Things That Go Pop!

awesome i love sesame street

Monday November 09, 2009
About your little history about Google and
the Cookie Monster I did find it very interesting. Thank you for this little abit
of history.

Ernie singing ""I Don't Want to Live on the Moon"!

James Taylor and the tubist Howard Johnson doing jelly man Kelly.

Bert and Ernie, best friends, with Bert trying to go to sleep, and Ernie wanting to talk and sing, or something like that. Then, by the time he fully wakes up, Ernie goes to sleep and Bert is left wide awake to hear him snore.

What a precious masterpiece. Happy Birthday!!

The 'm-nah m-nah (doo-doo-do-do-doo)' skat sketch mentioned, the episode where people go into Oscar's trash can (and it's the size of Versailles down there!). Ernie in a silly mood poking Bert while giggling "poke poke poke!" until Bert screams "Stop poking me!!" Anything with Kermit T. Frog, and lastly the wheely typewriter cartoon who would wheel into screen humming "noo-nee-noo-nee-noo" and then teach kids about letters and words while typing on himself. And don't forget -- C is for Cookie, and that's good enough for me! I turned 40 this year, and my heart just warmed reading this. I can remember watching Sesame Street at 4:00 while my mother began dinner, and then if my dad was late getting home I got to watch Electric Company and Zoom (there are 2 other blasts from the past!). What a wonderful time. Thanks for the memories and great article, guys.

My favourite skits include the aliens trying to use the telephone (when they moo, cluck and make other noises) and also when Ernie complains that Bert has more grape juice and a bigger slice of pizza and then proceeds to solve the dilemma by making things equal via nibbling and sipping away at both servings until both of them have none.

There are so many other great skits, but these are two that my brothers and I (one of us who is 40 as well) still recite or paraphrase and still laugh about whenever we do.

The episode with Kofi Annan is really brilliant. To bring such a serious figure onto the show and talk about peace and loving each other was absolutely beautiful. Elmo's reaction to the former Secretary General of the UN was also priceless.

I own a four disc Sesame Street DVD and at the beginning of it there is a warning that says that these shows are not intended for children! Wow, I must be scarred from watching them when I was a child!

The episode with Kofi Annan is really brilliant. To bring such a serious figure onto the show and talk about peace and loving each other was absolutely beautiful. Elmo's reaction to the former Secretary General of the UN was also priceless.

Favourite: Bert and Ernie in a boat fishing. Ernie's method on catching them is yelling into the water: "Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy, Fishy" and Bert's hopeless attempts to do it, until ....

Bert and Ernie in the pyramid! That one scared me a little but amazed me at the same time - the thought of being in a pyramid as a kid was so exciting. I also loved anything that showed the muppets' feet, and the general pro-public transit stance. They always seemed to be singing about the bus. Thanks for this great tribute.

Does anyone remember a musical skit/video where it featured a little kid (girl I think) picking carrots with her grandfather in their garden outside?
I would love to hear that song again.
Thanks

I agree with Berbard about the Bert and Ernie fishing skit. That was probably the best one. But really they were all great. Thanks for brining some great memories of a great show. I had forgotten about the Mr. Hopper has died episode. I too was very young at the time and had some problems understanding it, but that show helped. Also, the referance to the weatherman with the cartoons and three stooges, is he refering to Commander Tom? He was from WKBW in Buffalo New York. Does anyone know?

For me it would be a toss-up between The musical sketches "Put Down the Duckie"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3049TRLo5M where Ernie wants to play the saxophone but his duckie keeps squeeking, and "Do De Duckie"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6_d22aMqZs
where Ernie's friends all end up dancing in the tub to a catchy reggae beat.

The most powerful episode of Sesamie Street was the episode where they addressed the death of Mr. Hooper. For a childrens show to address the issue of death was groundbreaking.

Great discussion, and good choices above. The pinball counting cartoon was my absolute hands-down favorite as a kid.

Might I sugggest adding what's sure to be a modern classic: "Furry Happy Monsters" sung by REM, complete with a muppet that bears an uncanny resemblance to Kate Pierson of the B-52s. I saw this one morning when I woke up with a viscious hangover (aaaah... grad school) and laughed myself stupid. Awesome!

My favourite Sesame Street moment is, and will always be from the Christmas special (I saw it in film form, I'm not actually sure if it aired on television), when Big Bird and the blonde girl with the pig-tails skate to Feliz Navidad! I've watched this movie every year at Christmas for as long as I can remember, and I'm now 21!

