Welcome to Muppet Wiki!
William Shakespeare's bust in The Muppet Christmas Carol.
Miss Piggy and Kermit portray Titania and Bottom from A Midsummer Night's Dream, photographed for a 1982 calendar.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was the Elizabethan playwright and poet behind such enduring works as Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Richard III, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet. The latter in particular has often been spoofed or referenced by the Muppets. Shakespeare himself was caricatured as one of the Schoolroom Busts in The Muppet Christmas Carol.
References to Shakespear
The Muppet Show
- In the At the Dance sketch in episode 101, Miss Piggy asks her male pig dancing partner if he prefers Shakespeare to Bacon. Naturally, he prefers anything to bacon.
- The Panel Discussions for episode 107 of The Muppet Show poses the question, "Was William Shakespeare, in fact, Bacon?"
- Episode 213's Veterinarian's Hospital involves a series of puns on the writer and his famous plays. Statler is offended at the lack of respect, claiming to be a student of Shakespeare. Waldorf notes that he was a student with Shakespeare.
- A William Shakespeare appears in episode 323 at the summoning of Sam the Eagle.
- When Spike Milligan assists Sam the Eagle in episode 317, Sam gets so frustrated that he says he wishes they had gotten Lawrence Olivier instead. Milligan quotes Shakespeare to point out that Olivier, a Brit, only spoke as clearly as he did so that Americans could understand him.
- The Muppet Show has also made many references to Hamlet.
Sesame Street
- Several Monsterpiece Theater sketches parody Shakespeare plays, including "The Taming of the Shoe", "The Monsters of Venice" and "Much Ado About Nothing".
- In Sesame Street: 25 Wonderful Years, Big Bird tells Telly and Prairie Dawn a quote his Granny Bird told him, "All the world is a stage", a quote by William Shakespeare.
- Sesame Street has also made several references to Hamlet.
Other
- In The Muppet Show Diary 1979, Link Hogthrob appears as Hamlet to celebrate Shakespeare's birthday (listed as April 23 along with his date of death, although the date is disputed).
- Kermit and Miss Piggy portray Titania and Bottom from A Midsummer Night's Dream in The Miss Piggy Calendar 1982.
- Garth Brooks and Miss Piggy try to perform the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet in episode 102 of Muppets Tonight, but Piggy's nephews, Andy and Randy Pig, ruin the number. Statler notes that Shakespeare would've hated the performance. Waldorf says that Statler should know about that, because he dated one of Shakespeare's sisters. Statler responds "Boy, was she ugly."
- Bear quotes William Shakespeare in the episode "Words, Words, Words", and comments "I hear he was pretty good with words." The lines quoted by Bear are from Shakespeare's Sonnet 18.