Sesame Street Season 45 Episode 4525 - Grover Does It All

[minor muppetz]

That Estimation Vacation segment was a real surprise. Bert and Guy Smiley is a pairing no one would ever expect to see, especially since it's the same puppeteer now.

Aside from the fact that they are now performed by the same person, why wouldn't anybody expect to see them together? I don't think it'd be a stretch for Bert to appear on a game show, especially if the prize is something he likes (like bottle caps or paper clips). If anything Guy could put Bert on a game show against his will, like he did to Oscar in The Anything-In-The-World Prize Game (or when Grover made Mr. Johnson a contestant on The Letter G Game, or any time Maria was a contestant on one of Sonny Friendly's shows).

I read at Muppet Wiki that existing audio of Jerry Nelson as Mr. Johnson was used here. It's a shame they didn't use the opportunity to have Matt Vogel provide the characters voice (unless he wasn't available for this show, in that case it would make more sense to reuse Jerry Nelson audio).

 

[Drtooth]

Aside from the fact that they are now performed by the same person, why wouldn't anybody expect to see them together? I don't think it'd be a stretch for Bert to appear on a game show, especially if the prize is something he likes (like bottle caps or paper clips).

By all means Bert would work beautifully as a game show contestant in one of the old Guy Smiley skits. But why it's surprising is that, well, the pairing of these two has never happened before in the 45 years both characters have been active. And no the "Matching Game" drawing doesn't count. It actually is natural for an easily overexerted character like Bert to be featured on one of those, but for some strange reason it never occurred to the writing staff. We've certainly seen other Frank Oz character and Guy Smiley pair ups when Jim was around. Grover and Cookie... but why not Bert? Why was that never an option? THAT is what makes this a surprise. It took 45 years of show to get these characters together. And while Eric performing both is pretty regardless to the situation (Jim had to prerecord Guy most of the time anyway), it's strange that it took recasting the character with the same performer to get two obvious characters together.

 

[minor muppetz]

By all means Bert would work beautifully as a game show contestant in one of the old Guy Smiley skits. But why it's surprising is that, well, the pairing of these two has never happened before in the 45 years both characters have been active. And no the "Matching Game" drawing doesn't count.

What "Matching Game" drawing?

Though now I'm remembering that, when I was a young kid, I thought Bert and Guy Smiley looked too similar (their only real similarity being their skin and hair colors) and for some reason at the time thought that characters who looked too similar shouldn't appear together (at the time I also noticed Sully and Bruno looking similar but not appearing together, Mr. Johnson and Simon Soundman looking similar but not appearing together, and also noticed the similarity in appearance between The Count and Mumford and was surprised when I first saw them together). Of course now I feel that similar-looking characters (not to mention similar characters, especially if one was a replacement for the other) should appear together.

You know, I'm surprised they haven't had Ernie be a contestant on a Guy Smiley game show since both characters were recast. So maybe Steve was too busy when they started to recast Guy, but with Billy performing Ernie now, there could be more time now.

 

[minor muppetz]

Although I haven't seen this episode, I feel like it would be a great street story to include if they ever come out with another Grover spotlight video. "Grover Does It All" could even be the theme of the video, with the street story either at the beginning or end, or perhaps with it cut up into multiple segments, with classic Grover segments in-between (does this street story feel like something that could accommodate such an edit?). In addition to the street story, it could feature clips of almost every recurring sketch and situation Grover has been part of - waiter Grover, Super Grover (and Super Grover 2.0), Global Grover, Professor Grover, Marshall Grover, salesmonster Grover, Camp Wannagohoma, elevator operator Grover, one of his Monsterpeice Theater appearances, some of his many jobs, and a few kid interactions and a few song segments.

I was just checking both sesamestreet.org and YouTube, and I'm surprised that Estimation Vacation has not been uploaded by Sesame Workshop. In an age where almost every new insert gets put online before the episodes air, it's a surprise that we've got at least one that isn't online yet.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Aside from the fact that they are now performed by the same person, why wouldn't anybody expect to see them together? I don't think it'd be a stretch for Bert to appear on a game show, especially if the prize is something he likes (like bottle caps or paper clips). If anything Guy could put Bert on a game show against his will, like he did to Oscar in The Anything-In-The-World Prize Game (or when Grover made Mr. Johnson a contestant on The Letter G Game, or any time Maria was a contestant on one of Sonny Friendly's shows).

True. It's always nice to see Bert being annoyed by someone besides Ernie. Case in point with the sheep in the "Bert's blanket" song. Seems like he often caves in at the end.

I read at Muppet Wiki that existing audio of Jerry Nelson as Mr. Johnson was used here. It's a shame they didn't use the opportunity to have Matt Vogel provide the characters voice (unless he wasn't available for this show, in that case it would make more sense to reuse Jerry Nelson audio).

