Guest stars who seemed to dislike being on the show

[sugarbritchez]

This is a pretty neat thread......never thought of it myself...but now since you pointed it out......it is quite funny.

 

[BEAR]

No. I don't think he sang anything. I think he just tap danced and made balloon animals. I could be wrong though. I do remember seeing him on the ukelele. I'm not sure that was "King Tut" he sang though. I might want to check that again.

Steve Martin played the banjo.

 

[David French]

Who was the only guest star (in the context of the show) who sent the note with messenger boy Chris Langham?

 

[Gorgon Heap]

Who was the only guest star (in the context of the show) who sent the note with messenger boy Chris Langham?

Bernie Brillstein the Yiddish Yodeler. Bernie Brillstein, or course, was in real life Jim Henson's agent.

A few I can think of who fit that category are Steve Martin and Madeline Kahn. They seemed weirder than the Muppets at least in the opening scenes.

You wanna talk weirder than the Muppets? There's only one guest star IMO who's palpably crazier than they are: the father of British absurdist comedy, Spike Milligan. He was also a manic-depressive whose fans considered it an extreme honor if he swore at them, so that right there says a lot.

When I read the thread title, I thought it was going to be about celebs who seemed like they TRULY didn't want to be there, not just those who were putting it on. I think it was David Lazer who said that guest stars didn't do the show for the money or the publicity, but for the fun. Certain guest stars did seem uncomfortable or out of their element. For some reason Zero Mostel doesn't seem to be at home- he's kind of doing his own thing (but that's the kind of performer he was often times, to the annoyance of those who worked with him).

By contrast, certain guest stars seemed to be having a grand old time, like Ruth Buzzi, Sandy Duncan, Valerie Harper, Christopher Reeve, and Lynda Carter, to name a few. Also noteworthy is the Muppets frequently cracking up Kris Kristofferson, and Lou Rawls constantly cracking up around Animal.

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole

 

[Drtooth]

To clarify, are we talking about people who pretended to not want to be in the show, or people who were on the show, but really didn't enjoy the experiance?

 

[rexcrk]

I think it's people who acted like they didn't wanna be on the show. (I can't think of why someone wouldn't enjoy being on The Muppet Show )

 

[minor muppetz]

I think it's people who acted like they didn't wanna be on the show. (I can't think of why someone wouldn't enjoy being on The Muppet Show )

If any of the guests who were on the show really weren't happy, I'd say it would be someone who guest starred during the first season, as it was really hard to get people to agree to be guests that year, and also many of the guest stars guest starred as a favor for somebody who worked on the show.

But most of the first season guests looked like they did enjoy being on the show. Some guests who seemed really happy on the show included Connie Stevens, Rita Moreno, Peter Ustinov, Paul Williams, Jim Nabors, and Kaye Ballard.

I wonder if Harvey Korman really wasn't happy with being on the show, like how he acted in the context of the show. He seemed a little unhappy in amlmost all of his scenes. Juliet Prowse also looked like she was a bit bored.

 

[Saironi]

John Clesse struck me as if he wasn't having fun (of course, he helped DIRECT his episode) because;

a. He was tied to his chair and gagged.

b. His agent was eaten by Big Mama (so who says she couldn't have eaten the GUEST HIMSELF?!).

c. He seemed to dislike the pigs.

d. His final number was a catastrohie.

Peter Ustinov did seem to enjoy being on the show, since he stills Kermit's line.

Bruce Forescythe mimics a wacky arm waving gesture in the goodnights.

Vincent said "I've never met a monster I didn't like", to which Kermit replies, off-handedly, "I can beleive it." I think he liked performing with the Heaps, Uncle Deadly and the Frackles.

My mom said that Etherl Merman seemed to really enjoy her time on the show.

And if you wanna talk about guest stars that made the muppets look half-way serious, think of Marten Short, Rick Moranis, John Goodman and some other comedic guests of Muppets Tonight.

But, the reason so many people appeared was Jim had a relationship with them in one way or another.

I also remember reading Lena Horne didn't seem to like being on the show, but I only half saw it. Another thought is, maybe she was too dedicated to performing musical numbers or something.

 

[minor muppetz]

I also remember reading Lena Horne didn't seem to like being on the show, but I only half saw it. Another thought is, maybe she was too dedicated to performing musical numbers or something.

According to the Muppet Morsels, she thought of The Muppet Show differently than other celebrities at the time she was on. It says that most celebrities thought that the muppet show didn't have a chance at success, but she believed in them. I think the morsels said that she liked being on there.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Of course there were no guests who genuinely disliked being on the show.

I remember reading on a post somewhere that Gorgon Heap said by the time of season 2 or at the latest 3 there was an actual waiting list for being a guest star. Would anyone put their name on such a list if they believed they would hate the experience?
But it was a subtle joke that from time to time some guest stars appeared to regret being on the show. Especially if the context of the story made out that they were having a lousy time such as Hal Lynden for example. He threatened to walk out before his closing number but he was persuaded naturally to see it out.
Not a single episode ever failed to have the guest finish their contract or could you call it a jail sentence. HA HA HA