The BEST episodes of The Muppet Show

Every episode of The Muppet Show ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Muppet Show!

The Muppet Show is a British-American television program produced by puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on September 5, 1976, and five series were produced until March 15, 1981, lasting 120 episodes. The program shows a vaudeville- or music hall-style song-and-dance variety show, as well as glimpses behind the scenes of such a show. Kermit the Frog stars as a showrunner who tries to keep control of the antics of the other Muppet characters (and his temper), as well as keep the guest stars happy. The show was known for outrageous physical slapstick, sometimes absurdist comedy, and humorous parodies. Each episode also featured a human guest star. As the show's popularity rose, many celebrities were eager to perform with the Muppets on television and in film.

Last Updated: 8/30/2024Network: CBSStatus: Ended
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Leslie Uggams
star
15.00
2 votes

#1 - Leslie Uggams

Season 3 - Episode 24 - Aired 7/5/1979

Sketches/Songs: "Hey There, Good Times", "Muppet Labs", "Here You Come Again", "Mad About the Frog", "Bear on Patrol", "Vendawish", "Camilla", "Love Will Keep Us Together"

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Roger Miller
star
15.00
2 votes

#2 - Roger Miller

Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/10/1979

Song: Penguins in Mayflower: "Alabama Bound" Cluckitis (best running gag they ever had IMHO) Roger sings with watermelons Bear on Patrol: assaulting an officer Song: Roger: "A Hat Like That" Rowlf Vet's Hospital Song: Roger: "Whack-a-Doo" Song: "Dang Me".

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Harry Belafonte
star
9.40
30 votes

#3 - Harry Belafonte

Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/15/1979

Sketches/Songs: "Day-O", "Tea For Two", "Pigs In Space", "Honeysuckle Rose", Animal and Harry play the drums, "Muppet Sports", "Turn the World Around"

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Debbie Harry
star
9.34
47 votes

#4 - Debbie Harry

Season 5 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/21/1981

Robin's Frog Scout troop visits the show, getting in everyone's way backstage. They ask Debbie for help earning their punk merit badges, and she teaches them how to do the pogo. When Gonzo cancels his act, the Frog Scouts get their chance to do a performance of close-order drills.

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Alice Cooper
star
9.04
112 votes

#5 - Alice Cooper

Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/2/1978

Sketches/Songs: "Welcome to my Nightmare", "Muppet Labs", "Toothache", "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", "Once a Year Day", "You and Me", "Pigs In Space", "School's Out"

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Don Knotts
star
8.97
65 votes

#6 - Don Knotts

Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/28/1977

Sketches/Songs: "Sweet Gingerbread Man", "Windmills of Your Mind", "Beast of the Week", "Veterinarian's Hospital", "I'm Burlington Bertie", "Talk Spot", "What a Wonderful World", "Swedish Chef", "Lullaby of Birdland"

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Zero Mostel
star
8.94
63 votes

#7 - Zero Mostel

Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/9/1977

Sketches/Songs: "Chopin's Polonaise in a Flat", "What do the Simple Folk Do?", "At the Dance", "Muppet Labs", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "Fears", "Drum Solo by Animal", "Lady Wrestling"

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Edgar Bergen
star
8.88
67 votes

#8 - Edgar Bergen

Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/7/1977

Sketches/Songs: "Baby Face", "Consider Yourself", "Muppet Newsflash", Gonzo's Act, "Pigs In Space", "Show Me a Rose", Fozzie's Act, "Time in a Bottle", "Down at Papa Joe's", Edgar and Charlie perform

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Spike Milligan
star
8.79
47 votes

#9 - Spike Milligan

Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/18/1979

Sketches/Songs: "Oklahoma", "An Editorial by Sam The Eagle", "The Music of Scotland", "Muppet Newsflash", "Dog Walk", "America", "The Intergalactic Brotherhood of Man, Including Things", "It's a Small World"

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Steve Martin
star
8.69
126 votes

#10 - Steve Martin

Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/31/1977

Kermit auditions new acts for the next show. Songs/Sketches: "The Garbage Can Can", "Swannee River", balloons, "Tie a Yellow Ribbit Round an Ole Oak Tree", Baskerville auditions as comedian, Lenny Lizard auditions for emcee, The Four Fazoobs, "Gonzales & Yolanda", "Old Man River", "Ramblin' Guy", "Varisity Drag", "Yes, We Have No Bananas", "Jugglin' Guy", "Flying Zucchini Brothers", Steve plays with Lubbock Lou & the Jug-Huggers.

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Wally Boag
star
8.65
49 votes

#11 - Wally Boag

Season 5 - Episode 20 - Aired 5/9/1981

In honor of vaudeville-influenced guest star Wally Boag, the Muppets salute vaudeville, with a balloon animal act, a bagpipe player and a hypnotist. Wally performs acts he made famous at the Golden Horseshoe Revue at Disneyland, including the Pecos Bill teeth-spitting sketch.

