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The Official "I'm looking for/trying to remember a sketch" thread

B F

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Hey everyone! I posted this in the wrong section and I apologize in advance if this has been asked before...does anyone know where I might be able to find the classic film where a boy discusses the changing of seasons from fall to winter, focusing on the animals going into hibernation? It showed him playing in leaves, running in the snow with his dad, and had this beautiful nostalgic music playing...I once had a list of the episodes that contained this film but can’t find it at the moment. At one point the film was on the Sesame Street site, and someone had uploaded it to YouTube as well but both have since been taken down. I would love to show this video to my children, does anyone have it or know where I might be able to see it?
 

SesameMike

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Does anyone remember the "I'm a letter" film about the Post Office? And is it available anywhere?

The film begins with someone dropping a letter in a mailbox, and ends with a kid receiving the letter and opening/reading it. In between, the film shows the process by which the mail travels through the system.

The soundtrack consisted of 2 or 3 people singing.
"Who do you think I am, the answer's not hard
I'm a letter in an envelope, a package, or card."
A frequent refrain would repeat a phrase 3 times, each time about a half tone higher, followed by a musical
"Do do-do do". At least once those words were "The mailman" and "The Post Office".

Phrases in the song included:
"...on a moving belt, and we slip and we slide"
"...read our addresses, and get our marks"
"...down we go, into the groove" (while showing the letters being shunted through the letter-sorting machine)
"...on jet-powered planes" (one place in the film where there was definitely background audio, namely the whoosh of a cargo plane)

There was also the brief sound of a juice harp, when the kid at the end proudly holds up the letter he received.

(Note that this is not the popular film about the Appalachian mailman who delivers mail on horseback.)
 

SesameMike

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From maybe the 2nd season, there was this sketch I saw exactly once. Cutting to multiple settings:
  • Susan sitting on the 1-2-3 stoop with a hardcover tome, saying "I like reading books."
  • Gordon in a living-room chair with an open newspaper. "I like reading the paper."
  • Little girl (setting uncertain) with a comic book, possibly Archie. "I like reading comics"
  • Little boy in plain setting with an illustrated storybook open. "I like reading picture books."
Not sure if there were others, like a younger adult with a magazine.
One thing I particularly remember about watching this sketch is... you know how in the 1st season, a segment often consist of just reading a picture book, since they only had so much of their own material at the time? I was expecting Susan to do just that as the sketch began (and mildly disappointed when it wasn't to be). This sketch aired after they had stopped doing that, though not that long after. In later seasons, of course, an adult or even a Muppet might read a "homegrown" book, but instead of showing the pages onscreen, it would "come to life" a Muppet-based skit.
 

SesameMike

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Anyone remember a story line where Luis and Tom decided to switch jobs? About the 4th or 5th season.

Luis owned the Fix-it Shop, and Tom worked in Mr. Hooper's store. Probably because of an "I'd like to see you do better" kind of dispute, they decided to swap jobs. I remember one scene where Big Bird brought in a rather large wall clock to the Fix-it shop, to be repaired because it wasn't chiming the hour. Tom merely reached behind the clock's works, and said "Ah, I feel it!", and made a summary adjustment, possibly with an audible click. He then moved the clocks hands from about 11:52 to the 12 o'clock position to test the chime. Sure enough, the clock does chime, but after Big Bird counts out the gongs from 1 to 12, it keeps on striking! Understandably, Big Bird is enraged that Tom ruined his clock, seeing as it's striking "two hundred o'clock".

Luis didn't do so well in Hooper's store either. Can't remember how, though; did he botch and ice-cream sundae (how do you do that?)

I'm pretty sure that the episode ended with each returning to their usual place, with (unspoken?) conceding that some people are just not cut out for certain tasks.

P.S. What's Big Bird doing with an antique, Vienna-Regulator-style wall clock to begin with? Does he hang it next to his nest, where it wouldn't exactly be protected from the elements. Then again, in the episode where Big Bird wanted to make absolutely sure he'd be awoken the following morning, he had about a dozen timepieces of all stripes parked around his nest, clocks that he somehow managed to acquire in the wee hours of the morning!
 

SesameMike

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Anyone remember a storyline where Oscar "moved", at least temporarily?

Oscar decides that he is tired of living in his usual location so he ups and "relocates" his trash can. We see Oscar walking with the can over his head (which, for me, was the first time I ever saw his feet!)

Oscar's first stop is at the top of the 123 stoop. David marches up the stairs, probably hurriedly saying something like "be right there", when he spots the can. He says "What's this doing here?"
Oscar angrily pops out of the can with "What does it LOOK LIKE I'm doing here, playing Parcheesi?" He explains that this is his new home. David quickly convinced him that it was not a good location.

