Best Muppet Show Guests

Famous people agreeing to be upstaged by felt, ranked by how gracefully they took it.

Entries
10
Category
TV
Updated
  1. A wet lamppost on an empty soundstage street, an umbrella hooked on it and puddles reflecting stage lights.

    10. Gene Kelly

    The Muppet Show · 1981

    He thinks he was invited to watch the show and refuses to perform, so Kermit has to trick him into dancing, and then into Singin' in the Rain. A Hollywood legend conned into his signature number by a frog. He had it coming.

  2. A punk-rock stage with a microphone, a leather jacket over a stool and a banjo leaning on a lily pad prop.

    09. Debbie Harry

    The Muppet Show · 1981

    One Way or Another sung at a rogues' gallery of Muppet monsters, Call Me with a band of Muppet punks, and Rainbow Connection as a duet with Kermit. Blondie at their peak, on the same night Robin's Frog Scout troop visited. Both went well.

  3. A seven-foot-tall carrot propped on a stage beside a pirate hat and a crumpled handwritten note.

    08. Gilda Radner

    The Muppet Show · 1978

    She requests a seven-foot talking parrot for her Pirates of Penzance number and, thanks to her handwriting, gets a seven-foot talking carrot. She sings with it anyway. The finest typo in the history of variety television, and she treats it like a scene partner.

  4. A grand piano covered in rhinestones on a swampy riverbank stage, oversized star-shaped sunglasses on the keys.

    07. Elton John

    The Muppet Show · 1978

    Crocodile Rock with actual crocodiles, Bennie and the Jets after Scooter tries it first, and Don't Go Breaking My Heart with Miss Piggy. Sam the Eagle declares him an affront to culture. Sam was outvoted by everyone, including the crocodiles.

  5. A table of twisted balloon animals, juggling pins and a banjo on an empty audition stage with a hook poking from the wings.

    06. Steve Martin

    The Muppet Show · 1977

    Kermit is running auditions and forgets to tell his guest, so Steve Martin does balloon animals, juggling and Ramblin' Guy amid a parade of rejected acts, then plays Dueling Banjos with all of them. Peak 1977 Steve Martin, which was a very high peak.

  6. A top hat, a cane and a coiled snake prop on a foggy stage with a coffin propped against the backdrop.

    05. Alice Cooper

    The Muppet Show · 1978

    Introduced backstage as talented but frightening, he sings Welcome to My Nightmare and School's Out with a stage full of monsters, and Sam the Eagle tells him exactly what he thinks of him. Shock rock and felt turn out to be a natural fit.

  7. A toy laser sword lying on a theater stage beside a broken brick wall, a gargle glass of water on a stool.

    04. Mark Hamill

    The Muppet Show · 1980

    Luke, C-3PO and R2-D2 break through the theater walls hunting a kidnapped Chewbacca, while Hamill also plays Luke's cousin, Mark Hamill, who just wants a spot on the show. He gets one: gargling Summertime until Animal chases him off. Two roles, one gargle.

  8. Several tall carved and painted ceremonial masks on stands across a dark stage, a single drum kit in the shadows.

    03. Harry Belafonte

    The Muppet Show · 1979

    Fozzie keeps trying to improve Day-O, Animal challenges him to a drum battle, and then he sings Turn the World Around with towering African masks and the show stops being a joke for one song. A strong case for the best musical number the Muppets ever did.

  9. An empty dressing room mirror ringed with bulbs, a row of wigs and false mustaches on stands, and a violin resting on the chair.

    02. Peter Sellers

    The Muppet Show · 1978

    Kermit tells him to just be himself, and Sellers explains he can't: there is no him, he had it surgically removed. He plays a gypsy violinist and helps Link Hogthrob work out. The most honest talk-show answer of the 1970s, delivered to a frog.

  10. A pair of satin ballet slippers and a tiny pink tutu on the steamy wooden bench of a sauna, a towel folded beside them.

    01. Rudolf Nureyev

    The Muppet Show · 1978

    The most famous ballet dancer alive dances Swine Lake opposite a giant pig ballerina, then sings Baby, It's Cold Outside with Miss Piggy in a steam bath. Sam the Eagle tries to class up the whole show in his honor. Nureyev commits to every second.

Honorable mentions

  • A pile of blank yellow notepads shaped into a mask lying on a black stage under a single white spotlight.

    Mummenschanz

    The Muppet Show · 1977

    A Swiss mime troupe as the guest star, performing in masks made of notepads and as crawling creatures, without a single word. On a show built on singers and comedians, the silent booking may be the strangest one, and the show also had Gonzo.

Dishonorable mentions

  • An empty guest dressing room with a blank star on the door, the lights switched off.

    Chris Langham

    The Muppet Show · 1981

    A staff writer drafted as guest star when Richard Pryor dropped out. In 2007 he was convicted on 15 counts of downloading child sexual abuse images, and his episode is one of two left off Disney+. The only guest on this list who should not be invited back.

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