“It seems we’ve landed on some sort of comedy variety show planet.” Kottke’s found the whole Star Wars appearance on the Muppet Show in 1980. Bonus: their appearance is sold as an “accident,” wherein they bump the formerly scheduled guest, Angus McGonagle the Argyle Gargoyle (who gorgeously gargles Gershwin).
I remember watching this in 1980, shocked and amazed at the whole idea of Luke and 3PO on TV.
Update: I do not actually recommend watching all three parts, lest you inadvertently watch the dance number in the third act.
If memory serves, Mark Hamill plays it as if Luke is an entirely different person while Mark the actor is something of a doof whose career aim is to gargle Gershwin onstage with Argyle the gargling gargoyle.
This episode only barely beats out Linda Carter’s appearance where everyone is trying to be a superhero (including Miss Piggy as Wonder Pig). Had Carter worn the Wonder Woman outfit, her episode would have beaten the Star Wars episode hands down.
Or, if you were watching it alone, hands solo.
Your memory is fundamentally correct. It’s sort of painful to watch in places, but does represent an example of early cross-promotion across brands. Frank Oz was, of course, involved in the SW films, so the channel was easy to mine.
Do we have our bar for the Muppet Show set a little high? Or is this just a geek-volution against bad pop culture kitsch? Heck, if they had kept Oz’s traditions in the movies, we might not have had Jar Jar.
Oz was in episodes 1-3; pointlessly so, in fact. He still performed on set with a muppet (at leat in Ep1) but Yoda was digitally redone a la Jar Jar. I’m sure the set people were like, “Why don’t we just use a remote controlled ball on a stick to give the actors something to look at instead of creating a blocking nightmare of the floor access?” To have cut all those lanes for nothing must have been frustrating. I mean, a paycheck is a paycheck, but one likes to believe their work means something.