There are numerous jokes about the banjo, but despite those jokes it is not an easy instrument to learn or play. Comedian and musician Steve Martin has a band filled with banjo players he call Men with Banjos and Know What to Do with Them
The American Banjo Museum – yes, there is a museum and they even have a Hall of Fame filled with some of the greatest banjo players of all time including, “Hee Haw” alumni Roy Clark and Grandpa Jones, Steve Martin, virtuosos Bela Fleck and Earl Scruggs, and one surprising but very special member – Muppet creator Jim Henson.
A new special exhibit that has just opened at the American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City titled “POP! Goes the Banjo” features “banjo’s unforgettable moments in entertainment history”
With banjos on display from stage and screen – some for the first time in public – two Hall of Famers are a part of the exhibit – Steve Martin and Kermit the Frog (Jim Henson)!
Running through October of 2026, “POP! Goes the Banjo”, Kermit is at the heart of the exhibit sitting on a log holding the very same banjo he played while singing “The Rainbow Connection” in “The Muppet Movie”.
Kermit noted, “there’s something magical about making music, at least it is when you’re a frog singing and playing banjo. Having my banjo on display in the same gallery with Steve Martin, Roy Clark, and Ed Norton is truly an honor. And to think, those guys aren’t even amphibians!”
This is the second time that Kermit has been involved with an ABM exhibit; he was previously a part of the exhibit; “Jim Henson: Life and Legacy”.
Steve Martin’s 1927 Gibson Florentine banjo is also a part of the exhibit. Martin used the instrument as a part of his “Wild and Crazy” comedy routines. Martin also used the banjo to make his “Let’s Get Smal”, “A Wild and Crazy Guy”, “Comedy is Not Pretty”, “The Steve Martin Brothers” albums and television shows including his “The Muppet Show” appearance.
Ed Norton’s Vega Pete Seeger banjo used in the biopic film “A Complete Unknown” bridging modern music and banjo’s folk heritage. “The Country Bears” Disney film banjo is also a part of the exhibit; along with banjos belonging to Roy Clark and Grandpa Jones and the instruments used in the award winning film “Killers of the Flower Moon”.
American Banjo Museum Executive Director Johnny Baier said, “this exhibit is a love letter to the banjo’s unexpected star turns. Whether in the hands of a legendary comedian, a green Muppet, or a folk icon brought to life on film, the banjo continues to surprise and inspire new generations.”
The American Banjo Museum features over “400 instruments, recordings, film, video, printed music, instructional materials, ephemera and memorabilia associated with the banjo.” It holds the largest collection of banjos on public display in the world. It’s exhibits run from the banjos crafted by African slaves to modern instruments.