Sesame Street exists on the premise that kids watch TV — a lot of TV. The show merely takes advantage of couch potato-tendencies in order to educate and inform. It makes sense then that Sesame Street would parody just about everything already appearing on television for the education of the children.
Related: Banksy’s Simpsons Intro: 5 More Epic Couch Gags from Episodes Past
The latest parody to hit the Internet? “Smell like a Monster,” a 49-second homage to last summer’s Old Spice viral sensation.
Although oriented toward small children, Sesame Street has always excelled when it comes to entertaining parents as well as toddlers. We’re not talking about a Barney or Teletubbies program likely to cause loving parents to gouge out their own eyeballs. No, Sesame Street has long understood that parents watch TV along with their children. And the Street has always attempted to amuse those parents as much as the kids.
Sesame Street released the newest of these parodies, “Smell like a Monster,” last Thursday. The Muppet version replaces hunky Isaiah Mustafa with Grover. The horse is now a cow. And the clam tries to eat Grover’s nose. However, the true difference is intent, since Sesame Street is teaching kids the word “on” instead of tempting women to buy body wash for their husbands.
The result? An incredibly funny spoof and a brand-new viral video. In the Sesame Street video’s first weekend on YouTube, the faux commercial garnered more than 1.4 million hits.
Sesame Street parodies are not limited to just commercials. The kids show has been parodying more adult television for decades, and parodies have only multiplied during the past few years. In most cases, the parodied shows are not those likely to count small children as part of their viewing audience.
Desperate Housewives? Mad Men? True Blood? You might not think such show lend themselves to children’s television. But maybe it’s time for a Sesame Street education on that front.
Mad Men
“Good work sycophants!”
Desperate Houseplants
“Oh … Your soil looks … dry!”
True Mud
Cud, spud, dud, thud… It’s amazing how many words (other than blood) rhyme with mud.
RSI: Rhyme Scene Investigation
“Did you lose a muskrat, sir? A flat muskrat?”
The Closer
Better close your pencil cases…
Law & Order: Special Letters Unit
“In the alphabet system, there are 26 letters…”
A’s Anatomy
“Now observe, lowly medical students …” Anvils, adhesive tape and artichokes save the day!
30 Rocks
“We can’t ask them! They’re rocks!”
Outrageous Makeover: Home Addition
“It is one boring door. Where is the outrageousness?”
It’s a little scary how often cows feature in these parodies.
(Image courtesy of PBS)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
Laurel grew up in Mamaroneck, NY, Grosse Pointe, MI and Bellevue WA. She then went on to live in places like Boston, Tucson, Houston, Wales, Tanzania, Prince Edward Island and New York City before heading back to Seattle. Ever since early childhood, when she became addicted to The Muppet Show, Laurel has watched far too much TV. Current favorites include Chuck, Modern Family, Supernatural, Mad Men and Community. Laurel received a BA in Astrophysics (yes, that is possible) from Colgate University and a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies and History of Science from Columbia University before she realized that television is much better than studying.
