Real Life Muppets

November 29th, 2008

So my friend Ben brought over a DVD of Muppet Show the other day; I probably hadn’t seen it since the early 80s, when I was knee high to a bugbear, but watching Rowlf and his self-deprecating piano humor gave me the idea that, in a “live action Muppet Show” casting, Zach Galifianakis would be perfect for the part:

In pulling up the requisite pictures for the other choices that rounded out this random thought, I was kind of surprised to see that I wasn’t the first one to think of this. But, that’s the internet for you. Some of the choices are pretty inspired (Bobcat as Animal; Richard Moll as The Eagle), some less so (Christian Bale as Kermit?), but here are the other ones that leapt to mind for me:

John C. Reilly as Fozzie Bear:

The earnest-but-awful humor says it all. Once I had this in mind, I couldn’t watch any of Fozzie’s stand-up bits quite the same. John C. Reilly has been playing Fozzie in every movie he’s been in. Someone get that man a polka-dotted scarf.

Steve Buscemi as Gonzo:

Who else is quite so convincingly strange? Buscemi is versatile, weird, and, well, just look at that picture.

Ben Stiller as Kermit:

The inevitable question among my friends after proposing the above absurdities was, “Who plays Kermit?” Well, no one plays the lovable loser like Ben Stiller. The hard-working guy with the steady job who can never make the other parts of the puzzle of his life quite fit together. It’s not easy being a Focker.

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