Pancakes weren’t the only breakfast food Prince sang about. Muppets’ fan site Tough Pigs posted a recollection from Muppets Tonight writer and producer Kirk Thatcher about the musician’s 1997 appearance on the show.
Prince passed away yesterday at the age of 57. And no, not the Fresh Prince, as MTV mistook.
Thatcher remembered his first interaction with the musician as nerve-wracking:
“The Artist” finally arrived and the first thing that struck me was how diminutive he was, especially standing next to his enormous security guard. He was only half again bigger than most of the Muppets! We awkwardly all introduced ourselves, careful not to address him in anyway, and trying not to look at him, but it just seemed so weird to do that, so I waved a little and said my name, as did most of us, and Brian Henson took the lead as we sat in the conference room and went over all the sketches he was in. He and his people seemed to get the jokes and enjoyed the fun we were having with him and he thankfully had very few notes. He just smiled and giggled quietly at the script and seemed very open to it all.”
He added that Prince was an “absolute joy to be around”:
The day progressed as planned and Prince even stayed longer to do an extra song number that was on the list to be cut if time didn’t permit…He was having such fun that he changed his flight plans and worked until late that night or early into the next day to shoot it all. A complete professional in every way and an absolute joy to be around. We found out the next day or so that he had suffered a tremendous personal loss the day he left to come and shoot with us. Something big enough that most people would have canceled something as trivial as appearing on our show and taken weeks or possibly a month off to deal with. But he showed up and had fun and created a great show with us, the ultimate professional.”
Watch a clip of Prince’s breakfast song, “Starfish and Coffee,” from the Muppets Tonight episode:
What do you think? Are you a Prince fan? Do you remember this episode? What’s your favorite TV appearance by Prince?
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