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Farced Perspective podcast
@farcedperspective.com
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The social media presence of the Farced Perspective podcast, where we look back at key anniversaries of comedies from the last 50 years. http://farcedperspective.com
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The first DVD I ever purchased was the director-approved Criterion edition of Life of Brian. It was moderately expensive, but worth it.

Curious language for the "Python-approved" updated release; I wonder if the seal will be signed by Gilliam as stand-in approval Python, or some other indicator?
A screenshot of the list of special features of the upcoming Criterion Collection 4K edition of Monty Python's Life of Brian. Highlighted is the leading phrase "Python Approved" as opposed to the more typical "Director Approved", as director Terry Jones was not alive to approve this edition, but it was supervised by Terry Gilliam, who did not co-direct this particular Python film with Jones. The original DVD cover of Monty Python's Life of Brian, featuring the slim black banner with the words "The Criterion Collection" above a thin white bar at the top of an altered reproduction of the theatrical poser for the film, but having removed the credits at the bottom. On either side of the now-traditional orange stone letters for the title are twin columns of a collage of close-ups of the faces of the Pythons playing various roles in the film. The new 4K release from Criterion replicates the central painted artwork from the theLife of Brian theatrical poster, but removes the columns of faces and cleans up the images so that the colors are vibrant and bold, allowing the night sky to really gleam behind the massive stone letters. The old Criterion branding is gone, replaced by the current trade dress of the simple tilted C and the color-matched bar with the name of the Criterion Collection and the film's year of release on the left-hand side.
January 17, 2026 at 1:18 AM
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Many reposts of this, and well-deserved. When one just pastes the New Yorker link into the interface, the lede is, "The actor and singer discusses the origins of 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show,' his relationship with David Bowie, and the joy of working with Miss Piggy." Well, tet's cut to the chase:
An excerpt from an October 12, 2025 interview with Tim Curry in The New Yorker: [Michael Schulman, interviewer:] A few years after that, you did "Muppet Treasure Island." Did you have conflict with any of the Muppets? [Timy Curry:] I didn't. They're my favorites, actually. One of the great things about working with them is that you come to see them as characters and not as puppets, which is down to the brilliance of the Muppeteers. I loved Miss Piggy. We got on great. [Schulman:] She's difficult to share the spotlight with. [Curry:] She is. She's a greedy girl. It was established in the script that we had, maybe sometime in the past, some kind of a fling together. And I improvised a line which never made it into the movie: "Once you've had pork, you never look back." [Deep laugh.]
October 12, 2025 at 10:49 PM
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If stuck behind Vulture's paywall: All The President's Men is on Criterion and Ordinary People is on MGM+. Me, I'm revisiting some physical media — not a large collection, but I love each of these like my own child. (We will eventually release the Hot Rock episode!)
www.vulture.com/article/best...
The Twilight Time Blu-ray disc of The Hot Rock, the Kino Lorber slipcover edition of the disc for Three Days of the Condor, and the plain-jane Universal blu-ray disc for Sneakers.
September 17, 2025 at 12:07 AM
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Forty-five years ago tonight was the first New York City airing of the final episode of the fourth season of The Muppet Show! Ben's been looking forward to covering this episode, which he considers to have a very curious finale for a family show, so stay tuned! It'll happen some day!
Photo of a clipping from TV Guide showing the CBS Channel 2 promo for the Alan Arkin episode of the fourth season of The Muppet Show. The ad presents the following copy: "ALAN & KERMIT OR JEKYLL & HYDE? Dr. Honeydew gets his formulas mixed and gives Alan Arkin and his froggy host a drink with a little more kick than bicarbonate of soda. The effects unsettle everyone's stomach."
May 26, 2025 at 8:36 PM
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Saddened to hear of the passing of Ruth Buzzi, star of Laugh-In, featured guest on the first season of The Muppet Show, and — infamously! — Aunt Minerva on the Roast of the Superheroes during the late-'70s wave of major studio comic book obsession.
deadline.com/2025/05/ruth...
