The Muppets’ secret weapon doesn’t work in the Disney era

[TMC]

Jim Henson’s greatest creation is at odds with how the business works

Not every actor that appears on The Muppet Show is great at interacting with the puppets, but they all give it their damndest. I’m fond of Stallone’s appearance, which channels the sweetness that made him an icon in Rocky, but that subsequent sequels and action roles later left behind. He sets up a punching bag in the green room, only to learn that the bag is also a Muppet. He dresses up in a gladiator outfit to sing and dance with a lion. He’s never entirely natural with his Muppet co-stars, but he clearly likes them. He’s bought into their world. He’s sincere.

All this is an endearing twist on the pro-wrestling practice of kayfabe, where wrestlers are performers, and the performance doesn’t stop outside of the ring — all interviews and public appearances are part of the show, in one continuous performance.

That’s the trick that makes the Muppets’ sincerity work: their best stories happen when their human guests — and therefore the audience — try to join their world. The Muppets are at their least functional and entertaining in stories that are too firmly situated in our world. That’s what lies at the heart of many complaints about The Muppets, the failed 2015 mockumentary series that channeled The Office and mined inter-Muppet relationships for drama, like Kermit’s breakup with Miss Piggy. Or this viral moment on The Masked Singer, when a giant singing snail is revealed to be none other than Kermit the Frog in disguise, and the judges work extremely hard to sell how much their minds are blown.