Episode 304: Gilda Radner

The Muppet Show
Guest	Gilda Radner
Production	March 7-9, 1978
Premiere	UK: April 2, 1978 US: December 14, 1978
Releases	Season 3 Best of the Muppet Show
(TRANSCRIPT)

Guest star Gilda Radner faces several problems: initially, her request for a seven-foot tall talking parrot gets messed up by bad handwriting, making her sing operetta with a giant carrot. Later, Bunsen Honeydew tests Muppet Labs' new super-adhesive glue on her, but the glue accidentally gets everywhere, and everyone and everything gets stuck together.

Songs/Sketches

• "Lullaby of Broadway"
• "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General" and other selections from The Pirates of Penzance
• "Muppet Melodrama: Cliff
• "Witch Doctor"
• UK Spot: "The Bird on Nellie's Hat”
• Muppet Labs: Super Adhesive
• "Body and Soul"
• Muppet News Flash: The Glue Crisis has been solved.
• "Tap Your Troubles Away"

Notes

• The penguin in the "Lullaby of Broadway" number was built by Brian Henson. The troupe's first use of the bird, it was puppeteered by Frank Oz.
• Jim Henson's quote on the "carrot/parrot" joke in the episode: "It's a terrible joke, but it's worthy of us."
• Although Zoot gets his saxophone stuck in his mouth, it apparently gets unstuck before the closing number, as it's not in his mouth in the backstage scene before that, and at the end of the closing number he can be seen with the saxophone out of his mouth.
• Goof: During her final number, while she is dancing with her hand stuck to her head, Gilda moves her fingers on that hand. Consequently, she doesn't stick to her shoe and is able to put it on (the buckle was untied, as well).

Episode

Picture	Description
	Cold Open: Guest star Gilda Radner, playing her Emily Litella character, complains about having to perform on "The Muffin Show." She assumes that next they'll have her performing with rye bread, or little biscuits. Scooter stops her to say that she is not on The Muffin Show, but rather The Muppet Show. Emily replies, "Oh. Well, that's very different. Never mind." Scred made a similar mistake when he impersonated Emily Litella on Saturday Night Live, believing that the topic of conversation was "toasted English Muppets."
	"The Muppet Show Theme": Gonzo reveals that he always gets butterflies before a show. A giant butterfly tells him, "Not this time," and hits Gonzo with a club. Red smoke comes out of the horn; Gonzo hiccups a second red cloud.
	Eskimo pigs sing "Lullaby of Broadway." They are joined by a walrus, a penguin, a bear, and a chicken.
	Gilda comes backstage to thank Kermit for the chance to perform an operetta, and to ask if he was able to get a seven-foot talking parrot to join her for the number. Kermit appears confused, and explains that when he read her letter he couldn't quite make out her hand-writing. Instead of a parrot, she comes face-to-face with a Seven-foot-tall Talking Carrot. A shame since she was hoping to perform selections from The Parrots of Penzance.
	Gilda and the Carrot perform "Policeman's Song" and "Poor Wandr'ing One" as they make attempts at the rather difficult "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General." They are backed by a group of singing vegetables.
	Muppet Melodrama: The dreaded Uncle Deadly has Miss Piggy perched in a perilous position upon a precipice! He means to hold her there until she agrees to marry him. But the heroic Wayne arrives to save the day! But will he be able to? No, for he recognizes Deadly as a famous flamenco dancer and requests a demonstration. Wayne joins in, and as they dance, he accidentally knocks Piggy off the cliff.
	Backstage, Uncle Deadly and Wayne continue their flamenco practice. Deadly tells Wayne, "You're getting it! You're getting it!" The furious and disheveled Miss Piggy races back to announce, "You're both gonna get it!" She hits Deadly, and kicks Wayne.
	Marvin Suggs and his Muppaphone play "Witch Doctor." The song is interrupted by the Witch Doctor who is mad at Marvin for telling his story, and turns Marvin into a Muppaphone.
	UK Spot: The pigs sing "The Bird on Nellie's Hat."
	Muppet Labs: Gilda joins Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker to help with a demonstration. Honeydew places a small drop of Muppet Labs' Super Adhesive upon Gilda's forehead, and is about to attach a rope to this spot so as to hoist her into the air when she puts a stop to the experiment. Gilda checks the bottle and accidentally sprays the adhesive all over the place. Beaker and Gilda get stuck to a piece of exercise equipment and Bunsen gets stuck to his notes and the rope.
	Backstage, Kermit is speaking to a Mr. Scribbler on the phone. As Gilda returns, he asks in behalf of Mr. Scribbler what the secret of her success is. Kermit answers for her, telling Scribbler, "I guess you could just say that she has stuck with it." Kermit ends up getting stuck on the phone... literally. He also gets stuck on Piggy.
	Rowlf the Dog and Zoot play "Body and Soul," but they get stuck to their instruments.
	Muppet News Flash: The Newsman tries to report that the rogue adhesive is under control, but he gets stuck to his chair.
	Kermit and Piggy are still stuck on each other. While Piggy hopes they'll be stuck like this forever, Kermit worries that he won't be able to support her that long. Meanwhile, as the band rushes onstage, Floyd points out that Gonzo's eyes are glued to the television set.
	Gilda performs "Tap Your Troubles Away" with the Muppet Orchestra, while still stuck to Beaker, and gradually getting more and more pieces of the set stuck to her.
	At the closing, the Muppets are all stuck to each other and to Gilda.

Edits

• Nickelodeon cut and shortened several scenes for time. Among them were:

The backstage scene following the melodrama.

Floyd telling Kermit that Gonzo's eyes are glued to the television set.

Cast

Muppets:

Kermit the Frog, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Scooter, Wayne, Uncle Deadly, Marvin Suggs, The Muppaphone, Seven-foot-tall Talking Carrot, Statler and Waldorf, Rowlf, Zoot, The Newsman, The Witch Doctor, Floyd Pepper, Dr. Julius Strangepork, Pigs, Winky Pinkerton, Walrus, Billy the Bear, Chicken, Canary

Background Muppets:

Nigel, Animal, The Singing Food, Whatnots

Performers

Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog, Rowlf, The Newsman, Waldorf and Muppaphones

Frank Oz as Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, Marvin Suggs, and Winky Pinkerton (puppetry)

Jerry Nelson as Floyd Pepper, Dr. Strangepork, Witch Doctor, Uncle Deadly, Pigs, Walrus, Chicken and Canary

Richard Hunt as Scooter, Beaker, Wayne, Statler, Pigs, Whatnot and Muppaphones

Dave Goelz as Gonzo, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Pig

Peter Friedman as Seven-foot-tall Talking Carrot

Louise Gold as Pigs, Fish and Muppaphones

Sources

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