The Ramblings of Jarrod Fairclough, Muppet Nerd, Part 2

Jarrod Fairclough Presents: The Ramblings of a Muppet Nerd

Hi ho, and welcome to the second edition of my new article series. Before I start, I just want to say thanks to everyone who commented on the first article, especially Stelle, who absolutely made my day! Hopefully you’ll all enjoy the series as much as I enjoy writing it! Anyway, onwards to the article!

I love Muppet cameos. I love them like you wouldn’t believe. Which is why I get excited when they appear on other TV shows. Even if I don’t like the TV show, I’ll watch it, because it’s Muppets, and Muppets make the world a better place. But when I like the show, it makes it all the more exciting! There’s no better example of this than the appearance of Oscar, Grover and Elmo on Scrubs, one of my favourite shows. And it was perfectly done! And that’s got me thinking of other TV shows I’d like to see Muppets appear on. Let’s take a walk down TV show lane, shall we? Does that lane exist? Is there any housing available there?

• CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM:  Now, I have no idea how this would work convincingly, and I’m not sure any of the Muppet people would allow them on this show, because it can be extremely crass. But it’s hilarious, and with Muppet performers being incredibly good at improv, (as this show is mainly improvised), I can see some hilarity ensuing. Maybe an episode where Larry David goes to Stuffed and Unstrung and insults one of the puppeteers before the show, so they use the puppets to insult him in front of the audience.


• HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER: Neil Patrick Harris is a self-proclaimed Muppet fan, and he’s also appeared on Sesame Street as The Fairy Shoe Person–one of my personal favourite street scenes of all time. But how could Muppets convincingly appear on this? Maybe they could be interviewed by Robin about their new movie. Or Lily might play a video of them for her kindergarten class.  Of course it’d be fourth wall references all-round, because there’s some guy from that show that apparently has something to do with the new film? Ha, I kid. Believe me, we’ll get to Jason Segel, and my man-crush on him in the next article.


• 30 ROCK:  Alright, calm down, I know that the Muppets have been on it! But not Kermit, or Big Bird, or anyone awesome. And how would this happen? Well, it’s been established that Kenneth already sees the world as Muppets. Perhaps a conk on the head sees the 30 Rock team appear as Sesame Street characters to Kenneth. Prairie Dawn as Liz Lemon. Oscar as Jack. Zoe as Jenna.  Grover as Tracy. You get the idea.


• CONAN:  Okay, so technically this would be more of an appearance than a cameo. There are not many things in this world that I love as much as Muppets. But Conan O’Brien is one of them. And Muppets haven’t been seen with him nearly as much as they should have. I’m hoping they’ll appear to promote the new movie. And I’m hoping it’s better than their appearances on Leno... Anything would be better than Leno... I hate him as much as I hate Ke$ha.


• COMMUNITY:  This is the other thing I love as much as I love Muppets.  This show is by far one of the best sitcoms I’ve ever seen, one of the smartest pieces of work in the world. I could go on for days about the genius of this show, but I’ll try not to. The thing is, this show has done so many weird and quirky episodes, they’d think of a way to pull it off and make it look convincing. I mean these are the people who did a mafia movie episode (revolving around chicken fingers), numerous war episodes (all revolving around paintball, including cowboys and Star Wars), a conspiracy episode, a claymation episode, and a flashback episode that had 82 scenes we’d never actually seen before. This show could do it. This show should do it. In fact, I’m going to tweet show creator Dan Harmon about it now. One moment. There, I’m back. I really did tweet him about it.


These shows are some of my favourites, and I can easily see Muppets appearing on these shows. To any of the people who work on any of these shows, if you want to use any of these ideas, go ahead, I won’t sue. Just credit me with a thank you. No payment necessary! Unless you want to pay me... (Note from Ryan: And then who pays me?)

Tune in next time for my promised love letter to Jason Segel, the man I aspire to be. It helps I look a bit like him...

Have a shpadoinkle day! And if you got that reference, I love you.

Jarrod.