- The "Beetles" singing Letter B

- When the construction workers & Mr. Hooper got the cement & cake mixes switched and ended up with cake sidewalk & a cement cake.

-The Alligator King.

- The bugs that lived in a milk carton house in Ernie & Bert's window box.

You've captured a lot of my favorites here (12345..678910..11 12!!), and the opera-singing orange. But others I remember vividly are the
"yip yip" monsters trying to communicate with the telephone. And one that was a live-action sequence of a little red ball going through a whole obstacle course machine thing and ending up as a cherry on a sundae.

Amazing show. Such a big part of my childhood! Happy Birthday, Sesame Street. It's good to be 40! :)

Growing up in a small town with not too many different nationalities, it was neat to see that people of other colors were just like me. Maybe that's how I escaped relatively unscathed from the small-town mindset.

Thanks for this article. It brightened my day.

Don Music, the piano playing character who would bang his head on the keyboard when he couldn't think of a rhyme, was by far the most entertaining thing I could remember from the show. Of course, I probably owe much of my childhood development to Sesame Street, but the alphabet and numerical system seems obvious now. :-)

I remember vividly the Spin Doctors being on singing 'Cooperate Now' (to 'Just Go Ahead Now') & using it for past 15yrs (& still going) as a teaching tool for my kids...

I was a bit too old (7 yrs when it started) so I didn't watch it (didn't get cable on the prairies until mid 70's) until my own children watched the show on CBC. I really liked it when they added the Canadian content & taught french. But my favourite skit was with Grover as a waiter and the customer in the restaurant getting his soup. Is it still carried on CBC anymore??

Little Rebel L

My favourite is Grover and that blue guy: "...waiter, there's a fly in my soup!!!" - classic.

I love Sesame Street, but if it first aired 40 years ago today, then this is the launch of 41st season.

My favourite Sesame Street clips were the original songs. "Me Lost Me Cookie at the Disco" and "Cooperation Makes it Happen" were fun when I was a kid, and are absolutely hilarious to watch as an adult.

Faves:

1) The Martians who try to communicate with a phone. "Look book! Yupyupyupyupyup..."
2) Mena Mena
3) Near.... FAAAARRRRR!!! (by Grover)
4) Two-headed monster formulating words (always a classic)
5) Teeny Little Super Guy
6) "Danger It's No Stranger" - the music video

The noo-nee-noo-nee-nooo typewriter:

J - J - J - JUNK!

I am 40 and grew up with the show. I still love it.
I really liked the the Snuffaluppagus (was he greek lol) and my favorite was C is for Cookie sung by Cookie Monster, an absolute classic!!!!

The pinball (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8...was out of this world and so was the 2 aliens imitating the telephone (burrring, yep, yep yep yep, burrring ) lol

Here's to another 40 years!!!!

Patrick Stewart's appearance always makes me smile!

Here Fishy Fishy Fishy Fishy!!!!

I'm 41 years old and still sing "There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza" whenever I need to crack myself up.

And Grover doing Near... Far... Near... Far

And any skit with Ernie & Burt

One of my fond memories is an LP I had as a kid
"Pete Seeger & Brother Kirk Visit Sesame Street"
the song 'Garbage' by Seeger and Oscar was a classic. Seeger appeared on the show a few times with some controversy due to his Anti-vietnam war and socialist stance.

As for classic TV clips "C is for Cookie" is one of my favourites as is 'near and far' with Grover.

I was nearly 5 years old when Mr. Hooper died and that episode always stuck with me. The first time I had ever been explained the concept of death. Ground-breaking stuff. It still makes me cry to see it.

Brilliant show!
Forgot about the Subway Song.

My favorite song:The "We all live in a capital I/ lower case N" combo

Sesame Street founded the musical genre of "Emo" with this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK2VOdRAbW8

"Hi-o. Kermit thee Frog here."

I love the report from outside Rapunzel's window. miles and miles of hair, then splat on Prince Charming, Wig and all!

Bert and Ernie: "Here fishy fishy fishy fishy"! Classic!

Grover will be my favorite forever!

I always loved the NEAR and FAR skit!!

I miss Snuffleupagus too :(

There was a song, about the Capital N.... Made me cry that lonely N on the top of the hill!

