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Jim Henson is a beloved figurein children’s entertainment. The late mastermind behindSesame Street,The Muppets,andFraggle Rockcreated countless iconic puppet figures that live on to this day. At the same time,Saturday Night Liveis one of modern television’s defining institutions. But what doSNLand Jim Henson have in common?
If you’re under 65 years old, chances are you’ve never heard ofThe Land of Gorch. This recurring sketch inSNL’s debut season featured Muppet characters created by Henson’s workshop. But since this was after-dark television, they weren’t exactly kid-friendly. The vile, disgusting residents of Gorch marked a sharp departure from the preschool-orientedSesame Street.It also didn’t gel with the sketch show’s early brand of comedy, getting the ax after just one season. But how did a Jim Henson andSNLcollaboration go so wrong? Today,The Land of Gorchis regarded as one of the worst failures of earlySNL, and the show tried to erase most evidence of its existence. Let’s look at just what this sketch was about and how it bombed so spectacularly.
What Was The Land of Gorch All About?
Saturday Night Live
The longest-running sketch-comedy/satire show on television, premiering in 1975, Saturday Night Live is a weekly series that features new hosts for each episode, with a core cast of actors and comedians that rotate over time. Episodes feature several skits that are sometimes ad-libbed on the fly, with the hosts engaging in most of them, and also provide musical guest performances that cap off each night.
The Land of Gorchfollowed the residents of the titular faraway fantasy land. There was King Ploobis, Queen Peuta, and son Wiss. Other characters included servants Vazh and Scred, as well as their god-like figure, the Mighty Favog.Both the set and the puppets were designed to be as strikingly different fromSesame Streetas possible, with an emphasis on dark and dreary environments and grotesque physical characters.Segments typically revolved around the characters discussing their sex lives, drinking, using drugs, or just behaving generally awfully.
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Early segments kept the characters confined to their own set. About halfway through the season, they began interacting more with the other cast members and guest hosts. This correlated to a drop in overall airtime, and the characters pivoted to breaking the fourth wall by appealing to get their sketch back in its original form. It didn’t work, andtheir last spot on the show came in the second season premiere. TheGorchpuppets awake in a filing cabinet, recognizing this episode as their likely last chance to make it back on the show. Instead, they’re unfavorably compared to the family-friendly vibe of thethen-brand-new seriesThe Muppet Show. They don’t make it back and are never heard from again. While this was the end ofGorch, more mainstream Muppets like Kermit, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird would make cameos in the years that followed.
An Iconic SNL Partnership Doomed From the Start
In the 1970s, Jim Henson was just beginning his mainstream career in puppetry.Sesame Streetwas in its infancy, andThe Muppet ShowandFraggle Rockhadn’t yet arrived.SNLwas also a rough experiment, far from the venerable institution it is today.Pairing these two icons in their formative years seemed like it would have been a slam dunk. Henson landed theSNLgig through his agent, who also representedSNLboss Lorne Michaels and OG cast members like Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner. Henson had always wanted to cater hispuppets to an adult crowd, which he obviously couldn’t do onSesame Street. Michaels agreed to addGorchas a regular segment onSNL’s inaugural season.
Rather than relying on Henson’s crew for scripts, theSNLwriters penned each Gorch sketch, relegating Henson to solely puppeteering.TheSaturday Nightteam intensely disliked having to write for the sketch, regarding the childish puppets as incompatible with the mature show. They reportedly even referred to the creatures as those “mucking fuppets.” Finding storylines that both theSNLwriters and Henson would approve of was difficult. Henson thought the writers were approaching the scripts from a sketch comedy angle, as opposed to his more cartoonish puppetry viewpoint.
Performing live was not typical of Henson’s crew either. Cast members hated giving up their screen time to make room forGorch, and things went downhill fast.All the mounting conflicts eventually led to the segment’s axing at the start of Season 2. But Michaels and Henson’s parting-of-ways may have worked out for the best. AfterSNLSeason 1, Henson’s puppeteers began work on a new series calledThe Muppet Show. The rest was history.
Gorch’s Less Than Ideal Legacy on SNL
It’s safe to say that bothSNLand Jim Henson exploded in popularity after they split. The Muppets have persisted as a cultural icon for decades, andSNLis gearing up for itslandmark 50th season. Both have come a long way from their rocky beginnings, with the failure ofGorchlikely being a blessing in disguise. It allowedSNLto move on from its more obscure segments to focus solely on the sketch comedy for which it’s so well known today. TheGorchteam was also freed up to work on the wildly successfulThe Muppet Show, which might not have existed in its current form hadGorchcontinued. Frank Oz admitted the partnership withSNLwasn’t right and that he was grateful to move on toThe Muppet Show.
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The Land of Gorchisn’t one of those “so bad it’s good” ideas that get better with age, at least according to those who remember it. It’s still considered crude, disgusting, unfunny, and a low point in Henson’s andSNL’s history. ButGorchhasn’t been completely forgotten, as it will be referenced in the upcomingSaturday Nightorigin film. And for the morbidly curious,a few survivingGorchsketches are posted onSNL’s officialYouTubechannel.
