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Rita-moreno-fever
Written by John Davenport and Eddie Cooley
Date 1956
Publisher Fort Knox Music Inc.; Trio Music Co.
Fever-PerezAnimal

Rita Moreno sings "Fever" on episode 105 of The Muppet Show, backed by Floyd on bass and Animal on drums. Animal plays a simple, appropriate beat to the cool jazz number, but occasionally throws in a brief, explosive riff, which startles Rita each time and threatens to throw off her performance. Rita berates him in Spanish and English, but Animal merely scoffs at the reprimand, prompting an aggressive about-turn from Rita.

Animal spitefully attempts to sneak in another explosive riff, but is prevented by a warning glare from Rita. Immediately following, however, Animal throws off all restraint and begins playing an enthusiastic drum solo completely inappropriate to the song. Rita finishes the song, all but completely drowned out by Animal's loud drumming. She then smashes his head between two cymbals. Animal is thrilled by this, exclaiming, "Dat my kinda woman!" before collapsing onto his drum set.

Otis Blackwell wrote "Fever" with Eddie Cooley under the pseudonym, John Davenport.

Miss Piggy performed "Fever" at the Hollywood Bowl in summer 2006.

Animal and Rosie Perez reenacted the bit from The Muppet Show at 2015's Kennedy Center Honors as a tribute to Moreno.

Amy Schumer and Questlove reenacted the bit on a 2016 episode of Inside Amy Schumer as a tribute to The Muppet Show.

Video releases[]

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