Hello, sunshine! We hop back to Easter 1986 to revisit the Jim Henson special “The Tale of the Bunny Picnic,” which is about neither Easter, nor a bunny picnic, but it did introduce Bean Bunny, the Muppets’ Nermal.

On This Episode

1. Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), giant mutant farmer who apparently knows a great recipe for a hypoallergenic stew.
2. Emily Rowley (@mlerowley), who answered the Who I’d Like to Meet field of her old MySpace profile with “Bean Bunny.”

Topics and Tangents

1. Jim Henson’s original introduction to “The Tale of the Bunny Picnic.”.
2. “The Jim Henson Hour.”
3. Bean Bunny is still around at Muppet*Vision 3D in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
4. Bean Bunny was also a late-series addition to “Muppet Babies.” His picture is on the playroom wall in Disney’s new “Muppet Babies” show.
5. “The Muppet Musicians of Bremen” and its grotesque, full-size Muppet bad guys.
6. Sweetums in “Tales from Muppetland: The Frog Prince,” in example.
7. Bean trying to tell the other bunnies to quiet down or the dog will hear them is also the plot of the first act of “Trolls.”
8. Every Easter Bunny costume is terrifying.
9. Y’all remember Puffalumps? You do now.
10. The Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta is home to several Muppets from this special, including both Bean and his Dragon Bunny form from his dream sequence.
11. Friend of the show Carlin Trammel’s Video Tour of the Center for Puppetry Arts’ Jim Henson exhibit.

Previous Podcast Episodes Mentioned

• A Muppet Family Christmas (Season 1, Episode 2)
• Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (Season 2, Episode 16)

“The Tale of the Bunny Picnic” © 1986 Henson Associates.

Commercial Break: Muppet Babies Holiday Huggables from McDonald’s, 1988.

The Advent Calendar House is on the web at adventcalendar.house, on Twitter @adventcalhouse, and part of the Christmas Podcast Network.