A signed photo of Ruth Buzzi posing with Sweetums during their comic dance routine from the first season of The Muppet Show. The inscription, from 2014, reads, "'We' had a barrel of laughs taping this 'ballet'! Love — Ruth Buzzi" A clip of the TV Guide listing for Ruth Buzzi's guest appearance on the first season of The Muppet Show, reading: "Ruth Buzzi is the guest. Songs include 'Can't Take My Eyes off You,' 'Sunny' and 'You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd.' Also: Kermit the Frog contends with a mechanical duplicate of himself; Ruth joins in a panel discussion of the question, 'Is the Human Body Obselete?'" A banner ad for Ruth Buzzi's appearance on The Muppet Show, featurng a close-up of an image of Ruth touching the back of Kermit's head, exciting him so much that his legs are standing out straight and his mouth is wide open. The caption reads, "There's comedy for grown-ups and children alike when Ruth Buzzi fools around with Kermit, the world's handsomest frog." A composite image of three pages from a 1979 issue of TV Guide, gathering together the listings for the "Superheroes Roast" hosted by Ed McMahon and with an image of Batman, Robin, Green Lantern, and the Flash squaring off against The Riddler, Sinestro, and the Weather Wizard. Not pictured, but prominently listed in the description, is Ruth Buzzi as "Aunt Minerva".
May 2, 2025 at 5:06 PM
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Vulture cribs an Axios report on Disney rolling back language used to contextualize past racist content. They seems to be returning to the heavily-criticized soft soap that some depictions "may" be outdated. Screencaps of the original and now-abandoned language below. www.vulture.com/article/disn...
A 2019 screencap of the details page for "Dumbo" in Disney+. The plot description is followed by the following statements: Contains tobacco depictions. This program is presented as originally created. It MAY contain outdated cultural depictions." [Emphasis mine.] A 2021 screencap of the language that preceded every viewing of the Jim Nabors episode of The Muppet show. The card stated, "This program contains negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes WERE WRONG THEN AND ARE WRONG NOW. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it, and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together. Disney is committed to creating stories with inspirational and aspirational themes that reflect the rich diversity of the human experience around the globe. To learn more about how stories have impacted society visit: www.disney.com/StoriesMatter." [Emphasis mine]
February 12, 2025 at 7:09 PM
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Couldn't find any dragonfly ripple ice cream at the supermarket, so Kermit will have to share Fozzie's honey ice cream as we watch the stream of the live read of The Muppet Script at Dynasty Typewriter. Starting soon!

www.dynastytypewriter.com/calendar-squ...
A photo of a Kermit the frog jack-in-the-box with red Muppet Show curtain stylings on the metal container, with Kermit posed to be holding a pint of Van Leewen's honeycomb ice cream. Promotional copy for the Dynasty Typewriter ad for their Muppet Script event. The left prominently features three pairs of legs hanging down from below a desk, with the upper torsos invisible; the legs are of human dimensions, but stylized to resemble that of Kermit (green and with flippers), Gonzo (furry and blue, but with dainty slip-ons), and Miss Piggy (pink, with nylons and high heels). Next to this is the information as to the timing of the event and the names of some of the participants, including Paul F. Tompkins, Jessica McKenna, Griffin Newman, Zach Reino, Bobby Moynahan, Nina West, and many others. There are definitely enough character to write them all out, but I'm not currently motivated to do so. Sorry, David Dastmalchian.
February 10, 2025 at 3:19 AM
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Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the original theatrical release of Young Frankenstein, a film that cost $2.78M to make in black and white and made $86M worldwide — AND which came out the same year as Blazing Saddles. Enjoy some excerpts from the 2016 "Making of" book and Wilder's 2005 memoir.
