The 26 Best "Muppet Show" Moments

From Gonzo's first date with Camilla to Gilda Radner's visit to Muppet Labs, these are the most iconic Muppet Show moments.

With Disney bringing all five seasons of The Muppet Show to its Disney+ streaming network, here is a look at the best Muppet Show moments to be watching for!

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1. Elton John sings "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart" with Miss Piggy:

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From Season 2, Episode 16, "Elton John"

Elton John was a great fit for The Muppet Show. His outfits went perfectly with the decor and the company. There are lots of fun moments, including a group sing-along of "Benny and the Jets," but the most fun of all is Elton in an electric-pink jumpsuit, bowler hat, and heart-shaped sunglasses singing "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart" with Miss Piggy.

2. Pearl Bailey in Camelot:

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From Season 3, Episode 9, "Pearl Bailey"

Tony Award–winning legend Pearl Bailey appears in a musical epic that takes place in Camelot. It features some of Pearl's most memorable numbers, including "Hello Dolly," as well as some harmonizing between Muppet personalities like Fozzie and Scooter.

3. Steve Martin plays "Dueling Banjos":

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From Season 2, Episode 7, "Steve Martin"

Steve Martin's performance on The Muppet Show is as iconic as his early appearances on Saturday Night Live. Steve's shining moment is his manic performance of "Dueling Banjos," with no need for lyrics, since it creates plenty of laughs just as it is. This moment was so memorable, Funny or Die brought Steve and Kermit back together for another round in 2013.

4. Peter Sellers talks with Kermit:

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From Season 2, Episode 19, "Peter Sellers"

Peter Sellers, the enigmatic character actor, died young. Many biographies, documentaries, and films have been made about his life. Perhaps his most famous quote about himself was appropriately uttered to Kermit the Frog during the first season of The Muppet Show: "But that, you see, my dear Kermit, would be altogether impossible. I could never be myself. You see, there is no me; I do not exist. There used to be a me — but I had it surgically removed."

5. Gilda Radner visits Muppet Labs:

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From Season 3, Episode 13, "Gilda Radner"

Gilda Radner appears in what might be the greatest Muppet Labs sketch. It is one of those Muppet Show moments where the onstage sketch and the real world of the backstage transition together. After the sketch about super-adhesive ends, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker are still fighting, while Gilda complains to Kermit about her hand being glued to her forehead.

6. The Animal and Harry Belafonte drum battle:

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From Season 3, Episode 19, "Harry Belafonte"

The King of Calypso himself goes up against Animal in a drum competition, and while I feel Harry Belafonte may have won, no winner is announced, and by the end, these two are drumming in unison. Cooperation is always the baseline of the Jim Henson brand, and this moment highlights this beautiful concept.

7. Miss Piggy attacks Florence Henderson:

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From Season 1, Episode 9, "Florence Henderson"

When the mother from The Brady Bunch seems a bit too flirtatious with Kermit, Miss Piggy does not just stand idly by. In fact, Piggy offers a key aspect of her personality as she lets loose her iconic karate chop and those immortal words, "HI-YAH!"

8. Kermit sings "Bein' Green":

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From Season 1, Episode 8, "Peter Ustinov"

Not every Muppet moment needs a guest star. I don't often tear up when I see a singing frog, but when Kermit the Frog sings "Bein' Green," well, nobody will blame you if you weep openly.

9. Floyd Pepper sings "New York State of Mind":

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From Season 2, Episode 3, "Madeline Kahn"

In most modern-day Muppet incarnations, the Electric Mayhem house band almost always performs together; on The Muppet Show, it was actually just as common to see just a few of them together. There are plenty of examples of Electric Mayhem performances to choose from, but somehow, simply having Floyd Pepper sing what was then a pretty new pop song without any artifice or slapstick antics is as good as these performances come.

10. Leslie Uggams and Big Bird sing "Love Will Keep Us Together":

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From Season 3, Episode 18, "Leslie Uggams With Big Bird"

Rarely did Sesame Street characters show up on The Muppet Show, but when Broadway and television actor Leslie Uggams, now perhaps best known for roles in Deadpool and Empire, hosted, she had Big Bird right there with her. Their duet of "Love Will Keep Us Together" remains far more listenable than the Captain & Tennille original.

11. John Cleese on "Pigs in Space" as a pirate:

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From Season 2, Episode 12, "John Cleese"

"Pigs in Space" was a fun Muppet-fueled riff on Star Trek. When John Cleese appeared on The Muppet Show, he played a villainous pirate who would have made more sense in the 18th century, but perhaps a future where pigs fly is also a future where a Muppet parrot is openly disappointed that he's not at home watching a movie with his pirate owner.

12. Statler and Waldorf roast Milton Berle:

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From Season 2, Episode 9, "Milton Berle"

It wouldn't be The Muppet Show without those coldhearted old hecklers, Statler and Waldorf. Even legendary comedian Milton Berle is not immune to their insults and is visibly hurt by their commentary.

13. Pig Vikings perform "In the Navy":

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From Season 5, Episode 2, "Roger Moore"

An odd musical number that remains a staple Muppet moment, even without the use of any of the core Muppets. The song "In the Navy" is word-for-word Village People canon, but the song takes on strange new overtones as it becomes the theme for Vikings, all pigs, who plunder a village of poor townspeople.

