72 Days Until "The Muppets"

Lucas Ervin - Well, here we are, already 28 days in. Hope you guys are enjoying these. There are a ton of numbers on the show where we'll see an outstanding song performed by some of the most unique looking characters, and then we never really see them again. But just because these aren't main characters on the show doesn't mean that we're not singing these hit songs in the shower or on our way to work. So I'm calling this the One-Hit Wonders week, where I do exactly that.

72.   Java -  For just being two neatly-decorated pieces of vacuum hoses that were designed by Frank Oz, and performed by him and Jim Henson, this number was sure seen on plenty of shows: The Ed Sullivan Show, Today, The Tonight Show--but this is the only number you see these guys in. It fits well though; the trumpet played by Al Hirt sure is catchy, and it's great seeing the smaller hose get his revenge.

71.   Your Feet's Too Big - One of Kermit's favorite numbers, this ended up being quite suitable for Carroll Channing's episode where Piggy's shoes just weren't the right... um... style. Here's a number where the puppets are shown in full body, with live feet, and it's another fun number done by Jerry Nelson and Louise Gold. The male monster keeps insulting a female monster for her "pedal extremities" while she's just blissfully laughing at him, because his feet are just as giant.

70.   Ragg Mopp - As most Muppet fans know, before Beauregard came along, the janitor on the first season of The Muppet Show was George, a grumpy old man who would have fit perfectly between Statler and Waldorf up in the box. He was mostly seen backstage, but he put a few of his brooms together in the Lena Horne episode for an act, paying tribute to the Ames Brothers, and he gave us one memorable opening number.

69.   Snerfs - Here's another jazzy number done by some really weird characters called the Snerfs--not to be confused with the Smurfs, however they are blue. These long, furry characters with horns for noses played an instrumental tune that was at the top of the Bruce Forsythe episode. They look relatively small during this song, but when you see them backstage, they look as if they’re as tall as Kermit, or taller. Who wouldn't want to bring one of these guys home as a pet?

68.   Hugga Wugga - This number's also known as the Buggy Mugger number, and can be heard on The Muppet Show Album. This was originally done on Nancy Sinatra's Las Vegas show in 1971. Frank Oz performs Hugga Wugga, the green character is by John Lovelady, and the yellow alien who blows up Hugga is performed by Jerry Nelson. The music itself is done by Joe Raposo, who wrote the famous song, Bein' Green as well as plenty of other classic songs on Sesame Street.

67.   All of Me - Sadly, this number--originally done on the Paul Williams episode--was cut from Season One of The Muppet Show on DVD due to rights. It's a fantastic song, with beautiful visuals of a male monster giving the love of his life (a female monster) "all of him." I especially love that it's performed by Jerry Nelson, and that the monster literally removes all of his body parts and puts them in a box, plus it's all done in one take.


66.   Mahna-Mahna - Performed in the first episode of The Mup--hey, you know what? You're a Muppet fan. You've seen this sketch a million times. You sing it to your friends, you post it on Facebook, and you most likely know that it came originally from a Swedish skin flick. So why should I talk about it when you can just watch it once again? Do doo do doo it.

 72 Days Until The Muppets!!

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com