The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.com Source URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/search/label/Jarrod%20Fairclough
Visit Jim Henson for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection

The Ramblings of Jarrod Fairclough, Muppet Nerd

Jarrod Fairclough Presents: The Ramblings of a Muppet Nerd

I often forget that other people’s lives aren’t as Muppet related as my own. And when I say often, I mean almost every day. It seems that I’m always saying Muppet quotes, singing Muppet songs, and referencing them to people who have no idea who they are. It happens a lot at work.  I have a new manager, named Didier. Which rhymes with Lydia. Which lead to me, for hours, singing "Didier the Tattooed Lady," and laughing constantly. I can tell you right now this didn’t end well. At all. Because apparently that’s not the first time someone’s sang this around him. This other time, I drove a fellow worker home, and as she’s about to get her licence, she asked me where I got mine. Now, I knew she meant which DMV I went to, but I instantly, like a reflex, said "I took a correspondents course," which of course, she didn’t get.

A while back I went on a road trip with some friends, and I was one of the 4 people that took a car. So, a mate of mine was in with me, and I put in my iPod. I have A LOT of Muppet music on there, from Sesame Street albums to the Fraggle Rock Theme. And I made my mate listen to every single one of them. He wasn’t impressed, and asked to switch cars at the next rest stop. So I drove alone for an hour, singing at the top of my voice, much to the enjoyment of the car of attractive girls driving next to me on the highway.

As I’ve stated on this site before, I own almost 25 Muppet related t-shirts, with more ordered from Threadless and Red Bubble on their way. I went to uni the other week, and a girl in my class asked why I own so many. I told her it’s because the Muppets are the greatest thing in the world, the one thing in the world that has bought me constant joy. She replied with "That can’t be doing wonders for your love life..." Touché. But that got me thinking about this very topic I am talking about. Not all girls are going to appreciate my Muppety life. Those girls are not the girls for me.

The Muppets are a big part of my life. And if you’re on this site, it means they’re a big part of yours. Or it means you accidently typed in the wrong URL. If you’re looking for Ke$ha online, you’re way off.  Actually, if you’re looking for Ke$ha online, you might want to visit WebMD first.

So that’s my first post in this new series.  I decided to cancel “The Best Of: According to Jarrod” the moment that SesameStreet.org out-awesomed themselves and added a zillion more characters to the video page.  Be sure to join me next time for my extensive list of TV shows I want Muppet’s to appear on, and pending the length of that article, my love letter to Jason Segel.

Be sure to dance your cares away...
Jarrod





The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.comSource URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/search/label/Jarrod%20Fairclough
Visit Jim Henson for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection

The Best of... Ernie, According to Jarrod Fairclough

Jarrod Fairclough - See?  Didn’t I tell you I’d be back?

Hello sports fans, and welcome to my new series, entitled ‘THE BEST OF:  ACCORDING TO JARROD FAIRCLOUGH.” In each article, I will be showcasing what I personally perceive (oh, that’s alliteration) to be the best of an individual character, based on a viewing session on SesameStreet.org. I’ll be bypassing the famous sketches, such as "Banana in the Ear," "Rubber Duckie," etc., and do some different, possibly more obscure sketches. I’ll be diving straight in, no hoo-ha, no waffling, no going on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on... and on. We begin today with Ernie, and some of my favourite sketches of his.

BANANA TALK

In this sketch, Ernie is speaking to Gladys the Elephant on a banana. Well, he’s pretending to, anyway. And throughout the sketch, he coaxes Bert in to joining in the fun. And while I think this scene is really stolen by Bert, and believe me, it will make an appearance in The Best of Bert, Ernie just plays off him perfectly, showcasing some great chemistry between Steve Whitmire and Frank Oz, who I’m 99% sure is performing Bert here. 

FAVOURITE LINE:  "You know, Gladys, from the circus? You know? Elephant? Big Ears? Trunk?"

