The Land of Gorch

The Land of Gorch
Scred sings "I Got You Babe" with Lily Tomlin on the episode that aired on November 22, 1975.
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Jim Henson
Starring	Jim Henson Frank Oz Fran Brill Richard Hunt Jerry Nelson Alice Tweedie
Narrated by	Don Pardo (opening narration)
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	16
Production
Executive producer(s)	Lorne Michaels
Release
Original release	October 11, 1975 – September 18, 1976

The Land of Gorch is a recurring skit that appears in season one of the American comedy television program Saturday Night Live. It features Jim Henson's Muppets. Prior to his work for children on Sesame Street, Henson had created puppetry work, including his show Sam and Friends, for adult audiences. His characters appeared regularly on the late-night comedy television programs, and The Ed Sullivan Show. After Sesame Street, Henson feared he would become typecast into working on children's television series. His talent agent Bernie Brillstein, who represented Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, and John Belushi, helped him transition to Saturday Night Live.

The premise of The Land of Gorch featured Muppet characters, who were members of a royal family, in a faraway locale. They behaved boorishly and made frequent references to drug abuse, sexual innuendo, and consumption of alcohol. Characters included King Ploobis, Queen Peutra, their son, and servants Scred and Vazh. These characters often consulted their oracle Mighty Favog for advice.

The writers of Saturday Night Live clashed with Henson's vision for the program. Michael O'Donoghue, Alan Zweibel, and Al Franken often tried to avoid writing the weekly sketches. Henson felt they were trying to write for situational comedy rather than staying within his intended story. Frank Oz eventually agreed the partnership between Henson's team and the show's writers was imperfect, and was thankful they moved on to The Muppet Show.