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Sesame Street Goofs
The creators of Sesame Street are skilled at creating the illusion that the puppets are living characters. Still, occasional goofs slip through, and make it onto the screen.
| Picture | Segment | Earliest Known Appearance | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
   | During this sketch, Jim Henson's arm is visible operating Ernie's arm. While operating Bert, Frank Oz's arm, head, nose and black-rimmed glasses can all be seen. Later, during Everybody Wash, Henson's arm is seen again after Ernie announces "Everybody wash... your everything!" | ||
 | When Cookie Monster nibbles on Kermit, Frank Oz's arm can be seen at the end of the Cookie Monster puppet. | ||
 | When Ernie starts dancing to the radio and Bert says "Uh-huh! Okay, smart guy!", Henson's head pops up near Ernie. | ||
 | As Bert admires his J towards the end, Frank's finger can be seen operating Bert's arm rod. | ||
 | At the beginning, the green girl is voiced by Loretta Long, and the purple girl by Frank oz, but halfway through the introduction, the voices switch. | ||
   | During the party sequences, a few puppeteers' heads are visible. | ||
 | As Jack puts the R block back on the brick wall, Oz's head pops up under Cookie Monster in the corner. It pops up throughout the rest of the sketch. | ||
 | For the first 30 seconds or so of this sketch, Frank Oz's head is seen in the right hand bottom corner of the screen. | ||
 | Several times in the sketch, there's a visible opening between Big Bird's head and neck in which a bit of Caroll Spinney's hand is revealed operating the head. | ||
 | A puppeteer's hand can be seen when the Fat Blue garbageman picks up the garbage can. | ||
    | Both Oz and Henson's heads can be seen when Ralph and Trudy Monster jump up and down and rip the curtain. Henson's's head is seen when Ralph scares Guy Smiley and says "I scared you, huh?", and when Guy Smiley says, "You got a cookie!" | ||
 | When the Fat Blue AM is tossed around near the end of this skit, one can clearly see the puppet has no legs. | ||
 | When the Anything Muppets erupt in cheers, the puppeteers' heads can be seen at the bottom of the screen. Caroll Spinney's head is especially visible in one moment, under the Pumpkin puppet. | ||
| After Kermit falls off his stool, Kermit's sock is seen when he comes back up on his stool. | ||
   | When Ernie and Bert are arguing about who's taller, Frank Oz's head and arm are visible, as is Jim Henson's head. Later, when Gordon lifts Ernie up, Jim's head and arm are both visible. | ||
  | After Guy Smiley introduces the game at the beginning, Henson's head briefly pops up. As Guy flips the game board numbers, a crowbar-like rod of some sort is seen flipping said numbers. | ||
  | When Granny Grouch enters scene, the heads of Jerry Nelson (top) and another puppeteer (bottom) are briefly visible. | ||
 | A performer's (likely Frank Oz) head and arm can be seen while puppeteering Grover. | ||
 | When the balloons come in to the shot, a hand can be seen. | ||
  | Jim's head becomes visible towards the end of the story. | ||
 | When Grover says "And you can talk to people FAR AWAY!" Frank Oz's hand is seen operating Grover's left arm rod. | ||
 | Oz's head is visible underneath Professor Hastings near the end of the sketch, when Hastings rushes up to the desk where Guy Smiley and Mr. Foot preside. | ||
 | Oz's arm is visible underneath Cookie Monster, as the character deliberately lifts "his belly" to look for the telephone inside his stomach, near the very end of the sketch. | ||
 | When the lead singer enters the scene, a performer's head is visible. | ||
  | Henson's head and white sleeve can be seen when Ernie puts down the bowling ball on the table. | ||
  | Jim's head and left arm are visible when Ernie frantically digs for Sherlock Hemlock at the end. | ||
  | Episode 0278 | Lefty has ears for most of the sketch. After the camera zooms in on the painting, he has no ears. | |
   | When The Amazing Mumford enters, Jerry Nelson and another puppeteer's head are both visible underneath him. Also, when the smoke from Mumford's disappearance clears up, Frank Oz's head is visible underneath Grover. | ||
  | Throughout the sketch, the bottom of the set is exposed, and during the skit, Oz can be seen performing Bert. | ||
 | When Ernie talks slower, Henson's head pops up momentarily underneath him. | ||
 | When Ernie walks over to Bert's bed and Bert asks, "Ernie, what are you doing?" at the end of Bert's bed, you can see a puppeteer's head performing Ernie. | ||
