Bert & Ernie's Word Play

Release Date	2002
Produced by	Sony Wonder
Catalogue no.	LVD 54180
Format	DVD
Discs	1
Region	1

Bert and Ernie's Word Play is a 2002 Sesame Street direct-to-video special in which Ernie and Bert put on a variety show to teach about words.

Segments

Picture	Segment	Description
	FRAME 1	Prairie Dawn calls all the performers to get ready for the show. Bert worries that he’ll forget the words to the show, but Ernie has all the words in his bag and tells Bert that all he needs to worry about now is forgetting his dance steps.
	FRAME 1 cont'd	After an announcer introduces the show, Ernie and Bert come on stage and present the first word – Fun. Ernie then mentions their pie-flying finale and introduce the pie-flying word – Go. He then explains that whenever the word is said, their guest Ho-Ho the Great Pie Guy will be hit with a pie from the pie-flying machine (which is powered by a egg-laying Chicken). Bert accidentally says the word and gets a pie to the face. Ernie then introduces some more words that start with G.
	Film	G for go, girls, guitar, goldfish etc. (First: Episode 3269)
	Cartoon	The word "GO" races down the street. (new sound effects added) (First: Episode 3311)
	Muppets	Kermit the Frog goes to a T-shirt shop, The Wonderful World of T-Shirts, to pick up another personalized "Kermit the Frog T-Shirt". However, all the shirts have the wrong name (Kermit the Gorf, Kermit the Forg, and Kermit the Grof). (First: Episode 1494) New sound effects added
	FRAME 2	Prairie asks her assistant Benny Rabbit if the props for the finale are ready. Benny asks the stagehands, Mo and Flo, who show him the balls, feathers and jam on the shelf. Just then, telegram delivery monster Grover arrives with a message from Ho-Ho, which he initially reads as “I CAN COME”, but then seems the message was stuck in the middle, covering the word “NOT”. Grover then leaves for his next gig (a singing act at a Bar Mitzvah), while Prairie accidentally slips on Flo’s banana peal and crashes into the props.
	FRAME 2 cont'd	Elmo and Zoe arrive on stage, wearing boards that make the word COOKIE and introduce Cookie Monster.
	FRAME 2 cont'd	Cookie is about to sing a song about cookies, when he is told he’s singing about letters. He improvises and performs “One Little Letter”.
	FRAME 2 cont'd	Bert and Ernie come back on stage and Bert has prepared a card of “material”, which gets huge laughs from the audience. Another word is brought on stage – GOAT. Ernie removes letters to make new words from it, including GO, which Bert once again says by accident and gets pied. The next acts the starts.
	Muppets	"I Am Chicken" (First: Episode 2995) On-screen words added
	Cartoon	A Zerkel named Jake demonstrates -ake words. Artist: Sally Cruikshank (First: Episode 3522)
	Animation	Shake / lake / bake / take / make (First: Episode 2935)
	Cartoon	Soul A! (First: Episode 3359)
	FRAME 3	Mo and Flo hang a “Slippery” sign where they’re mopping. Benny brings Prairie the next audition for the final act – The Frosty Four, a penguin barbershop quartet. But, when they start to tap dance, they fail to notice the “Slippery” sign, slip all over the place and knock Prairie into the props again. They leave due to the slippery conditions.
	FRAME 3 cont'd	Elmo and Zoe come back on stage to blend another word – STICKY, leading into the next act...
	FRAME 3 cont'd	Zoe and Rosita sing "Sticky Tape."
	FRAME 3 cont'd	Ernie and Bert present the next word - Amigo. Bert clearly sees “Go” in the word, but Ernie doesn’t realize it until Bert arranges it for him, signaling the chicken to toss two pies. The duo ducks and the pies hit Prairie Dawn instead. They nervously present the next act.
	Muppets	"I'm a Bookworm, Baby!" (First: Episode 2994) Introduction and closing cut
	Muppets	"Fat Cat" (First: Episode 0536) On-screen words and sound effects added
	Insert	"Professor Television" (Bill Irwin) tries to demonstrate open and closed, but his efforts backfire. (First: Episode 3637) Introduction cut and announcer's dialogue muted
	FRAME 4 cont'd	A slew of animals are backstage, hoping to be the final act. However, they are all scared off by an off-key, opera-singing pig. Ernie, Bert and Elmo ask Prairie what the status is on the final act, as it’s time for it! Ernie shoves Bert on stage to keep the audience busy, but Bert struggles to tell one joke. The group overhears singing, which is coming from Mo and Flo, who used to have a singing act, until their third member (a high singer) moved. They all stare at Elmo...
	FRAME 4 cont'd	Bert continues trying to tell his joke, and Ernie tells him about the final act – Mo, Flo and Elmo singing “Need to Read” After the song, everyone comes out for a bow.
	FRAME 4 cont'd	An announcer presents the show’s sponsors (all the words mentioned in the show). Benny comes on stage and finds Ernie left his bag of words there and picks it up, remarking that now he can go, causing the chicken to send a pie toward the screen.
	Muppets	Bert, Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch sing about what they love: "Pigeons and Cookies and Trash."(new sound effects added) (First: Episode 3915) Played during credits, edited

