The denizens of Sesame Street have been entertaining fans for generations. You’d think after all that time they’ve run out of ways to make us laugh. But even after almost 56 years, they’re still finding new ways to bring us joy. Or rather, they’re finding ways to bring most of us joy. Because you’d have to be a total Grouch to not enjoy seeing these mostly terrible comedians take the stage at a standup open mic night.
This new short from Netflix Is a Joke sends the gang from Sesame Street to try and make us laugh with nothing more than a microphone in front of a brick wall. Elmo, Bert, and Ernie, prop comics Cookie Monster and Grover, Abby Cadabby, Slimey the Worm, and Felix the Helper Chicken were brave enough to put themselves out there.
Almost all of them were terrible, a fact only Oscar seemed to appreciate. The only one who ate was Grover. (Well, Cookie Monster literally ate, but that’s not what we meant.) His delivery, tone, and stage presence contrasted perfectly with the over-the-top silliness of the Sesame Street bit. Great stuff.
While Grover made us laugh, the only one who made the famous grouch giggle was his pet worm, Slimey, but c’mon. Slimey was middling. At best. We’d think Bert and Ernie had a real shot at standup stardom if we thought Ernie was doing a very funny, very meta anti-comedy bit, but no. No, Ernie is just generally clueless about these things. Oscar was right to mock him. Oscar was almost entirely right about all of this.
But that’s what makes this so much fun. We’re not still enjoying Sesame Street as adults because the jokes are sincerely good. We’re still laughing at it because the jokes are so bad they’re good. That’s hard to do. That’s impressive. And what’s even more impressive is that after more than five decades, Sesame Street is finding new ways to tell them.