BERT AND ERNIE READ TOGETHER

This sketch is Ernie doing what he does best to his old buddy Bert: just ticking him off. Bert goes to read a book about pigeons, and Ernie discusses with him that it’s always good to read when it’s quiet. He then demonstrates some noises that make it hard to read, such as a dog barking (Steve’s had practice – Ernie’s bark sounded just like Sprocket!), and a car honking. He then starts beat-boxing and scatting away to the radio!

FAVOURITE ERNIE LINE: "Or a fire engine, it goes WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO---"

BERT’S HAT

I think I love this sketch. It is just genius, the way that Ernie just doesn’t care that he ruins Bert’s hats, so he doesn’t have to make a decision which one to wear. Sure, the sketch is meant to be about same and different, but I can’t help but think they just made this sketch for the fun of it.

FAVOURITE ERNIE LINE: I don’t really have one for this sketch, because otherwise I’d be typing out the entire thing. Just watch it, and you’ll see what I mean.

BLACKOUT ON SESAME STREET

There’s been a blackout on Sesame Street in the middle of the night! And Ernie can’t decide if he wants to watch television, or listen to the radio, both of which he can’t do because the powers out. Ernie decides to ring someone on Sesame Street to let them know the powers out, but he chooses Oscar, who gets mighty angry! The sketch is brilliantly written, with Ernie’s naivety coming in to play well.  And the ending is just brilliant!

FAVOURITE ERNIE LINE: After being berated by Oscar for ringing in the middle of the night, and with Oscar demanding to know who called him, Ernie coyly and hesitantly replies... "Um... It’s Bert."

DON’T EAT MY PORRIDGE

Now here is a pairing I don’t think we’ve seen enough of... Baby Bear and Ernie! These two play off each other brilliantly! In this sketch, Baby Bear and Ernie discuss the importance of porridge, of which Baby Bear is excited to eat! Ernie informs him that he had porridge that morning, so he isn’t hungry... But someone who is hungry is Goldi-Duckie! Of course, this is just rubber duckie in a wig, but Ernie can’t hold her back, and suddenly Baby Bears porridge has been contaminated by Ernie’s playtime. And make sure you stick around for the end, for Goldi-duckie’s return to Baby Bear’s porridge!

FAVOURITE ERNIE LINE: "What’s that, Goldi-Duckie? You wanna take a nap in Baby Bear’s wee-little bed? It’s just right?"

DRAWING WITH BABY BEAR

Again, another Baby Bear and Ernie sketch, where Ernie again ruins Baby Bear’s fun. This is possibly my favourite Ernie sketch, just because of his playful nature towards Baby Bear’s show. It’s almost as if he knows that he’s ruining it for Baby Bear, but he realizes it’s just so gosh-darn funny! It’s got the same vibe as the Bert’s Hat sketch from before, and you can tell just how much fun Steve was having during this. In the sketch, Baby Bear is doing his own show, and Ernie intervenes and wants to draw along, then deciding to change it up a bit.

FAVOURITE ERNIE LINE: "Maybe I could add a tail! Oh, and some flowers!"

That’s 6 of my favourite Ernie sketches, and believe me, I could find dozens more! But in order to keep this thing short, I’ve decided to stop it there. Now, I realize most of these are Steve Whitmire’s Ernie, but let me assure you that was accidental. It was just that all the Jim Henson sketches were pretty well known, and I wanted more obsure ones.

Honourable mentions to these sketches:

ERNIE PLANS

ERNIE’S PRETEND TEA PARTY

WHAT’S THE NAME OF THAT SONG – My personal favourite rendition of the classic!

Cheers kids, I’ll see you soon...
Jarrod









The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, ryguy102390@gmail.comSource URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/search/label/Jarrod%20Fairclough
Visit Jim Henson for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection

"?" with Jarrod Fairclough: What is the Best Sesame Street Toy? ANSWER!

Jarrod Fairclough Presents: "?"
Because Asking Questions Is A Good Way To Find Out Things
Question: What is the Best Sesame Street Toy?
 THE ANSWER! 

Jarrod Fairclough - Hello sports fans, and welcome to a very special edition of my little segment.  Why is it a special edition?  We’ll get to that.

