70. Gladys the Cow (Sesame Street)
P - Gladys is my second favorite Richard character, right behind Scooter. I love her. That's all there is to it, she's just so beautifully bovine.
L - I love that cow. She's wonderful. And she's PROUD to be a cow!
P - She's just SO funny! Trying so hard to be a great singer, but not really succeeding. On the street anyway, because we love her voice everywhere else.
L - WONDERFUL voice. I love the actual puppet itself, too. If you look in pictures, cows and horses are really pretty different from the other Muppets. I'm no puppet builder, so I can't get technical and explain what the hey I'm saying, but I love it.
P - You're very right! She's got such a unique design, and I love her eyes.
L - Ooh, me too. But I'm a sucker for eyes in general. It would be shorter for me to talk about eyes that I DON'T like than eyes that I DO like.
P - I'm strangely intruiged. Which don't you like?
L - ...Ummmmm... <thinks>... Um... I'll get back to you on that.
P - I'm sure you will. Anyway, I love how Gladys sings "My butter's rich and creamy" in I'm proud to be a cow. It's my favorite line. I don't know why.
L - Really? I'd say my favorite line is, "I'm proud to have an udder, like my father- no- my mother."
P - HA! Yes, my second favorite.
L - So much to love in that song. And, in that Muppet.
P - Totally! Did you know they brought her back for "Sesame Sings Karaoke"? LONG after Richard had gone.
L - Oh, I didn't know that! Good!
P - Sha! No idea who performed her, but she sounded fantastic. She kept trying to get a turn in karaoke, but Alan kept not letting her, shame really, but it was great comic relief.
L - Oh lovely! Pity she didn't get a turn, though.
P - Yeah, but she got to play harmonica in the final number.
L - ...How?
P - It was attatched to her neck somehow... it was cool.
L - Ahhhh. Awesome!
P - Totally! She's such a multi-talented uttered one.
L - Uttered or uddered?
P - *blink* Both, I think.
L - Oh okay. Yes, I agree.
P - Moving on?
L - You bet!
P - No, that's Sal.
L - Oh, whate- <ahem> Yes. Moving on.
69. Waldo C. Graphic (The Jim Henson Hour and Muppet*Vision 3D)
P - I've only seen him at Muppet*Vision, and BOY is there something to see!
L - DUDE! Waldo was SO a part of the cutting-edge technology that Jim so adored and was FASCINATED with and just LOVED!
P - YES! Exactly! I loved that about Jim. You do know he's performed by Steve, don't'cha?
L - ...Ah, well- I do now. How AWESOME!
P - I know! And he turns into Mickey Mouse at the end of Muppet*Vision! "They'll never recognize me now!"
L - I've really gotta see that some day. Actually, I should see Jim Henson Hour, too. I've never seen Waldo. But he is AWESOME!
P - Yes, yes he is! And another cool thing, he befriends Bean in Muppet*Vision, and they're both played by Steve. Love inter-performer character relationships.
L - Oh me too! Like Kermit and Rowlf, both of whom we'll get to... eventually. But yeah, you've just GOTTA love it.
P - That's a very long eventually... *ahem* But yeah, Waldo was definitely my favorite part of Muppet*Vision. ...Okay, right behind Gonzo asking Bean if he'd bring him back a sandwich when he said he was running away forever.
L - HAHAHA! Oh, I've GOTTA see that someday.
P - Yes, yes you do.
68. Marvin Suggs (The Muppet Show)
L - Ow.
P - Were you just doing "Lady of Spain"?
L - Naturally. Good song.
P - Performed by SUCH a fantastic character.
L - And his victims. ...Er... instruments?
P - Yes, of course! My all-time favorite Marvin scene is in either the Star Wars episode or the Raquel Welch episode where Kermit interviews him.
L - "Does it hurt?" "Is Marvin still here?"
P - That's it! "What do you do with the Muppaphones after they've gone flat?" "I don't'a think you want to know."
L - They go flat, like little pancakes! OH it is so wonderful. Poor Muppaphones. But you know what I love?
P - Hm?
L - Marvin really, truly believes that what he does is a WONDERFUL music form... and that it's humane.
P - HAHA! YES! Didn't Frank say something about Marvin in "The Works"?
L - Um... Maybe? I could check...
P - *shrug* If you want to. It's on the page where they talk about Jim and Frank's characters, I think.
L - Okay. Hang on, I'll check...
P - Meanwhile, folks, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank some of our sponsors. Thundercloud Studios, of course, Gags Beasly's Joke Factory over on West Main Street, um, let's see... oh, Muppet Labs, the Fix-It Shop, Hooper's Store, Crazy Moe's Discount Banana Cream Pies, Uncle Larry's Boomerang Fish Depot... am I forgetting anyone?
L - Huh? Um- sorry, I was uh... distracted... MAN there are some good pictures in this book. Um- Did you say Wilson's Pet Shop?
P - Oh, I knew I forgot someone. Wilson's Pet Shop. Oh, and Juhl's Pizza Parlor.
L - Oh, and that. Why was I looking through The Works again? I got distracted by all the awesome pictures...
P - ...To see if Frank said anything about Marvin! Sheesh, I guess I have to tell everyone to go out and buy "Jim Henson: The Works" next time you get a chance...
