I mean, we usually plug social
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  media at the end, but everybody should should check that out on
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  Richard's social media, which he'll plug at the end.
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  So stay tuned. You got to keep listening to No.
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  Either way, you've both earned 20 points.
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  Knock. Knock it is.
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  It's time. And that gets us into our first
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  real game. Can you guess?
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  You know, while Jim Henson famously got his start with Sam
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  and friends, some of his most memorable early works were his
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  many advertisements. In this round, I'm going to
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  describe a character who appeared in an early Henson
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  advertisement. You'll buzz in and name the
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  character. Each of these questions is worth
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  2 points. Wait until I finish reading the
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  question to buzz in. And now Hubble Wah is.
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  Brought to you by. Ask her.
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  Question one while he would later get his star turn on the
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  Jimmy Dean Show, this character was designed in 1962 for Purina
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  Dog Chow commercials. I think it was stuff.
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  Stuff. That would be Ralph the dog.
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  That is Rolf the dog. We all say Rolf the dog
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  differently, a major point of contention.
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  Lee and I had a long conversation about this the
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  other day. So Ralph the Dog, Rolf the dog,
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  however you want to say it. Next question is a bonus
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  question related to this, but you can still buzz in.
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  Unlike earlier Muppets, Rolf was the first Muppet built by Whom
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  Stuff. Don Celine, I want to say.
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  It is Don Celine. Rolf is the first Don Celine
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  puppet because those early Sam and Friends ones were built by
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  Jim and Jane. All right, Question two.
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  This character, who would later appear on both The Muppet Show
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  and early seasons of Sesame Street, was also designed for
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  Purina Dog Chow commercials. Richard.
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  I want to say Baskerville the Hound.
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  It is Baskerville the Hound. Little known fact that he is on
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  some early episodes of Sesame Street.
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  It was so frustrating for me to be able to picture Baskerville
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  and not know his name. It's not like they say his name
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  a lot. He's not, Yeah, that dog with
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  the long nose and glasses and. His love for asparagus.
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  Sure. I don't remember that.
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  Is that in one of the dog food commercials?
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  The. Whole thing is that he loves
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  Asbaragan, not dog food it's. Oh right, I have seen this at
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  the Museum of the Moving Image. Sure good to know.
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  Question three. This duo famously advertised a
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  specific brand of coffee, but also appeared in commercials for
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  Fago, Dugan's Bread and even other coffee brands.
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  Stop. Wilkins and Wonkins.
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  It is Wilkins and Wonkins. I always find it funny when they
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  advertise different coffee brands.
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  And it's like, Wilkins, you just made a whole big deal about how
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  you'll shoot anyone who doesn't drink Wilkins.
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  And now you're telling me you'll shoot anyone who doesn't drink
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  Red Diamond Like I don't? I don't know who to trust.
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  I'm shocked they could get away with it legally.
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  Yeah. So, so literally mercenary.
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  He'll just shoot whoever's. Yeah, whoever's paying him,
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  he'll he'll shoot whoever's against who's paying him.
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  Yeah. And and it's, it's worth noting
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  I genuinely it's so funny because so many of those brands
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  like, don't exist anymore. So there was something so
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  strange. I was watching some clips when I
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  was preparing for this episode. Something so strange about
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  hearing Wilkins talk about Faygo, which like, does still
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  exist. I was like, I don't know, it
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  just feels weird. It feels like you're watching
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  something from the future, but also the 1950s.
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  All right, fourth question. This Chinese food mascot was
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  such an uncomfortable costume that he made Frank Oz swear off
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  ever performing full body puppets again, Richard.
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  The Latroy Dragon. And just like a just like a
• 15:32
  curious question, did Frank perform splurge?
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  Did Frank perform splurge? A great question, because this
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  is always what you know what? What everybody says is this was
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  the the, the costume that he hated so much.
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  Yeah, I didn't know that. So the Dragon made Frank Oz
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  swear off costume characters. Yeah, I mean, so listen, it does
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  seem like Frank played splurge. Although splurge actually
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  predates the lechoy dragon, I believe.
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  My. Mistake then, and also less
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  flammable. Well, that's the thing, is so
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  the Lechoy Dragon puppet. This is actually recounted in
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  little in Carroll Spinney's memoirs because this is part of
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  why Carroll Spinney got the role as Big Bird is.
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  Frank Oz refused to play Big Bird because the lechoy dragon
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  costume was made of a rubber latex and had a flamethrower in
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  it. And that was so deeply
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  uncomfortable for Frank Oz that he he famously, and this quote
• 16:44
  is on Muppet Wiki, he refused to ever do a full body costume
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  again. Oh, wow.
• 16:50
  That's incredible. So yeah, because it looks like
• 16:56
  the commercials lasted until 1967.
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  And hey, Cinderella is 1965. So I guess I don't know which
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  one actually was first, but it was certainly concurrent.
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  Anyway, bonus question related to that, what is the lechoy
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  Dragon's name? Richard.
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  It is Delbert. It is absolutely Delbert.
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  Delbert the Lechoy Dragon is his name.
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  Question Five. Though she was built as the
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  villain of an unaired television pilot, Jim quickly reused this
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  puppet to help sell Pack Knit RX and on season one of Sesame
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  Street, Richard. I wanted to let you have that
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  one because, I mean, she's an all time favorite but Taminella
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  Grinderfall. It is.
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  It is my girl, Taminella Grinderfall.
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  Love Tammy in this house. In this, in this house, we stand
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  Taminella Grinderfall, the witchiest witch of them all.
• 18:07
  So what commercial did they make her for?
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  Well, so they made her for the Tales of the Tinker D pilot,
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  which was never aired, although you can find it at like the
• 18:18
  Paley Center and stuff and then immediately after that.
• 18:21
  Oh, I you can totally watch it on YouTube too.
• 18:24
  Yeah, I've seen the Tinker D special.
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  Yes. So immediately after that didn't
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  air, Jim recycled her as the evil witch in the Pack Knit RX
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  commercials who was shrinking people's clothes, and Shrinkle
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  and Stretchell had to use Pack Knit RX to stop their clothes
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  from shrinking. Oh, OK.
• 18:49
  Wow. And Speaking of O, she is in a
• 18:52
  season one Sesame Street sketch about the letter O, which a lot
• 18:56
  of people do not realize because we only learned that, I believe,
• 19:01
  last year. That sketch was only uncovered
• 19:04
  last year. I didn't know about the letter O
• 19:07
  until 20/22. Yeah, yeah, it was.
• 19:12
  It was very difficult, Richard, because you couldn't spell your
• 19:15
  own last name. True, it was gmez for a while.
• 19:19
  Yeah, Richard Gmez. But then then then you saw that
• 19:26
  sketch with Tamanella when Scott posted it on Muppet Wiki and you
• 19:29
  were like. Oh.
• 19:33
  I see what you did there. Very nice.
• 19:36
  Thanks. I'm here all week.
• 19:39
  If you just keep re listening to this podcast episode, I'm here
• 19:42
  all week. Question six.
• 19:44
  While he's usually associated with early Sesame Street, this
• 19:49
  well known Muppet was actually designed in 1968 as a mascot for
• 19:55
  Keener Toys, the makers of the Easy Bake Oven stuff.
• 20:05
  I'm fully, fully guessing, but I know that the Grover puppet
• 20:09
  predated Sesame Street, so I'm guessing Grover.
• 20:12
  It is not Grover. Grover.
• 20:14
  Grover was on stuff before Sesame Street, The Ed Sullivan
• 20:18
  Show. There is a performance where he
• 20:20
  is the middle head of the Rock'n'roll Monster, which we'll
• 20:24
  talk a little bit about the Rock'n'roll Monster later.
• 20:27
  But he was not the mascot of Keener Toys.
• 20:31
  Richard, do you know who was the mascot of Keener Toys?
• 20:35
  You know, and this is because I love him very much and he's a
• 20:39
  muppet that I've drawn endless amounts of times and even maybe
• 20:43
  less than legally built before. But it was for my own enjoyment.
• 20:45
  This is Little Bird. This is Little Bird oh.
• 20:49
  Keener's mascot at the time was the Keener Gooney Bird, who was
• 20:54
  a yellow bird with bug eyes, and Jim Henson built that but did it
• 21:00
  in his own style. It looks nothing like the Keener
• 21:03
  Gooney Bird. Oh my God, looks like Little
• 21:06
  Bird. I am.
• 21:08
  I am endlessly fascinated by how The Muppets operate because they
• 21:11
  just keep on getting, like they're just continually able to
• 21:14
  get away with building puppets for other brands and using them
• 21:17
  in whatever they want, Like that would never fly today.
• 21:20
  Can you imagine the Charmandeo had ATV series?
• 21:24
  I think about this. I think about this all the time.
• 21:27
  Like that Wilkins and Wonkins like didn't remain the Wilkins
• 21:32
  coffee mascots for decades, you know, or whatever.
• 21:36
  Like that Rolf isn't still on Purina dog Chow boxes.
• 21:40
  And, you know, Jim Henson was very savvy about these
• 21:43
  contracts, I guess, because he kept all these characters.
• 21:47
  He kept Little Bird, he kept Rolf.
• 21:49
  He kept, you know everybody Question 7.
• 21:53
  This spray can shaped Muppet could be operated both as a
• 21:57
  puppet or a marionette and had a similar design to the Knights
• 22:01
  Henson would later build for the King of Eight Sketch on Sesame
• 22:06
  Street, Richard. I love his little iron feet.
• 22:14
  That is so linnet. It is Sir Linnet Question 8.
• 22:20
  While he's better known for his original role antagonizing
• 22:24
  Kermit in a variety show sketch, he was also used in ads for C&P
• 22:29
  Telephone Company, Southern Belle Telephone and as
• 22:33
  Frankenstein's Monster in an internal film for Pacnet RX.
• 22:39
  Can you repeat the question? Sure.
• 22:41
  So this Muppet. Let me let me simplify it a
• 22:44
  little for you. This Muppet was used in a bunch
• 22:47
  of different ads as a monster in a bunch of different ads.
• 22:50
  But the thing that most folks will remember him for is a role
• 22:56
  in a variety show sketch where he antagonized Kermit.
• 23:01
  It's one of the famous Kermit variety show sketches.
• 23:06
  He's the antagonist I. Want to say this?
• 23:13
  Gleep This is not gleep. Good good guess about gleep
• 23:19
  Richard. I literally, literally,
• 23:24
  literally own AT shirt. You made oh of this character
• 23:34
  and Kermit from this variety show sketch.
• 23:39
  OK. Stuff I'm so sort of that you
• 23:43
  have been in within a 5 feet radius of this character.
• 23:46
  Yeah, yeah, stuff. You have been within a 5 feet
• 23:49
  radius of this character because this character still appears in
• 23:52
  Puppet up to this day. Oh my gosh, is it?
