Kermit the Frog is interviewing a famous pop composer. He’s working on a song at the piano. He does the first few bars:
Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the sky so high
Like a cherry in a pie
He stops here, says that’s all wrong. Keeps changing the song to get it to make sense, but keeps the cherry pie instead of the little star. Kermit helps him along as well.
The final version:
Whistle, whistle little bird
Isn’t eating crumbs absurd.
Try a ham and cheese on rye
Or a slice of cherry pie.
If it still is crumbs you want
Don’t come in my restaurant.
True - we’re all forgetting Ernie’s “Boogie-Woogie Sheep”. Remember that one? Either B or E, I forget which, is having trouble sleeping. It turns out that Ernie’s version of counting sheep involves a trumpet, a song, and a troupe of dancing sheep. That was yet another one of the funniest skits ever. Poor Bert, trying to get to sleep with the hootenannie going on.
I think this is the most times I’ve ever posted in one thread.
Speaking of sleeping, anyone else remember that since they don’t have eyelids, they used to show Muppets sleeping facedown on the pillow so we can’t see their open eyes? That used to weird me out.
Also, having been reminded of “Banana in my ear,” I’m ROFL.
I’d also like to second the nomination of NEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAR and faaaaaaar! Grover’s arms flailing about are amazing.
Around, around, around, around,
over and under and through!
OH! Just remembered a good one!
I’m an aardvark, and I’m proud!
I’m an aardvark, and I’m happy!
I’m an aardvark,
If I try to be specific
And a little scientific,
I am feeling quite terrific!
I’m an aardvark, fierce and free!
I’m an aardvark, standing bravely!
I’m an aardvark,
And I’m tough and smart and strong
And always right,
And that’s the way I’ll always be…
Until I meet another aardvark
Who’s bigger than me!
This is my first post…so i hope i get it right… My favorite SS parts where:
All the Alphaquest skits…of a black girl running through a lot of halls with lots of doors…and then choosing a door, and a letter appears above the door. Then she enters a place in which all the things that appear start with the same letter…nice skits
Those with famous stars, adapting their songs to fit SS…I remember seeing one fairly recently…but i cant remember the band’s name. I know that the original song when to the lines of “Save tonight cuz tomorrow ill be gone”, and they change it to "Elmo’s pride…nananana"or something like that.
The first store manager was Mr Hooper, and old man who died in the early eighties, and they addressed death in that episode.
The guy who ran it afterwards, David, was played by a guy named Northern Calloway, and he also left the show, and died shortly after - I believe from AIDS, but it may have been Cancer (I’ve heard both explanations).
So now there is some young bland kid running the joint.
oh, thanks for telling me that…so now I know who was the man who ran the joint in those SS comic books i have…Does anyone else has this comic style books?
I read in some of the earlier posts about the Monsterpiece Theater…They also have a parody of the program Mistery, with Vincent Twice as a host…
We knew that Frank Oz had done the voices for both Grover and Yoda, so I started goofing with my daughter. We both like the sketches where Grover is a waiter, and he always runs back into the kitchen yelling, “Hey, Charlie, I need a number three!”
So I slowed it down, dropped the pitch a little, to get Yoda’s voice, and murmured, “Charlie. Number three I need.” Cracks 'em up every time.
Nobody has mentioned Patti LaBelle singing, “How I Miss My X”. A torch song about the letter X. Done totally straight, it’s hilarious.
Also, Smokey Robinson singing “U Really Got A Hold On Me”, being embraced by an enormous letter U. Great puppeteering, utilizing black background and black clothing on the puppeteer.
Also the Oinker Sisters.
So many good songs/sketches.
The Electric Company was also produced by the Children’s Television Workshop, but it was for older children, and focussed on language and reading skills. But this is why a lot of the sketches and songs may seem similar. In NYC, they aired TEC right after SS in the afternoons.
Here are a couple I remember that I haven’t seen here yet:
-Bert’s twin brother Bart. “You’re aghast?? No, I’m a guest! Hwah hwah hwah!!! Hey Bert, let’s go paint the town red!”