A digital copy of an anecdote by Mel Brooks about being scared of Frankenstein('s monster) after seeing the James Whale film in 1932 and not wanting to sleep with the windows open in case the monster got him! An anecdote from Gene Wilder's memoir about the initial writing of Young Frankenstein and how he conceived of the character of Frau Blucher as a combination of the daunting Mrs. Danvers in Hitchcock's "Rebecca" and a name found in Sigmund Freud's letters.
December 16, 2024 at 3:14 PM
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IMDb lists the airdate of the Liza Minnelli episode as yesterday; the Muppet Fandom page has the NYC premiere listed as tomorrow. An additional quantum variable is that CBS didn't seem to know how to sell it — there are two TV Guide ads with differing takes on the episode's core dramatic concept.
A yellowed newsprint clipping of an ad for the Liza Minnelli episode of the Muppet Show featuring a photo of Kermit, Liza, and Zoot, with the caption: "LIZA FINDS A MUPPET MYSTERY! The lucious Miss Minnelli comes on like a femme fatale—but she's mixed up in a backstage whodunit, and she can't solve it without help from a private frog ... er, eye." A yellowed newsprint clipping of an ad for the Liza Minnelli episode of the Muppet Show featuring a photo of Kermit and Zoot with Liza in between them, her hand caressing Zoot's face, and the caption: "LIZA AND THE MUPPET MYSTERY The show must go on even though a sinister somebody is lurking in the wings. Can Kermit save the day and his super guest star, Liza Minnelli? GULP! Find out tonight!"
November 18, 2024 at 2:51 PM
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We live in a strange, wonderful world where, in the opening paragraph of a Washington Post book review, the author links out to a Tumblr user who will help design your own Pride flag in bespoke hues.
Screencap of a Washington Post review by Lena Wilson of new novel An Academy For Liars, with a link in the second sentence to a mood board for "lesbian Muppets". How could one not click! Screencap of the Tumblr account for PaletteFlags, featuring the "personalized Pride flag" for an anonymous user who wanted a "Muppet Show based Lesbian moodboard", which features, in a nine-image grid, pictures of clouds, orange fur, the scarlet Muppet Show safety curtain, Miss Piggy, and the Snowths, amongst others.
September 20, 2024 at 2:01 PM
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The Far Side has an RSS feed of archived comics that evaporate and are replaced every few days. Every so often, I see a comic I've never seen before, but the real treats are the ones I've been carrying rent-free in my head for ages.

Do I worry that the whole podcast is this strip? Goodness, yes.
A screencap of a classic Far Side strip from 1984, where a scientist is standing in front of a room of fellow lab-coat wearing professionals taking notes. The lead scientist is pointing at a labeled diagram of a classic comedian, wearing an awful plaid coat and a gag "arrow through the head" trick, while grinning and holding a violin. Unbeknownst to the scientist, someone has taped a "Kick Me" sign to his backside. The caption to the comic reads, "Analyzing humor".
August 15, 2024 at 12:07 PM
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Finding glitches in the Kamala Holding Vinyls website is almost as much fun as the various fantastical speculations on her musical tastes.
A screenshot of the Kamala Holding Vinyls meme generator website, where the input selection was "Muppet Soundtrack", but the image created is of Vice President Harris holding the soundtrack to the 2011 Logan Lerman/Milla Jovovich adaptation of The Three Musketeers.
July 29, 2024 at 3:29 PM
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Today's the 50th anniversary of the release of S*P*Y*S, the 3rd collab between Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland onscreen, and the show covered both the first two. No longer available on commercial video, it's hard to track down, so I instead present Gould's memory of the shoot from the LA Times:
Screenshot of an interview with Elliott Gould by the LA Times about the recent passing of Donald Sutherland, specifically their initial avoidance of and disdain for the movie that eventually was called S*P*Y*S: "And this would be the only time, or one of the very few times, that Donald ever called me. And he called me to say, I understand you turned down 'Wet Stuff'... I said, 'Yes, I didn’t think the script was up to the idea of the story.' And Donald then said to me, 'Would you make it with me?' And I said, 'You mean you would make this with me?' And he said, 'Yeah.' I said, 'Well, that’s a different story...'" Photo from Deadline attached to article "Elliott Gould Pays Tribute To ‘M*A*S*H' & ‘S*P*Y*S' Co-Star Donald Sutherland" featuring Sutherland and Gould, both wild-haired, in a narrow-roofed French apartment in a scene from S*P*Y*S.
