Mel Brooks and the Muppets

[TravellingMatt]

I just thought about this--how many people that have appeared in Mel Brooks movies have also done some Muppet-related work?

Here's who I came up with:

Mel Brooks (The Muppet Movie)
Madeline Kahn (Sesame Street, The Muppet Show)
Zero Mostel (The Muppet Show)
Dom DeLuise (The Muppet Show, The Muppet Movie)
Harvey Korman (The Muppet Show)
Marty Feldman (The Muppet Show)
Rick Moranis (Sesame Street, Muppets Tonight, Little Shop of Horrors--hey, it involved several known Muppeteers)
Gregory Hines (The Muppets Take Manhattan)
Cloris Leachman (The Muppet Show)

Am I missing anyone? Gene Wilder gets the "one-degree" treatment as his wife, the late Gilda Radner, appeared on "The Muppet Show".

 

[grail]

you know, i was thinking about this the other day, when i got done watching spaceballs, turned off the DVD player, and saw rick moranis and bert sitting in a plane singing about making new friends.

creepy...

 

[TravellingMatt]

Wouldn't surprise me in the least...Frank Oz directed Rick in "Little Shop of Horrors", and that Sesame Street bit WAS done with Bert (this was before Eric Jacobson started performing him), so I'm assuming they're friends.

 

[grail]

man, how cool would it be to be able to look in your own little phone book and see "Frank Oz" on your list of friends...same goes for Rick Moranis, really...

 

[TravellingMatt]

All I know is that when I rented the LSoH DVD, Frank seemed to get along with Rick very well, at least according to his own commentary, which is well worth hearing. And Frank does sound like an older, wiser Bert or Fozzie Bear (more or less the same thing!) when he talks in his normal voice.

There was actually a LOST ENDING to that film...but Frank and his crew were forced to shoot the one we all saw in theatres, because the original ending (the one used in stage productions) was deemed too sad for the film and tested poorly at sneak previews. This lost ending was on initial printings of the DVD, but since it was shot in a murky black and white, David Geffen (who produced the stage and film versions) wanted a recall because of the bush league quality of the lost ending, and he had it in color. He hasn't reissued the DVD with the lost ending yet!

Numerous Henson personalities were involved with the show besides Rick Moranis...such as Brian Henson (an assistant Muppeteer) and Martin Robinson (who designed the puppets for the original stage production before...or was it during?...his run on "Sesame Street").