Regis was the long time co-host of the morning talk show Live. First with with Kathie Lee Gifford from 1985 to 2000 then with Kelly Ripa from 2001 until 2011.
Over the years The Muppets were frequent Live guests including Miss Piggy's 1996 appearance to promote her cookbook "In The Kitchen with Miss Piggy."
Miss Piggy returned to Live with Regis and Kelly on May 19, 2005 to promote The Muppets' Wizard of Oz.
One of Regis's other hosting duties was for the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade. In 1989, Kermit the Frog joined Regis to promote The Muppets coming to Walt Disney World.
The 2002 Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade saw Regis once again co-host while Bear from Bear in the Big Blue House was a guest.
Noel MacNeal who performed Bear and Leon from Between The Lions when they appeared on Live posted this tribute:
Regis and Kathie Lee Gifford made a cameo in Sesame Street's 25th Anniversary special Stars and Street Forever in 1994.
Philbin was name a Disney Legends at the 2011 D23 Expo along with Jim Henson.
You can watch both inductions below:
If all that wasn't enough Philbin was also the original host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, in which Kermit had to lend Jon Stewart a hand.
In 2013, Regis lent his voice to A New York Christmas To Remember a special that took place at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City and featured puppets conceived by Jane Henson and built by the Creature Shop.
Philbin was so active on TV, he holds the Guinness World Record for the most hours on U.S. television at 16,700 hours on air. He was nominated for 37 Daytime Emmy Awards, won six, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 and was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
I had the pleasure of attending The Great Philadelphia Comic Con, which isn't quite in Philly, but it still great, last weekend.
I scoured the show floor to find as much Muppet and Henson related items as possible. Along with a few Muppet POP!s, here's what I found:
One dealer had a lithograph print of The Great Muppet Caper poster:
As well as many Brian Fraud prints:
There weren't many Muppet toys, but there was this Sam Eagle/Sam Arrow Palisades action figure:
Our friends at Alternate Dimension Toys had a fresh case of Kidrobot's Fraggle Rock mystery figures:
This being a comic con, there were a few Henson related comics, mainly newer issues of Achaia's Labyrinth and Dark Crystal titles.
Hower, BJ Wanlund spotted this graded copy of Muppet Babies #10 that's apparently such a rarity in this condition that the seller was asking $300 for it!
There were also a few Muppet celebrity guests at the show! Muppet Show guest Alice Cooper was at the show signing autographs and taking photos with fans.
Though he's no stranger to working with puppets, it was certainly odd to see Alice and Bear featured so closely together on the photo schedule:
Friends of blog Noel MacNeal and Jim Martin were on hand to talk about their time working with Jim Henson and the Muppets. Noel brought a smaller scale puppet replica of Bear:
Who even FaceTimed with a young fan who couldn't make it to the show:
Mike Lopez of Increditainment, Noel, Bear, and Bear
Jim is making the rounds at cons to help raise funds to restore The Great Space Coaster.
He has a few Great Space Coaster postcards and patches:
As well as a selection of his cast and crew jackets for sale:
Including this wonderful Sesame Street 25th anniversary jacket:
Our friend Joe sat down with Jim to talk about his efforts to save The Great Space Coaster:
For details on how you can help, follow the official Great Space CoasterFacebook pageandwebsite.
Throughout the weeknd, Noel and Jim also participated in activities for kids and hosted a late Friday afternoon panel,
which quickly evolved into having pretty much everyone in the audience come up on stage to share their experiences and stories about their love for puppetry and The Muppets.
You can watch the madness unfold below thanks to our friends at Increditainmentwho brought Noel and Jim to the show. You may even spot a familiar face!
Thanks again to Like Lopes and Michael Grassia at Increditainmentand The Great Philadelphia Comic Con!