• 23:55
  I'm not raising my hand because you've you've been feeding us
• 23:59
  information, but is it big V? It is big V It is Big V I'm
• 24:02
  looking for Big V He was. He was Frankenstein in an
• 24:07
  internal film for Packnet. Wow.
• 24:13
  You told me the T-shirt thing, and my first thought was still
• 24:15
  beautiful Day Monster. No, no, no, no.
• 24:18
  This is this is Big V and hey, fun fact that we stop that
• 24:23
  you've never played Big V, right?
• 24:26
  No, I I I do play sometimes the worm in that sketch, which which
• 24:33
  you know does involve handling big VS nose at the end.
• 24:38
  But no, I've never been Big V. Sure, sure.
• 24:41
  I love that rebuilt Big V that they use in the in the puppet
• 24:45
  up. Show it.
• 24:46
  It is. It is a really beautiful puppet.
• 24:50
  Oh yeah, and the the Max on on all of those puppets are made by
• 24:55
  Jim Krupa and they just work so well, yeah.
• 24:58
  Yeah. Richard, are you getting your
• 25:00
  Big V right now? No.
• 25:01
  OK, that's not Richard. Do you still have your Big V?
• 25:07
  No. OK, fun, you can cut this out.
• 25:10
  So. I won't.
• 25:11
  In my last apartment, when the apartment I was living in when
• 25:15
  we went on the New York trip for Jim's fourth day, my the last
• 25:21
  tenant was a heavy smoker. And as a result, all of the
• 25:24
  puppets that I built during that era smelled very badly so.
• 25:30
  The I. Built a big V replica puppet and
• 25:33
  he has since been lost in a dumpster prior and I won't miss
• 25:39
  him. I loved that.
• 25:40
  Puppet. Yeah, well, there will be more
• 25:45
  big video of like a Muppets, I'm sure.
• 25:48
  And a bonus. Question here that I learned
• 25:51
  from Craig Shemin's book What is Big VS name short for?
• 25:58
  Richard. Big vomit.
• 26:00
  Monster it is. The Big Vomit Monster.
• 26:06
  You know, I've. Spent so much time wondering
• 26:09
  that. And if I would just take the
• 26:10
  time to finish Craig's book, I would have known that.
• 26:16
  Yeah, that's true again. You, you, you've been you've
• 26:19
  been closer to Big V than any of us.
• 26:22
  Yeah, and I did. I, I, I, I can't tell you how
• 26:25
  much time I've just been there on set being like wonder what V
• 26:29
  stands for you've. Got his nose, you've.
• 26:36
  Question 9. Originally built to advertise a
• 26:39
  similarly named brand of bread, this puppet was frequently used
• 26:44
  in early demonstrations of the ways detachable facial features
• 26:49
  could change a puppet's full personality.
• 26:56
  Richard. This is the.
• 26:57
  Southern, Colonel, it took me a minute.
• 26:59
  This is the Southern. Colonel, if you've watched, I
• 27:02
  think The Muppets on Puppets, is that the name of the special?
• 27:05
  It's an old, old special. It's an amazing segment where
• 27:09
  where where Jim And is it Jim and Jerry or Jim and Frank?
• 27:13
  I can't remember. But apply different facial
• 27:17
  features to the Southern Colonel as he's talking.
• 27:20
  And Jim keeps changing his voice and personality like on the fly
• 27:25
  as they're going. It's incredible.
• 27:27
  That is on YouTube, Yeah. And I think it's Frank Oz with
• 27:31
  Jim. I'm not.
• 27:32
  I'm not sure this is I I am getting no points from my
• 27:36
  crystal clear photographic memories of these characters.
• 27:40
  I do not know any of their names.
• 27:43
  That's fine. That's fine.
• 27:44
  Listen, this round's almost over, and then we're going to
• 27:45
  move into something else. It's fine.
• 27:48
  But bonus question about the Southern Colonel.
• 27:50
  Which recurring Sesame Street character was built from the
• 27:54
  base of the southern Colonel? Richard.
• 28:02
  I should not. Know this much I feel Richard,
• 28:05
  it's fine. It's fine.
• 28:06
  There's. Other rounds, we're all having a
• 28:08
  good time. Richard Granny.
• 28:10
  Fanny Nestle Rd. It is, of course.
• 28:13
  Granny Fanny Nestle Rd. Every favorite Muppet Granny
• 28:18
  Fanny Nestle Rd. The answer Woman Oh my.
• 28:22
  Gosh. OK, now that that question is
• 28:23
  asked, can I Google her? I need to know who we're talking
• 28:26
  about. Yes.
• 28:27
  Oh no, There's no. Way you know this stuff, I'm
• 28:30
  saying that I'm saying that with so much love and respect for
• 28:34
  you, there is no way, you know Granny Fanny Nestle Rd.
• 28:37
  Yeah, I'm. I'm looking at this Muppet now
• 28:40
  and I have never seen this Muppet.
• 28:42
  Oh, my gosh was basically. Only on the first, like, three
• 28:47
  seasons of Sesame Street. Yep, only in the first three
• 28:52
  seasons played by Carole Spinney and you can see if you look at
• 28:57
  how she looked in season one, she is definitely just the
• 29:00
  Southern Colonel with a wig. Oh.
• 29:04
  My gosh, wow. I love that for her.
• 29:09
  I know the Southern. The Southern Colonel Congrats on
• 29:12
  his transition. I I I really I I understand.
• 29:18
  That's my. I'm I'm sad that.
• 29:21
  We don't get to talk about Zelda Rose today.
• 29:24
  We won't, unfortunately. Richard.
• 29:28
  Richard and folks at home next week, I promise there will be a
• 29:34
  Zelda Rose question then. Oh, yes.
• 29:38
  I'm. Sure, Question 10.
• 29:41
  In 1970, Time magazine reported that this character was going to
• 29:45
  be dropped from Sesame Street for being too commercial,
• 29:50
  although he had appeared years earlier advertising Klausen's
• 29:54
  bakery and of course regularly advertised SK Meats in his debut
• 29:59
  program, Richard I was I was thinking my.
• 30:07
  Time. But I want to say you're talking
• 30:10
  about Kermit the Frog I am talking about.
• 30:12
  Kermit the Frog. Oh, wait, wait.
• 30:19
  I have a character who in 19. 70 did not appear in any new
• 30:24
  sketches on Sesame Street and was it seemed, and clearly
• 30:29
  journalists reported on it, fully replaced by Richard, you
• 30:34
  know. How about?
• 30:37
  Burn. Burn.
• 30:40
  It's not. Birdfoot It's so close.
• 30:41
  Herbert. Birdsfoot it is.
• 30:44
  Herbert it. Is Herbert Birdsfoot?
• 30:46
  Yes, he was replaced by Herbert Birdsfoot, as I was.
• 30:49
  Saying it and clearly. That was a a great choice
• 30:52
  because we all forgot about Kermit the Frog.
• 30:56
  And remember Herbert Birdsfoot. I am looking.
• 31:01
  Up Herbert Birdsfoot, and this is another Muppet I have never
• 31:04
  seen in my life. It's OK.
• 31:08
  Stop. You're going to do great.
• 31:09
  You're going to do great in the next couple rounds, I promise.
• 31:12
  But we're going to wrap up this round with a discussion of
• 31:14
  wheels, flutes and crowns. For an unaired.
• 31:18
  Commercial for this snack food, Jim Henson designed three
• 31:21
  monsters. Each of them went on to do other
• 31:24
  things. One became a very minor
• 31:28
  character, one became a fan favorite character, and one
• 31:32
  became an all time legend. Let's go through wheels, flutes
• 31:38
  and crowns and disgust. What these monsters?
• 31:43
  Became so the Wheel stealer became the legendary oh God.
• 31:55
  Stuff. I I do feel that.
• 32:00
  Grover was in this sketch Is this.
• 32:03
  Grover wasn't. You're so close stuff.
• 32:06
  You're so close. But it wasn't Grover.
• 32:11
  Richard, do you know? Who the wheel stealer became, I
• 32:14
  know. Who two of these are, but I
• 32:17
  could not for the life of you tell you which one is which.
• 32:20
  Well, I will tell. You that like I said, this is
• 32:23
  when I said the legendary wheel stealer.
• 32:25
  This is the one who became the most famous of the characters.
• 32:30
  OK then. Oh.
• 32:32
  You know what? Stop.
• 32:33
  Try again. It it's not.
• 32:36
  Cookie Monster is it. It is the.
• 32:38
  Cookie Monster, Correct. If was he?
• 32:43
  What? So was he the wheel stealer
• 32:45
  before? He was like eating the machine.
• 32:49
  That was going to be my next clue for you.
• 32:51
  But yes, first he was the wheel stealer.
• 32:53
  This commercial literally never aired, but we have photos from
• 32:58
  it, so we know. Oh my gosh, I.
• 33:00
  Mean It's on YouTube too. I've.
• 33:02
  I've seen the commercial. Is it OK?
• 33:03
  Is it I? Didn't.
• 33:04
  I didn't realize it was on YouTube.
• 33:05
  But no, apparently it never aired.
• 33:07
  I love that version. Of Cookie A lot, because I'm
• 33:09
  pretty sure he's just like a head and like little wobbling
• 33:13
  like feet. At least in the drawing.
• 33:14
  I can't remember what he looks like in the actual commercial.
• 33:17
  But he's real cute. He's got on the T now.
• 33:22
  The one who's a fan favorite but not like a major major character
• 33:28
  is, of course, the crown grabber who would become Richard.
• 33:37
  OK, listen, he's he's so close to my heart.
• 33:41
  I need to draw him more often. I drew him like five times in a
• 33:44
  in 2022. This is the beautiful day
• 33:45
  monster, right? This is the beautiful.
• 33:47
  Day Monster. Correct, my beloved.
• 33:50
  Oh. Long before he was.
• 33:51
  Ruining beautiful days and the real challenge here?
• 33:56
  Name a production other than season one of Sesame Street that
• 34:01
  featured the basically non existent Flute Snatcher.
• 34:09
  Richard, sounds like you've. Got it.
• 34:11
  I know for a fact. It's going to be something
• 34:13
  nonsensical, like Miss Piggy's Hollywood Adventure, but I'm
• 34:17
  going to say the Great Santa Claus Switch, because that makes
• 34:20
  sense. He is in The Great.
• 34:21
  Santa Claus Switch. There you go, your other your
• 34:25
  other choices. For some reason he does not
• 34:29
  appear at all between. The Great Santa.
• 34:34
  Claus switch. And Kermit and Miss.
• 34:38
  Piggy's wedding in The Muppets Take Manhattan.
• 34:41
  He was, Madam. Coles, they brought him out and
• 34:43
  he was like falling apart. And they're like, yeah, some
• 34:45
  post schmuck gets to hold. This gets to be the.
• 34:48
  Flute snatcher. He is also in The Muppets, The
• 34:51
  Muppets celebration of 30 years, which I think was the year
• 34:54
  following that and is on a Hallmark card.