L - Oh yeah! I found that a while ago. Or- well, okay, so I found the page with all the Jim and Frank characters. Here's what it's got on Marvin: "One of Frank's more unusual creations must have been Marvin Suggs, whose forte was banging on the heads of the hapless Muppephones- small, well-trained balls of fur- who would then dutifully yelp out the melodies to such tunes as 'Lady of Spain.' "
P - And there aren't any quotes from Frank?
L - Nope. Well, maybe elsewhere in the book, but if I start looking for that, I'll NEVER stop getting distracted...
P - WAIT! I know where it is! It's in the little booklet that comes with "The Muppet Show: Music, Mayhem, and More" CD!
L - Oh, well, no wonder I don't have it.
P - While I go check for that, you continue that sponsor list.
L - Oh, of course. Sponsors. Um, there's Salmon Friends, The Daily Chronicle, Pete's... I love Pete. Um... Rat Tours, Ltd, of course...
P - Very nice, anyway, I found it. It says... "'I don't recall where Marvin Suggs came from...probably from one of the writers' meetings,' says Frank Oz, who performed the character. 'But the accent came from my French friend Phillippe Genty--I just exaggerated it and made it really annoying. I've always felt Marvin lived in a scuzzy trailer park with his put-upon wife, and he kept the Muppaphones in a cage and would beat them regularaly.'" So there you have it!
L - HA! Oh that is awesome. I wonder what Mrs. Suggs is like...
P - ...Wait a second, you don't have this CD?
L - Nope.
P - Well now I guess I have a reason to go to Best Buy tomorrow.
L - As if you DIDN'T? The Muppet Show Season Two comes out tomorrow! Best Buy will most likely have it! Seeing as that's where I got Season One the day it came out... <Ahem> Anyway- thank you. Should we stop plugging and move on?
P - Probably, yes. But first, let me say that MY Best Buy did NOT have Season 1 on August 9th 2005. I had to get it at Wal-Mart. So I wasn't planning on going to Best Buy until just a few minutes ago.
L - Oh, fair enough. They probably don't have the felt cover, anyway.
67. Rosita (Sesame Street)
P - I LOVE ROSITA! She's probably my favorite new-age Sesame character, after Telly, that is.
L - Ah, Rosita. All the Spanish I ever retained, I learned from her.
P - HAHA! Me too, mostly, actually, and I've taken two years of it in school.
L - I've taken a total of four weeks of it in school, spread out over three years, starting out with a substitute, and then a sub for the sub, and then the real teacher, and they all had INSANELY different teaching styles, and then I was learning it in the same room where I was studying Hebrew later in the day, so... Yeah. Thanks Rosita!
P - *blink* Anyway, I loved her wings, it was very strange that they took them away, especially after they did an entire episode where she tried to find uses for them.
L - Ooh, really? Never heard about that episode.
P - I haven't seen it, personally, but the guide on my satellite advertises it a lot. Anyway, she's certainly a popular street resident, there have been two episodes where she has two different best friends, Herry and Prairie Dawn. Two good choices if you ask me.
L - Oh, EXCELLENT choices! And we'll get to both of them! ...One sooner than the other.
P - Indeed! But anyway, I love that she plays guitar, too. She sang a song called "I Say 'Hola'" in "Sesame Sings Karaoke", she's awesome, there's not one part of her I don't love.
L - Absolutely. She's a very nice shade of blue, too.
P - Turquoise, really.
L - Call it what you like. It's a pretty color.
P - Yup! And she's got a pretty voice too.
L - Oh yes!
P - Anymore we can say about her?
L - ...Nice eyes?
P - And hair, it's different colors.
L - Ooh, yes, that too.
P - One more thing, she was absolutely AWESOME in the Sesame cookbook, the only thing that bugged me is they kept reitteratitng the fact that she was from Mexico.
L - Maybe it's to avoid the general anti-Mexican-immigrant thing that tends to pop up around here. Mexicans can be PROUD, because they've got a character on Sesame Street! And she's awesome.
P - But they've had Luis and Maria for who knows how long.
L - Yeah, but now they've got a Muppet, too.
P - Why can't we Americans ha- ...Never mind.
L - Yeah! Why can't we Americans have such awesome turquoise fur?
P - Because we... don't eat enough tortillas? OH! That reminds me! She dressed as a tortilla in Prairie Dawn's healthy food pageant last season.
L - Ooh, cool! ...I love how you mention healthy food as I sit here munching away at a bowl of popcorn... Kids, watch Sesame, not me!
P - Hehehe! Can we move on now?
L - Yes, yes we can.
66. Herry Monster (Sesame Street)
L - Remember how I said we'd get to one of those excellent choices sooner than the other?
P - Yes, yes I do. And Herry certainly is an excellent choice. I love him so much, he's such a big, strong fella, but he's so huggable. My favorite Herry scene is him counting to 20 with John John.
L - I just love Herry. He's fuzzy and blue, and he's got a furry blue Mommy.
P - And a teddy bear/monster thing, my farthest memory of Herry goes back to when I had a Sesame video as a kid that was three Sesame stories, but they were like you were reading a book, that's what the pictures were and their mouths didn't move, anyway, one of the storied focussed on poor Herry losing his dolly... HERCULES! I think that's his doll's name!
L - Oh, how apt! And man, is it just my imagination, or did you have a LOT of Sesame videos as a kid? All we ever had was Follow That Bird... Which is a wonderful movie, but still...
P - Yes, yes I did have a lot of Sesame videos as a kid... but sadly most were given away to my cousin, who I think has given them away to... someone or something.