Thursday, July 22, 2010

Things I learned from muppets



My friend J got me an awesome book, Sesame Street Unpaved.

It has stories about the beginning of the show, trivia, scripts, and other fun stuff. One page Mr. RK found right away was "Things I Learned From Bert and Ernie." Among them: "How to not get cookie crumbs in your bed: eat cookies in your friend's bed."

I loved watching PBS shows as a kid. I still love PBS - it's the only TV we watch.

I loved the Muppet Show, Sesame Street, the Electric Company, and Vegetable Soup. (Yes, I'm dating myself - I was a bicentennial baby.)

So on that note, I got to thinking about things I learned from muppets...

1. Interspecial relationships are OK (think Kermit and Miss Piggy.)

2. If you're a gay muppet, you're still in the closet. You also tend to collect paperclips, befriend pigeons, and have a messy roommate who likes to put bananas in his ears.

3. If you count aloud, it's so funny it's like being stoned out of your mind.

4. If you can't stop eating cookies, you don't have to join a support group, you just become a Cookie Monster. Now, mind you, this was before cookies became "a sometimes food." What the fuck, people? He's a cookie MONSTER.

5. If you have to live in a garbage can, you're not likely to be cheerful. However, you have all of this hidden, awesome space down there that we never get to see on TV. And you have awesome eyebrows. So how bad can it be?

6. If you are a muppet musician, you have to be into the 70s groove and have a funny accent.

7. The muppet show caters to people of all musical tastes, having had guests ranging from John Denver to Alice Cooper.

8. Muppet News is actually more unbiased than many of the places I worked for as a reporter.

9. Movie critics are mostly assholes (think the guys in the balcony.)

10. Pigs fly. Really! You saw Pigs in Space, didn't you?

18 comments:

Senorita said...

Sesame Street was the first show I was introduced to. That and Mr. Rogers. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

LL Cool Joe said...

I've never watched the Muppets. Oh tell a lie, I saw Kylie singing "Especially For You" to Kermit once!

Ileana said...

I think Oscar the Grouch looks a lot like Martin Scorsese...and now that you mention it, it's probably because of those eyebrows! :)

Btw, my friend and I used to watch Mr. Rogers when he was stoned (my friend, that is...not Mr. Rogers!). lol

PS - Do you know who Mr. Rogers is? You might've been a toddler back then.

G. B. Miller said...

Ahhh....the joys of Sesame Street.

However, my fave character is Dr. Bob and Veternary Hospital, where a quack has gone to the dogs.

But the best moment from the Muppet Show was when Buddy Rich did a drum off with Animal.

Left the pyscho in da ground.

But....Grover still rules.

And the video is still funny the second time around.

And.....thanks for once again giving me an idea for a blog post.

And also a tip of the hat to lly for giving me an idea for a blog post with her comment about Mr. Rogers, who I remember watching as a kid and as an adult.

Anonymous said...

A frog in love with a pig. We can go hog wild. You can bring home the bacon. Ah, the sweet sounds of love. SOOO-EEEE SOOO-EEEE!

Fireblossom said...

Muppets have poor muscle tone. I think they have a disease. And they all have some weird fetish about not showing their feet on camera.

RA said...

Hear, hear! Thanks for these snippets of true wisdom. :)
I must say I am partial to anything Statler and Waldorf (the old geezers on the balcony) may announce, and will take it for a fact. Their thinking is, I must admit, too close for comfort. :D

Lynn said...

Do you remember the Martians that landed saying "Yip yip"? :) Ernie to Bert: "The Martians are here, Bert! Oh, what'll we do, Bert?" Ernie: "Ask 'em if they want any oatmeal."

(I used to watch it with my nieces.)

Granny Annie said...

I'm afraid my childhood television show was HOWDY DOODY TIME with Howdy Doody, Buffalo Bob, Clarabelle Clown and Princess Summer-Fall-Winter-Spring.

Oh, I also loved WINKY DINK AND ME.

Just how wrong do those show titles sound?

Logical Libby said...

FOX would totally eat Muppet News alive for their liberal bias.

Riot Kitty said...

S: You're welcome :)
Joey: That definitely counts!
Ily: Martin Scorsese! LOL! I did watch Mr. Rogers, but it wasn't one of my favorites. Probably because it was tame ;)
G: I love Grover. Did you ever read "The Monster at the End of this Book"? I look forward to your post.
WIGSF: Great memory!
FB: Yeah, but there are the sequences with Kermit tap dancing where you see his feet...or flippers?
RA: I *love* Statler and Waldorf!
Lynn: I forgot about that! Pretty good advice, if you ask me ;)
GA: Weeeeeeeell, I'd say the last one sounds a bit naughty ;)
L: True!

Mike_D said...

I truly want a Statler and Waldorf (named after hotels by the way) for my desk so they can yell at me. That and an Alex Ross SuperGrover print!!

Spoiler alert: The monster at the end of that book....is Grover!

I used to watch Mr Rogers all the time!!

At the Noble, we say the alphabet all the time to put away special orders up front....nothing weird about it!!!

Ooooh my word verification is fates!

G. B. Miller said...

I think I did once or twice.

I think I read that particular Sesame Street book as well that your friend got.

Or it may have been one that had the complete history of Sesame Street.

Or it may be one and the same.

Either way, it was a very enjoyable trip down memory lane.

Riot Kitty said...

Mike: That is hilarious about what you do at work.
G: Cool ;)

Darth Weasel said...

Statler and Waldorf: greatest. characters. ever. on any show, in any book, record, real life. they rule

Holland said...

I loved the Muppets... especially the little experiments on that poor assistant and the ever contemporary PIGS IN SPACE.... which I still do yell at times
(much to the surprise of the people around me lol)

Riot Kitty said...

Darth: I agree!
Holland: That's fantastic ;)

Green Tea said...

I use to sit and watch Sesame Street with my kids..
I loved that show.
I felt kind of silly watching by myself when they grew up though..:)