Watch Alice Cooper play ‘School’s Out’ on ‘The Muppet Show’ in 1978
Alice Cooper never saw a theatrical opportunity that he could pass up. Throughout his six-decade-strong career in the entertainment industry, Cooper has shown up in everything from schlocky horror films to Wayne’s World. Each time, he’s a wonderfully self-aware presence, often taking the piss out of his own notorious shock-rock persona. Underneath all the makeup and mock beheadings, Alice Cooper is just a nice guy named Vince who wants to sing you a song.
That made him the perfect host for the original version of The Muppet Show back in the late 1970s. Jim Henson’s iconic creations had managed to find a home on various channels in the US, thanks to syndication. Their previous stint on television, as guest performers on various episodes of Saturday Night Live, only lasted one season. After Henson moved operations over to England, The Muppet Show was officially born.
Henson initially had difficulty finding celebrities to guest host the show, but by 1978, stars like Vincent Price, John Cleese, Steve Martin, and Julie Andrews had all appeared. Henson purposefully sought out over-the-top rock stars to take part in the shenanigans, landing hosts like Elton John and Liberace across the show’s run. The more theatrical, the better, and in the late 1970s, nobody was more theatrical than Alice Cooper.
By this point, “Alice Cooper” was the sole property of Vincent Furnier. As the lead singer of the band Alice Cooper throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, Furnier was commonly recognised as “Alice Cooper”. When the group broke up in 1974, Furnier legally changed his name to the moniker and continued touring as Alice Cooper, releasing hit albums like Welcome to My Nightmare and staging increasingly-elaborate horror-themed stage shows.
Cooper had to tone down his nefarious stage persona for the children’s show, but he’s still a perfect fit for the goofy and rambunctious Muppets around him. When it comes time to sing his signature song, ‘School’s Out’, Cooper dances with a group of life-sized Muppets while decked out in a cap and gown. Cooper’s appearance was just one of many that made The Muppet Show must-watch TV for a whole generation of kids and young adults in the late 1970s.
Check out Cooper performing ‘School’s Out’ on The Muppet Show below.