• 34:59
  Oh my gosh. I just want to know which Muppet
• 35:03
  said no to attending the wedding to make space for the flute
• 35:07
  snatcher, I believe. He's right behind the the babies
• 35:12
  and the old people who sing the like.
• 35:14
  Days go passing into years. Years go passing into days part.
• 35:18
  So he's he's he's witnessing a beautiful moment.
• 35:23
  And he's snatching. Flutes.
• 35:28
  All right. Well, I do want to say stuff.
• 35:31
  I know you're you're struggling a little with names, but we only
• 35:34
  have one more game about names. So we do have one more game
• 35:39
  about names and we specifically have a game about Sam and
• 35:43
  Friends, right? Sam and Friends is a is a
• 35:47
  remarkable piece of television history.
• 35:50
  It's it's such an amazing sort of like developing what TV
• 35:55
  puppetry looks like on the fly. And that truly is incredible and
• 36:00
  it's absolutely something that's worth checking out.
• 36:03
  But as long as we're talking about time, it's time for.
• 36:08
  Beat the time. That's right.
• 36:10
  We are going to play our favorite back and forth trivia
• 36:14
  game, Beat the time. In this round we go back and
• 36:18
  forth, starting with stuff you will name a Muppet character
• 36:26
  from Sam and Friends. Then we will.
• 36:30
  Go to Richard. We'll go back and forth until
• 36:34
  neither of you can name a character, or you name all 15
• 36:40
  Muppets on Sam and Friends. If you miss one, your opponent
• 36:46
  will have a chance to steal. So we're going to go back and
• 36:49
  forth until we name them all, all right?
• 36:52
  Stuff. Are you ready to?
• 36:53
  Start us off. I am.
• 36:57
  One of The Muppets. On Sam and friends go Sam.
• 37:01
  OK. I'll give you.
• 37:02
  Give it to you, Richard Mushmelon.
• 37:06
  Mushmelon. Correct stuff.
• 37:09
  Harry the hipster. Harry the hipster.
• 37:12
  Absolutely, Richard, Henrietta. Kermit.
• 37:16
  Kermit. Absolutely, Richard.
• 37:19
  Professor. Madcliffe, Professor.
• 37:21
  Madcliffe Absolutely Stuff. Yorick.
• 37:25
  Yorick, Correct. Richard, Omar.
• 37:30
  Omar. Absolutely stuff.
• 37:34
  Chicken liver. Chicken liver, Correct.
• 37:38
  Richard, have you said Harry the hipster?
• 37:41
  Yet we did say Harry. The hipster yet?
• 37:43
  Oh, shoot. All right.
• 37:45
  Stop. You get a chance to steal.
• 37:48
  You can name 20 OK. Just as I ran out, there's
• 37:55
  there's a snake who has a name. There is a snake and he.
• 37:58
  Hasn't been named yet, I know. And if I knew what that name
• 38:02
  was, I would say it. Now I guess Richard gets to
• 38:07
  steal right back. All right, Richard, it's.
• 38:09
  Back to you. What's that snake, my beloved?
• 38:12
  Little it's your favorite. It's your.
• 38:13
  Favorite Richard Icky Gunk. One of the best Muppet names of
• 38:17
  all time, the Snake's. Name is of course, icky gunk.
• 38:22
  Richard, can you can you name another Salmon Friends
• 38:25
  character? And Speaking of adjective.
• 38:27
  Noun. There was moldy hay.
• 38:29
  There absolutely is. Moldy hay who sort of looks like
• 38:32
  Ernie, but not quite. Stuff.
• 38:35
  Can you name? Anymore.
• 38:36
  We're almost done. Honestly, Yeah, I'm.
• 38:39
  I'm out, ski I. The panic over icky gunk made me
• 38:42
  forget all about moldy hay. And now?
• 38:45
  Now my mind is a blank Richard. Do you have any other ones?
• 38:50
  Oh. Gosh, do I need to name another
• 38:52
  character? You can.
• 38:53
  I will. Say there is 123. 4.
• 39:00
  Who have not been named. I'm like mentally.
• 39:02
  Sorting because I'm so skip and scoop I'm not Sam and friends.
• 39:05
  Character. Oh, oh, shoot.
• 39:09
  I don't know if I know their names.
• 39:11
  Though that they have big, they have noses.
• 39:13
  They do have noses. And the Comet does politics
• 39:17
  sketch. And I can't remember what their
• 39:19
  names are right now. Yeah, I.
• 39:21
  Never knew their names. They're like Sam and.
• 39:23
  Flam or some something like that skip and blip.
• 39:26
  Well, one of these one of. These I think I wrote down
• 39:29
  wrong. So hang on.
• 39:36
  Oh wait, does Pierre the French? Rat count is the 7 French
• 39:39
  character. So here's the thing.
• 39:40
  I have Pierre the French Rat written down, and I'm not sure
• 39:43
  why Yeah was. Pierre on 7 French.
• 39:47
  I don't know. If he was.
• 39:49
  I don't. Yeah, I don't.
• 39:50
  I don't think so, but I don't know.
• 39:53
  I think. According to Muppet Wiki, he
• 39:55
  was. Hold on.
• 39:56
  So Pierre the French rat did appear on Sam and friends
• 40:00
  according to Muppet Wiki. So I did get that right.
• 40:04
  I guess I can give Richard a point for saying Pierre the
• 40:07
  French rat, but I think I'm gonna call it here because you
• 40:11
  can't remember the other characters.
• 40:13
  The two guys with noses are, of course, Hank and Frank there.
• 40:18
  You go and the last. Character is Bernice, who was a
• 40:23
  little girl puppet along the lines as Betty Lou and the
• 40:28
  little girl in the Beautiful Day sketch later on.
• 40:33
  I love that she's looked. Like a little blue lump with a
• 40:35
  wig. Which is how I blow.
• 40:38
  Most days, yeah, join the club. All right.
• 40:43
  So with that, we are going to put our name games behind so
• 40:50
  stuff can breathe a sigh of relief.
• 40:53
  You say that as. If I'm going to be good at the
• 40:55
  next game stuff. Everyone's a winner.
• 40:59
  Some people are bigger winners than others.
• 41:03
  Anyway. Man, all of all of those
• 41:06
  friends. And yet you never see Kermit
• 41:08
  inviting Icky Gunk to Christmas, yeah?
• 41:12
  Yeah. Anyway.
• 41:15
  In the early days of The Muppets, there weren't really
• 41:18
  any overarching plots to the characters.
• 41:22
  Instead, the characters performed brief, often wordless
• 41:25
  sketches. These could be seen on Sam and
• 41:28
  friends, obviously, but also in advertisements and on a variety
• 41:33
  of variety shows. I love basically all of these
• 41:37
  sketches, and they basically all hold up today, so we're going to
• 41:41
  celebrate some of them in our complete the sketch game, which
• 41:45
  of course I call What's Prairie's Problem?
• 41:49
  This is the whole game. This is a pretty silly game in
• 41:54
  this game. I'll set up a problem in a
• 41:56
  Muppet sketch. And you'll tell.
• 41:59
  Me exactly how the sketch resolves.
• 42:03
  That's it. You don't need to be exact, but
• 42:06
  you should be close. Each of the questions.
• 42:09
  In this round is worth 2 points. Buzz in when you're ready to
• 42:13
  complete the sketch, but Please wait until I finish reading so
• 42:17
  our friends in Muppet Land can play along.
• 42:20
  Here we go now in. Introducing Jim Hanson's
• 42:24
  Muppets. Before they start I want you to
• 42:28
  show. I want to show you rather this
• 42:30
  little box which they gave me as a present question one.
• 42:35
  Wilkins has a camera he uses to shoot pictures of people who
• 42:40
  don't drink Wilkins coffee. Wilkins says he's ready.
• 42:44
  And then Wilkins. Stop, I I assume.
• 42:53
  The camera is a gun and and he kills Wilkins, correct?
• 42:58
  Correct. He shoots him with an explosion
• 43:02
  question 2IN Java 2U shaped Muppets dance together, but the
• 43:08
  tiny one can't seem to follow the other's lead.
• 43:11
  Eventually their dispute is settled when the tiny one.
• 43:19
  Stop. Shoots him, shoots him, he
• 43:26
  shoots. Him.
• 43:27
  Becca. If the answer to all these
• 43:30
  questions is explosion in some manner, I will walk out.
• 43:36
  I'll tell. You that the answer to all of
• 43:38
  them is not explosion, because sometimes things get eaten.
• 43:44
  But the. Answer to a lot of these is
• 43:46
  explosion. And then I'd say the other half
• 43:49
  the answer is gets eaten. Yeah, I.
• 43:52
  I am good at this game, yeah, Yeah.
• 43:56
  Hey so bonus question here. How was this cannon effect
• 44:00
  achieved on performances like The Ed Sullivan Show?
• 44:05
  Stuff you? Are so excited to tell us this I
• 44:08
  I was. Cuz it cuz I know it from pop it
• 44:11
  up, it's a it's a fire extinguisher it absolutely.
• 44:14
  Is a fire extinguisher stuff. Have you performed in Java on
• 44:18
  Pop it up I I have. Not yet.
• 44:21
  I I hope to cuz it is so fun, but I've seen it a number of
• 44:26
  times and in business business we also use fire extinguishers.
• 44:31
  So let's not talk. Let's not.
• 44:32
  Talk too much about business business cuz I have more
• 44:35
  questions that are gonna be answered with he shoots him so
• 44:39
  so so let's let's hold off. I see.
• 44:42
  Spoilers. No.
• 44:47
  Java is probably those puppets I think are my favorite of all of
• 44:50
  like the this this old school Henson designs.
• 44:54
  I know, Richard, when you drew the the host artwork for me for
• 44:58
  Hubba Wah, I specifically requested that you give me Java
• 45:02
  themed socks. All right, little.
• 45:05
  Macaronis They're so cute, so you can't.
• 45:08
  See the socks in the artwork for this episode because I cropped
• 45:12
  them out, but I am wearing Java socks in that artwork.
• 45:20
  Trivia that you. Literally no one else can know
• 45:23
  the answer to. Speaking of.
• 45:28
  Speaking of sketches that staff should know the answer to,
• 45:31
  question three, Kermit keeps eating tiny worms that crawl
• 45:35
  across a wall. The third worm he pulls turns
• 45:39
  out to be stop. Can I describe what?
• 45:50
  Richard is doing. Yes, please.
• 45:52
  Describe what Richard is doing, OK.
• 45:55
  Richard, who fully also knows the answer to this and could
• 45:58
  have gotten these points, chose instead to use the big monster
• 46:02
  puppy he's holding to start eating his phone that he's
• 46:06
  attending this zoom call on. SO kudos to Richard for choosing
• 46:10
  comedy over over competition. The worm is is the nose of of
• 46:16
  Big V on on the third third worm who eats Kermit.
• 46:21
  Correct? And.
