Muppets Tonight is an American live-action/puppet family-oriented comedy television series, created by Jim Henson Productions and featuring the Muppets. The series ran for two seasons between March 8, 1996 to February 8, 1998, originally airing on ABC before later being aired and rerun on the Disney Channel. The show was a continuation of The Muppet Show as the sixth and seventh seasons overall, with Kermit the Frog and the Muppets running their own television channel and studio.
The series brought back several Muppet characters from The Muppet Show while introducing several new ones to the program, and made parodies of television programs ranging from game shows, talk shows, and educational entertainment. Each episode featured one principal guest star, but a number of episodes also featured additional guest stars; one episode featured a cameo from Leonard Nimoy. Muppets Tonight received mixed reviews from critics.
Contents
Format
The premise of Muppets Tonight was that Clifford was the host of a variety/talk show on KMUP. The show stuck closely to The Muppet Show format of various skits (mostly featuring the show's human guest star) interspersed with some sort of crisis occurring backstage.
Characters
Returning Muppets
The Muppet characters performed by Frank Oz appeared intermittently on Muppets Tonight due to scheduling conflicts with his directing career.
Clifford (performed by Kevin Clash) – Host of the show. Although he had visible eyes in this series instead of his previous sunglasses, he went back to wearing sunglasses for all of his appearances after Muppets Tonight ended. At the MuppetFest convention in 2001, Clash revealed that he preferred Clifford wearing sunglasses, refusing to perform the character again unless he was wearing them.
Kermit the Frog (performed by Steve Whitmire) – Producer of the show
Animal (performed by Frank Oz)
Zoot (performed by Dave Goelz)
Beauregard (performed by Dave Goelz) – Janitor of KMUP
Bean Bunny (performed by Steve Whitmire)
Behemoth (performed by Bill Barretta) – Ernst Stavros Grouper's assistant
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew (performed by Dave Goelz) – The scientist and inventor from Muppet Labs who shows off his inventions on the show
Beaker (performed by Steve Whitmire) – Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's assistant
Dr. Julius Strangepork (performed by Jerry Nelson) – Appears in a "Bay of Pigswatch" sketch as the lifeguard inspector as seen in the Pierce Brosnan episode
Clueless Morgan (performed by Bill Barretta) – A goat who previously appeared in the 1996 film Muppet Treasure Island; appears in the "At the Bar" sketch co-owning a bar with Polly Lobster, who also previously appeared in Muppet Treasure Island
New Muppets
Some of the Muppets introduced on Muppets Tonight went on to appear in later Muppet productions, particularly Pepe the King Prawn, who has become a regular.
A. Ligator (performed by Jerry Nelson) – A pink vulture who serves as the show's announcer
Barbershop Cactus Quartet – A group of four cacti who make up their own barbershop quartet
Big Mean Carl (performed by Bill Barretta) – A green shaggy monster. He often uses disguises or variety acts to disguise his intentions of eating other Muppets or objects, and eats the prized pet whenever a contestant loses (or wins) Swift Wits. He also makes some audience appearances
Bill the Bubble Guy (performed by Dave Goelz) – A blue-skinned Muppet who can make bubbles come out of his head; first appears in the Garth Brooks episode where the Head of the Network threatened to replace Clifford with Bill if Brooks did not sing one of his country songs.
Bobo the Bear (performed by Bill Barretta) – A bear who works as a security guard
Captain Pighead (performed by Steve Whitmire) – A pig who serves as the captain of the new Swinetrek in the "Pigs in Space: Deep Dish Nine" segments
Craniac (performed by Kevin Clash) – An alien with a brain for a head; a crew member on the Swinetrek in the "Pigs in Space: Deep Dish Nine" segments
Cue Card Monster (performed by Bill Barretta) – A small green monster with long arms who works as the cue card holder
Darci (performed by Leslie Carrara-Rudolph) – She was featured in "The Real World Muppets" segments
David Hoggselhoff (a parody of David Hasselhoff; performed by Bill Barretta) – A pig who is the star of "Bay of Pigswatch"
Recurring sketches
Among the regular sketches are:
Bay of Pigswatch – A parody of Baywatch starring David Hoggselhoff as Champ Schwimmer, Spamela Hamderson as Spamela, and Andy and Randy Pig as Donnie and Art C. Shell where they work as lifeguards at a beach. with Guest Stars Miss Piggy and Dr. Julius Strangepork.
Carl the Big Mean... – Sketches which involve Carl doing an act, which usually ends up incorporating him eating someone or something, e.g., biting the head off a ventriloquist's puppet, predicting someone would be eaten, and eating him, as a psychic.
E-I-E-I-O R – In a parody of ER, it features Fozzie Bear working at a hospital where the doctors and patients pass around humor; Fozzie is assisted by Dr. Pain, Ernst Stavro Grouper, and an Afghan Hound.
Great Moments in Elvis History – In a parody of Great Moments in History, the moments in history are reenacted by a bunch of Muppet versions of Elvis Presley.
Pigs In Space: Deep Dish Nine – In a sequel to "Pigs in Space", Miss Piggy is featured on the new Swinetrek with a different crew. The title is a spoof of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Screen Tests – A bunch of screen tests that featured the Muppets auditioning in a movie that featured the guest stars of the episodes it was featured in.
Tales from the Vet – In a parody of Tales from the Crypt, Dr. Phil van Neuter tells scary stories revolving around animals.
The Eagle's Nest – Sam the Eagle talks about politics and other issues with Andy and Randy Pig as his recurring guests.
The Johnny Fiama Show – A talk show hosted by Johnny Fiama.
Series run
The show ran from 1996 to 1998. There were 22 episodes produced in two batches. 13 episodes were ordered by ABC, though only ten of them were run in the 1995–96 TV season. The program was then purchased by the Disney Channel, which led a further 8 episodes and aired these along with the three episodes ABC did not air, in the 1997–98 season. One of the nine newly produced episodes was a clip show compilation culled from the earlier episodes.
In the United Kingdom only the first thirteen episodes of the show were transmitted. BBC1 screened the first 11 episodes at 7pm on Friday evenings from 6 September – 15 November 1996 with the last two going on 30th and 31st December at Lunchtimes. Sky One picked up the series in late December 1996 and continued to repeat episodes until Spring 1999. The BBC repeated 10 episodes in late August 1999.
In Ireland the show was broadcast on TG4, eventually being dubbed into Irish Gaelic.
In Canada, the show originally aired on CBC, and later moved to Family Channel in conjunction with Disney Channel's airings.
Home media
In 2005, Brian Henson expressed interest in releasing the show on DVD. However, as of 2026, Muppets Tonight has never been released on home media or made available on any streaming or digital platforms.
Episodes
Reception
The reception from critics was mixed.