Jonathan Winters was a
guest star on
The Muppet Show in 1980. That same year, he also appeared in
I Go Pogo (a.k.a.
Pogo for President). In 1981, he was a guest on the short-lived comedy series
Aloha Paradise. In the
fourth and final season of the
sci-fi-styled TV comedy
Mork & Mindy, Winters (one of
Robin Williams's idols) was brought in as Mork & Mindy's child, Mearth. Due to the different Orkan physiology,
Mork laid an egg, which grew and hatched into the much older Winters. It had been previously explained that Orkans aged "backwards," thus explaining Mearth's appearance and that of his teacher, Miss Geezba (portrayed by a then-11-year-old actress
Louanne Sirota). Mork's infant son Mearth in
Mork & Mindy was created in hopes of improving ratings and as an attempt to capitalize on Williams's comedic talents. Winters had previously guest-starred in Season 3, Episode 18, as Dave McConnell, Mindy's uncle. However, after multiple scheduling and cast changes,
Mork & Mindy's fourth season was already quite low in the ratings and ended up being the show's last season. show in 1986 Winters became a regular on
Hee Haw during the 1983–1984 season. He was later the voice of
Grandpa Smurf from 1986 to 1990 on the television series
The Smurfs. Additionally, he did the
voice of Bigelow in the 1985 TV film
Pound Puppies and voice-acted on ''
Yogi's Treasure Hunt'' in 1985, among other voice roles throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1987, Winters was featured in
NFL Films'
The NFL TV Follies. That same year he published ''Winters' Tales: Stories and Observations for the Unusual
. In 1991 and 1992, he had a supporting role on Davis Rules'', a sitcom that lasted two seasons (25 episodes), for which he won a
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He played Gunny Davis, an eccentric grandfather helping raise his grandchildren after his son lost his wife. In addition to his live-action roles, he was a guest star on
The New Scooby-Doo Movies (in an episode where he also voiced an animated version of his "Maude Frickert" character) and as the narrator in
Frosty Returns which
airs annually during the
Christmas season. Winters also provided the voice for the thief in
The Thief and the Cobbler. In 1994, Winters appeared as a fired factory worker (credited as "Grizzled Man") in
The Flintstones. In an interesting role reversal, he was the serious-minded secular police chief and uncle of the character Lamont Cranston (played by
Alec Baldwin) in
The Shadow. That same year he voiced Stinkbomb D. Basset in the episode "Smell Ya Later" on
Animaniacs. Winters received eleven Grammy nominations during his career, including eight for the
Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album; he won the
Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album for
Crank(y) Calls in 1996. In 1996, Winters played himself in ''Bloopy's Buddies'', a children's TV series on
PBS designed to teach children about health and nutrition and to encourage them to exercise. In 1999, he was awarded the
Kennedy Center's
Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, becoming the second recipient. ==Later years==