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The Great Muppet Fandom Panel - Summer, 2023 Edition · Muppet Fan Podcasts with ToughPigs.com

• 0:13
  Hello and welcome to Thank you. I knew that Swoop Boomer would
• 0:26
  come in handy. Can I interest any of you in
• 0:29
  about 80? Some party blowers?
• 0:31
  Anyone want like half a dozen? Can you think of any use for
• 0:34
  these please? You can always pass them to
• 0:37
  Becca and make them consolation prizes on Hobo Walk.
• 0:40
  That's. Great, then I have to then I
• 0:42
  have to mail them out. Pass the curts on JD.
• 0:46
  I am considering trying to bring a lot of them to whatever the
• 0:51
  September 24th New York meetup is this year at the Museum of
• 0:55
  the Moving Image because I am fascinated by the question of
• 1:00
  can we get a very large number of a noise making thing into a
• 1:03
  museum, a setting in which you are famously supposed to be
• 1:06
  quiet? And what will management do if,
• 1:08
  like 2530 people are walking around with matching party
• 1:12
  blowers? But not blowing them.
• 1:15
  They just have them in the cloud, blowing them exactly.
• 1:19
  Just keeping them. So on Edge, hello and welcome to
• 1:23
  the Summer 2023 edition of the Great Muppet Fandom panel from
• 1:26
  toughpigs.com. This is a panel discussion show,
• 1:29
  and we're going to talk about highlights from the Henson
• 1:31
  headlines. It's sort of like a quarterly
• 1:33
  report on the state of our Muppet friends, except unlike
• 1:36
  the quarterly reports at a company that actually owns The
• 1:38
  Muppets, we will not be actively working to destroy the streaming
• 1:41
  model we depend on and the labor force we depend on.
• 1:44
  At the same time, each of our panelists has brought a
• 1:47
  discussion question for us. It could be about anything
• 1:50
  related to Jim Henson or The Muppets, but our main topic for
• 1:52
  this panel will be the biggest production to come from the
• 1:54
  Muppet Studio in a long time. I am, of course, talking about
• 1:58
  the much adored The Muppets mayhem.
• 2:00
  Let's introduce the panelists. First up, a Tough Pigs writer
• 2:04
  and the host of the Muppet Trivia game Show podcast Habawa,
• 2:07
  one of my favorite podcasts. With the new season in
• 2:09
  production as we speak, we're going to get there when the
• 2:12
  Gettins gettin Becca Petunia. Hi, JD.
• 2:16
  How are you doing? All right and and you can hear
• 2:19
  me now. We're not glitching.
• 2:20
  I know I heard that full introduction.
• 2:22
  Oh awesome. Let's try the next one.
• 2:25
  Next. You know him from his writing
• 2:26
  about Disney Parks. And funnily enough, also from
• 2:29
  Tough Pigs. When you hear this sound to come
• 2:32
  and hear the drummer drumming, won't you join together with
• 2:34
  Matthew Soberman? W Very good, Matthew.
• 2:42
  Next up, he's a professional illustrator, graphic artist and
• 2:45
  designer who worked on the Muppet Palisades figures and
• 2:48
  served as the art director for the Great Muppet Mural.
• 2:51
  God only knows what I'd be without Jamie Carroll.
• 2:55
  Hello, greetings, greetings, and finally a Broadway actor whose
• 3:01
  credits include the US touring production of Hamilton and then
• 3:04
  the Broadway production of Hamilton and then the Lincoln
• 3:07
  Center production of Camelot. And then, yes, this podcast hit
• 3:12
  me like a hurricane. Electricity through my brain got
• 3:14
  a feeling that I can't explain. I only know it's Fergie Alpha
• 3:17
  Leap. Thank you so much.
• 3:20
  Happy to be here. I'm glad you're here too.
• 3:24
  And I am your moderator, JD Hansel.
• 3:27
  Thank you. Thank you.
• 3:29
  OK, before we continue, any edits that need to be made, I
• 3:32
  can rewrite any of that, rerecord any of it.
• 3:34
  I've changed the name of my podcast to.
• 3:37
  OK. I just started a podcast in the
• 3:42
  last 10 minutes, so we're going to have to work that in.
• 3:46
  That's fine. It is now time for the Great
• 3:49
  Muppet Question Panelists, Are you ready?
• 3:52
  Swell. This episode's Great Muppet
• 3:54
  Question is in the context of an entertainment industry that is
• 3:58
  characterized by everything making lots of sense and
• 4:01
  radiating totally positive energy.
• 4:04
  Where do you see The Muppets in five years?
• 4:06
  I mean, probably still in their boxes, cuz I mean it's the
• 4:10
  summer, they're probably not gonna be in production at the
• 4:12
  moment. So like they'll be waiting.
• 4:15
  They'll be waiting in their storage boxes at Puppet Heap,
• 4:18
  ready, ready to go. Yeah, aside from the ones that
• 4:21
  are with the performers for any random pieces of media
• 4:24
  representation. That's not actively promoting
• 4:27
  anything, of course. No, there's absolutely no reason
• 4:31
  why Floyd was singing the song that he was singing at that
• 4:33
  concert. 0. Waldo C graphic is a scab.
• 4:38
  Oh OK. I mean technically is he though
• 4:41
  because that's a pre exit that predates the strike by like I
• 4:45
  don't know 3035. No, no, no, no.
• 4:48
  I'm saying what's going to be happening in five years?
• 4:50
  Oh, OK, right after the great Waldo C graphic resurgence.
• 4:55
  He's the only Muppet who's acting in five years because
• 4:59
  he's the only Muppet who crossed the picket line.
• 5:01
  Because he's AI, right? He's AI.
• 5:02
  Thank. You.
• 5:05
  Wow. OK, We're getting there.
• 5:07
  We're getting there. We're getting there.
• 5:10
  By Joe, Sorry, I'm developing an artificial lack of intelligence
• 5:16
  as well. Who's next?
• 5:19
  Depends how long the strike goes.
• 5:22
  Right. Yeah, I hope there's another
• 5:25
  show. I do.
• 5:26
  I hope they do a lot of shows. I don't know how well those did,
• 5:29
  but they. Apparently the I've read
• 5:31
  recently that the companies keep the streaming results from
• 5:34
  everybody else, so we don't know how well the show did.
• 5:37
  They sure do, correct. So none of them know how well
• 5:41
  their show is doing. But piggybacking off of that, I
• 5:45
  actually hope they do more specials.
• 5:47
  I feel like that's something that's like really, I mean
• 5:51
  that's Henson kind of territory in general, but but I feel like
• 5:54
  from Muppets especially like you know, within the platform of
• 5:56
  Disney Plus. Depending on how we decide to
• 5:59
  use streaming from this point forward, a part of me believes
• 6:01
  that a lot of it will die post strike.
• 6:04
  But if we end up keeping you know, onto the streaming model
• 6:07
  as is, Muppets will definitely be confined to Disney Plus for a
• 6:10
  lot of it. And I feel like with that kind
• 6:13
  of sentence, I feel like, you know, a lot of specials would
• 6:16
  kind of really work in their favor.
• 6:18
  I think Han and Mansion did really, really well and I think
• 6:22
  they're Disney is not capitalizing on something that
• 6:24
  could really be to the benefit, which is using.
• 6:27
  The Muppets as framework for parroting all of their different
• 6:30
  other properties. I will say when they released
• 6:32
  and I didn't watch them, but when they released those, it's
• 6:36
  Olaf retelling Moana, I was like.
• 6:40
  OK. But that kind of feels like you
• 6:42
  had characters who were tailor made for that. 100% Or as The
• 6:46
  Simpsons redo Star Wars. I'm like you guys.
• 6:50
  You have characters that can do every single property and it
• 6:53
  will never get old. I was about to say there's no
• 6:56
  reason why The Muppets couldn't be doing what The Simpsons are
• 6:59
  currently doing. Even if it's shorts, they don't
• 7:01
  even have to be specials. But you know, I'm not a CEO.
• 7:04
  Obviously I don't know what the F I'm talking about as a
• 7:06
  creative. There's time, there's time.
• 7:08
  Who knows what the future holds in five years Years.
• 7:11
  I do like how the initial mindset we said was like, this
• 7:15
  strike will still be going in five years.
• 7:20
  Like, you understand I'm not gonna have this episode edited
• 7:23
  and released for a couple more weeks.
• 7:25
  Like there's still another Why? I do not have any optimism.
• 7:29
  We believe this will be settled before the we were reporting
• 7:33
  this on I believe day 101. And there's just no sign of an
• 7:38
  end. No.
• 7:39
  So, JD, as long as you get this up, you know, I think I I don't.
• 7:43
  I wish it weren't true. But I I'm willing to bet that in
• 7:47
  the two or three weeks it takes you to edit this.
• 7:50
  Yeah. What are you talking about?
• 7:53
  I feel like Eiger and Zasloff and all of these other guys are
• 7:56
  really going to come to their senses and understand that
• 7:59
  they're being ridiculous and finally make a deal for the ages
• 8:05
  of all the episodes that I didn't want to be Evergreen.
• 8:09
  The episode I record during the strike is definitely what I do
• 8:13
  not want to. Be Evergreen I'm.
• 8:17
  Not saying the strike is gonna last five years, I mean, again,
• 8:21
  like, you know. Like how we all three was?
• 8:23
  Yeah, it could be. Yeah.
• 8:25
  I. Mean that's actually a good
• 8:27
  point. I just feel it is a seminal
• 8:29
  moment. You know what I mean it's not
• 8:31
  like some of these others. It's it's very similar to the
• 8:33
  residual strike back. I think this was the 80s when
• 8:35
  that last happened. And so I feel like it's that
• 8:38
  same thing again. The business model has changed
• 8:40
  for how we absorb content and now we have to have new rules
• 8:42
  about how we financially compensate people in the best
• 8:45
  way. And I believe that's going to
• 8:47
  change the game for how these companies decide to take these
• 8:49
  different Ip's and market them. And Muppets is 100% included
• 8:54
  considering, in my opinion, Disney doesn't value them that
• 8:56
  much in the 1st place. So it's going to be very, very
• 8:58
  interesting when we come back. This is why I'm very curious
• 9:01
  about what's going to happen to the streaming model once we get
• 9:05
  back from the strike. The thing that you just said
• 9:07
  about how Disney values The Muppets, I read Bob Iger's book.
• 9:11
  Now, this was before he came back.
• 9:13
  This was last year. Uh huh.
• 9:15
  I've down time. Did you know?
• 9:16
  Do you remember the quote? Where is it?
• 9:19
  Hold on there. There was a quote that he had
• 9:23
  from Dan Burke, who was an executive at a BC and the quote
• 9:27
  was to avoid getting into the business of manufacturing
• 9:31
  trombone oil. The world only consumes the few
• 9:34
  quarts of trombone oil a year now.
• 9:37
  Is this When he says this, does he?
• 9:39
  Is he talking about niche properties under the Disney
• 9:42
  batter? That aren't Marvel or Star Wars.
• 9:45
  Does he consider The Muppets trombone oil?
• 9:47
  I don't know that the answer, but I just know that anytime
• 9:51
  that they started to get going from like the Jason Segel film,
• 9:55
  there was the followup took, you know, 2 1/2 years that there was
• 10:01
  no momentum built and anytime it started, it just seemed to be
• 10:04
  like they were not prioritized. So I don't know.
• 10:08
  I don't know if that's a connection or or whatever.
• 10:11
  So where they're doing what they're doing in five years, I
• 10:13
  have no clue. When you're even thinking about
• 10:15
  how The Muppets even got to Disney in 2004 in the 1st place,
• 10:19
  it was like one of Eisner's Hail Mary's before he, you know,
• 10:22
  basically got ousted because it was the deal that he felt guilty
• 10:26
  about after Jim passed. And so it's like one of those
• 10:29
  things were like, Iger gets into office and the first thing he
• 10:32
  wants to do is purchase Pixar, and then they're like, wait,
• 10:35
  what about The Muppets? And he's like, who?
• 10:38
  Who did we just purchase? Yeah, just knowing Iger's
• 10:43
  history because I mean he came to came to Disney through ABC
• 10:48
  and I believe he was head of ABC at the time Muppets Tonight was
• 10:51
  going on. He does not like really giving
• 10:54
  properties a second chance. He threw them to Disney Channel.
• 10:57
  If you can't produce, we're moving on to the next thing or
• 11:00
  and we're gonna stick with what does.
• 11:03
  I'm just confused because The Muppets are like a team of.
• 11:06
  Like performers. So I don't understand how
• 11:10
  they're also trombone oil. Like I don't think it will work
• 11:19
  well. You're you're doubting their
• 11:21
  ability as performers to convincingly play trombone.
• 11:24
  Oil well if you blend them and dilute when they.
• 11:26
  Had the next member of the Mayhem who plays trombone.
• 11:30
  Right. I I bet you Gonza Ooms the the
• 11:32
  biggest collection of trombone oil in jars.
• 11:35
  I bet she does. And with that?
• 11:42
  We buy only get new quarts a year and it's all by cons.
• 11:47
  And with that it's getting to be about time for me to get to the
• 11:50
  news. But before I do, I'd like to
• 11:52
  remind everyone that we're not covering all the Muppet news on
• 11:55
  this show. This isn't a weekly updates
• 11:56
  podcast, so if you're looking for that, listen to another
• 11:58
  podcast. However, if you'd like to stay
• 12:00
  up to date on everything happening in the Muppet world as
• 12:03
  it's happening, you've got to follow toughpigs.com wherever
• 12:06
  social networks are sold. Speaking of social networks,
• 12:09
  this edition of the Great Muppet Fandom Panel is brought to you
• 12:11
  by the letter Twitter Okay. I have one quick housekeeping
• 12:18
  note for the listeners before we get into the news.
• 12:21
  You might be wondering why we're not really discussing the three
• 12:25
  new Sesame Street specials announced for the streaming
• 12:27
  service formerly known as HBO Max.
• 12:29
  The reason, as usual, is scheduling.
• 12:32
  This episode was recorded a long, long time ago, so at the
• 12:35
  time of this recording we don't know about it yet.
• 12:38
  It's not that I don't care about Oscar and Tango's Home and Food
• 12:41
  Garden Network handmade holiday handbag haberdashery.
• 12:44
  I. Would care deeply if not for the
• 12:47
  fact that I didn't learn about it until after this recording.
• 12:50
  JD, I just want to point out that according to Muppet Wiki,
• 12:53
  the description of Oscar the Grouch's Homemade Halloween
• 12:57
  doesn't actually mention. Homemade or Halloween?
• 13:01
  It's like Oscar builds a house for charity or something.
• 13:05
  It's like. Yes, because he's the one most
• 13:09
  likely to perform a charitable act.
• 13:11
  What are we even doing, Becca? Wait, Sesame Street is making
• 13:26
  specials? Are you are you some sort of
• 13:16
  clairvoyant? How are you seeing into the
• 13:18
  future about this thing that we don't know about yet at the time
• 13:20
  of recording and therefore can't talk about?
• 13:27
  I can't wait to look. No, I don't know.
• 13:29
  I hope they feature my favorite Food Network and HGTV and
• 13:33
  Magnolia Network stars. And they're all 2D animation.
• 13:37
  What? Stop.
• 13:38
  No way. But he's tango gonna be there.
• 13:43
  They cannot do the show without we're all dying to know about
• 13:47
  Tango. I'm on the picket line if
• 13:48
  there's no tango. I mean, we'll all be on the
• 13:51
  picket line anyway eventually. I can't help but feel like we've
• 13:55
  lost the plot. No, no, not at all.
• 13:58
  Cuz this actually Tees up Matthew's discussion question.
• 14:00
  If you can believe it, Matthew, go ahead.
• 14:03
  So this kind of spins off a discussion a number of the tough
• 14:06
  big staff had recently. My question is, is Sesame Street
• 14:11
  even trying anymore? Because we're now pause pause
• 14:17
  before we keep going. Let's try to be nice and
• 14:21
  respectful and and however we answer this question because
• 14:27
  because when Matthew pitched it I was like that's a little
• 14:30
  harsh, but I'm not. Yeah.
