Nine Celebrities Who’ve Taught Us Important Words On Sesame Street
"Soggy", "gems", "baile" and other important additions to our vocabulary...
Comedian Melissa McCarthy was on Sesame Street yesterday teaching kids the definition of the word “choreography”, alongside an incredibly dramatic penguin who reminds us a bit of Bette Midler in Beaches. She isn’t the only celebrity who’s taught us the value of a well-developed vocabulary through an appearance on the iconic kids’ TV show, though. Let’s take a look at a few of our other favourites…
1. Ken Jeong explains “deciduous”
“Deciduous”: it’s a word that you haven’t used since primary school biology, unless you’re a professional scientist (alongside those other fancy terms like “osmosis” and “semi-permeable membrane”). In this video, Senor Chang from Community is asked by Elmo to explain the word, by talking to a tree. But Senor Chang is shy.
2. Ricky Gervais explains “lullaby”
Ricky Gervais, “an unbelievably famous person”, offers Elmo a beautiful “celebrity lullaby” that ultimately transforms into a Pixies-ish noise anthem.
3. Danny DeVito explains a few things
Sometimes the meaning behind words don’t need to be spelled out. Take this example from Danny DeVito: clad in dirty rags, he engages in an odd hobo laughing contest with Oscar The Grouch, that explains the concept of mockery and competition using nothing other than the sound, “Heh!” It’s like a Wittgenstein essay in child-skit form (or something, we just said that to sound smart).
4. Jon Krasinski explains “soggy”
As far as words go, “soggy” isn’t the easiest on the ear. We wonder if there are ever behind-the-scenes negotiations amongst celebrities and Sesame Street producers about the words they get to explain? For example, young Hollywood upstarts like Jonah Hill get to mine the comedic possibilities of “moustache”, while character actors like Mark Ruffalo get stuck with the dour “empathy”. That doesn’t seem like a fair “balance“.
5. Anna Faris explains “gems”
In which Anna Faris receives an endless amount of jewels from an incredibly tanned prince, and thus prepares our future 1%-ers for a lovely life of wealth and greed.
6. Sofia Vergara explains “baile”
According to recent figures, hispanics are set to overtake whities as the major ethnic group in the United States by 2043, so it’s vitally important that the next generation of American kids understand Spanish. This video offers a great introduction: Gloria from Modern Family and a couple of salsa-dancing chickens teaching us all the Spanish word for “dance”.
7. Jason Bateman explains “comfort”
Two things make this video great: a squirrel who scats, and Jason’s incredibly affectionate caressing of Elmo, the kind of cuddle that kids the world over sadly crave from their neglectful parents.
8. Bill Cosby (and Bill Cosby) explains “the alphabet”
Sesame Street in the ol’ days could be quite esoteric for a kid’s show. For example, one famously odd episode from the ‘early ’80s features a high-as-shit Richard Pryor running through the alphabet with street hustler jive, another features jazz great Wynton Marsalis engaging in a horn battle with Hoots The Owl, and yet another features Cheech Marin (of Cheech & Chong) singing about “shoobie-doobies”. In this video, two Bill Cosbys take turns in teaching us (and themselves) the alphabet.
9. Seth Rogen explains “embarrassing”
First, Seth discovers a French block of cheese on his head, and then he receives a delivery of “stinky foot powder”. Yep, that’s pretty embarrassing.
Bonus: Joe Pesci explains “motherfucker”
In case kids need to know how to handle themselves in the cutthroat world of the Las Vegas mob.