When Bert's nephew came and they were giving him a bath but put too many toys in the tub! Poor Bert's nephew - he was upset!

The martians "Noooope, noooope..." Telephone.

The typewriter.

I watched it everyday before kindergarten, and when it was over it was lunchtime (and the 2 hands were both at the top of the clock ;)

Its a bird...

Its a plane...

NO!

Its Super Grover!

Snuffaluppagus. I LOVED him - as an adult I still have a love of elephants!

Whatever happened to him?

I actually have a Fisher Price Sesame Street "town" I have had since the mid 70's - my 4 year old nephew plays with it now - all the pieces are there. I also have a Sesame St viewfinder - hold it up to your eye and it plays stop action of the gang! Wonderful!

THE COUNT!!!!!!!

1 hahahahahah
2 hahahahahah
3 hahahahahah

simly the best!!!!!

My favourite is anything pop culture related. "Special Letters Unit," their Law & Order parody, is priceless. So are the guest spots from Robert De Niro (teaching Elmo what being an actor means,) and Norah Jones (singing a parody of Don't Know Why)

when we are fishing we always go
"Heeeeeeere fishyfishyfishyfishy!" just like ernie did when him and bert went fishing.

il also always remember the remake of madonna's material girl as miss piggys 'cereal girl' !!

and of course at the very end of the show when the kids are playing in the park and they go down that really long cool slide!

I think I just teared up when I saw the clip of Big Bird and the death of Mr. Hooper. I remember when that episode was on because I just lost my Opa months before. I was 3 years old and (I think) it was the first time I truly understood what "death" meant. Very, very poignant for me and stirs up a lot of emotional memories. I loved and still still love Sesame Street.

I'm 42 and I always remember the chef falling down the steps with his pies while he was singing how many pies he had.

Other than "We all live in a Yellow Submarine" I still get a kick out of "Be beeee ba beba ... bababada ...be be da " skat jazz at it's best.

Watched it when it first came out on CBC in 1972 and finally stopped once it no longer broadcasted in the afternoon a few years later. Hard to believe it was that long ago. Yup Yup Yup.

Without a doubt my favourite sketch is the old Ernie taking the umbrella, flashlight, and bolwing ball with him to the bath. Just in case the power goes out, it rains (rubber ducky doesn't like getting wet) and someone knocks on the door asking to borrow a bowling ball! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx7UG33SJl4 Classic!

Kermit the Frog reporting live from the Planet Koozbane with the Koozbane Foobs...

And....

Manamana Do Do Do Do Do! Manamana Do Do Do Do Do!

Happy Birthday Sesame Street!

CBC whatever happened to the Canadian version that included french language learning segments?

Loved the piece that David Common did on TV with Elmo. My grand children are now enjoying the same quality programming Sesame Street still produces that my children enjoyed for so many years.

By the way, David Common is one of my favourite reporters

Loved Anne Murrray's Snow Birds

I always loved Super Grover, especially when he few in to fix an ancient computer. But my all-time favourite moment would have to be Maria and Luis' wedding. I was only 5 or 6 years old at the time, and this was a huge event to me.

"Joe

halifax

Does anyone remember a musical skit/video where it featured a little kid (girl I think) picking carrots with her grandfather in their garden outside?
I would love to hear that song again.
Thanks

Posted November 10, 2009 02:56 PM"

I totally remember that one!! Was one of my favorites!
Other faves.....grover always! The two headed monsters making words, the count..I never realized that the count might have actually been scary for some kids haha. Bert and Ernie are and will always be the best!! Kermit Thee Frog, the piano guy that kept banging his head on the piano LOL That song about "One of these things does not belong" or soemthing like that and of course the trippy pinball cartoon with the 123456789101112!! Wow too many favorite moments from Sesame Street! I hope my kids will get to grow up with it too :)

Imitation Rolling Stones singing......I Can't get no....co-operation.

Mick with the orange hair....loved it.

Great memories, all. I still have a huge soft-spot for Big Bird and Snuffy. The above clip about Mr Hooper dying just did me and my eye-makeup in. I also loved Grover in general, but especially Near and Far. And the Pinball Number Count with The Pointer Sisters is a classic. I'll also never forget the little video with the girl and her dad making bannock over the campfire. I wanted to make bannock every time I saw that segment - it looked so good!

monsterpiece theatre...chariots of fur. Grover running in slow motion across a beach.

