, a staff writer who covers comedy and pop culture HIIIIIIIIIII-YA! — Anthony/Mogo (@SocialMogo) September 20, 2024 As a Muppet fan who has had the chance to see the film, I can confirm that Henson is, indeed, portrayed like sort of an out-of-touch loser, more akin to the network-censor character than any of the other creatives working on the show. He pops up periodically throughout the film to meekly tell Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) about the ways the writers are mistreating him, leaving his Muppets in suggestive and violent poses, and refusing to write his script. Worst of all, Frank Oz is frequently shown near him in the backgrounds of scenes, the two of them appearing like fish out of water with their Muppet-rig headbands, but he isn’t given a single word to say throughout the film. Still, I think Henson’s portrayal can be interpreted in the eye of the beholder. In one defiant moment in an elevator at 30 Rock, Henson speaks up for himself and tells Michaels that he believes there’s a place on television for grown-up Muppet-based comedy. He says this so earnestly, and with such conviction, that maybe other audience members more inclined to vibe with Chevy Chase and Michael O’Donoghue’s smarm took it as laughable. But I saw it as a triumphant hero moment for Henson. Because at the end of the day, no matter how the movie framed SNL as a never-before-seen revolution, it wasn’t something that radically new. Televised sketch comedy already existed in 1975. Risky comedy existed. You know what didn’t exist yet in 1975? Recurring grown-up Muppet-based comedy on late-night television. And you know what aired its pilot episode, subtitled “Sex and Violence,” in 1975? The motherfucking Muppet Show. Forty-nine years later, as SNL enters a milestone season, many members of that season-one cast depicted in the film have died, receded from the spotlight, pivoted to spirit distilling, or are Chevy Chase. Lorne Michaels is the out-of-touch one, and Jim Henson is essentially sainted. And you know who hasn’t aged a day? Those “little hairy facecloths.” #TeamJim. Related