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Rudolf Nureyev
star
8.59
63 votes

#12 - Rudolf Nureyev

Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/23/1978

Sketches/Songs: The Electric Mayhem, A Wagner opera performed, "Swine Lake", "Something's Missing", "Veterinarian's Hospital", "It's Cold Outside", "Clair De Lune", "Top Hat"

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Marisa Berenson
star
8.56
57 votes

#13 - Marisa Berenson

Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/21/1978

Sketches/Songs: "Russian Pig Dance", "Dance", "Muppet Sports", "Someone to Watch Over Me", "Do-Re-Mi", "Our House", "The Wedding"

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Loretta Lynn
star
8.55
85 votes

#14 - Loretta Lynn

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/26/1978

Sketches/Songs: "You're Looking at Country", "I'm All Alone", "Muppet Newsflash", Fozzie's Act, "At the Dance", "Sentimental Journey", "Oh, Lonesome Me", "Veterinarian's Hospital", "Muppet Newsflash", "The Rhyming Song", "One's on the Way"

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Milton Berle
star
8.52
64 votes

#15 - Milton Berle

Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/11/1977

Sketches/Songs: "There are Millions of us Who are Ugly", Milton Berle's monologue, "Pigs In Space", "The Entertainer" (Milton Berle), "The Entertainer" (Miss Piggy), "Who", "Top Banana"

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Paul Simon
star
8.44
77 votes

#16 - Paul Simon

Season 5 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/25/1981

Paul inspires Gonzo to be a songwriter. Unfortunately, Gonzo writes songs like "For You": "For youuu... I'd wash my hair with stinky glue, I'd fry my legs and eat them too, I'd put a spider in my shoe -- for yoouuuu!" Paul is stunned. Later, Gonzo's chickens run off with Paul, so Gonzo develops a new obsession -- asparagus. But at the end of the episode both the chickens and the asparagus run away when Paul asks for chicken with a side of asparagus.

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Señor Wences
star
8.43
82 votes

#17 - Señor Wences

Season 5 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/30/1981

In honor of Señor Wences and his puppets, Kermit decides to do something new -- a puppet show! Fozzie wants to do a marionette act with a Dancing Clown puppet, but the marionette eventually pulls Fozzie down on the stage with him and takes control of the strings himself.

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Johnny Cash
star
8.37
76 votes

#18 - Johnny Cash

Season 5 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/14/1981

In honor of Johnny Cash's appearance, the show is simulcast over country radio station WHOG, and the radio broadcast threatens to overwhelm the actual show. The head of WHOG, Big Tiny Tall Saddle, insists on making all the decisions. He refuses to let Rowlf go on, and instead schedules Grampaw McGuire and his whistling bricks. Kermit tries to run his own show, but Big Tiny is one of the toughest men alive -- when he's annoyed, he has a habit of wrapping microphone stands around people's necks. Fozzie is replaced by Wally Whoopie, a stand-up comedian who makes fun of the bear -- which inspires Kermit to stand up for his friend, and his show.

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John Cleese
star
8.30
87 votes

#19 - John Cleese

Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/2/1977

Sketches/Songs: "Somebody Stole My Gal", Gonzo's Act, "Muppet Newsflash", Rowlf plays piano, "Pigs In Space", "At the Dance", "Waiting at the Church", "We Got Each Other", "Koozebanian Spoobol", "The Impossible Dream"

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George Burns
star
8.29
98 votes

#20 - George Burns

Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/16/1977

Sketches/Songs: "Cuento Le Gusta", "Train Back Home", "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "Veterinarian's Hospital", "Wotcher (Knocked 'Em in the Old Kent Road)", "I Won't Dance", "World's Most Powerful Explosive", "Medley"

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Avery Schreiber
star
8.27
88 votes

#21 - Avery Schreiber

Season 1 - Episode 23 - Aired 4/18/1977

Much is made in this episode about Avery Schreiber's being one half on the comedy duo Burns & Screiber. The other half? First season head writer Jack Burns. This would be the first of a few times when Scooter ends up assisting Miss Piggy in her wacky schemes.

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Peter Sellers
star
8.27
89 votes

#22 - Peter Sellers

Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/24/1978

Sketches/Songs: "A Gypsy's Violin", "When", "Down Memory Lane", Masseur sketch, "It's Not Easy Bein' Green", "Muppet Labs", "Cigarettes & Whiskey"

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Dizzy Gillespie
star
8.25
133 votes

#23 - Dizzy Gillespie

Season 4 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/28/1980

Statler is sick (of the show), so Waldorf brings his wife Astoria to the show. Meanwhile, Inspector LaBrea of the County Environmental Department arrives backstage to monitor the noise level of the show. LaBrea tells Kermit that to keep the noise down, he has to cut the trumpets for the show. Kermit tries to keep LaBrea busy while Dizzy performs.

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The Stars of Star Wars
star
8.24
137 votes

#24 - The Stars of Star Wars

Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/21/1980

The regularly-scheduled guest (a terrible singer) is bumped when four stars of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope suddenly appear in the theater. It's a natural for the Pigs in Space.

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Pearl Bailey
star
8.18
56 votes

#25 - Pearl Bailey

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/16/1978

Sketches/Songs: "My Soul is a Witness", "Muppet Labs", "Muppet Newsflash", "In the Good Old Summertime", "An Actor's Life For Me", "Pigs In Space", "At the Dance", The Camelot joust

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