ZM's Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley - Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley's Fact of the Day (of the Week!) - Sesame St Week!

Episode Date: October 5, 2023

Vaughan the Grouch walks us down Memory Lane, and takes a right turn onto Sesame Street!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The ZM Podcast Network. Play ZM's Fletch, Vaughn and Hayley. Hello and welcome to Fact of the Day of the Week. This week, Bert and Vaughn guide us on a walking tour of everyone's favourite thoroughfare, Sesame Street. It's time for... Fact of the Day, Day, day I thought, surely over its run since 1969. Nice.

Nice. Sesame Street has been on TV pretty much nonstop. Yeah. So surely it's full of facts. And this is the fact that's kicking off Sesame Street, fact of the day, is that there is an episode of Sesame Street that was recorded but never aired. Oh.

The name of the episode is Snuffy's parents get a divorce. Oh. Snuffleupagus? Snuffleupagus. Snuffleupagus. Yep, Mr. Snuffleupagus. Now, was there some cultural inappropriation? Nope.

Okay. Nope. Okay. Nope. It was, uh, when they decided to cover the serious topic of children of divorce. Oh, okay. And when parents get divorced and what that means for the children, because they, uh, got

in 1989, which was when they first wanted to do this, 1992 was when the episode was finished and ready for airing, but they never aired it. There was a report from the US Census Bureau that 40% of American children had experienced divorce. And they said, we've covered serious issues, which have

had significantly less across-the-board impact. So let's try our best to cover divorce in an episode. And they were like, what Muppet can we use? And Snuffy... Snuffleupagus. Snuffleupagus was the one that they chose because it wasn't one of the main... It was like an elephant

looking... It was a woolly mammoth. Woolly mammoth. It was a woolly mammoth. Yeah. And for a while there, Big Bird thought everybody thought Snuffleupagus was Big Bird's imaginary friend because he was never around when Big Bird would talk about him and no one ever saw him. Like Fletcher's girlfriend in high school

that just went to a different high school in a different town. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She was older though and super hot. Yeah, yeah, she's a model so it's hard to like get her to come to New York

for the weekend. But he wasn't imaginary. He was, he was real. He existed. And she existed too. No one's questioning that. She was gorgeous.

So they made the episode and they made it in conjunction with like therapists and everything that they always consulted for this sort of thing. And then they decided to do tests with focus groups for children, younger children, sort of the core demographic of Sesame Street, preschool and early years of school.

And they decided not to air it because of at the end of it, even though they were constantly uh reassured by the other muppets of these things uh they said they they believed that any argument their parent had would their parents had would lead to divorce yeah just despite big bird saying quite the opposite uh they were also uh when they were asked asked about the relationship with the kids and the parents, they said, oh no, I think the parents stopped loving each other and they stopped loving their children. So they were like, well, we can't have that out there. They said that every argument meant divorce.

One of the parents had to move away and the kid could never see them again. And the parents didn't love them as their children anymore and they said despite like the whole episode was based around the fact that those three things don't happen

in divorce you still get to see the parent that you don't live with full time everything so they were like we just actually can't air it

and the accountants were like livid because they're like this was a very expensive episode to make we had to make a Mr Snuffleupagus who had not been

on Sesame Street before Snuffy's mum had been Snuffy's dad hadn't been and that's maybe why they got a divorce yeah expensive episode to make. We had to make him Mr. Snuffleupagus who had not been on Sesame Street before. Snuffy's mum had been, Snuffy's dad hadn't been and that's maybe why they got a divorce. Yeah. She was left at home raising the children

in the mammoth cave and he was what, golfing and pissing up with his mates? No doubt. It's time she... Another lad's trip. Another lad's trip?

Yeah. Think how big that bus would have to be to get all those lads on it if they were all mammoths. So they never ended up, they never ended up using it. It wasn't until in 2012 that they made a non-televised special

for, it was called Little Children, Big Challenges, and this one was Divorce, where they did address it again. But this time using Abby Cadabby, not Snuffleupagus. Right. It was not Snuffleupagus. Right. It was not used at that time. They've also done episodes after September 11th and Hurricane Katrina were two other- Serious ones.

