Kermit Parody on Saturday Night Live

[Ryan]

The line was wrong because if you remember what happened with p diddy a few years ago with the whole gun thing at the club. The muppets are better then all of that and don't need to be assocaited with stuff like that. The muppets are wholesome charracters. Also jutsin timberlake is a dork and as a kid, he was on the mickey mouse club.

Wholesome? Wow..we must teach you differently
Don't forget, the Muppets did work on SNL for a year back in 1975, on a series of sketches called Land Of Gorch..SNL wirters hated "writing for felt", as they put it. But the skethes were very adult and funny. They ranged from Drug use to "Sex Devices"...all with a touch of Muppet Magic.

 

[goldenarrow05]

i just finished watching the skit and personally i think it was hilarious..... The Muppet Show was based on satire just as saturday night live is.... not to mention the fact that the henson company built muppets for reoccuring skits in the 70's so i dont see as where they would have a problem of being poked at on the show. i think too many people associate the muppets with children. if it were barney we would all sit back and laugh but instead we complain some of us take things way to personal and seriously....

 

[jediX]

its not right to make fun of kermit the frog. SNL didn't get permission from anyone to make fun of kermit the frog

Dude, calm down. I wasn't saying it was right. I'm watching it right now. The episode I referenced in NO WAY insulted Kermit. He was merely a badly-performed camero. The sketch was in the early 90s, I believe.

Then this came on. Yes, it was a really crappy sketch but that's the thing about these shows. A year or two ago Conan O'Brien had a fake Kermit jump off a building. That's just the junk you get in late-nite tv.

And since when have you needed permission to make fun of someone? I've been making fun of Justin for years. ; And what does him being on the Mickey Mouse Club have to do with anything?

This wasn't an official Kermit! Had this been ACTUAL Kermit and Steve Whitmire then it would have been offending to me. Yes it was tacky but as Erin said its nothing to lose your mind about.

Ok, enough ranting...I'm out.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Also jutsin timberlake is a dork and as a kid, he was on the mickey mouse club.

I bet there are Justin Timberlake fans (he has what, like twelve? ) who would take as much offense to your comment as you took to the SNL sketch Dilbertos. I'm with Erin, SNL makes fun of everybody. The Muppets shouldn't be a sacred cow.

 

[Saginaw]

Can they get sued for this? I'm thinking probably not, unless the Muppets' caretakers can find an incredible loophole in the First Amendment to use against SNL.

I didn't find the sketch funny, but I didn't find it over-the-top either, as SNL has already done that so many times over that just about nothing is shocking anymore on that program.

Really, I just thought it was nothing more than 'filler' to pad out the show. Sure, to see Kermit (at least a pale imitation of Kermit) tossing out choice words through his puppetmaster (notice I didn't say 'Muppeteer') wasn't anything to be shocked at, but then again it shows that the writers went after what is assumed to be a 'sacred cow' and used the perversion of a wholesome image just for a few cheap and forced laughs.

Now for me, what WAS funny on SNL was the sketch where the male actors parodied a recording session of the old '70s band Blue Oyster Cult and their classic hit 'Don't Fear The Reaper' and former SNL-er Will Ferrell is dancing around and banging away on a cowbell. No hurt feelings anywhere from anyone, since something like that COULD have happened.

To sum things up, Dilbertos, it's okay to be upset with what you saw tonight. Some people might also feel like you do, but then some people might find that funny, and others won't care either way. If you really want to send a statement, just turn off the tv and don't watch SNL again.

Like a wise man once said, "Just because you can do it, doesn't always mean you should do it".


--Saginaw

 

[chicagogonzo]

First time poster here, and I'm getting sleepy so I hope that it makes sense. I just watched the SNL ep a couple of hours ago and I have to say that I am a little upset. Not so much that they made fun of Kermit (SNL does that to everybody). I'm upset because before the ghetto Kermit popped up I thought that it might actually be the real Kermit that was about to come out. I thought that maybe SNL and Henson might be capitalizing on Kermit's recent appearances on Kimmel and VH1, two more adult venues than the Muppets are more recently used to, and decided to bring him to the big daddy of late night. Also, the skit happened at around the same time as the second musical number usually does, so when I saw JT on the band set, I thought that this would be a straight music spot instead of a sketch. Needless to say, I felt a little deflated when the fake Kermit popped up and got ready for fun at Kermit's expense.

