"Who is Bob Hope?"

There's probably no better illustration of the generation gap between myself and my son than The Muppets.

I took my son to a guy's night out last night to see The Muppets and then have appropriately manly (translation: unhealthy as possible) food at our local microbrewery while my wife and daughter were caroling in the city. So, I thought to myself, why not introduce my son to the Muppets. He's been spending a lot of time watching Bond movies on Netflix, so I thought it might be good to shift his attention from Pussy Galore (yes, real Bond girl name from Goldfinger) to Miss Piggy.

Well, it turns out The Muppets is kind of sad for those of us that actually watched The Muppet Show when it was on television. They spend the majority of the movie explaining how The Muppets just aren't relevant anymore. There's even a moment when Kermit pulls out his Rolodex to call for some help and attempts to reach "President Carter."

Has it really been that long since we watched the Swedish Chef prepare Chicken in a Basket?

There came a point in the movie where they play sound clips from old Muppet episodes and they make a reference to Bob Hope hosting. At this point, my son asks me, "Who is Bob Hope?"

Who is Bob Hope?

He knows who Justin Bieber is and who Kim Kardashian is and he doesn't know who Bob Hope is? He knows What Not to Wear and has seen Dwarf Farmers on the Discovery Channel and doesn't know who Bob Hope is? This can't be right. As a dad, how could I have gone 11 years and not mentioned who Bob Hope is. Let's not even get started about Dean Martin. What's Amore? That's Amore!

Here I thought we were just going to have a simple guys night out when right there in front of me is the thing I hadn't considered yet. The Generation Gap was right there between us in all of its Muppet glory. Geoffrey Moore, this chasm might not be able to be crossed! So, I tried to explain who Bob Hope was and who Jim Henson was and the history behind the Muppets and I realized I was getting a little sentimental about the whole thing. I found myself missing a time when we really had creative geniuses like Jim Henson breaking new ground.

Could there be a day when my son has to explain to his son with great reverence who Lady Gaga was? Let's hope not.

P.S. Kudos to Chris Cooper for shaking off his intense dramatic actor image and having fun as the rapping evil oil man on The Muppets.

P.S.S. A pretty amazing compilation of Bob Hope's Christmas visits to the troops can be found by clicking here.