What Jim Henson Muppet sketch appeared during SNL's first season?

The Jim Henson Muppet sketch that appeared during SNL’s first season was The Land of Gorch. It was a recurring segment featuring original, deliberately adult Muppet characters rather than familiar figures such as Kermit the Frog.

The fictional setting was a bleak, swamp-like world ruled by King Ploobis and Queen Peuta. Other characters included their son Wiss, the servants Scred and Vazh, and the rock-like oracle Mighty Favog. Their stories dealt with drinking, sexual behavior, drug references, and other subjects far removed from the children’s television image of the Muppets.

The project was part of the original concept for SNL, but it became an uneasy creative partnership. Henson’s performers supplied the puppetry while SNL’s writers wrote the scripts, and the two groups often disagreed about tone and characterization. The segments were largely discontinued after the first season as Henson’s team turned its attention to The Muppet Show, which launched in 1976 and used a different group of characters.