Kermit Parody on Saturday Night Live

[jediX]

You have a point... Disney supposedly made this day care in Florida paint over the Disney characters painted on their walls.

I'll get a link to that article and post it here after class.

 

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

You have a point... Disney supposedly made this day care in Florida paint over the Disney characters painted on their walls.

I'll get a link to that article and post it here after class.

Wow. That seems really, really sad to me.
Erin

 

[Drtooth]

Off the record I NEVER watch SNL... I can't stand how abhorant and lousy it's become over the years, but I'll condemn the skit for being unfunny, and not offensive.

As a cartoonist I parody things all the time, even if I have never seen them. There's a right way to do it, and a wrong way to do it. From what I've read so far, it was the wrong way.

I mean, you could take the Muppets and make a clever parody, or you can just have some talentless Musician get into a fight with a fake Kermit performed by an F0-grade puppeteer, and beat him up..

"Duh, ho... le's beat up Kermin... duh..." that's not witty or clever. It's just stupid humor for the sake of being stupid.

And personally, the only insult is to desacrate something like Rainbow Connection... it's a sweet sensitive song... I remember them playing it at the end of a PBS tribute to Jim..

I mean, that is the offensive bit right there, taking a sweet song and turning it to something ugly. I mean, parody lyrics are fine...

I'm working on a script for something like a "What if.." about other Musicians writing songs for movies, and I have a short bit I'm working on where Paul Williams wrote the opening theme to the French Connection, to the tune of Rainbow Connection... I don't know if it's going to be good, but it seems clever to me...

Face it, after Phil Hartman died, the show went down to uncreative heck where they wrote unfunny skits about annoying guys with annoying inconsistant accents. The only redeming value? Robert Smigle's TV Funhouse. Now, if that were a seperate show, and not tied down to this Wreck of the Hesperus...

 

[AndyWan Kenobi]

The only redeming value? Robert Smigle's TV Funhouse. Now, if that were a seperate show, and not tied down to this Wreck of the Hesperus...

It used to be, actually. It was on Comedy Central, and still may air late at night. It had some really funny moments, and others that were just crude for the sake of being crude. Overall, an interesting experiment, though.

 

[jediX]

I don't think its on anymore, but I think I have most/all of the shows.

 

[JamieDenny]

Hmm just add my 2 penceworth. The reason it was done was because of the target age of the audience. SNL appeals to people in their twenties-thirties right?
Most of whom would have had some idea about who Kermit was. As people have pointed out the Muppets are themselves masters of parody.
The very fact that the Muppets are parodied shows what cultural icons they are.
The Muppets have grown up as we have seen in IAVMMCM, isn't it about time that their fans did too.

Jamie

 

[jediX]

Yea... "The Muppets Go Mideval" on Simpsons (Episode "A Fish Called Selma", I believe) was great.

Lisa: What's a Muppet?
Homer: Its not quite a mop, and its not quite a puppet, but MAN... :: So to answer your question I don't know.

 

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

Lisa: What's a Muppet?
Homer: Its not quite a mop, and its not quite a puppet, but MAN... :: So to answer your question I don't know.

LOL!! I remember that snippet of conversation. Cracked me up!
Erin

 

[Buck-Beaver]

You have a point... Disney supposedly made this day care in Florida paint over the Disney characters painted on their walls.

The thing is, I'm OK with Disney doing that. I mean it sounds horrible and mean (why pick on day care centers?) but that is not a parody, it's a commercial entreprise (or maybe a community organization) using copyrighted characters without permission. If Disney doesn't act to protect it's copyrights in cases like that these "exceptions" can undermine their efforts when they go after bootleggers and more obvious "bad guys" for copyright infringement.

A good example of this is what happened with Battlestar Galactica. Now I know that show has it's fans, but the creators have all but acknowledged it was just an attempt to rip off George Lucas and cash in on the Star Wars craze in the late 70s. While they didn't really commit trademark infringement, they did create confusion in the minds of consumers; hoping to make some people think it was Star Wars. When a child choked on a crappy Galactica toy the judge n the case cited "lousy Star Wars toys" as the cause of the problem. George Lucas sued over it because his name had been tarnish by something he had no control over (I'm not sure how the suit was resolved).

Getting back to Disney...if that Daycare center is plastered with Disney characters and has a horrible accident, a bad safety record or - God forbid - child molesters working there Disney's image could be affected something they had no involvement in. So Disney has to act - however mean it seems - to protect itself and its investors.

There is actually a Muppets Daycare Centre in Toronto's east end and I'm astonished JHC has never sued over it. They had Muppets painted on the side and everything (not sure if those are still there or not). It's not a particularly good outfit from what I've heard.

 

[Boober_Gorg]

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

Since Mark Hamill, R2D2 and C-3PO were on it, Lucas must have been okay with it.