Gallery: The 12 Most Depressing Muppet Moments Ever
01Beaker is Cyberbullied - Web Clip
In a 2010 web-only clip, Beaker got cyberbullied for posting a video of himself playing Kansas's "Dust in the Wind." Beaker is often in danger in his scenes, but the idea that even adorable incoherent puppets receive death threats is...well, bleak. (Expand the gallery to fullscreen for the best experience.)
Photos by Screengrab/WIRED02All The Muppets Get Murdered - S4E13
In the fourth season of *The Muppet Show*, Liza Minnelli guest stared on a "murder mystery" episode in which half the cast is brutally murdered by—spoiler alert!—Statler and Waldorf. It was full of intrigue, sure, but also creepily dark.
Photos by Screengrab/WIRED03Beauregard's Apocalypse Meltdown - S5E1
There's a fairly horrible subplot in Season 5 of *The Muppet Show* in which Beauregard, the sort-of-slow janitor Muppet, spends 30 minutes having a gradual meltdown about a fortune he received telling him the Apocalypse was nigh. However, the end was never near, his tarot cards were just misread.
Photos by Screengrab/WIRED04Rowlf & Kermit Wallow in Moderate to Severe Post-Breakup Depression
In the original *Muppet Movie* in 1979, Rowlf consoles a heartbroken Kermit, who is devastated when Miss Piggy abandons him for a job. The two sing a duet called "I Hope That Somethin' Better Comes Along," a depressing song that borders on existential in its sad-boy despair.
Photos by Screengrab/WIRED05Big Bird Sings At Jim Henson's Memorial
Following Jim Henson's unexpected death in 1990 the folks at *Sesame Street* sent him off in possibly the saddest manner there is: by having Big Bird sing "It's Not Easy Being Green" at the memorial service.
Photos by Screengrab/WIRED06Almost All of Fraggle Rock
There are literally hundreds of instances throughout the five seasons of *Fraggle Rock* in which the Fraggles talk about death, dying, and other delightful topics therein, so we're just gonna go with "all of the Fraggles" for this one.
Photos by Screengrab/WIRED07Sesame Street Tackles 9:11 - S33E1
Sesame Street tackled the subject of 9/11 in early 2002, just a few months after the attacks on the Twin Towers, by writing a plot wherein Elmo is terrorized by a fire and learns about firefighting.
Photos by Screengrab/WIRED08Big Bird Learns About Death
One of the first times the Muppets confronted a serious topic came in 1982 with the death of actor Will Lee, who played Mr. Hooper on *Sesame Street*. After he passed, the show did a segment where Big Bird learned about death.
Photos by Screengrab/WIRED09Bill Clinton Hugs Kami
In 2006, Kami—a HIV-positive Muppet from the Nigerian/South African version of *Sesame Street* called *Takalani Sesame*—teamed up with former U.S. President Bill Clinton on World AIDS Day for a PSA. In the clip Kami heartbreakingly asks Clinton to tell viewers it's OK to hug HIV-positive people like her.
Photos by Screengrab/WIRED10Sesame Street Tackles Parent Incarceration
Last year, *Sesame Street* produced one of its many tough-subject segments, this time about dealing with having a parent in jail.
Photos by Screengrab/WIRED11Sesame Street Taught Kids How To Grieve
The Sesame Street Workshop tackled the topic of death again in 2010 when they ran a special called "When Families Grieve," focusing not on the death of a cast member, like in 1979's Mr. Hooper episode, but in a more general death-in-the-family sort of way.
Photos by Screengrab/WIRED12Tiny Rabbits Are Viciously Devoured To The Tune of Stand By Me
This online clip from 2010 reaches a new level of madness as an unnamed, deranged monster clubs, kills and devours an entire family of rabbits—while singing, inexplicably, Ben E. King's classic "Stand By Me."
