Comedy Archeology - It’s Time To Play The Music

If you happen to have spared a glance at the assorted brain run-off cluttering up this tiny corner of the internet, this next entry in the unpicking of comedic influences should comes as no real surprise…

Jim Henson
Three things entered into the brain at a very young age and have been firmly lodged there ever since - Sesame Street, The Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock. Sesame Street and The Muppet Show were there from day one for me with Fraggle Rock emerging as I hit about seven but all of them have had a lasting impact. What’s so good about all this Henson stuff then? Let’s break some of it down a little bit.

Characterisation
It’s pretty much rule number one so this is going to come up a lot but Henson absolutely nails characterisation. You only have to watch a single sketch / scene to understand not only the individual characters’ motivations but also the dynamics between them. Kermit is in charge of a madhouse and just barely hanging in there by a thread. Miss Piggy is a trucker who thinks she’s a superstar (Frank Oz’s description in the excellent documentary Muppet Guys Talking). Fozzie desperately wants to be funny and liked. Cookie Monster really, really likes cookies.

Timing
All of the Muppet performers have great comic timing but the best results are often when Jim Henson and Frank Oz are sharing the screen (well, just underneath the screen with their arms in the air but you get the idea with that one). For me, the epitome of this is a sketch from the first series of The Muppet Show (episode 110 with Harvey Korman if you want to be nerdy about it and I do) in which Fozzie enlists the unrehearsed help of Kermit to deliver a joke with increasingly exasperating results and all to deliver the cheesiest of punchlines. It’s the sort of thing that would sit comfortably with Morecambe and Wise at their prime and has a back and forth that many a double act would kill for.

Silliness And Weirdness
This is also going to be a big theme throughout these. I like it when things get weird. From nonsense songs like Hugga Wugga and Mahna Mahna through to Angus McGonagall the Argyle Gargoyle (who gargles Gershwin gorgeously), silly and strange is always going to be a winner for me.

 A love of all thing Henson has not faded. The Muppet Movie (original one from 1979 although I do like the most recent ones too) is the filmic equivalent of comfort food; something that always provoke a warm and fuzzy feeling inside thanks to the warm and fuzzy characters onscreen. We’re not done with early influences yet and the next early influences are really very early indeed...