• 14:32
  I mean let's go ahead and ask and so long as everyone is
• 14:36
  thoughtful we'll be okay. I'm trusting that you all can
• 14:39
  handle this like grown-ups, right?
• 14:43
  I don't think anybody's gonna OK, Not with any undue
• 14:47
  immaturity. Right.
• 14:50
  Fergie just flipped the bird at me.
• 14:51
  That's OK. We're gonna continue.
• 14:55
  OK. Go ahead.
• 14:56
  Now, obviously this issue isn't really stemming from the
• 15:00
  performers or maybe even the writing staff.
• 15:03
  It's clear that this is a management issue and there's a
• 15:07
  lack of direction. Within Sesame Street right now,
• 15:10
  it's literally the, you know, the cause, which used to be
• 15:14
  let's educate people, let's make it something that parents and
• 15:18
  kids can watch together and both enjoy.
• 15:21
  And it's literally the mission is now let's just keep these
• 15:25
  characters relevant than the public consciousness.
• 15:28
  It feels like things are aimless right now on the curriculum
• 15:33
  side. It's a very interesting place
• 15:35
  that they're finding themselves in, in terms of like.
• 15:39
  How they're choosing to go about portraying the characters in the
• 15:42
  public. I like, you know, I was joking
• 15:44
  about the 2D animation thing, but it's like I think it's
• 15:47
  really interesting that you have these characters that are
• 15:50
  specifically known because they are 3D lifelike.
• 15:53
  They feel like people who walks amongst the earth, among you
• 15:57
  know, with everyone else. And we have these characters and
• 15:59
  we choose to put them in cartoon form.
• 16:02
  And it does make me beg the question of what is the
• 16:04
  relevance of having them not be what they were originally
• 16:07
  intended for, when the whole appeal of them was that they
• 16:11
  were, you know, these three-dimensional characters
• 16:13
  that felt like human beings in a lot of ways.
• 16:16
  And I feel like that kind of relates to, I think, where they
• 16:19
  are right now, because I do think it's more about keeping
• 16:22
  the characters relevant instead of keeping.
• 16:24
  The mission of how those characters were created
• 16:26
  relevant, you know, and it's I think why we're seeing a lot
• 16:29
  more of the Sesame Street characters and commercials and
• 16:32
  kind of things like that. Like I think it's like having
• 16:34
  the brand name of Sesame Street consistently there.
• 16:37
  And it's also difficult cuz this has kind of been our thing ever
• 16:40
  since HBO bought them, you know what I mean?
• 16:42
  Like ever since Warner Brothers, Discovery has had their hands on
• 16:44
  them. It's that kind of thing of like
• 16:47
  now that we have this, you know? And you know what?
• 16:50
  Like this is the common theme. This is the same thing that we
• 16:51
  were talking about with Disney and Muppets.
• 16:53
  Like it's that same exact thing. You have this IP that was built
• 16:57
  out of kind of like a mom and pop shop that has been purchased
• 17:01
  by a big corporate entity and now that is being used to you
• 17:04
  know? How do we put this amongst our,
• 17:06
  like Looney Tunes characters or against our Harry Potter
• 17:09
  characters? Like they they view it in that
• 17:11
  same exact way and there isn't a sense of like, well, these
• 17:14
  characters were born out of something else and so we have to
• 17:17
  manage them differently. It's like, no, how do we manage
• 17:19
  them? Like we manage everything else,
• 17:20
  which is where I think a lot of this come from.
• 17:25
  And I think a lot of it also is that like the nonprofit is, is
• 17:28
  still struggling. They're really struggling right
• 17:31
  now. You know what I mean?
• 17:32
  Financially, they are not in the same place that they were in the
• 17:34
  80s and 90s, even the early 2000s.
• 17:36
  And so, you know, it's this kind of difficult thing about like,
• 17:39
  how are we using the brand of the characters in order to keep
• 17:43
  them relevant, in order to keep us afloat so that we can keep
• 17:46
  making the show in the 1st place.
• 17:49
  I'm just gonna jump in real fast just to say that whoever out
• 17:53
  there is currently typing a comment about how technically
• 17:56
  Warner did not buy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 17:58
  Yeah. Yes, yes.
• 18:00
  Y'all come on, just put your hands down.
• 18:02
  It's OK. But it is.
• 18:03
  I I know how all the whole you know we all know what I mean.
• 18:08
  OK. I'm just being.
• 18:10
  I don't know. Ferky does make an interesting
• 18:12
  point. It is clear, certainly now more
• 18:15
  than ever, under the distribution agreement.
• 18:18
  It feels like Sesame Workshop is trying to please Warner
• 18:22
  Brothers. Yup.
• 18:25
  Yeah, Yup. So I think they are trying, I
• 18:29
  think they're trying under the stipulations that they have.
• 18:30
  Sorry, Jamie, go ahead. I just see that they're trying
• 18:33
  to find like following more of a Nickelodeon Sponge Bob sort of
• 18:36
  plan of getting things out of there.
• 18:39
  You can Sponge Bob is using profits now.
• 18:40
  They're trying to diversify how they connect with people and I
• 18:44
  don't see that that's wrong. I see that that might not be
• 18:46
  right for Sesame Street because they used to be the trendsetter
• 18:50
  and now they're following the trends and that's that's the
• 18:53
  difference that I see. I don't think any of the work is
• 18:56
  bad. I think all the work they put
• 18:58
  out is quality. I don't know about these new
• 19:01
  reality shows that. Scares me a little.
• 19:03
  Bit. What reality shows?
• 19:05
  Oh, oh, yeah, exactly. Yeah.
• 19:07
  The. Ones we've never heard a thing
• 19:09
  about. I hope they never do reality but
• 19:15
  but I don't know you know it's it's they don't know where
• 19:17
  they're headed. And I feel like that that
• 19:20
  translates into the market doesn't know, the entertainment
• 19:24
  industry doesn't know where they're headed because they
• 19:25
  themselves don't know where they're headed.
• 19:27
  And Jim Henson used to have this kind of just.
• 19:31
  Let's win it. You know, let's put a show on
• 19:33
  the barn and we'll figure it out and people will come.
• 19:36
  But you can't really do that so much anymore.
• 19:39
  And if you do, you need a leader like that and that comes around.
• 19:44
  So I don't know. But I do see that they're using
• 19:46
  more of a Nickelodeon, more of a, you know, model of you know
• 19:51
  of of just, you know, using the characters as icons rather than
• 19:55
  as actual characters. I mean, listen, Sesame Street's
• 19:59
  doing fine. I'm.
• 20:00
  I'm wearing a combination of the Mr. Snuffleupagus and Elmo nail
• 20:04
  Polish. Right now it's Mr. Snuffleupagus
• 20:08
  and then Elmo on top. So it's kind of like.
• 20:11
  Episode where Elmo helped You know make sure that Snuffy
• 20:14
  stayed put for the adults. Yeah, I can't.
• 20:18
  I can't complain. Sesame Street, you know it's
• 20:21
  your. Folks at home can't see it right
• 20:22
  now, but you know, Becca's just holding up her nails and it
• 20:26
  looks like Elmo's swinging around on Snuffy's.
• 20:29
  That's exactly what it was. Yeah.
• 20:31
  Yeah, exactly. All right, gang, folks, let's
• 20:34
  let's actually get into the news proper.
• 20:37
  We have two Disney park stories to talk about.
• 20:41
  And some Disney Parks fans on this panel.
• 20:43
  This is exciting. Now, I know some of our
• 20:45
  listeners may not know a lot about how theme parks work.
• 20:48
  So I'd like to take a moment to address those members of our
• 20:51
  audience who have never been to a Disney park.
• 20:53
  And briefly, briefly explain Epcot festivals.
• 20:57
  Hi, Anthony Strand, thank you for listening.
• 21:00
  Epcot is the second park built for Disney World, and it is
• 21:05
  largely inspired by World's Fairs.
• 21:07
  While many of us Disney Parks fans love it and consider it
• 21:10
  among our favorite parks, the general population has
• 21:12
  historically considered it quite boring.
• 21:15
  So in 1994 they held the Flower and Garden Festival, which
• 21:19
  consisted of beautiful flower displays from all the countries
• 21:22
  featured in World Showcase and topiaries of the Disney
• 21:25
  characters. It was such a big success.
• 21:28
  That they decided it should just always be a festival, Yes, when
• 21:32
  Epcot received a snow globe from Santa Claus, giving it 3 wishes,
• 21:35
  Epcot said. Epcot wishes it could be a
• 21:38
  festival every day. Wish wish wish wish wish wish
• 21:40
  wish figment. And now it's basically a
• 21:45
  festival every day in Epcot. So far, Santa Claus has not come
• 21:50
  to sing a song about how every day can't be a festival.
• 21:54
  So right now for the International Food and Wine
• 21:56
  Festival, the Holdern Park is filled with little kitchens and
• 21:59
  pavilions where you can, yes, drink beverages.
• 22:04
  Now can you do that all year round for sure.
• 22:06
  But right now you can have like more of them.
• 22:09
  So a ticket to enter the park costs $134.
• 22:13
  I think that is that This so far makes sense to Anthony Strand,
• 22:18
  right. He can understand why you would
• 22:21
  pay that much to go to this thing.
• 22:24
  As ever, has everything been clear?
• 22:26
  Has everything been accurate? I mean, not just the festival.
• 22:29
  I mean, there's also Living with the land.
• 22:30
  Oh yeah, But Ellen's energy adventure is gone.
• 22:33
  So I don't know. I mean.
• 22:35
  But what's? What's really the point?
• 22:36
  However, imagination with Figment is still there and I
• 22:40
  would argue that once you do that you can go home.
• 22:43
  I don't know. It's the It's the bad
• 22:45
  imagination with Figma. Epcot is my favorite park.
• 22:49
  I love it, warts and all. I think the reason Santa hasn't
• 22:53
  come to sing. About how every day can't be a
• 22:55
  festival is because the food and beverage executives are
• 22:59
  literally holding him from the front gate.
• 23:02
  Because this is how Epcot makes its money festivals.
• 23:06
  Are money. What is it?
• 23:08
  That's exactly what I was about to say.
• 23:10
  One of the big reasons in Elmo safes Christmas Why Every Day
• 23:13
  Can't Be Christmas is Santa makes clear that it would stop
• 23:16
  the economy. And that is the exact opposite
• 23:20
  of what's going on with the Epcot Food and Wine Festival.
• 23:24
  Well, here's what else is going on with the Epcot Festival at
• 23:28
  the Odyssey Events Pavilion. They've got Muppets this year.
• 23:31
  That's right, visit the Brew Wing Lab to taste Dr. Bunsen,
• 23:34
  Honeydew and Beaker's latest inventions.
• 23:37
  Peanut butter and Jelly, sticky wings and pickle milkshakes,
• 23:41
  among other delights. So, Anthony?
• 23:44
  Again, just to clarify, that's only $134 at the time of this
• 23:48
  recording. It's likely to go up by the time
• 23:49
  you're listening, plus the cost of the food.
• 23:52
  How are you not into this, Anthony?
• 23:53
  Why are you a person like this is the most exciting thing?
• 23:58
  Panelists, what do you think about the Muppet Labs, Brew Wing
• 24:02
  Labs? So I've been actually working
• 24:05
  and it'll hopefully be up by the time this comes out.
• 24:08
  We'll see. But I've been working with a
• 24:10
  friend of mine to get some Intel on this on the Tough Pigs
• 24:14
  website. My friend Mel lives in Florida
• 24:17
  and they went to the parks to check it out and tried some of
• 24:21
  the food and sent us lots of photos and stuff.
• 24:24
  So it's really exciting, except I got to be honest, there's not
• 24:27
  not a hell of a lot going on with this.
• 24:30
  It's the same kind of thing that I feel like Disney will
• 24:34
  occasionally do with The Muppets, where it's like, I
• 24:36
  don't know, just not muppety enough You you want it to be
• 24:40
  more. I get the idea.
• 24:42
  That's like Bunsen and Beaker are making crazy foods that
• 24:44
  don't make sense, just like they once sharpened bananas.
• 24:48
  But there isn't a lot of like, I don't know, I mean, like it.
• 24:52
  What it all comes down to is there's a commemorative cup.
• 24:55
  That has a pretty cute Epcot Food and Wine Festival Sciencey
• 24:59
  logo, but like, it doesn't even have Bunsen and Beaker on it.
• 25:03
  Like, what are we doing here? And Bunsen and Beaker aren't
• 25:06
  actually there. It's prerecorded videos that
• 25:09
  just play on screens. They didn't.
• 25:11
  They didn't bring back the the Muppet Labs mobile mobile lab,
• 25:17
  which was the drive around Bunsen and Beaker animatronic
• 25:21
  puppets that used to drive around the Disney parks.
• 25:24
  They didn't bring that back. It's Bunsen and Beaker on a
• 25:27
  screen. I hear the food's pretty good,
• 25:30
  although Mel did not try the Super Duper hot wings or the
• 25:35
  pickle milkshake. And let me tell you, if I were
• 25:38
  at the park, I would try the pickle milkshake because Pickles
• 25:42
  are my favorite food. I just wish that they did a
• 25:44
  little more than just, you know, they recorded some new Bunsen
• 25:47
  and Beaker content, put it on screens.
• 25:50
  I brought up some posters where Bunsen and Beaker explain the
• 25:53
  science behind the food and, you know, didn't even put Bunsen and
• 25:59
  Beaker on the logo. See, I don't want to get drunk
• 26:03
  with bunsen and Beaker. I don't know.
• 26:06
  I don't even drink. And I want to get drunk with
• 26:08
  Bunsen and Beaker. As tough pigs resident Disney
• 26:16
  Parks fanatic. I am the Ant, the anti Anthony
• 26:19
  strand in that one respect we agree on many things.
• 26:23
  The parks is not one of them, right.
• 26:26
  I have to say when and when you were talking in the in the
• 26:28
  introduction about how Disney generally doesn't care about The
• 26:33
  Muppets. I do want to add that the caveat
• 26:37
  there, it's because of the way Disney is structured, it's clear
• 26:40
  that maybe that the high executives, you know, really
• 26:44
  don't care too much about The Muppets.
• 26:46
  But the Muppet Studio falls under Disney Parks and
• 26:50
  Experiences, or whatever it's been renamed, used to be Parks
• 26:55
  and Resorts. That division truly cares about
• 26:59
  Muppets because they could have thrown anything in there at this
• 27:02
  point. I understand it was a science
• 27:04
  lab. This is not Brew Wings.
• 27:06
  First time at the festival. They've been there before, just
• 27:09
  generally unthemed. They chose to incorporate The
• 27:12
  Muppets into this. They brought them in when they
• 27:14
  didn't have to. Something is better than nothing
• 27:18
  though. I agree not bringing back
• 27:20
  Muppets Mobile after this was a missed opportunity.
• 27:23
  Though I do appreciate that they did film new segments instead of
• 27:26
  just showing old Muppet Labs sketches on the wall, though
• 27:30
  that could be entertaining. And it's not to say, I mean, I
• 27:33
  don't know if you've seen those stuff.
• 27:34
  They're good. Oh no, I know that.
• 27:36
  But I'm glad that they're at least trying to do new things.
• 27:39
  He didn't have to bring in The Muppets, but you brought him in
• 27:41
  because, you know, people care about them.
• 27:44
  Yeah. I mean, and I should, I should
• 27:46
  say, I feel like I kind of came down, came down hard.
• 27:48
  But like, there are a lot of very cute things.
• 27:52
  I just always want more. It's kind of my, my, my take.
• 27:56
  Like, I'm, I'm certainly not opposed.
• 27:59
  And like I said, I think that a lot of the sciency stuff is very
• 28:01
  cute, and I think it is Once In and Beaker are kind of a good
• 28:06
  fit for Epcot in a way that I guess I never thought about.
• 28:10
  Before them are the Swedish Chef, and to be fair, the
• 28:12
  Odyssey is just steps away from where the chef once sold Spence
• 28:16
  Gus Tacos. True.