• 46:22
  You're the first two worms, yes? So this sketch has been
• 46:29
  performed in many places over the years.
• 46:32
  Again on Puppet Up, starring stuff as the Worm, but also on
• 46:40
  The Muppet Show with Lizard and the Gorgon Heap.
• 46:46
  But most surprisingly, this sketch appears in the background
• 46:52
  of a scene on which animated TV show.
• 47:03
  Richard, do you and your? Giant monster.
• 47:05
  Know the answer to this you got. This Richard, if I know this.
• 47:09
  It's humiliating, but I want to say Big V of heroes in the
• 47:14
  background of the Fraggle Rock animated TV series, Richard,
• 47:18
  that is. Absolutely correct.
• 47:20
  Glow Worm takes place in the background of the Fraggle Rock
• 47:24
  animated TV series. It is.
• 47:27
  Horrible. Can you tell us?
• 47:28
  More about this No. Because I have never watched the
• 47:32
  Fraggle Rock animated TV series. Oh.
• 47:35
  My gosh, how do you know? This I read.
• 47:39
  Every article on Muppet Wiki Richard This is my curse.
• 47:43
  I have read every article on Muppet Wiki.
• 47:46
  I just. Want to know like was so is glow
• 47:50
  worm I I It sounds like you don't know Becca but like I it's
• 47:53
  driving me crazy. Was it like on a television that
• 47:57
  like, no. So I.
• 48:00
  Know from reading everything on Muppet Wiki.
• 48:03
  And yes, I am exaggerating. I know I haven't read everything
• 48:06
  on Muppet Wiki, but I've probably read a good 95% of
• 48:10
  them. Yes, there is a good like 5000
• 48:12
  Sesame Street episodes. I've probably read all of the
• 48:16
  episode guys, but anyway, the point is I know from reading
• 48:23
  Muppet wiki that there is a Fraggle who is catching bugs,
• 48:27
  who is collecting bugs, and then one of the bugs he catches winds
• 48:31
  up being big VS nose. Oh my gosh.
• 48:36
  Had a Fraggle. And another Fraggle also used
• 48:39
  Big VS Nose to play the game of the rope.
• 48:46
  What's wrong with me? Is it literally just called jump
• 48:49
  rope? It is literally.
• 48:50
  Just called Jump Rope, Richard. I'm good at Worlds.
• 48:55
  Well. Moving.
• 48:57
  Away. From the animated Fraggle Rock,
• 48:59
  a show none of us have watched and none of us seem to want to
• 49:02
  watch, I want to watch it. OK.
• 49:06
  Well, it's available somewhere. Question four.
• 49:12
  Question four are pals. Wilkins and Wilkins are Cowboys
• 49:16
  sitting at a bonfire. Wilkins doesn't care about Red
• 49:20
  Diamond coffee. He's happy with Brand X, so
• 49:25
  Wilkins gives him. Stuff.
• 49:31
  It's it's another. Shot in the dark, just based on
• 49:34
  what I know about them. Does he throw Wilkins on the
• 49:36
  fire? That's a good.
• 49:38
  Guess. But no.
• 49:40
  Richard. Oh, I see.
• 49:41
  Richard has now brought Wilkins into frame.
• 49:43
  Not a functional. Eye because at some point this
• 49:46
  fell off. But I actually don't know how
• 49:48
  this one ends. OK.
• 49:50
  Well, it. Is word play so Wilkins is happy
• 49:54
  with Brand X, so Wilkins is going to give him staff.
• 49:59
  You want to try again? Yeah, yeah.
• 50:02
  Well. You triggered the memory.
• 50:03
  I have seen this. He, he he brands him.
• 50:05
  It's it's. Oh God.
• 50:08
  He brands him with the letter X, Correct.
• 50:11
  Yeah. And somehow that.
• 50:12
  Is so much more visceral than, like when he gets, like,
• 50:16
  probably smashed or exploded. I don't know.
• 50:18
  Yeah. What?
• 50:20
  What is so real about branding that oh God, that's suspicious,
• 50:23
  I feel like. Like there's.
• 50:25
  Definitely real smoke too. I don't know if it's a real
• 50:27
  brand or not, but definitely real smoke.
• 50:29
  There's certainly real smoke. They loved using real smoke at
• 50:32
  this point. Question.
• 50:36
  Five in this sketch, which staff has also performed, Kurmina
• 50:41
  sings I've grown accustomed to your face, to a cute face on a
• 50:46
  cloth. However, the cloth is eventually
• 50:54
  stuff the the cloth. Is eaten by the the small head
• 50:59
  monster underneath. Originally played by Yorick and
• 51:05
  and then Kermina bravely tries to keep singing the song, but is
• 51:10
  eventually dragged off of the stage by the presumably hungry
• 51:15
  monster I still love. That you got to play Kermina.
• 51:19
  That is my favorite. My favorite, my favorite little
• 51:23
  piece of stuff. Trivia.
• 51:25
  Oh, it was. So special for me too.
• 51:27
  I was like, Oh my gosh, oh stuff.
• 51:30
  Can I ask you? Whole little legs move
• 51:32
  independently of of the puppet too, right?
• 51:35
  Yeah, yeah. Both of the legs have rods on
• 51:39
  the back to to move both of them in the.
• 51:42
  Original or just in the new one? Or do we not know?
• 51:45
  I mean, I mean either. Oh, but I was wondering who was
• 51:47
  performing stuff's legs. Oh.
• 51:51
  Yeah. I.
• 51:53
  Think I'm pretty sure the puppeteer that and I I don't
• 51:59
  know if this is a perfect recreation of how they
• 52:01
  originally did it, but I'm pretty sure.
• 52:07
  I I think. That York puppeteer might end up
• 52:09
  doing both of them because he he clamps down on Kermina's hand to
• 52:17
  start dragging her off and then. But we just lost Richard.
• 52:21
  Richard was just so. Fascinated by by by your Kermina
• 52:25
  discussion. Yeah, there's what now I'm
• 52:30
  trying to remember. If I if I looked at the video,
• 52:33
  it would trigger it for me. But yeah, I think the the York
• 52:40
  puppeteer either does one or both of of the legs, 'cause they
• 52:43
  have the free hands to do it Sure 'cause Yorick.
• 52:47
  Has no hands. Right, right.
• 52:50
  Exactly. Yeah.
• 52:53
  Gosh, I hope Richard comes back. You know what's an interesting?
• 52:55
  Thing that I just learned. Apparently the The Jim Henson
• 53:00
  Company's Facebook claims that the the the new one is Yorick,
• 53:07
  but she doesn't really look like Yorick.
• 53:10
  Yeah. Gosh, I didn't.
• 53:11
  Realize that either I, I think we always call him Yorick or the
• 53:16
  skull, but I I I I didn't. You know, I was never told.
• 53:20
  Either way, I didn't personally think of him as York because he
• 53:22
  is quite a redesign. Yeah, I'm looking.
• 53:25
  Right now at a, at a, at a, at an image on the Jim Henson
• 53:29
  Company's Facebook. And it has then and now.
• 53:33
  And it's a picture of the old Yorick and of the New Yorick and
• 53:36
  well, that's cool. And I guess that makes sense,
• 53:41
  'cause they still have the the rights to Yorick, so I would
• 53:46
  have. Given I would have given him a
• 53:47
  bigger nose when I was redesigning him, but.
• 53:52
  They didn't. Well, and New York is is soft
• 53:55
  foam, where as I believe the old Yorick would have been made out
• 54:00
  of. I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask you.
• 54:03
  Puppet building questions in the last round.
• 54:06
  Oh. OK, I know nothing.
• 54:09
  You don't know anything. You'll have to excuse.
• 54:11
  Me. My phone just died, but I'm back
• 54:13
  and it's charging. OK, good.
• 54:15
  So we were just, oh, you got your, you got your, your
• 54:18
  frankenfooter, you big. She.
• 54:22
  Sorry, I. Just I ADHD is strong, I'm not
• 54:25
  just cycling very intense to hold.
• 54:30
  Well. Richard, just since you asked
• 54:33
  and seemed eager to know, I'm pretty sure that the Yorick
• 54:35
  puppeteer is the one who ends up animating the legs in the
• 54:40
  sketch. Oh, cool.
• 54:42
  Sorry. For asking so many questions but
• 54:44
  extremely cool person. Yeah, and he's Speaking of
• 54:51
  asking. So many questions.
• 54:52
  Question 6A little girl is walking around describing
• 54:57
  beautiful things. However, the beautiful day
• 55:00
  monster doesn't like this and keeps trying to ruin her day.
• 55:04
  The girl tells him that he's awful, but she adds that he's.
• 55:12
  Richard. Beautiful in awful sort of way,
• 55:17
  I think, is the description. And what what?
• 55:21
  What does that make him do? It makes him.
• 55:24
  Shrivel up smaller and smaller until he's a problem that she
• 55:28
  can take care of at that size indeed.
• 55:31
  Stuff they don't do that one right with with the puppet up.
• 55:34
  They haven't brought that one back.
• 55:37
  No, no, they. Haven't, But I did just see the
• 55:42
  The Muppet Show where it's with what's her name?
• 55:47
  The Human? Yes.
• 55:49
  Madeleine Kahn, maybe? Is it Madeleine Kahn?
• 55:53
  I think it might be. Listen, fans at home.
• 55:56
  Fans at home yell out this is a free trivia question for you
• 55:59
  all. Right, Great.
• 56:02
  Well. But but yeah, I want to look up
• 56:05
  this earlier version with the with the blue guy because I I
• 56:10
  wasn't aware of it. Yeah, it's on the Ed Sullivan.
• 56:12
  Show I wasn't aware that you hadn't seen it.
• 56:14
  Yeah, and that that's one that they redid for The Muppet Show
• 56:18
  in. In the early days of.
• 56:20
  The Muppet Show. I mean unsurprisingly.
• 56:21
  And I know you've been watching through the early Muppet Show at
• 56:24
  this point stuff. They.
• 56:28
  They. Redid a lot of these Ed Sullivan
• 56:30
  show sketches if you can see them again, Glow Worm and Java
• 56:34
  and all of these things. That one.
• 56:36
  They changed a lot though by making it a human and a full
• 56:39
  body muppet which which really changes sort of the the scope of
• 56:43
  it. Anyway.
• 56:46
  Back to these questions, Question seven.
• 56:49
  Harry the Hipster demonstrates visual thinking for Kermit,
• 56:52
  showing how he can use his mind to draw pictures in front of
• 56:56
  him. However, he gets carried away
• 56:58
  and eventually stuff they they. They just kind of get subsumed
• 57:07
  by the the visuals, the visualizations.
• 57:11
  They fill the screen and they're just like, Oh no.
• 57:14
  Exactly. Question 8 Because it's been too
• 57:18
  long since we've we've had a question with this kind of
• 57:20
  answer. Question 82 tube like Muppets
• 57:23
  are discussing business. Two others discuss peace and
• 57:27
  happiness. Eventually they start arguing.