Yeah. Or as someone mentioned, Matt doesn't have to perform all of Jerry's characters. Who puppeteered Mr. Johnson in "Elmo in Grouchland" where one of the lines was left undubbed? I think it was David Rudman. It would be nice to see what he can do with him.

I was just checking both sesamestreet.org and YouTube, and I'm surprised that Estimation Vacation has not been uploaded by Sesame Workshop. In an age where almost every new insert gets put online before the episodes air, it's a surprise that we've got at least one that isn't online yet.

Yeah. That's why I try to avoid looking at the online videos at least until after they air.

 

[Erine81981]

I almost would say that i think that Oz did come back for Bert for this skit. Bert sounds to much like Franks then it does Eric. Now I know that everyone here will still say no it wasn't Frank at all but I still can tell when Eric does Bert's and when Frank does his Bert.

Now If I am wrong sorry and I would have to say that WOW! Eric is starting to sound more like how Frank's Bert sounded back in the 70's and 80's. But will someone please prove me wrong or right?

 

[minor muppetz]

Yeah. Or as someone mentioned, Matt doesn't have to perform all of Jerry's characters. Who puppeteered Mr. Johnson in "Elmo in Grouchland" where one of the lines was left undubbed? I think it was David Rudman. It would be nice to see what he can do with him.

I know, but he has been trained to perform most of Jerry Nelson's characters and did perform the puppet in Jerry's last years (The Count is the only one of his Sesame Street characters Matt has provided the voice of).

David Rudman did perform Mr. Johnson in EIG. I feel he sounded too much like Baby Bear there, but I guess he didn't put much effort into the voice because he expected all of the lines to be dubbed anyway. If he ever does become the permanent performer for the character I hope he can make him sound closer to the voice Jerry gave him.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

I almost would say that i think that Oz did come back for Bert for this skit. Bert sounds to much like Franks then it does Eric. Now I know that everyone here will still say no it wasn't Frank at all but I still can tell when Eric does Bert's and when Frank does his Bert.

Now If I am wrong sorry and I would have to say that WOW! Eric is starting to sound more like how Frank's Bert sounded back in the 70's and 80's. But will someone please prove me wrong or right?

Sorry, but I don't know much more than you do. But actually I've been thinking the same thing when I saw the sketch. You make some good points. That was a very good Bert voice and you're right. As great as Eric is with Frank's characters, his Bert voice is still a lot less nasal than Frank's. (Compare the sketch to 's other appearances this season.) Plus it would have been easier to have one pupeteer do and another do Guy in one take, rather than have a character's lines be dubbed over at a later time. Plus there is the fact that Bert and Guy aren't the most common combination of characters, so would it really make sense to pair them up if they had the same puppeteer?

On the other hand, most people say that it was indeed Eric who voiced both of them. Usually, when Frank's on the set we know about it. We're sort of told in advance most of the time.

So overall, in my opinion, I guess it could go either way. I guess we'd have to get in touch with someone from Sesame Workshop to know for sure.

David Rudman did perform Mr. Johnson in EIG. I feel he sounded too much like Baby Bear there, but I guess he didn't put much effort into the voice because he expected all of the lines to be dubbed anyway. If he ever does become the permanent performer for the character I hope he can make him sound closer to the voice Jerry gave him.

Yeah. I saw a clip of that, but the sound was a bit sped up there. Still from what I heard I see what you mean. It does seem to be a far cry from Jerry's Mr. Johnson voice.

 

[Erine81981]

Sorry, but I don't know much more than you do. But actually I've been thinking the same thing when I saw the sketch. You make some good points. That was a very good Bert voice and you're right. As great as Eric is with Frank's characters, his Bert voice is still a lot less nasal than Frank's. (Compare the sketch to 's other appearances this season.) Plus it would have been easier to have one pupeteer do and another do Guy in one take, rather than have a character's lines be dubbed over at a later time. Plus there is the fact that Bert and Guy aren't the most common combination of characters, so would it really make sense to pair them up if they had the same puppeteer?

On the other hand, most people say that it was indeed Eric who voiced both of them. Usually, when Frank's on the set we know about it. We're sort of told in advance most of the time.

So overall, in my opinion, I guess it could go either way. I guess we'd have to get in touch with someone from Sesame Workshop to know for sure.

Yeah I understand. If it is Eric doing Bert he's really getting good at it and not to say Eric hasn't been doing worse to begin with. He has really done a great job in taking over for Frank. I would really love to meet Eric and Frank both.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

I totally agree. The replacement pupeteers have gotten so good it is hard to tell at times. It's been the same story with Ryan as Elmo.

Again, it is the fact that two of Eric's characters who rarely interact being in the same scene so the one time they do interact, they might need to do an unnecessary dub over.

But I notice Frank has been phasing out of SS over the years since most recently the characters he voiced were one-shot characters and then over the last few seasons Frank was absent altogether.

And then over the last few seasons Frank was absent!

Again, it's anyone's guess what could have happened with that sketch.