📌 Humor Inspiration Files: Sesame Street
In which I attempt to track some of my early humor inspo
This is a series where I delve into some of my early humor influences.
Even as a kid, I was a vast and avid consumer of popular culture media. So, I suppose it’s no surprise that the first place a 1980s kid looks to is a little street named Sesame.
What I Remember Especially Loving:
Oscar the Grouch. Has there ever been a better children’s show character than Oscar the Grouch, the grouch who lives in a trash can? No, no, there has not.
Grover. Sweet and melodramatic Grover was the star of The Monster at the End of This Book, which only increased his awesome factor.
Sherlock Hemlock. My first run-in with Sherlock was not the BBC kind, but instead a very green (in every sense of the word) self-appointed detective who solved comically obvious cases. Egad!
A twofer: Sherlock Hemlock AND The Twiddlebugs! 😍 The Twiddlebugs. One of my favorite books as a kid was Norman Bridwell’s A Tiny Family, and The Twiddlebugs were like A Tiny Family meets Harry Allard and James Marshall-style The Stupids. When they got cold, they would shut a book and then, when that didn’t work, a lunchbox. HILARIOUS. Also, like The Stupids, the family members were very sweet to one another!
Wordplay humor. So much of what was funny on Sesame Street was related to wordplay or comical misunderstandings of common words. (A long-running gag was people calling the street name Sess-same Street.) Only on this show could a kid find a parody of Rebel Yell, all about a troublemaking Letter L.
Related: pop culture references galore: Reader, I watched a lot of television as a kid—a WHOLE LOT. (#nojudgementzone) One of the things I really loved about Sesame Street was that even as a kid, I was “in” on the parody jokes. “MIAMI MICE!” I would guffaw. “HA!”
Breaking the fourth wall. Sesame Street characters looked right out at you and talked to you like a friend, often waiting for you to react before moving on. It was just so inviting—especially for a kid who was an only child for seven years.
Humor that didn’t rely on cruelty. In the 1980s, a lot of humor (even for children!) was quite mean-spirited. I appreciate how Sesame Street avoided things that were definitely going on in cartoons of the day, such as graphic physical violence or insult comedy.
Randomly breaking out into song. A childhood staple that was exploited (in the best way) by Henson and Disney movies and shows. I still do this well into my 40s, with no signs of stopping.
Your "<pulls microphone out of my purse>🎶….to yesterdaaaaay, oooooo!🎶" friend,
Elayne
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