Sesame Street "Surprise" Song

[fuzzygobo]

I remember that Surprise song when I was a kid. And there were some scenes I remember too. Maria trying to carve a roast chicken and it levitates in the air,

Bob dressed in a tuxedo with his top hat in his arm and a Muppet Lavender rabbit pops out,so Bob hits him with a pie.

Gordon looking out his window and sees Grover upside down singing to him, then falls.

Grover singing about surprise, then sees himself on Big Bird's head and falls off.

Mr. Hooper in a striped old time bathing suit and pink hat about to open the door to go to the beach and a brick wall was in his way, the wall shouts, "Surprise", in a deep Frank Oz like voice and Mr. Hooper hits the wall with a pie.

Bob trying to put a letter in the mailbox, and a hand reaches out and grabs the letter.

Gordon knocking on Oscar's can, but Maria comes out in a devil costume and says in a deep Frank Oz sounding voice, "Oscar isn't in." (That scene actually sent me running out of the room as a kid for I thought it was kind of scary.)

And of course, Big Bird's surprise party with everyone in their same costumes. Mr. Hooper hands Big Bird a tiny sweater with BB on it and says, "I hope this is your size."
Then Grover pops out of the cake and all the adults get hit with pies one at a time. But Maria had a mask on protecting her from the pie and says, "Disguise!" But when she lifts her mask, she gets hit with another pie.

Xerus, gotta hand it to you. You remember this clip even better than I do, and that's no small achievement. I bow to your excellent memory.

 

[Mike74]

Is there anyone at the actual program or Sesame Workshop that I could write to and request the clip? As I said, I NEED to see this now! Any info anyone has would be greatly appreciated!

 

[cjd874]

Xerus, gotta hand it to you. You remember this clip even better than I do, and that's no small achievement. I bow to your excellent memory.

Fuzzygobo & Xerus, do either of you remember if there were any other Muppets or cast members in the "Surprise" song? Did Oscar, Cookie Monster, Bert, Ernie, Count von Count, Luis, David, Susan, Linda, etc. appear? It would be awesome to see if Bert hit Ernie with a pie (sweet revenge for Bert) or the Count counted how many pies were being flung around.

It would be wonderful if they had obscure characters too. Imagine if Poco Loco or Fred the Wonder Horse got hammered by pies. Or even better, if Sam the Robot started launching pies all over the place. God, he'd be unstoppable because he's a machine and machines are perfect (glitch) are perfect (glitch) are perfect... XD

Oops, I must be getting way ahead of myself. Carry on!

 

[fuzzygobo]

Fuzzygobo & Xerus, do either of you remember if there were any other Muppets or cast members in the "Surprise" song? Did Oscar, Cookie Monster, Bert, Ernie, Count von Count, Luis, David, Susan, Linda, etc. appear? It would be awesome to see if Bert hit Ernie with a pie (sweet revenge for Bert) or the Count counted how many pies were being flung around.

It would be wonderful if they had obscure characters too. Imagine if Poco Loco or Fred the Wonder Horse got hammered by pies. Or even better, if Sam the Robot started launching pies all over the place. God, he'd be unstoppable because he's a machine and machines are perfect (glitch) are perfect (glitch) are perfect... XD

Oops, I must be getting way ahead of myself. Carry on!

Well, except for a few parts I mentioned above, and what Xerus remembers, my memory is a little foggy on this one. (Just how much do you remember from a clip you haven't seen since 1978?)

Poco Loco would not have been there, Sam was long since retired by then, Count wasn't in it, and the cast members that really stand out to me were Bob, Maria, Gordon, and Mr. Hooper. Again, maybe someday this will see the light of day again, just keep hoping.

 

[Xerus]

Thanks everyone. It was fun to share my memories. I saw that Surprise song so many times as a kid. And cjd874, The only regular Muppets that were featured in this song were Big Bird and Grover. Along with a shopping cart monster, a brick wall, and a rabbit.

 

[Mike74]

Thanks everyone. It was fun to share my memories. I saw that Surprise song so many times as a kid. And cjd874, The only regular Muppets that were featured in this song were Big Bird and Grover. Along with a shopping cart monster, a brick wall, and a rabbit.