• 57:30
  And the Joyful Muppets. Stop by a second, they.
• 57:40
  Well, they they they shoot the business monsters.
• 57:42
  In their defense, they don't shoot first.
• 57:44
  The business monsters attempt to shoot them and miss I I.
• 57:49
  Appreciate you, staff for defending the honor of the
• 57:55
  business, business and peace and happiness monsters in this in
• 58:02
  this discussion here. Stop.
• 58:04
  That's really. Niche.
• 58:04
  How did you know that? Thank you, Richard.
• 58:10
  Thank you Richard for for setting setting this up.
• 58:12
  That's usually what I've been doing.
• 58:15
  I I may. Have played business monster
• 58:19
  number one once or twice. Beautiful, beautiful.
• 58:25
  Got to send you some business. Business tickles.
• 58:27
  I've got to. I've made some of them and sent
• 58:28
  them to Dan. I think Dan Garza has a couple
• 58:30
  of them now. Oh, OK.
• 58:32
  Amazing. Yeah.
• 58:33
  Please. Yeah, Richard.
• 58:36
  Does some great like classic Muppet art which is again why I
• 58:40
  wanted to include include him in this.
• 58:42
  And hey, bonus question here once the once the the peace and
• 58:48
  love monsters shoot the business monsters with a cannon.
• 58:53
  What what do they do? Stuff they.
• 58:59
  Celebrate their their victory by reiterating some of their
• 59:03
  peaceful ideals. But it it quickly transitions
• 59:07
  into them talking about dividends and profits and
• 59:12
  business business, which is why the original and title of the
• 59:16
  piece is sell out. I did.
• 59:19
  Not know that that was the original title of the piece
• 59:21
  stuff, yeah. Yeah.
• 59:25
  And in Pop It Up, we perform it with the original audio that
• 59:30
  they use. So we lip sync to Jim Henson and
• 59:33
  and Jerry Jules voices. That's really cool.
• 59:40
  Yeah, Question 9. In an SK meets commercial, Moldy
• 59:47
  Hay informs Kermit that he used to take care of a bunch of cows.
• 59:52
  Kermit corrects Moldy, telling him that he means herd of cows.
• 59:57
  And of course, Moldy has. Richard.
• 1:00:07
  Of course. He's heard of cows and you know
• 1:00:10
  what? He doesn't care if the cow's
• 1:00:11
  heard. He hasn't said anything to be
• 1:00:13
  ashamed of. Question 10, Ed Sullivan
• 1:00:17
  introduced The Muppets new instant rock'n'roll group, which
• 1:00:21
  was a three headed musician that grew from a small fuzzy BLOB at
• 1:00:26
  the end of the song. They.
• 1:00:32
  Stuff they shrink. Back down to a small fuzzy BLOB
• 1:00:38
  and a bird comes out and makes it like gesture and then eats
• 1:00:44
  the fuzzy BLOB. Correct because.
• 1:00:46
  Again, some of these questions need to end with with getting
• 1:00:49
  eaten. Not all of them can be about
• 1:00:51
  getting getting shot. So if I know, I keep asking you
• 1:00:54
  these other questions, but it's so interesting and I'm so glad
• 1:00:56
  to have you here. That one hasn't been added back
• 1:00:59
  to to pop it up yet either, has it?
• 1:01:01
  It? It has.
• 1:01:02
  Not in. In fact, I only just learned
• 1:01:05
  about it because I did do some really quick and panicked
• 1:01:09
  homework earlier today. So I actually saw that sketch
• 1:01:12
  for the first time today and enjoyed it, of course.
• 1:01:15
  Yeah, I I. Was actually talking about this
• 1:01:18
  on the Tough pigs discord earlier.
• 1:01:20
  I must have seen that sketch at some point because I owned The
• 1:01:25
  Muppets Magic. Ed Sullivan, I believe, on VHS,
• 1:01:29
  but I had no recollection of it. So this week was what I think
• 1:01:34
  may be my first time watching it.
• 1:01:36
  And that sketch rules, yeah. Yeah, I think they brought it.
• 1:01:43
  Back for like a cruise ship, which is very funny to me, Like,
• 1:01:47
  oh, maybe. If and if that's true, it it
• 1:01:50
  could someday be in in popping up.
• 1:01:53
  A lot of the newer vintage pieces that we've started
• 1:01:57
  working in were from that that cruise ship show.
• 1:02:00
  So question 11. In a sketch that first appeared
• 1:02:04
  on The Tonight Show, a monster gets very upset when two other
• 1:02:08
  monsters say MERP instead of this funny phrase.
• 1:02:12
  What does the monster say? Richard.
• 1:02:20
  Oh God. Oh no, wait, I they have to get.
• 1:02:24
  Harder as the round goes? No, because I know the.
• 1:02:27
  Skit, but it has a different original name, so I actually
• 1:02:31
  it's this stuff. Do you know this one actually
• 1:02:34
  right? What?
• 1:02:36
  Is frustrating for me this time. Is that I was trying to find the
• 1:02:42
  sketch to rewatch it, thinking that it would come up, and
• 1:02:46
  because I couldn't remember the bizarre thing that the that the
• 1:02:50
  monster says, I couldn't find the sketch.
• 1:02:53
  Yes, that is what the. Sketch is called.
• 1:02:55
  Unfortunately, it's like scrape. Scrap or something I I I got.
• 1:03:00
  It now, Richard, you got it. It's not Hugga.
• 1:03:03
  Waga, it's scrap flap. I think it is.
• 1:03:08
  I'll give it to you because it is scrap.
• 1:03:13
  Fleap. How could we not?
• 1:03:15
  Remember that pronounce. The accents and yes.
• 1:03:19
  As Richard said, it was performed on The Muppet Show as
• 1:03:22
  Hugga, Wugga and the monsters that say MERP were replaced by
• 1:03:28
  the thingy thing Who sings You Are My Sunshine.
• 1:03:35
  Great sketch and last question. In this round question 12,
• 1:03:41
  Wilkins has a machine that dispenses Wilkins coffee.
• 1:03:45
  Wilkins doesn't want coffee, so the machine does this instead.
• 1:03:54
  Stop. Does it.
• 1:03:55
  Explode It doesn't. And it also doesn't shoot him.
• 1:03:59
  I wanted a trick question for this last one.
• 1:04:02
  Richard, do you know what the machine does?
• 1:04:04
  Oh God. It eats him.
• 1:04:10
  No it. Punches him with a boxing glove.
• 1:04:12
  Oh wow. You.
• 1:04:13
  Know. Oh, brilliant.
• 1:04:15
  Brilliant. I love it when machines have
• 1:04:17
  boxing gloves on scissor arms. The other thing that we love?
• 1:04:23
  Anyway. That's a lot of explosions and a
• 1:04:26
  lot of coffee, but it's time for our final our final regular
• 1:04:31
  trivia game before we move into our bonus rounds, Secrets of The
• 1:04:36
  Muppets. In this game, we're going to
• 1:04:39
  take a look behind the scenes. I'll ask a question about the
• 1:04:42
  making of Sam and friends and other classic sketches.
• 1:04:47
  After all, I have two puppeteers and puppet builders here, so I'd
• 1:04:51
  be remiss if I didn't talk about this stuff.
• 1:04:55
  You'll buzz in to answer Each of these questions is worth 3
• 1:04:59
  points. Thank you to Craig's book for
• 1:05:03
  most of this information. That book rules.
• 1:05:08
  All right, here we go. Question one.
• 1:05:12
  You know, I have to ask this. Where did Jim get the cloth he
• 1:05:17
  used to make Kermit the Frog? Stuff.
• 1:05:26
  I I feel compelled to include a visual element.
• 1:05:30
  The only reason I raised my hand faster than Richard is because
• 1:05:32
  he was making up. Really.
• 1:05:34
  This question face it was. It was from his mother's coat.
• 1:05:40
  It was from. His mother's coat, which Craig's
• 1:05:45
  book needs to note, was a turquoise coat, not a green
• 1:05:50
  coat. So Kermit was not green at the
• 1:05:53
  time, although you could not see it on the televisions Anyway.
• 1:05:58
  Listen guys, I have to ask this question.
• 1:06:00
  I have an audience at home who maybe doesn't know that.
• 1:06:06
  I mean, I just don't want to. I don't want to be AI want to be
• 1:06:09
  a sucker people. I do think it's funny that they
• 1:06:13
  have a whole line about him being green in one of the SK ads
• 1:06:16
  though, despite him being turquoise.
• 1:06:20
  Turquoise green, I don't know shit's.
• 1:06:23
  All whatever. He looks great to most people.
• 1:06:25
  That's true because. Again, it's it's black.
• 1:06:27
  TV's were black and white at the time.
• 1:06:30
  Question 2. Unlike most later Muppets, Sam's
• 1:06:34
  head was made out of this inflexible material.
• 1:06:42
  You both raised your. Hand so slowly, but I am going
• 1:06:44
  to go with Richard on this one. Richard, what is it made out of?
• 1:06:48
  So I. Think the correct answer was
• 1:06:50
  paper mache, but someone told me it was plastic wood that would
• 1:06:54
  know the answer to that question.
• 1:06:56
  I'm I feel like evil could be correct.
• 1:06:59
  It's plastic wood is is the correct answer.
• 1:07:04
  I will I will give you points for that.
• 1:07:06
  It is plastic wood. I am not quite sure what plastic
• 1:07:11
  wood is. How do you get plastic?
• 1:07:13
  Wood. It's it's a product that's no
• 1:07:16
  longer on the mark. That explains.
• 1:07:18
  Why? I don't know what it is, Yeah.
• 1:07:21
  It's when they say plastic and it may have plastic elements in
• 1:07:27
  it like literally, but I think they're using plastic in in the
• 1:07:31
  adjective sense of like you know plastic just means moldable.
• 1:07:34
  So it's I imagine it's I I'm speculating here, but I think
• 1:07:41
  it's wood dust or or or wood extract of some kind that's
• 1:07:45
  combined with kind of gluey or plasticky or stuff so that you
• 1:07:49
  can mold it and then it dries over time I think well listen.
• 1:07:56
  If anybody knows a lot about plastic wood, hit me up on the
• 1:07:59
  Tough Pigs Discord bonus question here.
• 1:08:02
  What was Jim's rationale for switching to the more flexible
• 1:08:07
  cloth and foam that formed most later Muppets staff?
• 1:08:18
  Well. He was, you know, creating
• 1:08:21
  puppets that were mostly performed in in close up and he
• 1:08:26
  he treasured how much more flexibility he could get out of
• 1:08:31
  those softer materials and nuance of expression.
• 1:08:35
  Yeah. Absolutely, absolutely.
• 1:08:36
  That's exactly what I was looking for.
• 1:08:38
  It was easier to do subtle expressions in close-ups.
• 1:08:43
  But I will add. If you look up Yorick doing
• 1:08:46
  Where Does Hunger Come From? I think it's called the The
• 1:08:50
  Nuance of expression is fantastic.
