Who here has seen Mummenschanz? I’ve seen them in person 3 times and for some reason got to thinking about them today. I went to YouTube to see if they had clips up and not only did they have a bunch, they had this one, which is a promotional piece for their current show and tour! I had no idea they were still performing!
Tour dates here. I think I might be able to fit in a trip to Rancho Cucamonga in March to see them; I just have confirm some work dates first.
I’ve seen them on Letterman and/or Leno but not live, so I chose “something else.”
Muppet Show, late 70s. I had no idea they were still around.
I’ve seen 'em on TV a number of times, but never got to see them in person.
Never saw the show. The commercials for Mummenschanz that I saw as a lad in the 1970s freaked me out!
Probably saw that, too. Looooong time since I thought of them, but I recognized the name immediately.
(There was an appearance of either them or Blue Man Group early on in Leno’s run. I remember immediately after the weirdness, they cut to Jay, who said “This is not your father’s Tonight Show!”)
The word means nothing to me, and looking at the video, that doesn’t jar any memory cells. Looks fun in a Blue Man Group sort of way.
I saw those commercials as well. Weird stuff.
Same here; mostly on Carson. Clever stuff.
I saw them live when I was a kid. Must have been in the late ‘70s or early 80s because I knew them from The Muppet Show. I didn’t know they were still around either!
I’m not surprised they’re still around; like The Blue Man Group, performers can be substituted for others when necessary.
I remember reading a magazine article about them way back in the day. Games Magazine? Dynamite? I can’t remember. I thought it looked kind of cool.
Muppet Show for this 70s kid.
The Letterman thing was a spoof by Chris Elliot.
I also remember them from The Muppet Show. And also Sesame Street, I think. And probably Shields and Yarnell’s variety show. Certain parts of the 1970s were very weird. Puppets and mime artists and contortionists were a big deal for a while.
I saw them live! My mom took me to see them in New York; can’t remember if that was before or after the Muppet Show appearance. I only remember one routine (they did about twenty): A round creature with a mouth (like Pac-Man, though this was several years before PAC-Man) was trying to eat a plant. But the plant kept squirming away, and the creature chased it all over, and once off, the stage. Finally captured it, chewed it a bit, and of course, spit it back out. 
Audience roared.
I first saw them in this Sesame Street short where they demonstrate the concepts of “same” and “different”.
I saw them live many years ago. Liked the show.
Best moment: I was with my wife with my arm around her. One of the dancers, dressed as a giant hand, gently pushed our heads together. It was charming.
If you like them, you may want to catch Momix, who I like even more.
It was driving me nuts trying to remember where I first saw Mummenschanz. It must have been on Shields and Yarnell which I watched every week for some reason. 70s TV was like being chased by a bear. It didn’t have to be that good to get you to watch it; just better than the other two things in the same time slot.
Not all of it.