Muppets imbibing alcohol

Kermit samples some elderflower wine in The Frog Prince.

Cookie Monster drinks a cocktail in Julie on Sesame Street.

Jim Henson's drunk Whatnot on The Tonight Show.

The Terrace Restaurant

Moishe Oofnik downs an entire bottle of wine.

Johnny Fiama tends bar at Club Dot.

Henson company liquor label production gift.

On-screen lyrics from Muppet Treasure Island (Muppet Sing Alongs).

Nurse Piggy is startled when the camera finds her spying a wine spritzer in the first aid kit.

Whatnots lure the listener in to drinking with them "Down at the Old Bull and Bush".

A barfly Muppet in a Flip Wilson Show "sketch about drunks at a bar," per newspaper listing, with Flip Wilson and Dom DeLuise.

A drunk Constantine is nursed by Ricky Gervais.

Instances in which the Muppets imbibe alcohol, or where it is implied.

• A sketch performed on The Muppets on Puppets and The Ed Sullivan Show featured the Southern Colonel having his personality altered to become a drunk.

• Jim Henson performs a drunk Whatnot on The Tonight Show in 1965.

• Kermit gets tipsy on elderflower wine in The Frog Prince.

• Cookie Monster drinks a cocktail in Julie on Sesame Street. He downs the drink whilst Julie sings "Big Spender."

• In the Nov 11, 1971 episode of The Flip Wilson Show, a drunken Muppet named Marcus Welby (Frank Oz) joins Flip Wilson and Dom DeLuise at a bar.

• Ploobis and Scred hit the sauce in a Land of Gorch sketch (December 13, 1975)

• According to "Barbeque", "if your tastes are like mine, you like cider, not wine."

• In The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence, Waldorf is seen holding a glass of brandy. He's also seen with a brandy glass in Bonnie Erickson's original sketch of Statler and Waldorf. The brandy glass reappeared in a photo mosaic on Muppets.com as promotion for The Muppets.

• Rita Moreno drinks several shots of whiskey and some pigs have a bottle of wine at their table in "I Get Ideas".

• In the At the Dance sketch in episode 107 of The Muppet Show, Purple Heap thinks it must be the wine talking when he admits how beautiful he finds Green Heap.

• Miss Piggy toasts Ethel Merman with a wine glass in the talk spot from episode 122.

• In the Veteranarian's Hospital sketch from The Muppet Show episode 204, the following exchange takes place:

• Piggy: "Dr. Bob, are you ready for the next bear?"
• Rowlf: "Why, Nurse Piggy, I couldn't have a beer now, I'm about to operate!"

• Fozzie sings "You can tell a man who boozes, by the company he chooses" in "The Pig Got Up and Slowly Walked Away" from The Muppet Show episode 209.

• Paul Revere suggests he and Bob Hope stop for a beer in episode 221 of The Muppet Show.

• Nurse Piggy is seen hiding a bottle of wine at the beginning of the Veterinarian's Hospital sketch in episode 308 of The Muppet Show.

• Harry Belafonte sings "Work all night on a drink of rum" from "Day-O" in The Muppet Show episode 314.

• In episode 320, Sylvester Stallone sings "A Bird in a Gilded Cage" in a saloon with Fozzie, Gonzo and some Whatnots. Sly, Gonzo and a Whatnot hold mugs of beer throughout the somewhat drunkenly performance.

• "Down at the Old Bull and Bush" from episode 321 is a drinking song sung by Whatnots in a bar, encouraging the listener to come join them for a drink. The sketch ends with a cow and a dog clearing out the patrons, and sampling the liquor themselves.

• "Swanee" from episode 402 takes place in a beer hall with dozens of steins filled with sudsy beer.

• Beauregard plays a bartender at a saloon from the old west in episode 403 of The Muppet Show, but his customers only order two sarsaparillas.

• In exchange for some advice, the Gambler asks Kenny Rogers for a taste of his whiskey in The Muppet Show episode 410. The Gambler drinks the last drop, smokes a cigarette, and dies.

• Liza Minnelli's "Lola" character in the "Copacabana" number in episode 414 of The Muppet Show drinks from the bar tended by "Tony".

• In the same episode, Kermit provides narration for a noir detective story, explaining that he'd gone back to his office for a root beer. He places mild emphasis on "root"; the style of storytelling the script is spoofing would most likely have referenced the detective drinking an alcoholic beverage.

• The March Hare offers Alice (Brooke Shields, who was 15 at the time) some wine in The Muppet Show episode 506. She doesn't see any at the table, and the Hare responds that it's because there isn't any.

