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No more Mr. Nice Frog.
The grumblings began when a September 12Slate article titled, What Does theSNLBiopic Have Against the Muppets?
But the conversation didnt turn into a full-on angry Mupprising until Cracked covered the brewing sub-Reddit discourseon September 17.
Henson really only exists as a punchline in the film.
His over-the-top cartoonish squareness, in comparison to the hip, freewheelingSNLgang, is repeatedly played for laughs.
As Studio 8H lore would have it, theSNLwriters thought they werebetterthan the Muppets (how very dare!)
and didnt want to write for them, and the Gorchmaterial they did write caused creative tensions betweenSNLand Henson.
They are firing shots at the film, at Braun, and atSNLitself.
Because if you didnt know, Jim ended up with the more successful show.
You do not want to make an enemy out of Muppet stans.
They are worse than Taylor stans.
They will send you a present that looks like a nicely cooked fish but its a bomb.
Still, I think Hensons portrayal can be interpreted in the eye of the beholder.
But I saw it as a triumphant hero moment for Henson.
Televised sketch comedy already existed in 1975.
You know whatdidntexist yet in 1975?
Recurring grown-up Muppet-based comedy on late-night television.
And you know what aired its pilot episode, subtitled Sex and Violence, in 1975?ThemotherfuckingMuppet Show.
Lorne Michaels is the out-of-touch one, and Jim Henson is essentially sainted.
And you know who hasnt aged a day?
Those little hairy facecloths.
