The Muppets Sing Hamilton in Epic Parody of the Musical

It’s time to cue the music. Earlier today, the numbers came in, and it’s official: Hamilton was the biggest thing in streaming in July 2020 — but another of Disney+‘s big July debuts, Muppets Now, was apparently the inspiration for a fan who put together a Hamilton/The Muppets mash-up. YouTuber Ricky Downes III took songs from Hamilton and put together a playlist that represents the totality of the play’s first act, as it might sound if it had been performed by The Muppets. Unfortunately for all involved, there’s not a video to go along with it, but the music itself is pretty great.

The Muppets, a puppet comedy troupe that originated in the 1950s with creators Jim and Jane Henson, at one point had the highest-rated TV show in the world, with about 250 million people watching The Muppet Show worldwide at his peak. They have always had a fair number of pop culture parodies in their offerings, including movies like Muppet Treasure Island and The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz, so when this video first popped up around the same time Hamilton was debuting over the July 4 weekend, some fans assumed it was a legit Disney product.

You can check it out below. Our personal favorite part of the whole thing is the use of Beaker. If you’ve seen Hamilton enough times to know the songs back and forth, you’ll do better with his hilarious bits.

The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz was actually the first movie that Disney underwrote as the new owners of The Muppets after they purchased the property in 2004. Beginning in 2011 with a feature film titled The Muppets, followed by its 2014 sequel Muppets Most Wanted, Disney started to put their own spin on the property. the 2015/2016 ABC TV series The Muppets (a The Office-style mockumentary series) was their first full Muppets TV show, followed by Muppet Babies (the CG remake, obviously), before they added Muppets Now to the Disney+ lineup.

With Hamilton, Disney offered consumers a one-of-kind viewing event: Hamilton’s fame was massive, but many had never had the opportunity (or money) to see the play in the theater – let alone in the time frame necessary to see creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and the original Hamilton cast. Disney offered that one-of-a-kind experience a no additional cost to those who had already subscribed to Disney+, while no pulling in all sorts of new subscribers by not allowing free trial members access to Hamilton, only paying subscribers. It’s the kind of shrewd move that has helped Disney+ quickly ramp up its subscriber base, which now sits at 60.5 million – with subscribers more than doubling since early February, and the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns.

Hamilton streams on Disney+. Muppets Now airs there as well, with a new episode dropping this Friday.