• In "Workin' at the Car Wash Blues" Gonzo sings, "don't expect to see me with no double martini in any high-brow society news."

• The Salzburg Sauerkraut Singers sing the "Drinking Song" in episode 517 of The Muppet Show. They perform the song in German, but the English lyrics include the lines "Drink! Drink! Drink!" and "lift your stein and drink your beer!"

• The Swedish Chef has trouble with a champagne bottle in episode 523 of The Muppet Show.

• "Gonzo's Song" states that Camilla is sweeter than wine or vanilla.

• "Cigarettes and Whiskey" will drive you insane (and Gramps plays a wino, who tosses his bottle after the song persuades him).

• In the German TV special Jetzt geht die Party richtig los, Kermit, Piggy, Statler and Waldorf drink champagne to celebrate New Year's Eve.

• Most of the patrons at the El Sleezo Cafe in The Muppet Movie are drinking. After a brawl breaks out, Fozzie Bear poses as a bartender and tells everyone that drinks are on the house (which they take literally).

• Kermit and Piggy drink wine through straws at The Terrace Restaurant in The Muppet Movie. Waiter Steve Martin asks Kermit if he'd like to smell the cap. Piggy says it makes her feel giggly.

• After Kermit is ditched on his date by Piggy at the Terrace Restaurant, Kermit slumps into the bar and meets Rowlf. During the opening of the soundtrack version of "I Hope That Somethin' Better Comes Along," Kermit orders a grasshopper -- an alcoholic beverage made with crème de menthe.

• Rowlf says he drinks a beer every night in "I Hope That Somethin' Better Comes Along" in The Muppet Movie.

• The poster for The Muppet Movie by Drew Struzan features Kermit and Piggy in a boat with a jug of wine tied to the bow.

• Many of the guests at the Coconut Grove are drinking in The Muppets Go Hollywood, most notably Statler and Waldorf.

• Miss Piggy chills a bottle of champagne as she waits for Santa Claus in a spoof of The Saturday Evening Post for The Miss Piggy Cover Girl Fantasy Calendar.

• In "A Frog Too Far" from The Muppets Go to the Movies, Piggy plays a waitress who takes an order from Kermit playing a soldier at a USO club. "Bring me another grasshopper... oh, and a root beer to go with it. Those grasshoppers are pretty salty."

• Dismissing Neville in The Great Muppet Caper, Piggy says, "No time for cocktails."

• Champagne from The Dubonnet Club, with enough sugar, tastes just like ginger ale.

• Attending the ballet for a Great Performances presentation, Kermit and Piggy order sparkling banana chamblee wine during the intermission of Prokofiev's Cinderella.

• On a 1983 Enesco mug illustrated by Guy Gilchrist, Kermit orders a shot of milk and a chaser from a bartender.

• The back cover of Miss Piggy's Aerobique Exercise Workout Album shows Miss Piggy's floor littered with champagne bottles.

• Heather Henson serves drinks at a beer hall in The Muppets Take Manhattan.

• Pops serves root beer and some other beverage at a saloon attended by Kermit, Piggy and Gonzo in a photo from The Muppets Look at TV spoofing Gunsmoke.

• Piggy demands that Kermit have champagne in the dugout if he joins Bob Hope's baseball team in Bob Hope's Salute to the 75th Anniversary of the World Series.

• In the Fraggle Rock episode "Wembley and the Mean Genie", the Genie has a mug in his hand and says to Wembley: "Hey there big nose, want some radish beer?" Wembley replies, "No! And you shouldn't be drinking that stuff either! It's bad for you!"

• Recipes from In the Kitchen with Miss Piggy call for alcoholic ingredients such as Lena Horne's "Strawberry and Champagne Sorbet" and Yo-Yo Ma's "Barbecued Spareribs with Beer and Honey."

• Judy Collins sings "they're drinkin' beer and laughin'" in "The Fisherman Song."

• In a Rechov Sumsum episode Moishe Oofnik downs a bottle of wine during a Passover seder, becoming drunk and unusually affectionate. (YouTube)

• Fran Sinclair gets drunk in "Wilderness Weekend."

• Earl Sinclair enjoys being left alone to drink beer.

• In the Muppet Treasure Island CD-ROM, an eyepatch is required to enter the Spyglass Inn. Stevenson the Parrot comments that "Hawkins" shouldn't "wink and drive."

• Dr. Phil van Neuter gets drunk on egg nog in a "Tales from the Vet" sketch from episode 201.

• Bill Barretta played a drunk in Muppets Tonight episode 205.