Very serious Sesame Street- But they made it to air. Yes. Those made it to air, but that is the Snuffy's parents get a divorce, never made it to air. And of course, a bird in a gay marriage.

That was a big one. That was contentious, but they did it. They did it. They did it. They did it. We knew all along. Very happy. We've known forever.

You know. Well, the key is the one's got vertical stripes and one's horizontal stripes. That's how it's going to work. That's right. Okay, right. That's how it's going to work. So today's fact of the day is in 1992,

Sesame Street made an episode about Snuffy's parents getting a divorce that never aired because it didn't test well with children. Just found tomorrow's fact of the day for Sesame Street week. I saw you do a little wiggle. I got very excited. It's one of my favourite. I want to talk about hands today. Okay.

For Sesame Street. Hands. Cookie Monster and Ernie are the only left-handed Muppets. Shout out. And they made them specifically to represent the left-handed community. How do you feel about that, Hayley, being a lefty? Represented. Yeah, they were like, we need left-handed Muppets

because they're a left-handed people. And children who are watching need to be represented. Righties won't notice it, but lefties will notice. Lefties will. I remember those early episodes where they'd try to beat it out of them with a roller. Yeah. Yeah.

No, son of mine. A left-handed fairy. Whenever Cookie Monster wrote with his right hand, they gave him a cookie as a result. And Gon was writing with his left hand, but he picked up a very bad food reward program. He was rewarded with food. He became addicted to food.

He developed an unhealthy relationship with food. Do something good. Get yourself a treaty. We talked about it on the show yesterday. All of us, yeah. A treaty. So Cookie Monster and Ernie are the only left-handed Muppets. Cookie Monster and the Swedish Chef are the only Muppets

with five fingers that all move. Oh. Every other Muppet has four fingers. Have you ever seen how the Muppets with two hands work? Like your Cookie Monsters, your Ernies, your Swedish Chefs. There's two people, isn't there? There's two people, yeah. One person operates the mouth and

the same person operates one of their hands. Now, so in the Ernie and the Cookie Monster who are the left, the puppeteer would operate the mouth with his right and the arm with the left. Oh, yeah. Meaning that they could do that and the other person would operate the right hand. Right. Individually. Ernie does have five

fingers. Yeah. No, he doesn't. He's four. No, no, no. Not Ernie. Oh,ually. Ernie does have five fingers. Yeah. No, he doesn't. He's four. No, no, no, not Ernie. Oh, sorry. Cookie Monster and Sweeter Chef are the only Muppets with five fingers that all move. Oh. Cookie Monster and Ernie are the only ones that are left-handed. He does have five fingers.

I don't know why it looks weird that he's got five fingers. Yeah. You're just used to them having four. Some of the other Muppets have five fingers, but they don't move because they're the Muppets that are controlled with like the sticks and the wires for the hands. They're not articulated fingers. Interesting. Now, it was during this, I just went to check something about the Swedish chef

that will bring us to Morris Factor the day for Muppet work. I think he's one of my favourites. Dude, the chaos. When I was a kid, I loved Animal. Yeah. I loved, he's one of my favourites. Dude, the chaos. When I was a kid, I loved Animal. Yeah. I loved, Animal was one of my favourites because it was just like chaos

when he was playing the drums, it was chaos. Swedish Chef because it was pure, unadulterated madness that I just was just like, I love this, I love this.

And Fozzie Bear because he just couldn't do it. He bombed every time and that was what made him great. And you know what? He never quit. He never it. He bombed every time and that was what made him great. And you know what? He never quit. He never quit. He got out there

and he gave it another go. What a beautiful message. Yeah. If you're a terrible comedian, just keep going. Just keep trying to be funny. Just keep going and try harder and harder

and harder and harder. Push. Really push. Yeah. Live in the awkwardness. Even if you weren't born with a sense of humour at all. No.

It's very important you keep going or get into politics. So today's Fact of the Day, Sesame Street hands, Cookie Monster and Ernie are the only left-handed Muppets and Cookie Monster and the Swedish chef are the only Muppets with five fingers that all move. Today's Fact of the Day is Sesame Street week here at Fact of the Day. And yesterday there was a good point raised by producers that I'd maybe dabbled a little too hard in Muppets.

