Editing The Muppet Show (section)

===Guest stars===
No guest star ever appeared twice on ''The Muppet Show'', although [[John Denver]] appeared both on the show and in two specials (''[[John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together]]'' and ''[[Rocky Mountain Holiday|John Denver & the Muppets: Rocky Mountain Holiday]]''), while [[Dudley Moore]] reappeared in the special ''[[The Muppets Go to the Movies]]''. Additionally, several guest stars from the series had cameos in the first three Muppet theatrical films, and the season four guest [[Alan Arkin]] had a cameo in ''The Muppets''. Originally, the producers had to call on their personal contacts to appeal to them to appear, especially considering that doing so required an overseas trip to Britain. However, the situation changed when the ballet dancer [[Rudolf Nureyev]] offered to appear; his performance on this unusual TV programme produced so much favourable publicity that the series became one of the most sought after for various celebrities to appear in.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.muppetcentral.com/guides/episodes/tms/season2/37_nureyev.shtml|website=Muppet Central|title=The Muppet Show: Rudolf Nureyev|last1=McKim|first1=D. W.|first2=Brian|last2=Henson|access-date=19 July 2009}}</ref>

Many episodes featured actors, such as [[Steve Martin]], [[Harvey Korman]], [[Sylvester Stallone]], [[Julie Andrews]], [[Carol Burnett]], [[Liza Minnelli]], [[Christopher Reeve]], [[Raquel Welch]], [[Joel Grey]] and [[Dom DeLuise]]; some had veteran performers like [[Ethel Merman]], [[Bob Hope]], [[Danny Kaye]], [[Don Knotts]], [[Liberace]], [[Peter Ustinov]], [[James Coburn]], [[Lena Horne]], [[Zero Mostel]] and [[Vincent Price]], and others had well-known pop singers, including [[Elton John]], [[Diana Ross]], [[Harry Belafonte]], [[Kenny Rogers]], [[Linda Ronstadt]], [[Alice Cooper]], [[Paul Simon]], [[Helen Reddy]], [[Debbie Harry]] and [[Leo Sayer]]. Sayer's show used his hit song "[[The Show Must Go On (Leo Sayer song)|The Show Must Go On]]" with slightly changed lyrics in the second verse, from "I wish I could tear down the walls of this theatre" to "I wish I could tear down the walls of this Muppet Theatre". Some guest stars, such as the [[Monty Python]] star [[John Cleese]], co-wrote much of their own episodes.<ref>{{cite news|title=The 10 best Muppet Show guests|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2012/jan/22/ten-best-muppets-in-pictures|access-date=30 March 2020|work=The Observer|date=22 January 2012}}</ref> The second-to-last episode, in 1981, had the then-[[James Bond (character)|James Bond]] actor [[Roger Moore]], while the final episode to be taped guest-starred the actor and dancer [[Gene Kelly]]. [[Mark Hamill]] appeared in one episode as both himself and [[Luke Skywalker]], his role in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' film series. Two of Henson's childhood idols, [[Edgar Bergen]] and [[Milton Berle]], also guest-starred during the second season.

In 1977, [[Rita Moreno]] won the [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program]] for her appearance. The next year, [[Peter Sellers]] — who chose not to appear as himself, instead appearing in a variety of characters — and [[Bernadette Peters]] earned nominations for the same award.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.emmys.com/shows/muppet-show|title=The Muppet Show|website=[[Emmys]]|access-date=4 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008131737/http://www.emmys.com/shows/muppet-show|archive-date=8 October 2012}}</ref> One episode had the staff writer [[Chris Langham]] (who wrote some episodes of this show, starting in the third season) guest-starring when [[Richard Pryor]] was unable to make the taping of the episode at the last minute.

An early tradition was to present the guest star with a Muppet likeness of themselves as a parting gift at the end of the show, but this only lasted for the first two episodes produced, with [[Connie Stevens]] and [[Juliet Prowse]]. The high cost and effort of creating these unique Muppets, scheduling conflicts, and potential legal issues contributed to the decline of this practice, although Muppet caricatures and parodies continued to appear. The practice did, however, take place for actors [[Michael Caine]] and [[Tim Curry]], who were the lead performers in ''[[The Muppet Christmas Carol]]'' and ''[[Muppet Treasure Island]]'', respectively.