Inner Tube

Inner Tube title card.

Crasher visits Babs' and Chet's bedroom.

Inner Tube is a 10 minute pilot for The Jim Henson Hour, written in 1987 by David Misch. Directed by Jim Henson, the show includes original music and lyrics by Phil Ramone, Bob Halligan and Phil Galdston.

The show is similar in format to the MuppeTelevision segments of The Jim Henson Hour, but with different characters. It features a group of nutty guys running a fly-by-night cable network called "Inner Tube" from the back of an electronics shop.

The cast includes the two harried mechanics Jake and Henry; a futuristic band (featuring Digit on keyboards, with a different, more robotic voice); Crasher, a wild loudmouthed punk character who mostly crashed through things; and Glitch, a computer animation that would mischievously interrupt transfer. Although the puppet characters were made of foam latex (an indication that they might have been created by the Creature Shop), they actually were built by the New York Muppet Workshop.

Kermit and Miss Piggy make brief appearances in the show, but the focus is on the new characters who are performed by Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire (credited as Steve Whitmore), Richard Hunt, Kevin Clash, Camille Bonora, Kathy Mullen, David Rudman, Rick Lyon and John Henson.

In the Jim Henson Hour pitch, clips from Inner Tube are presented as "Lead Free TV." Jim Henson describes it as "the Muppet Show from the future," and explains that it is one of the four types of programs in The Jim Henson Hour's proposed rotating schedule.

Several scenes from this can be seen in the television special, The World of Jim Henson.