The Muppets side of Sesame Street. Yep. But they're still part of Sesame Street, right? They were on Sesame Street, but they were also on The Muppet Show. Now, a lot of Muppets did ten years on both. Yeah, right. But there were some better known for their also on The Muppet Show. Now, a lot of Muppets did 10 years on both. Yeah, right. But there were some better known for their time on The Muppet Show,

such as The Sweetest Chef, who we talked about yesterday. Yes. Your favourite. But Big Bird was more Sesame. Correct. But made a rogue appearance on The Muppet Show. But not like you wouldn't say Big Bird.

You'd say Big Bird was on Sesame Street. Yes. Grover, Sesame Street. Elmo. Elmo, Sesame Street. So I'm pitching back. I will save my Swedish chef fact that I was going to use today for a Muppet week sometime in the future.

See, I'm a huge Jim Henson fan. Yeah, okay. Okay. Recently re-watched Labyrinth. Oh. Flawless. Beautiful. August has become obsessed with it, knows all the words to Dance Magic Dance,

the David Bowie classic. Great. Beautiful song. Fantastic. Hard to keep your eye off his package Dance, the David Bowie classic. Great. Beautiful song. Hard to keep your eye off his package though, isn't it? Very tightly wrapped. It's a factory tuck. It really is. It's a factory tuck.

Well, today's fact of the day is the first ever celebrity special guest that they had on Sesame Street. The year was 1969. This man was 38 years old. He is still alive, making him 92 years old. More clues. He's got an amazing voice, arguably like the best voice in history. Frank Sinatra.

Frank Sinatra's dead. I have terrible news for you. Oh, wait, is this guy still alive? Old Blue Eyes is dead. You did just say he's still alive. This guy's alive. He's 92 years old. He's been the voice of two very famous film fathers.

Morgan Freeman. No. The Darth Vader guy. Yes. James Earl Jones. James Earl Jones. James Earl Jones at the age of 38, approximately nine years before he was even Darth Vader.

Yeah. He was an actor. He'd done theatre. He'd done film. He was Sesame Street's first ever special guest. Look, this means nothing for everybody at home, but look what a handsome, handsome, bald black man this was. A beautiful, bald black man.

Beautiful. Like timeless too. That's 1969. That could be today. Just a long-sleeved black. Do you want to hear him, what he did on the show? Sure. Now, not the strongest first ever celebrity special appearance

by somebody for Sesame Street, but James Earl Jones read the alphabet. C. At this speed. Oh, okay. D. God, we could really run it along a little bit. You would think, you know, there would be...

Yeah, well, there's a song now, but... Yeah. And even his pacing, obviously using his voice and his theatrical delivery, but it could have totally, modern television would have run him through a lot quicker. But yeah, all he did was, he took one minute, 35 seconds to

read the alphabet and that beautiful voice. That's a 20 second job. Yeah. Well before it became Darth Vader, well before it became Mufasa from Lion King. So today's fact of the day is he's the first ever special guest, and there has been a myriad of them since. Everybody who's anybody, Ricky Gervais has talked to Elmo. Everybody that's everybody's been on Sesame Street.

But the first ever celebrity guest on Sesame Street was James Earl Jones. Today's fact of the day on Sesame Street Week is that there is approximately 30 international versions of Sesame Street. Oh. And aren't there different colours or something? So big birds are a whole lot of different colours. That's right. Purple somewhere?

Yeah, the different big birds also were made to represent birds known to the area. Oh. So like the South American Big Bird had a slightly bigger beak, so it had a sort of a parity sort of a vibe to it. But yeah, Big Bird addressed this. Somebody actually sent this to me on Instagram saying, has this been your fact of the day? I said, well, to be honest,

today we are doing a fact about Sesame Street around the world. So I can totally mention it. And Big Bird addressed it in February 2021. I heard my friends on Twitter were asking about my cousins around the world. There's a lot of bird cousins in different countries. And here's a little bit about them. And then he told the story of all the different birds that appear on Sesame Street in his place from around the world. Afghanistan's got its own Sesame Street.