• 1:08:53
  So well. Here's the thing, he was
• 1:08:56
  extremely talented, even at a even at an early age.
• 1:09:01
  But yeah, no, you can do a lot with those with those inflexible
• 1:09:07
  puppet heads as well if you're skilled.
• 1:09:10
  But certainly there is a level of of of subtlety and
• 1:09:15
  flexibility. I mean, how many things can Jim
• 1:09:17
  just get out of Kermit's head, which is nothing, you know?
• 1:09:21
  So like, I get it. Yeah, can I just.
• 1:09:26
  Oh, sorry. Where Hungold?
• 1:09:29
  Comes from Drives me insane because it's like 50 is ASMR so
• 1:09:35
  much. I just had to interject that.
• 1:09:37
  Sorry, Becca, I hadn't. I.
• 1:09:39
  Hadn't seen that sketch until we saw it on the big screen.
• 1:09:41
  Richard and I will say my spouse was very deeply concerned by
• 1:09:48
  that sketch. Question three the.
• 1:09:55
  First sketch Jim and Jane performed in New York was the
• 1:10:00
  aforementioned I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face.
• 1:10:04
  While the performance went well, they said audiences were
• 1:10:08
  confused because they didn't understand what key part of the
• 1:10:13
  sketch. Stuff.
• 1:10:21
  Since Sam and Friends was a local DC show, they they didn't
• 1:10:28
  understand right off the bat that Yorick is a voraciously
• 1:10:33
  hungry character and is always trying to devour things,
• 1:10:37
  correct? And I find it so fascinating
• 1:10:40
  that again we talk about how like.
• 1:10:43
  With Sam and friends. There was no like real
• 1:10:46
  overarching plot or narrative. But like already they had
• 1:10:50
  developed strong enough characters that they could
• 1:10:55
  notice a difference When people had background knowledge and
• 1:10:58
  people didn't have background knowledge, Yeah, question four.
• 1:11:05
  We frequently say that Yorick was the first Muppet to have an
• 1:11:09
  endless appetite and a tube in his throat for consuming food.
• 1:11:15
  However, Yorick was also the first Muppet to be this kind of
• 1:11:20
  puppet, followed closely by Omar.
• 1:11:27
  Richard oh. My.
• 1:11:29
  God, I feel like, did this count.
• 1:11:33
  He was a live hand puppet. He is.
• 1:11:35
  He He is. The first he is technically the
• 1:11:37
  first live hand puppet because in sketches like Where does
• 1:11:42
  Hunger come from? He has this like disembodied
• 1:11:46
  hand that feeds him food. I feel.
• 1:11:53
  Compelled to add that Jim Henson credits Sergey Obratov for the
• 1:12:01
  style of having live hand puppets.
• 1:12:03
  Staff this is. This is why we keep you around.
• 1:12:05
  I I love, I love the puppetry history here.
• 1:12:09
  I wouldn't watch. AI wouldn't watch a puppetry
• 1:12:11
  history with staff YouTube channel, by the way.
• 1:12:13
  Just saying. Well, I would.
• 1:12:16
  I would need you, Richard, for I would need both of you for all
• 1:12:19
  the stuff. I don't know.
• 1:12:21
  Hey. Hey.
• 1:12:22
  Listen, you know, you know, you know if you ever have any free
• 1:12:25
  time and you're moving from state to state to do puppetry in
• 1:12:28
  different states, we we could do some cool stuff anyway.
• 1:12:31
  But moving on Question 5, Jim Henson said that Sam, a human,
• 1:12:36
  was the only character with a definite species on Sam and
• 1:12:40
  Friends. The other characters, AKA the
• 1:12:43
  Friends, were all abstract because according to Jim, they
• 1:12:47
  were. Richard by a second.
• 1:12:54
  They were. Sam's like thoughts.
• 1:12:56
  They were what was inside of his head, which is insane, correct?
• 1:12:59
  All of the other characters were Sam's thoughts.
• 1:13:05
  I would have also. Accepted that they were all
• 1:13:07
  designed to be kind of flexible and multi purpose, so avoiding
• 1:13:13
  again, even in the case of Kermit, even avoiding having a
• 1:13:17
  definite gender, which again is something that as a as a trans
• 1:13:23
  person I've always appreciated. Question 6.
• 1:13:29
  Typically Jane Neville. Later, Jane Henson performed
• 1:13:33
  whatever character wasn't the lead in each Sam and Friends
• 1:13:37
  sketch. However, according to Jane,
• 1:13:41
  which character was Jim, always the most reluctant to let her
• 1:13:45
  perform stop? Was it Sam?
• 1:13:53
  It was not. Sam, Richard, I want to say.
• 1:13:58
  I guess call it, but it doesn't seem.
• 1:14:00
  I don't know, I I really don't know.
• 1:14:02
  I have no idea. I'm just, well, make a guess.
• 1:14:04
  You don't lose points for being wrong.
• 1:14:06
  Call it. It was.
• 1:14:07
  Kermit correct. And.
• 1:14:11
  Stuff, you're in a way kind of correct, because according to
• 1:14:16
  this book, one of the only sketches where she did perform
• 1:14:20
  Kermit was that old black magic. Because that is exactly.
• 1:14:25
  What threw me? I was thinking about how I was
• 1:14:27
  thinking about that passage. Where, Yeah, What is it?
• 1:14:31
  So, Jim. Had wanted a very precise thing
• 1:14:35
  from Sam's weird shoulder dancing that he does in that
• 1:14:39
  sketch, so that was one of the only times he apparently like,
• 1:14:44
  let Jane play Kermit. Because he knew.
• 1:14:48
  Exactly how he wanted Sam to dance.
• 1:14:54
  Question 7. In an OFT mentioned poll, Yorick
• 1:14:59
  was ranked the most popular Sam and Friends character among
• 1:15:03
  viewers. Who was the second most popular?
• 1:15:11
  Richard, You know this. I'm going to say it was
• 1:15:14
  Mushmelon. It was.
• 1:15:15
  Mushmelon. Which is hilarious because no
• 1:15:19
  footage of Mushmelon remains to this day.
• 1:15:22
  No, there was. Some of the Paley settle.
• 1:15:24
  Go and check it out. Oh, I.
• 1:15:26
  Didn't know that there was some Marshmallon footage at the Paley
• 1:15:29
  Center, because I'm not. Sure, whether or not I was
• 1:15:32
  supposed to say that, but I have some mushmelon bounds wait.
• 1:15:36
  It's secret Paley Center stuff. Do you want me to edit this out?
• 1:15:39
  I don't, actually. Know, like I kind of like I'm
• 1:15:42
  I'm cause 'cause my roommate Gav took me to see it and he had to
• 1:15:48
  get like a tape out. Like, it's not like in the.
• 1:15:51
  No, but that's. That's, that's that's that's
• 1:15:53
  something you can do with the Paley Center.
• 1:15:55
  It's at the library and. You can do it at the Paley
• 1:15:57
  Center. I think it's OK.
• 1:15:58
  Correct. That is, that is how the Paley
• 1:16:00
  Center works. You can get tapes there.
• 1:16:04
  Yeah, but you can't see. Mushmelon bounce.
• 1:16:05
  So go, go see him. Go.
• 1:16:07
  I'm gonna drive. To the Paley Center, just to
• 1:16:09
  watch Marshmallon bounce. Lovely, thought I just.
• 1:16:12
  Learned what the Paley Center is, and I'm also going to go
• 1:16:15
  there to watch Marshmallon bounce.
• 1:16:17
  Oh, it's amazing. That's that's that's how we have
• 1:16:20
  so much of this, this footage. Because of places.
• 1:16:24
  Like the Paley Center question eight of all the major Sam and
• 1:16:34
  Friends characters who was constructed first?
• 1:16:38
  I guess this is excluding Pierre, the French rat, who none
• 1:16:42
  of us could even remember if he was a Sam and Friends character.
• 1:16:50
  Richard. I was going.
• 1:16:51
  To say Pierre, but a Pierre doesn't count.
• 1:16:54
  I feel like it was Kermit, but I'm probably wrong.
• 1:16:57
  It is not Kermit. Actually, OK.
• 1:16:59
  Stop. Sam.
• 1:17:01
  It is not Sam either. It was apparently Yorick.
• 1:17:05
  In Craig's book, he has a specific birth date listed for
• 1:17:08
  all of these characters, and Yorick is slightly older than
• 1:17:12
  everybody else. Question 9.
• 1:17:16
  According to Craig Shemin's book, Who was the first Jim
• 1:17:20
  Henson voiced Muppet character instead of just lip syncing to a
• 1:17:25
  pre recorded audio stuff. I know, Sam.
• 1:17:33
  Rarely spoke at all. I'm wondering if it's Kermit was
• 1:17:37
  a Kermit. It is not.
• 1:17:38
  Kermit either according to this passage from Craig's book.
• 1:17:46
  Richard. Just throwing out.
• 1:17:47
  Random guesses, Professor Madcliffe.
• 1:17:49
  It is. Professor Madcliffe great
• 1:17:51
  answer. I did not expect to be.
• 1:17:53
  Right, question 10. Although the.
• 1:17:57
  Name of this puppet seems to be lost to time.
• 1:18:01
  Jim spoke about a sketch he performed to the song.
• 1:18:05
  There's a new sound. What natural material made-up
• 1:18:10
  this puppet's head? Stop a squirrel.
• 1:18:19
  Skull. It is a squirrel's skull.
• 1:18:22
  Thank you. Stuff I thought of.
• 1:18:25
  You when I wrote that question because you and I were talking
• 1:18:28
  the last time we chatted about the puppet that you made out of
• 1:18:32
  a lambskin and how you feel like using natural materials for
• 1:18:37
  puppets makes them so much more alive.
• 1:18:40
  And I was sitting there thinking, what what does stuff
• 1:18:43
  think about this squirrel skull puppet?
• 1:18:46
  Well, I. I feel compelled to tell you two
• 1:18:49
  things. One is that Craig Sherman came
• 1:18:52
  and spoke at UConn while I was a grad student there.
• 1:18:58
  And I I was helping moderate a forum and we had a chance to ask
• 1:19:04
  questions. And like, the question on the
• 1:19:06
  top of my list was what else can you tell us about this squirrel
• 1:19:09
  skull puppet? And.
• 1:19:12
  And you know, I, I, I'm going to paraphrase whatever, Craig said.
• 1:19:17
  But he was pretty much like all I know is what I put in the book
• 1:19:20
  is that there was a squirrel skull puppet.
• 1:19:22
  I can tell you nothing about this.
• 1:19:25
  So the the mystery does eat away at me, Yeah.
• 1:19:32
  I won't tell you the other. Thing I was going to say, which
• 1:19:34
  is that I've been researching animal skulls to make a puppet
• 1:19:39
  out of cool. You got it, you.
• 1:19:42
  Got it. You got it.