This is of course the follow up to my question “What is the best Sesame Street toy?”, and I received a few answers from people around the Muppet fandom world.  So let’s just jump in shall we?

Out first answer comes from our good friend Joe Hennes from ToughPigs:
“The Pook-a-Looz are really great plush. I gave one to my nephew a few months after he was born, and it's pretty much the most adorable thing ever. I was going to give him Fozzie, because I think he's most adorable, but I ended up with Kermit because I had a vision of him dragging the Kermit around by his leg, and that was too cute to pass up."

I love it, and I do think the Pook-a-Looz are pretty adorable. And I do have great visions of my little niece-phew (thats a mixture of niece and nephew seeing as we won’t know the babies gender until it’s born) dragging around a little Muppet.

But let’s see our next answer, from the always wonderful Ryan Dosier:
"I, personally, love the Collect-a-Pal toys. They're tiny, but not so tiny to be swallowed or stuck in ears or other orifices, cheap, and fun. They're like little ball versions of the Sesame characters. They're quite stylistic and not exactly accurate representations of the characters... but how can you not love them? And, also, I know it's not really a toy... but you absolutely cannot beat The Monster at the End of This Book."

Ha, I love those little guys. Might need to jump on the internet and buy some... For my niece-phew. And for me...

Some quick answers from some blog readers:
Lucus – “Sesame Street Firehouse.  Big Bird and Grover as firefighters...  It came with Barkley, too!”
Sparkle – “Tickle Me Elmo”
Shane – “Sesame Street Beanie Babies”

And a nice long answer from frequent contributor Michael Wermuth, Jr.:
“I don't have any Sesame Street toys that have been produced in the past ten years, but I guess you can't go wrong with Tickle Me Elmo or any variation. Or those anniversary plush that came out a few years ago. I'd also recommend the Sesame Street Beans that came out in 1998, the Magic Talking Kermit, the finger puppets from the 1970s and 1980s, and the die-cast Sesame Street vehicles which I think were released by Playschool in the 1980s. Of course you'll probably have to try eBay or search flea markets and goodwill stores for those.

I think it'd be easier to pick out books and DVDs. You can't go wrong with The Monster at the End of the Book, and there is a book called the Sesame Street Treasury, which combines many books from the show's 40 year history (including How to Be a Grouch and The People in Your Neighborhood). When it comes to DVDs, I'd suggest Monster Hits, Silly Storytime, C is for Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie's Word Play, A Celebration of Me Grover, or any of the anniversary DVDs.”

Some great answers there.  I love every single one of these ideas, and I’ve actually seen the big Treasury book around, so I might have to get that and put it away for a couple of years time.

So there we have it, some fantastic answers from fantastic people.  And a lovely little way to wrap up my segment "?"

Whoa, I hear you say.  Rewind that.  Play it again.  “...lovely way to wrap up my segment ‘?’”

Yes  That is why this is a special edition, my friends, for it is, at least for the foreseeable future, my final edition of this segment. Why? Let me tell you. When I began this post with the question about Oscar’s can, that was the only thing I could think to ask. I managed to come up with a few questions, but the vast majority I came up with were easily answerable with a bit of looking. And truth be told, I’m out of questions. So, I’ve decided to end it. But thank you to everyone who ever submitted or helped get answers for me.

Thanks to Joe Hennes from ToughPigs for getting me in contact with Joe Mathieu. Thanks to Joe Mathieu who was kind enough to give me a detailed answer in my first edition, and has since been very kind to me.  Thanks to Katy Perry for wearing scantily clad clothing. Thanks to Corey Edwards, the hopefully director of The Fraggle Rock Movie. Thanks to Jim Lewis for an answer about Pepe, and then of course a huge thanks to Bill Barretta for an answer on the same question. Thanks to the people here who put in their answers about kids toys. Thanks to Beau for his comments. Thanks to Artie Esposito – he knows why. Thanks to Paul McGinnis. Thanks to Emilio Delgado, who had written an answer for an unpublished edition about Maria and Luis’ last names. Thanks to Matt Vogel – he didn’t do anything for my segment, but the man is still responsible for getting me on the Sesame Street set back in 2008. And, of course, thanks to Ryan Dosier, a man so filled with Muppet fan-ism that it makes me jealous.