• 28:18
  Oh, by the way, they're folded into Imagineering I.
• 28:20
  Think, but that's still under the same.
• 28:22
  Section which? Shows that they should have the
• 28:24
  mobile. Lab The fact that the mobile
• 28:27
  labs isn't here is the like, most egregious thing, I think.
• 28:33
  And knowing the layout of the Odyssey, they had the space to
• 28:35
  do it. But I feel like I heard a rumor
• 28:37
  the mobile lab itself like as a unit function was like hard to
• 28:41
  keep up with maintenance wise. Like I believe there was some
• 28:44
  sort of issue with like trying to keep it active.
• 28:47
  I could be completely wrong about that, but I feel like it
• 28:50
  has more. To be.
• 28:51
  It's an older model. You know, but it was so popular.
• 28:54
  Oh my God, it was so great. I remember seeing it live and
• 28:57
  like everyone stopped and was like there's a live Muppet in
• 29:00
  front of me. I have to like stay and and
• 29:03
  watch this thing, you know, Imagineering.
• 29:05
  Absolutely. I think they care so much about
• 29:08
  The Muppets properties and and they, you know, work really hard
• 29:11
  to include them because I especially think that like once
• 29:14
  they announced that Imagineering was going to absorb Muppets,
• 29:18
  that's when I kind of went, oh, Imagineering can have IP.
• 29:23
  That's interesting. And I feel like for Imagineering
• 29:27
  for them, that was a goldmine. They were like, Oh my God, we
• 29:30
  have these characters that we can throw into our parks.
• 29:33
  We don't need permission from the higher ups to have access to
• 29:37
  them because they're our neighbors.
• 29:39
  They literally are. They have offices in the
• 29:40
  Glendale offices, right? You know they are right there
• 29:43
  and so. And I think recently Lee
• 29:46
  Slaughter, who for those who don't know, is head of Muppet
• 29:49
  Studio, she has been very active because she's been a part of
• 29:52
  imagining for so long. Or am I mistaken?
• 29:53
  She has been really smart and strategic, I think actually,
• 29:57
  about how she's kind of layering The Muppets into imagining
• 30:01
  didn't Lee Slaughter. No, she's still there.
• 30:04
  I really think it's still. I believe it's pronounced Lee
• 30:08
  Slaughter. I'm pretty sure correct,
• 30:12
  correct. No, Lee is definitely still
• 30:14
  there. I mean, that would be a very
• 30:16
  short run and it would make me very sad if she was gone.
• 30:19
  But she, you know, because she's been there for so long, I think
• 30:22
  she's actually doing something really smart in terms of the
• 30:25
  past a couple of years, like. And I think what is happening
• 30:28
  right now is that they're kind of incorporating them into the
• 30:30
  parks little by little, slowly and slowly, until eventually you
• 30:33
  wake up and realize, oh. Kind of everywhere right now.
• 30:36
  And I think that that is actually a really smart method
• 30:39
  because if we're going to talk about how I think Disney values
• 30:43
  The Muppets, I think when it comes to how much money they
• 30:45
  want to spend on certain IPS, I don't think Muppets is going to
• 30:47
  be the first thing that comes to their mind in terms of spending
• 30:49
  a lot of money. However, these kind of small
• 30:52
  side projects like having Bunsen and Beaker at Epcot or kind of
• 30:54
  things like that are actually good little things that the more
• 30:58
  little things you add up eventually it'll get to a place
• 31:00
  where hopefully I think where they're kind of.
• 31:03
  Constantly within the purview of the different Disney properties.
• 31:06
  I mean, it has been a slow thing.
• 31:08
  There's a whole theme park named after Animal.
• 31:11
  Exactly. They've been working for years
• 31:13
  on that, you know, jokes. Jokes aside, I mean, it's so
• 31:16
  funny because the original plan for The MGM studios for
• 31:21
  Hollywood Studios was that it was going to be like have a lot
• 31:25
  of Muppet stuff, was like an original idea.
• 31:30
  I mean granted that was that was live, but like they were
• 31:33
  planning a number of of muppet things.
• 31:37
  So, so you're saying this is all Jim Henson's fault for
• 31:40
  abandoning us? If he didn't go and die, I think
• 31:44
  we would have gotten a lot of good stuff.
• 31:46
  So I I don't necessarily doubt that.
• 31:49
  Listen down with Jim Henson. If Jim Henson were still alive,
• 31:54
  what I'm gonna say is I would be able to buy a pickle milkshake
• 31:58
  year round. Well, maybe when you get the
• 32:04
  magic snow globe, you can wish for that, Becca.
• 32:07
  There we go every day. Can't be milkshakes.
• 32:12
  OK, OK, the the other Disney Parks news story is that
• 32:16
  Disney's Jollywood Nights at the Theater of the Stars at Disney's
• 32:19
  Hollywood Studios will be presenting a musical variety
• 32:22
  show for the holidays this year hosted by Kermit the Frog and
• 32:25
  Miss Piggy. Now The Muppets have hosted some
• 32:27
  pretty famous guest stars on their previous variety shows
• 32:30
  like The Muppet Show, Muppets Tonight, but this time they got
• 32:33
  the big A list stars Princess Belle and Princess Tiana.
• 32:37
  How do we feel about this use of the characters?
• 32:39
  Or anything else you want to say about the theme park stuff that
• 32:41
  we have already this is. Just fabulous.
• 32:44
  I mean for the for the first time, The Muppets will be doing
• 32:46
  something for Christmas. For Pete's sake, this has been a
• 32:49
  long time coming. We've been waiting.
• 32:52
  It's almost as if someone was. Like you know what's?
• 32:54
  What's really good? It's one of the best things
• 33:03
  they've ever done. That that that Christmas movie
• 32:57
  they did a while ago, that's like, that's one of the good
• 33:00
  ones. Yeah.
• 33:01
  Mr. Willoughby's Christmas. Yeah, exactly.
• 33:05
  Starring Disney's. Best work Downey Junior my.
• 33:09
  God, but you know, so I I think that this is actually something
• 33:13
  that they should do more of. Like they are the characters who
• 33:17
  are the variety show hosts. And I think it would be cool if
• 33:22
  they sort of hosted Disney keeps doing not just at the parks but
• 33:26
  not at the parks this like like like on Disney Plus and on a BC
• 33:31
  they'll do these like everybody's singing a song from
• 33:34
  Schoolhouse Rock nights and it's like, yes, the.
• 33:39
  Muppets are on those sometimes, but like they are the variety
• 33:43
  host characters. This is what they do, yeah, But
• 33:48
  I will. Just say I agree with you, but I
• 33:51
  would like to add with most of the other characters that Disney
• 33:55
  puts in their parks or puts in a show like this, again, it's like
• 33:59
  the other characters we know about our Princess Belle,
• 34:02
  Princess Tiana. These are characters that they
• 34:04
  can have different people play. If you want Kermit the Frog and
• 34:08
  you want it to be authentic, you have to get the Matt Vogel who
• 34:11
  is also doing stuff for like Sesame Street or whatever like.
• 34:16
  It's a little more complicated to include The Muppets in a way
• 34:19
  that feels really satisfying Now.
• 34:21
  Here's. My question though, are The
• 34:22
  Muppets being featured live or are they being featured through
• 34:25
  video? Oh.
• 34:27
  I believe. If if I remember the press
• 34:30
  release correctly, because I'm the one who wrote the tough pig
• 34:34
  story, I believe it is going to be live puppetry prerecorded
• 34:40
  audio in the same vein as Great Moments in American history.
• 34:44
  I take back my. Comment the great moments in
• 34:47
  American history. I saw it when I was at Disney
• 34:49
  World in 2019 and I enjoyed it. I mean, again, like, look, it
• 34:56
  isn't of the same level of quality as like again, like if
• 35:00
  you want to watch the Muppet movie, you know from.
• 35:04
  But like, as far as theme park entertainment goes, it
• 35:09
  absolutely felt authentic enough to me.
• 35:12
  It was, you know, prerecorded, but live puppeteers.
• 35:15
  And it's actually. Like a really great kind of like
• 35:19
  speaking to cuz I know a few of the puppeteers who perform at
• 35:21
  Disney World and like a lot of them are people who work with
• 35:24
  Henson or are people who have done the workshops and stuff
• 35:26
  like that. And it's actually a great
• 35:28
  opportunity for them to get in with Henson, cuz they usually
• 35:31
  have Henson or Muppets people come down and train them
• 35:34
  especially for those specific like Muppet property things.
• 35:37
  And so it's actually kind of this like.
• 35:39
  New relationship being formed in terms of how Muppets is
• 35:43
  incorporating themselves into the world and I think they're
• 35:46
  becoming a lot more comfortable with the idea of like
• 35:49
  prerecorded segments and having different puppeteers do.
• 35:54
  This I don't know if anybody remembers.
• 35:55
  This remember years ago when they did like a Muppets cruise
• 35:58
  on a Carnival and they had like a show, but like it was like
• 36:01
  Drew Massey and John Kennedy. But like they didn't do
• 36:04
  prerecords. They had them like kind of do
• 36:07
  the voices on the ship. And it turned into this really
• 36:11
  uncomfortable thing for the performers in the company.
• 36:14
  I feel like that's where the first few conversations started,
• 36:16
  like, hey, we can't do that. We have to start being more
• 36:20
  consistent. But I feel like the company is
• 36:22
  getting a little bit more forthright about these kind of
• 36:26
  pre recorded performance segments, especially I mean on
• 36:29
  the Broadway end of things, there's all these rumors about
• 36:31
  Muppets coming to Broadway and the Christmas Carol coming to
• 36:33
  Broadway. That are seeming more and more
• 36:36
  real, and it seems like this method of prerecord is like a
• 36:39
  big thing they're trying to invest in.
• 36:41
  I mean cuz. Disney did not buy just a box of
• 36:44
  puppets. You know, it's that's that's
• 36:47
  what a lot of the, I guess the higher up executives that don't
• 36:50
  understand them don't get exactly.
• 36:52
  It's. It's, you know.
• 36:54
  So yeah, what I think is interesting.
• 36:56
  About this discussion, and I don't say this in a in like a
• 37:01
  negative way, I'm not being. Critical because I have loved
• 37:05
  hearing this entire conversation and getting to be part of it.
• 37:09
  It's fascinating. How so much of?
• 37:10
  What we end up talking about still boils down to decisions
• 37:13
  that were made about 20 years ago in terms of just like Disney
• 37:17
  buying The Muppets and then immediately wrestling with the
• 37:19
  questions of can we use can we have different puppeteers to The
• 37:24
  Muppets? And then similarly, decisions
• 37:27
  made at Sesame Workshop a very long time ago that very slowly
• 37:30
  started moving things. In the direction where they are
• 37:35
  now, it's like so much has changed for The Muppets over the
• 37:40
  past 20 some years, and yet it still kind of feels like very
• 37:44
  little has changed. Like so much has just changed
• 37:45
  for them within the past few months.
• 37:47
  It's a very different landscape for The Muppets.
• 37:49
  We're like The Muppets mayhem exists as an independent entity
• 37:53
  within the Muppet franchise. And yet, while that is true, and
• 37:58
  that means very much to me at the same time.
• 38:01
  I'm still much like the rest of you, just I can't help but look
• 38:05
  about, look at this in the big picture perspective of we're
• 38:09
  still trying to sort out messes that were made when I was a kid.
• 38:15
  I I mean, I see The Muppets. You know, challenges with Disney
• 38:18
  would be the same challenges with Unless in the other studio,
• 38:21
  but I see like from the beginning it was it's an issue
• 38:24
  of cohesion. Of momentum and authenticity and
• 38:28
  if they can get those three things in line, which I feel
• 38:30
  like they did with Muppets Mayhem and then of course the
• 38:33
  writers strike and they can't keep promoting stuff and but
• 38:37
  they actually kept Disney kept The Muppets Mayhem banner on
• 38:42
  Disney Plus for like was it 6 weeks.
• 38:45
  Yeah, in a row they can. Never do that.
• 38:47
  It's usually like 2, maybe 3 weeks and you're done.
• 38:51
  Yeah, especially the fact that they dumped all the episodes at.
• 38:54
  Once, it's not like it was a, you know, something they could
• 38:57
  plug in every week and do it every week.
• 38:59
  Exactly. Yeah.
• 39:00
  Exactly. It wasn't.
• 39:00
  Like The Mandalorian or anything else, I think they only they
• 39:04
  dump everything. That's not like Marvel or Star
• 39:06
  Wars. They usually just dump.
• 39:09
  Basically, basically their policy is quote UN quote adult
• 39:14
  shows get weekly releases, and then quote UN quote family or
• 39:18
  kid shows get bulk releases. The one exception I can think of
• 39:22
  as monsters at work, but that seems to pretty much consist of
• 39:27
  that and that is the first. I've been reminded that that
• 39:31
  exists since that existed. Yeah, the.
• 39:33
  Longest running. You are the new marketing.
• 39:36
  Department for that show, I watched.
• 39:38
  I watched the first two episodes and I said, and I said I'm good.
• 39:42
  That was OK, but not great or even good of.
• 39:49
  All the things they could go to. In that world, And that's what
• 39:52
  they decided. I don't know.
• 39:54
  You wanted the sequel. Here it is.
• 39:57
  But you know that goes into an. Actually very interesting point,
• 39:59
  like the fact that even when Muppets announced that they were
• 40:02
  top of the Billboard charts for the Electric Mayhem album, for
• 40:06
  children's music, it was like this like double edged sword of
• 40:12
  like yes, it's great like that these kind of ratings are coming
• 40:15
  in. But, you know, and I think this
• 40:17
  is a big thing with how Disney markets Muppets, is that they're
• 40:20
  still marketed as a children's entity.
• 40:24
  I mean, frankly, it's only considered children's because
• 40:26
  it's puppets. You know what I mean?
• 40:27
  Like you hear Kermit and Fozzie do that thing from Schoolhouse
• 40:30
  Rock and kids watching it aren't going, Oh my God, I just watched
• 40:34
  them this morning. They're like, huh?
• 40:36
  And their parents are the one who are like, this is crazy
• 40:38
  watching Kermit and Fozzie sing this Schoolhouse Rock song well.
• 40:44
  You know before. Henson's death, he they had like
• 40:46
  the you know, you can draw like Fozzie Bear.
• 40:49
  What were those videos they had for children?
• 40:51
  Those like Playhouse, and they were literally called Playhouse
• 40:53
  Collection videos. Yep.
• 40:55
  Hey, you're as funny as. Fozzie Bear, that was, yeah.
• 40:58
  And then they. Had the Muppet Babies, and those
• 41:00
  were the two things. So having them, you know, you
• 41:03
  know, really get into children's properties.
• 41:04
  I understand that. But I felt like the setup
• 41:07
  happened years ago, back in the. I don't disagree, actually.
• 41:10
  Yeah. And then in the 90s you get the
• 41:12
  sing alongs and you get all this kind of different stuff.
• 41:15
  I don't disagree with that whatsoever.
• 41:18
  It's so interesting. Tonight's Disney Channel.
• 41:21
  Yeah, the. Prince episode.
• 41:23
  They hid the Prince. Of all episodes, which is crazy.
• 41:28
  That. Is crazy.
• 41:29
  Yeah, yeah. So fascinating.
• 41:31
  So while we're talking. About Muppets.
• 41:36
  Lady, JD. You have a.
• 41:38
  You have a herculean task like with these segways like.
• 41:44
  We are. We are we.
• 41:46
  Are going places and JD has to be like in my.
• 41:50
  List and made my I spent. I spent hours on this bulleted
• 41:54
  list. We need to several hours, yes.
• 41:57
  Look, I'm loving where this conversation is going.
• 41:59
  This is great. And also, and we're just here
• 42:01
  and we're just here like. Hey, remember the Wow.
• 42:04
  You're a cartoonist Playhouse videotape that we could pick
• 42:07
  and. Pop This is what?
• 42:08
  I want you to do. I have ADHD correct?