• 1:19:43
  Stuff Well, I got really. Obsessed with the Mary Lloyd
• 1:19:47
  this holiday season? The horse skull from Wales?
• 1:19:50
  Yes. Yes.
• 1:19:51
  And. Horse skulls are really
• 1:19:53
  expensive, but you can get like a fox skull or a dog skull for
• 1:19:56
  not too much. And I was like, oh, I could make
• 1:19:58
  like a miniature Mary Lloyd and go with sailing with it.
• 1:20:03
  I did just say I wasn't going to tell you this, and then I told
• 1:20:06
  you all of it. I mean if you want.
• 1:20:07
  Me to edit it out I can, but this is wonderful so I don't
• 1:20:10
  want to edit it out. Hell, I'm having a good.
• 1:20:12
  Time with my life right now, OK? Leave it in, leave it in staff
• 1:20:17
  there are. Good ways to get ethically
• 1:20:20
  sourced animal skulls, apparently.
• 1:20:24
  Or Or animal bones, because I go to a lot of.
• 1:20:30
  Weird crafts. Fairs and I've learned things
• 1:20:33
  about this and like buying weird jewelry.
• 1:20:39
  Wow. Well, thank you for that Intel.
• 1:20:42
  Yeah, I I do of course want to ethically source my skulls
• 1:20:47
  rather than unethically. Yeah, I don't know what the.
• 1:20:50
  Difference is between ethically sourcing your skull and
• 1:20:53
  unethically sourcing your skull. But you know, well, I can think
• 1:20:57
  of some. Pretty major ones.
• 1:20:58
  Like, did you murder it yourself?
• 1:20:59
  Did you do it cruelly? Like, did you make its parents
• 1:21:03
  watch while you did it? All true.
• 1:21:06
  I would not want to make the squirrel's parents watch while I
• 1:21:09
  did it. And on that note, we're going to
• 1:21:13
  move into our two bonus rounds. First up is our.
• 1:21:17
  Classic Stump the host game. The Anything in the World Prize
• 1:21:22
  game. As you know in this round you 2
• 1:21:26
  will be able to ask me anything in the world literally bill
• 1:21:32
  about this topic. If you stump me you will earn 15
• 1:21:37
  points. But first let me total the
• 1:21:39
  scores. OK, so our current scores
• 1:21:48
  Richard, you have 77 points and staff you have 65 points.
• 1:21:54
  So it's a close game. We are going to start with
• 1:21:58
  stuff. Stuff.
• 1:21:59
  Do you have a question to stump me?
• 1:22:03
  Well, I hope. So here is my question to you,
• 1:22:07
  Becca. A squirrel.
• 1:22:08
  Skull not getting off that. Easy.
• 1:22:15
  OK, great, great. Great.
• 1:22:17
  OK. In a 1975 edition of the
• 1:22:20
  Puppetry Journal, Jim Henson lists in an article that he
• 1:22:24
  wrote, Jim Henson listed three major puppeteers who had greatly
• 1:22:28
  influenced the style of The Muppets.
• 1:22:31
  Which three puppeteers did he credit with influencing him?
• 1:22:37
  Stuff I'm not even. Going to embarrass myself
• 1:22:39
  because now I feel terrible for not knowing this and not
• 1:22:43
  knowing, not knowing enough older non Henson puppeteers.
• 1:22:48
  It's a real shame. And it's something, you know,
• 1:22:51
  we've talked about this before stuff and it's it's the kind of
• 1:22:54
  thing that like, I need to learn more about and it's something
• 1:22:59
  that I really want to do. So I'm not going to embarrass
• 1:23:01
  myself. I'm just going to ask you to
• 1:23:04
  give me the answer. OK, well.
• 1:23:07
  Well, first, I I hope I can lighten the load of this Shame.
• 1:23:10
  You're you're talking to a Yukon nerd.
• 1:23:12
  I studied Puppet history for two years straight.
• 1:23:15
  So yeah, don't don't feel shame. I did choose this question
• 1:23:20
  because it was such an important part of Jim Henson's mission to,
• 1:23:24
  you know, celebrate and popularize other styles of
• 1:23:27
  puppetry. And I'll send you this article.
• 1:23:29
  It was this cool article where he was like begging people to
• 1:23:31
  stop copying The Muppets, but he was like providing, like, a
• 1:23:35
  healthy contrast of like, I was influenced by these people, but
• 1:23:38
  I made my own style. So it's a really cool little
• 1:23:40
  article. We've had a long.
• 1:23:41
  Conversation. You know, you and I about like
• 1:23:44
  Jim Henson and sort of his place in puppetry history and and all
• 1:23:49
  of those things and like. How he thought of.
• 1:23:53
  Himself as a puppeteer and all of these different things and
• 1:23:57
  how that relates to season one of The Muppet Show.
• 1:23:59
  It was a great conversation. I I, I wish we'd done it on
• 1:24:02
  podcast. But anyway, stuff, why don't
• 1:24:05
  you? Yes, yes, I'll.
• 1:24:07
  I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll cut the tension, I'll share the answer.
• 1:24:10
  The three puppeteers he named were Bill Baird, Bert Hillstrom
• 1:24:14
  and Sherry Lewis and he even, you know, said what specifically
• 1:24:20
  the influence was. This is a direct quote from Jim
• 1:24:25
  in the article from Bill Baird. I was influenced to use large
• 1:24:29
  mouths and Disney like eyes. Sherry Lewis used soft fabric
• 1:24:33
  that gave her characters an incredible range of expressions
• 1:24:36
  and she was also a practitioner of the very accurate lip sync
• 1:24:39
  that we use. Burr worked with wonderful
• 1:24:42
  personalities and their interplay to create very human
• 1:24:44
  characters. Well, I do feel a little better
• 1:24:47
  because I know those puppeteers. There you go.
• 1:24:52
  But either way, you have earned 15 points, bringing you to a
• 1:24:57
  total of 80 points. Richard.
• 1:25:02
  Do you have a question for me? So I I.
• 1:25:04
  Scrambled. I don't know if you could tell,
• 1:25:06
  but I panicked a little bit earlier because the squirrel
• 1:25:09
  head question was in fact my original question and then I oh,
• 1:25:14
  that's totally too easy. Anyhow, because it's on the
• 1:25:16
  Muppet wiki so I didn't know. I didn't know it.
• 1:25:19
  Was on Muppet Wiki. I only learned it from this
• 1:25:21
  book. It's on Muppet.
• 1:25:23
  Wiki too. I guess I haven't.
• 1:25:25
  Read every article on Muppet Wiki.
• 1:25:27
  I'm a fraud boy. I'm getting shown up on my
• 1:25:30
  puppetry knowledge and my Muppet Wiki knowledge.
• 1:25:33
  What a day. What a day for old Becca
• 1:25:35
  Petunia. Yeah.
• 1:25:38
  Because it's only getting trickier and trickier.
• 1:25:41
  So I I've I've scrambled and come up with a replacement
• 1:25:44
  question in that time. And this question doesn't
• 1:25:46
  involve puppets, because so we all know Jim Manson loved lip
• 1:25:52
  syncing to various records of the like 1950s with with puppets
• 1:25:57
  as with little comedy skits. But he also wrote a few
• 1:26:01
  compositions of his own, notably, too, that he released
• 1:26:04
  on vinyl. Can you name these two
• 1:26:06
  compositions that Jim Henson released on vinyl that don't
• 1:26:09
  feature puppets? I can't.
• 1:26:12
  Well, you know it's. OK, because I can.
• 1:26:16
  I know both of them, but I can only remember the name.
• 1:26:19
  I think of one of them. One of them is TikTok Sick and
• 1:26:21
  it's about time because Jim Henson loved time and the other
• 1:26:25
  one is about being a farm boy, I think.
• 1:26:29
  But they're both. They both.
• 1:26:30
  Exist and you can find them on YouTube.
• 1:26:32
  I do know Tik. T.O.K sick.
• 1:26:34
  I just have not thought of it. Can we get the name of the other
• 1:26:38
  one? I'm not.
• 1:26:40
  I'm not. Looking anything up right now.
• 1:26:43
  What would I even? Google.
• 1:26:46
  Jim Henson, TikTok Sick, and the other one would probably come
• 1:26:49
  up. I want to say I feel bad because
• 1:26:51
  this is the second time I've thought of a question that I
• 1:26:53
  don't necessarily know the answer to, but I know it exists.
• 1:26:59
  I am. Not I've just seen TikTok Sick.
• 1:27:02
  Hold on. Oh.
• 1:27:04
  The countryside was the B side. It's a song about being A.
• 1:27:09
  Farm boy. So if if anything defined Jim
• 1:27:12
  Henson, it was being a country boy and having existential
• 1:27:15
  crisises about the the short lives we lead and.
• 1:27:20
  These these all these all showed up or these all these both
• 1:27:24
  showed up in Sam and friends in 1960?
• 1:27:27
  Oh, is that true? Oh God.
• 1:27:29
  That means that we're done with puppet puppets then?
• 1:27:32
  Maybe. Yeah, apparently.
• 1:27:34
  According to Karen Faulk, we weren't sure when Karen Faulk
• 1:27:40
  said this. She was like, I don't know if it
• 1:27:43
  was used on Sam and friends, but then as of Craig's book, we know
• 1:27:48
  it was used on Sam and friends. Oh, I think.
• 1:27:51
  It's so interesting because, I mean, they're they're fun little
• 1:27:55
  songs. I mean, like, what if Jim wrote
• 1:27:57
  most songs? Like there's a whole Jim Henson
• 1:28:00
  songwriter era that we've never explored.
• 1:28:03
  Anything that's working? Anyhow, that was my.
• 1:28:05
  Little host stumble Well, listen.
• 1:28:07
  Even if these were on Sam and friends, I am still giving you
• 1:28:12
  15 points, bringing you to a score of 92 points.
• 1:28:18
  Now I'm worried that my final question is going to be too easy
• 1:28:22
  for you guys. I should have asked my.
• 1:28:28
  My my question about all my big V questions I should have saved.
• 1:28:32
  Little did I know that was what was going to stump you.
• 1:28:35
  But we are going to move into our final round, say the word.
• 1:28:42
  In this game you can wager any amount of points.
• 1:28:47
  The winner gets those points and the loser loses them.
• 1:28:50
  It's kind of like Final Jeopardy except you will get to hear the
• 1:28:55
  question before you wager. So here we go.
• 1:29:01
  This is going to be a two-part question, so.
• 1:29:05
  As I mentioned. Earlier, most of the episodes of
• 1:29:09
  Sam and Friends have been lost to the sands of time.
• 1:29:14
  Only a small. Handful are considered to have
• 1:29:17
  been found, according to Craig Shemin.
• 1:29:21
  We talked about. Some of these today, however, we
• 1:29:26
  haven't talked about all of them.
• 1:29:28
  One in particular that we did not mention does not contain any
• 1:29:37
  Muppets at all. What is the?