June 28, 2024 at 1:44 PM
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Looks like it's time for a mini-marathon.
The DVD cover art for the Donald Sutherland films "Alex in Wonderland" (1970), "FTA" (1972), and "S*P*Y*S" (1974).
June 21, 2024 at 3:51 PM
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45 years ago today was the NYC airing of the final episode of the third season of The Muppet Show. A couple months later, this listing for the show appeared in the St. Louis edition of TVGuide. Will the podcast episode covering that ep drop between now and that future deadline?
Close-up of the TV Guide listings for August 16, 1979, featuring The Muppet Show airing at 6:30pm with the following description: "Guest Lynn Redgrave plays Maid Marian in a musical-comedy version of 'Robin Hood'." Other listings for The Gong Show, The Odd Couple, Hogan's Heroes, and Laverne & Shirley also appear.
May 28, 2024 at 3:32 PM
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This Springbok "Muppet Party" puzzle from 1980 was found at a yard sale by Peter's mother, and has been transported in a box with broken corners between at least four apartments, so I consider it lucky that it seems to have lost only two pieces in the last forty-odd years. A thou... um, 998 pieces!
A photograph of the cast of the Muppet Show in a near-as-dammit completed thousand-piece Springbok jigsaw puzzle. The image featurs Kermit, Scooter, Gonzo, Rowlf, Camilla, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, and Robin in the foreground. The middle group consists of Beaker, Dr. Teeth, Floyd, Animal, and Lew Zealand — dating this from the beginning of the third season. In the back, partially obscured by glare from the lighting, one can barely make out Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Uncle Deadly, and Waldorf, next to Statler and Link Hogthrob. Gaps from missing puzzle pieces can be seen at the end of Gonzo's nose and over Fozzie's left eye.
January 9, 2024 at 2:40 PM
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Today is the 50th anniversary of the premiere in France of Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers, featuring Raquel Welch. And it's two weeks after the 45th anniversary of the NYC airing of Raquel's episode of The Muppet Show. We could probably find another recent Raqueliversary if we really tried.
Copies of Raquel Welch's memoir BEYOND THE CLEAVAGE and Steven Soderbergh's series of intereviews with Richard Lester GETTING AWAY WITH IT.
December 11, 2023 at 11:34 PM
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In terms of celebrating 50th anniversaries, we are essentially already past half of the scope of this volume, but I'm looking forward to reading it to help get a feeling of pervasive critical scope and preoccupations of the time. Lucky find in the supermarket donation book bin.
The dust jacket to the hardcover collection of critical essays on film by the "Members of the National Society of Film Critics" from 1973 and 1974, featuring Vincent Canby, Pauline Kael, Andrew Sarris, Roger Greenspun, David Denby, Judith Crist, Roger Ebert, Michael Korda, and others writing about The Sting, Paper Moon, The Way We Were, American Graffiti, Sleeper, The Long Goodbye and many other titles from the period.
December 5, 2023 at 9:48 PM
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Good John Oliver/Muppet crossover content this week. Not only did he talk to Seth Meyers about a fabulous moment of being judged by Bert for not being sufficiently kind, but he also eviscerated a management consultant firm on his own show, a profession that can't not evoke this scene for me:
John Cleese, on the spaceship Swinetrek, defends his bona fides as a pirate to Captain Link Hogthrob by pointing out his tricorn hat, his Muppet parrot companion, and his hook hand. John Cleese, on the spaceship Swinetrek, defends his bona fides as a pirate to Captain Link Hogthrob. Having presented all the visual evidence, he sarcastically demands, "What else should I be? A management consultant?"