 | Near the end of the song, "What Do I Do When I'm Alone", Oz's hair is seen below to the right of Grover. | ||
 | A hand can be seen in the lower right hand corner operating the game board. | ||
  | Throughout the sketch, Ernie's sleeve is visible in several shots, and so is the top of Henson's head (including his eyes). | ||
 | When the wind appears for the first time, near the end, Jascha's nose almost flies off. The nose remains loose until Guy Smiley reintroduces the weather during the audience's vote, then Jascha Lombardi's nose finally and accidentally flies off during wind. | ||
 | During the final verse, when the friends "jump with Jane," a puppeteer's forehead and the bottoms of the AMs, especially the Lavender, are briefly visible. | ||
   | During Big Jeffy's verse at the end of the song, his hat begins to come loose and eventually falls off. | ||
 | When Lena Horne takes Grover on her lap, Frank Oz's armsock can be seen. | ||
   | When Bert and Guy Smiley are exiting, a performer's head can be seen, as well as that performer's arm under Bert. When The Alphabeats exit the performance, another performer's head pops up. | ||
 | Near the end of this scene, Jerry Nelson's head is briefly seen under Rodeo Rosie. | ||
  | When Herry walks offstage and knocks a pole over, Jerry Nelson's arm is briefly seen performing Herry's left arm. Also, a performer's (likely Nelson's) head is seen after Herry leaves at the end of the sketch. | ||
 | In one shot, the one in which Bad Bart has walked into the saloon and says Marshall Earp had better be there soon, he is standing in front of the wall, but in the next close-up shot of him saying he has a surprise for her, he is back in front of the door, with his head silhoueted against the sunset. | ||
 | Near the end of the sketch, viewers can see the top part of Oz's head, while Bert is behind the painting. | ||
 | Episode 0692 | The top of Jim Henson's head can be seen near the end of this sketch. | |
 | Henson's head can be seen through the plants under Ernie at the end of this sketch. | ||
 | Episode 0730 | When the girl first approaches Cookie Monster, she already has half a cookie with her (the top of it can be seen at the bottom of the screen). And then, when she lunges to eat it, the cookie slips from her hand, and she ends up munching on nothing more than a few fingertips full of air. | |
 | Throughout the song, the female Valkyrie is voiced by Marilyn Sokol. However, when the cast take their bows, the voice is now performed by Frank Oz, who was most likely performing the character throughout the song. | ||
 | At the end of the song, Little Jerry's dashiki is seen with a tear in the back. | ||
 | At the start of the scene where King Peter the Persnickety allows P items back into the kingdom, Richard Hunt's head is visible underneath the Green Townsperson. | ||
 | As Roosevelt Franklin begins to say "Now you know the difference between loud and soft", a performer's arm is seen controlling Roosevelt, as well as another puppeteer's head between Baby Breeze and the Lavender AM student. | ||
 | After singing the opening solo, the Green Anything Muppet with the shades turns and walks down the stairs into the underground subway station, and yet just a few seconds later he steps back into shot from off to the side to echo the policeman's "subway" line. | ||
 | When Ernie sets the banana on the table, Jim Henson's head briefly pops up. | ||
| At the beginning of the song, Jim Henson's head briefly appears under the baritone. Also, during the song, Henson's finger appears operating the puppet's arm rods when the bus appears at the "Bad Food" restaurant. | ||
 | When Ernie hauls in the big box of bath toys, a puppeteer's arm is visible performing Ernie's right hand. | ||
| In wide shots, the lid to Oscar's trash can can be seen hanging from the side as Bruno carries it, but when the scene cuts to a close-up of the human cast sticking their heads out of the can, the lid is nowhere to be seen. | ||
 | At one point when Ernie and Bert switch sides (as Ernie complains the blanket on one side of the bed is crooked), the camera pans too far to the left, revealing the edge of the set. | ||
 | At one of the points when the man at the library tells Grover to be quieter, coming from behind the desk, Jerry Nelson's (who was performing the character) head becomes visible. | ||
  | After the first chorus, the Lavender Dew Drop's right earring flies off. | ||
