One of the things I really enjoyed seeing in these last two movies that I don't remember ever seeing before--not really--was we got to see "Kermit the Showman." On The Muppet Show, if Scooter said, "Hey Boss, I just booked some yodeling mushrooms!" Kermit would say, "Oh, good!" as though he really thought the crowd would just LOVE that. (Ahem.) In his dorky little soul, I think Kermit does think that all acts (okay, most acts, excluding Lew Zealand) are pretty much good in their own way. In AVMMC, he says to Gonzo and Amy the Dancing Brick, "You just haven't found the right audience yet!" (Not sure what that says about us, right?)
But in both of the last movies, we actually get to see the difference between what Kermit thinks and the polished (okay, work with me here, okay) performance that he gives the audience. Cases in point: When Gonzo's act goes wrong, when Kermit is just about to pop through the "O" in the middle of Show, when he is introducing acts that he has no idea will be entertaining or not, like Walter. He also lies shamelessly to Fozzie about his performance in Reno. The closest we've seen him come before to this kind of duplicity was AVMMC, in bits and pieces, such as the auditions, and when commenting on Piggy's act (which is, by the way, outstanding enough to pack the house and save the show, thank you very much).
I know Kermit is a Sesame Street kind of frog, and I don't really approve of lying, but I actually like Kermit better for seeing the difference between his show-biz self and his real self. I think we were a little robbed in this last movie, because in the book (and in the script), Kermit not only tells Piggy he loves her but she drives him nuts, but he yells at the whole muppet cast and crew and says the same thing. Basically, (I'm paraphrasing), I LOVE you guys, but you
drive me CRAZY! And because I love you, I'm going to ride herd on this show (quite literally, sometimes) and make sure that we HAVE an audience and ENTERTAIN that audience so that we KEEP having audiences for you to perform to. So if you're mad at me this week for not letting you do an act, try again! Goodness knows Lew Zealand has, and I almost NEVER let Lew go on!
Not for nothing does Miss Piggy call Kermit Mon Capitan. He is the captain. He's their fearless leader. He's my hero. (Yes, Walter--it's okay if he's your hero, too.)
Ru