• 42:12
  Like every other Muppet fan, we're all Neo Divergent, so
• 42:15
  we're all just trying to, like, find all his music.
• 42:18
  I think JD contributed to the discussion.
• 42:20
  With before we ever had it. With his Meet the Feebles piece
• 42:24
  on tough figs, yes. How can you?
• 42:27
  Market this as a. Children's show when you're
• 42:30
  making references to meet the Feebles, Feebles.
• 42:34
  So exquisite man rewatched it the other night.
• 42:39
  So beautifully terrible as a defender of meet.
• 42:41
  The Feebles I'm not defending the.
• 42:44
  I defend the exact. I am going to get out the.
• 42:47
  Swoop foomer again, Jamie. We are not making that another
• 42:51
  tangent I. Gave you.
• 42:54
  Several. Paragraphs in my article you.
• 42:58
  Took over like a third of my. Piece, Jamie.
• 43:02
  You're done with, Jamie. I'm blowing the swoop, foomer.
• 43:05
  Calling it I stand with Jamie as another Meet the Feebles
• 43:08
  Defender. I stand with every statement
• 43:10
  Jamie has said. See the movie, please.
• 43:12
  Watch it. Truly phenomenal.
• 43:14
  Becca, weigh in. Your thoughts on me?
• 43:20
  But I haven't seen me at the people.
• 43:17
  I like the. I like the.
• 43:21
  And I liked. I liked King Kong.
• 43:24
  I'm a Peter Jackson's King Kong defender, although I haven't
• 43:27
  seen it in a while. What about that one with the?
• 43:29
  With the guys in the ring. I don't know.
• 43:33
  Did anything come from that? No, no it.
• 43:35
  Didn't and we're moving on a couple of Muppets.
• 43:43
  JD has summoned the. Eagles where JD is taking us to
• 43:47
  the next topic. A couple of so, so.
• 43:51
  OK, OK. A couple of humpets have.
• 43:55
  Popped up unexpectedly at concerts this summer.
• 43:59
  First, Animal made surprise appearances at the Newport Folk
• 44:02
  Festival in late July and performed with the indie groove
• 44:05
  band Goose and The Muppets cover band My Morning Jacket.
• 44:09
  Then Floyd Pepper made a surprise of We're moving past
• 44:14
  it. Then Floyd pepper.
• 44:15
  Made a surprise appearance at a Tyler Childers concert, also in
• 44:19
  Newport, where he and the band performed the Electric Mayhem
• 44:23
  song. Going to get there finally.
• 44:25
  I'd like you, the listener, to remember not to turn around,
• 44:29
  because Zoot is making a surprise appearance right behind
• 44:33
  you right now. If you try to look at him, he
• 44:36
  disappears or stabs you. I can't say for sure.
• 44:40
  Panelists how do? You feel about spontaneous.
• 44:43
  Muppet Music performances. I'm sorry, I'm too busy worrying
• 44:46
  if Zoot's. Going to stab, just don't turn
• 44:48
  around. And you'll be OK.
• 44:50
  With the shoe teeth, that's how he's gonna get you.
• 44:53
  So you all understand now. I didn't actually have to
• 44:55
  transition to keep the show going.
• 44:57
  It's not about my bulleted list. It's about I wrote bad jokes,
• 45:00
  sure, And I've been eager to say them.
• 45:04
  What? I will say is.
• 45:05
  I I'm all for it. It's a little upsetting to us as
• 45:09
  a Muppet website that we can't necessarily report on this stuff
• 45:14
  very easily. We didn't know about it.
• 45:16
  Until it happened. 0 promotion. That's how Outside Lands
• 45:21
  happened. You know what I mean?
• 45:22
  Like it wasn't necessarily announced that the entirety of
• 45:25
  the Electric Mayhem was going to be performing there because
• 45:28
  that's kind of how the famous story of like it started with a
• 45:31
  good number of people and then out of nowhere was like what is
• 45:33
  it? 10,000 people ended up being out
• 45:35
  there for that performance. And so I think so much of it
• 45:37
  also was like why don't we try to re create that way that I
• 45:40
  feel like a. Lot of concerts go these days.
• 45:43
  Yeah, like that was always one of the gimmicks with like the
• 45:46
  Taylor Swift concerts was like. You'll never believe you know
• 45:50
  like what guest she's bringing out this night.
• 45:54
  Like that was with the, you know with even with the last tour and
• 45:57
  you know the ERAS tour is continuing that on.
• 46:00
  And you know like that's the whole that's become kind of like
• 46:05
  the fun thing that I feel like a lot of musicians are doing.
• 46:10
  I mean arguably they always have done.
• 46:12
  That's not. New to Taylor Swift.
• 46:14
  I'm not going to claim she invented it, but like, yeah,
• 46:18
  it's a fun surprise. Animal and Floyd are like any
• 46:21
  other musician in like, that's the thing about The Muppets.
• 46:25
  They exist in our world. Like my morning jacket sang OK.
• 46:32
  OK, OK, let me. Just say before we continue, I
• 46:35
  am again doing another one of my nervous like disclaimers.
• 46:39
  That in terms of The Muppets not wanting to promote these concert
• 46:44
  appearances, I don't know to what extent that has to do with
• 46:47
  the fact that, like, they can't really be promoting the show.
• 46:50
  But I want to clarify, we're not being critical of anyone not
• 46:54
  promoting things right now. Like solidarity with the strike?
• 46:58
  Good. We want the actors who are
• 47:00
  making these things to be respected and make money.
• 47:03
  Now that I've said that, by all means go ahead.
• 47:05
  I'm not mad at. The writers or the the
• 47:08
  performers? I'm mad at the situation which
• 47:11
  we're all feeling. And I think it is one of those
• 47:13
  things that like I think the strike kind of didn't the kind
• 47:16
  of did that. But at the same time, I think
• 47:18
  it's also specifically about exposing it to people who might
• 47:22
  not necessarily already be fans of Muppets, instead of Muppet
• 47:27
  people immediately getting the jump and getting down there.
• 47:30
  Which of course, for us, we're like, hey, we were here first,
• 47:35
  right? At the same.
• 47:35
  Time, you know, I think. I think it's an interesting
• 47:39
  method that they're trying because Disney was heavily
• 47:41
  involved with, you know, this Newport performance weekend and
• 47:46
  it's better than just having. Some viral animations you have
• 47:50
  the puppet. Send them.
• 47:52
  Yeah, exactly. Just consider for a moment.
• 47:55
  With how many people are very happy to clap for Muppets in
• 47:59
  person when they don't even know Muppets are going to be there?
• 48:02
  Imagine if someone told fans, told people they were going to
• 48:05
  be there and see Muppets. I mean, not like they haven't
• 48:08
  ever done it. Obviously they've had success
• 48:10
  with, you know, the Hollywood Bowl and stuff, but like
• 48:13
  imagine, listen man, y'all need to why?
• 48:16
  Why are we not doing more? Baby, I'm not trying to distract
• 48:19
  the the main topic, but like it's just it's that thing.
• 48:24
  It's my same thing with Sesame Street.
• 48:25
  I've been saying this for years. I'm like the Jazz at Lincoln
• 48:27
  Center show from a few years ago was a hit, and I'm kind of like
• 48:31
  what that show was. Next level Matthew, it was
• 48:34
  unbelievable. It was fantastic like I could
• 48:38
  not believe how good the show was and it is one of those
• 48:40
  things that I'm like why are we not taking more advantage of
• 48:44
  this kind of thing. If Sesame Street did a Radio
• 48:46
  City now grants, it's a rents out.
• 48:47
  Radio City is just like an arm and a leg and then maybe a
• 48:49
  kidney. But if Sesame Street did a Radio
• 48:52
  City show, it would sell out in seconds.
• 48:55
  There's no question that that would be a popular event.
• 48:58
  So it does make me beg the question of like these live
• 49:01
  events I think are actually very smart.
• 49:03
  I think they should keep doing them.
• 49:04
  I'm surprised they're not doing them more.
• 49:06
  There's probably more financial obligations at play that I'm not
• 49:09
  considering. But, but I do think it's
• 49:11
  something viable and it's obviously something that for The
• 49:14
  Muppets right now in the age of fighting over currency on
• 49:20
  screen, is something they have over a lot of other IPS, is that
• 49:25
  if they do it live, it's actually better than what
• 49:27
  they're putting on screen. And there's a willingness with.
• 49:31
  The performers now that it's just they want to be doing all
• 49:35
  these things. Yeah, yeah.
• 49:37
  And I'll say. This if I had my wish, there
• 49:40
  would be a Muppet live performance every day.
• 49:42
  But I haven't gotten my snow globe yet from Santa.
• 49:45
  That's the only issue here. It's entirely Santa Claus's
• 49:48
  fault, because he's being. Detained by Epcot Security.
• 49:52
  Every day can't be mupped all right before.
• 49:56
  We go to the break. I'd like to mention that there's
• 49:59
  been a great deal of Muppet merchandise released or at least
• 50:01
  announced. Some released, some announced
• 50:03
  over the past few months. Do any of you want to talk about
• 50:05
  one or two of these new items that really stand out to you?
• 50:08
  How great is it? That there's going to be a line
• 50:11
  of Funko Pops specifically theme to The Muppet Christmas Carol.
• 50:15
  Thank you God with dead. Eyes but.
• 50:19
  No thanks. The Marley brothers alone, I
• 50:23
  mean, I would have figured that. They had given up on Muppets.
• 50:26
  Yeah, I'm not a few like a person.
• 50:28
  I like them. I have a couple, but I have
• 50:31
  never seen Funko Pops that have made me go.
• 50:33
  I need to get that when until I saw the Marley Brothers Funko
• 50:36
  pops, I was like, that is so cool.
• 50:40
  I I just don't I. Feel like there's not a
• 50:42
  consistency with the pupils from from someone who's worked on
• 50:45
  toys I I have this. Yeah, idea of what?
• 50:48
  If you set a standard, you should keep the standard.
• 50:52
  But it seems like it because Disney has like very specific,
• 50:55
  you know, Kermit's eyes have to be seen a certain way.
• 50:58
  I I believe that's why you know he and Robin have certain eyes
• 51:02
  and the rest of them, you know, look.
• 51:05
  Like they're filled with the devil, but.
• 51:10
  I mean Jamie. Jamie as an artist too, and
• 51:13
  obviously not at the same level as you, but like, it really just
• 51:17
  bothers me because again, like the the eyes are the most
• 51:21
  important part of the Muppet. Yes, the thing that I I.
• 51:24
  Usually back if people don't know I I did some art direction
• 51:29
  for different for different action figures but.
• 51:33
  The thing that I would always do is do a pupil placement.
• 51:36
  I would do the Hinson triangle on each page, even Bunsen with
• 51:39
  his glasses. I did.
• 51:40
  I would show the correct way, the incorrect way.
• 51:44
  You wouldn't even have to have English, it was just it's
• 51:46
  visual. So you showed you had.
• 51:48
  Examples of what not to do, as well of what to do what.
• 51:52
  Not to do, Yes, that's amazing. Also if they sent me something.
• 51:57
  There's the way they had it. There's a way that was supposed
• 52:00
  to be, and then the way that they should never do it.
• 52:03
  But yes, but that's. The thing with the the pops is
• 52:06
  that you know when a property is popular, when they have a fun
• 52:10
  for pop and that's that's what I'm excited about.
• 52:13
  Yeah, because the the fact. That they wanted to put some
• 52:16
  money into that and they think they're gonna move units.
• 52:18
  That's a good sign, Jamie. Since we've been talking about
• 52:22
  merch, do you want to ask your question for the panel?
• 52:24
  Oh yeah, my. Question for the panel was.
• 52:28
  What kind of merchandise would you like to see from The Muppets
• 52:32
  and which brands, whether it be Sesame Labyrinth, you know, I
• 52:36
  mean? I'm going to jump in because I
• 52:38
  say this all the time and I know, I think I've said it when
• 52:40
  I was on the paywalled episode of this podcast.
• 52:44
  There needs to be, there needs to be more Sesame merchandise
• 52:47
  for adult collectors. And it boggles my mind that
• 52:51
  there are, It is a nostalgia brand like anything else.
• 52:54
  And we see, you know, I go to Target and you see.
• 52:58
  An entire shelf of like just gremlins and ET and it's like if
• 53:03
  I can get and I have a super super high quality brain gremlin
• 53:07
  figure on my my shelf but like. You could do that for any any of
• 53:12
  the Sesame Street characters and people would buy it.
• 53:15
  Well, Becca, that would. Be fun, but not at all
• 53:18
  civilized. I'm sorry.
• 53:19
  Go ahead. Thank.
• 53:23
  You JD. Like, you know, and even if it's
• 53:26
  on the thing, cuz like I feel like the idea for them is
• 53:28
  they're like if we lean in too much into the nostalgia, it
• 53:30
  takes away from the relevancy of how they're trying to promote
• 53:33
  the characters right now. But even think about it like
• 53:35
  this. Even if you decided to sell the
• 53:37
  characters that aren't even being used right now.
• 53:39
  A hairy monster. A Prairie Don.
• 53:42
  Honkers. If you gave me honkers action
• 53:45
  figures, I would go to the manufacturer myself and by the
• 53:48
  entire damn thing. Because there isn't that kind of
• 53:51
  why? Sesame Place does that.
• 53:54
  Limited edition. Yeah, plush year after year of
• 53:57
  the obscure character. I know one little.
• 54:00
  Thing about the Sesame brand is they are notoriously the
• 54:04
  strictest with their standards. With companies, they're harder
• 54:08
  to work with for a good reason. I mean compare the Super Seven
• 54:12
  that Sesame Street figures with the Super 7 Electric Mayhem
• 54:16
  figures which I have given some some.
• 54:18
  Criticism It's the. Same reaction brand, but they
• 54:22
  are light years apart in quality.
• 54:24
  They both have that kitsch. 80s figure quality where they're
• 54:27
  kind of stiff but in a beautiful way.
• 54:30
  The the sesame ones, those are gorgeous.
• 54:33
  I will definitely be getting those I there, but I I do think
• 54:37
  that you know, $25.00 is a bit steep for for things.
• 54:41
  That come with one. Figure and whatever they don't
• 54:43
  have, like with Palisades, they're going to come with the
• 54:45
  letters, with eyeballs and all the things.
• 54:48
  Or in a piece of 123 sesame. I mean with these, oh God, don't
• 54:52
  even. I mean.
• 54:53
  I've talked about that forever. How how much I I regret that
• 54:58
  they never made those Palisades. And you look at the list of the
• 55:01
  ones that they were going to make and it's like we weren't
• 55:03
  going to make a Gladys the cow one.
• 55:05
  Tears come to my eyes. A guy smiley action figure.
• 55:10
  That was my he's. The guy that gave me my first
• 55:13
  break. So we talk all the time, and he
• 55:15
  he waxes about what he would have done all the time.
• 55:19
  With the. Sesame figures.
• 55:20
  And that. You know, that's.
• 55:22
  They really do wish they could have done those and and he's
• 55:25
  still kind of every once in a while he talks about it and you
• 55:27
  know, and says I would love to do those but yeah, maybe it's
• 55:31
  because I. Think I like Sesame more than I
• 55:33
  like The Muppets proper, but like I feel like Sesame also has
• 55:36
  a deeper bench than The Muppets proper 100%.
• 55:40
  They could do these. It's.
• 55:41
  I think it's the expense of the license and I think I think
• 55:45
  that's that's factor and then how the quality control.
• 55:49
  And the design, it's really not, you know, it's it's not as easy
• 55:52
  to come up and develop a product.
• 55:54
  Plus I I think there is the apprehension of having something
• 55:57
  that has too many small parts for children for a property
• 56:01
  people see as children's property.
• 56:03
  And there's a lot of. Reasons.
• 56:05
  But I still think that's bunk. I think they should make them.
• 56:09
  I think they should make so much listen.
