Not pictured: The real stars of last night's show, The Muppets (Dana Edelson/NBC)Here's the thing about The Muppets: When they show up, you're always so glad they're around that it doesn't really matter what they do.
That's what happened with "Saturday Night Live" last night. Jason Segel hosted and his cohorts from the upcoming film "The Muppets" showed up immediately. Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo -- everybody. So, of course, you'll spend the whole show with a smile on your face. This is how the Muppets roll.
It's a lot like blacking out and waking up next to Ryan Gosling or Zooey Deschanel and a pile of cash. You know you probably had a very good time these last few hours; you're just not entirely sure if what just happened was objectively good.
So will we look back in six weeks and say this was actually a good episode of "SNL"?
Well, Kermit accused Jason Segel of having a weak stream, impersonated Ray Romano, then made a joke about fat children in swimsuits that he admits he'll have a hard time explaining away tomorrow morning.
We'll say yes.
Here's the monologue, in all its very Muppety glory. Rowlf, Fozzie, Scooter, and Gonzo (plus his requisite chicken) joined Kermit and Miss Piggy to address the elephant in the room: Once The Muppets show up, no one's going to remember that Jason Segel is the host of this show. Kermit gets temporarily racy with a Flomax joke. Everybody gets cute and funny.
Kermit even gets a little political later on in the show by joining Seth Meyers on Weekend Update. Earlier in the week, Congress deemed tomato paste to be a vegetable, which would make pizza good enough to satisfy the vegetable requirement on a school lunch. Kermit takes a stand against childhood obesity here, but the best part of the sketch is when the crowd catches him looking down at his frog belly in a brief bit of despair.
There is little in the world that's more adorable than that. We don't need a few weeks of reflection to figure that out.
It wasn't The Muppets' first time on "SNL," by the way. They were cast members in Season 1 alongside Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, and John Belushi. "Sesame Street's" Cookie Monster (technically part of the Muppet family) sang "Silver Bells" with Jeff Bridges last December. And in 2004, The Muppets extracted every ounce of sweetness out of "SNL" when they sang "Christmas Is Number One" with Horatio Sanz.
Still, this was the most extensive "SNL" appearance The Muppets have had since they were part of the cast over three decades ago. And think about this: Paul Rudd stopped by the show to -- no exaggeration -- make out with Jason Segel last night. That actually happened. But all you'll be talking about on Monday is how The Muppets took over "SNL" over the weekend. Looks like this show will hold up just fine.
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