Characters/Sketches Based on Contemporary Celebrities/Pop Culture

[Whatnot1988]

This thread is here to form a master list of all the pop-culture inspired sketches or characters based on contemporary celebrities in Sesame Street.

To me, SST was (and still is) one of the few examples of topical humor working in a kids' show (even though the topical humor and celebrity caricatures/guest appearances are mostly to get the adults watching with the kids). I mean, the writers have and still generally assume that each episode would never have a shelf life beyond maybe two showings per station. Back in '69 they had no idea that home video would be invented and that parents would tape episodes for their kids to watch over and over again at leisure, or that older segments would be rerun to death. There wasn't even a concern that maybe this sketch will date.

Anyway, here's my contribution of an example of a Sesame character based on a celebrity--Placido Flamingo, based on one of the Three Tenors.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Oh yeah- those were always fun Muppets to have on Sesame Street. There are a number of celebrities who got a Muppet counterpart/parody who could be listed-

Bruce Stringbean (Bruce Springsteen)
Polly Darton (Dolly Parton)
Meryl Sheep (Meryl Streep)
Colambo (Columbo - this one was specifically a parody of Peter Falk's famous role on the TV series)
Over The Top (ZZ Top)

and tons others I'm not thinking of right now...

 

[minor muppetz]

Back in '69 they had no idea that home video would be invented and that parents would tape episodes for their kids to watch over and over again at leisure, or that older segments would be rerun to death. There wasn't even a concern that maybe this sketch will date.

I'm pretty sure they always intended on having the various sketches repeated in multiple episodes.

Should I state the obvious and mention Monsterpiece Theater, the parody of Masterpiece Theater, starring Cookie Monster as Alistair Cookie, a parody of Alistair Cooke?

And of course there's the Wheel of Fortune parody Squeal of Fortune, with Pat Playjacks (Pat Sajax) and Velma Blank (Velma White).

And there's Meal or No Meal (Deal or No Deal) with Howie Eatswell (Howie Mandell).

 

[minor muppetz]

To me, SST was (and still is) one of the few examples of topical humor working in a kids' show (even though the topical humor and celebrity caricatures/guest appearances are mostly to get the adults watching with the kids). I mean, the writers have and still generally assume that each episode would never have a shelf life beyond maybe two showings per station. Back in '69 they had no idea that home video would be invented and that parents would tape episodes for their kids to watch over and over again at leisure, or that older segments would be rerun to death. There wasn't even a concern that maybe this sketch will date.

I've started thinking this statement sounds ironic. About a year ago it began to occur to me that the show didn't really start to have speciffic parodies until the 1980s. During the 1970s, a few of Guy Smiley's game shows were parodies of speciffic game shows (mainly "What's My Line?" parodies), and a number of songs were based on existing songs (Count It Higher based on Twist and Shout, Mad based on Get a Job). But it's not until around the beginning of the VCR era that parodies start to be done frequently.

 

[ISNorden]

Not all topical humor on Sesame Street involved parody characters and sketches; remember the political discussion among the adults in Episode 1839, the same episode which announced Mr. Hooper's death? Big Bird (like most preschoolers) thought that political talk was boring when he listened in on the adults...and later in the episode, David made a joke about a perfect candidate named "Allison Wonderland". I have a sneaking suspicion that the writers threw in those political bits because an election year (1984) was coming in a few months!

 

[factor]

I mean, the writers have and still generally assume that each episode would never have a shelf life beyond maybe two showings per station. Back in '69 they had no idea that home video would be invented

But I am so happy home video got invented and I (not my kids) can watch shows over and over again.