 | Toward the end of the song, one of Little Chrissy's arm-rods flies into the air. | ||
 | In the beginning and end of the segment, Jim Henson's hair is visible. | ||
 | When Elmo tags Kermit, Kermit's sock can be seen. | ||
 | In one of the black and white flashbacks in the music video for "NTV", the Nickmatics are seen as the waiters in the re-decoration of Nino's. However, the guitarist's guitar can still be seen with him. | ||
 | Cookie Monster stays on stage right before a cut to a close-up of the cast entering the stage from the wings. However, Cookie Monster is behind the cast entering the stage, despite being on stage in the previous shot. | ||
 | At the near-end of the song, one of the drummer's drums falls off the set. | ||
  | Towards the beginning, Cheryl Blaylock's head is visible underneath the Blue Honker. Also, during the instrumental break, Jim Henson's head appears underneath Ernie. | ||
   | During the first chorus, while brown paint trickles down the back canvas, a brief shot of a performer's head can be seen before the cows sing "Wet paint, wet paint." In addition, by the end of the song and before the melting effect, How Now Brown is seen with chroma-keyed vest. However, during the melting effect, his regular vest is back on. | ||
 | When the girl first enters the kitchen, one of the mittens she uses is plainly visible on the table, yet in the very next shot, it disappears. | ||
| When Kermit was looking for the light switch to show what dark looks like, Steve Whitmire's hand can be seen underneath. | ||
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 | The word "alive" is supposed to appear at the top of the screen in one shot, but it does not appear, so Big Bird and Snuffy look up at nothing, and Susan points to nothing. | ||
 | Bert receives a helping hand from below to perfect his dance moves. | ||
  | As Ernie tosses Bert's pillow (at the line "You've had enough of those pillows"), Steve Whitmire's head and arm become visible. | ||
 | When Grover is pushing his wire car to a gas station, a hand (likely Eric Jacobson's) is holding Grover's body. | ||
 | In the street scene where Big Bird is in his nest with Gordon the camera pans out and one can see Big Bird's feet covers, which are worn in rehearsals and are not supposed to be seen on screen. | ||
 | When Jack Be Nimble jumps for the Moon towards the end of the episode, a hand (possibly Joey Mazzarino's) is visible, possibly igniting a special effect for Jack to jump. | ||
 | When Zoe counts seven chickens, a puppeteer’s head is visible under the fourth chicken. Additionally, when Elmo is multiplied by 7, the heads of two puppeteers underneath the second and third Elmos. | ||
| As Ernie enters the scene, Steve Whitmire's head can be seen underneath. | ||
 | |||
TV and Direct-to-Video Specials | |||
| In a continuity error, the first montage of Big Bird and Barkley in China shows the dog with the hourglass around his neck. They would not receive the item until later in the story. | ||
| During a pan of the group singing the alphabet, one can see almost all of Lisa Buckley crouching behind Betty Lou performing her. Also, during the finale, David Rudman, particularly his arm, is visible underneath Baby Bear, as well as a puppeteer's head underneath Goldilocks. | ||
| Immediately before the music video of "Just Happy to Be Me" plays, Cookie Monster is seen chasing David Alan Grier after he shows Elmo his half-bitten script. A couple of seconds after white scraps of paper fall out of Cookie's mouth, a puppeteer's head can be seen on the bottom in front of Elmo. | ||
 | It seems that there was some reusing of old footage in the celebrity version of "Put Down the Duckie". Just as before, Ernie puts down his rubber duckie and begins playing his saxophone, but as soon as the instrumental bridge is over and Hoots starts singing again, the duck is back in Ernie's hand, only to disappear a few seconds later. | ||
| During clips from the characters from Sesam Stasjon, the characters were riding a carriage and you can see the puppeteer of Bjarne Betjent as the carriage rounds the corner. | ||
Movies | |||
 | A puppeteer's head can be seen during the Welcome to Grouchland song. | ||
 | In the same musical number, the arm of a crew member throwing pieces of trash at Sharon Groan's movie premiere can be glimpsed at pause. | ||
| In the finale when Big Bird, Maria, Gordon, Cookie Monster, Telly, and Zoe enter and confront Huxley, the bottom of the Telly puppet is seen, with a shadowy Martin Robinson performing him. | ||
