Any idea how Two-headed Monster scenes are scripted?

[minor muppetz]

One thing I've been wondering for years: If the Two-Headed Monster appears in a script, how does the script identify which head says what? Would a script refer to the heads by their names (whether it be "Horns and Harndart" or "Frank and Stein"), or would it refer to them as "Left Head" and "Right Head", or what?

The Songs From the Street booklet puts the lyrics for "Heigh Dee Ho Man" in script form, but in that song the heads only sing together, never one head singing on its own, so the monster is only referred to in the script as "Two-Headed Monster" (Side note: Just checked the booklet again, and it does include the opening dialogue, where the heads talk seperately, but that script doesn't do anything to say which head is saying what).

It's a shame that the 40th anniversary book doesn't include examples of any Two-Headed Monster scripts. Considering the monster usually speaks gibberish, it wouldn't surprise me if at least the sketches where the character appears alone were fully improvised or not written as a script (more like an outline). But if the monster were communnicating with another character (Gordon, Jane Curtain, Cookie Monster) I'd expect more of a full script written.

Hmmm, and Ryan at The Muppet Mindset is currently posting a multi-part interview with Jerry Nelson. I wonder if he asked Jerry Nelson how they are written. It's a shame Jim Lewis hasn't written for Sesame Street or we could ask him.

 

[Drtooth]

Hmmm... interesting question. How much do they script Swedish Chef sketch as far as dialogue goes? I'm thinking that may be a clue as to how these are done. I'm sure they're listed as left head/right head or horns up/horns down.. Something to that extent. I guess there must be a guideline of what they're saying, but they clearly go off script to make those monster sounds.

 

[minor muppetz]

Hmmm... interesting question. How much do they script Swedish Chef sketch as far as dialogue goes? I'm thinking that may be a clue as to how these are done. I'm sure they're listed as left head/right head or horns up/horns down.. Something to that extent. I guess there must be a guideline of what they're saying, but they clearly go off script to make those monster sounds.

That was actually answered by Jim Lewis in the "Brand New Ask Jim Lewis Thread". Somebody else actually asked again, and was told what had been answered:

On that note we had to new faces come in and ask about the Switish Chef and how the writeing goes. they are great questions, but we have already asked Jim about that. Here is the Question and Answer: "From Jimjudy: :If you ever wrote something for the Swedish Chef?

Yes, I write for the Chef. Words. Approximations of what I think he might sound like. It’s up to Bill Barretta to turn them into comedy genius…and he does, yoobetcha."

After that, DWMcKim said that he has some Muppet Show scripts with Swedish Chef sketches, and noted that those scripts only wrote the actions of the sketches, occasionally including words needed to be said in the segments.

But the difference between the Swedish Chef and Two-headed Monster is that The Swedish Chef isn't one being with two heads that talk seperately. He is a single being with one head. But it is interesting you suggested they might be referred to as "Horns Up/Horns Down", because in the 40th anniversary book, it says that David Rudman took over as the "Horns Down hald of The Two-Headed Monster" (of course that's incorrect, Rudman's half is the horns up head). I know that dwmckim has collected scripts, though he has mentioned before that he never had any Sesame Street scripts. But I wonder if anybody here has ever seen any scripts for other multi-headed ficticious characters, especially ones where the individual heads have no known name.