A Tough Week For Friends Of The Muppets

Not everyone can share the screen with the Muppets. There’s this tricky balance you have to pull off where you’re both deeply earnest (“these talking dolls are sentient beings and I must treat them as such”) and a little campy (“we are putting on a show!”). You have to be sweet and pure but also a little naughty. The Muppets are the Muppets and they’ll always hold up their end of the bargain, but the whole thing can fall apart if their human co-stars don’t have that little mischievous twinkle in their eye that ties it together.

We lost two of those delightful rascals this week when Dolly Parton and Tim Curry passed away, both at age 80, within about 24 hours of each other. Of course, their respective work with the Muppets wasn’t the defining aspect of either of their careers. Dolly was a songwriting wizard who wrote banger after banger and yet was still arguably more famous for her philanthropic works. (If you got the Covid vaccine, say thank you to Dolly.) Tim Curry filled up the screen in a way few actors do, whether he was singing and dancing in drag to corrupt Susan Sarandon or attempting to thwart Kevin McAllister's desire to stay in a fancy hotel. Different legacies, sure, but there are a lot of paths one can take to becoming a legend.

Sometimes those paths cross, though. And when they do so at Jim Henson Studios, you can discover a little magic.

Here’s something incredible I just learned about that clip, and shame on me for not knowing it before this week: This is not, as I had assumed when I’d seen it before, a scene from The Muppet Show that featured Dolly as guest star. This is a scene from Dolly Parton’s own variety show, Dolly, which aired in the late 1980s. Do you understand what that means? Dolly Parton wasn’t just one of many stars invited to swing by and goof around with the Muppets for a bit. She had her own show, one where she had control of the guests and could conceivably format it any way she liked, and she said, “Let‘s have the Muppets on.” That is… awesome.

Also awesome: Look at this summary of an episode that aired on November 15. 1987:

In the opening teaser, Miss Piggy in a bubble bath announces her presence and says that unlike Dolly, she doesn't wear a wig. As the show proceeds, Dolly finds out the pig has canceled their duet, commandeered her dressing room, and is browbeating her producer. Dolly and Piggy make up and return to the stage to sing "Friendship." Later, Piggy sings "Someone To Watch Over Me," in part to lampoon Parton's performance of the song in the first episode. Parton, annoyed at being undermined by Miss Piggy, tells guest Juice Newton that they might be "having ham sandwiches after the show." Piggy forces herself into the last number, "Oh, Lonesome Me", singing with Parton, Newton, and Jerry Reed, only to make a quick exit to her limo immediately after.

I mean, honestly. Get 1000 writers in a room and tell them to come up with a better plot than that. Give them all the time they want. And then watch them come to the slow realization that it’ll just never happen. They'll get over it.

She also sang a song with Kermit because, like, of course she sang a song with Kermit. It's lovely.

Tim Curry came at it differently. There’s the famous quote from Michael Caine about working with the Muppets on A Muppet Christmas Carol where he said he wanted to play it absolutely straight, as if the Muppets were all classically trained actors, with no winking at the camera. Tim Curry, on the other hand, chose to play it as crooked and squiggly as possible, going big in a way that almost out-Muppeted the Muppets, all winks and smirks and gestures so broad they almost spilled out of the frame. Look at this maniac go.

This is… well, it’s also awesome.

As is this: According to the Muppet wiki, at the end of filming on Muppet Treasure Island, he was presented with his own Tim Curry Muppet crafted in his likeness. I’ve been thinking about this for like 45 minutes and I genuinely can’t think of a higher honor. An Oscar? Knighthood? A Nobel Peace Prize? Eh, keep ‘em. Honor me with felt, brother.

I’d be negligent in my duties here if I didn’t include this little bit of trivia regarding the situation…

The Muppet appeared in a "Hidden Treasure" extra on the first DVD release of the movie where he claimed that the real Mr. Curry only did stuntwork as he was a much more gifted actor and singer. The real Mr. Curry countered this by demonstrating how the Muppet version couldn't physically move his right arm as it was lying motionless positioned holding a crutch. The caricature can be heard uttering, "Damn!" under his breath when he is found out as Mr. Curry continues to play with the arm.

If someone makes a Muppet version of you and you screw around with it so much that you can get it to cuss, you have lived a beautiful and successful life.

But again, different paths to that same destination, one both Dolly Parton and Tim Curry found themselves in at the end of their careers. Yes, I suppose this means, for our purposes here, I am saying that “being such a cheeky little devil that you get a puppet that looks like you to swear a little” and “using your hard-earned fortune to fund research that helps bring an end to a global pandemic” are both viable ways to become an icon.

Life is funny like that.

Rest in peace.

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STUFF I CLICKED ON

— Sepinwall's Fall TV Preview is always a must-read

— Mike Schur, creator of The Good Place and Parks & Rec, wrote a great piece about stupid Hollywood mergers

— Brandy Jensen at Defector wrote about fiction's biggest boys to honor Reacher

— my beloved Phillies won a game on Sunday despite being down 4-0 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and Matt Gelb wrote a hell of a blog about it

— I’ve watched Kyle Schwarber’s walkoff home run from that game like 25 times, but my favorite is the version from the Spanish radio broadcast 

— Murderbot, a terrific show that made me cry a little, went ahead and added all of your favorite supporting actors from your favorite shows to its season two cast

— sure, why not, let’s make National Treasure 3

— very intrigued by the new show from the American Vandal team

— I love that Shaq keeps asking to be in Marvel movies and they keep saying no

— monkey back home

— “Sheryl Crow Wrote an Entire Album for Lightning McQueen”

— “Father and son make amazing prehistoric shark discovery during Jersey Shore vacation”

— "Grab A Life Jacket, This Pizza Hut Location Is Accessible By Boat”

— I love my bumbling slow horsies

Okay, that's it for this week. Please share and subscribe and leave the Muppets' friends alone for a while.