Didn't wanna do it, didn't wanna do it…

I'd be up (or down, either way) for a live-chat. Talking about Muppets is one of my favorite things to do on the internet.

Is it possible Bergen was a better ventriloquist in his younger days, before his lips got old and tired?  I guess I haven't seen much footage of him from his heyday.

The question is, why did Kermit hire them after they blew a hole in the theater wall, presumably costing the show thousands of dollars in damage?  Or perhaps their future acts were all part of their compensating Kermit for that first audition.

"Ol' Brown Ears Is Back" is wonderful… An entire album of Rowlf! I always wondered why it wasn't released right after it was recorded.

That's a great observation about Fozzie's development.  He and Gonzo both became similarly less pathetic and more lovable this season.

Are you voting for him in the Muppet Madness Tournament?
muppetfans.com/tournament

Sure, that works.

Also: J.P. Grosse is always holding a cigar.  That wouldn't happen today… They even took away the cigarette that used to be permanently attached to Bobby Benson's mouth.
http://muppet.wikia.com/wik…

Carol Burnett would be a good one to review. Back when Nickelodeon was running the show, a friend of mine decided he didn't like Carol Burnett because she was mean to the Muppets.  I had to explain to him the difference between reality and comedy.

It's a happy coincidence, though!  And if it were true, it's the only performer name that could really work that way.  "Fozzie" sounds a lot better than "Rhunty," "J'Henny," "Swittmy," "Dgoelzy," or "Jnelsy."

Anything is possible!  Actually, there's some behind-the-scenes thing (possibly the book "Of Muppets and Men"?) where Richard Hunt is messing around with Scooter on the set and he reveals that his mother was a parrot but he never met his father.  But I don't suppose that should be taken as "canon."

You do kinda have to wonder how he could be Scooter's uncle. Not much family resemblance there.

They would return to that notion in later episodes… There's one where the Vet's Hospital characters show up on the Swinetrek, and the Carol Burnett episode where the whole show is taken over by a dance marathon.

"Send in the Clowns" is so weird. I can never tell if we're supposed to find the clowns in the background funny — like "Ha ha! Look at that, Judy Collins just keeps singing 'cause she doesn't know those clowns are running around behind her!"  It doesn't quite work.

Maybe there's some sappiness in The Ladies Man that I've managed to forget about.  What are you referring to?

Sometimes the sweetness in Jerry Lewis movies works, sometimes it doesn't. He's usually a meek, unassuming character, which I suppose means we're supposed to root for him.  But other than The Nutty Professor, the ones that work best are probably the ones that don't spend too much time on making him sympathetic… The…

I should see more of Tashlin's films.  He directed Lewis in The Disorderly Orderly which definitely has a "live-action cartoon" vibe to it.

If those sketches had aired in the 90s, they probably would have spawned a movie. And it would have been terrible.

When I saw the trailer for this, I momentarily thought somebody had made a feature film adaptation of the game Paperboy. But presumably this movie doesn't have any Grim Reapers chasing the kid.