Retro Classics: Sesame Street

Sesame Street is in its 40th season, and is the longest running children’s program on televsion.  Most of us grew up watching it, and it has become a cultural staple across many parts of the globe.  Surfing around YouTube, it’s easy to relive your childhood and remember just how weird and wonderful the show has always been.  Here are ten of my favourite Sesame Street clips, in no particular order:

10. C is for Cookie

These were the days, when Cookie Monster was allowed to eat all the cookies he wanted, and nobody came along and told him that cookies are a sometimes food.  When I was a kid, he was one of my favourite characters.  He taught me that you can’t eat the moon.

9. I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon

Cookie may have taught me that I can’t eat the moon, but Ernie taught me that it is also a sad and lonely place.  I think that this song is supposed to be a soothing lullaby, but I remember it as a scary song that made me cry.  It’s also the first time I realised that Ernie had feet.

8. Bert and Ernie in a Pyramid

Ernie is my absolute favourite Sesame Street character; the most ridiculous things happen to him, and he blurs the lines between reality and imagination.  I identify with that in a big way!  When I was a kid, I wanted to be an Egyptologist.  I secretly wished this would happen to me.  “Me and the statue are dancing, Bert!”

7. Heeeeeeeeeeeere Fishy Fishy Fishy

Sticking with the Ernie and Bert theme for a moment, I submit:

Bert : Ernie :: Howard : Vince

I think even The Mighty Boosh are influenced by Sesame Street!

6. The Yo-Yo Master & Lost Kid

Let’s not forget that Sesame Street is more than just muppets!   The animated shorts are some of the coolest cartoons I’ve ever seen.  Here’s what to do if you ever get lost (psychotropic drugs may or may not be involved):

5. Pinball Number Count

Possibly the most memorable of all of the animated shorts, I can distinctly remember sitting in front of the television, mesmerized by these clips.

4. Grover’s Health Minute – Teeth

Grover enlists Kermit’s help in a feature on teeth.  Unfortunately, Kermit is a frog, and frogs do not have teeth.  Unless, of course, you jam some into his mouth.  I think they’re even suggesting the teeth are Grover’s!

3. Operatic Orange

My very favourite stop-motion video from Sesame Street, in which inanimate objects assemble so that an orange comes to perform “Habanera” from the opera Carmen.

2. Born to Add

As a kid, I could not get enough of song parodies.  I was crazy for Weird Al, and I had a stack of Sesame Street records featuring songs like this one.  (Who am I kidding?  I still have them.)

1. Bananaphone

In this clip, Ernie convinces Bert to talk to Gladys, the circus elephant, on a banana.  The dialogue is amazing, it really demonstrates the manner in which the show speaks not only to children, but to the adult viewers as well.  “I don’t think we should meet, no.”