• 56:11
  I was joking. About it earlier, it is bizarre
• 56:13
  to me and honestly, I've been. I'm going to write about it for
• 56:16
  the website. I've been impressed with the
• 56:19
  quality that the Sesame Street makeup that they keep putting
• 56:24
  out is like actually very decent.
• 56:27
  And I have like 10 different Muppet nail Polish colors now
• 56:32
  that I mix and match and it's like.
• 56:35
  OK, you definitely don't want to give this nail Polish to a
• 56:38
  toddler, I'll tell you that much, I mean.
• 56:41
  Look at the damn bombas. I'm like, you think the kids are
• 56:44
  the ones buying these damn socks?
• 56:46
  Like I can tell you right now, it's.
• 56:49
  Mostly adults that I know every, and even people who are not
• 56:52
  Muppet people look at me and go Fergie.
• 56:54
  Look, I have my Count Von Count socks on right now.
• 56:57
  You know what I mean? Like it's most of.
• 56:59
  Those to work all the time. I'm wearing them right now.
• 57:02
  My students get so. Excited when they see they're
• 57:04
  like, is that Bert on your socks?
• 57:07
  But do they have replica? Bert socks the Argyle socks.
• 57:10
  I wish. Oh my God, that's a deep gut.
• 57:13
  But. Yes, fun.com did those two
• 57:16
  costumes that are are terribly made.
• 57:19
  But like, I have the Ernie sweater and it's really, I have
• 57:22
  a lot of fun wearing that terrible piece of cloth.
• 57:24
  And you. I'm sorry, Jamie.
• 57:28
  I'm sorry, JD Well. Panelists, you've given us a lot
• 57:32
  to think about, but it is time for our commercial break and
• 57:37
  we'll be right back after this. Here at Pants for.
• 57:43
  Less We don't just sell high quality pants now, you can also
• 57:47
  find delightful and hilarious tshirts.
• 57:49
  Really. Yeah.
• 57:50
  Just get out your phone and go to tpublic.com/toughtigs OK And
• 57:54
  select from over 30 different Muppet inspired or Muppet
• 57:57
  adjacent designs. I see.
• 57:59
  Oh, so. You don't, actually.
• 58:00
  Sell tshirts Here. You're just saying I can buy
• 58:02
  tshirts while I'm standing in your store?
• 58:04
  That's right. Well, then why wouldn't I just
• 58:06
  walk to another store? You can't.
• 58:09
  Why not? Here in the cube?
• 58:10
  Oh no, I'm in the cube. It's a nightmare.
• 58:13
  Well, it doesn't have to be. No matter where you are, so long
• 58:17
  as you can connect to the Internet, you can always find
• 58:19
  entertainment on toughpigs.com, including videos, podcasts, and
• 58:24
  thousands of articles. There's even more when you join
• 58:27
  the tough pigs Patreon, which is the best way to support the site
• 58:30
  so we can keep doing what we're doing.
• 58:32
  Is it a lot more on the Patreon? No, it's very little more.
• 58:35
  We're stretched pretty thin. But that's still the best way to
• 58:37
  support the site. And the second best way is to
• 58:39
  buy our merch. Actually, the second best is to.
• 58:42
  Get three people to buy our merch.
• 58:44
  Then have them get three more people to buy our merch.
• 58:46
  Then have them get three more people to buy our merch.
• 58:48
  And so on. Isn't that kind of like a
• 58:50
  pyramid scheme, buddy? This is a cube.
• 58:52
  How can it also be a pyramid? They're two different shapes.
• 58:55
  I mean, I'm not an anthropologist.
• 58:57
  I don't know much about pyramid folks.
• 58:59
  Listen, support Trombono. I mean tough pigs on our Patreon
• 59:03
  or T public store today. It's the only way to avoid being
• 59:07
  sent to the cube. And remember, supporting tough
• 59:09
  pigs won't help you avoid zoot. Just don't turn around.
• 59:18
  Welcome back, anybody. We're going to change the tempo
• 59:22
  and modulate as we transition to the next piece in our medley of
• 59:25
  Muppet musings, Disney's The Muppets mayhem.
• 59:28
  All 10 episodes dropped in May, and we've had lots of time to
• 59:32
  rewatch the show and figure out how we feel about it.
• 59:34
  Can each of you? Panelists, tell me in about 5
• 59:38
  minutes or less what your general feelings are about The
• 59:40
  Muppets Mayhem. Yeah, I was both anticipating
• 59:45
  that. I would love it, but I was not
• 59:47
  prepared for how much I was going to be moved by it
• 59:51
  emotionally. I I really was expecting it to
• 59:53
  be great, silly fun, and it absolutely was.
• 59:56
  But I think the one thing from the the 2015 controversial
• 1:00:00
  series that they found was that. This new era of performers are
• 1:00:04
  able to tap into these characters on a very kind of
• 1:00:08
  grounded and deep level with these characters that I don't
• 1:00:10
  think we've seen before. That is actually very
• 1:00:12
  interesting and I don't know if we were necessarily expecting
• 1:00:15
  that. And I think that is something
• 1:00:16
  that they very much were intentional about carrying into
• 1:00:19
  this version of the television world for The Muppets.
• 1:00:25
  And it was really nice to kind of get some of those moments.
• 1:00:28
  But you know, from a structural standpoint, I think that the way
• 1:00:32
  that they had those moments placed throughout the series was
• 1:00:34
  just the right amount where it was like a nice, you know,
• 1:00:37
  wholesome moment here and there that felt great.
• 1:00:40
  But but it was mostly about the silly fun.
• 1:00:43
  So for me, you know, I think Muppets Mayhem is is such a
• 1:00:47
  great. Exciting prospect of where the
• 1:00:51
  studio is going in terms of the content that they're going to
• 1:00:54
  create. I I I think it's just fabulous
• 1:00:57
  my go to. Feeling about this is as someone
• 1:01:00
  who enjoyed the 2015 series, it sort of feels like vindication.
• 1:01:05
  Like yes, you can expand these characters backstories in a way
• 1:01:09
  that makes sense. I mean, I think that's maybe
• 1:01:13
  what the previous series didn't do is that it tried to give them
• 1:01:18
  depth, but it didn't feel authentic to the character here.
• 1:01:21
  Yeah, I can believe. That Floyd got kicked out of
• 1:01:25
  West Point for turning taps into a jazz odyssey.
• 1:01:31
  And you know. Doctor T having this family
• 1:01:35
  legacy to have to live up to, but still managing to fulfill it
• 1:01:38
  in his own way. It's it's one of those.
• 1:01:42
  It's just it feels natural. I'm reminded of a conversation I
• 1:01:46
  had with Craig Shemmon, for those of you don't know, Muppet
• 1:01:50
  writer. President of the Jim Henson
• 1:01:53
  legacy. I spoke with him a while back
• 1:01:55
  and he made a very interesting point.
• 1:01:58
  You know, if it can be done without puppets, it shouldn't be
• 1:02:01
  done with, It shouldn't be done with the puppets.
• 1:02:04
  Which I think is the Jerry Jewell rule that they that that
• 1:02:07
  he used to give them. And I.
• 1:02:10
  Think where this one got it right is that it felt like you
• 1:02:14
  couldn't tell this story without puppets.
• 1:02:18
  Yeah. And I I.
• 1:02:19
  Agree with. Fergie, I mean the the depth
• 1:02:21
  that they got these who thought you could get depth out of
• 1:02:24
  animal of all people. Come on, man.
• 1:02:27
  Famously Frank. Oz says he's got like 5 driving
• 1:02:31
  emotion. What is it?
• 1:02:32
  He said he's a one note character.
• 1:02:33
  Pain Drums. And yet.
• 1:02:36
  Somehow within. All that you find, it all melds
• 1:02:40
  together in the core of this character, who really is a
• 1:02:44
  nurturing, loving soul. They reconned him, they kind of
• 1:02:50
  reconned him in this because the old version of him chasing
• 1:02:54
  women, you just for 10 episodes, you can't.
• 1:02:58
  You can't. Do that anymore.
• 1:03:00
  But they still found something. In him that they could do.
• 1:03:03
  And and it expanded the character and it made it more
• 1:03:06
  fun. They took that, like, you know,
• 1:03:08
  guy that loves Bunny rabbits and they found more of that, which I
• 1:03:12
  thought was cool. Yeah.
• 1:03:13
  So. I.
• 1:03:14
  Really couldn't have had lower expectations for The Muppets
• 1:03:18
  Mayhem, which maybe feels like a mean thing to say.
• 1:03:22
  But I was like, there's no way that an Electric Mayhem show is
• 1:03:25
  going to work. I can't believe that there's a
• 1:03:28
  human cast like that's. But also like, why, you know, I
• 1:03:32
  just was like, this is not going to work.
• 1:03:34
  And I really enjoyed the show. I I know and I talk about this a
• 1:03:39
  little in my review for the website toughpigs.com.
• 1:03:43
  I think the last three episodes kind of don't stick the landing
• 1:03:48
  as well as I had hoped, but those first seven episodes, you
• 1:03:53
  know, are really entertaining and really do provide a good
• 1:03:58
  direction that not only for the Electric Mayhem, but honestly
• 1:04:02
  that I would like to see them taking the other Muppet
• 1:04:06
  characters in. I really enjoyed it.
• 1:04:09
  I had my quibbles with it again, especially with those last three
• 1:04:11
  episodes. But like.
• 1:04:13
  As a whole, I was really, I was really pleased, you know, And
• 1:04:18
  my, my, my fiance was watching it with me.
• 1:04:21
  And they're not really a big Muppet fan, although they like
• 1:04:25
  them and they weren't even going to watch it.
• 1:04:29
  They were like, just watch it yourself.
• 1:04:31
  And then they came over and they were like, I think Muppets
• 1:04:34
  Mayhem is good. And that was the ultimate, the
• 1:04:37
  ultimate compliment that someone who you know doesn't always love
• 1:04:40
  all of these Muppet things was like.
• 1:04:43
  Let me. Think this one is good.
• 1:04:45
  The biggest thing for me is that a lot of my friends who don't
• 1:04:47
  watch Muppets stuff frequently because I also think that Disney
• 1:04:51
  has actually done a pretty good job with marketing it.
• 1:04:54
  They could do more as they always could.
• 1:04:56
  But I think that with this one, particularly in comparison to
• 1:04:58
  some of the other stuff aka Muppets Haunted Mansion, which
• 1:05:01
  received none, I was very happy with the amount that they were
• 1:05:07
  kind of pushing at. The number of billboards and
• 1:05:09
  subway posters that I saw in New York alone really delighted me.
• 1:05:13
  And I had a lot of friends texted me and be like, I started
• 1:05:15
  watching this cuz I know how much you love The Muppets and I
• 1:05:17
  I really like it or just kind of this sense of like whoa, I
• 1:05:22
  wasn't expecting to kind of be into it.
• 1:05:24
  This is so fun. I want to watch some of the
• 1:05:26
  other stuff which which I think is always a great way for them
• 1:05:30
  to kind of. Have new fans enter the sphere.
• 1:05:34
  I I agree. I.
• 1:05:35
  Think the marketing was maybe not as aggressive as the 2015
• 1:05:41
  show yet still solid. I think they were more strategic
• 1:05:44
  about it. And again the the writers strike
• 1:05:47
  I think really hampered their ability to to show what they
• 1:05:51
  could do well, which is live appearances.
• 1:05:54
  I do know, without revealing too much, that there was, there were
• 1:06:00
  going to be late night appearances, there were going to
• 1:06:02
  be TV. And that just all went away.
• 1:06:05
  The campaign. The campaign that was planned
• 1:06:07
  out was, yeah, completely derailed.
• 1:06:10
  But yeah, you know, the show was finished in time and it seems to
• 1:06:14
  be gathering quite a bit of good buzz.
• 1:06:17
  What did you all? Think of the show's music.
• 1:06:19
  Have you have you listened to the album since you watched the
• 1:06:22
  show? And does it feel you know right
• 1:06:24
  for The Muppets and right for the band?
• 1:06:26
  How are you feeling? I like it a lot.
• 1:06:28
  I I do listen to it somewhat often.
• 1:06:30
  We we have the vinyl. Do you have the purple or the
• 1:06:34
  green? Or do you have both?
• 1:06:36
  Like a real fan? OK, I don't have.
• 1:06:41
  Both, that is. I I I might collect vinyl, but
• 1:06:44
  that is a depth that I will not go to.
• 1:06:47
  I thought it was completely ridiculous when Taylor Swift
• 1:06:51
  released Midnight's on 6 different color vinyls and it
• 1:06:54
  was like collect them all. I remember getting the e-mail on
• 1:06:58
  the mailing list. It was like collect them all.
• 1:07:00
  I'm like I am not spending 180 dollars.
• 1:07:03
  Yeah, to buy the same. Album 6 times over Ridiculous.
• 1:07:08
  The green one came in for me and I was like, oh, why did I do?
• 1:07:15
  I mean to be fair at. Least it was only two versions
• 1:07:19
  with Muppets they have. Very true.
• 1:07:21
  Yeah, it was. So far.
• 1:07:23
  So far. No.
• 1:07:24
  I like it. I like it.
• 1:07:26
  A. Lot, I will say.
• 1:07:28
  I find some of the covers to be a little strange.
• 1:07:33
  There gets to be the point where I'm like.
• 1:07:36
  And I have so much respect for the new performers, but it's
• 1:07:39
  like I'm not listening to Cyndi Lauper singing true Colors and
• 1:07:44
  I'm also not listening to original Janice sing True
• 1:07:48
  Colors. So it's almost like, you know,
• 1:07:50
  you put a piece of carbon paper under your song, but I don't
• 1:07:55
  know that feels a little mean. It's some of those give me a
• 1:07:58
  little bit of trouble. But the the original songs I
• 1:08:02
  genuinely love and. I I really like rock on and and
• 1:08:08
  gotta be and going to get there. I think that they're all really
• 1:08:12
  good and and certainly that style would work for other
• 1:08:15
  Muppet characters as well. Beyond the The Electric Mayhem.
• 1:08:19
  Like, I think this songwriting team could write a good song for
• 1:08:22
  Kermit. I want to.
• 1:08:25
  Apologize for saying. I was trying to make a reference
• 1:08:28
  to to Carbon paper the Rolf song and I want to apologize.
• 1:08:37
  OK, so first of all it. Didn't it didn't land with even
• 1:08:40
  this group of people. And second of all, it felt a
• 1:08:43
  little mean spirited. I I think.
• 1:08:47
  I think that again. I think that the new performers
• 1:08:51
  are doing incredible jobs, incredible jobs, but it does
• 1:08:55
  lose something when you're not looking at the puppet while
• 1:08:58
  listening to the music. I agree with maybe the cover
• 1:09:04
  versions, Not that there aren't ones I enjoy.
• 1:09:07
  I enjoy join together just because I love the who's
• 1:09:12
  version. But the originals, Yes,
• 1:09:16
  absolutely. Saying I would say rock on
• 1:09:19
  within a matter of weeks is probably my most listened to
• 1:09:23
  Muppet song from this century. Like in the last 23 years.
• 1:09:29
  Yeah, that's the one that sticks in my.
• 1:09:30
  Head So bravo for giving this band more than one original
• 1:09:36
  song. I wanted to see more duets.
• 1:09:39
  With famous people, they just kind of had them pop in.
• 1:09:42
  You know and I I thought you know an album of just them doing
• 1:09:45
  you know songs with musical artists would sell well but when
• 1:09:50
  it's yeah I as Becca said I. But I think I think that's a
• 1:09:55
  great second album for them. I think it's for the tour if
• 1:09:58
  they do a. Tour.
• 1:09:59
  Yeah, if they do a tour season or something like like we were
• 1:10:02
  just saying about surprise. Guests being a big part of a lot
• 1:10:06
  of modern concert tours. Yeah, again.
• 1:10:08
  We showed up to your tours now. You show up to our.
• 1:10:13
  But you know. I, I my vinyl is like posted up
• 1:10:16
  and a friend of mine was like, what what is that?
