Late night may be getting a familiar green guest host this summer.
During Kermit the Frog’s Thursday night appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host floated the idea of the beloved Muppet filling in when he takes his customary summer hiatus. Judging by Kermit’s response, he wouldn’t need much convincing.
“I don’t know why I didn’t see this as a kid, but you guest-hosted for Johnny Carson,” Kimmel said, referencing one of the more surreal moments in late-night history. “I take the summer off and I have guest hosts here. Would you have any interest in guest hosting this show?”
“Oh yeah. Yeah yeah yeah,” Kermit replied. “Yeah, I mean that would be great.”
It’s unclear whether the exchange was a serious offer or just a bit of playful banter, but as Kimmel noted, Kermit’s résumé suggests he’d be more than up to the task. The felt icon famously guest hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on April 2, 1979—an episode that remains legendary among late-night fans.
As LateNighter’s Mark Malkoff writes in his book Love Johnny Carson, the idea came from Carson producer Peter Lassally, who pushed it through despite objections from NBC brass. Kermit delivered a monologue, interviewed Vincent Price and Bernadette Peters, and even presided over an audience sprinkled with Muppets. Staffers later described it as both the hardest and best show they ever produced.
But Kermit’s relationship with late night goes back even further than that. He first appeared on the Tonight show alongside Jim Henson in 1957 during Jack Paar’s run and would go on to become a recurring presence through multiple generations of hosts, including Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon, as well as appearances alongside Conan O’Brien, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, James Corden, and John Oliver.
He was on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Thursday night to promote the 50th anniversary of The Muppet Show, which is being celebrated with a brand new special debuting next week on Disney+. Kimmel couldn’t resist poking fun at the franchise’s long absence from the airwaves. “Your show has been off the air—were you guys suspended?” he joked.
but what about Kaley?…did Jimmy get her a gig with them?