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The Muppet Show: Season 3, Episode 17Episode #3.17 (12 Dec. 1978)The Muppet Show celebrates its international success with a global theme with the great Goon comedian, Spike Milligan. Director:Peter Harris |
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Title: Episode #3.17 (12 Dec 1978)
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Cast
| Episode cast overview: | |||
| Spike Milligan | ... |
Himself
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| Frank Oz | ... | ||
| Jerry Nelson | ... | ||
 |
Richard Hunt | ... | |
| Dave Goelz | ... |
Gonzo /
Luis Greco
(voice)
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Louise Gold | ... |
Additional Muppets
(voice)
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| Steve Whitmire | ... |
Additional Muppets
(voice)
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|
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|
Kathryn Mullen | ... |
Additional Muppets
(voice)
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| Jim Henson | ... | ||
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Add Full Plot
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Add Synopsis
Storyline
The Muppet Show celebrates its international success with a global theme with the great Goon comedian, Spike Milligan.
Parents Guide:
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Details
Language:
EnglishRelease Date:
12 December 1978 (USA) See more »Filming Locations:
BBC Elstree Centre/ATV Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UKCompany Credits
Show detailed
company contact information
on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Sound Mix:
MonoColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1
Edit
Spike Milligan: Yes, you're welcome to it.
Newsreader: Simultanious translation, bringing you news and views across the language barrier.
Spike Milligan: [pantomimes previous statement in "sign language" - the newsreader looks at him] Hello.
Newsreader: [to Spike] Are you going to tell them what I just said?
Spike Milligan: [conspiratorial] No, your secret is safe with me.
See more »
Did You Know?
Quotes
Newsreader: Good evening, and welcome to Muppet News International.Spike Milligan: Yes, you're welcome to it.
Newsreader: Simultanious translation, bringing you news and views across the language barrier.
Spike Milligan: [pantomimes previous statement in "sign language" - the newsreader looks at him] Hello.
Newsreader: [to Spike] Are you going to tell them what I just said?
Spike Milligan: [conspiratorial] No, your secret is safe with me.
See more »
How can this episode of the Muppet Show ever turn up again on regular TV of any kind? How can it be issued on a DVD collection without some instructions as to what happened? Spike Mulligan, a funny little Englishman who is unknown to American audiences, apparently was quite a breakthrough artist in his home country of Great Britain (tho he was born in India).
Since the Muppet Show was filmed in England, they would get many of these artists to appear on there, and this stands as a way these people were introduced to America.
Spike was one of them.
Now, he was funny yes.
The show ended with the muppets singing an endless version (as they all are) of "Its A Small World After All" from Disneyworld, of course.
Spike would be lying down on the floor in front of the singing muppets, trying to get to sleep in a sleeping bag, yelling for everyone to get quiet as the ending credits rolled, not to the familiar muppet tune (its time to start the music, its time to dress up right, its time to get things started on the muppet show tonight), but to "Small World." It seems that unbeknownst to everyone on the show, Spike wore a rather distinctive t-shirt, and after all these decades, I can all but attest to that shirt.
It seems that Spike went thru some costume changes or something; taking off a jacket, putting on a hat, for various, comical reasons, and he ended up in that t-shirt.
Unless I have been grossly misinformed (I don't speak Arabic) I would later learn that the foreign lettering on the shirt was Arabic for marijuana, or some other illegal drug.
No one knew this clearly.
But Spike did.
Now that it is known, it seems unlikely, as I stated, that the show will ever appear on American TV again.
and have Arab-American children be able to read his shirt! Oh no! It must be one of the most underhanded, but brilliantly funny things I have ever heard.
But to the poor muppets. Really! I suppose Jim Henson and Frank Oz found it funny when they learned about it, I hope.
Mulligan himself I can only guess didn't know what the muppets were all about or what it would all do.
That he did it once, I can only deduce that he must have done it again, or tried to.
I haven't seen this show in well over 25, almost 30 years now.
Again, I wonder if it will ever be shown again, or if it has aired since the meaning of his shirt has been learned?