Ernie's bottlecap collection! I wonder how many other kids, other than me, started a bottle cap collection because of that sketch.

I still hum Ladybug Picnic. Helps me remember my Social Insurance Number. haha

Does anyone else remember the episode from the 70s when they had Margaret Hamilton aka The Wicked Witch of The West visit Sesame Street? Gave me witch nightmares for a year! hehe

I grew up on Sesame Street and I don't even know if I could pick favorites. Many have already been listed here..... along with "caterpillars...never....never...never.....wear brown boots".... "some of us are near...some of us are far....." and I think the "pierogy" song set me up for a lifetime of interest in other culture's cuisines. Maybe along with the "a quart of milk, a stick of butter" skit. :) I could go on forever.

Has anyone mentioned Guy Smiley ?

I will say, however, that those "yip yip..nope...nope" monsters scared the crap out of me when I was little.

Happy Birthday Sesame Street !!! My childhood wouldn't have been the same without you.

Telephone....telephone...yep yep yep yep yep, telephone. Yep.

BrrrrrrrrrrRING!!!!!!!

The mena-mena song. There is a telephone, and a monster puppet that keeps running back and forth singing mena-mena while the phone rings.. hilarious!

My favourite sketch by far is How To Describe A Telephone.
I laugh every time :)
all cookie monster fans should look it up

What a wonderful trip down memory lane! I forgot about a lot of these, but all the memories came flooding back as I watched. I always loved Spaceship Surprise, and only found out after that it was a delightful Star Trek parody!

I love the 12345 678910 11 12 song! I always sing that to myself haha

Animated Typewriter with his "noo-nee-noo-nee-noo"....Guy Smiley.....Don the Piano player bashing his head on the keys (I've never get it NEVER!).....Grover's NEAR and faaarr.....too many to remember. The one that stood out in my mind the best was probably the sound when Snuffle-Upagus entered or left the scene. Some strange hurdy-gurdy tune...

In 1994 or 95 Sesame Street had a New Year's Eve special. As far as I know it only ran the one time. It was beautiful, though a little frightening for one of the characters. It may have been telly Monster. Does any one recall this wonderful show?

WOW, there are so many!!!

"In a hurry to be fed, beady eyes and big blue head. Round and tastey on a bun, pickles, french fries, yum yum yum."

"HERE FISHY FISHY FISHY FISHY!!!!!"

This is one of my favourite Sesame Street skits.

The "Doo-Wop Hop": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1jAogzy3Fw

Some really funny comments. Seems like most of us in our 40's Hmmmm.
Always loved Oscar the Grouch 'cuz he's a Grouch. His scowl says it all....Funny episode when he was making kids compete to become his "Apprentice."
Love Ernie's laugh, Bert's frustration, the sound of Grover's feet when doing "Near/Far."
Thanks to Jim Henson for "wrangling" and sharing The Muppets with all of us.

I liked the Pinball Number Count mentioned above, but my favourite segment was when Cookie Monster appeared on "Beat the Time" with Guy Smiley and had to find 3 things that rhyme with "rain" in order to win a cookie. The "wacky stunts" Cookie pulls still make me chuckle.

CBC - but how can you talk about the early days of Sesame Street without props to the late great Jim Henson???

I enjoyed the sketch of the boy in the glass that would run and the glass would spin round and round. He would jump out of the cupboard and down the kitchen counter. Good times.

Cookie monster going to check out the library-This is a Library..we don't have cookies! Just BOOKS! and of course his Healthy Food rap!- boiled or stewed...me one healthy dude! I also always loved the letter Q cartoon with the two guys debating what "what funny looking thing" is.... oh classic stuff! Happy 40th Sesame Street!

I love it all. Jeeze I didn't know pinball was sung by the pointer sisters! Thanks also for the ladybug picnic clip. What a joy growing up with this show was!! Happy, happy birthday!!

Me and my llama! Me and my llama! We're going to the dentist ooo-whee! Yes it's just my llama and me!

I now appreciate even more how Sesame Street combined silliness and serious life lessons without being patronizing. Henson left a beautiful fuzzy technicolour mark on this world, and it's a better place for it.

Sesame Street music fans: check out Van Morrison's cover of Bein' Green- pure Frog Eyed Soul. :)

It ain't easy being green...

The episode that Mr. Hooper died will always stand out for me. It was the very first time I ever thought about death, or had someone (albeit on TV) explain death to me.

