Show #63 – June 22, 2008

Special thanks to Cory Edwards, director of the new Fraggle Rock movie, for leaving the voicemail that kicks off this week’s episode of The MuppetCast!

It’s time for some more rare Muppet audio! Thanks a listener submission, we have footage of Jim Henson on the Mike Douglas Show; one appearance in 1976 and one in 1977. At that point in history, Kermit the frog was already 20 years old!

The “Make Something Cool” contest has now hit the deadline for entry submissions. Get ready to see what everyone has been working on soon!

Congratulations to Bindi Irwin for winning the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Performer in a Children’s Series. Nominated for the award, along with Bindi, were John Tartaglia for Johnny and the Sprites, and Kevin Clash for his work as Elmo and Hoots the Owl.

Canada’s Telus World of Science centre is eagerly awaiting the opening of the new Sesame exhibit “Sesame Street Presents: The Body”.

Labyrinth fans will be delighted to see that Toy Vault is now producing plush replicas of the door knocker characters from the film, available for preorder now! They officially come out in July.

Check out this amazing video of Jim Henson circa 1982, in which he talks about essentially how HD-TV is just around the corner, and what he wanted to do with it!

Caroll Spinney is always a great Muppet person to discuss. Here’s a wonderful day-in-the-life article about him, and a great video, too!

The claymation skits of Ernie and Bert will soon be making appearances in Sesame Street season 39.

The Muppet News Flash has some great video of Cookie Monster appearing on the Colbert Report!

Sadly, Jim Henson’s boyhood friend Kermit Scott passed away recently at age 71. Scott is arguably the namesake of Kermit the Frog.

The Sacramento Youth Band is using the Muppet Show theme in their summer marching program!

Arianne (aka Muppetfan44) recently found this VERY early piece of video of the Muppets and Disney working together. This is from a 1989 Euro-Disney video!

Stay tuned next week, as we will be celebrating the Muppet Movie! This classic film was released in June 1979. Helping us to celebrate will be Muppet historian Craig Shemin, and possibly Muppet producer Martin Baker as well. It should be a really great show!

Questions/Comments can be emailed to me@muppetcast.com, or called in to the voicemail line (live on Thursday nights) at 614-364-4270. You can also chat about the Muppets and The MuppetCast on the Muppet Central Forums.

Have a great week!

-Steve

Comments

4 responses to “Show #63 – June 22, 2008”

  1. Kyle Avatar

    Enjoyed the show and loved the Mike Douglas show clips. I would really love to see this but it is awsome to get some rare stuff from fans. I also enjoyed the Miss Piggy video too. It’s funny to see things pop up here after seeing already. I had seen that Caroll Spinney video. But thanks again for another great show Steve. That email from that guy who said he might start his own show i’ve been thinking myself on doing a Disney Podcast just because of all the ones i’ve seen. There aren’t any that i’ve ran across that talk just about the Disney Cartoon Shorts, cartoon seires or movies. So that might be what i’m going to start on. Thanks agian Steve. Talk to you later. Peace!

  2. Steve Swanson Avatar

    Hey Kyle! Glad you liked the show. I think they Disney animation podcast idea is a great one! Given your resourcefulness with Muppet audio, I’d imagine you’d have some great content to present.

  3. Bill S Avatar
    Bill S

    Regarding Kermit Scott as Kermit the Frog’s namesake, click here and scroll down to #73 …

    http://web.archive.org/web/20001003125242/www.henson.com/ask/ask_archives_body.html

    It’s more than likely that Scott learned of the character when Henson and his act hit stardom and assumed that his childhood friend named the frog after him. As you can see in an official statement from The Jim Henson Company, Jim Henson himself denied this rumor.

  4. Steve Swanson Avatar

    Excellent point-out. I also just saw an article over on the Muppet Wiki that says the same thing. I think “Kermit” is such an unusual name (these days, anyway) that we all just assume that it came from somewhere, and not just off the top of Jim’s head. Then again, many wonderful things seemed to just come from off the top of Jim’s head!

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