The Time Kermit the Frog Covered Talking Heads

If you were a teen in the mid-1990s who loved The Muppets and worshipped David Byrne, today as an adult you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife, asking yourself as you read this article, well, how did I forget about that time Kermit the Frog performed the Talking Heads’ “Once In A Lifetime” on primetime television?

That’s right: As The A.V. Club points out, today, July 7, is the 20^th anniversary of that time Kermit—who’s best known for the hit singles “Bein’ Green” and “Rainbow Connection”—took a break from ballads and channeled his inner Scottish rocker on a 1996 episode of ABC’s Muppets Tonight. A musician named Giganticus (who, fittingly, is the world’s largest performance artist) was supposed to appear on the Muppets’ latest show, but was beaten up by his rival, Super Giganticus, on his way to the studio. Luckily, Kermit was there to save the day: Donning an oversized white suit similar to the one Byrne wore in Jonathan Demme’s 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense, Kermit sang a snippet of “Once In A Lifetime” while dancing in the singer’s trademark jerky style.

Kermit’s performance was received with enthusiastic applause—but, not surprisingly, Statler and Waldorf’s review was, well, “Same as it ever was: terrible.” Watch the whole thing in the video above.

[h/t The A.V. Club]

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