Sign Sounds

A series of Sesame Street cartoons featured a man who wore a green shirt, a bow tie, and pink trousers, whose head and arms appeared to be smaller than the rest of his body.

The sketches consist of the man running across a sign by chance. In some of them, the letters in the signs were mixed up, necessitating re-arrangement into their proper order (he would often mutter about the perpetrator behind these scramblings). He would then slowly pronounce the completed sign text several times. After triumphantly calling out the word(s), the man would find himself in a number of humorous situations.

The sketches are as follows:

Dirty (EKA: Episode 1121)

Taxi - The man inadvertently hails a cab. This segment was included as a bonus feature on Old School: Volume 2. (EKA: Episode 1136)

Kiss Me - A big barking dog comes up and kisses the man. (EKA: Episode 1136)

Hot Dog - The man has a run-in with a dog riding a bicycle. This was one clip where the man didn't walk up to the sign; the sign floated over to him while he was doing push-ups. (EKA: Episode 1142)

Bingo - After saying "BINGO," a robot-like cleaning contraption comes on-screen and scrubs the man's foot. (EKA: Episode 1156)

Walk Tall - A snake tells the man that all he (the snake) can do is "crawl tall." (EKA: Episode 1161)

Bad Dog (EKA: Episode 1164)

Coffee - A construction worker descends from off-screen sitting on an I-beam, requesting two regular coffees, and 20 more with sugar. He also asks for tea. (EKA: Episode 1169)

Burp - After saying this word, the man is taught good manners. This is another clip where the man didn't walk up to the sign; instead, the sign floated over to him while he was juggling. (EKA: Episode 1186)

Milk - The man has a run-in with a cow pushing a baby carriage, and she picks him up and holds him as she takes the bottle of milk out of the carriage and he drinks it while she is holding him. (EKA: Episode 1188)

Grow - The man shows off his gardening prowess with a wildly-growing flower. (EKA: Episode 1229)

Oink - A pig comes up, wanting to share in a good laugh with the man. (EKA: Episode 1289)

Help - (EKA: Episode 1293)

One Way - Traffic passes by the man in reverse. (EKA: Episode 2282)

School - After a bunch of kids come running by, a girl goes before the man and says it's Saturday. That leaves him to say: "No school." (EKA: Episode 2786)

Hand - (EKA: Episode 3200)

Don't Walk - After reading this sign, the man has to crawl away.

Wet Paint - A man and a woman pass by and smear wet green paint on the man's shirt.

Stop - After reading the sign, two cars screech to a stop, one on each side of him.

Notes

• Iftah Ya Simsim created a number of animated segments designed very similar to this series, where a little boy read Arabic words, with a gag following each reading.