Also, I have a legal question concerning this sketch. We all know that SNL makes fun of all pop culture icons, but when they make fun of say George Bush or Sharon Osborne, they're making fun of real people who are part of public domain. Even though Kermit is a cultural icon, wouldn't SNL have to get permission to use his image (even though it was a faux Kermit) because he is a licensed character owned by the Henson company? This might not apply had it been some random green frog-like puppet, but since they directly stated that it was Kermit don't copyrights and licensing come into play? Also, since they sang over half the song, wouldn't they have to pay to use Rainbow Connection? I'm just wondering because no acknowledgements were made in the credits.

Anywho, sorry if this rambled, I was just wondering about those things.

Chicagogonzo

 

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

First time poster here, and I'm getting sleepy so I hope that it makes sense. I just watched the SNL ep a couple of hours ago and I have to say that I am a little upset. Not so much that they made fun of Kermit (SNL does that to everybody). I'm upset because before the ghetto Kermit popped up I thought that it might actually be the real Kermit that was about to come out. I thought that maybe SNL and Henson might be capitalizing on Kermit's recent appearances on Kimmel and VH1, two more adult venues than the Muppets are more recently used to, and decided to bring him to the big daddy of late night. Also, the skit happened at around the same time as the second musical number usually does, so when I saw JT on the band set, I thought that this would be a straight music spot instead of a sketch. Needless to say, I felt a little deflated when the fake Kermit popped up and got ready for fun at Kermit's expense.

Also, I have a legal question concerning this sketch. We all know that SNL makes fun all pop culture icons, but when they make fun of say George Bush or Sharon Osborne, they're making fun of real people who are part of public domain. Even though Kermit is a cultural icon, wouldn't SNL have to get permission to use his image (even though it was a faux Kermit) because he is a licensed character owned by the Henson company? This might not apply had it been some random green frog-like puppet, but since they directly stated that it was Kermit don't copyrights and licensing come into play? Also, since they sang over half the song, wouldn't they have to pay to use Rainbow Connection? I'm just wondering because acknowledgements were made in the credits.

Anywho, sorry if this rambled, I was just wondering about those things.

Chicagogonzo

I agree about the straight music thing, I thought the same when it first came on. I thought, "Oh, awesome, Justin and KErmit are gonna sing 'Rainbow Connection' together! " And once the fake Kermit popped up I was kinda disappointed too. It could've been really sweet, and was for a while... Ah well. Leave it to SNL. You bring up an interesting point in your second paragraph, and I really don't know how that works so I'm not sure what the deal is there. I would think it's still covered by the parody thing, but maybe not.
Erin

 

[jediX]

Maybe they did get permission to use the song, who knows.

 

[Beauregard]

It actually sounds like it was funy. I have heard something much more insulting here on the radio about two or three years ago.

They had Gonzo looking up at the sky with a telescope, and then he turned and looked through the window opposite his house (this was after MFS)

Gonzo sounded nothing like Gonzo, and it was not very "wholesome" but in it's own way it was funny.

Remeber, the Muppet's have paradied pleanty of things. Just think how George Lucas must have felt after the Star Wars show!?

 

[AndyWan Kenobi]

I bet they had to pay for the song. It's not a parody, since it was actually the original music and lyrics. Even Weird Al has to pay for parody songs, since he uses the original music.

As for the skit, I thought it was okay. Not terribly offensive, not particularly funny either. Just kind of dumb and trashy actually. If you're not a muppet fan, (or maybe just a casual fan), I can see how it might have been amusing. Still, my wife and I watched Rocky Mountain Holiday last night, and so I was a little too much into the sweetness of the Muppets to appreciate the skit.