Michael Wermuth, Jr. - Today I'm going to talk about some of my favorite Sesame Street sketches. A random selection of favorites, in a random order, and a random amount. Pretty much all of these are segments that I have not written about on the Mindset. Well, let's get started!
"I Am Proud of Me"
Not to be confused with the similarly-titled "Proud of Me," this song finds Grover being proud of himself after building a castle out of blocks. The block castle is impressive and the tune is quite nice and catchy. I hadn't known about this segment until last year when it was included in the iTunes release Sesame Street Classics Vol. 2 (it's in episode 1954)."My Rock"
A nice, quiet song sung by Bert as he goes to a school to show students his rock, which he admits doesn't do anything (something Zoe rarely does regarding Rocko) but appreciates anyway. This is the only time I know of where Bert enjoys a rock, and it does seem to be one of his oddest interests. (Maybe he gave it up after the one segment?)Ernie's broken window
Ernie notices that his window is broken, and Sherlock Hemlock suddenly appears to investigate. They find a baseball and that the hole in the window is shaped like a ball, concluding that somebody hit the baseball through the window. And then Ernie suddenly notices that Sherlock was holding a baseball bat and has a number on his back, indicating that Sherlock was the one who did it. But Sherlock passes it off as him solving the case, and Ernie doesn't get too mad. I guess he should be lucky Bert wasn't there..."Tu Me Gustas"
The version with Rosita and Gabbi is great. It's just a nice, fun little song with the two singing in Spanish words and declaring their friendship with each other. The two make a good team, and I don't think they get paired enough. The song has also been performed by duos including Luis and Elmo, Maria and Grover, and Maria and Cookie Monster.Kermit's telephone demo
Kermit teaches Forgetful Jones how to use the telephone, and it's very funny how Forgetful struggles to remember. It's funny seeing him refer to Kermit as "McKermit" (I don't think he's done that in other sketches). put the whole phone (not just the receiver) to his ear as he answers, and when at the end, when he's finally done it right, refers to the phone as the toaster. One of the best Forgetful Jones segments. "Air" with Guy Smiley
A barber gets ready to cut his customers hair, but whenever he says a word that rhymes with "air" (like "hair" or "chair" or "rare"), Guy Smiley randomly bursts in asking, "Did somebody say AIR???" and then ignores the barbers correction to sing about air, joined by a marching band. The song is good and this sketch provides some of the funniest Sesame randomness ever. Hmm, maybe I should make sure in this article I don't talk about Baby Bear... (CRASH! "Did somebody say AIR?")Grover the Baker
Mr. Johnson goes to a bakery and as usual he has to deal with Grover. Despite the fact that Mr. Johnson is the only customer, Grover makes him take a number, 40, and has him wait until his number is called. And in this segment Grover makes a good point: "This is John's Bakery, not Grover's Bakery. I do not make the rules." Mr. Johnson always blames Grover, but at times the poor service is due to rules or policy, which Grover does not make. The Geefle and the Gonk
A rather weird story about two aliens who want a nectarine from the nectarine tree, but have problems that prevent them from eating them. The Geefle can't bend his arms while the Gonk is too short to reach the nectarines, so they decide to cooperate: The Geefle picks them and the Gonk eats some of them. When I first saw this I thought the Geefle was rather freaky-looking and that this was rather weird, but it is very funny. And this sketch appears to show us the origin of the word "Shirley"--Err, that is, cooperation. "Be Doodle Dee Dum"
I first saw this segment a couple of years ago, but it is one of Elmo's catchiest songs. Elmo sings about what to do when you're really angry, which is to sing this silly song. Several of Elmo's friends make appearances, including Ernie and Bert, the Honkers, and Zoe. "D-U-C-K-I-E"
I feel this song is very underrated. It's never been released on video, and has only had one audio release. It's a nice song with a nice setting: Ernie is in the living room, with the lights turned out, looking at a portrait of his Rubber Duckie as he sings of what each letter in the word "duckie" means, and is then joined by a choir of Anything Muppets. So maybe it lacks the fun of "Rubber Duckie", the presence of Honkers and Dingers that "The Honker Duckie Dinger Jambouree" has, the celebrity cameos from "Put Down the Duckie" and the all-star cast of "Do De Rubber Duck," but it's still a great song.The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com
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