-A short film about counting to 12 where the numbers form out of the swirling sand in a desert.
-A skit about the number 8, the eight daughters of the king; the jester bursts in with the news of another addition to the family: “The Queen is well and doing fine.” (King) “Good grief, it’s princess Number Nine!” then the 8 falls off the front of the castle and squishes the jester.
Here’s two I loved, but I can’t remember if they were from Sesame Street or The Electric Company–
Letterman…he could leap a capital T in a single bound. There would be some problem and he would swoop in and save the day by ripping the letter from his chest and changing the problem word to a harmless one. Like a bank robber had a GUN but Letterman would take the F from his chest and make it FUN.
And also, the TweedleBugs…they were muppets but they were little tiny bugs that lived in an orange juice carton in Burt’s window box, I believe. Anyway, they were really stupid and always had some problem that could be solved if they just cooperated.
Batting .500. Letterman was TEC, but the bugs were SS. I used to believe that if I made the carton house and the eggcrate car, that Twiddlebugs would come and live on my windowsill.
I was just now watching an episode of Johnny Bravo. The opening shot he’s walking down the street to the shops. What’s he saying to himself over and over?
“A loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter…”
I was too old to watch SS as a kid but I watched it as a parent. My favorite character was Grover, because I felt he was a close relative of my VERY favorite muppet, Gonzo.
But my favorite bit had to be the one where Cookie Monster slept over at Ernie’s. He had a nightmare in which he was chased by cookies and woke up afraid of cookies. Ernie, naturally, thought this was hilarious. “COokie Monster afraid of cookies!”
The big CM pulls himself together and says, with great dignity, “Me fail to see humor of situation, Ernie.”
I thought I would die.
But I was almost as fond of the bit where Super Grover
tried to fix a little girl’s computer by jumping up and down and yelling “wubba wubba wubba.” Sorry Grover, that’ worked with DOS but Windows is more complicated.
Not a tv bit but does anyone remember the SS book, “The Monster At The End Of This Book?” With Grover, of course.
My little girl loved it. Her first experience with metafiction.
Oh, such great memories! I am still a big fan of SS, and have an excuse to watch it, with a 2 1/2 year old son who loves the music and quick-change sketches!
yepyepyepyepyepyepyepyep you, yepyepyepyepyepyepyepyep me, yepyepyepyepyepyepyepyep family, family… those martians are my favorites along with Oscar.
Oh, I love trash
Anything dirty or dingy or dusty
Anything ragged or rotten or rusty
Oh, I love trash…
I’m one of the lucky ones in that I still have one of my old Sesame Street records, including such classics as:
Up, Up and Away
Good Morning Starshine
Yellow Submarine
Spinning Wheel
Mah-Na Mah-Na (yep, that’s how they spell it on the LP)
Feelin’ Groovy (59th Street Bridge Song)
Consider Yourself at Home
Swinging on a Star (Or would you like to be a fish?)
A- You’re Adorable
Happiness Is
There’s this funky muppet cartoon on the front that looks like a cross between Ernie and Oscar… psychedelic…
I bawled my head off when Mr. Hooper died. And when Kermit sang “It’s Not Easy Being Green”…
But, I think my absolute favorite bit is when the muppets take a moment to just TALK to one of the kids one-on-one about something, and they get chummy and really sweet. There’s one where a little girl kisses Grover on the nose, and another where Harry Monster gets a big hug from a little boy. You can tell that these kids really believe in the characters, no matter that it’s somebody moving their parts for them. Now THAT’S Magic for you.
There’s a sketch I love with Bert and Ernie where Ernie’s making a bust of Bert. He’s almost done but there wasn’t enough clay for him to make the nose, so he takes Bert’s nose off and puts it on the bust. I thought it was hilarious! When Bert is noseless, he makes this face that sorta seems like he’s trying to keep from laughing. I love it!