14. Carol Burnett's "Lonely Asparagus" sketch:

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From Season 5, Episode 1, "Carol Burnett"

Carol Burnett has just the right tone to be an all-star Muppet Show guest host. Throughout her episode, the Muppets just want to dance, dance, dance, and when you finally think you'll be seeing Carol's much-anticipated "Lonely Asparagus" sketch, Gonzo ends it all trying to present robotic dancers with an award they are not eligible for. Just plain fun to watch Carol strangling Kermit as the credits roll.

15. Rowlf Sings "What a Wonderful World":

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From Season 2, Episode 10, "Don Knotts"

A lot of tender moments on The Muppet Show involved Kermit and Rowlf, who were two of the earliest Henson creations, and sometimes their solo work in the Henson era had the sound of personalities in the twilight of life. Much like the somber "Bein Green," Rowlf's rendition of "What a Wonderful World," where he simply sings and strokes a non-Muppet puppy, is truly sweet and somehow sobering in the midst of Muppet mayhem.

16. Sam the Eagle meets Alice Cooper:

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From Season 3, Episode 7, "Alice Cooper"

Just a short episode opener, this is a hilarious meeting of personalities. There really is nothing like watching a provocateur like Alice Cooper get pretentiously trash-talked by the self-serious blue eagle, Sam.

17. Wonder Pig:

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From Season 4, Episode 15, "Lynda Carter"

In the Lynda Carter–hosted episode, Miss Piggy goes full Wonder Woman. Her nemesis? A live chicken, obviously.

18. Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, and R2-D2 replace Angus McGonagle:

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From Season 4, Episode 16, "Cast of Star Wars"

Giving off those Star Wars Holiday Special vibes, Luke Skywalker shows up at The Muppet Show. The funniest part about this is that the show sets up the opening scene as if a purple Muppet named Angus McGonagle is being prepped to host and then is immediately replaced when Star Wars characters burst through a wall.

19. Renaissance-themed "Scarborough Fair" with Paul Simon:

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From Season 5, Episode 6, "Paul Simon"

The Muppets can make anything seem a lot more wholesome. "Scarborough Fair" feels a lot different in the background of The Graduate than it does as Paul Simon sings it for a medieval village of Muppets with voices far less melodic than Art Garfunkel's.

20. Jean Stapleton is "wild about Crazy Harry":

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From Season 3, Episode 3, "Jean Stapleton"

Sure, Kermit had Piggy...Gonzo had Camilla...but who did Crazy Harry have? Well, as luck would have it, he had All in the Family's Jean Stapleton all up in his business. Apparently she had a thing for guys heavily into explosives. It is a delight to watch her sing "I'm Just Wild About Harry" as Crazy Harry gets wild with his dynamite.

21. Liza Minnelli and "Copacabana":

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From Season 4, Episode 10, "Liza Minnelli"

Liza Minnelli's "Copacabana" number includes only supporting cast members but offers production values that really sweep you up in the moment. Everyone but Liza is a Muppet, but the danger, excitement, and human experience still shines through. Liza's ability to treat the Muppet cast and crew with seriousness creates a magical stage show of a number.

22. Gonzo and Camilla's first date:

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From Season 3, Episode 18, "Leslie Uggams With Big Bird"

Everyone knows that the love of Gonzo's life is Camilla the Chicken. But did you know that their first date was ruined when Gonzo's wandering eye fell upon the appealingly bulky Big Bird? Luckily, love won in the end.

23. Fozzie Bear almost gets fired:

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From Season 3, Episode 2, "Roy Clark"

Among the great bromances in American history — Martin and Lewis, Obama and Biden, Lemmon and Matthau — none is more bromantic than that of Fozzie Bear and Kermit the Frog. But in Season 3 of The Muppet Show, Fozzie's incompetence almost got him canned, and surprisingly, this had nothing to do with his corny jokes. Fozzie sent stagehands home, wreaked havoc on the theater, and caused significant injury to Kermit...but in the end, Kermit forgave.

24. Vincent Price's House of Horrors

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From Season 1, Episode 16, "Vincent Price"

Vincent Price, master of horror, is definitely a fan favorite host. Perhaps his best sketch of his Muppet Show debut involves Fozzie and Gonzo fearing for their lives in a haunted castle. When Price arrives he has his assistant by his side, this assistant would come to be known in the Muppetverse as Uncle Deadly. This sketch marks his first Muppet Show appearance.

25. Lou Rawls Serenades Piggy

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From Season 2, Episode 20, "Lou Rawls"

This very musical episode suggests Lou Rawls has some major fans in The Muppet Show cast, most notably Animal. Enjoy Dr. Teeth's Big Band backing Rawls as he makes Piggy feel like the most special lady in the room.

26. Julie Andrews Teaches Muppets to Yodel

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From Season 2, Episode 18, "Julie Andrews"

The Sound of Music gets the Muppets treatment when Julie Andrews is asked to guest host. Escape to the mountains with goats, pigs, and Kermit the Frog himself as you learn to yodel from Andrews herself. Notable that this song would be performed on The Muppet Show as "The Lonely Goatherd" portion of The Sound of Music focuses on a marionette show.