• 1:10:18
  And I was explaining to them and I sound stupid, but I got like a
• 1:10:22
  little emotional, almost emotional because I was like
• 1:10:25
  Muppet fans have been waiting for an Electric Mayhem album for
• 1:10:28
  as long as they've been around and it's like really exciting
• 1:10:32
  that there is an album that is strictly them.
• 1:10:34
  Their music it's mostly original the only and it's and can you
• 1:10:38
  picture that is the only song you know they're not doing
• 1:10:41
  rocking all around the world from Muppets.
• 1:10:44
  You know they're not doing nightlife.
• 1:10:45
  Like it's it's really just like brand new material that they're
• 1:10:49
  doing and it's really exciting and I love that they're kind of
• 1:10:52
  branching out like gonna get there is such a like new century
• 1:10:56
  folk song that like we have that we we what's the one that they
• 1:11:00
  did at the O2 and Hollywood Bowl?
• 1:11:03
  I can't remember it's the one where they show the video in the
• 1:11:06
  back and they're like traveling everywhere.
• 1:11:08
  It's a cover, but like runs. Or.
• 1:11:10
  No, no, it's. I think it's home.
• 1:11:13
  Oh, yeah. I remember when I watched them
• 1:11:15
  do home, I was like, this is such a good cover.
• 1:11:18
  I was like, they sound really good on folk stuff.
• 1:11:20
  Like, really good folk stuff. And I love that they leaned into
• 1:11:23
  that. And I think that, you know,
• 1:11:24
  something that's evident in Mayhem is that they really kind
• 1:11:30
  of analyzed the Mayhem history in terms of like what has
• 1:11:34
  worked, what has worked recently, what worked in the
• 1:11:36
  past and how do we all encompass it in this.
• 1:11:39
  For me, I don't know why, but my favorite is We Are One.
• 1:11:42
  I think. I think it's because Floyd is
• 1:11:44
  leading on it and I love Matt's Floyd so much it it just makes
• 1:11:48
  my heart so warm. And I think he sounds so good on
• 1:11:50
  that song. Between that and rock on, those
• 1:11:53
  are like the two that I go back and forth.
• 1:11:56
  I also think I love their rock'n'roll all night.
• 1:12:01
  I think it's so fitting that they're doing a KISS song and it
• 1:12:04
  just makes me so happy anytime I hear it.
• 1:12:08
  Also weirdly. Enough the.
• 1:12:09
  One I listen to a lot is making mayhem.
• 1:12:11
  The Sophia Carson version. Just cuz it's so damn funny.
• 1:12:15
  Just like. These.
• 1:12:17
  Off and they. Let's make a song about it and
• 1:12:19
  it becomes a huge hit. And they did.
• 1:12:21
  And I love that they did not do one with the Mayhem band, that
• 1:12:24
  they only had the Sophia Carson version.
• 1:12:29
  It is funny but. It's interesting that they have
• 1:12:32
  their celebrity so like contained in that way, cuz you
• 1:12:36
  were talking about them doing duets.
• 1:12:38
  I feel like they made a point in the show about how they weren't
• 1:12:42
  going to have the mayhem. Like, it wouldn't make that much
• 1:12:46
  sense for the mayhem to just record with a bunch of big
• 1:12:48
  artists or big producers for the sake of big artists and big
• 1:12:51
  producers. But they wanted to keep it
• 1:12:53
  authentically. Mayhem.
• 1:12:54
  And I do wonder if they could have found a way to do that
• 1:12:57
  while incorporating some, if not contemporary artists than like
• 1:13:02
  artists from any any. Time.
• 1:13:03
  Like there are still artists who had their heyday decades ago who
• 1:13:07
  are making music today. It could have been done, but
• 1:13:11
  like, I don't. I don't even know how to speak
• 1:13:13
  to a conversation about Muppet music because, like, I even
• 1:13:18
  though I'm the one who wrote the My Week With Muppet cover series
• 1:13:21
  for Tough Pigs, I'm not that inclined to listen to Muppets
• 1:13:24
  singing other people's songs. I would much rather listen to
• 1:13:27
  the other people sing their songs.
• 1:13:28
  And I'm also not. I didn't even come into this as
• 1:13:31
  the biggest fan of the Electric Mayhem, so I just don't even
• 1:13:34
  know how to talk about this show, which makes me makes it a
• 1:13:39
  little hard for me to even know how to moderate this podcast.
• 1:13:42
  But you know, I mean, hey, it's got weird, Al.
• 1:13:45
  That's all you need. That's true.
• 1:13:47
  Finally. It is.
• 1:13:49
  Al all you need is. I I'm.
• 1:13:54
  Just so happy that he's finally on film.
• 1:13:58
  On camera in a Muppet production.
• 1:14:00
  And not just a photo shoot from Muppet Man.
• 1:14:02
  Way too long, Way too long. There's such.
• 1:14:05
  A no brainer. It felt like there was a.
• 1:14:07
  Restraining order or something? Because that's the only thing I
• 1:14:10
  could think of that would keep weird on The Muppets Apart.
• 1:14:12
  Man, that weird. Algonzo feud in the 90s, I mean.
• 1:14:17
  It all started when. Muppets Tonight got Coolio.
• 1:14:20
  You know that, OK. I mean, there's no doubt if they
• 1:14:24
  had gotten a third season there would have been more.
• 1:14:26
  But you know, and God rest his soul, the fact that there's
• 1:14:28
  nothing with them in peewee is crazy to me.
• 1:14:31
  Like I I feel like. That's a match.
• 1:14:33
  It was. A huge bad and.
• 1:14:36
  It seems it was a mutual. Elaboration Society he did.
• 1:14:40
  Say the alphabet. On Sesame Street, but that was
• 1:14:44
  edited out of a lot of rebroadcast because of all the
• 1:14:47
  peewee. Controversy and then.
• 1:14:50
  The He also did rubber the first he just put down the ducky.
• 1:14:53
  Yeah, yeah. And speaking.
• 1:14:55
  Of Muppets. Who were some of your favorite
• 1:14:58
  guests on this show? You know what?
• 1:15:00
  Actually, we already said Weird Al.
• 1:15:01
  And I don't think we're going to find anyone who we were more
• 1:15:04
  happy to see with The Muppets than Weird Al.
• 1:15:05
  I will say I love Morgan. Freeman's cameo I love that he
• 1:15:10
  can. He.
• 1:15:10
  Can make fun of of his own. Yeah, his own legacy that way.
• 1:15:14
  The fact that he is this great performer and it's been in so
• 1:15:18
  many things. Like, yeah, now I'm going to
• 1:15:19
  play Zoot. Why not Zoot?
• 1:15:22
  Well, my favorite alongside him is Bill Barretta's son, Jackson.
• 1:15:29
  Playing the actual Dance of Equal.
• 1:15:31
  Fame and stature. Yes, equal fame and stature.
• 1:15:37
  I like Cheech. And Chong?
• 1:15:38
  Run it and they gave us a zoot's name.
• 1:15:41
  So there you go. Oh my.
• 1:15:43
  Gosh, you know, Dave. Dave Goles didn't really have,
• 1:15:47
  you know, a character of the country trio, but he was already
• 1:15:49
  Dave Zoot, so. If you think about.
• 1:15:55
  It he was there. All right, so.
• 1:15:58
  Who are Who are the standout characters from this show?
• 1:16:00
  I'm asking this even though I think we already know.
• 1:16:02
  Like we were all wowed. They were all pretty funny.
• 1:16:07
  Like we were definitely surprised by lips.
• 1:16:10
  Now having a fully formed character who's just hilarious
• 1:16:14
  what Peter has done with lips, it should not go unnoticed.
• 1:16:17
  I think that, you know, Steve had done something so specific
• 1:16:21
  with him and sense of like he felt like a very Louis Armstrong
• 1:16:24
  or kind of like very New Orleans kind of character.
• 1:16:28
  And I think what Peter was able to find separate from him but
• 1:16:33
  stayed true in a character that was so underrepresented is
• 1:16:38
  absolutely astonishing. And and it gave and to the point
• 1:16:41
  now where now I before Lips was one of those characters that I
• 1:16:45
  was like, oh, look, they got lips in how cool.
• 1:16:47
  Now I cannot think of the Electric Mayhem without Lips.
• 1:16:51
  It doesn't happen so every scene.
• 1:16:53
  He was then he did and and I like that he didn't have the
• 1:16:56
  gravely voice because that that competes kind of with Dr. T.
• 1:17:01
  I felt like they they went. They went an interesting way
• 1:17:04
  with him. I liked that.
• 1:17:05
  It's another Peter Lynn. 'S magic trick, like he somehow
• 1:17:08
  just anytime you give Peter the chance to do anything with The
• 1:17:13
  Muppets, whether it's an original character or a recast
• 1:17:15
  or this weird space in between where it almost feels like an
• 1:17:20
  original character because of just how little we saw, yeah.
• 1:17:23
  Original. You're always just going to be
• 1:17:26
  amazed by what Peter can come up with and how.
• 1:17:29
  He just embodies a character so much and makes it so alive.
• 1:17:34
  But like Dave Goals is killing it with a character who normally
• 1:17:38
  doesn't even talk much when in the world.
• 1:17:41
  Well, the whole the back. Story with the shoe like how he
• 1:17:45
  was so dedicated to like figuring I mean he's so weird
• 1:17:49
  and it's like so proven that like you know he but but what
• 1:17:53
  made what made my heart warm was that it was like Dave was still
• 1:17:56
  he was in the shop building the shoe building the teeth.
• 1:18:01
  And like he was so dedicated to figuring out like what was going
• 1:18:05
  to be this new iteration of Zoot.
• 1:18:08
  And I think it's really astonishing because Dave is the
• 1:18:10
  only one that's been there from day one that is still there And
• 1:18:13
  he is not you know and not that that you know he shouldn't but
• 1:18:18
  he is not somebody that's been like it has to be this.
• 1:18:21
  I refuse to change. I refuse to evolve.
• 1:18:24
  I have used, you know, move and and and.
• 1:18:26
  I'm not saying that if even if he was like that, he'd
• 1:18:28
  necessarily be wrong. But I think his open and
• 1:18:31
  willingness to move with the flow of how the characters are
• 1:18:35
  deciding to evolve, whether that's based on corporate entity
• 1:18:38
  decisions or however it is, the way he is decided to ebb and
• 1:18:43
  flow with the brand. I think is so beautiful and it's
• 1:18:46
  so clear in mayhem because Zoot is still Zoot.
• 1:18:49
  But the ways in which Zoot has like kind of like evolved into
• 1:18:52
  this almost ethereal being in this new iteration of it is so
• 1:18:57
  fascinating and it's amazing that Dave is so not only willing
• 1:19:02
  but clearly excited to do that kind of character work, but he
• 1:19:06
  also. Prefers zoot.
• 1:19:07
  Not to talk much. I I, I, you know, see interviews
• 1:19:10
  and then he he does get to talk some and I like that because I
• 1:19:14
  prefer him to talk some. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:19:18
  When it's just a little bit like I I imagine you probably all
• 1:19:21
  remember this, but there was that strange.
• 1:19:17
  But it's still. I think it was a a birthday
• 1:19:26
  message that was recorded for Jerry Nelson in the 90s where
• 1:19:29
  it's like all these different Muppets from different
• 1:19:32
  productions recorded their voices and it's a very strange
• 1:19:36
  thing where. They supposedly have the band
• 1:19:39
  there. They keep talking about how the
• 1:19:41
  Electric Mayhem is there to to sing with them or whatever.
• 1:19:44
  And they sadly don't have Doctor Teeth or Janice at the time
• 1:19:49
  because it was the 90s and Jerry Nelson would have been Floyd and
• 1:19:53
  this was a surprise for Jerry. So you just have Animal and
• 1:19:56
  Zoot, and Zoot is doing so much more talking for the band than
• 1:19:59
  usual. And it's odd.
• 1:20:00
  It's weird when you hear Zoot doing much talking.
• 1:20:04
  That's like coherent. You kind of need Zoot to be this
• 1:20:09
  interruption who is completely in his own plane of existence,
• 1:20:14
  and they captured it perfectly here without minimizing him,
• 1:20:18
  without pushing him to the background like it is just the
• 1:20:20
  right amount of Zoot. Now do I understand the weird
• 1:20:23
  magical direction they took with him?
• 1:20:25
  No, I don't get it. It's honestly not my cup of tea.
• 1:20:29
  But then. Again, I'm just the moderator.
• 1:20:32
  I'm not one of the panelists. Let's hear from you, other other
• 1:20:35
  favorite characters. How about the human cast?
• 1:20:37
  Like, we went into this. Most of us, I think, expecting
• 1:20:39
  to not care about the humans. And then lo and behold, like I'm
• 1:20:44
  rooting for the romance. I'm invested in the romance.
• 1:20:47
  What? What happened?
• 1:20:50
  I don't know I I. Still, I still feel like.
• 1:20:53
  I get that for like marketing reasons or whatever.
• 1:20:56
  It helps to have like, recognizable human stars, but
• 1:20:59
  like. I think that this would have
• 1:21:01
  been the perfect opportunity to introduce some new Muppets.
• 1:21:05
  Oh, let the humans have a little bit of the screen time.
• 1:21:09
  There are always humans in Muppet productions.
• 1:21:11
  It's fine. OK.
• 1:21:16
  Wow. I mean.
• 1:21:18
  What would The Muppets take Manhattan be without Ronnie
• 1:21:20
  Crawford? You know, I I HM.
• 1:21:27
  I don't know, Matthew, you have successfully, very quickly and
• 1:21:30
  efficiently made me question by insistence that humans need to
• 1:21:35
  be represented in muppet productions.
• 1:21:37
  OK, Oh no, that wasn't meant with.
• 1:21:39
  Any sarcasm that was OK? I couldn't tell you that Could
• 1:21:42
  have been interpreted either way that.
• 1:21:45
  Was a weird presentation of mine, but.
• 1:21:48
  Yeah, you do need that human own, perhaps.
• 1:21:50
  Maybe the more essential element would be, you know, Lady and
• 1:21:53
  Nikki Holiday and well, yeah, that's where that depends on
• 1:21:57
  the. Production, because I think, you
• 1:21:58
  know there, I think that's dependent on the function with
• 1:22:01
  which The Muppets need to be used.
• 1:22:02
  Because I think the thing that's made me laugh in the past like
• 1:22:05
  five years is the trend of OK, you're doing a Muppet movie and
• 1:22:08
  there's one human go. There's only been one entity
• 1:22:12
  ever, that has done that exact thing.
• 1:22:15
  And everyone has defined it as a quality of The Muppets, but I
• 1:22:20
  think it's actually a very interesting perspective on how
• 1:22:24
  the the audience takes in The Muppets.
• 1:22:27
  When I was a kid, I couldn't give a about the humans.
• 1:22:31
  I only wanted to see The Muppets.
• 1:22:33
  But I think what it does is, and this is going to be such a
• 1:22:36
  random example, but I follow me in Tyler Perry's Madea films.
• 1:22:42
  If you have Madea the entire time, it actually doesn't work.
• 1:22:46
  You have to split it up with some of these other characters
• 1:22:49
  and some of these other side plots that personally I still
• 1:22:51
  don't give a crap about. However, it makes those Madea
• 1:22:54
  moments a lot better and it actually provides a function
• 1:22:58
  that I think really works in terms of how you set up classic
• 1:23:01
  comedy bits between the straight man and the funny man.
• 1:23:04
  If you have the humans, they're providing this kind of weird,
• 1:23:07
  dramatic straight man function. It gives more opportunity for
• 1:23:10
  The Muppets to be who they are. Now, granted, the balance of how
• 1:23:14
  you do that is again, like I'm going to say dependent
• 1:23:17
  production to production, and not all the time does that need
• 1:23:19
  to be the case. There are no humans in Muppet
• 1:23:20
  Classic Theater and Muppet Classic Theater is Absolutely
• 1:23:23
  Fabulous. But within something like
• 1:23:25
  Muppets Mayhem, I also am very interested in like the
• 1:23:29
  intersection between like The Muppets existence in the human
• 1:23:32
  world and how there's no. Question about how those two
• 1:23:36
  interact with each other. And there's no question that
• 1:23:38
  there are just Muppets in the world.
