Same here
I didn’t see that episode but I bet it was a hoot!
I was able to immediately put a face to 20 names but about 13-15 would probably meet the OP’s criteria. I’m 60.
Unblurring the source of the list was a real head slapper. I shoulda guessed that!
Murphy Brown was well after her appearance on Spoiler as I recall.
(1988 for Murphy, 1976 for X)
Me, too. But I’m 70.5.
Yes, the “friends visiting from Europe” woman was Rula Lenska. She is a Polish-born British actress, although she was largely unknown in the US. The commercials were actually for Alberto VO5. You can find a lot of them on YouTube.
Lena Horne was a singer and actress, winner of multiple Grammy Awards, participant in the March on Washington, winner of a special Tony award for her one woman show The Lady and Her Music, and all-around superstar performer.
Like almost everyone else, I recognized everyone except Charles Aznavour and Bruce Forsythe. I want to say that I’ve heard the name Bruce Forsythe, possibly from British TV, but I don’t know anything about him. I am 55.
I’m apparently not the right demographic in some way.
I recognized that about 1/3rd of the names were or maybe still are in showbiz. Of those I recognized, I think about half are dead or retired. All are has-beens.
I’d never heard of the other 2/3rds of them. May as well have been pulled at random out of a phone book.
I’m 63 and media-aloof to a probably unhealthy degree.
I knew who she was, but that’s because I watched (and loved) Rock Follies and Rock Follies 77.
On edit: I just googled Bruce Forsyth, and the first page doesn’t say anything much beyond his being an “entertainer.” Pretty generic. Sounds like he was just…there.
Recognize more than ¾ of the names.
Joel Grey and Bruce Forsythe were the names that gave me the answer.
I‘m 53, and a few years ago I saw Mummenschanz live. Felt like a kid again.
Weirdly Sandy Duncan was an animated guest star (as herself) on Scooby Doo in the very early 1970s, along with Batman, Lurch and Dick Van Dyke. The apparent expectations of who 7-year-olds in 1973 would recognize were … odd
Ethel Merman did guest star on “The Lucy Show”
You aren’t alone. I could have written your answer word-for-word, down to the age.
My parents did not permit me to watch TV while I was growing up (well, I was allowed 30 minutes/week, which I usually spent on Leave It To Beaver, My Favorite Martian, or Captain Nice). I don’t know whether that caused or simply reinforced an innate lack of interest in pop culture, but to this day I barely know who most celebrities are in sports or any performing arts.
I got 17 right, but I’ve never seen the Muppet Show
I’m 60
66, and I thought i knew every one of them, but looking up Bruce Forsyth, I found I was thinking of someone else. But I know all the rest.
I knew 21 of them. Creeping toward 68.
Ethel Merman was the soldier in the Army hospital with shell shock in “Airplane!”
War is hell.
Thanks for saving me some typing, kenobi.
Age - 62
They also appeared on Carson and Letterman.
Oh, and I’m 49 and knew 12 names. Some I know I had watched their TV shows in my childhood but not since, some more deeply remembered/recently watched, and Jim Neighbors, where I’ve seen every episode of Andy Griffith and Gomer Pyle approximately 873 times each and is probably by far the most recognizable person on the list.
No, that’s Lt. Hurwitz. He thinks he’s Ethel Merman.
21 of them I know for sure. Don’t know Forsythe, Aznavour although the names are kinda familiar. Have no idea about Mummenschanz. I’m 75. Never watched the Muppet Show; is that where Mummenchanz comes from?
Mummenchanz was a stage show - kind of like the more recent “Blue Man Group” - it had commercials that terrified me
I just looked up a sesame st performance and might have nightmares now. Flashback to clayface from Batman.
Anyway, I recognize only 3 or 4 names from the original list and I’m 42.