• 1:29:41
  Name of the found Sam and Friends episode that does not
• 1:29:47
  contain Muppets. And.
• 1:29:50
  As a bonus question, how many Sam and Friends episodes are
• 1:29:55
  quote UN quote found episodes? OK, and when can I ask a
• 1:30:02
  clarifying question? Well, sure.
• 1:30:06
  Found episodes doesn't mean all of the existing episodes.
• 1:30:10
  It means episodes that were found after being thought lost.
• 1:30:14
  Is that correct? Oh no, I.
• 1:30:16
  Mean. I mean like the ones that Craig
• 1:30:19
  could show you at Momi if he did Another showing of Sam and
• 1:30:26
  Friends sketches at Momi. OK, so.
• 1:30:29
  So by found we mean extant. Extant is a.
• 1:30:32
  Great word to use. The word actually that he uses
• 1:30:36
  for the chapter about this is the surviving shows OK.
• 1:30:43
  So how many? Surviving episodes are there of
• 1:30:46
  Sam and Friends and what is the title of the one that does not
• 1:30:50
  feature any Muppets? I will.
• 1:30:53
  Say if both of you get these wrong.
• 1:30:58
  If both of you get these. Wrong.
• 1:30:59
  Whoever gets closest to the number of episodes.
• 1:31:03
  Will be considered. To win their points staff, you
• 1:31:07
  are going to send me those two answers and how many points you
• 1:31:10
  are betting you have 80 points to bet.
• 1:31:13
  How many surviving episodes of Sam and Friends are there?
• 1:31:18
  And. What is the name of the episode
• 1:31:20
  that does not feature any Muppets?
• 1:31:22
  OK, staff has sent in her answers and her bet just waiting
• 1:31:29
  on Richard. Oh, I did it in Twitter.
• 1:31:31
  Oh, I just. Don't have Twitter window open,
• 1:31:34
  but I can do that totally fair. OK.
• 1:31:39
  So you have each put different answers to all of these.
• 1:31:44
  Oh, good. Let's.
• 1:31:45
  First, start with. You've also both bet different
• 1:31:49
  amounts. Let's first start with Yeah,
• 1:31:53
  let's both start with the name of the episode without any
• 1:31:57
  Muppets stuff. Why don't you share what you put
• 1:32:00
  as the name of the Sam and Friends episode without any
• 1:32:04
  Muppets? Well, I just kind.
• 1:32:07
  Of gave up because I've got no clue, so it's late.
• 1:32:11
  It's. Late I understand I I.
• 1:32:15
  My guests for the name of the episode that doesn't have
• 1:32:18
  Muppets in it was Behold, it's just a rock for 5 minutes and
• 1:32:24
  you're. Pretty close.
• 1:32:26
  No, I'm kidding. You're not close at all,
• 1:32:28
  Richard. Richard, what is?
• 1:32:31
  What? What did you guess?
• 1:32:34
  I I just think. Behold, it's just rock for 5
• 1:32:36
  minutes. Would make a great Creatures of
• 1:32:37
  Yes episode, but you guys, this isn't.
• 1:32:41
  Even like a. Name this is, it'll be.
• 1:32:43
  The easiest episode you've ever recorded, stuff that's true.
• 1:32:48
  That's direct. Manipulation, Puppetry.
• 1:32:52
  Direct manipulation. If you're not touching the rock.
• 1:32:55
  Sorry I need to get on track. I'm guessing Limbo Like the Is
• 1:32:59
  Limbo a mop Muppet? And did he appear in a Sam and
• 1:33:03
  Friends episode? Well, honestly.
• 1:33:05
  I'm not sure I do consider Limbo to be a Muppet, but either way,
• 1:33:09
  if Limbo did appear on Sam and Friends, not in any of the
• 1:33:12
  episodes we we that survived so but also I would consider Limbo
• 1:33:20
  to be a Muppet. But.
• 1:33:23
  Neither of you were. Right.
• 1:33:25
  And Richard, I'm a little surprised you got this wrong,
• 1:33:27
  because you we're lucky enough to see this when Craig showed it
• 1:33:32
  at the Museum of the Movie. At the Museum of the.
• 1:33:36
  Moving Image and this was a special screening that it is not
• 1:33:41
  on YouTube and Craig showed it to us for the first time at the
• 1:33:46
  Museum of the Moving Image. Richard, what is its name?
• 1:33:50
  It's Little Miss. Cohn it sure.
• 1:33:52
  Is Miss Cohn. It is a.
• 1:33:57
  Fully animated, Sam and friends, because as we know, Jim also
• 1:34:03
  liked to experiment with animation.
• 1:34:05
  It's this real trippy, like brightly, brightly colored
• 1:34:09
  geometric animation. Oh my.
• 1:34:12
  Gosh, I yeah, you know, I I was just having such a headlight
• 1:34:17
  moment because all I could think was, well, they wouldn't have
• 1:34:23
  done something with just actors, but instead of thinking of the
• 1:34:26
  obvious thing, which is his other interest, animation,
• 1:34:30
  correct? It must have just been a rock I
• 1:34:33
  like. The idea.
• 1:34:35
  That Jim would have filmed a rock for 5 minutes.
• 1:34:38
  Well. However, you each guessed a
• 1:34:41
  different number of episodes that are surviving episodes of
• 1:34:45
  Sam and Friends, Richard. How many did you guess?
• 1:34:48
  I guess 35. Which is probably too high
• 1:34:51
  staff. How many did you guess?
• 1:34:54
  I guessed. 15 by my count. The correct answer is 15
• 1:35:00
  episodes. Wow.
• 1:35:00
  Very well done. So.
• 1:35:05
  Richard, unfortunately you lose the 30 points you bet, bringing
• 1:35:09
  your score down to 62 and staff. You gain the five points you
• 1:35:15
  bet, bringing your score up to 85 S in the end.
• 1:35:23
  We come forward to sing and in the end, our winner and today's
• 1:35:29
  toughest pig. Is stuff.
• 1:35:32
  Sheer what an. Unexpected twist.
• 1:35:35
  I love the. Game.
• 1:35:37
  I love the game, so. Stuff you win your choice of
• 1:35:43
  some incredibly expired Wilkins coffee, or a picture of Wilkins
• 1:35:49
  and wonkins that I will draw but have not drawn yet, because who,
• 1:35:54
  boy, am I running behind on the production of this episode, In
• 1:35:57
  fact, that you both know very well.
• 1:36:02
  Do it. I I As much as I want to support
• 1:36:06
  you as an artist, I really want that Wilkins coffee.
• 1:36:10
  I don't have it. Oh.
• 1:36:14
  I guess I'll take the. Drawing then.
• 1:36:16
  All right. Well.
• 1:36:19
  That brings us to the end of another one.
• 1:36:21
  So guess where can people find you?
• 1:36:23
  If you wish to be found, let's start with Richard.
• 1:36:26
  Richard, Where can people find you?
• 1:36:28
  You can find. Me at Richard Michael Gomez on
• 1:36:31
  Instagram and nowhere else. Don't look for my Twitter.
• 1:36:35
  You still post to. Your Twitter, I know.
• 1:36:38
  But it's become embarrassing. I'm like, let's just, let's keep
• 1:36:41
  it to my Instagram. You don't have to find my
• 1:36:42
  Twitter, OK? And stuff.
• 1:36:45
  Where can people find you? I am findable on Instagram, but
• 1:36:53
  I would much prefer people subscribe to the creatures of
• 1:36:56
  yes on YouTube I. Love the creatures of.
• 1:37:00
  Yes. Wow.
• 1:37:02
  Thank you, Richard. Aren't you doing stuff with?
• 1:37:03
  Glop now. I.
• 1:37:06
  AM. And yeah, that is also
• 1:37:09
  definitely worth checking out. There's going to be some very
• 1:37:13
  exciting new episodes dropping. I've seen.
• 1:37:18
  I've seen some rough cuts and there it's like really
• 1:37:21
  incredible contemporary puppet sketches from the glorious
• 1:37:25
  ladies of puppetry. So I highly recommend that as
• 1:37:28
  well, yeah. Good, good stuff to check out.
• 1:37:30
  And that is at is it? What is there at that Instagram?
• 1:37:35
  I think on Instagram they're Glopstagram.
• 1:37:38
  I think that's their handle, yeah.
• 1:37:44
  And you? Can find me Becca Petunia on
• 1:37:48
  most non X social media platforms at Tall Girl Petunia
• 1:37:55
  all one word. And of course you can find
• 1:37:58
  toughpigs@toughpigs.com or at Tough Pigs on Twitter, Facebook,
• 1:38:03
  Instagram, Tumblr. I am updating the Tumblr again.
• 1:38:06
  Believe it or not, we're back baby.
• 1:38:09
  And if you like our work, consider donating to the Tough
• 1:38:11
  Pigs Patreon where you can get even more exclusive free stuff.
• 1:38:16
  We also have a Tough Pigs T-shirts, which include a Hubba
• 1:38:20
  Washington shirt and a monster at the end of this book.
• 1:38:22
  Shirt that I designed and some Pride shirts I designed and a
• 1:38:27
  Lips Tutter St. Trumpet Company shirt that I
• 1:38:31
  designed and a bunch of stuff that I didn't design as well,
• 1:38:35
  but also a lot of stuff I designed.
• 1:38:37
  It's my show. I'm going to plug my stuff.
• 1:38:41
  You can check those out at the Tough Pigs Tea Public page.
• 1:38:45
  I'd like to thank some people for helping us out.
• 1:38:47
  Our guests. Thank you so much.
• 1:38:50
  This was a blast. I love talking Papa Tree with
• 1:38:53
  you guys. It this ruled.
• 1:38:57
  Thank you so much to Stacey Rosen for writing the theme
• 1:39:00
  music for this show. Thank you to oh Richard Gomez
• 1:39:05
  for doing the the host artwork for this show, the
• 1:39:09
  aforementioned host artwork. I'll have to post a version
• 1:39:13
  where you can see my socks that have Java on them.
• 1:39:18
  Thanks to Katie Lynn Miller for writing our transcripts.
• 1:39:22
  Thanks to Joe Hennis, The Tough Pigs Muppet Fan Podcast
• 1:39:25
  Executive Producer. And thank you to The Big Vomit
• 1:39:29
  Monster. And lastly, thanks to all of you
• 1:39:33
  at home for being with us on Ha Bo Wah, The Muppet Quiz Show.
• 1:39:37
  And as always, despite all of this, I have never eaten SK
• 1:39:42
  Meats, La Choi Wilkins Coffee, or Purina Dog Chow.
• 1:39:49
  Good night everybody. Never.
• 1:39:55
  Serve La Choi chow Mein without the noodles.
• 1:40:00
  No, I must. Leave.
• 1:40:02
  Oh, that's. Nice.
• 1:40:04
  I'm off to tell a hungry world about the choice.
• 1:40:06
  Show me quick cooked in dragon fire.