BUT NEVER FEAR, for I’m not disappearing. Just this segment is disappearing. It took me 18 months to get a ‘Frequent Contributor’ credit, and I’m not losing it anytime soon. I will be back, in some type of other format, doing some other type of segment. I need to talk to Ryan about some ideas.

But, before I really end this thing, you may recall in my very first answer about Oscar that I saw an episode where he was wearing a garbage can lid as a hat, but I missed out on getting a photo...

Well, guess what I managed to catch on TV the other day?




See ya, kids.
Jarrod Fairclough.







The Muppet Mindset by Ryan DosierSource URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/search/label/Jarrod%20Fairclough
Visit Jim Henson for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection

"?" with Jarrod Fairclough: What is the Best Sesame Street Toy?

"?" with Jarrod Fairclough
"Because Asking Questions Is A Good Way To Find Out Things"
Question: What is the Best Sesame Street Toy Out There?

Jarrod Fairclough - My friends, I am excited. I’m excited for 2011. Why? Let me tell you. Firstly, the new Muppet movie will be out, albeit in America, it doesn’t look like it’ll be released here in Australia until 2012. Also, I’m making some great animations in my course this year, which I’m really excited for. But all of that, even the Muppet movie, pales in comparison to what will happen in the second half of the year...

I’m going to be an uncle for the very first time. My sister is currently pregnant, due in July, and I can’t wait to be an uncle. But I need some advice. And that leads to today’s question:

What is the best Sesame Street toy out there?

I’ve been put in charge of my niece's or nephew's Sesame experiences. It’s an honour I take pretty seriously, and I’ve already purchased a couple of things. One is a Big Bird bib I bought in New York when I was there last year. The other is called "Elmo Sit Me Up" seen here: http://dealsgoneinseconds.com.au/Babygoods/Sesame-Street-Elmo-Sit-Me-Up/prod_116.html

But I need some advice. And that advice is coming from my friends (and The British Correspondent) here at The Muppet Mindset, from some Sesame people, and, hopefully, from you. If you have any ideas of great Sesame toys, ones you’ve bought for your kids, cousins, nieces, nephews, all of those, or even for yourself, please drop me a line at jarrodmuppetmindset@gmail.com, or Ryan at ryguy102390@gmail.com and soon I’ll post the answers from everyone!

Until then, have a great day, I’m off to dance my cares away.

Cheers,
The soon to be Uncle Jarrod










The Muppet Mindset by Ryan DosierSource URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/search/label/Jarrod%20Fairclough
Visit Jim Henson for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection

Jarrod Fairclough is Outraged

Well, it's happened... The Muppet Mindset has caused an international incident. Yes, two of our frequent contributors (and one antagonizer) have entered into a feud with each other... and since one's from Great Britain and the other is from Australia and The Muppet Mindset is based in the United States we've got a three-way international war erupting in our midst! Don't believe me? Well... read on!


Jarrod Fairclough is Outraged

Jarrod Fairclough - I am outraged, Muppet fans. Absolutely sick to my scorn.  The last time I was this outraged was when Ke$ha released that awful “Turn It Up” song... Man I hate her.

But alas, Ke$ha is not the reason I am so outraged. No, Muppet fans. The reason is because of someone on this very blog. Someone we all know, and yet none of us trust. Especially not Ryan’s cat... I’m hoping everyone here has gone and looked at The Muppet Mindset’s "About Us" page. If not, go and have a look, because it has some great bios of the staff and frequent contributors to the blog, of which I am one.  And with these bios are some photos.  There’s myself with Bert, Ryan with Zoe, Lisa the Intern with an awesome blue Whatnot.  But... Wait a second... The British Correspondent has a photo of himself with a question mark over his face...




And this is where the outrage comes in...

