*Grover voice* “You are looking highly attractive today.”
Also, at 0:18 she’s holding Grover and framed by a halo just exactly like the Pietà. Go figure! (The video description, by the way, is “This song didn’t deserve to be remade by Ernie and Elmo. Kahn may be deceased, but the originals never get old,” which seems enormously aggressive.)
How up in her business is the puppeteer in this?
All. All up in her business.
Aggressive, yes.
Wrong, no.
This is taking me back to childhood and I’m loving it.
I was dreading this day. Her death still breaks my heart, and nothing magnifies grief like childlike Muppets singing beautiful songs.
See also: Big Bird singing at Jim Henson’s funeral.
Right? Big Bird’s singing had me sobbing and ugly crying. I was already tearful from Kermit motionless with a sign: I’ve Lost My Voice.
Mascara is still intact after reading the senior dog story from Link Roundup and I’d like to keep it that way, please.
The week after Henson died, I caught a Sesame Street rerun on the TV. I ran a daycare and the staff would play a few minutes of Sesame Street each day. I happened to be in the room when Ernie was talking about his fears while planning a trip and said, “What if I didn’t come back, Bert? What if you never saw me again?”
Instantly horrified, I moved to the back of the room swiftly and covered my mouth. Then worked my way back to my office. None of the kids saw me fall apart. If my staff saw my tears, they politely declined to comment.
Did the PBS station choose that particular rerun in light of Henson’s recent death? Damn, it hit me so hard that I can still feel it.
This video was the first thing I saw of Madeline Kahn after she died. It still gets me.
For more Big Bird feels, check out the documentary I Am Big Bird. I got to see it at a film festival, and I sat right behind Carol Spinney. And I can tell you, that is one lovable man.
Mr Daki put that on a few weeks ago and I was all, “okay, whatever, we can watch your stupid documentary.
And then I dissolved into goo. I’m still mad at those ROTC doofs who stole the yellow feathers!
At the festival screening (and I love telling this story, so sorry if any of you have seen this before), I could see him crying about things from forty years ago. He was right there with everybody else crying about every little event as if he was seeing it for the first time, too.
Afterwards, he did a Q&A, and in the middle of that, he pulled Oscar out of a duffel bag and answered a few questions as Oscar. Then he sang “I Love Trash” and the half of the audience that wasn’t a blubbering mess was singing along with him.
After that, when they’re pushing us all out the door to make room for the next movie, he was in the lobby hugging people and signing autographs. I saw one woman try to tell her friends that he’d just signed her festival pass, but she was crying, so she just held out her pass, which he’d signed “LOVE, BIG BIRD” in a six-year-old’s blocky handwriting.
😥💛💛💛💛💛🐤
Oh god, I would cry so hard probably too. I wish I could meet him.
I’m crying. It’s fine.
This is why I can never meet a Muppeteer– I would be an incoherent mess. I used to want to be on Sesame Street when I was a kid but when I was about 15 I realized that would require confronting that Muppets weren’t real and I think that was more damaging to me than realizing Santa wasn’t real.
From what I’ve heard in interviews with Muppet performers, kids don’t seem to mind or notice that there’s a person operating the puppet, and they still connect completely with them.
She is having so much fun. This makes me happy.
I like how she is petting Grover like a kitty at the end.
I would have too.
Oh, of course! Me too!
This one video was my favorite part of the entire Sesame Street singalong video. From the moment baby nohairnoheart saw it her future path was set. That level of perfection is still the ultimate goal. Child me was a diva and she recognized her goddess immediately.
I won’t lie – I totally forgot that she’d done this song with Grover! My kids love the Ernie and Elmo version, because that’s the only one they’ve ever seen. Until TONIGHT.
This has made my day so much more bearable.
The greatest Pièta of all.
Oh my goodness! I did not know Madeline Kahn before you started this series, and had not seen or heard her in anything — or so I THOUGHT! With the lovely excuse of teaching English to Japanese primary school kids I bought several Sesame Street CDs, making sure to prioritise early Sesame Street songs — and this was one of them! I did know who she was! Sort of!
SO THIS IS THIS ONE
I WAS OBSESSED WITH THIS AS A KID
I HAD NO IDEA IT WAS HER
GAH
Did you just find your root? 😉
When she’s singing low, and Grover’s staring at her mouth, that’s exactly like my cat when I’ve eaten pizza and then made kissy faces at her.
This was always one of my favourite bits on Sesame Street. My mom would rush in from whatever she was doing so she could sing along too
This was always one of my favourite bits on Sesame Street. My mom would rush in from whatever she was doing so she could sing along too
In love with her. I was in love with her when I was an iddy toddler.
This song was the highlight of the Sesame Street sing-a-long video I showed to multiple kids while doing childcare for drug court.
Her laugh and grin around 4:01 just gives me life.