Oscar's second stop is behind Mr. Hooper's counter, parking himself and his trash can while the shopkeeper is out. Hooper then walks in, saying to himself that he had a nice relaxing walk, but it was time to get back to work in the store. Upon spotting the can he says, "Hey, what's this doing here?"
Oscar angrily pops out of the can with "What does it LOOK LIKE I'm doing here, dancing (something)?" He again explains that this is his new home. Mr. Hooper convinces Oscar that behind-the-counter would not be so good because "You'll get ice cream all over you." Naturally, Oscar wouldn't have that.

Oscar's third stop is right smack in the middle of Big Bird's nest. The camera then pans or cuts to outside the playground door, as Bob comes up, on a bicycle I think. Bob says to the fourth wall that he was just going to visit Big Bird. "Want to join me? (beat) (In a "sneaky" voice) Well, come along!" We follow Bob as he enters the playground area calling for Big Bird. When he sees the trash can inside the nest, he says "What's THIS?"
Oscar angrily pops out of the can with "What does it LOOK LIKE, a daffodil?" Yet again, he explains that this is his new home. Bob's speech includes the line "You'll get feathers all over you." Oscar somehow returned to his usual location after this one.

It's Captain Obvious, but when this episode aired, I wondered why they had Bob confront Oscar in the latter scene, rather than Big Bird himself.
 

SesameMike

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Who remembers when Big Bird called the cops because Mr. Snuffleupagus was lost?

When Big Bird realizes he hasn't seen Mr. Snuffleupagus for a while, he thinks him to be lost. So, against the objections of 1 or 2 adults (who, as usual, insist that Snuffy is just imaginary anyway), Big Bird decides to call the police and file a missing persons report. After calling (from Mr. Hooper's store?), we hear sirens, followed by the appearance of an anything-Muppet police officer; he is wearing a hat, a jacket, and probably a badge; his voice and disposition are akin to that of Biff. Big Bird proceeds to describe Snuffy to the officer as he writes the information down in his little book: he is a big guy, with lots of hair, has a deep voice, and says "Oh dear" a lot. I think Mr. Hooper tried to object to the whole thing, but they more-or-less ignored him. Throughout this exchange, Big Bird called him "Mr. Dooper" in lieu of the usual "Looper" at least once, and the officer called him that once as well!

In the next street scene, the police officer is looking around for this Snuffy guy. He then spots David standing outside and talking to someone through the 123 tenement window; I distinctly remember someone, likely Susan, tossing David a set of keys from inside the window. The officer looks on, and says "Hey, he's a big guy." David might have Afro-picked his hair then, not sure. "Hmm, lots of hair." Although David has a higher-pitched voice, at that point he said something with under-the-breath emphasis. "Hmm, he has a deep voice." Then David called out "Oh dear," to someone, but in an inquiring manner unlike Snuffy's typical melancholy voice; I suspect this might have been to Maria, since they were something of an item in those days. But that was enough for the officer, as he had "found" David and grabs him. David is like, "Whaaa?", at which point he, Susan, and maybe another adult set the officer straight (incorrectly) about Snuffy's existence.
 

YellowYahooey

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I seem to remember a Grover skit from when I was little. Grover was, I think, on the brick wall, and I believe it was on a black background and he was talking about the letter "R." There was a white "R" next to him. Grover mentioned at one part that "R" is the first letter in the word "rocket," and then the "R" took off into the air with smoke coming from the bottom and making rocket ship noises. I looked on YouTube and SesameStreet.org but I can't find it!
It does exist on YouTube now. Key in "Grover and the letter R" in the YouTube search engine. Boom, there it is.
 

YellowYahooey

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I read a comment by the uploader of a fan-made rendition of the "Upside down 11" sketch on YouTube, tbat there was a sketch that was supposedly a rehash of Herbert Birdsfoot's M and W lecture, only it involved the numbers 6 and 9, and had Farley delivering the lecture. Has anybody heard of this sketch? It may have been extremely rare sketch, possibly shown in the early 1970s, as I do not recall seeing it during my days of watching the show.
 

wiley207

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It does exist on YouTube now. Key in "Grover and the letter R" in the YouTube search engine. Boom, there it is.
Yep, I found it when it was uploaded over seven years ago. :stick_out_tongue: Gee, that sketch is pretty old. It's from the second season!
 

SesameMike

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Is the sketch with Gordon (Robinson) and Mr. Hooper eating ice cream cones available anywhere?

This is one of those "limbo" sketches, except this one had a huge sun overhead. The premise is that they somehow cannot eat their ice cream until they remove their sweaters. No audio except for a music soundtrack, IIRC.

Did this appear on Sesame Street Unpaved? I noticed a screenshot was added recently to the Muppet Wiki episode guide (Episode 193) and it had a Noggin watermark. But this one had a fairly short lifespan, since Hal Cooper replaced Matt Robinson in Season 4, and they typically did not reuse sketches that had a retired human character in it. (I did once see a model airplane sketch with Cooper as Gordon a season or two into Roscoe Orman's time, though.)
 
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