Denver was also a guest star on "The Muppet Show", the beginning of the lifelong friendship between Denver and Jim Henson that spawned two Christmas television specials with the Muppets. He also tried acting, appearing in "The Colorado Cattle Caper" episode of the "McCloud" television movie in February 1974. He starred in the 1977 film "Oh, God!" opposite George Burns. Denver hosted the Grammy Awards five times in the 1970s and 1980s, and guest-hosted "The Tonight Show" on multiple occasions. In 1975, he was awarded the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year award. At the ceremony, the outgoing Entertainer of the Year, Charlie Rich, presented the award to his successor after he set fire to the envelope containing the official notification of the award. Some speculated Rich was protesting the selection of a non-traditional country artist for the award, but Rich's son disputes that, saying his father was drunk, taking pain medication for a broken foot, and just trying to be funny. Denver's music was defended by country singer Kathy Mattea, who told Alanna Nash of "Entertainment Weekly", "A lot of people write him off as lightweight, but he articulated a kind of optimism, and he brought acoustic music to the forefront, bridging folk, pop, and country in a fresh way...People forget how huge he was worldwide."