It's The Muppet Show!!

My first experience with these adorable little fuzzy creatures was at the tender age of 2. I remember watching Kermit the Frog and Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch in front of a black and white tv while eating a delicious lunch of spaghettios and milk at my small kiddie table of yellow and brown flowers. I enjoyed knowing that this program "was brought to you by the letter K and the number 4" and singing all the little ditties that were sung throughout the program. "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,1,0,11,12 and they all had fun..at the ladybug picnic!" and doing the (wah wah) pigeon with Bert.
It was a time before the politically correct era when Cookie Monster at cookies and was not Veggie Monster. And before Bert and Ernie were considered "gay" and not just best friends and roommates.
I got older and The Muppet Show came on. WOW! These were not the Muppets I recall! they did not sit and chat up small children or sing songs about nubmers and letters...Heck no! They sang current songs by popular artists and had on CELEBRITIES that channeled their inner child!
Steve Martin doing balloon animals was hsyterical "I say words into the balloon as I blow them up so when they pop they go "Gosh darnit!", Elton John dressed in his flamboyant costume singing "Crocodile Rock" surrounded by singing crocodiles in a swamp, Paul Simon singing "Scarborough Fair" while dressed as a medieval minstrel, and my personal favourite, Mark Hamill as himself and his alter ego "Luke Skywalker" along with Chewbacca, C3-PO and R2-D2 saving the earth from the evil Dearth Nadir (Gonzo as a miniature Darth Vader).
I remember plunking down in front of the tv at 630 Saturday nights and watching this wonderful half hour variety show every week as a kid. Some of the funniest skits and greatest talents were on that show.
Recently I ordered the entire series for my kids (ok, and for myself mainly). It is even funnier now as an adult because I get a lot of the jokes that were over my head as a kid.
We had a lot of the merchandise,too. Kermit the frog and Miss Piggy hand puppets. Plenty of shows put on with those as kids. Miss Piggy lunchbox, Miss Piggy satin jacket that I wore to the roller rink because it looked cool under the lights ( and May I interject here, I still HAVE said jacket and lunchbox), Miss Piggy sleepshirt, Miss Piggy notebooks and folders...are you sensing a pattern here?
Obviously, I had a thing for strong minded independent porcine females who were fashion plates and loved their frog and wanted everyone to know it.
To this day I quote the Muppet Show and many of their one liners and sing many of their songs, because of one simple reason. They are funny.
Perhaps this is where I honed my early skills as a comedian...