Releases

VHS2002
Sony Wonder
LV 54180

DVD2002
Sony Wonder
LVD 54180

DVD2002
Sony Wonder
3 disc set with The Great Numbers Game and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland: Sing and Play

DVDGenius Entertainment

DVD2010
Warner Home Video

USB drive2010
ATP

International releases

VCD (Singapore and Malaysia)2007
Berjaya HVN
cat. no 616636

DVD (Singapore and Malaysia)2009
Berjaya HVN

VCD (Thailand)2010
TIGA

DVD (Australia)2013
ABC Video for Kids
Double feature with Count on Sports

Cast

• Starring The Muppets from Sesame Street:
  • Fran Brill as Prairie Dawn and Zoe
    (uncredited: Frosty Four backup singer)
  • Kevin Clash as Elmo and Benny
    (uncredited: Frosty Four backup singer)
  • Eric Jacobson as Bert and Grover
  • Carmen Osbahr as Rosita
  • David Rudman as Cookie Monster
  • Steve Whitmire as Ernie
    (uncredited: Mo, Troll, Frosty Four lead singer)
• With Muppet Performers:
  • Stephanie D'Abruzzo (Flo, Frosty Four backup singer)
  • John Tartaglia
  • Matt Vogel
  • Alice Dinnean Vernon, Jim Henson, Richard Hunt, Peter Linz, Noel MacNeal, Jim Martin, Joseph Mazzarino, Jerry Nelson, Frank Oz, Caroll Spinney

Credits

• Executive Producer: Karin Shiel
• Supervising Producer: Jill R. Gluckson
• Writers: Billy Aronson, Annie Evans
• Additional Writers: Christopher Cerf, Tony Geiss, Norman Stiles, Judy Freudberg, Jeff Moss, Belinda Ward
• Script Consultants: Molly Boylan, Sarah Durkee
• Directors: Emily Squires; Ted May, Jon Stone (archive material)
• Co-Producer: Kevin Clash
• Line Producer: Deborah Mayer
• Associate Producer: Dionne Nosek
• Associate Director: Ken Diego
• Music, Lyrics, Post Scoring: Joe Carroll, Peter Thom
• Additional Songs by Christopher Cerf, Sarah Durkee, Daniel Ivanick, Paul Jacobs, Robert Merkin, Jeff Moss, Joe Raposo, Ernest Troost
• Senior Muppet Consultant: Kevin Clash
• Henson Workshop: Ed Christie, Carol Binion, Fred Buchholz, Michael Schupbach, Carlo Yannuzzi
• Sound Effects: Dick Maitland
• Vice President, Sesame Street Research: Rosemarie Truglio, PH.D.
• Graphic Artist: Pete Ortiz
• Audio: Blake Norton, Carla Bandini-Lory
• Video Engineer: Tom Guadarrama
• Utilities: Gordon Price, Keith Olsen, Victor Smith