• The Pickled Egg in episode 205 of Muppets Tonight is drunk due to the fact that he's pickled.

• Champagne has been set at Kermit's place at the table where he sits in the Four Weddings and a Funeral sketch in Muppets Tonight episode 211.

• George Takei orders two more sakes (Sulu style) and a Spock-and-soda (scotch and soda) for Beaker on a Star Trek celebrity cruise in Muppets Tonight episode 211.

• In episode 212 of Muppets Tonight, Statler and Waldorf are drinking brandy as they watch the show. Waldorf comments, "This show is like a glass of brandy. It's old and it makes my head hurt."

• Gonzo plays a satyr in Muppet Classic Theater to replace Dionysus, the god of wine.

• Though alcohol is never actually consumed in the film, Muppet Treasure Island includes a scene in which Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, and Beaker make several attempts to drink brandy.

• In the song "Sailing for Adventure", a female rat tourist sings the line, "and margaritas at the midnight buffet" while she holds a margarita glass.

• In a German poster spoofing James Bond, Kermit holds a martini (presumably shaken, not stirred).

• Animal chugs nog in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie. While this could be non-alcoholic nog, the practice of chugging in this manner at a party is usually indicative of booze.

• Kermit drinks a root beer (placing emphasis on the "root" to the audience) at a French pub in the "Moulin Scrooge" number from It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie.

• Robin the Frog plays the "green fairy" that absinthe drinkers are fabled to see in the "Moulin Scrooge" number from It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie.

• In It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, Statler and Waldorf claim to have bought drinks at Club Dot. The bartender (Johnny Fiama) says "They're lyin!" as he pours shots.

• Kermit orders "grasshoppers for everybody" at a bar in an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live.

• Statler and Waldorf claim Miss Piggy's "hittin' the sauce again" after she dunks her pizza strip into some dipping sauce in a Pizza Hut commercial.

• A baby from a black-and-white number in The Muppet Show Comic Book #5, holds a mug that says "Repeal the 18th!" The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution established Prohibition in the United States making the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol for consumption illegal.

• When Kermit interviewed Johnny Depp at the premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, he appeared in a costume inspired by Depp's character from the movie, mimicking his drunken disposition. Depp informs him that it requires rum. "I like that even better," Kermit replied. "I might pickle myself."

• During a radio interview on On Air with Ryan Seacrest, Piggy is asked if she drinks. She responds that she never touches the stuff. Seacrest always assumed she was a drunk.

• In an appearance on the Australian Today, Murray describes an Ozzie slang word as a food dish and orders one with a side of Merlot. Karl Stefanovic says he enjoyed a beer in a New York City restaurant, but Zoe says they don't know anything about drinking. Stefanovic offers to take Murray to a bar; Murray says he's ready with his fake ID (claiming he can pass for eight years old).

• Jason Segel and Kermit recall a recent trip they made together to Mexico in an interview segment for Unscripted. They tried a drink there called "The Muppet": a mix of Sprite and tequila which involves having your head shaken around like a Muppet (Segel demonstrates with Kermit). On ENERGY Berlin 103,4, he mentioned he drank Sambuca there; he also likes the worms at the bottom of vodka. (YouTube)

• When Gonzo explains a Dutch angle in the commentary for the The Muppet Christmas Carol Blu-ray, Rizzo says he thought the camera operator just had a pint. Gonzo responds, "He did."

• Singing "Somethin' Stupid" with Robbie Williams in One Night at the Palladium... "Afterwards, we drop into a quiet little place and have a drink or two." Piggy ad-libs, "or three or four!"

• According to their Muppet File in The Muppets Character Encyclopedia, The Barbershop Cactus Quartet's favorite song is "How Dry I Am" (or "The Near Future" by Irving Berlin), a drinking song from the Prohibition era ironically using "dry" to refer to being sober.

• In a March 24, 2014 interview on BBC Radio 1, Piggy's answer to a listener about how to handle a hangover is to not drink so much in the first place.

• Appearing on Alan Carr: Chatty Man in March 2014, Kermit and Constantine are served Sambuca by the show's host. They make jokes about not being able to reach the glasses from the couch, but promise to drink it off-camera. After commercial break, Constantine is offered a Jägerbomb, but it's clear that he's already had too much to drink and starts a fight with Carr. Gary Barlow performs a song during the final segment who is joined by Carr and Kermit. The camera cuts to Constantine several times being nursed by Ricky Gervais holding a bowl under his head.

See also

• Smoking Muppets
• Muppets with anatomically functioning mouths