Russell Harty

Russell Harty was a talk show that ran on ITV and BBC Two, hosted by Russell Harty.

• September 22, 1977 (ITV)

Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, and Miss Piggy were guests much like on their later Parkinson appearance. Kermit introduces the show from on top of a studio camera. “Russell Harty? I didn’t think he’d look like that!”

Jim Henson and Frank Oz are interviewed. They have driven down from the Elstree studios after taping The Muppet Show. They talk about having fun while working. Frank jokes, "It’s a great fallacy. No one really has any fun on our show, and it’s time people knew the truth. Jim and I don’t like each other." Frank talks about the performers being half crazy and describes talking about lust and karate chopping people with Miss Piggy. Jim talks about making Kermit from his mother’s spring coat and that "originally when I first made Kermit, and when I first used him for several years he was just a character and not a frog necessarily." Russell asks what kind of conversation they are having, and Frank exclaims, "Dull!"

Kermit comes out remarking "Ask a dull question, you put out the frog!" Kermit discusses things to come in series two: Pigs in Space, J. P. Grosse. Fozzie comes out and looks into Russell’s ears informing him that they are dirty. Russell asks Kermit why they had Fozzie back for the second series, and Kermit informs him that they auditioned other comedians, one being a hilarious wolverine, but didn’t hire him because he wouldn’t work for the kind of money that they pay the bear. Russell asks Fozzie for a joke, and he goes into a cataleptic fit. They discuss Robin's rise to fame and how it's a threat to Kermit. Kermit and Russell try to talk privately about his love life. Miss Piggy arrives, saying, "Watch it!... He’s deeply deeply shy, and he deeply deeply wants me – we know, don't we, girls?" She talks about her outfit for Pigs in Space and how it "shows off my best feature!" Russell asks, "What about the pressures of space on pork?" Piggy replies, "What about the pressures of fist on face?" During the character interviews, the cameras cut Henson and Oz out of frame so that the home viewer could not see them performing.

Statler and Waldorf appear at the end in their theatre box shouting, "This show is worse than The Muppet Show! Who is Russell Harty anyway? I never did like him!"

• February 15, 1983 (BBC2)

Jim Henson and Frank Oz are guests, promoting The Dark Crystal, with Kira and Fizzgig in the studio as well. Mysic urAmaj the cook (Robbie Barnett) walks into studio. Jim, Russell, and Frank sit around a Skeksis banquet table with the live Designer Skeksis. A Garthim crashes through the studio wall and attacks the audience. Performers were Hugh Spight, Mike Quinn, and Robbie Barnett.