The Peepes, the Peepes are Calling

Brandi proposed, and I heartily agreed to, concurrent blog posts on a Muppets skit. Watch it before reading either her post or mine. Have you seen it? Excellent. Let’s begin.

Like the miracle child of Oscar Wilde and Janeane Garofalo would be, this skit is predisposed to be funny. The Henson camp made three main choices to set it up: one, “O, Danny Boy” is one of those traditional songs that everyone knows, but no one actually knows the words to. Two, they picked three of the least intelligible Muppets to do the singing; and three, despite the fact that the odds are very much stacked against them, Beaker, Animal, and the Swedish Chef are earnestly invested in performing this song as well as they can. As far as they are concerned, they are musicians of the highest caliber, drawing on the raw, mournful emotional well that “O, Danny Boy” is built upon. They are the conduits between us and the glorious weeping national identity of the Irish, and they commit themselves to it completely.

It is the commitment that wraps up the sketch in a bow for us: though the details and flourishes like Beaker’s high notes and Animal’s “O-boy-o-boy” refrain are hilarious, the whole package works because of the characters' motivations.

Bless the Muppet Show, and happy belated St. Patrick’s Day.