Getting to speak to someone who remembers this so vividly is truly awesome. I really thought that Maria in the devil outfit was just a weird made up memory I had! At the end, does Maria actually get pied, then take off a fake "mask" and get pied again? Is she actually pied twice? As someone above mentioned, you'd NEVER see something like this on the current version of the show. For some reason, the slapstick and vaudeville elements that made those early years so great have fallen by the wayside....wonder why????

 

[Xerus]

Yes, Maria had on a fake plastic mask when she got pied, then lifted it up and said, "Disguise", and got hit again.
I also thought the skit where Cookie Monster drank Kermit's milk and then gets surrounded by a gang of monster was a dream too. Then later I found out it was real.

 

[cjd874]

Gee, a lot of these skits/characters/cartoons/films are so freaky/scary/trippy (Floating Face Counts to 10, Jazzy Spies, original Big Bird & Snuffleupagus designs, Beautiful Day Monster and B "BAAAAAHHHH!!!", this "Surprise" song, YoYo master guy, etc). Sometimes I wonder what Jim Henson and his staff were ingesting in the early days...

 

[luvoldsesame]

Hi new member....just had a child and he's started watching SS (loves Elmo....but I'm steering him towards Grover) so I've been re immersed in the SS world. I was a huge fan growing up and now that I'm watching again I've been remembering and looking up old clips but I can't seem to find the "Surprise Song" clip anywhere. I have muddled memories of it, as I was very young at the time (think it aired in the mid 70's) but it seemed to involve the cast singing about surprises and being hit with pies. That's what I seem to remember, anyway! Any help with descriptions, transcrips or actual video would be GREATLY appreciated! Glad I'm back into the world of SS!

I posted a question about this same skit over a year ago.

This is the post I made.

"Another one is a long skit involving all the cast I think. Big Bird thinks everyone has forgotten his birthday and then a song starts up about how everyone pretended to forget so they could give him a surprise. I remember it starts with gordon in a turban, 2 kids and maria dressed as charlie chaplin each popping up from behind the wall near big birds nest. They each sing surprise then maria has a pie thrown in her face and gordon sings "you really wont believe it, you wont believe your eyes, when everyone is laughing and throwing custard pies". At least I think that was it. Then there are a heap of little skits involving muppets and human cast members with a lot of slapstick, pie throwing type stuff based around the concept of surprise, with a choir of the cast singing Surprise. I think there was a part in a bakers where maria and david who is dressed as a baker stand next to one another, and david holds up a pie to throw at maria, but maria puts a pie in his face first, then bob and mr hooper suddenly appear either side of maria, each holding a pie and go to put them in her face, but she ducks and they both pie each other. I also remember Bob dressed as a keystone cop in the choir singing opera like, and david ducking as a pie is thrown in bobs face. And I think Bob had snow or something dumped on him? I just cant remember the rest of it. Anyone know which one this was?"

Having read the other stuff people have posted, it is all starting to come together. I now remember the other stuff.

 

[Mike74]

I posted a question about this same skit over a year ago.

This is the post I made.

"Another one is a long skit involving all the cast I think. Big Bird thinks everyone has forgotten his birthday and then a song starts up about how everyone pretended to forget so they could give him a surprise. I remember it starts with gordon in a turban, 2 kids and maria dressed as charlie chaplin each popping up from behind the wall near big birds nest. They each sing surprise then maria has a pie thrown in her face and gordon sings "you really wont believe it, you wont believe your eyes, when everyone is laughing and throwing custard pies". At least I think that was it. Then there are a heap of little skits involving muppets and human cast members with a lot of slapstick, pie throwing type stuff based around the concept of surprise, with a choir of the cast singing Surprise. I think there was a part in a bakers where maria and david who is dressed as a baker stand next to one another, and david holds up a pie to throw at maria, but maria puts a pie in his face first, then bob and mr hooper suddenly appear either side of maria, each holding a pie and go to put them in her face, but she ducks and they both pie each other. I also remember Bob dressed as a keystone cop in the choir singing opera like, and david ducking as a pie is thrown in bobs face. And I think Bob had snow or something dumped on him? I just cant remember the rest of it. Anyone know which one this was?"

Having read the other stuff people have posted, it is all starting to come together. I now remember the other stuff.

But is the stuff you posted correct or just fuzzy memories?