Okay, so they didn’t get the Oscars. Boo. But hey, work is work, so the Muppets have instead lent their services to UK cellphone network Orange (which, if you squint at it, looks kind of like Oscar) for the latest entry in a series of celebrity-satirizing theatrical ads that have become a customary part of going to the movies in Britain.

Essentially elaborate reminders to cinema patrons who haven’t yet turned their phones off, the ads do so by sending up the commercial evils of product placement in films (“Don’t let a mobile phone ruin your movie,” is the recurring punchline) and the vulnerability of fading stars seeking career resuscitation — all of which ties in nicely with the meta-narrative around “The Muppets” as a comeback vehicle for previously down-and-out vaudeville veterans.

Previous good sports who have appeared in the ads range from Sigourney Weaver to Spike Lee to Patrick Swayze to Juliette Lewis, so the felt gang is in good human company; the latest ad (embedded after the jump) isn’t the sharpest in the series, but frankly, I’ll watch these guys in life insurance commercials if it comes to that. (Meanwhile, how envious am I that Kris has seen the movie and I haven’t? Guess.)