20 Facts About The Muppets (feat. The Muppets!) - mental_floss on YouTube - List Show (309)

Hi, I'm Elliot, and this is Mental Floss on YouTube, and we're here at YouTube Space LA

Did you know that Kermit the Frog has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? And that is the first of many facts about the Muppets that I'm going to share with you today

with the help of some very special guests, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy

Hi, Elliot! Hello, everyone! Hello, Elliot. And to all of moi's millions of fans out there watching, I love you all

And I'm thrilled to be visiting with you personally via YouTube. Okay, let's get a move on. I'm late for Pilates

So let's start with a little Muppet history. The first newspaper ever to print the word Muppet was the Washington Post in 1955

You know that's right. A few of the Muppets, including myself, made our first ever appearances on this show called Salmon Friends

And it was on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. And I guess that was sort of between about, oh, 1955 and 1961

In 1962, Rolf starred in some Purina dog chow commercials. The next year, he was cast as the sidekick on The Jimmy Dean Show

making him the very first Muppet with a starring role on national TV. True. A few years later, in 1975, a group of Muppets called the Land of Gorch

were part of the first season cast of Saturday Night Live They were gone after a year but now moi and the other Muppets are frequent guest stars on the show

But they still haven't asked me to host. I'm so sorry. And then in 1976, they got their own show, The Muppet Show

Fun fact, the show was known for its awesome guest stars, but none of them ever appeared more than once

That's true. And a few years later, in 1979, I guest hosted The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson

And in 1994, you guest hosted Larry King Live, where you interviewed Hulk Hogan

Was Hulk really nice, Kermit? Oh, sure. Hulk Hogan is very nice

And I'll have you know, I've almost fully recovered from his atomic leg drop. You know, Kermit's not the only one who's done fabulous guest appearances, though, Elliot

Oh, true. Moi was a judge on Project Runway, All Stars, in 2012

That is awesome. Yeah, yeah. Sure was. Moving on. The Swedish chef has a name, but we just can't understand it

I know I definitely can't pronounce it. Hey, Statler and Waldorf, can you take a quick hiatus and just let us know the next fact

Sure. We were both named after hotels in New York City, although the Statler Hotel is now called the Hotel Pennsylvania

But the Waldorf Hotel is still the Waldorf, and my wife's name is Astoria

You know, when we're with the Muppets, she doesn't come around much. Can you blame her? No

Thank you, gentlemen. Actually Kermit famous song The Rainbow Connection was first featured in the Muppet movie in 1979 But it has since been covered by tons of musicians including The Carpenters Willie Nelson and even Justin Timberlake The song was nominated for an Oscar though it lost to It Goes Like It Goes from the film Norma Rae

You were robbed. Well, thanks, Piggy. You know, in 2006, I wrote a self-help book entitled Before You Leap, A Frog's Eye View of Life's Greatest Lessons

Have you read that by chance? Oh, it's like my favorite book

How do you think I became the man I am today? Wait a second. I wrote a self-help book, too

Yeah, Miss Piggy's Guide to Life. Have you read my book, Elliot? You know, it's in my Amazon cart, but I actually heard it's out of print

Oh, no worries. I've got a warehouse full in Secaucus. I'll get you a copy

Thank you, Miss Piggy. Yeah, sure. Anyway, Kermit and Miss Piggy aren't the only Muppets who have contributed to culture

Fozzie Bear's catchphrase, Waka Waka, has come to mean any bad joke that, you know, maybe doesn't do as well as you might hope

I like all of his jokes. Yeah, well, good old Fozzie. You know, he never gives up

Anyway, you know, the first movie in which we all got to play characters other than ourselves was The Muppet Christmas Carol, and that was in 1992

I played the role of Bob Cratchit. Yes, and I played Emily Cratchit, your loving wife

Yes, I remember. Yes, yes. Even Animal actually made an appearance in that movie as the drummer at a party

By the way Animal has pretty big biceps They actually four and a half inches both while flexing and while resting That true I think Is that true Animal Bicep Bicep Bicep Ah ha ha ha

Right, right. That was really good. Very impressive. I didn't get a chance to measure, but those are some good, good biceps

Yep. And in order to film the final scene of the 2011 movie, The Muppets, the crew had to shut down Hollywood Boulevard for two days

True. As you know, Elliot, in that movie, I was an editor at Vogue Paris

Which meant I got to wear custom Marc Jacobs. And the next year when I went to the Oscars, I wore a Zach Posen dress, Christian Labouton shoes

and a 55 carat diamond necklace from Fred Layton. Isn't being a celebrity fun

Why am I asking you? Yeah, I don't know. And finally, in the 1980s, the Swedish chef had a cereal brand known as Croonchie Stars

I'm pretty sure I actually still have a box. It keeps forever. Wow. Yuck it

Thank you for watching Mental Floss on YouTube, which was made with the help of the Muppets

and all of these nice people. And don't forget to be awesome

Thanks, guys. I'm always awesome. You're awesome? I don't forget to be awesome

We should probably get some lunch. You're awesome. Yeah, you're going to go? Thank you. You're not going to be awesome. You want to go

Great. Let's get coffee. Lunch? Yeah. Oh, we're bringing something back. What? Where are you going

Lunch. Wait a minute. Lunch! Thank you