THE BEST Muppets

With its release on Disney+, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway hit Hamilton is once again the talk of the town. Perhaps seeing a rainbow connection, Ricky Downes III recorded the entire musical in the voices of The Muppets. When Beaker started rapping, coffee came out of our nose. Act two here.

The Muppets are back with an all-new, unscripted series in which our beloved characters interview celebrity guests, improvise, perform in sketches, and other stuff they’re not willing to say yet. Coming to Disney+ starting 7.31.2020.

The Muppets regulars Statler and Waldorf are here to heckle all of your other action figures. Diamond Select Toys’ set includes both of the grumpy old men, along with a balcony for them to hang out in while they look down their noses at the rest of the world. Figures stand 3″ to 5″ tall.

Feeling a little blue? Kermit the Frog is here to bring a little sunshine into your day with a fresh performance of Paul Williams’ classic tune Rainbow Connection, as he socially distances alongside a country stream. We really need to rewatch The Muppet Movie now.

James Bruton is always making cool and amazing things. His latest build is a version of Tickle-Me Elmo that can actually move and walk around thanks to an array of nine servo motors and a wheeled robot that pushes it along. The design was inspired by that creepy teddy bear in the Spielberg movie A.I. Part one here.

Sesame Street’s The Count sings along with NY polka-punk band Gogol Bordello’s track Start Wearing Purple, a song about growing old and going senile, which seems rather ironic for a vampire who is likely immortal.

Most of us had our first encounter with Muppets on Sesame Street. But it turns out that wasn’t Jim Henson’s first television show. Long before The Muppet Show, Henson created a quirky little show called Sam and Friends. Defunctland’s excellent miniseries explains how Henson – and Kermit the frog – got their start.

Mashup master Mylo the Cat diced up footage from the 1985 Sesame Street flick Follow That Bird to create a muppet version of the video for Beastie Boys’ 1994 classic Sabotage. The only thing missing are the cheesy ’70s mustaches.

You’ll never go in the water again… at least if you’re a chocolate chip cookie, you won’t. That’s because there’s a big, blue, insatiable monster lurking beneath the surface, ready to strike any minute and chomp on your ass. Firebeard’s t-shirt is perfect for any fan of muppets, cookies, sharks, or Steven Spielberg.

Public television meets public radio with a celebration of Sesame Street’s 50 years on TV, as Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Rosita, Abby Cadabby and a few people from the neighborhood regale us with 15 minutes of our childhood favorite earworms.

The guys at MetaFilter dug up this little gem that dates way back to 1976. At the close of the first season of The Muppet Show, the crew of series performed the opening song and a few skits without the Muppets or their voice actors. We had no idea the show was shot in England.

WIRED takes us behind the scenes with the cast of Sesame Street for a look at how the performers operate each of their Muppets, along with a few other cool tidbits about the art of puppetry. Their arms must get so tired over their heads like that all the time.

Avengers: Infinity War includes just about every major MCU character yet. But Marvel could have added many other characters under their parent company’s umbrella to round out the cast even further. Nerdist envisions what that movie might have been like.

Mylo the Cat presents another Muppet mashup, this time giving Miss Piggy the perfect song to sing, Rihanna’s 2012 megahit Diamonds. We’re pretty sure that Piggy would throw a major hissy fit if she found out her tiara was made from Cubic Zirconia.

It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights… Heavy metal musician Leo Moracchioli takes on the theme song from The Muppet Show in the best possible way, with a puppet-filled music video, and a growly interpretation of the tune that would make Animal proud.

If there’s one tune that’s sure to get stuck in your head and rattle around all day, it’s the classic Mahna Mahna. This early appearance of the track on a 1969 episode of Sesame Street with crawl into your ear like that creature from Wrath of Khan, and won’t let go.

(PG-13: Language) Go Fozzie. It’s your birthday! America’s favorite stand-up comic bear parties his ass off in Mylo the Cat’s latest Muppet remix video. The clip got us wondering just how does a Muppet ingest liquor and weed, since they have no esophagus or windpipe.

Jim Henson & Frank Oz’s The Dark Crystal, is a masterpiece. Funko’s retro-style ReAction line is offering a series of figures inspired by the film, including The Chamberlain, Ursol the Chanter, Jen, Aughra, and Kira (with Fizzgig.) There’s also a Landstrider collectible from SDCC 2016.

Laser Time dug up this juicy nugget from an old episode of Muppets Tonight, in which Kermit donned a giant suit and proceeded to sing (er talk) a cover of Talking Heads’ classic Once in a Lifetime. You must stick around for Statler and Waldorf at the end. Same as it ever was.

The Muppet Show‘s house band reunited at Outside Lands 2016 in the first and only stop of their world tour. The band performed Can You Picture That, Mowgli’s San Francisco, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros’ Home, and the Beatles’ With a Little Help From My Friends.

(PG-13: Language) Bow wow wow yippee yo yippee yay! Mylo The Cat’s latest video stars Rowlf the Dog in the role of Snoop Dogg, and Fozzie Bear as Dr. Dre as they lip-sync the classic Who Am I? (What’s My Name). We had no idea Muppets could swear so much.

Kermit the frog calls into question Fozzie Bear’s very existence, and Piggy and Kermie share an intimate moment in these improv screen tests between Jim Henson and Frank Oz during the filming of the 1979 classic The Muppet Movie.

Wiki-wiki-wiki-wiki… Video wizard Mylo the Cat is back with another musical Muppets mashup. This time, the mild-mannered Scooter takes on the role of bad boy Eminem. We will now think of him as Scoot Shady from this day forward.

The Beatles meet the Muppets in this whimsical tee by artist James Hance, which envisions a world in which Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem take a psychedelic trip under the sea. We’re assuming that Sam the Eagle plays a Blue Meanie in this version.

It was recently announced that Sesame Street would be airing episodes on HBO. But if the guys at Barely Productions are to be believed (and they aren’t), the gang will be getting decidedly more adult, per HBO standards.

Their Clash of the Titans parody might not exactly timely, but Sesame Street’s lesson about focusing and paying attention is still amusing, as Cookie Monster aka Furseus is tested by a cow named Moodusa on his quest to reach Zeus at Mount Olympus Diner.