Henson & Brooks

[BEAR 2]

I would imagine this may have been touched on at some point (if so, please direct me over to that thread) but I have been thinking a lot lately about the relationship between these two men, Jim Henson and Mel Brooks. I know that Mel Brooks comedies were very big in the 70s and into the 80s and the style, like the Muppets, rode on the cleverly ridiculous. Mel Brooks had a roster of actors that would appear regularly in his movies. With that, I noticed that The Muppet Movie had cameos by not only Brooks himself, but also by several of his regular actors... Carol Kane, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman. Maybe it’s just coincidence as these were very popular actors at the time anyway, but I found it very interesting.
Any thoughts?

 

[jobi71]

I would imagine this may have been touched on at some point (if so, please direct me over to that thread) but I have been thinking a lot lately about the relationship between these two men, Jim Henson and Mel Brooks. I know that Mel Brooks comedies were very big in the 70s and into the 80s and the style, like the Muppets, rode on the cleverly ridiculous. Mel Brooks had a roster of actors that would appear regularly in his movies. With that, I noticed that The Muppet Movie had cameos by not only Brooks himself, but also by several of his regular actors... Carol Kane, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman. Maybe it’s just coincidence as these were very popular actors at the time anyway, but I found it very interesting.
Any thoughts?

I think there are too many intersections of talent between the two men for it to be strictly coincidence. Brooks' frequent co-stars who were featured on either The Muppet Show or The Muppet Movie Dom DeLuise, Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn (all in both); Carol Kane (movie) Richard Pryor (movie and an intended guest on the show); Harvey Korman, Marty Feldman; Avery Schreiber (all on the show); Zero Mostel had a memorable role in The Producers and was on the show; Gene Wilder's (who was in neither) wife Gilda Radner was on the show. Wilder is also a collaborator with Feldman and Pryor. Feldman worked with Spike Milligan in various TV shows and films. Charles Durning was in The Muppet Movie opposite Brooks and was later cast in To Be or Not To Be and was nominated for an Oscar.

Burt Reynolds also used many actors in multiple projects and there is cross over with Reynolds' and Brooks' circles also.

 

[BEAR 2]

Ah, Gene Wilder and the Muppets would have been a ball! I wonder why that never came to be.

 

[jobi71]

Ah, Gene Wilder and the Muppets would have been a ball! I wonder why that never came to be.

He would have been. Whenever there is a thread here or elsewhere on Guest Stars that could have been... He is always my number one choice. He did do some work on Sesame Street, so I wouldn't think he had an aversion to working with The Muppets. Looking at his IMDB page it seems that after 1974 he had just one or maybe two major projects a year. Perhaps he enjoyed being able to invest his energy in one project at a time or maybe enjoyed having time between projects. If the show was too big of a commitment he could have been a cameo in one of the films. Not to toss James Coco aside but Wilder would have been a fun Mr. Skeffington. Or and it would mean losing the talk show joke about the Minister being an actual Minister but it would have been quite sweet to have him marry Kermit and Piggy.