Sesame. It's got a lot of the same characters, but it's got Zari, who is a six-year-old girl. Muppet. Yeah. Oh, Muppet girl. Yeah, and Zirak, who is Zari's brother. So there's countries all around the world with their own.

Israel, Indonesia. Wow. India. Gali Gali Sim Sim is the name of Sesame Street. Gali Gali Sim Sim. Gali Gali Sim Sim. But there's no Australasian, like no... So in Australia there was Ollie, a yellow orange Muppet who was a cousin of Elmo who introduced Sesame Street when it played on Nick Jr. Oh, okay, right.

Oh, g'day. G'day, guys. It's me. It's Ollie. Oh, yeah. He probably swore a bit. Yeah. He probably swore a bit.

I guzzled a couple of bloody pieces and I'm ready to go. Oh, I'm just going to whoop outside and have a smoke. You watch what's happening with my mate, Almo. My cousin, Almo, taking care of things down on Sesame Street. Yeah. So China, Egypt, Germany. Cool. Germany's had a very extensive history of Sesame Street.

Japan, Kuwait even had its own Sesame Street with its own characters, including regional versions and just different colours of Sesame Street favourites. It would be cool if we had a Māori Muppet, you know, who would intro to our show. Yeah. A little Māori Muppet. That would be cool if we had a Māori Muppet, you know, who like intro'd our show. Yeah. A little Māori Muppet. That would be cool. Got a moko.

Yeah. Bit of a taniwha of ours. Yeah. Yeah. There's an idea. So today's fact of the day on Sesame Street week is that there are over 30 local versions of Sesame Street around the world, including many a different colour

than slightly different looking big birds. Today's fact of the day, and this week entirely, has been Sesame Street week, and there's been heaps of little facts that I haven't been able to squeeze in. So today's Fact of the Day is five super quick facts about Sesame Street. Number five, Cookie Monster's first name is Sid. Yes, I knew this.

His British cousin's name is Biscuit Monster. Didn't know that. And Snuffleupagus's first name is Aloysius Snuffleupagus. Aloysius Snuffleupagus. What a great name. Number four on the Sesame Street facts. Carol Spinney, who was Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, who passed away in 2019 and was the only person until that day

who had played Big Boyd, said he based Oscar the Grouch's voice on a cab driver from the Bronx who took him to the audition. He was auditioning for the voice. He had no idea what he was going to do for a voice, and he got in this guy's like, what do you want? And just talked to him the entire drive to the audition. Absorbing. Trying to work out how to do his voice the best,

and that is the voice of Oscar the Grouch. How did he drive a cab in a trash can? That's amazing. Hand controls. Oh, okay. Number three, the oldest Muppet. Who do you think the oldest Muppet is? One of those old guys in the box?

No, technically it's Count Von Count, the vampire. Oh, yeah. Who was born on October 9, 1.8 million BC. Gee. Okay, so he's old. So he's very, very old. Very. Number two, Tally, the sort of like nervous, purpley monster, Tally monster.

The skinny one. Yeah. He was originally, the Tally stood for television monster, and he was called that because he liked Cookie Monster, was obsessed with cookies, he was obsessed with television, and watched too much of it. Right. So the whole lesson to be learnt was watch some TV but not too much.

Yeah, right. And now he's just medicated, so he watches as much as he wants. He's medicated. Potatoing out on the couch. And number one, another Sesame Street fact. Five quick ones today. There is now an actual Sesame Street. In early 2019, in the honour of the show's 50th anniversary

and its impact on New York, New York renamed a street in Manhattan at the intersection of West 63rd and Broadway to Sesame Street. So you can actually go to Sesame Street. That's great. And the sign looks like the Sesame Street sign despite looking different to all the other signs around it. I love that.

Fact of the day, day, day, day, day. Yeah. I just realised I did the whole show with my headphones on backwards. Well, that means the show's backwards then, isn't it? We're going to have to play this in reverse. Well, should we speak in reverse and hopefully they'll work out the other way? Give us a review.