The Land of Gorch The Land of Gorch was a recurring sketch on the first season of " Saturday Night Live " . Lorne Michaels , executive producer of the show , stated in a " Tomorrow Show " interview prior to the series ' premiere that these sketches would feature a whole new group of adult Muppets " who can stay up late . " The Land of Gorch is a swampy alien landscape ruled by the blustering , oafish King Ploobis , who ignores his shrewish wife , Queen Peuta , in favor of his lovely female servant Vazh . Ploobis ' right hand creature is the toady Scred , who cravenly sucks up to the king while carrying on a discreet love affair with Peuta . Ploobis ' son , Wisss , is a dropout " crater - head " , who sucks intoxicating gases from holes in the ground . The ultimate authority in Gorch is the Mighty Favog , who offers wisdom in exchange for regular sacrifices . Jim Henson , Jerry Nelson , and Frank Oz performed the roles of Ploobis , Scred , and the Mighty Favog respectively , while Alice Tweedie , Fran Brill , and Richard Hunt performed the roles of Peuta , Vazh , and Wisss . Opening narration for the sketches was supplied by " Saturday Night Live " staff announcer Don Pardo . Henson ' s original notes include the phrases " " and " " ( sic ) , indicating that Henson thought of the Gorch characters as broad comic archetypes - - the " loud / angry / dominant " king , the " haughty / pretentious / shallow " queen , and the " evil / sneaky / crafty " henchman . The series of sketches lasted from SNL ' s premiere in October 1975 to April 1976 ( and became a recurring joke in the next season ) . The original proposals and scripts refer to the sketches as Gortch rather than Gorch ; over time the spelling was changed , and both versions are found in the Henson files . According to the Muppet Morsels on " " DVD , only hired writers for " Saturday Night Live " , and not Henson employees , were allowed to write Gorch sketches . Other writing credits went to " SNL " contributors Chevy Chase and Al Franken . Despite this , Jim Henson did write one sketch , for the episode hosted by Raquel Welch . In a 2009 interview Jerry Nelson revealed that he wrote the sketch with Lily Tomlin and Scred . The writing staff were generally less than pleased with the presence of the Muppets . Writer Alan Zweibel expressed his views on the topic : During the middle of the season , after a deal to produce " The Muppet Show " in England had been made , the sets were destroyed , and the Muppets were officially " let go " from the show ' s regular cast . All of the Gorch sketches from the second half of the season revolved around the idea that the Muppets had been fired , and were trying desperately to get their jobs back . In 1983 , Jim Henson commented on what happened behind the scenes at " Saturday Night Live " : In early 1999 , Frank Oz also commented on the show : The segments dealt with a number of racy issues : alcohol abuse , adultery , species extinction , drugs , and other " adult " topics , though each was treated with the expected " SNL " irreverence . Skits were indeed performed live . The exception was the January 24 , 1976 episode ; that sketch was pre - taped on January 10th , during the pre - shoot of the Elliott Gould episode . The Muppets were supposed to have appeared on the " Saturday Night Live " episode hosted by Gerald Ford ' s press secretary , Ron Nessen , as evidenced by a behind - the - scenes photo and Don Pardo ' s announcing the Muppet cast during that episode ' s credits . Nessen explained at the end of the episode that they could not be there due to " technical complications . " The Gorch sketches from the first season were included on the " Saturday Night Live : The Complete First Season " DVD set . While the Gorch characters were never significantly utilized following their expulsion from " SNL " , they can be glimpsed in the crowd of Muppets during the " Rainbow Connection " finale in " The Muppet Movie " ( 1979 ) . The Coneheads ' first appearance on SNL used a backdrop from " Gorch " . Sources . _ _ NOWYSIWYG _ _