• 1:23:40
  And so I think it's a very interesting thing.
• 1:23:42
  With all that said, I know A. Lot of people.
• 1:23:46
  Including myself the first My first person is Taj Mori.
• 1:23:49
  I think he is the most perfect person to ever interact with The
• 1:23:51
  Muppets on a regular basis that I've seen.
• 1:23:54
  However, Sara Chaudhry, who plays Lily Singh's sister, I
• 1:24:00
  actually think is. Fabulous in the show.
• 1:24:03
  And I really love that. The element that she plays,
• 1:24:05
  especially alongside someone like Janice, and it's like kind
• 1:24:08
  of the first time that I feel like I've seen in a contemporary
• 1:24:11
  setting, someone in the younger generation interacting with The
• 1:24:14
  Muppets in a way that makes me go, oh, this isn't weird or
• 1:24:17
  cringy. I actually can see this
• 1:24:19
  relationship being something that's realistic and I would
• 1:24:23
  love to see more of that see mean it's better.
• 1:24:25
  Than studio DC almost live. Colonoscopy.
• 1:24:30
  Is better than Studio. No, no, no, I will take.
• 1:24:33
  No studio DC slander here. The 2nd Special is absolutely
• 1:24:37
  exquisite. No, it's a terrible thing.
• 1:24:39
  I can't believe it happened. I do have to say.
• 1:24:42
  Though Fergie putting it in terms of the Madea movies
• 1:24:45
  actually is making me question my initial point of yeah, you
• 1:24:50
  know what, maybe you're right. Maybe we don't need maybe we
• 1:24:54
  need a break from The Muppets for The Muppets to be funny.
• 1:24:57
  Maybe. Maybe it is like that.
• 1:25:00
  I think you need the humans to. Make The Muppets more grounded.
• 1:25:03
  I think it provides a like. Kind of specialness.
• 1:25:05
  It's the juxtaposition. I I think the juxtaposition is
• 1:25:09
  what helps, because if you just have the craziness all the time,
• 1:25:12
  there's nothing to compare it to.
• 1:25:15
  But I I found like the the, the, Taj and oh gosh, what what's her
• 1:25:20
  name? Taj and Nora.
• 1:25:22
  Dynamic to be a lot more interesting than the Gary and
• 1:25:25
  Mary. And the 20?
• 1:25:28
  11 film I feel like they got the balance right.
• 1:25:32
  And mayhem that they didn't quite get right.
• 1:25:35
  Well, they also get more. Time to do and the characters
• 1:25:37
  weren't. Provided as commentary on the
• 1:25:39
  very thing that we're making. Sorry, I'll stop now.
• 1:25:42
  Yeah, I mean. Like, yeah.
• 1:25:44
  That's The thing is like, I feel like in Nope, it's all 2011.
• 1:25:49
  Gary and Mary were like at their best.
• 1:25:52
  They were supposed to just be kind of like.
• 1:25:55
  Symbols representing a male and female lead in a Muppet movie.
• 1:26:02
  We didn't know them like. As real characters, whereas I do
• 1:26:05
  feel like, you know, Moog and Nora, we kind of have more of
• 1:26:10
  that sense. But also I think that Gary and
• 1:26:13
  Mary, they're having their own story.
• 1:26:16
  And Walter is 1/3 wheel and Walter is a fan of The Muppets.
• 1:26:22
  Walter is just this hinge, this very loose hinge that keeps Gary
• 1:26:27
  and Mary somewhat sort of kind of connected to The Muppets.
• 1:26:30
  But not I was going to say he'll.
• 1:26:32
  Have The Muppets without Gary and Mary, whereas this story
• 1:26:36
  about the Electric Mayhem like has the the romance between the
• 1:26:40
  humans entirely interconnected with their relationships to the
• 1:26:45
  Mayhem. Yes, that keeps us interested in
• 1:26:48
  what these humans are doing. It's all relevant.
• 1:26:50
  It's all part of our well. They end up with the characters.
• 1:26:53
  Yeah, they developed the characters.
• 1:26:55
  They weren't developed in the Siegel film.
• 1:26:57
  They were kind of underdeveloped and overexposed with screen time
• 1:27:02
  in which I feel Muppets mayhem. They were blended nicely.
• 1:27:05
  But there's always gonna be fans that just want to see the
• 1:27:08
  puppets, you know? They don't want to see that the
• 1:27:10
  other characters the entirety of the. 2011 film is just
• 1:27:13
  commentary on the nostalgia of it.
• 1:27:15
  It wasn't actually invested in the actual characters itself,
• 1:27:17
  which is what makes As much I love Peter, I love what they
• 1:27:21
  have morphed Walter into. But the creation of Walter makes
• 1:27:25
  no sense. You can't have a muppet that is.
• 1:27:28
  Commentary on love of Muppets. That's why Moog is a very
• 1:27:32
  interesting character, because Moogs love of The Muppets is
• 1:27:35
  what makes his relationship to The Muppets exciting.
• 1:27:37
  When you have a human that's in service of The Muppets, it's
• 1:27:40
  actually what makes the relationship work.
• 1:27:43
  Yeah, but if you only have that with Muppets doing that with
• 1:27:45
  each other, it doesn't make The Muppets special, but it's why
• 1:27:48
  you have those original films. The Muppet Movie is great with
• 1:27:50
  all those cameos because every single one of those cameos is in
• 1:27:54
  service of how The Muppets move the plot forward.
• 1:27:57
  And when you have something that only is there to just, like,
• 1:28:00
  exemplify the nostalgia of it, you're actually not doing
• 1:28:03
  anything. You're.
• 1:28:04
  And it's like you said, they're just overexposing the amount of
• 1:28:06
  time that they're on screen. And it's like this weird middle
• 1:28:09
  spot. And it's why they get the cutesy
• 1:28:11
  elements of it, because you're not invested in the character
• 1:28:13
  itself. But that's what makes Muppets
• 1:28:15
  Mayhem work. And to be honest, I think that's
• 1:28:17
  a Bill Beretta thing for sure. But that's very much an Adam
• 1:28:19
  Goldberg thing. Yeah, it's very much a Adam
• 1:28:21
  Goldberg thing that he brought concerns.
• 1:28:23
  About Adam Goldberg, I didn't know how that was going to be,
• 1:28:26
  but. It it blended perfectly.
• 1:28:29
  And Bill Barrett gets these characters.
• 1:28:31
  He gets them and not. Only does he get.
• 1:28:34
  Them he gets where they should be going because you cannot just
• 1:28:38
  trap them in in what is the past.
• 1:28:41
  But you cannot have them go off in in the in the direction that
• 1:28:44
  a BC went off. And like I read a book I won't
• 1:28:48
  even name. The name of it, in which they
• 1:28:50
  were going into different Hollywood writers rooms and
• 1:28:54
  different things and that if someone said that wrote for The
• 1:28:58
  Muppets and on a BC, you'd never write for them again, I said
• 1:29:02
  good, but but. Because he's like anyone.
• 1:29:05
  Anyone could just do the puppetry.
• 1:29:07
  I don't know why they picked these people and only these
• 1:29:10
  people. And I'm like no.
• 1:29:13
  All right. It's like that is such a clear.
• 1:29:16
  Comments. Area they wouldn't let me do
• 1:29:18
  whatever I wanted. Because it was just.
• 1:29:22
  It's like, well, anyone can do it.
• 1:29:23
  It's like, oh, you don't know you.
• 1:29:25
  This is why. It just fell flat in so many.
• 1:29:29
  I like the ideas of the ABC show, but it just it would just
• 1:29:33
  make turns and turn frozzy into kleptomaniac.
• 1:29:37
  Or it needed one more and you. Know one more crazy?
• 1:29:39
  Person, yes, but he didn't have a.
• 1:29:41
  Yeah, I'm. I'm blowing my horn.
• 1:29:43
  I'm blowing my horn. This.
• 1:29:45
  Has become a a 2015 podcast and it needs to be a love it's
• 1:29:51
  mayhem podcast. OK, yes, I was just saying how
• 1:29:55
  he how Bill Beretta. Understood the characters and
• 1:29:57
  where they were going and that that that's the seed that
• 1:30:01
  everything comes from. A woman.
• 1:30:02
  You cannot not understand the character.
• 1:30:04
  You cannot. Writers write for you who don't
• 1:30:06
  understand the characters. And one thing I noticed from
• 1:30:10
  Muppets mayhem of everything else when I actually looked up
• 1:30:12
  at their at their Wikipedia page is how many women writers they
• 1:30:16
  had for the series and. Director for two of the
• 1:30:20
  episodes. And of course you had two two
• 1:30:23
  new characters performed by women and Muppets Mayhem as
• 1:30:27
  well. Which Penny Wax.
• 1:30:28
  I mean, talk about new Muppets. Oh my God, I Oh my God.
• 1:30:33
  It took me a while to, you know. To wrap my head around the idea
• 1:30:36
  that Penny Waxman and Abby Cadabby have the same performer,
• 1:30:40
  that's just how personal. Leslie, Carl.
• 1:30:42
  That's. The brilliance of Leslie Carrera
• 1:30:44
  Rudolph, My God, I mean, Penny Waxman is just like that is to
• 1:30:49
  me, like. Great late 80s, early 90s.
• 1:30:53
  Like, truly wacky Muppet that makes no like, Bill the bubble
• 1:30:59
  head guy is. It's like right up there.
• 1:31:01
  Just like absolutely absurd. It is.
• 1:31:04
  It is also like. Just a gorgeous puppet.
• 1:31:06
  It's very different than most of the other Muppets, but in a way
• 1:31:10
  that I really liked. I I I really, I really
• 1:31:14
  appreciate them. Them adding a character who
• 1:31:17
  feels like. She could continue with the show
• 1:31:20
  if they wanted to and and that's always something that I'm I'm
• 1:31:25
  kind of looking for and you know with.
• 1:31:28
  To the, like, women in the writers room thing, I'm just
• 1:31:30
  going to say, like, This is why it helps to bring in kind of
• 1:31:34
  like. Different voices and like more
• 1:31:37
  diverse voices just in general is because you you sometimes can
• 1:31:42
  tackle angles in ways that feel more authentic and things like
• 1:31:46
  that and you don't get, you know, just Miss Piggy acting
• 1:31:50
  crazy all the time because haha, women are crazy and things like
• 1:31:54
  that. You know I did want to add.
• 1:31:56
  Cuz I know we were talking about Adam Goldberg now.
• 1:31:59
  I watched The goal. I watched The Goldbergs
• 1:32:01
  beginning to end. You know, and I will say this
• 1:32:05
  much, it's one thing to love The Muppets.
• 1:32:20
  So, So what would you what would you like to see from the same
• 1:32:24
  creators next? It's another thing to get The
• 1:32:10
  Muppets. And I think Adam Goldberg is the
• 1:32:13
  first new writer in a long time that has both loved The Muppets
• 1:32:16
  and gets The Muppets. Yeah, this is so.
• 1:32:25
  Like if they got to do more of this stuff, if the same creative
• 1:32:28
  team got to do more with The Muppets, what Muppet Productions
• 1:32:31
  are you looking for? I mean, it sounds like more than
• 1:32:33
  anything you want to season 2 of Muppets Mayhem.
• 1:32:35
  Well, yeah, for sure, absolutely.
• 1:32:38
  We need to find out what. Happened to Janice Janice is
• 1:32:41
  sifting my God. If I don't get to see the Twin,
• 1:32:45
  I'm gonna be pissed. I need to know the twin.
• 1:32:49
  And I need the Twin played by like, Bill Beretta, like I need
• 1:32:52
  something crazy. If I don't get the twin.
• 1:32:56
  I'm rioting and then we find out that.
• 1:32:59
  The The Twin was actually on the first season of The Muppet Show,
• 1:33:02
  and it sounds just like Aaron Oscar.
• 1:33:04
  That would be the perfect twist. Oh my God.
• 1:33:09
  Or. They get Peter Friedman back
• 1:33:10
  into his puppeteering roots and get him to do Genesis sister.
• 1:33:16
  I'm trying to figure out how we can start to move quickly ish
• 1:33:22
  towards the finish because like I don't know what quickly is for
• 1:33:25
  this group at this point and we haven't done all the discussion
• 1:33:29
  questions yet like it's such a great conversation.
• 1:33:32
  But it is also where I am after 10:00.
• 1:33:35
  Oh boy, JD, we. Basically just.
• 1:33:39
  Did my discussion question which was remind me my discussion
• 1:33:43
  question? Was like.
• 1:33:44
  What lessons should they learn from Muppets Mayhem?
• 1:33:46
  That's basically all we've been talking about this entire time.
• 1:33:50
  OK, so more Jimmy Shu is the big lesson we came away with, right?
• 1:33:54
  Yeah, so if I am. That was a joke.
• 1:33:58
  I would like less. Jimmy Shu.
• 1:33:59
  I don't understand Jimmy Shu. I'm sorry.
• 1:34:01
  I know that's a very controversial opinion, but I
• 1:34:03
  don't get it. I just don't get it if.
• 1:34:07
  I had one thing. That I think that they need to
• 1:34:10
  keep from Muppets mayhem. OK, dramatic pause.
• 1:34:16
  No, I thought. I had a joke, but I I didn't.
• 1:34:18
  Jimmy. Jimmy Shoe.
• 1:34:21
  It's. Jimmy's shoe great.
• 1:34:23
  Fergie, what's your discussion question?
• 1:34:24
  Becca lost. What's your 10 points away from
• 1:34:28
  Becca? I'm the host now, so I get to
• 1:34:30
  take points away from you. Dictators, Jim.
• 1:34:35
  This is my question I and it kind of goes back to what we
• 1:34:38
  were saying about like how Lips has kind of been like in and
• 1:34:41
  out. The thing that I was waiting for
• 1:34:43
  the entire time was whether or not Clifford was gonna join the
• 1:34:46
  series. I had a feeling, and he wasn't
• 1:34:48
  going to, but I would. But, but Clifford is admittedly
• 1:34:51
  probably my favorite Muppet of all time, if not like one of my
• 1:34:54
  favorite Muppets. And so I I've been very curious
• 1:34:57
  about like his. Insertion in The Muppets during
• 1:35:01
  the 90s when everybody was urban, so they needed an urban
• 1:35:04
  Muppet. And like for me, I was so like
• 1:35:07
  interested in whether or not they were going to bring him
• 1:35:10
  back in a very new way. But my discussion question is
• 1:35:13
  what are the rules and regulations for extra members of
• 1:35:16
  the mayhem? And that includes lips.
• 1:35:19
  Because now lips is like established as like.
• 1:35:22
  A member of the Mayhem. My article about this for the
• 1:35:35
  website toughpigs.com I think I did which.
• 1:35:23
  But up until this point, it was definitely like, yeah, some
• 1:35:26
  gigs. We need a dude on the xylophone,
• 1:35:28
  so we'll bring lips, or we need a dude on Bell, so we'll call
• 1:35:31
  Clifford Bergie, Did you? Is mostly my like brain thinking
• 1:35:41
  ranked how likely? It was that they would bring
• 1:35:44
  back different guest members. Yeah, that was me.
• 1:35:47
  Yeah. And listen, cuz you said for
• 1:35:49
  Clifford. Less likely.
• 1:35:50
  And I was like, hey. I think Clifford may not really.
• 1:35:55
  Maybe. Hopefully.
• 1:35:56
  I really want a mirror. Oh, I I want.
• 1:35:59
  I want Clifford back to I'm big Clifford fan.
• 1:36:01
  But also like the Mayhem doesn't have rules, no?
• 1:36:07
  There. What is it?
• 1:36:09
  What did they say? A musicocracy or something like
• 1:36:11
  that? A grooveocracy?
• 1:36:13
  I can't remember Fergie. I feel like you and I have
• 1:36:15
  talked before about how I think we both grew up with the It's
• 1:36:19
  not easy being green. Sing along VHS tape, which like
• 1:36:23
  is one of the few Muppet productions where we talked
• 1:36:26
  about those that are aimed at kids.
