SNL: “The Land of Gorch” #1-6
Wisss gets Scred high.
The height of the sketch’s comedy, such as it is, happens when Wisss exhales smoke in Scred’s face (oh, by the way, his sacrifice at the end of the last sketch doesn’t seem to have taken), and the little guy instantly starts seeing colors and stars and later asks for munchies–which mostly comes across as rather lame and ironically childish, as if the SNL writers thought that getting a puppet high was an amusing enough concept to support an entire sketch. Even Flavog’s response, “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,” seems rather lazy on the writers’ part. It’s all drug references with no real comedic point of view. On the plus side, though, this one also actually does a bit to compensate for Ploobis’ one-sided infidelity in the first episode, when Peuta flirts with Scred, calling him “Sugar Claws,” and implying they might be having an affair themselves.
The fourth sketch (Nov 8th) is a bit more clever, however, and actually revolves around a topic that would grow to be of key importance to Jim Henson and feature strongly in Fraggle Rock: namely, environmental conservation. The plot centers on the fact that the Gligs–bird-like creatures that are a source of food and clothing for the Gorchians–have been hunted to the brink of extinction. There are literally only two left. So Ploobis and Scred go to Flavog, who, before Ploobis has a chance to ask his question, demands a Glig as sacrifice, which Ploobis dunderheadedly agrees to without realizing the significance, only afterwards telling Flavog that there are only two Gligs left on Gorch, until Scred corrects him that there’s only one now! Luckily, however, Flavog hasn’t digested the Glig yet, so he lets him have it back. “Go forth, be fruitful, and multiply,” Ploobis calls to the Glig, as the little guy runs back to his mate.
As it plays out, this one isn’t as funny as it could be, but it does have some pretty sharp satire, not only in regards to species extinction caused by humans but also in how it shows that even being aware of it doesn’t necessarily cause people to change their habits. Jim would do much better, subtler, and more complex work revolving around this thesis in the future, but it’s cool to see it show up here for the first time, particularly in such a generally flawed series.
Speaking of which, the modicum of progress made in regards to male/female relations two sketches earlier is all but completely underminded in the fifth (Nov 15th), which features the old reliable sitcom plot of the husband dealing with a massive migraine, which is being exacerbated by having to cope with his wife, and, in this case, annoying mistress, as well. Naturally, however, he has a little more patience for the latter because she’s hot. On the plus side, once that section is done, the sketch moves on to the funniest sequence featured in the series up to this point, in which Scred tries to help cure Ploobis’ headache through accupuncture. As Scred reads a how-to book to his king, Ploobis proceeds to follow each action, sticking needles in various parts of his face and, eventually, brain, howling in pain all the while. Jim’s performance throughout is absolutely, sublimely hilarious.
Ploobis tries accupuncture.
And the sketch even manages to diverge from the general formula up to that point in its truly fantastic punchline. This time around, they hold off on visiting Flavog until the last few seconds of the scene, and his entire appearance consists of the very funny reveal that he’s also suffering from a migraine, the camera pulling back to reveal numerous accupuncture needles sticking out of his own face! As with the other Gorch sketches, the opening bit feels overlong, but at least here, when the ending finally comes, it is genuinely smart.
Finally, we come to the sixth sketch (Nov. 22nd), which, following up on the changes in the fifth, is the first Gorch sketch to completely break free from its general format. One of Gorch’s main problems up to this point was that it had always been entirely divorced from the show surrounding it, which likely added to the SNL cast and staff feeling like they were interlopers, stealing time away from them. Another major issue was that, while it could be funny, it was utterly lacking in any element of the sweetness also key to the Muppet magic. Both of these wrongs are redressed here, with a Gorch character finally interacting with a human–the episode’s guest host, the always-wonderful Lily Tomlin–in a genuinely touching scene that breaks the fourth wall in the process.
In meta content worthy of the main Muppets, this sketch begins with Ploobis and Peuta wondering where Scred might be and discovering that he has a crush on Lily Tomlin and must have run away to New York to see her; his last crush, we learn, was on Fran Allison, the human star of the late-1940s/early-1950s TV puppet show, Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, which had led to the same outcome. And so not only are the characters referencing puppeteers and human celebrities but indicating that people on Gorch can get to New York, when before, they seemed to be part of their own, completely divorced reality. Then, when the scene cuts to Scred and Lily Tomlin herself in the flesh, Lily tells him, “It’s not that I don’t like you a lot, but it’s difficult for a woman in my position to have my name linked romantically with a puppet,” entirely shattering the Gorch characters’ reality in one fell swoop.
Scred and Lily got each other, babe.
This scene–the smartest, best Land of Gorch sketch up to this point by a mile–was actually written by Jerry Nelson (albeit uncredited, by necessity), and you can tell the difference, as it’s funny but also warm and feels like a more natural fit for the performers. Lily radiates with kindness, and when she and Scred go on to sing Sonny and Cher’s immortal “I Got You, Babe” to one another, the chemistry of their interactions makes a Gorch character truly lovable for the first time. It goes from a fascinating curiosity to–for a few short moments–a truly charming Muppet scene, with just the right mix of sweetness and sass. As I’ve said before, when a Muppet and the right human get together on screen, it’s truly magical.
Speaking of which, I’m going to end this post by tacking on something other than Gorch: a clip of Kermit singing “Bein’ Green” with Ray Charles on Cher the week before, on November 16th, 1975, which you can watch here. It’s a truly legendary performance that, in addition to being musically magnificent, further underlines the civil rights subtext of the song.
And next time, it’s back to Sesame Street, with my coverage of the seventh season premiere, with more Gorch to come soon!
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