Farced Perspective

Pete and Ben get a little loopy about whether Fozzie should have engaged in a little time travel in order to establish his famous catchphrase before he started using it in honor of this week's guest. Then they get loopier still about whether Pete's rating system is baseless and can't be trusted. Except, Ben's going to go back and cut that part out. Whoops. Now we need ANOTHER temporal pincer movement for that.

Ben and Pete call out the Muppets and the guest-star for fat-shaming and for not agreeing with their pet thesis that the Muppets are more important than the temporary human visitor. They talk about DeLuise's recipes, Ben's research into Zulu-inspired folk music, and Pete nearly walks off the show due to punnery.

Pete and Ben break down the episode into A, B, and C plots, where C is for Chicken, and that's good enough for, well, everyone.  Edgar Bergen's ventriloquist act prompts a discussion about how engaged a puppeteer should be in a scene, Gonzo's wrestling match prompts googling of how heavy a brick should be, and the quiz prompts the unwrapping of the first prized Lego Muppet minifig.

Ben and Pete fall into an absolute spiral of film puns, but before they do that, they discuss the legacy and screen presence of Madeline Kahn, Pete's lack of memory, the rivalry between New York's and New Jersey's most iconic troubadours, and how much the internet loves feet.

Pete and Ben do an impression of a pair of knowledgeable podcast hosts and discuss the career and contributions of Rich Little. They also examine the essential heart of the act of an impressionist, realize that their patented Wild Speculation™ is the equivalent of Wikipedia's [citation needed], and make a LOT of references to other podcasts.

It's the Muppet Show! With our very special return to season two on the 45th anniversary of the original NYC broadcast. Ben and Pete continue their journey documenting what jokes land, debating which conceits confuse, and wondering from where some of these musical choices came. This week they discuss the show's secret Britishness, the worst green-screen ever, and Pete's encroaching total amnesia.

And so we come to the close of the first season of the Muppet Show, with the 45th anniversary of the broadcast of the first production episode. Pete and Ben discuss which scenes they think were re-filmed, the creepiness of an amphibian casting couch, and which Muppets have had plastic surgery, before Pete summarizes statistics and rankings for the whole year and we learn who beat whom at the quiz.

Ben and Pete examine the career and appearance of Avery Schreiber, and the ties between his comedy partner — the key writer on The Muppet Show — and his manager — whom he shared with Jim Henson. And yet, they find that this show featured some of the best writing of the season and some of the most animatronic antics by the guest star. Was it kismet or nepotism, and does it matter?

Pete and Ben get socked all the way to the Geek Farm, where they discuss this week's appearance of The Mummenschanz, are surprised by the behind-the-scenes origin of The Vendaface, and try to remember that Pete is forgetting everything.

As we get closer and closer to the end of the season, the competition is heating up and Ben and Pete start getting persnickety about a mere half-point in the weekly quiz. They also consider the who might have been the Electric Mayhem's lead songwriter, the continuing enigma of Vendaface, and share what tangents they contemplated when bored with the episode's musical numbers.