# 40! 40 Fabulous Years of Sesame Street! Ah-Ah-Ah! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315 "2009-10-27T16:20:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/61 "2009-11-10T23:41:41Z")
Some of my earliest memories are of watching Sesame Street. I distinctly remember one instance where I was sitting in front of the television, not feeling particularly interested in the show, but being unable to stop watching. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/62 "2009-11-10T23:53:19Z")
Sesame Street. Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip. Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/63 "2009-11-11T04:55:17Z")
Did anyone watch Nightline tonight? The interviewed Elmo’s “voice” and it made me squeal like a little girl. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/64 "2009-11-11T05:44:41Z")
> [@chique](#): > > Did anyone watch Nightline tonight? The interviewed Elmo’s “voice” and it made me squeal like a little girl. 😃 You mean the **performer** of Elmo. Kevin Clash is a muppeteer, which is so much more than just a voice. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/65 "2009-11-11T10:15:56Z")
> [@](#): > > My earliest memory of Sesame Street (which started when I was in college) is Lefty trying to sell Ernie an 8. Yeah, Lefty was one shady dude, gave me the creeps when I was a kid, I just knew he was up to no good. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/66 "2009-11-11T11:02:31Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > You mean the **performer** of Elmo. Kevin Clash is a muppeteer, which is so much more than just a voice. His interview on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me was HILARIOUS. And his voice is so not what you’d expect. ---
**Author:** ![Kingspades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecae2f/32.png) [@Kingspades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kingspades)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/67 "2009-11-11T15:04:31Z")
Remember the extended closing, when they showed all the credits over the video of the kids playing with Barkley in the park? There’s one bit where, thanks to the magic of split-screen, all the kids run behind the same tree. Barkley comes over, looks for the kids, paws at the tree and runs off, then all the kids come running out from behind the tree the other way. As a kid I had all these elaborate ideas for how this was happening. The one that made the most sense was that the tree was hollow and had a big ladder on the inside. All the kids climbed up inside and shut a disguised door before Barkley could see. As with many things regarding childhood, reality is less interesting. While we’re on the subject, I’ve looked for years for a clean copy of the Toots Thielemans harmonica song that closes the show. You can find the opening theme many places, but never the closing theme. Best you can do is YouTube clips with talking over them. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/68 "2009-11-11T15:47:37Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > But now he fits that description, and she says triumphantly, “YOU! I met YOU today!” > > Anyone else remember that, or have a link? [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ItcwsvWgIs0/hqdefault.jpg "Sesame Street - Guess who I met today") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItcwsvWgIs0) ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/69 "2009-11-11T16:11:58Z")
Does anyone know where I can find the original space age-style theme? They played a bit of it on NPR yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/70 "2009-11-11T17:11:52Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Sesame Street. > > Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip. > > Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh. My family still does this whenever we want to say “yes” to something. Or if it is a string of “yesses” we will just “yup yup yup yup” all of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/71 "2009-11-11T18:01:26Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItcwsvWgIs0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItcwsvWgIs0) Yes!!! How did you find it? I’ve been looking for it on YouTube for months. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/72 "2009-11-11T18:09:40Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > Yes!!! > > How did you find it? I’ve been looking for it on YouTube for months. Aw, shucks, I just typed in “guess who i met” and “sesame street”. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/73 "2009-11-11T20:20:21Z")
[Fat Cat Sat Hat](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei1DvIgW_PU&feature=fvst) And that’s that. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/74 "2009-11-11T22:15:27Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Aw, shucks, I just typed in “guess who i met” and “sesame street”. So Google / YouTube hate me, is what you’re saying… I think I searched for “I met you today”, which came up empty. Thank you again! ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/75 "2009-11-12T01:17:57Z")
You people are crazy! This show, which my kindergarten teacher told us to watch, was horribly traumatic. To display the letter W they had Wanda the Witch wash her wig on Wednesday, only to have it whipped away by the wind. Normally her dog would have fetched it for her, but since it was W day she didn’t have a dog, she had a weasel. Weasels don’t fetch unless there’s a chicken coop involved–I don’t know how I figured that out at age five seeing as I had never laid eyes on a weasel and it would be a good 37 years till I did–but I felt very sorry for Wanda and developed a severe obsession with weasels that persists to this day. Thank you, Sesame Street. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/76 "2009-11-12T02:34:51Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItcwsvWgIs0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItcwsvWgIs0) One really funny moment from that clip that I never noticed when I was a kid: \*“Is this short man fat, or is he skinny?” “Oh, I guess you’d have to say he’s kind of… stout.” “Fat, huh?” “Yep.”\* They’d never get away with a joke like that these days. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315/77 "2009-11-12T03:58:43Z")
Prominent memory from childhood: [Celia Cruz, “Sun Sun Babaé”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjEE5Mf24vg) Prominent memory from adulthood: [Harvey Fierstein, "Everything’s Coming Up Noses](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6vEwp25cOM) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-40-fabulous-years-of-sesame-street-ah-ah-ah/515315.md?page=3)