I just loved the yip-yips, the aliens who were trying to figure out what earthly objects were. My daughter even plans on making a yip-yip costume for Halloween next year.

I miss Mr. Hooper.

Does anyone remember Sesame Park (originally called Canadian Sesame Street)? I used to love that show as a kid. I wacthed regualr Sesame Street too, I liked Oscar-he was my favorite and kinda reminded of my Uncle Lew who looked like Oscar (minus the green fur of course).

Sesame Street in the early days was radically cool, visually psychedelic, and culturally inclusive—without a dogmatic effort.

My favorite animated short was the ‘We All Live in a Capital I’ music video from Season 1 or 2. It was written and sung by the same fellow who did the ‘Lonely Lower-Case N’ song a few years later. Listen to the ‘Capital I’ song again on YouTube: I'm pretty sure it must have been an influence on the mellow side of grunge rock years later, for it sounds like it could have fit in quite nicely on Nirvana's Unplugged in New York!

It was all downhill for Sesame Street from the early '80s onward, however. After dealing with topics like Mr. Pooper's, er, Hooper's death and Gordon and Susan's pregnancy, the show gradually veered further and further towards the safe, politically correct Left, culminating in the pointless, boring, muddled fiasco it is today. The basic difference between contemporary Sesame Street and the programme I grew up on in the early to mid '70s would have to be its angle in addressing young children: In the '60s and '70s the show was writing up to its audience, assuming the average 4-year old would wish to function on the same level as an average 9-year old, with glimpses into the adult world; whereas today the show is writing down to its audience, perpetuating childhood and childish behaviour. And people wonder why so few 18- to 30-year olds turn out to vote nowadays....

As for the whole issue of classic Sesame Street box sets coming with a ‘viewer discretion’ warning, I'm afraid it's part of a much larger modern problem revolving around censorship and artistic historical revisionism. Box sets of classic British after-school programme Grange Hill (which the CBC carried for a few years in the early to mid '80s) have been stripped not only of certain copyrighted pop songs, but also ‘inappropriate’ language. Similarly, some channels have been airing classic '60s animated Spider-Man with J. Jonah Jameson's cigar ‘airbrushed’. Even Megan Follows's old CBC Sunday-night movie Hockey Night (1984) has been so relieved of ‘questionable content’ for its VHS release, there's hardly anything left to watch, reputedly. It's hard to believe today that the old Swedish children's series Den Vita Stenen (dubbed in English as The White Stone)—which came complete with naked 10-year old backsides and bare 13-year old breasts—actually aired on the CBC in the mid to late '70s on Sundays, just before or after Meeting Place. Nowadays, Herr Harper and comrades would probably be forcing through legislation to ban the station outright if such broadcasts materialised.

The yipyip aliens were both the most fascinating and most terrifying thing on Sesame Street.

Canadian Sesame Street was also gold, although as a kid I never understood why some episodes of sesame street had the Canadian characters and others didn't.

I loved the skits with Grover especially the one with the customer in the restaurant ordering soup.
This past summer I took my kids to see the Muppet display at the EMP in Seattle. It was fantastic - go see if you have the chance.

No one's mentioned (yet, at least) the skit where Ernie provokes an unwilling Bert into playing a game, where Ernie plays increasingly-complicated drum solos, and Bert then repeats, scat-like, the pattern. It gets to the point where Ernie goes into a nearly minute long run (Boom-chick-boom-boom, crash-bidda-crash-bump-bang-bang, etc...) with Bert repeating it flawlessly. Obviously, Ernie's trying to get Bert to foul up, but Bert's unfazed. Finally Ernie gives up, acknowledging Bert's previously-unknown talent. At which point, Bert turns to the camera and says: "You can't lose them all...."

Jesse Jackson on Sesame Street

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTB1h18bHlY&feature=player_embedded

Was never aired. Can you imagine if it was?

Remember the song about the guy with super long hair and he sings about getting it cut, while getting it cut? Totally forget everything else about it! Funny how memories can be totally forgotten until a story and forum like this is published. Thanks!

Anyone else remembers Barkley the orange/white giant dog...

Ernie and Bert, with Ernie trying to get Bert to join him in singing a rhyming song:

Ernie: "Some people like to jump and hop!"

Bert: "It's so silly..."

Ernie: "A boy named Billy!

Bert: "Stop it!"

Ernie: "Mop it!"

Bert: "No!"