• 1:36:28
  It's one of the few ones aimed at kids that prominently
• 1:36:30
  features Clifford. And so we were both primed as
• 1:36:34
  children to expect that we would get to grow up with Muppet
• 1:36:37
  Productions with a lot of Clifford and then we weren't
• 1:36:40
  given that. And I also would like to voice
• 1:36:44
  that. I would like to at least get a
• 1:36:45
  status update on what's happened in his life.
• 1:36:48
  I just want to know where he's. At You had this really cool
• 1:36:51
  Rastafarian dreaded catfish, and now I don't get to know how he's
• 1:36:55
  doing. We just wanted to check in just
• 1:36:58
  any status up Yeah please he secretly been.
• 1:37:02
  Hosting Muppets tonight continually and wondering where
• 1:37:05
  the hell everyone else is. I feel like there.
• 1:37:08
  Was some. Rumor that he's like out in
• 1:37:10
  Amsterdam or something like that, There's nothing.
• 1:37:13
  Crazy. I was the only panelist.
• 1:37:16
  Here who was born in the 70s. You all make me feel old.
• 1:37:19
  Sorry, I do. Like.
• 1:37:21
  Him, I do like him and I find. Clifford to be one of the most
• 1:37:24
  beautiful puppets. That they built, which is, and I
• 1:37:27
  love the Palisades figures, one of the best figures that they
• 1:37:30
  did Oh my God, this is. The coloring just.
• 1:37:34
  How they how They gave him both his eyes and his glasses, and
• 1:37:37
  they figured out how to do that. But it's I didn't work on him,
• 1:37:40
  but but he was just absolutely so beautiful.
• 1:37:43
  Yeah, he's a great. Puppet that that character, I
• 1:37:46
  was hoping that Johnny. Fiala would be back as well.
• 1:37:49
  Like yeah, have a have a thing, but they made it just about the
• 1:37:54
  mayhem. They just, they left it there,
• 1:37:56
  had the cameo at the end with a Statler and Waldorf, and that
• 1:37:59
  was it. Which I kind of was proud of
• 1:38:02
  them for doing. Yeah, well, listen that.
• 1:38:04
  Was one thing that I really did appreciate.
• 1:38:07
  And as far as like lessons to go back to what we were talking
• 1:38:10
  about earlier, like they had the guts to be like, no, we don't
• 1:38:14
  need, you know, Kermit and Fozzie and Gonzo and Piggy and
• 1:38:18
  I, I appreciate that kind of bold, bold chance where it's
• 1:38:21
  like, you know what? Like now I'm curious, like,
• 1:38:23
  could they make, you know? A just Bunsen and Beaker show
• 1:38:27
  could they make you know just gonzo show like could they do
• 1:38:33
  you know like and now I'm thinking the answer might be
• 1:38:37
  yes. Whereas I don't know if I would
• 1:38:39
  have said that if I was on this, you know, panel a year ago.
• 1:38:42
  Something to consider is that in previous Muppet productions
• 1:38:47
  we've seen a lot of things. Now as we've as we've talked
• 1:38:50
  about almost too many things where The Muppets split up and
• 1:38:53
  have to get back together or something like that.
• 1:38:55
  And what this show is playing with is they have this separate
• 1:39:01
  group where they can do a storyline about how The Muppets
• 1:39:04
  Mayhem, like the Electric Mayhem might split up, but then they
• 1:39:07
  have to come together as a unit by the end.
• 1:39:10
  And like that allows them to kind of trick you into not
• 1:39:16
  noticing the fact that it's weird that they're talking about
• 1:39:18
  how they have to stick together as a family and they're not with
• 1:39:20
  the rest of the family unit that they keep telling us the
• 1:39:24
  Electric Mayhem has to be part of it.
• 1:39:27
  And I'm not sure they can pull off that magic trick again with
• 1:39:31
  a smaller set of characters that doesn't feel like a
• 1:39:34
  selfcontained family in the same way.
• 1:39:36
  Nevertheless, like what an interesting experiment this has
• 1:39:39
  been, what a reinvention of what a Muppet show can be, and I
• 1:39:43
  encourage them. To do more of that, this is not
• 1:39:47
  an aim drop. This is just simply factual.
• 1:39:49
  I was lucky to be able to speak with Frank Oz recently about
• 1:39:53
  kind of his opinions on where The Muppets are as a entity
• 1:39:58
  currently and his feelings on him working with them again.
• 1:40:01
  And it was interesting to hear his perspective about how he
• 1:40:06
  worked with those characters in kind of a very almost like.
• 1:40:12
  Stock. Kind of way or like a variety
• 1:40:14
  show or vaudeville kind of way. Like these are characters who
• 1:40:18
  fulfill a very specific function and if they break that, it's
• 1:40:22
  done. And not to say I don't agree
• 1:40:25
  with Frank Gaz, but it's interesting to see these other
• 1:40:28
  groups of people who have been with these characters arguably
• 1:40:30
  longer now and take these characters and move them in a
• 1:40:33
  direction because of the the function that they have to
• 1:40:36
  provide within the corporate entity, because they're moving
• 1:40:39
  them in a very specific way. It has made me as a consumer be
• 1:40:42
  like I see both sides of it like and it's and it's exciting to
• 1:40:46
  see both sides of it and and it's you know it's it's really
• 1:40:49
  interesting to kind of and and going back to what you were
• 1:40:52
  saying about what an interesting experiment.
• 1:40:54
  I want to see more of these kinds of experiments.
• 1:40:56
  Like I think this is really. Fascinating.
• 1:40:59
  And like how they are open about like, hey, because we've lost
• 1:41:02
  Steve, we no longer are able to do the Gonzo Rizzo thing.
• 1:41:06
  So now we're trying the Gonzo Pepe thing and seeing if that's
• 1:41:08
  a thing that works. And I I, I'm, I'm loving that
• 1:41:11
  sense of like we are not trying to rehash what we have done
• 1:41:17
  before and just do it in a new way.
• 1:41:19
  We're trying to see if we can do new dynamics, new situations,
• 1:41:22
  new whatever, but keep these characters in the same place
• 1:41:26
  that we've always had these characters.
• 1:41:28
  And I think as long as they're in that place, they're going to
• 1:41:31
  find something interesting, whether or not it's like the
• 1:41:33
  best thing we've ever seen, whatever.
• 1:41:35
  But but I think that it's always going to be a fascinating
• 1:41:38
  venture. Like, if there's anything you
• 1:41:40
  can say about Lady Gaga and The Muppets Holiday Special is that
• 1:41:43
  it's interesting above anything else.
• 1:41:48
  I mean, you could say that it's fascinating.
• 1:41:51
  That anybody? Can say.
• 1:41:52
  That this is America. Anybody can say that it's
• 1:41:56
  interesting Okay. Jamie, go ahead.
• 1:42:02
  What you said about Frank Oz saying the limited functions of
• 1:42:07
  the characters that he found as stock characters.
• 1:42:10
  The one character that I found, I thought Animal having a growth
• 1:42:15
  journey kind of in the same sense.
• 1:42:17
  Gonzo through the years he they found other things for him to do
• 1:42:21
  and Gonzo is the only probably muppet that that that has had
• 1:42:26
  about four different lives. You know from the from the
• 1:42:30
  creature he was to the kid he was the crazy artist he was to
• 1:42:34
  like the figurehead when Kermit was kind of took a backseat to
• 1:42:38
  whatever he is now. You know, kind of city retired.
• 1:42:42
  Just doing what he wants and I. Feel like that's why he's my
• 1:42:47
  favorite characters because he did grow.
• 1:42:49
  So that's the other side that I see and how they did with.
• 1:42:53
  Animal how they kind of developed him and how they
• 1:42:55
  developed all the characters. Not Janice enough, but I'm
• 1:42:59
  hoping the. Foundation is there.
• 1:43:02
  For that. There is, there is.
• 1:43:05
  And I think, I mean, for David, that's probably tricky because I
• 1:43:07
  think, like, I know for a lot of them, they're like this is such
• 1:43:10
  a weird territory because we've never had the opportunity to
• 1:43:13
  dive in. And for David specifically
• 1:43:15
  because he was so close to Richard, and, you know, I think
• 1:43:17
  he, even as much as he loves being able to honor Richard in
• 1:43:20
  that way, I think he feels some type of way about kind of taking
• 1:43:23
  on these characters in this. And I feel like this was the
• 1:43:25
  first time he really allowed himself outside of Scooter to
• 1:43:30
  take a carrot or cookie, to take a character that was established
• 1:43:33
  outside of, you know somebody else and to like really kind of
• 1:43:37
  find his own way in. Yeah, exactly.
• 1:43:38
  Because talk about a one note character like before Janice was
• 1:43:41
  just the butt of the jokes of like and it's my life and I'm
• 1:43:45
  Naked. Like that was always who Janice
• 1:43:47
  was. And Floyd stay in your.
• 1:43:51
  Exactly. Now it's like.
• 1:43:54
  That. The new.
• 1:43:55
  Thing that I'm like, this is such a different take and it's
• 1:43:58
  such a not the Janus that I've seen before, yes, but it's a
• 1:44:01
  take I'm very interested in and I feel like this was really
• 1:44:04
  great for like a couple people who maybe were not so.
• 1:44:10
  I want to say willing because they weren't courageous enough,
• 1:44:13
  but more because of maybe how they felt about having the
• 1:44:16
  character. Not willing to like dive as
• 1:44:18
  deep, but I feel like if there is a second season or life
• 1:44:21
  beyond this, there's a lot more confidence and a lot more
• 1:44:24
  excitement towards really like exploring those kind of waters
• 1:44:29
  so. Then in terms of are we happy
• 1:44:33
  with the show and would we be happy for more?
• 1:44:36
  Can everyone just say thumbs up or thumbs down?
• 1:44:38
  That's it. You only get those two words.
• 1:44:41
  What do we say? I see Fergie gimmes a thumbs up.
• 1:44:43
  Matthew's a thumbs up. Jamie's 2 thumbs.
• 1:44:49
  That's cheating. I didn't say that was an option,
• 1:44:50
  OK. What about you, JD?
• 1:44:56
  I haven't decided yet anyway. Congratulations, though, to the
• 1:44:59
  to the to the makers of The Muppets Mayhem for making a show
• 1:45:02
  that has made so many people happy.
• 1:45:04
  I still have not decided whether or not I'm one of them, but
• 1:45:06
  that's beside the point. I got 4 panelists together.
• 1:45:10
  What are the odds that they would all like them?
• 1:45:11
  Unless they're right about it, I'm on my 4th View it.
• 1:45:17
  Panelists, friends, we've reached the end of another
• 1:45:20
  edition of the Great Muppet Fandom panel.
• 1:45:23
  Hey, why don't I ask the panelists where we can find them
• 1:45:25
  on the Internet today? Jamie, where can people find you
• 1:45:28
  on the Internet? You can find me on at.
• 1:45:30
  JZ Carol CARROL l.com Matthew Where?
• 1:45:35
  Can people find you on the Internet?
• 1:45:37
  You can find me. On I.
• 1:45:40
  Really don't want to? Say X, but the Artist formerly
• 1:45:45
  known as Twitter at Matthew Soberman 2 T's all under score
• 1:45:49
  one word. Fergie Where can people find?
• 1:45:52
  You on the Internet? Find me on the Internet at
• 1:45:55
  Fergsters FERGSTE RS-95. Everywhere.
• 1:46:01
  Everywhere that that is allowable to type in and.
• 1:46:06
  Becca, I'm still cross with you for the Habawa segment the other
• 1:46:10
  day that you know exactly which one I'm talking about.
• 1:46:13
  You know exactly which mini game it was.
• 1:46:14
  So I think we're just going to move right along.
• 1:46:17
  Oh. Becca Where can people?
• 1:46:19
  Find you on the Internet, Yeah. I'll make this quick, which I
• 1:46:23
  don't usually do, but I'm on Twitter at Uncle Petunio.
• 1:46:28
  That's Uncle like. I don't know the kind of person.
• 1:46:33
  Whose nephew would be a frog and petunio is like the flower
• 1:46:38
  except with an O instead of the A.
• 1:46:40
  And then I'm on all of the other social media at the much easier
• 1:46:44
  to spell tall girl petunia that time the flower is spelled
• 1:46:49
  correctly. That's where I am, on every
• 1:46:51
  social media that isn't called X.
• 1:46:55
  And now a moment. Of spontaneous applause for our
• 1:46:58
  panel of Muppet Experts. Thank you.
• 1:47:00
  If you enjoyed this program, we hope you'll consider supporting
• 1:47:02
  us on Patreon. Thank you to those of you who do
• 1:47:04
  so now. This Tough Pigs Muppet Fan
• 1:47:06
  Podcast was executive produced by the Tough Pigs Muppet Fan
• 1:47:08
  Podcast Executive Producer Joe Hennis.
• 1:47:11
  Thanks to Kenny Durkin for our artwork.
• 1:47:13
  And thanks to Frank Oz because it's always a good time to thank
• 1:47:15
  a Frank for toughpigs.com. This is JD Hansel reminding you,
• 1:47:18
  as I always do, of Jim Henson's motto, you'll never get out of
• 1:47:21
  the cube. Goodbye.
• 1:47:23
  Hey, guys. Is.
• 1:47:24
  Suit behind me. So honestly, Merriam?
• 1:47:36
  Webster's dictionary defines a sandwich as a two, as two or
• 1:47:39
  more slices of bread, or a split roll having a filling in
• 1:47:42
  between. Now a split roll doesn't make
• 1:47:44
  sense. A hot dog cannot be a sandwich.
• 1:47:46
  If you have a role, if you have a sandwich between 2:00, if you
• 1:47:49
  put a hot dog between 2 slices of bread, that hot dog is going
• 1:47:52
  to fall through. There is no way a hot dog can be
• 1:47:55
  a sandwich now. Well, I mean, I just don't
• 1:47:57
  understand. Why they can't just CGI The
• 1:47:59
  Muppets now and transmitted them right into my brain so I can do
• 1:48:03
  the exact shows I want to see. This is information age, but
• 1:48:06
  then how my cerebral cortex want to deal with the unions?
• 1:48:09
  So you know what's really? Interesting are Sesame character
• 1:48:11
  birthdays, and I've been thinking a lot about Sesame
• 1:48:14
  character birthdays, and one thing that's really bothering me
• 1:48:17
  is Prairie Dawn. You know, Prairie Don's my
• 1:48:19
  favorite character and Prairie Dawn, her birthday is August
• 1:48:22
  3rd. But one thing that really
• 1:48:23
  surprised me to learn was that that birthday wasn't established
• 1:48:26
  until 2005, after she'd already been a character for almost. 35
• 1:48:33
  years. So I don't know why it took that
• 1:48:36
  long. Betty Lou got her birthday in
• 1:48:38
  1974. That's not fair.
• 1:48:41
  You know, my curiosity really lies within the fact that within
• 1:48:44
  the Sesame Street refrigerator, because there's a general run
• 1:48:46
  for every single character, I personally want to see the
• 1:48:49
  broccoli and the pineapple finally Duke it out, mostly
• 1:48:51
  because I think they're the two best Sesame Street fruit.
• 1:48:54
  Now, in my opinion, I believe that the pineapple would win.
• 1:48:56
  However, the broccoli really does have a lot of things going
• 1:48:59
  for it that I think could potentially make it a better
• 1:49:01
  suitor. However, I think that the kind
• 1:49:03
  of triangle or multiple triangle shape of the pineapple mouth
• 1:49:06
  would eventually make it the successor.
• 1:49:09
  But I could be wrong, and I'd be willing to kind of test it out
• 1:49:12
  within a simulator to see how that would work.
• 1:49:16
  You are so. I love the little jaggedy mouth
• 1:49:19
  that the pineapple it makes. It's it's exquisite.
• 1:49:23
  It's. Just absolutely fantastic
• 1:49:26
  broccoli. Is a strong contender.
• 1:49:29
  A Strong.