October 28, 2023 at 3:03 PM
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Today is the 50th anniversary of the New York Film Festival premiere of apparent comedy Western "Kid Blue", the poster for which is included in MUBI's collection of NYFF releases. Five years after Kid Blue, the director went on to helm... "The Muppet Movie"!

mubi.com/en/notebook/...
Theatrical poster for KID BLUE. The lead tagline is "A funny thing happened to Kid Blue on the way to the robbery". In the top third of the poster, against a stark white background, a quintet of brightly colored cowboys and Western characters — centering Dennis Hopper — stand on the long barrel of a revolver which, instead of a standard grip, morphs into the garter-belted legs of a woman.
September 29, 2023 at 12:20 PM
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45th years ago was the original NYC broadcast of The Muppet Show's third season, so it should be the launch of a new episode of the pod.

However, in solidarity with the unions requesting a lack of promotion for struck work, we are delaying release. Until then, enjoy this vintage TV Guide ad.
A TV Guide ad for the premiere episode of the third season of The Muppet Show, featuring a collage of photos of Animal, Helen Reddy, and Kermit under a rainbow-like arc of the CBS catchphrase for their new line-up: "Turn us on, we'll turn YOU on!" [Emphasis mine.]
September 21, 2023 at 3:56 PM
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Today is the 50th anniversary of the first appearance of Howard the Duck. Before being named or featured in his own book, the absurdist hominid fowl was an exemplar of being "trapped in a world he never made" right from the start. www.comics.org/issue/26976/ (Panel from the Collected Editions blog.)
A three-panel spread from Steve Gerber's ADVENTURE INTO FEAR with Man-Thing #19. The images feature Korrek, a swashbuckling adventure complaining to Man-Thing that he "welcome[s] death! What else is there--for one whose life has become an absurdity?" He is then interrupted by the sudden appearance of Howard, a humanoid duck wearing a blue blazer and smoking a cigar, stating, "Aw, clamp up, bud! You don't even know the meaning of the word!"
September 11, 2023 at 2:38 PM
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Just re-re-reading the chapters of Brian Jay Jones' biography of Jim Henson covering the Muppet Show's production, and found new relevance in this passage about the 1979 technical workers' strike during early filming of season four. Henson comes across a little cavalier, but he could afford to be.
On 6 August 1979, the electricians of ITV studios, where The Muppet Show was filming the initial episodes of the fourth season of the show, went to a tea break and never came back, supporting a technician-wide strike. "Anyone tuning in to THE MUPPET SHOW that weel saw only an on-screen apology, promising to resume programming 'as soon as possible.'" [Brian Jay Jones, p.299] A screencap of the holding pattern shown on ITV during the 1979 strike that reads, "INDEPENDENT TELEVISION: We are sorry that programmes have been interrupted. There is an industrial dispute. Transmissions will start again as soon as possible."
August 24, 2023 at 10:03 PM
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45 years ago, there was no Muppet Show repeat, but future 5th season guest Shirley Bassey was hosting 1st season chanteur Charles Aznavour. Bonus: the Three Degrees, who neither Joe nor Chay knew over on Underground Reunion.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/06pM2yO2lWUYXgXVPEMndg?si=1f55012845204a8b
Listing from TV GUIDE on Friday, August 18, 1978 for an episode of the Shirley Bassey variety show: "Charles Aznavour and the Three Degrees are guests. Charles sing 'Old Fashioned Way' and 'Yesterday, When I Was Young'. Shirley's numbers include 'Don't Rain on my Parade', 'All That Jazz'. (60 min.) [Time approximate after football.]"
August 18, 2023 at 12:37 PM