Ernie: "Row!"

Bert, in sheer Bert-esque frustration: "Hippopotamus!!!!!

Ernie, after a funky pause "Rippotatapus"

Sometimes I just randomnly blurt out the word Rippotatapus for fun. Most of theold Sesame Street stuff makes me laugh harder than today's sitcoms.

My favourite bits are the black market letter guy... "hey man what a letter I".

That bit was pure gold!

I loved all of these clips! Thanks for the memories, and thank you Sesame Street for often taking the road less travelled. I love the recent music spoofs (REM mentioned above and Hootie & the Blowfish do 'hold my hand' as they teach young monsters to cross the street properly).

I've searched high and low for a clip I remember. If someone knows where to find it, please post the link. It shows Kermit interviewing a little bird. The bird explains that he lives in 2 nests (a sweet explanation about shared parenting). Life lessons through Sesame Street are well learned.

So many great memories.

The Some and None song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7cWBrGAIcc

and the related Fat Cat Sat Hat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei1DvIgW_PU&NR=1&feature=fvwp

There was one about a cat knitting some mittens. "Meow, yes?" Oh here it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Izq3FuZ6Y

Toss-up between Lucille the singing orange claymation ball, the letter E winning a beauty pagent presented by Guy Smily and everyone's "especial wingnut", Robin Williams, discussing whether or not a shoe is alive.

My nostalgic favourite is Big Bird singing the ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Song.
Super grover, also very cute :)

I hope my fellow Sesame Street kids appriciate my selections. I was also thrilled when there was a character on the show named Gina. I don't know another Gina, that was nice.

I feel a real affinity for the Yip Yip aliens; I also cover my face with my lower jaw when anxious.

Johnny Cash singing "don't take your ones to town" on Sesame Street is a classic.

my favorites were the telephone-mimicking space aliens and the "water water water" song

1. Pete Seeger's appearances - my first exposure to the folk icon

2. Stevie Wonder doing 'Superstition' (it's on YouTube, but I can't provide the link - guess why!)

3. Anything featuring Bob McGrath (why has nobody mentioned him ?!)

Thanks for the memories, Sesame Street - good old 1 - 2 - 3!

Totally loved Kermit T. Frog!
Learned to count with "The Count", perfect for making one smile.. even 40 years later.
Happy Birthday Sesame Street!!

I loved the visit by Johnny Cash. He did a song called Nasty Dan. At the end of the song, Oscar asks him if he's Johnny Trash. Johnny hits Oscar's trash can with his guitar and says 'it's Cash'. I became a fan of both Oscar and Johnny at 5 years old.

There are so many to choose from,

I loved Captain Vegetable., "It is I, Captain Vegetable, with my carrots and my celery"

I also loved the Chickens in the Trees song, with the Rooster and the Farmer. Good times!

I used to love anything with "John-John".
He was so cute. I wished I knew him.

My all time favorite Sesame Street piece was with Itzak Perlman and a little girl wanting to play violin as well as he did. After he performed she indicated that it was easy to do something when you know how and are able. When she got up and bounced away, he got up on his crutches and said (not sure if this is the exact quote) 'it's easy when when you know how and are able".I have referred to this in many discussions and tricky situations since and it always has an impact. Thanks Sesame Street.

I always disliked Sesame Street, partly because of all the annoying songs, partly because the show always talked down to kids. And also because they were always forcing lessons - usually moral ones - down our throats. And it was too cutesy. I can't say I'm all that excited about this anniversary.

My favorite characters who weren't shown much:

Billy Joe Jive with his partner Smart Susie Sunset and their comedy relief sidekick Wrong Way.
I also liked Harry monster, Prarie Dawn and Harvey Wallbanger (he is the only character that I can recall had a full set of teeth).

hands down the aliens and the telephone still find myself imitating them

I remember a song called "That's about the size, where you put your eyes." It shows an ant being circled around by the camera. It's animated and then shows something bigger everytime. I still love that song, although I haven't heard it in 30 some-odd years. 30-40 something year olds should be called the "Sesame Street Generation" Not Generataion X. I think Sesame Street put a bigger dent in our generation than Nirvana ever did.