QUESTION MARKS ARE MY THING ON THIS BLOG! For a few months now, I’ve been writing a series of article’s entitled “?”. See that? See the title. It’s a question mark. And yet The British Correspondent reckons he can just waltz in with his mysteriousness, and claim the question mark? Look at my logo:




See, it’s a question mark. With Kermit’s head as the dot. A QUESTION MARK!

So here is my message to The British Correspondent. You can do what you like to this blog when Ryan leaves it with you. You can do whatever you did to that poor cat as much as you like. You can be all mysterious. But if you don’t change that About Me photo, and swear off question marks, then be prepared for me to reveal who you actually are! Okay, Mr Bean? You got me, Black Adder??? Listening, James Bond? No, not James Bond. He has too much class to steal someone’s question marks.

Your move, British Correspondent.

Jarrod Fairclough

The Muppet Mindset does not support this feud, nor do we plan to get in the middle of it or pick sides... but we do enjoy watching it.






The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier Source URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/search/label/Jarrod%20Fairclough
Visit Jim Henson for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection

"?" with Jarrod Fairclough - "Why Does Pepe Say 'Okay' at the End of Most Sentences?" UPDATE

Jarrod Fairclough Presents "?"
"Because Asking Questions Is a Good Way to Find out Things"
ANSWER: "Why does Pepe say 'okay' at the end of most sentences?"




Jarrod Fairclough - Hello friends with heads, and welcome to my next (kind of) instalment of “?”, where instead of coming up with a new question (I do have one, but I’m waiting on an e-mail for the answer), I am instead going to give you an updated answer on my last question, "Why does Pepe say ‘okay’ at the end of most sentences?"

You may recall we had answers from people on the forum, and on the article, and then one from Jim Lewis.  Well, the answer finally came in while I was in America from Mr Bill Barretta himself, and i figured that was worth a follow up article.  So, enjoy in its copied and pasted glory, the answer from the horses (prawns?) mouth!

“Hi Jarrod,

Sorry, I just saw this... so I hope it's not too late.

The reason Pepe, often says "okay" at the end of a sentence, which by the way, people tend to think that a question mark follows it (noticed you didn't do that), but it's actually a statement.

Pepe is based on my wife's aunt (no longer with us) who was from Madrid, Spain but lived in California for about 30 years. This was simply the way she spoke. "You are wearing a beautiful shirt, okay." "We're going to the mall, okay." She was basically confirming what she was saying and I always thought that was a funny character trait of hers...and she was quite a character. There's a lot more of her than just "okay" in Pepe.

As a matter of fact and better still, her name was Maria Theresa and in my wife's family there are actually a few more Maria Theresa's, so...when I met her family in Madrid, the way they distinguished her from the others was by giving her the name Maria Theresa Okay. Pretty funny huh?

Hope this answers the question for ya, sorry it took so long,  Bill”

So it’s exactly what I wrote last time, but I figured Bill went out of his way to answer, so I should share it with you.

So there you go, and I’ll be seeing you sometime soon.

Until then, have a good day!

Jarrod







The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier
Source URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/search/label/Jarrod%20Fairclough
Visit Jim Henson for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection

Jarrod Fairclough in America

Jarrod Fairclough Presents – BIG BIRD IN CHINA  JARROD FAIRCLOUGH IN AMERICA

Hello my Muppety Mindsetty friends, and happy holidays!

As some of you may be aware, I was going on a trip to America from my lovely little home in Australia.  Well, that’s over. Been there done that. And I had a blast. But alas, I will not bore you with stories of The Statue of Liberty or tales of the Hollywood sign. Instead, I’ll give you the details on what really matters in life.  Muppets.

Yes, my holiday was filled with wholesome Muppet goodness! ...Kind of. I’ll just go through what I did, and you can decide for yourself.

So I was in New York for Thanksgiving, and we decided to go to the huge Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I’d seen it on TV and photos on the internet, but, as people who have been there will agree, nothing can prepare you for just how awesome it is. The balloons are huge. Mammoth. As the parade began, suddenly my eyes were filled with green. There was Kermit the Frog, in his huge plastic balloon glory, floating down 7th Avenue.




