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Slick, innovative and often hilarious musical numbers have always been a large part of the appeal of the multi-talented Muppets, ever since they first appeared on TV screens way back in 1955.
Whether it’s backing a human celebrity, doing their own riff on a popular song, or delivering a unique creation, they’ve certainly created some memorable musical moments over the ensuing, near 70 years.
To celebrate The Muppet Show’s house band – Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem – getting their own sitcom in the form of The Muppets Mayhem (streaming on Disney+ from the evening of May 10), Stuff to Watch has come up with a list of our 10 favourite performances by everyone’s felty friends.
READ MORE:
* The Muppets at 10: How a Kiwi Conchord gave our beloved felty friends new life
* The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo: TVNZ’s Sesame St spin-off fun for all ages
* Happytime Murders: Meet New Zealand’s Feebles, the first sexually explicit, foul-mouthed puppet film
* Sesame Street turns 45: Vampires, cookies and muppets, oh my!
Fever (The Muppet Show, 1976)
Setting the anarchic and sometimes racy tone of the series early was this unlikely duet which closed out the second episode.
Rita Moreno was joined by The Electric Mayhem’s drummer Animal for a version of the 1950 song first made famous by Peggy Lee. It was a delivery filled with passion and humour – and it still brings the house down to this day.
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Rita Moreno and Animal sing up a storm during their The Muppet Show performance of Fever.
Crocodile Rock (The Muppet Show, 1978)
In an episode that’s filled with feels and showstopping numbers (especially Elton John’s duet finale of Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart with Miss Piggy), it’s this opening number that has lived long in the memory.
Got a hit song called Crocodile Rock? Of course, you have to set a stage production in a swamp and populate it with semi-aquatic reptile puppets.
The Gambler (The Muppet Show, 1979)
I believe that, in part, Kiwis’ obssesion with this Kenny Rogers song stems from the only music video that appeared to accompany the country crooner’s 1978 magnum opus – this one.
Evocatively bringing to life his ballad, it really helped fill in the images the lyrics created. Little wonder it used to regularly crop up on those TVNZ request shows of the 1980s.
In the Navy (The Muppet Show, 1980)
They’d already parodied The Village People’s Macho Man in a West Side Story-esque Pigs vs Chickens narrative, but this seemed an even more natural fit.
Cleverly though, they didn’t go for the obvious with the florid, provocative lyrics, instead deciding to have a group of Viking marauder pigs as their protagonists.
Addition (Sesame Street, 1997)
Now almost 60 years old, the much-loved musical Fiddler on the Roof got the Street treatment with its opening number Tradition getting a mathematics-themed makeover.
Naturally, as fiddlers pile up on the roof, it collapses. “I know there were two fiddlers, but what do you think I see? They’ve added one more fiddler – and two-plus-one is three.”
Like The Way U Does (Sesame Street, 1997)
A four-minute slice of tongue-twisting gold, this saw Melissa Etheridge parody her own 1988 mega-hit Like The Way I Do.
“No-one else begins unable, uncertain, or unstable. And no-one else can spell-a, A neat word like umbrella, like the way U do.”
Furry Happy Monsters (Sesame Street, 1999)
Still don’t know what REM lead singer Michael Stipe was on about in the 1991 song Shiny Happy People? Then check out this more overt parody.
“Laughing all the while, Cheerful, cheerful, Flashing a big smile, That’s a perfect sign, That they’re feeling fine.”
Pride (Sesame Street, 2000)
Matching John Rzeznik’s mumble with Elmo’s high-pitched trilling worked wonders for lightening the Goo Goo Dolls’ dark 1998 tune.
“You helped your mother bake a pie, You fell and didn’t cry, You made your bed and said Your ABC’s.”
My Triangle (Sesame Street, 2005)
Those who hated James Blunt’s ubiquitous 2003 smash-hit single You’re Beautiful, might actually appreciate the geometrically-themed 2005 spoof.
“This shape was brilliant, This shape was pure. I saw three angles, Of that I’m sure.”
Life’s a Happy Song (The Muppets, 2011)
Man or Muppet might have won the Oscar, but this is the Bret McKenzie-penned crowd-pleaser that we’re still singing along to more than a decade on. The Flight of the Conchords star’s show-stopper is not only a fabulous movie musical number, it’s also a brilliant parody of movie musical number.
“Life’s a leg of lamb, With someone there to lend a hand. Life’s a bunch of flowers, With someone to while away the hours. Life’s a fillet of fish, eh! Yes, it is.”
The Muppets Mayhem begins streaming on Disney+ on the evening of May 10. All five seasons of The Muppet Show and 2011’s The Muppets are also available to stream on Disney+.
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