60 Minutes on The Muppet Show


During the taping of the episode of the Muppet Show guest starring Raquel Welch, 60 Minutes visited the Muppet Show to talk to the Muppet makers. Richard Hunt is the performer who gets attention right at the beginning: Richard: "People walk in here and they look at us, and we show them around the shop, and they see all those puppets, and you go and put one on, and do a different weird voice... (cut to shot in studio where Richard is performing a pig couple) 'Like you to meet my wife.' ... and they look at you, like: 'That’s... that's magical, but the guy's nuts!'"

Interviewer: "Yeah, but do you think that perhaps it's everyone's one reason why the show is so funny..."

Richard: "Yeah, I think everybody..."

Interviewer: "That everyone's private passion is to act crazy."

Richard: "Yeah."

The Muppeteers and their Muppets are introduced. Richard, as 'the performer of Scooter', is shown wearing a cool cowboy hat. Four of the main puppeteers (Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Jerry Nelson and Richard Hunt) have gathered in the workshop to take the interview. Pretty often they grab one of their Muppets and slip into character. Of the famous four, Richard seems to be the most talkative when not performing a Muppet.

[...]

Frank Oz: "A healthy aspect of being an actor, of course, is to use that character or that puppet as a shield against the world. A healthy aspect is to be a completely rounded individual, and do this as a craft and art because you enjoy it."

Interviewer: "Which is..."

Frank: "I think we're both, at various times with various people..."

Richard: "Yeah, also, we do what everyone else in the world wants to do and that's act crazy. Except we get paid to do it. That's the big difference."

[...]

Interviewer: "Some of those lines, and some of those awful puns, uttered by..."

Richard: "Human beings wouldn't work."

Interviewer: "Human beings wouldn't work."

Richard: "It's because the characters are such... you know, Lew's, look at Lew's hair. Now I have seen somebody in New York with hair like that, but..."

Lew Zealand: "I do it myself. It takes hours!"

Special thanks to Jogchem Jalink for getting this all down!


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