Jim Henson's The Muppet Show was an uphill battle to create, but ended up being an international hit
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In an archived video from The Jim Henson Company, Jim's wife and co-creator, Jane Henson, talked about the Muppets' signature humor
A new generation of fans are experiencing The Muppet Show through a new Disney+ special
Jim Henson's Muppets always had a special sense of humor.
In a video from the archives of The Jim Henson Company, the Muppets creator's wife, Jane Henson, explains how their signature snark came to be.
"The Muppet Showreally was an extension of what we began in the very beginning, because when we began, we were students out of college," Jane, who met Jim at the University of Maryland, shared.
"We had a kind of young adult kind of humor and disrespect of establishment and all that kind of thing, so the characters that we developed... we had a little family of five characters. Kermit was the main character. Then Sam, Sam was the only human and Sam never spoke. We had a monster who was kind of the beginning of all our monsters, and we had a cool musician."
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"It was camp right from the beginning, and it was that campy, somewhere between child and adult feeling that we wanted to continue. And I think, really,The Muppet Showwas a mature version of our originalSam and Friendsshow."
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The originalMuppet Showaired from 1976 to 1981 and was beloved by fans around the globe. The series won four Primetime Emmy Awards and three BAFTAs during its run.
In fact, theMuppets Showhad its beginnings in the UK because American networks were iffy about the racy sense of humor coming from what looked like children's characters to most.
Bettmann Archive
"Nobody really thought that puppets could stand on their own for half an hour on TV. They knew they were fine for two-minute bites onSesame StreetorThe Ed Sullivan Show. But a half hour on their own? This was something really controversial and groundbreaking," biographer Brian Jay Jones toldSlateof the initially uphill battle.
Lew Grade eventually was willing to take a chance on the Muppets, with Jones noting, "Lou Grade and Jim were were a generation apart, but they were cut from the same cloth. Grade had come out of the UK version of Vaudeville. He was famous for jumping on an oval-shaped table and doing the Charleston."
Audio journalist Sally Herships added, "It was filmed in England and broadcast around the world. But the Muppets wasn't just a show. It was a showwithin a show:Kermit as stage manager trying to get the whole crazy whirlwind zoo on stage. Miss Piggy the star, the diva. The Muppet Show was the archetype of a stage performance—and audiences loved it."
Fast forward to 2026 and a whole new generation is ready to fall in love with the Muppets signature charm. The new iteration ofThe Muppets Showis streaming now on Disney+.
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