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Ernie and Bert sketches which center around a nightime theme, usually involving Ernie keeping Bert from sleeping.
1969-1990
| Picture | Summary | Earliest Known Appearance | Description |
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Water's dripping | Episode 0131 | Ernie and Bert go to bed, but they hear water dripping. Bert asks Ernie to do something about the sound, so Ernie puts the stereo on to drown out the dripping sound.
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Shoe dropping neighbor | Episode 0176 | Bert urges Ernie to go to sleep, but Ernie won't go to sleep until the person living upstairs drops his other shoe. When the shoe finally drops, Ernie wakes Bert up to tell him about it.
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Putting the Basketball Away | Episode 0261 | Ernie comes up with a way for him to remember to put his basketball away before he goes to sleep: he remembers with his mind, which is in his head; his head is round, and so is the basketball. His plan works the first time, but not when Bert wants to go to sleep.Template:Sketchrelease-SSorg |
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Ernie counts sheep | Episode 0276 | Ernie can't sleep, so Bert tells him to count sheep. Ernie tries to count sheep, but it's dull -- so he starts counting fire engines. The noise from the imaginary fire engine wakes Bert up. Bert says that Ernie's waking up the whole neighborhood, and tells him to count something quieter. Ernie counts balloons -- but the balloon gets bigger and bigger, finally bursting with a huge explosion that wakes Bert up again.
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Cookies in Bed | Episode 0322 | Bert tells Ernie not to eat cookies in bed, because he might get crumbs in the bed. Ernie decides to eat cookies in Bert's bed instead.
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Imaginary Glass of Water | Episode 0679 | At night, Ernie is thirsty, so he imagines drinking a glass of water. This bothers Bert, who tells Ernie to go get a real glass of water - which he does. |
| Role reversal | Episode 0720 | Ernie imagines what life would be like if he and Bert had their characteristics switched around. (YouTube) | |
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Bert's Ice Skating Dream | Episode 0796 | When Bert can't sleep, Ernie suggests that he imagine himself doing something he likes. Since Bert likes ice skating, he imagines himself doing so. The ice-skating sequence is from one of the Ice Follies skating shows. |
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Bert's Not Home | Episode 0886 | It's late at night and Bert isn't home yet. Ernie worries that he may have been abducted by monsters and is being forced to party with them... maybe even having fun. When Bert gets home, Ernie shares his stream of emotions he felt when he'd imagined something had happened to Bert: fear, sadness and anger. Bert assures him that he was fine -- he never has fun. |
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How many sides does a circle have? | Episode 0871 | Ernie lies in bed and starts talking about how a square looks like and how many lines it has, then goes on to compare a square with a triangle. And then starts to ponder about how many sides a circle has, and goes to sleep just as Bert is about to attempt to answer the question, and ends up not being able to sleep. |
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The Blackout | Episode 0991 | Ernie notices that none of the lampposts are on, and the lights won't turn on. Bert says that there is a blackout, but has to repeat himself when Ernie suggests they watch TV, play a record and listen to the radio. Ernie decides to call someone to see if anybody else knows about it. He calls Oscar the Grouch, who grouchily asks who's calling and threatens to "see to it that you don't sleep for a week." Ernie says "It's Bert" and hangs up. Template:Sketchrelease-SSorg |
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What time is it? | Episode 1186 | Ernie tries to figure out what time it is at night. It's too dark to see the clock, so Ernie has a new solution: he pokes his head out the window and sings some loud, off-key opera ("O SOLO ME-OH, O SOLO YOU-OH") which causes everyone to wake up and yell at him to stop singing, and even mention what time it is. Video:Old School: Volume 2 |
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Letting balloons go | Episode 1781 | Ernie and Bert have a balloon on a post of both their beds. Ernie thinks they'll last forever, but Bert explains that balloons don't last forever. Ernie doesn't want to see them deflate, so he insists that they let the balloons go; that way the last time they see them, they'll be "fat and floaty". They let them fly out the window, and as soon as they get back into bed, Ernie (breaking the promise he made Bert that he'd go to sleep if they let the balloons go) asks Bert if the balloons are too cold up in the sky, and whether they'll end up in China. Frustrated, Bert throws a fit. Ernie asks him to keep it down. |
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Was Bert captured by Martians? | Episode 2107 | Ernie wakes up and tells Bert it's time to get up, but notices that Bert isn't in his bed. He slowly ponders what happened to his best friend, coming to the conclusion that maybe some Martians took him away in their spaceship. As it turns out, Bert just got up early to fix some oatmeal. Ernie is relieved ... until a real spaceship lands and the Yip Yip Martians enter the room. |
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Cookie Monster sleeps over | Episode 2256 | Part 1: Bert is out of town so Cookie Monster spends the night with Ernie. Cookie is frightened of a shadow on the wall, but Ernie shows him it's just a coat on a chair. Part 2: Cookie Monster has a bad dream in which he is surrounded by flying, singing cookies who won't let him reach them. |
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Ernie's book | Episode 2341 | At night, Ernie reads a book that becomes sad, funny, scary, and then surprising. The book elicits the same reactions from Bert.