I was over the moon. Absolutely thrilled to see it. And I thought I couldn’t be happier than that. Until... Well, until I saw this:




REAL LIVE SESAME STREET MUPPETS! Look! There’s Baby Bear, Big Bird, Zoe, Bob, Gordon, Susan! And of course my old friend Bert (who, coincidently enough, I met exactly two years ago today at time of writing). But I can’t tell you how excited I got when I saw Ernie.




That orange dude is the pinnacle of my childhood. And to see him only a few meters away from me took me right back to being a small kid giggling at him yelling “Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere FISHY FISHY FISHY!” and playing the rhyming game. Don’t get me wrong, I was thrilled to see Big Bird, Bert, and The Count too, but I met them when I visited the set. Just seeing Ernie truly fulfilled a lifelong dream. The rest of the parade was cool. I saw Jimmy Fallon (who, might I add, has gotten way better as a host), Kanye West, Jessica Simpson, Joan Rivers, and Miranda Cosgrove, who, when my mate and I saw her, were like “IT’S iCarly!” We’re children.

A few days later we decided to head to the Paley Center for the Arts, which was, for the first few moments, a bit of a disappointment. But we did get in for free. That’s what an Aussie accent gets you  But when we sat down on the computers to go through the archives, we all had a blast. My mates ended up watching Seinfeld clips, but I was able to watch some old school Sesame Street and Muppet things I’d never seen before.  Things like Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, of which I’d only seen clips. Of Muppets and Men was there, and I watched a part of that. There was a panel discussion with the Henson family and Jerry Nelson, filmed a couple of years back, and I watched a small clip of that. I was trying to take in as much as I could, with only 90 minutes to do so, and I had to watch some Conan O’Brien stuff! I mean, who doesn’t have to? I could have spent days there.

We have American Apparel shops in Australia, but they are few and far between. And I knew they sold awesome Sesame t-shirts. So I bought some. An Ernie and Bert one, which I’m currently wearing as I write this. A Sherlock Hemlock one (how awesome is it that you can get a Sherlock Hemlock t-shirt after all these years?) and the photo cast t-shirt.



I spent a few days in L.A too, and I spent a day of that at Disneyland, which really is, by far, the happiest place on Earth! I realized while in Toon Town, that’s exactly how I see the world! Couple of things before I talk about Muppet*Vision 3D. I high-fived Pluto and fist-bumped Sulley from Monsters Inc. And I shook Mickey’s hand.

But guess what! My mates went on the Tower of Terror (the only ride I blatantly refused to go on!) and I decided that’d be a good time to message my Mum while I waited. So I’m sending her a message, and I look up and realize people are giggling at me. So I ignored them, and continued on. And they all kept giggling. I turned around, and there’s Mr. Incredible, with his big plastic head, mimicking me on my phone and being over the top. He then saluted me, shook my hand and walked off.  Big Pixar bully!

So I went to Muppet*Vision, and it is AWESOME!




The show is one of the best things I’ve ever seen The Muppets do, and the animatronics parts cracked me up. I was amazed at just how well it was all done. I looked over at animatronic Statler and Waldorf at one point, and even though they weren’t the focus of the segment, they were still reacting and acting to whatever was going on onscreen. Bravo, Henson people.

Plus, the Swinetrek was there. It was awesome. Afterward, I got myself some Muppet Vinylmation, a Fozzie and Rowlf. They too, are awesome.

I went to Universal Studios. It was good. The Jurassic Park ride is crazy at the end. But the only Muppety thing on that day was going past the studio that is about to be done up for The Muppets movie, and seeing a guy in a car that was going to pick up someone related to the film.

And then I went for a little walk along Hollywood Blvd, checking out the Stars on the Walk of Fame. Again, I won’t bore you with whose stars I saw, because you only care about a few. Like Big Bird:




Or Bernie Brillstein (my mates couldn’t figure out why I even knew who this guy was):




I didn’t see Kermit’s, I don’t think I walked down far enough. But then on the way back, my friend Josh asked “Does Jim Henson have one?", and I couldn’t remember. I had been walking with my head down looking at them all, and literally as I said “I think so” I stepped on it.




