Here is a film from 1965 of a young Jim Henson and friends lampooning their process of making commercials for Wilson’s Meats. It only goes to show how far downhill the Muppets have come. And how much more mature they were in the beginning.
I present it to you now, because in anticipation of the next project from Jason Segal and Nicholas Stoller (respectively the writer and director of this week’s new release Forgetting Sarah Marshall), which happens to be a Muppets feature, I hope there is some pre-Muppet Movie stuff taken into consideration as possible inspiration.
This particular film is a sort of sequel to this other one, which features more actual Muppets on screen, but I kind of prefer the Monty Pythonesque feel of the one I’ve featured above. But definitely watch both.
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I’m a big fan of early Henson and I’ve compiled quite a few clips here (there’s later stuff mixed in as well):
http://wiley.curat.es/henson