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The Count Sleeps Over | Episode 2358 | Part 1: The Count sleeps in Bert's bed while Bert sleeps on the couch. Ernie tells The Count that he can count sheep to get to sleep, but the Count stays up all night counting sheep. Part 2: It's the next morning. The Count had a good night, but he didn't sleep. His counting kept Ernie up, and now Ernie is walking and counting like a zombie. |
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Ernie and Bert go camping | Episode 2366 | Ernie and Bert are camping. It's time for them to sleep, but Ernie keeps distracting Bert by pointing out the various sounds that they hear.
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Imagining the Park | Episode 2403 | Bert regrets not being able to go to the park today like Ernie did, but Ernie helps him imagine a quiet day at the park -- which has more noises than Bert expected, even at night. |
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Ernie Calls Bert When He's Away | Episode 2483 | At night, Ernie can't sleep because he's thirsty. Bert is out of town visiting his brother, so Ernie calls Bert on the phone to tell Bert he's thirsty. He follows Bert's advice to get a glass of water, but calls Bert again to thank him, and say he can't sleep. Bert suggests that he count sheep ... except Ernie doesn't hang up the phone. (YouTube) |
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New lullaby for Bert | Episode 2614 | Bert is having trouble getting to sleep. Ernie suggests him singing a lullaby to Bert. He sings one to the tune of Brahms' Lullaby and Bert falls into a deep peaceful sleep. Ernie tells Bert to wake up now; it's his turn to go to sleep so it's HIS turn to sing a lullaby now.
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Ernie writes a poem | Episode 2783 | At night, Ernie gets creative inspiration to write a poem about what he likes, but has trouble with finding a word that rhymes with "dirt."
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Ernie gets thirsty | Episode 3038 | Ernie won't stop saying how thirsty he is, no matter how many glasses of water Bert brings him. Even after he's finished, he still won't stop: "Boy, was I thirsty." |
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Ernie pretends Bert didn't leave | Episode 3122 | Bert has gone to visit his brother Bart. Ernie pretends that Bert is still there using a drawing and a pillow, but it isn't the same. Then, Ernie remembers Bert will be back tomorrow, and can go back to bed. |
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Should I Wake Bert? | Early in the morning, Ernie sees some pigeons through the window, and wonders if he should wake Bert. | |
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Thunderstorm | Ernie is scared of a violent thunderstorm during the night, but Bert reassures him it won't last. To cope with his fears, Ernie imagines the lightning as flashes from Olivia's camera, and the thunderclaps are someone dropping something. | |
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Ernie Sings a Lullaby | Ernie and Bert go off to sleep but Ernie starts to sing himself a lullaby. Bert then asks Ernie if he would mind singing quieter. So he does and then finds that he can even sing it the quietest. Bert then wonders what's going on and can't seem to go to sleep. Ernie then asks Bert if he's singing it to the extent that he can't hear him then why is he not asleep yet? |
Post-1990
| Picture | Summary | Earliest Known Appearance | Description |
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"Imagination" | Episode 3935 | Ernie can't sleep, because he's afraid of dark shadows and spooky things. Bert comforts him, and the two sing "Imagination" before falling asleep.
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Ernie stops and thinks | Episode 4067 | Ernie has trouble sleeping, so he decides to play his bugle to make himself sleepy. His bugle playing wakes up Bert, however, and Bert tells him to think before he plays the bugle, so Ernie decides to play his drums, but then Bert tells him to think before he does anything.
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Imagining a Dinosaur | Episode 4095 | Ernie imagines a dinosaur when going to sleep. |
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Sleep | Episode 4121 | Ernie insists on watching Bert sleep. He sings a song about sleep, initially to Bert's dismay. He soon falls in, though, and then finds that Ernie is the one who has fallen asleep!
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Breakfast at Night | Episode 4133 | Ernie wakes Bert up to sing to him that "Breakfast is the Best Meal of the Day", but then insists that they can't eat breakfast in the middle of the night when the song is over and goes to sleep. Meanwhile the singing breakfast foods go to sleep on Bert's bed. |
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Drum Experiment | Ernie conducts an experiment. He wants to see if Bert can sleep while Ernie sits at his drums and doesn't play them. Fortunately for him, Bert can't get to sleep that night, so Ernie drums away.
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"Animals In, On and Under" | Ernie sings about his strange dream, in which there were monkeys on his bed, an elephant in his drawer, and a crocodile under his bed. Bert tells him that that was just a silly dream -- but when he goes to get dressed, there's an elephant in the dresser drawer.
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Ernie prepares for bed | Ernie get ready for bed. He puts a cup of water on the table beside his bed, so he won't need to get out of bed to get water. He brings an extra blanket in case he gets cold, and puts a fan by the bed in case he gets hot. He also brings a book to bed in case he wants to read, a flashlight so he won't turn the lights on and disturb Bert, and a pencil and pad of paper in case he wants to draw. He also brings Rubber Duckie to bed with him, in case he wants his Rubber Duckie, he won't have to get out of bed. But then Ernie realizes that he has too many things in his bed.
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Counting Backwards From 10 | Ernie has a plan to help him sleep - counting backwards from 10. Once he finishes his countdown, Bert thinks he's fallen asleep, but Ernie claims it didn't work. He then tries counting backwards from 40. | |
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Opening the Window | At night, Ernie gets too hot and opens the window. He and Bert start hearing noises from outside, which Ernie identifies. But, since neither of them can sleep with the noise, Ernie shuts the window...until he gets hot again. |
