Sesame Street and The Letter People crossover (VERY RARE!)

[PumpkinJ]

Yes, that's Nardo the Detective. I like that character. He's CLEARLY a parody of classic Hollywood actor Humphrey Bogart. He's likely based off Bogie's character, detective Sam Spade, in "The Maltese Falcon". There were tons of parodies of celebrities from classic movies and TV shows on "The Letter People". For instance, Mr. X has a voice and personality similar to James Stewart. I suppose the character feeling distraught over things being "all wrong" is a reference to Stewart's George Bailey in the Christmas classic, "It's a Wonderful Life". I can understand, PumpkinJ, what you mean about Nardo resembling Lefty the Salesman from "Sesame Street". I also thought his physical appearance (the wide brimmed fedora and the trench coat) could have likely been based off Skip Hinnant's Fargo North Decoder character from "The Electric Company", as well. The names "Fargo" and "Nardo" sound quite similar. Hey, there was an unseen announcer of "The Catching Game" named "Tom Fargo" whose name sounds similar to game show announcer "Don Pardo". Now that was obviously intentional. The naming of the detective as "Nardo" sounding like "Fargo", could have been a coincidence. Who knows? Since you've just compared Nardo to Lefty the Salesman, I guess you can say that's somewhat accurate. In his first appearance (Mr. N's episode), he's seen in dark alley setting that looks quite similar to the scenery in the "Golden AN" segment on "Sesame Street" with Lefty. The scenery in that LP episode consists of two brick buildings, with a crescent moon in visible sight between them, and a lamppost off to the side. This setting looks reminiscent to that in the "Golden AN" segment. Also, in Nardo's first appearance, there's a character that he and Mr. N encounter called "the Nasty", whom they both try taming into becoming nice. The Nasty looks and sounds very much like Oscar the Grouch. Funny, since around that same time as that LP episode (likely 1973), Johnny Cash was on SS with Oscar performing a song called "Nasty Dan". I can sense the inspiration in that, can you?

Wow, yeah. Also, speaking of Sesame Street and Letter People characters, how about: compare Mr. M to Cookie Monster! XD

 

[SkyeFan]

Wow, yeah. Also, speaking of Sesame Street and Letter People characters, how about: compare Mr. M to Cookie Monster!

Hey, don't think I haven't seen THAT obvious inspiration. Mr. M not only resembles Cookie Monster by way of his large sack-like body with arms lacking elbows, and a wide, black interior mouth allowing the puppet to feed himself (not to mention his excessive craving appetite for foods), but he also has ping-pong ball halves for eyes like Kermit the Frog, and a rounded-football shaped head, sticky-out ears, and an ear to ear smiling mouth like Ernie.

So there you have it - Mr. M is a cross hybrid sphinx of three different Muppet characters. Sure enough, he was the first character introduced to the series.

 

[PumpkinJ]

Hey, don't think I haven't seen THAT obvious inspiration. Mr. M not only resembles Cookie Monster by way of his large sack-like body with arms lacking elbows, and a wide, black interior mouth allowing the puppet to feed himself (not to mention his excessive craving appetite for foods), but he also has ping-pong ball halves for eyes like Kermit the Frog, and a rounded-football shaped head, sticky-out ears, and an ear to ear smiling mouth like Ernie.

So there you have it - Mr. M is a cross hybrid sphinx of three different Muppet characters. Sure enough, he was the first character introduced to the series.

Wow.