NBC Pipes In December of 1964 , the Muppets were booked for a guest spot on " The Jack Paar Program " , a prime - time Friday night talk - variety hour . The Muppet team - - Jim Henson , Frank Oz , Don Sahlin and Jerry Juhl - - arrived at NBC Studios in Radio City for a 10am rehearsal , but they were informed that they weren ' t actually needed on stage until 4pm . With lots of time to kill , they opened a door in their dressing room and found that it was filled with dark , dusty pipes . Juhl remembers , in a 1992 interview : The group decorated the pipes with paint and fake fur , giving the pipes monstrous eyes , goofy noses , and multi - colored faces . Henson later revealed that part of the brown fabric had come from the original Grover . The team signed the artwork " with LOVE from the Muppets . " As the day went on , Juhl recalls , By air time , Paar had heard about the project , and brought a camera back into the dressing room to show the audience what the " crazy Muppet people " had done . The signature at the bottom originally included the phrase " Represented by William Morris " ( Henson ' s agent at the time ) , but that was painted over in black by the studio before putting it on air . NBC told Henson and company that the pipes would be painted over the next day . Since the painting had come about as a lark , and they were just passing time , Henson and the others didn ' t have a problem with that . However , the next day ' s painting somehow never happened , and the pipes went largely forgotten about for 16 years . In 1980 , an NBC Engineer , Michael Glaser , from the Broadcast Systems Engineering Department was heading a team upgrading studio technical facilities opened the locked closet and rediscovered the long forgotten treasure . It was like opening a pyramid in Egypt - you never know what you may find especially in a building as historic , with hidden nook and crannies like the RCA Building . Glaser added - the Toscanini elevator was another of his rediscoveries . The pipes created quite a stir and prompted Henson to come in and tape a segment of " The Today Show " on April 18 , 1980 with Gene Shalit , explaining the history of the pipes . Shalit jokingly commented that the pipes would now be kept forever in the building as a museum piece . In 1984 , Jack Paar appeared on " Late Night with David Letterman " and took Letterman on a tour around the studio to show him the Henson pipes . Paar says , " Now , I never won a lot of . But I have something that ' s so rare , and so touching to me . " He later continues , " When I opened this door , you ' ll see a tribute that was made to me . . . " In 1993 , the backstage area began being used for " Late Night with Conan O ' Brien " . The pipes were in a closet in Max Weinberg ' s dressing room . In 2009 , Jimmy Fallon took over late - night duties , and he strongly encouraged NBC to make the pipes part of the backstage " 30 Rock " tour . Fallon displayed the pipes during a satellite interview on " The Jay Leno Show " on February 12 , 2010 . In 2010 , Brian Williams brought Frank Oz back to see the pipes for the first time in many years , causing Oz to emotionally comment that he was " the last man standing " from the original group . Soon , Fallon ' s plan came to fruition , and the pipes were officially unveiled as part of the tour with a " ribbon - cutting " ceremony featuring Oz , Fallon , and Meredith Vieira , once again on " The Today Show . " Just as Shalit once jokingly predicted , the pipes will now forever be part of the tour as a testament to the creativity of Jim Henson and his business associates . On November 16 , 2011 , exactly forty - seven years and one day after the pipes had been decorated , Kermit the Frog was on " Late Night with Jimmy Fallon " to promote " The Muppets " . On this day , he visited the pipes to film a brief clip for NBC . com . Just five days later , Walter visited the pipes upon his appearance on " Late Night " . On an appearance on " The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon " in March 2014 , Kermit and Fallon talked about the pipes and Kermit presented him with a special gift - a specially designed Muppet wrench to take care of the pipes with .