Sesame Street Memories are a series of videos produced in honor of Sesame Street’s 50th anniversary. In each video, a celebrity shares their favorite Sesame Street memory, occasionally accompanied by a Muppet companion. The videos were posted weekly on the show's various social media platforms from August to November 2019.
Snippets of the videos were assembled into a montage played at the end of the credits of Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration. A few of the videos were additionally used in the PBS airing of the special as well, while the home video release included some followed by the full clip they talk about.
Videos[]
Guests[]
| Video | Description | |
|---|---|---|
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Mindy Kaling (August 6, 2019)
Kaling cites "I Love Trash" as her favorite moment. Oscar the Grouch appears to deliver her some trash. | |
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Kate McKinnon (August 8, 2019)
McKinnon reminisces with Elmo about a visit from Ellen DeGeneres.
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Ilana Glazer (August 10, 2019)
Glazer talks about the impact of Grover in her life, accompanied by clips of Grover being afraid of the dark. | |
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Lin-Manuel Miranda (August 13, 2019)
Miranda discusses his appearances and musical contributions to the show. | |
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Olivia Munn (August 15, 2019)
Munn recalls how she and her family learned to speak English from watching Sesame Street. | |
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Terry Crews (August 17, 2019)
Crews reminisces about owning the Sesame Street Fever album. | |
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Alessia Cara (August 20, 2019)
Cara cites "I Love Trash" as her favorite moment and Oscar surprises her with a duet.
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Keegan-Michael Key (August 22, 2019)
Key talks about his reaction to seeing an illustration of the interior of Oscar's trash can. | |
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Jack Antonoff (August 24, 2019)
Antonoff recalls that seeing Ernie is his earliest memory of anything. | |
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Questlove (August 28, 2019)
Questlove describes his favorite Waiter Grover sketch. | |
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John Legend (August 30, 2019)
Legend talks about a video he recorded for his daughter while taping "Come Together." | |
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Blake Lively (August 30, 2019)
Lively talks about Elmo singing The Alphabet Song with India.Arie.
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Chance the Rapper (September 3, 2019)
Chance remembers being introduced to some of his favorite musical artists through the show, then launches into an impromptu performance of "Sing." | |
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Busy Philipps (September 5, 2019)
Philipps talks about how she named her own teddy bear Radar after Big Bird's. Big Bird joins her onscreen and meets her daughters, who now possess Busy's Radar. | |
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Jenny Slate (September 7, 2019)
Slate describes how Lena Horne's "How Do You Do?" helped her overcome her own shyness.
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Allison Williams (September 9, 2019)
Williams considers all the characters from the show her friends. | |
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Ellie Goulding (September 12, 2019)
Goudling gets her childhood wish granted and receives a hug from Big Bird. | |
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Jason Schwartzman (September 14, 2019)
Schwartzman talks about how the introduction of Julia impacted his children and household. This short was directed by Benjamin Lehmann.[1] | |
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Kathryn Hahn (September 17, 2019)
Hahn gushes to Oscar about how he helped her realize it's okay to feel grouchy sometimes. This short was directed by Benjamin Lehmann.[1]
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Paul Scheer (September 19, 2019)
Scheer talks about his favorite character - Roosevelt Franklin, who makes a quick, surprise appearance. | |
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Thomas Rhett (September 23, 2019)
Rhett names his day on the set recording "This Is My Street" as his favorite memory. | |
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Bill Nye (September 25, 2019)
Nye recalls his visit to the show in 1998 and takes the opportunity to count to 20.
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Josh Gad (September 27, 2019)
Gad claims that Ricky Gervais' "Celebrity Lullabies" sketch was the first thing to make his daughter laugh. | |
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Ellie Kemper (September 28, 2019)
Kemper loves Oscar the Grouch and says her son finds him just as funny as she does. | |
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Lucy Liu (September 30, 2019)
Liu talks about how she was able to learn English by watching Sesame Street. | |
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Andy Grammer (October 1, 2019)
Grammer's favorite memory is hearing the "Sesame Street Theme." | |
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Colin Jost (October 4, 2019)
Jost names his favorite characters, while Grover tries to interject and be named as well. | |
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Peter Dinklage (October 6, 2019)
Dinklage cites the Martians as his favorite characters. | |
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (October 7, 2019)
Jabbar recalls meeting Big Bird for the first time and being startled at how they're almost the same size.
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Garcelle Beauvais (October 9, 2019)
Beauvais recalls learning English from Sesame Street and counts with the Count.
