Ernie and Bert: Banana in the Ear

Ernie and Bert Sketches: Apartment
First Appearance	Episode 0258
Broadcast	May 5, 1971
Additional Appearances

Part 1: Ernie is holding a banana in his ear. Bert tries to tell Ernie that he has a banana in his ear, but Ernie can't hear him because he has a banana in his ear.

Part 2: Ernie reveals that he has a banana in his ear in order to keep the alligators away. He uses Bert's denial of any alligators on Sesame Street as proof that his method works.

Part 3: Ernie, having seen an alligator in the previous cartoon, thinks he'll probably need a fresh banana, figuring the one he already has doesn't seem to work anymore.

Notes

• For a complete list of references to this sketch, see Banana in the ear.

• The script for part 2 plays without continuity from part 1 and specifies that Ernie has the banana behind his ear.

• In all subsequent repeats of part 3, Ernie is reacting to a Fred Crippen cartoon about an alligator, with the exception of Episode 0445 where it follows a Jim Simon cartoon about Bosco taking a bath (which lacks any alligators in the first place).

Releases

Video

• 40 Years of Sunny Days (part 1)

Books

• Sesame Street Unpaved, page 21 (part 1)

Online

• Sesame Street Fan YouTube Channel (YouTube) (parts 1 and 2)