Tough Pigs Anthology

The Decline and Fall of Gorch

Part Two: The Fall -- July 2002

The Gorch Anthology

Anthology Contents

 

Chapter 10

Ring My Bell

 

in which Scred and Peuta are satisfied customers

 

(January 17, 1976 -- host Buck Henry)

 

 

[ Scred enters, carrying a big cardboard box marked "SCRED: c/o Gortch" ]

 

Scred

 

Hee hee hee. Oh boy! It finally arrived! It's here, Peuta!

 

[ Queen Peuta enters. ]

 

Peuta

 

What? What are you talking about?

 

Scred

 

Oh, why, the marital aid that I sent away for!

 

Peuta

 

Marital aid?

 

Scred

 

Yes, your kinkiness!

 

Peuta

 

Why, we're not even married!

 

Scred

 

Oh. Well, then it must be an extra-marital aid. Heh heh heh. Let's see what we have...

 

[ Scred opens the box and pulls out a weird device -- a rusty silver box about the shape of a portable radio, with switches, knobs and a big red lightbulb at the top. ] 

 

Scred

 

Oh, boy! Look at this!

 

Peuta

 

OH! Scred... what is that thing?

 

Scred

 

I don't know! But isn't it beautiful? And it's guaranteed to enhance our enjoyment! Hee hee hee hee!

 

Peuta

 

Ahhh.

 

Scred

 

Oh boy, yeah. This is gonna be fun.

 

Peuta

 

Where did you get that thing?

 

Scred

 

Oh, I got it in an ad from a magazine I was reading... it's called Bound and Gagged. Hee hee hee. Oh, this is going to be so much fun... Ploobis is away, it'll just be the three of us. You... me... and The Monster. 

 

Peuta

 

Oh, Scred, I've never done anything like this before... I'm frightened!

 

Scred

 

Oh, don't worry... there's an instruction pamphlet that came with it.

 

Peuta

 

Very well, then, dear. I'll be right back. I'm going to slip into my Frederick's of Hollywood!

 

Scred

 

Oooh, la la la! 

 

[ Peuta exits. ]

 

Scred

 

Ah, boy. Whatta gal. She may not be beautiful, but she sure knows how to ring my bell. Let's see, I gotta find those instructions. Oh, yeah, here they are. Uhh... oh, NO!

 

Peuta

 

[ offscreen: ]  What's the matter?

 

Scred

 

It's the instructions! I can't read 'em! They're in Japanese!

 

[ Peuta enters, wearing a purple-fringed robe. ]

 

Peuta

 

Urrrgghhh. Aren't they all.

 

Scred

 

Aw, don't worry, I think I'll be able to figure it out. Yeah. I know what to do. Just get ready there.

 

Peuta

 

Oh, I'm so excited! Ha ha! What do you want me to do, Scred?

 

Scred

 

Uh... if you could just put your head down on the top of it there.

 

Peuta

 

Okay... How should I do it? Like this?

 

Scred

 

Yeah, yeah... that looks right.  [ Nothing happens. ]  Mmm hmm.  [ He taps her head. ]  Feel anything yet?

 

Peuta

 

No. Can't say I do.

 

Scred

 

Oh. Well, here. How about this. 

 

[ He picks up the device and whacks her across the face with it. ]

 

Scred

 

Feel anything now?

 

Peuta

 

Urrrghh. Hardly. Oh, here. Maybe you're doing it wrong. Let me try.

 

Scred

 

Oh no no no no, give me one more chance! 

 

[ He holds the device up to Peuta's moogies. The red light flashes, and a siren blares. Peuta moans. ]

 

Scred

 

It's working! It's... it's starting to WORK!

 

[ The siren sounds as they fall to the floor, moaning and giggling. Bits of clothes fly up over the boulders. Peuta screams. ]

 

Peuta

 

Oh! OHHH! SCRED! SCRE-E-E-ED!

 

Scred

 

OH, your MUTUALNESS! Oh! WHOA!

 

Peuta

 

OHHH!

 

Scred

 

Oh! Oh! Oh! Your togetherness!

 

[ The siren fades. Scred and Peuta come up for air. ]

 

Scred

 

Oh! WOW! That was something else!

 

Peuta

 

Oh. Well... Is that all there is?

 

Scred

 

Some people are never satisfied.

 

[ He dives under her, and they fall to the floor again. ]

 

 

illustration by Chris Smigliano 

 

Gorch Fact

 

   There you are, folks. That's as bizarre and raw as it gets with the Gorch material. The genesis of this sketch was that Henson and Oz weren't available to perform on the show this week -- they may have been in England by this point, working on The Muppet Show -- so they did this sketch just for Jerry Nelson and Alice Tweedy. 

 

   Personally, I love this sketch. It's just nuts. The thing I love most about it, actually, isn't the explicit live Muppet sex. It's that quiet little moment Scred has in the middle: "Ah, boy. Whatta gal. She may not be beautiful, but she sure knows how to ring my bell." There's something adorable and authentic about him in that moment; all of a sudden, the revolting little creature has this complex emotional moment. Weird as it is, that right moment right there has some kind of Muppet Magic essence -- that even in the strangest, wildest sketch, the characters have this little authentic spark of personhood. Scred is just real

 

   I mean, stop me if I'm overthinking the sex toy sketch. But there's something cool there, right? Okay, never mind.

 

 

Coming up next ...

Chapter 11:  Buzzkill

 

The Gorch Anthology

Anthology Contents

 

 

Danny@ToughPigs.com