I so loved this show as a child, and am overjoyed to be sharing with my young son. I picked up volume 2 of the Best of Sesame Street, with 4-5 full episodes over 3 discs, which covers the peak time I was watching just about. I'm 33 now, and watched from about age 3 (only Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Dressup, and The Friendly Giant made it into my home, and occassionally Romper Room) until I was 6 or 7.
My favourite sketches include the Martians (although they were rather freaky), Kermit's NewsFlashes, Ernie and his rubber duckie, the Twiddlebugs, Agua! (which inspired my later degree in Spanish). the Alligator King (7!) and the King of Eight! Hard to limit myself more than that ;D
BTW, Barkley the dog is still alive and kicking on the show, as is Snuffy. However, they made Snuffy visible to everyone, rather than leave him as a possible "imaginary" friend for just Big Bird - I am still disappointed with that decision.
I do think Sesame Street is not as great today as it was in the past, less groundbreaking, less grounded, less treating kids like aspiring adults. Elmo, as much as I've tried to appreciate him, still annoys the heck out of me. I'm convinced that his awful habit of only referring to himself in the third person is slowing my son from using pronouns like "I" and "me". But overall Sesame Street is still the best, most sincere, and kid-friendly programming out there.
Sesame Street has its own channel on YouTube, with lots of classic stuff up. But it's even better to head over to Sesame Street dot org, because it's easier to search for stuff.
P.S. The mahna mahna sketch was first on The Muppet Show, IIRC, but was certainly a crossover one if any one was.

It was a segment from 1988 or 1989 which aired on prime time. Robert MacNeil did a "special report" on "Cookiegate," a parody of Irangate. How MacNeil kept a straight face while interviewing Cookie Monster I still can't figure out.

In addition to the above, here are a few of my favorites. I still like to watch them once in awhile, makes me happy when I am feeling down!!! Sesame Street was such a big part of my childhood too!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFpJZP4oX98
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc1RfFYxZ2I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jdP7HUPbVs

Lots of good memories list above (especially Bert and Ernie's pizza and grape juice problem!). Here's a few more.

Roosevelt Franklin Elementary School.

The Telephone Rock. "Every-BODY si-i-ing".

"You gotta count it higher - COUNT IT HIGHER! - baby, if you wanna count with me"

Bert tuning in to the letter H on TV.

The Martians checking out a grandfather clock.

After the blue-headed customer refuses the burgers Grover has offered, the man demands the biggest burger available. Grover heads back into the kitchen, "OK Charley, fire up the biggie!!!" The man just fumes about not getting what he wants, and then hears what sounds like a train coming toward him...

"Keep Christmas with you, althrough the year.."

One cartoon skit did scare me though. I think it was one of the French skits. An enormous bloated sleeping face (complete with snoring) filled the screen. It was then woken up by children's voices, and then started to sing a song with the voices of the children.

OK, I better stop now.

You have named most of my favorites above, but the overall shows that stick out in my memory (I'm 26 by the way) are the international episode where I found out in South America Big Bird is blue, Maria and Luis' wedding and finally the episode where we confronted the loss of Mr. Hooper.

How about

Sherlock Hemlock the world's greatest detective!

And the The Golden "AN" sketch always cracks me up

I've actually been rewatching some Sesame Street clips recently, and it's remarkable how much adult humour they were able to winkingly sneak into the show.

Personal favourites:
-almost any Monsterpiece Theatre sketch. I wanna be like Alistair Cookie when I grow up. :)
-Doo Wop Hop
-Put Down the Duckie (still catchy)
-any Grover the Waiter sketch
-African Alphabet, with Kermit the Frog and Ladysmith Black Mambazo
-If Moon Was Cookie
-Imagination; that scene with the thousands of balloons bouncing along the street still gets me.
-the coloured circles with choral music in the background. Very cool stuff.

There's only one skit I can think of that scared the living bejeebus out of me when I was younger (and kind of still does): that one with the toys, robots, and spacecraft and the really odd orchestral music. Yeesh.

how about 'the beetles' singing 'letter B' or the segment of the crying baby wanting milk, showing how milk comes from farms?

My favorite show has to be when Bert and Ernie went fishing, and Ernie told Bert he didn't need a fishing rod!, just call here fishy fishy fishy.... (I taped it)my son who is 30 now, laughed until he cried! I think he was 3 years old at that time. Happy Birthday Sesame Street, I know you taught my children many valuable lessons.

assuming i have the correct show. Kirmet the frog "it's not easy being green"

Cowboy X!

... and the citizens of Sniddler's Gulch lived happily ever after, because they really weren't very smart!