Little things we've noticed

[minor muppetz]

Ignoring the Moo Wave name, would How Now Brown and the Moo Wave be required to only sing New Wave music, as opposed to branching out into other music styles (maybe make How Now Brown a solo singer if needed)? How Now Brown looks like he could have done punk music or Billy Idol parodies.

 

[LittleJerry92]

It’s possible they could have done that, but it seems they wanted to focus on other music video styled songs as well besides How Now (NTV, Kids Just Love to Brush, etc)

 

[minor muppetz]

I used to think that the Wonderful World of T-shirts sketch (or, as it seems it was titled in the scripts, "Frog to Forg") was made in the late-1970s, my guess was season 9, so I was surprised that it debuted in season 12 (though it's possible it was held over from season 11). But considering the time it came, it very well could have included Elmo as one of the other Kermit's. That could have signaled to me that it wasn't season 9, but can you imagine if Elmo was used for Kermit the Forg or whoever? I wonder if that would have made the sketch even rarer for years. It probably wouldn't have been included in Bert and Ernie's Word Play, and I'm not sure if any of us had a copy before that season 12 episode surfaced in 2015. We might have spent a longer time being confused by the out of context use of "I'm Kermit the Frog and I want my Kermit the Frog t-shirt" clip in The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street.

EDIT TO ADD: Okay, I mistakenly thought it first appeared in one of those season 12 episodes that mysteriously surfaced to fans in 2015, now I'm seeing it debuted later in season 12 (while it was taped in season 11).

 

[LittleJerry92]

Not gonna lie, seeing what looks like a really good capture compared to the framed picture in Jackman Wolf’s studio in “Rock & Roll!” (which looks a bit more like a drawing to me than a photograph, hard to tell) of Little Jerry, Big Jeffie and Richie (from 2452) in this episode (2595) makes me wish we had a picture snapshot on the internet somewhere. Oh well.

 

[LittleJerry92]

It’s episodes like this why I absolutely cannot stand Zoe as a character.

Frankly the only purpose she had of being on this show was slowly ruining Elmo’s character.

 

[D'Snowth]

I still disagree, I like how this brings out another dimension of Elmo that we don't ordinarily see, in that he can actually be a straightman to somebody else being a comic foil (in this case, Zoe), which is actually even funnier to see, because when you have a character like Elmo who's ordinarily all sweet and lovey-dovey and what have you, to see him easily flustered, frustrated, and losing his cool over somebody else's quirk is a lot like watching whenever Kermit flies off the handle and blows up over the mayhem he's surrounded in. Like Kermit, like Nostalgia Critic, like Gary Gnu, like whoever else, the more reactionary a character is, the funnier.

 

[CoolGuy1013]

I like how this brings out another dimension of Elmo that we don't ordinarily see, in that he can actually be a straightman to somebody else being a comic foil (in this case, Zoe), which is actually even funnier to see, because when you have a character like Elmo who's ordinarily all sweet and lovey-dovey and what have you, to see him easily flustered, frustrated, and losing his cool over somebody else's quirk is a lot like watching whenever Kermit flies off the handle and blows up over the mayhem he's surrounded in. Like Kermit, like Nostalgia Critic, like Gary Gnu, like whoever else, the more reactionary a character is, the funnier.

That’s probably why I’m seeing all those videos on YouTube like “Elmo being mad at a rock for 6 minutes straight”. People love annoying the straight man (in fact, that’s their purpose in comedy, to be annoyed).

 

[D'Snowth]

Exactly, it's why certain characters or performers work better as a duo or even a trio, than a solo: the straightman is funny because of how he/she reacts to whatever mischief the foil causes, and the foil is funny because of whatever trouble they cause for the straightman - on their own, they just fall flat.

 

[LittleJerry92]

I still disagree, I like how this brings out another dimension of Elmo that we don't ordinarily see, in that he can actually be a straightman to somebody else being a comic foil (in this case, Zoe), which is actually even funnier to see, because when you have a character like Elmo who's ordinarily all sweet and lovey-dovey and what have you, to see him easily flustered, frustrated, and losing his cool over somebody else's quirk is a lot like watching whenever Kermit flies off the handle and blows up over the mayhem he's surrounded in. Like Kermit, like Nostalgia Critic, like Gary Gnu, like whoever else, the more reactionary a character is, the funnier.

I get the straightman thing, but episodes like this is where I just can’t stand seeing Zoe on screen, especially with that stupid laugh of hers. Like I’ll be honest, this is one episode I really remember frustrating me when I was a kid and that hasn’t changed today (especially also considering the number 12 rocks cartoon, which I always loved whenever it came on, was interrupted for that Rocco joke).

But it’s not really Elmo being a straightman that’s the issue for me - the bigger issue for me is I felt Zoe’s existence basically dumbed down Elmo’s character (and that’s a similar problem I had with Baby Bear and Telly at times).

 

[minor muppetz]

Can you imagine if the Rockheads were still a part of the show when Rocko was introduced?

hmm, refresh my memory, did the early proto-Elmo appear in a scene with a rock head? I’m thinking Richard Hunt’s Elmo. I guess I could look at the guides again.