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Padma Lakshmi (October 12, 2019)
Lakshmi says "Ladybugs' Picnic" is her favorite Sesame Street memory. | |
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Chrissy Teigen (October 13, 2019)
Teigen says seeing her husband John Legend come on the show is her favorite memory. | |
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Lena Headey (October 14, 2019)
Headey says her favorite memory is doing The Word of the Day with Murray Monster. | |
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Holly Robinson Peete (October 16, 2019)
Robinson Peete says her favorite memory is seeing her father, Matt Robinson, play the original Gordon. | |
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Evan Rachel Wood (October 17, 2019)
Wood says her first memory of Sesame Street is the Waiter Grover sketches. | |
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Laurie Hernandez (October 18, 2019)
Hernandez says she related to Zoe because her middle name is Zoe. | |
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Misty Copeland (October 22, 2019)
Copeland says one of her fondest memories is seeing Ángel Corella dance with the alphabet. | |
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Jack McBrayer (October 24, 2019)
McBrayer talks about Grover then Waiter Grover shows up looking for Mr. Johnson who then runs away from him. | |
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Seth Rogen (October 26, 2019)
Rogen talks with Oscar about how he made Rogen feel that it was okay to be grouchy. | |
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Whoopi Goldberg (October 30, 2019)
Goldberg talks with Elmo about the first time she was on the Sesame set and the time they talked about their skin and fur. | |
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Meghan Trainor (October 31, 2019)
Trainor talks about Mr. Noodle and how her brothers love the Count. | |
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Norah Jones (November 1, 2019)
Jones talks about "Don't Know Y" and the "Ernie and Bert fishing" sketch. | |
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Isaac Mizrahi (November 2, 2019)
Mizrahi talks about the time he designed a tuxedo for Elmo. | |
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Nile Rodgers (November 3, 2019)
Rodgers talks about sight-reading "The People in Your Neighborhood" at an audition. | |
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Itzhak Perlman (November 4, 2019)
Perlman and Telly Monster remember the time they played music together. | |
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Elvis Costello (November 5, 2019)
Costello talks about Stevie Wonder singing "Superstition" and being glad to perform on the show when his boys were 4 years old. | |
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Patti LaBelle (November 6, 2019)
LaBelle talks about "Gospel Alphabet" and how her granddaughters learned the alphabet from it. | |
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Joseph Gordon-Levitt (November 7, 2019)
Gordon-Levitt talks about Oscar opening an Ice cream stand in Episode 1866 and learning from it that you should be your own person. | |
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Sterling K. Brown (November 8, 2019)
Brown talks about the "Pinball Number Count" song. | |
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Josh Groban (November 11, 2019)
Groban talks about the "Llama at Dentist" song. | |
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Patton Oswalt (November 13, 2019)
Oswalt talks about Stevie Wonder singing "Superstition." | |
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Dr. Oz (November 14, 2019)
Oz talks about laughing at Cookie Monster's obsession with cookies. | |
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Dave Grohl (November 16, 2019)
Grohl talks about loving Sesame music and learning how to eat cookies from Cookie Monster. | |
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Maren Morris (November 18, 2019)
Morris talks about seeing Johnny Cash on the show. | |
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Common (November 19, 2019)
Common talks about loving Ernie and Bert, Grover and his favorite character Cookie Monster. | |
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Amanda Seyfried (November 21, 2019)
Seyfried talks about watching her recently-born daughter enjoy new episodes of Sesame Street. | |
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Michael Che (November 22, 2019)
Che talks about the "Pinball Number Count" song. | |
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Zooey Deschanel (November 25, 2019)
Deschanel talks about Don Music's song "Flabbergasted". |
Crew[]
In addition to the show's many celebrities, crew and cast members have appeared in their own Sesame Street Memory videos. Some were posted exclusively to their social media accounts, while others have been posted to The People in Our Neighborhood Facebook page beginning in December 2019.
| Video | Description |
|---|---|
| Joe Hennes
Hennes categorizes a few of his favorite Sesame Street memories; his favorite song is "Telephone Rock," his favorite Muppet moment is the "Mystery Box" skit with Kermit and Cookie Monster, and his favorite human moment is Olivia and David singing "It Feels Good When You Sing a Song." Hennes then shares a memory (accompanied with a video reenactment) of when he had been sorting a box of old show props, and he discovered an envelope containing the original drawing of Mr. Hooper by Caroll Spinney. | |
| Louis Henry Mitchell
Mitchell recalls when he first watched the premiere episode of Sesame Street, and receiving a thank you note from Michelle Obama for a gift portrait he drew. | |
| Peter Linz
Linz talks about watching the show's first episode with his family, and a Sesame Street mural his mother painted on his bedroom wall. Linz brings Ernie up to wish the show a happy birthday. | |
| Alan Muraoka
Muraoka cites the introduction of Julia in Episode 4715 as an example of how the show has always embraced inclusion and diversity. | |
| Carmen Osbahr
Osbahr recalls her son — an enthusiast of the space program — participating in Buzz Aldrin's visit during Episode 4090. | |
| Eric Jacobson
Jacobson names "The People in Your Neighborhood" as one of his favorite songs, and expresses his gratitude to Sesame Street for introducing him to his wife. Grover appears at the ending tag to wish the show a happy birthday. | |
| Leslie Carrara-Rudolph
Carrara-Rudolph remembers first connecting with the Sesame Street monsters and, as a child, packing her bags to move to Sesame Street. Abby Cadabby appears at the ending tag to wish the show a happy birthday. | |
| Loretta Long
Long recalls the impact of Gordon and Susan adopting Miles as their son. | |
| Martin P. Robinson
Robinson talks about watching the first episode and Snuffy's debut appearance. He explains that while he didn't intend to become a puppeteer, his interests led him to being cast in the role in 1981. Telly appears at the end with Robinson and points out that his lips are moving. | |
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Matt Vogel
Vogel talks about being a first generation watcher of the show, and his childhood memories of meeting Gordon at a live appearance and seeing Big Bird in an Ice Follies show. The Count appears at the ending tag to wish the show a happy birthday. |
| Sonia Manzano
Manzano recalls being enamoured with James Earl Jones' recitation of the alphabet. | |
| Tyler Bunch
Bunch, who was born in 1970, remembers a Big Bird toy he had as a child. He also recalls an onset interaction with Caroll Spinney, during the taping of a scene where Bunch puppeteered Oscar while Spinney performed Big Bird. | |
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Stephanie D'Abruzzo
D'Abruzzo tells a story about receiving Sesame Street records for good behavior as a child. |
| Emilio Delgado
Delgado remembers his first day on the Sesame Street set and meeting Caroll Spinney. |
Production[]
The videos began production as early as 2016 during the taping of season 48 using celebrities visiting that season on the street set.
During the week of September 10, 2018, further videos were produced in California with celebrities and Muppets in front of an abstract version of the Sesame Street set, designed by artist Heather Holme.[2]
