Everyone’s favorite puppets from the 70’s and 80’s are back, and now they’ve got a YouTube channel (of course). Their take on “Bohemian Rhapsody” is awesome, what with its retooled lyrics (Fozzie and Statler and Waldorf trade such lines as “We will not let you joke!” “Let me joke!” “We do not like your jokes!” “Let me joke!” “We’ll never, never let you joke!”), plaintive solo by Animal (“Mamaaaaa . . . . Mama?”), and high notes courtesy of Beaker (“For MEEEEEEEEE!”). Just about every major cast member makes an appearance, and they’re all perfectly in character. I wish my video conference calls at work could be half as much fun.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” is featured on the channel MuppetStudios, which I discourage any Generation Xers from visiting unless they want to waste the next couple of hours watching Beaker’s soulful rendition of “Habanera” or learning about the latest developments in pumpkin-carving technology. YouTube is an ideal format for the Muppets, who are at their best in short skits. Each 2- to 3-minute video’s a shot of goofy, nostalgic fun, liberally dosed with the manic bizarreness and blithe defiance of logic (What do you get when you blow up two pumpkins with a bazooka? Pumpkin pies, complete with eyes and mouths.) that have made the Muppets famous. The musical numbers, like “Habanera” and Beaker’s “Ode to Joy,” are enjoyable in such a random, meme-like way–they’re unselfconscious and don’t overstay their welcome–that they seem poised to go viral. In fact, “Bohemian Rhapsody” already has, having been featured on BoingBoing and viewed over 10 million times.

Of course, one of my favorite all-time Muppet moments is still the “Happiness Hotel” number from The Great Muppet Caper. It and the England sequence from National Lampoon’s European Vacation remain two of the most indelible images of British hotels in American popular culture. My husband and I are visiting London next fall, and I’ll be crossing my fingers until we get there, hoping that our hotel doesn’t remotely resemble the good old Happiness (though, I suppose, if it does, we can always sneak out in the middle of the night).