What sketches scared you as a kid?

[Ryan]

Actually, there is one SS skit that scared me that I forgot:
"Mr. Tweak". It was a cartoon where a man was on the second floor of a 3 story apartment, and whenever he tried to sleep, the people either above or below him would sneeze or snore. The music was really eerie, and the sketch was just really out there.

"Mr. Tweak tried to sleep, but the man below him would sneeze"
BANG BANG BANG (Mr. Tweak bangs cane on floor)
Mr. Tweak :"If you please, DON'T SNEEZE!!"

 

[ssetta]

The Salesman

I think what was scary about the salesman was, he and Ernie, or whoever he was with, would be talking very quietly. And then, out of nowhere, Ernie would say something loud, and he'd be like, "SHSHSHSHSHSH!!!!!!!" In a few of them, Ernie actually got scared to death.

 

[Natalie]

Wow, that is a lot of scary stuff, too bad i got into this convo late. Like BlueAM i watched Sesame Street in the late 80s and early 90s (i'm 17) and my faded memories of the episodes just seem so magical. But yeah, so much scary stuff too. A lot of the psychedelic cartoons were really weird.

Some you've mentioned: Ernie and Bert Egyptian sketch (although now it's my fav E & B moment), definitely the "Shaft" one with Cookie, and the Humpty Dumpty one.

Also, a couple of the Monsterpiece Theaters: "the 39 stairs", "Twin Beaks". And Cyranose de Bourgerac (was that Monsterpiece Theater?), he totally freaked me out "the nose, knows!" he'd get mad when anyone said "nose" to his face.

Other muppets that have scared me: Cookie (his eyes mostly), the Count, Crazy Harry, Frazzle (and lots of other monsters), and the Mahna Mahna guy and Floyd (but only cuz of their weird hollow, blinking eyes).

Also when i was little i had a couple reaccuring dream when i was little. One where a giant frazzle was taking over my house. The other, Cookie and Owl (from Winnie the Pooh) were arguing in my room at night, i would wake up and watch them, then when they saw me, gave me the most evil stare ever!!!

Also, i have a big bird Q i'm gonna ask soon, the memory of it scared me.

 

[Natalie]

I think i have a thing with eyes. Weird eyes are just scary to me. All the muppets with odd eyes are just freaky. Like Lips, i forgot about him, Miss Piggy's eyes in TMM, Cookie Monster's googly eyes. I guess this applies to people in real life too, cross-eyes just freak me out. ok, just thought i'd mention that. anyone else seem to have this problem, or am i just weird?

 

[suggsy]

I can't believe NO ONE has mentioned this. i had nightmares about it until I was 8.

The first sketch with the count where Ernie is building the pyramid with blocks and count keeps counting them, dissasembling it in the process. OK, it doesn't sounds scary but every time Ernie tries to stop him Count hypnotizes him, turning Ernie into some form of zombie!! He made this creepy face!

Now as bad as this was when I was three, in the third sketch (yes, it was RECURRING!!!) Bert tries to help and they BOTH get turned into zombies!!! Terrifying. I could not watch this sketch when it was on, even though I loved the count in other sketches. Gives me the willies thinking about it.


The weird thing is some of the other scary things posted were my favorites. I used to get really excited when the Martians came on cause they were just silly. Lefty was a little scary when I was younger, but he was great in the song "Would Ya Like to Buy an O?" I got the mp3 of that and you can hear that wonderful interplay between Jim Henson and Frank Oz. It really didn't matter what characters they played, they had such great chemistry.

 

[Natalie]

Jeez suggsy! that zombie thing sounds scary! i'm glad i haven't seen it! When Ernie gets zombieish when the Count spent the night, that was bad enough!

 

[Niall]

Originally posted by suggsy

The first sketch with the count where Ernie is building the pyramid with blocks and count keeps counting them, dissasembling it in the process. OK, it doesn't sounds scary but every time Ernie tries to stop him Count hypnotizes him, turning Ernie into some form of zombie!! He made this creepy face!

Now as bad as this was when I was three, in the third sketch (yes, it was RECURRING!!!) Bert tries to help and they BOTH get turned into zombies!!! .

Your memory is playing tricks on you. You're talking about one skit, not three different ones. I have a tape from an episode of UNPAVED with this on it. Ernie has just finished building a pyramid of blocks and wants to take a picture of it. He asks Bert to guard it and make sure nothing happens to it while Ernie goes to get his camera. Sure enough, the moment Ernie leaves, the count makes his dramatic entrance and sees Ernie's blocks and announces he's going to count them. He starts then says "it is difficult to count these blocks in a pile, so I will move each one as I count them" Bert starts to protest but the Count shouts "Silence!" and 'zaps' him into silence. He proceeds to count the blocks, taking apart Ernie's pyramid as he's doing it. The usual thunder and lightning flashes when he finishes and he exits. Ernie comes back and sees his pyramid taken apart and starts sobbing. Bert explains to him that the Count had been and took his pyramid apart while counting the blocks. Ernie asks "How could you let him do it, Bert?" and just as Bert is trying to explain, the Count reappears and decides he wants to count the blocks again. Ernie and Bert both protest and again the Count zaps both of them into silence and counts the blocks again, only this time putting the pyramid back together again. After he finishes, he says "Now what did you want to say?" Bert gets mad at him for taking apart Ernie's pyramid. The count apologizes and starts moving and counting the blocks again. He exits again and Bert says "Well I sure told him a thing or two didn't I, Ernie?" Ernie taps Bert on the shoulder and says "Uh, Bert..." pointing to his pyramid which has been taken apart again.

 

[suggsy]

That was it alright Niall. One sketch, huh? I guess the scars ran deep.

Man, it was scary reading your synopsis. I remember having a nightmare where Count turned all the other Muppets on Sesame Street into vampires and he was counting how many members of the undead he was creating. Pretty vivid for a four year old.

 

[ssetta]

I think this might have been The Count's very first appearance, if not one of them. As I understand, he was always like that in his early years.

 

[Gentle Giant]

Believe it or not there used to be a sketch featuring the song Swing on a star. I forgot which human sang it but It featured an anything muppet and I was scared of that. Then I got over it