Well, that was my holiday Muppet wise. I had a ball, and a lot of you are very lucky to live in such an awesome country. I will be back there, my friends, don’t you worry about that. As for now, it’s my sister's birthday, and more importantly, the two-year anniversary of when I went to Sesame Street.




So I have some stuff to do.  But I will see you all real soon for my next ‘?’ article, and an update on the whole Pepe “okay” question, straight from the prawns mouth himself!  Or the puppeteers mouth, actually.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS my friends, and I’ll see you soon.

Love,
Jarrod





The Muppet Mindset by Ryan DosierSource URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/search/label/Jarrod%20Fairclough
Visit Jim Henson for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection

"?" with Jarrod Fairclough - Why does Pepe say "okay"? ANSWER!

Jarrod Fairclough Presents "?"
"Because Asking Questions Is a Good Way to Find out Things"
ANSWER: "Why does Pepe say 'okay' at the end of most sentences?"

Jarrod Fairclough - Hello my little Muppet minions, and welcome to the answer to the last post I did...  Well, actually, the last post I did was my Muppet Fan Testimonial. By the way, fun fact, that was around 2100 words, which is 100 words more than my average university essay has to be, and they usually end up at 1500 before I get fed up. I need to write more essays on Muppets...

Anyway, this is the answer to my Pepe question.  The one that’s “Why does Pepe say ‘Okay’ at the end of most sentences?”

And didn’t a lot of you enjoy telling me that the answer was already well documented? But its okay, that’s why I love my little Muppety Mindset reader friends. I did get an answer from my friend Beau, who informed me of a weird tick he has, adding “You know what I mean” to the end of his sentences. He then theorised that Pepe says “okay” as a self defense mechanism, so he can say anything offensive, and by adding ‘Okay?” they can speak up if they’re offended, otherwise forever hold their peace.

I’m not going to copy and paste people’s responses, because they’re more or less the same as that of Jim Lewis, Muppet writer extraordinaire, who Ryan was kind enough to approach for an answer. Truth be told, I also went looking for an answer from Bill Barretta, and Pepe himself, but with the new Muppet movie underway, they understandably have no time. So, here is Jim’s answer, copied and pasted in all its glory:



"This is really a question for Bill Barretta, but here’s how I understand it. Pepe was inspired by his wife’s aunt, who always spoke in declarative sentences, never in questions. She ended those questions with “okay”, which implies that whatever she said is something you will agree with. It’s a way of getting to “yes” without waiting for the other person to answer. And that’s how Pepe operates – constantly in pursuit of his goals: womens, moneys and free stuffs, okay."

I loved that the answer was chock-full of Muppety goodness at the end.
So there we go. If you didn’t know the answer before, you know it now. Truth be told, you could have gone on Pepe’s Muppet Wiki page and seen that answer, as I did the day after the question appeared on the website. So there we have it. Pepe says okay so that people will agree with him, and he can get moneys and womens and free stuffs, okay.  And because Mrs. Barretta’s aunt is awesome. PS – I knew all along Rosita doesn’t say ‘okay’.

Well, that’s it for now, and you won’t be seeing me for a little while, I’m off in a few days to New York City and Los Angeles, where, with any luck, I’ll have a Muppety experience or two to inform you of. But no promises. And hello to Artie Esposito, who told me the other day he reads this website all the time!

Well, I’m off to pack my stuff. Here’s hoping my plane doesn’t get grounded after take off (I’m flying Qantas, which, to those who have no idea, has had like 10 grounded planes in the last 2 weeks). I’ll be seeing you in about a month, Muppet fans. Until then, dance your cares away. Or work them away if you’re a Doozer. But they don’t have computers. Do they? No... Anyway, until then...

Cheers!
Jarrod













The Muppet Mindset by Ryan DosierSource URL: https://jimhensons.blogspot.com/search/label/Jarrod%20Fairclough
Visit Jim Henson for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection