Sesame Street / Tropes O To R

Sesame Street Trope Examples
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Tropes brought to you by the letter O

• Obviously Evil: The first two of the three "Japanese stories" sketches from 1971-72, "The Mystery of the Four Dragons" and "The Unhappy Empire", feature the "evil Prime Minister" of Imperial Japan, performed by Frank Oz. As if the word "evil" wasn't enough of a clue to his true nature, his bushy eyebrows are permanently furrowed in a contemptuous scowl, and he never misses an opportunity to cackle malevolently.
• Obviously Not Fine: When Dr. Nobel Price is sad about his "invention" (socks) turning out to have already been invented, he claims that he's fine despite sobbing.
• Odd Couple: Bert and Ernie, who live together but sleep in separate beds. It is never really clear whether they are partners, father and son or just friends.
• Ode to Apathy:
  • The song "That's What Friends are For" is about how Ernie and Bert sometimes do things that would ordinarily bother the other, but they don't mind because they're such good friends.
  • The song "Born to Add" is about how an unnamed man and woman don't care that their loud addition at night is waking everyone up— they'll keep doing it anyway.
• Ode to Food:
  • As you'd expect, this is a Cookie Monster specialty, going all the way back to "C is for Cookie" (about how he loves cookies so much he doesn't care if 'cookie' is the only word that starts with 'C' that he can think of), plus "Food, Food, Food" (about different types of food), "Healthy Food" (about eating a balanced diet and different nutritious foods), "Breakfast Time" (about the different weird ways he eats cookies in the morning—boiling them, juicing them, frying them, etc.), "Hey Food" (a "Hey Jude" parody sung with The Beetles) and "The First Time Me Eat Cookie" (about his first time eating cookies at about age one)
  • Captain Vegetable. In his original appearance, he appears to a boy named Andy who only eats candy and to another boy named Eddie who eats only spaghetti, and explains the benefits of eating vegetables like celery and carrots.
  • "Cereal Girl," a Song Parody of "Material Girl" by Madonna.
  • "The Celery Song" is a song by three kids called the Celery Bunch about how much they like celery.
  • Invoked when Elmo uses Abby's wand to make it so nobody can speak, only sing, and makes Baby Bear and Alan sing a song dedicated to porridge.
  • One song is sung by a boy who previously thought he didn't like zucchini about how it's the best food he's ever eaten now that he's tried some.
  • "Everyone Likes Ice Cream" is about how liking ice cream is nearly universal despite the fact that everyone is different.
  • The episode "The Great Fruit Strike" has the street gang each come up with a song to honor their favorite fruits. Zoe sings a tropical song about bananas, Alan gets a country/western song about tomatoes, Elmo does a rap/hip-hop song about grapes, and Big Bird leads a Broadway-esque number about all fruit in general. Mr. Johnson also chips in with his own song about fruit, which turns out to be a wicked rock ballad proving too much for the others.
• Off Screen Crash: The show loves this trope (a loud crash from offscreen), particularly with Muppet segments.
• Once a Season:
  • The season premieres are usually the only episodes of the whole season to feature all of the human actors on the show, because they can't afford to do so more often than that. Often, this was used to showcase new and returning actors and establish personalities. ^note A prime example is the fifth-season premiere, aired in November 1973, where a "typical day on Sesame Street" is shown, with not only the entire human cast but every one of the Muppet characters as well.
  • During much of The '70s and (at least) early-to-mid Eighties, each year the show would have a week's worth of winter-themed episodes. Actually, two weeks: the first week would show snow falling, and the second week the whole street would be covered in snow. This didn't last long, and even now whenever they do Christmas specials there's very little snow cover; as Oscar once explained in an interview, "It used to snow, but it got too expensive."
  • From Seasons 33 to 37, "Do De Rubber Duck" had become an annual treat for viewers. Ditto for "Imagine That".
• One-Episode Fear:
  • In "Afraid of the Bark", Zoe (and allegedly Rocco) develop a fear of dogs and the adults and Elmo help them lose it.
  • In one episode, Elmo has a fear of fire, which he gains (due to Hooper's Store catching fire) and loses (due to visiting the firehouse) on the same episode.
  • In the Season 47 episode "Big Bird's Song", Big Bird has one-episode case of stage fright when he is to sing in front of a crowd on a live talent show for birds. He gets over his fear upon realizing how fun it is to perform.
• One-Letter Pun:
  • U/you is particularly common, including "I Get a Kick Out of U", "I'm in Love With U" (parodying "Indian Love Song"), "Thinking of U", "Like the Way U Does" (parody of "Like the Way I Do" actually performed by Melissa Etheridge) "U Really Got a Hold on Me" (actually performed by Smokey Robinson) and "What Makes U Useful" (parody of "What Makes You Beautiful" actually performed by One Direction).
  • In one skit, Ernie gets stung by a B instead of a bee.
  • Harvey Kneeslapper's main shtick is making some kind of pun on a letter or a number, and then sticking a sticker of that letter onto the other person. For instance, a "Knock Knock" Joke with the punchline "Deon you!" had him stick a D on the guy.
  • One Don Music sketch has him struggle to remember the alphabet song, only for people to come around and say things that remind him of it. For instance, when he forgets what comes after "F", Kermit says, "Gee, Mr. Music!".
  • In one cartoon skit, a little boy finds himself in a place themed around the letter B. He says, "Gee!", and someone tells him, "Not 'G'; it's B!".
  • In "Abby in Wonderland", an Alice in Wonderland parody, characters have a T party, where they eat the letter T.
  • In a "Salty and Pierre" skit, Pierre misunderstands "two twos" as "tutus" and starts dancing in a tutu.
• One-Steve Limit:
  • The first three decades featured Little Chrissy, who has also been referred to as just Chrissy and as Chris. Chrissy was also the name of a member of Little Jerry and the Monotones, and both characters were voiced by (and named after) Christopher Cerf, though the Monotone Chrissy wasn't referred to by name often. Another Chris was added to the human cast in season 38, long after the Muppets with this name had stopped appearing on the show.
  • There's Sam the Robot and Sinister Sam, as well as the owner of a store where the Busby Twins frequented, and a boy who appears in the home video Getting Ready to Read.
  • Bad Bart and Bert's brother Bart.
  • A comical example occurred in a sketch where Kermit the Frog goes to pick-up a personalized t-shirt, only to get shirts for Kermit the Forg, Kermit the Gorf, and Kermit the Grof. At first it looks like the shirt maker made a mistake, until customers with those names show up to pick up their shirts.
• One-Word Vocabulary: In the early 90s, a female construction worker Muppet named Stella was often seen with Biff and Sully, and all she would say was "Yo!"
• Only Sane Man: Averted to the extreme, as most of the cast, particularly the puppets, acts pretty eccentric at times, thanks partially at least to them attempting to simultaneously teach preschoolers about letters, numbers and other subjects.
• Only Shop in Town: Hooper's Store is this to the titular street.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • When Oscar starts acting kind rather than his usual grouchy self in "Oscar the Kind", the rest reacted with surprise.
  • When Oscar reads "nice books" in one episode, people wonder if he's sick.
  • When Barkley doesn't eat in one episode, it's a sign he's sick.
  • Big Bird and Snuffy love sharing, but when they get affected by the Mine-itis, it's a surefire alert from Elmo and Leela that they are not at all like themselves.
• Opening Ballet: Part of the opening sequence of Christmas Eve on Sesame Street involves an ice ballet in which Big Bird learns from a girl how to skate to the song "Feliz Navidad".
• Our Vampires Are Different:
  • Count von Count. He has a shadow, enjoys being out in sunlight, can't turn into a bat, and doesn't seem to be interested in sucking blood at all. (One early skit did show him having no reflection in a mirror.) Official materials are inconsistent on whether he is even a vampire at all.
  • In the Twilight parody, Cookie Monster plays "Shortbreadward" a "Yumpire" with an insatiable thirst for cookies.
• Out of Focus: This happened to several characters after Elmo and later Abby Cadabby came to dominate the show. Some longtime characters such as Prairie Dawn, Oscar the Grouch and the Count aren't seen as much as they were in previous years. Saddest of all, Big Bird is only a periodic guest star. This may be an example of Real Life Writes the Plot, as Jerry Nelson (the Count) suffered through several years of declining health before his death in 2012 and as Carroll Spinney continued to perform as Big Bird and Oscar into his early 80s.
  • Further examples of Real Life Writes the Plot: Even before Jim Henson's death and Frank Oz's semi-retirement, their increasing commitments to outside projects starting in the late 1970's affected how often their respective characters would appear in new material. This particularly affected Ernie, Bert, Grover, Cookie Monster and Kermit the Frog, all of whom went from frequently appearing on the street interacting with the other characters to primarily appearing in pre-filmed inserts, as Jim and Frank were then only able to dedicate one week out of each year for such.
• Out Sick: This happens quite a few times.
  • Sort of inverted the time the child Gabi was sick on a Birthday Episode and so her friends couldn't come to her birthday party.
  • Another time Grandmama Bear has a cold, so an older Gabi has to babysit.
  • A third time Big Bird and Zoe both have colds, so they can't have a play-date (they have a "play-date by proxy" with Telly).
  • A fourth time Gina was sick off her job so Savion filled in.
  • Another time, Maria has a stomach virus and is sent to the hospital, so she can't do her job, but she comes back later that day.
  • "You've Got to Be Patient to Be a Patient" is a song all about this: it's about how you can't go out and play while sick, so you'll just have to be patient. It's sung once to Big Bird when he has a lung infection, once to Maria when she has a stomach virus, and once to a little girl when she has the flu.
  • In the song "Best Friend Blues", Ernie sings about how Bert can't play with him because he's sick.
  • A 1997 episode involved Prairie Dawn falling ill with a cold the day one of her pageants is supposed to be performing, so she had Bob dress in drag like Prairie to take her place at said pageant.
• Overcomplicated Menu Order: In an early skit, Ernie asks an ice-cream man for a Chocolate, Strawberry, Peach, Vanilla, Banana, Pistachio, Peppermint, Lemon, Orange, Butterscotch ice-cream cone. Amazingly enough, the ice-cream man delivers! ... Except that Ernie is now upset because the cone was prepared upside-down. Watch it here.
• Overly Long Gag:
  • An early sketch hosted by Big Bird has him constantly failing nonstop to catch a tennis ball over and over until he finally succeeds with the last ball.
  • A Season 16 episode has Maria rambling to Big Bird on and on over what is wrong with her while trying to fix a big grandfather clock in the Fix-It Shop.
  • A Season 19 sketch begins with a girl named Kelly struggling to walk across the arbor in roller skates as a visiting Muppet named Frankie heckles her weak skills.
  • In Episode 3867 when Big Bird shows up, Elmo and Tilly proceed to tell him about their situation with waiting for Luis to come back and water the tulips they are watching; the bird proceeds to utter, "I know!" for every detail they list off, because Luis told him prior.

Tropes brought to you by the letter P

• "Pan from the Sky" Beginning: The "Madlenka" cartoon segments begin with a scene of outer space, then it gradually shifts down to the eponymous girl's apartment. This fits in with the lyric in the theme song: "Madlenka, Madlenka, lives in the universe. Madlenka, Madlenka, lives right here on the Earth."
• Pantomime Animal: Barkley was portrayed by a performer who crouched down on all fours and crawled while wearing the Barkley mask like a helmet.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Rather common, and justified given it's a show for preschoolers.
  • A Running Gag of the 2016 "Smart Cookies" segments is that the villain, the Crumb, is able to get past Cookie Monster with the most minor disguises, such as a mustache or even simply a bow-tie. Because Cookie Monster is comparing him to a digital photo, these elements don't appear, allowing Cookie to be easily fooled.
  • An Ernie and Bert segment from The '70s had Ernie trying out a disguise kit consisting of these and tries to fool Bert with them, disguising as a pirate and Little Red Riding Hood. The problem is, Bert sees through all of them (especially since Ernie forgot to remove his pirate beard for the Red Riding Hood disguise, and he doesn't want to be disturbed while reading his "Boring Stories" book. But then The Big Bad Wolf arrives and Bert assumes it's Ernie in another disguise, until Ernie shows up through the doorway just as the Wolf is munching on Bert's chair. Cue the Oh, Crap! look from Bert.
  • In a "Word of the Day" segment, special guest star Jack Black defines "disguise" with Elmo and claims to be a Master of Disguise. He attempts to prove it by donning two different outfits: the first is a sombrero and pair of sunglasses, and the second is a rainbow clown wig and...another pair of sunglasses. Elmo immediately sees through both, which leads Jack to leave in a funk. It's then subverted when a Muppet chicken enters, and Elmo asks if he's seen Jack—only to discover that the chicken is Jack!
  • In the Sesame Street Stays Up Late New Year's Eve special, Telly (who is scared of the changes the new year will bring) thinks that if he can stop the countdown to midnight, New Year's Day won't happen. Among his many attempts to do so is donning a trenchcoat, sunglasses, and fake beard to pretend to be a representative from "the Department of Celebrations and Parties" and announce that they're not allowed to host any festivities. While the kids and younger Muppets are fooled, Gina clearly has it figured out from the beginning and quietly laughs to herself as Telly fumbles through his speech. Telly ultimately ends up revealing himself when the beard gets stuck in his briefcase.
• Paranoia Fuel: Invoked In-Universe and played for laughs during the W-ORD News segment with John Oliver and Cookie Monster. One of the top stories is teased by John Oliver as "The word 'crumb' ends with a 'b', but you never hear it. What's it doing back there, and how can you protect yourself?"
• Parental Bonus: A deliberate part of the show from the beginning. One of the first producers described the plan for the show back in 1969 as "A show that will entertain parents so much, they'll force their kids to watch."
  • If not the actual originator of the concept, then Sesame Street is certainly the most sophisticated. Includes parodies of current celebrities, movies and songs, such as 'Monsterpiece Theater', a Masterpiece Theatre spoof hosted by Alistair Cookie. It's really doubtful that preschoolers would get a Waiting for Godot parody. Or, for that matter, one based around The 39 Steps.
  • They did a parody of Mystery! in the early 90s, called Mysterious Theater with Vincent Twice, a spoof of Vincent Price.
  • Family Feud was parodied in 1981 as Family Food with Richard Dawson as the host.
  • There were 2 Wheel of Fortune parodies. One was Squeal of Fortune with Pat Playjacks and Velma Blank. The other was Dreidel of Fortune with host Jeremy Miller (Not sure who played La Vanna White).
  • Miami Vice was spoofed as Miami Mice.
  • Life Styles Of The Rich And Famous was spoofed as Life Styles of the Big and Little with Dicky Tick. Only 2 skits were made.
  • This Is Your Life was parodied as Here is Your Life with Guy Smiley (and later, Sonny Friendly).
  • Siskel & Ebert was parodied as Sneak Peak Previews with Telly Monster and Oscar the Grouch. Ebert and Siskel was in one of the sketch where they demonstrate the Thumbs Up Thumbs Down ratings.
  • Ask The Manager was parodied as Ask Oscar with host Telly Monster and Oscar the Grouch.
  • Hill Street Blues was parodied as Hill Street Twos.
  • Love Boat was spoofed with Ernie as the captain who loves that boat.
  • ABC-TV's Love in the Afternoon was parodied as WCTW: School in the Afternoon.
  • Days of Our Lives was spoofed as Sounds Of Our Lives.
  • Or Old Spice... starring Grover. ("Anything is possible when you smell like a monster and you know the word 'on'. I am on a horse." "Moo!" "Cow.")
  • They really do work hard to stay current, as also per a parody of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit called "Law & Order: Special Letters Unit".
  • They also did a parody of Boardwalk Empire called "Birdwalk Empire".
  • The Latin American version of this show, Plaza Sésamo, features the recurring sketch "Los Monstruos Tambien Lloran" ("The Monsters Also Cry"), a parody of telenovelas named after a classic Mexican example (Los Ricos Tambien Lloran ["The Rich Also Cry"]) of the form.
  • Five words: Orange is the New Snack.
  • American I
  • Game of Chairs gives us the ultimate one with the references both to the story and um...some of the more grown up aspects ("I've a wedding to get to!" - really Robb?) clear and easy to follow for fans of the show and those who only have an inkling of the hard hitting series.
  • One cartoon featuring a salesman trying to sell the letter Z has the salesman give examples of words beginning with Z, including "Zither." He then pulls out a zither and starts playing the theme from The Third Man.
  • Jodie Foster made a guest appearance where she strode up to Oscar's trashcan and knocked on it. She had something very important to tell him: "I really like you a whole lot." A gob-smacked Oscar looked at her and demanded, "You talkin' to ME?!?! Jodie answered, "Well, there's nobody else here."
• Parental Substitute: The original concept behind Gordon and his wife Susan, according to Word of God.
• Parody Commercial: Used as a second Couch Gag in seasons 43 and 44.
• Parodied Trope: Early seasons, as noted, parodied many TV advertising tropes of the day. Notably, the Repeating Ad, by using the same films more than once in a given episode.

• Penguins Are Ducks: The penguins often make quacking sounds.
• Passing the Torch: In So Long, Mr. Hooper, David told Big Bird that Mr. Hooper left the store to him.
• Pep-Talk Song: Many are heard throughout the show.
  • The recurring song "Believe In Yourself" is sung to encourage the listener to not give up on themselves and they can do anything they want if they just believe it.
  • In an early episode when Big Bird chickens himself out of having the chance to talk with Granny Bird on the phone, Susan reassures him with the song, "Everyone Feels a Little Shy Sometimes".
  • Olivia has "Wonderful to Be You" from Episode 1246, sung to cheer up Big Bird and show him that he's special to everyone and he's worthwhile.
  • During Buffy's visit, Buffy has the song "Different People, Different Ways" to show Big Bird that she loves him just as much as she loves her baby son Dakota and nothing will change that.
  • Big Bird's song "Everyone Makes Mistakes" is sung to various others to reassure them making mistakes is a general occurrence and what's best is they can be fixed quickly.
  • "You're Gonna Be a Star" from the Don't Eat the Pictures special, as Big Bird encourages Prince Sahu to not give up on himself and he will help him break the curse so he can pass into the afterlife.
  • In episode 3517 when Big Bird is upset over sending Granny Bird away with his Angrish right after she finally arrives, Granny Bird reassures him with the song "With You", promising that no matter how far apart they are, they will always be together.
  • In Episode 4060 when Big Bird is feeling shaken over temporary replacement Natalie in Alan's absence while he is on vacation, Natalie reassures him with the song "Things Change".
  • In Part 2 of "The Adventures of Little Big Bird", Mike the ladybug sings "You Can Do It" to encourage Big Bird to do his best and not stop until he gets back to his normal size.
  • "Everyone Needs a Friend", sung by Big Bird and Snuffy in Abby's debut episode to reassure her not to feel too shy about making new friends and everyone will get along with her just fine.
  • Season 50 has Maren Morris sing "Oops! Whoops! Wait, Ah-ha!" as encouragement to the viewer to keep trying until they get it right.
• Performance Anxiety: Big Bird suffered this briefly in the Episode 4712 street scene.
• People Fall Off Chairs: Seen in "Little Miss Muffet: The Continuing Story", when Miss Muffet is eating spaghetti in a restaurant at the mall, and among seeing the spider that keeps following her around, she's so terrified she falls back in her chair (and her scream raises in pitch to reflect that.)
• Person with the Clothing: An animated segment about the letter V features "the villain in the Panama hat" (who even refers to himself as that).
• Piano Drop: Seen in "Danger" by Little Jerry and the Monotones, and "Danger's No Stranger" by How Now Brown and the Moo Wave.
• Picnic Episode:
  • In Episode 3084, Bob plans a picnic for the kids, as well as Alice, Telly, and Herry in the park. However, when rain spoils plans for an outdoor picnic, Herry is upset, so Bob decides to host the picnic in his apartment. While Bob, the kids, Alice, and Telly have a lot of fun at their indoor picnic, Herry complains that an indoor picnic isn't the same as an outdoor one, and doesn't want to partake in the games his friends play, eventually leaving and going home. He comes back at the end to color with his friends, having nothing to do at home.
  • In Episode 3895, Big Bird and Snuffy prepare for a picnic in the park together. However, they find out from a weatherman on the radio that it's going to rain, much to their dismay. Over the course of the episode, their friends tell them all the good things rain can do, and although Big Bird and Snuffy have a better appreciation for it as a result, they still wish they can have their picnic, so Alan suggests that they have a picnic inside Hooper's Store.
• Pie in the Face:
  • Many of the adults get pies thrown in their faces several times throughout "Surprise"; in the ending, even the viewer gets pied.
  • The series of skits where Linda signs words that Gordon says out loud right before the word is demonstrated on him. The last word in the skit is "pie" and it ends not with Gordon getting a pie to the face, but rather Linda being on the receiving end.
    • In episode 3051, that scene is followed by Maria getting creamed by accident courtesy of Fluffy, who had been meaning to hit Oscar. Oscar is then perplexed by Maria's reaction, which is to laugh hysterically.
  • The "Three Whipped Cream Pies on the Wall" segment, in which Maria pies Bob, Luis and David and then gets pelted with pies herself at the end of the number - although curiously the pies all miss her face.
  • Ernie is pied by Bert in an early skit, after confusing the number 4 with first a chocolate cream and then a banana cream pie.
    Ernie: [after being pied] I knew what it was all along, but who wants to get hit in the face with a 4?
• The Pig-Pen: Oscar the Grouch (and most grouches) love to get dirty.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Word of God is that Gordon is a teacher (first elementary school, then later high school science); in the first episode he says that he's home early because a teachers meeting was called off. However, because he's only very rarely actually seen in a classroom, and indeed seems to always be available whenever the Street plot of the day requires it, many casual viewers aren't aware of this fact. In fact, Mad TV once lampshaded this in a skit about the recession hitting Sesame Street, and Gordon - now riding an ice cream cart - remarks, "Oh, I lost my job doing whatever it is I did before."
• Plague Episode:
  • One episode featured an outbreak of "mine-itis", which caused everybody to itch, hop, spin, and then become extremely grabby.
  • Several PSA videos dealt with the real-life Covid-19 pandemic, and featured things such as a monster named Buddy dealing with his father catching it and his neighbour dying from it, Julia having to deal with wearing a mask, Louie getting vaccinated, and characters social distancing.
• Plain Palate: Downplayed for Bert, who likes plain things like oatmeal and plain water and dislikes ice cream sodas due to not being plain enough, but is also shown enjoying non-plain food (one sketch has him mad that Ernie took his chocolate ice cream for instance).
• Plank Gag: Big Bird can sometimes accidentally bump other people or things with his tail whenever he turns around, such as when he repeatedly hit Luis in the head when he hurt his back, or unknowingly knocks Radar into his nest of toys to sell at a nest sale.
• Platonic Valentine:
  • In one episode, discussing racism and interracial friendship, Gina and Savion, who are a white woman and a black man who are best friends, sing a Friendship Song that involves a list of synonyms for "friends", one of them being "Valentines".
  • One song is about preschool-aged best friends Elmo and Abby making Valentines for each other, likely because they're too young to have romantic love interests.
  • During the "Nine Chickens" song, eight of the chickens give a Valentine to their neighbour.
• Playing Sick: In the Nobody Cares About Me! book, Big Bird is upset since all of his friends are paying more attention to Ernie, who is sick with a cold, so he pretends to be sick himself. His plan works, as Little Bird starts to take care of him. By the time Ernie recovers the next morning, Big Bird wakes up to find out that he really is sick, and he learns that being sick for real is no fun.
• Plot Allergy:
  • One skit involves guessing what's making a roaring and sneezing sound. It turns out to be a tiger with allergies.
  • One skit involves a couple trying to define what an allergy is, while itching because there is a talking shrimp nearby and they're both allergic to shrimp.
  • Another skit reveals that the Count is allergic to flowers, but seeks them out anyway so he can count his own sneezes.
  • In an "Abby's Flying Fairy School" skit, Mrs. Sparklenose is allergic to "fairy dust bunnies", which make her sneeze, causing her powers to wonk out.
• Polka-Dot Disease: One episode focuses on Big Bird getting the "Birdy Pox", which is a disease most birds of his species and age get and is characterized by being covered in itchy green dots.
• Potty Dance:
  • In "Elmo's Potty Time", Baby Bear squirms and Elmo asks if he's dancing. Baby Bear says that, no, he's fidgeting and says he has to go himself.
  • In the licensed game "Potty Plan", Elmo or Abby starts squirming if they need to go to the bathroom.
• Potty Emergency:
  • Baby Bear, Grover and Curly Bear get potty emergencies in "Elmo's Potty Time".
  • In the game "Potty Plan", if you idle, Elmo or Abby's need to go to the bathroom becomes more urgent.
• Potty Failure:
  • The Elmo's Potty Time special has a whole song about wetting oneself, called "Accidents Happen".
  • Discussed in the licensed game "Elmo's Potty Time" when they mention not wanting to have accidents.
  • In the licensed game "Potty Plan", Elmo or Abby can have accidents if you idle.
  • One doll called Potty Time Elmo can have accidents.
• Power Outage Plot: An Ernie and Bert segment from the 1970s has Ernie notice that it's darker than usual when they are in bed at night, and how all the lights on Sesame Street are out, and Bert explains that it's a blackout and what it is. But then Ernie torments Bert (as usual) with suggesting things they can do during the blackout, such as watch TV or listen to their radio or record player, not knowing they all require electricity to operate.
  • The above sketch actually tied in to three different episodes all of which were about a blackout: episode 652, episode 2071, and episode 2210.
• Precious Puppy: The 2021 HBO Max exclusive animated special Furry Friends Forever: Elmo Gets a Puppy involves Elmo and Grover befriending a female stray puppy named "Tango". Throughout the special, they try taking her to Sesame Street's "Pet Adoption Fair" held at the park. However, Elmo and Grover missed the event which causes Elmo to fully adopt Tango and become his second pet. She debuted on the main show on November 11th, 2021 and started appearing on PBS KIDS' streaming programs beginning in early 2022.
• Pregnant Reptile: Slimey's mother is shown being pregnant, despite being a worm.
• Prejudice Aesop:
  • The song "We All Sing with the Same Voice" is about how people all look different, have different families, and come from different places, but we're all the same in many ways.
  • "No Matter What Your Language" is also about how even though we speak different languages, have different names etc., we're still all the same in many ways.
  • Another song, "No Matter What", is about how people are all different, but still do human things like shiver, laugh, cry, etc.
  • One cartoon skit is about a Native American boy telling two white boys Native Americans don't really speak in Tonto Talk.
  • In one episode, Gina gets a racist phone call saying she can't be best friends with Savion because they have different skin colours. She tells Telly that some people think people with different skin colours can't be friends, but that those people are stupid.
  • One song is about how families with only one parent, or with grandparents, aunts, and/or uncles as legal guardians, are just as legitimately families as families with two parents.
• Premature Aggravation: In "Grouch Airlines", Ernie wants to borrow a vacuum cleaner from Herbert Birdsfoot but goes through this while imagining Herbert's possible reaction to the request. When they finally meet, Ernie is so worked up that he snaps at Herbert, saying he can "just keep [his] stupid, old vacuum cleaner!".
• Pretty in Mink: In a Christmas special, one of the (human) women wears a rabbit fur jacket.
• Prison Episode: Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration (a stand-alone special) tells about how sometimes people violate the law (a "grown up rule") and have to go to jail or prison.
• Pronouncing My Name for You: During the "Cooking by the Numbers" segments in Season 30 Chef Rutheé insists that her name is pronounced "Ruth-AY" any time the announcer of the segment calls her "Chef Ruth-ee". At the end of the number 9 segment Chef Rutheé freaks out over the overuse of lemons in her recipe and she mispronoucnes her name as "Ruth-ee" leaving the announcer to remind her of the correct "Ruth-AY".
• Punctuated Pounding: In "The Disappoint-O-Meter" when Big Bird and Snuffy appear, they are jumping and stomping around dejectedly, shouting and punctuating things like "No!", "Not! Fair!" and "It's! Just! Not! Fair!" for every pound.
• Put on a Bus:
  • Nearly every original human character that is not Alan, Chris and Nina as of Season 46, due to budget cuts with the show's production. Thank goodness they had the sense to at least let some of the more recent human characters Alan and Chris off the bus before it moved off. But for the rest of the human characters, they were just gone like that and have never been mentioned since. Although this is somewhat mitigated by the fact that they've re-appeared in re-used street stories, online materials, live performances, and public events, they have not appeared in any newer material in the series proper.
  • David. Northern Calloway, who was experiencing mental health and other personal issues in the late 1980s, left the show after the end of Season 20 (he was either fired or resigned, depending on which story one believes), and—since David was still fairly prominent well into 1989—his departure was explained in the premiere episode of Season 21, which aired in November 1989. Gordon receives a postcard and reads it to Elmo, explaining that David had moved to Florida to care for his grandmother and manage her farm. David is still presumed to be alive, as to this day, he has not been mentioned again. Calloway's real life, meanwhile, continued to spiral downhill and in January 1990, he suffered a massive nervous breakdown that killed him.
  • Also Roosevelt Franklin, Harvey Kneeslapper, Simon Soundman, Placido Flamingo, Forgetful Jones, Don Music, Sherlock Hemlock, Sam the Robot... In fact, too many to count, as there have been hundreds of Muppets over the last 48 years, so there is no way around this. Even some of the core 'legacy Muppets', like Herry Monster, are seldom seen on the show today.
    • Actually averted in the cases of Herry & Roosevelt. See The Bus Came Back for more details.
  • An unusual Muppet case is Countess von Backwards, introduced in 1990 as a love interest for the Count. After appearing in two sketches, her performer, Camille Bonora, refused to play the character anymore, since, as a devout Christian, she was uncomfortable with the occult connotations of a vampirish puppet. The Countess was dropped.

Tropes brought to you by the letter Q

• Quaking with Fear: Happens to Big Bird in Episode 4712 when he develops a huge case of stage fright when he has to sing live. The loud jittering sounds that his legs make are even commented upon by Skip Squawk.
• Quarreling Song: "It's Mine" from Episode 4101, sung by Elmo and Zoe as they argue over who claimed a bouncy ball in the arbor first.
• Quarter Hour Short: The Elmo block, which featured either Elmo the Musical or the original, longer version of Elmo's World, took up the last eleven minutes of the hour-long version of Sesame Street starting in 1998.
• Quirky Doctor: One episode features a fairy doctor who teleports in puffs of smoke and initially reads the wrong document and thinks Abby has bunions.

Tropes brought to you by the letter R

• Raiders of the Lost Parody: The Season 39 premiere "The Golden Triangle of Destiny"; after 'Minnesota Mel' shows up and tells Telly and Chris about said triangle, Mel gets a 'charley horse', so Telly gets his own costume, calls himself 'Texas Telly' and takes his place.
• Ratings Stunt: The "Around the Corner" era of 1993-1998, in which the Street expanded to include several new and colourful characters and their businesses (notably the Furry Arms Hotel). This was done due to increasing competition from Barney & Friends.
• Really Dead Montage: Mr. Hooper would've gotten one, but the producers decided it would confuse the younger viewers.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: The September 11 World Trade Center attack served as the basic underlying framing device for the Season 33 premiere episode, in which Hooper's Store catches fire, much to Elmo's horror. He gets invited to the local fire station, and sees what firefighters do to save people's lives, which helps Elmo with his fears.
• Real Time: Used sometimes, and occasionally lampshaded.
  Fifteen fingers (with a friend);
  In fifteen seconds, this film will end...
• Rearrange the Song: The series kept its original theme for 23 seasons, then rearranged it to a calypso version in Season 24, then to an arrangement in the spirit of the original in Season 30, a bouncy swing version in Season 33, a hip-hop-inspired version in Season 38 (which was remixed into a funk-jazz version in Season 40 with additional acoustic and brass instrumentation, and remixed again in Season 42 with the addition of more percussion). Most recently a shorter folk-inspired version debuted in Season 46 when the home of the series' first-run airings moved from PBS to HBO.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • In the episode where Snuffy was revealed, Gordon played this role to Big Bird when he understands his frustration at Snuffy leaving right when he brings the adults to see him. He then suggests he get help and have someone watch over Snuffy so he won't leave; that was when Elmo comes in and plays a big part at making sure Snuffy stays long enough so he is revealed.
  • Gina is this to Zoe in Rocco's debut episode; following Elmo chewing out Zoe for letting Rocco take over everything which led to him ending his friendship with her, Gina tells Zoe it's Elmo whose feelings were hurt and Rocco is what led to such, causing Zoe to realize what she had done and hurries to make amends.
  • Skip Squawk was this to Big Bird in Episode 4712. He understands his Performance Anxiety and reassures him he doesn't have to sing onstage if he doesn't want to, allows him to sit and watch the show as long as he wants, and once he feels like it, then he can come onstage to sing. This allows Big Bird to slowly gather the confidence he needs to conquer his fear.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • In Episode 2096 after Big Bird enters his nest and everyone on the street has finally seen Snuffy in the flesh (or fur, as Snuffy puts), he is overjoyed and promptly chews them out for not listening to him all this time. Maria reassures him afterwards he has a right to be angry and everyone apologizes.
    Big Bird: At last! Oh! Joy! Joy! I told you there was a Snuffleupagus! At last you've seen him! And you gotta believe it, right? I told you all along that there was a Snuffleupagus, my best pal. He's not imaginary but you never believed me!!
    Gordon: No, but, Maria and Linda and I believed you, Big Bird.
    Big Bird: Yeah, but... the rest of you didn't!
  • In Episode 3559, Telly wants to join Betty Lou's club, but Betty Lou refuses because she wants it to be an all-girls' club. Towards the end of the episode, Betty Lou wants Telly to loan her his tuba so that she can play it in her band, while Rosita and Zoe try to stop her. The former prompts Telly to give the girls this kind of speech.
    Telly: You want to borrow my tuba?
    Rosita: Telly, Telly, wait, wait!
    Betty Lou: He seems very angry.
    Telly: Angry? Angry? Yes, I'm angry! You don't want me in your club, but you want me to loan you my favorite only tuba so you can play in an all-girl band?! Well, the answer is no! No! A big no! I don't want to be anywhere near any of you!
  • In Episode 3809, Elmo gives one to both Zoe and Rocco when they introduce the number 12, which Elmo has been trying to do for the whole episode.
    Elmo: Elmo is supposed to say the number of the day, not Rocco.
    Zoe: Well, Rocco says you were taking too long. He couldn't wait anymore.
    Elmo: ELMO DOESN'T BELIEVE THIS! All... all day long, Elmo wanted to do was... was say the number of the day... but noooooooo! Elmo has to sing to Rocco! Elmo has to play the silly word game! Elmo w... w... watch Rocco's favorite movie! And when finally it came time... for Elmo to say the number of the day... ROCCO... Rocco says it before ELMO!!!
    Zoe: Oh, well. Come on, Elmo. Let's play with Rocco.
    Elmo: Ohhhh, no. Elmo is not playing with Rocco or you anymore! Elmo is going to play by HIMSELF! (runs off in anger)
    Zoe: Wait, Elmo, come back!! ...Rocco says he didn't mean it!!
• Reminder Failure:
  • In the picture book Don't Forget the Oatmeal!, Bert and Ernie go grocery shopping, with Bert remarking at the beginning that it's particularly important that they remember to get more oatmeal. Bert ties a string around his finger to help him remember. At the supermarket they get distracted by a Cookie Monster rampage, and when they get home they discover that they've bought everything on their list except the oatmeal.
  • A classic animated sketch has a young girl being given directions about what groceries to pick up for her mother. She walks all the way to the store repeating the three items she has to get only to momentarily forget the third when she's actually in the store. After a few second of being puzzled, she does remember the right thing to buy, however.
• Required Spinoff Crossover: The Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures claymation series features the title duo and a series of new characters. The only short to feature another Sesame regular is "Wizards," which features Elmo in a prominent role.
• Retcon: It's intentionally invoked in Season 46: as mentioned above (see Chaos Architecture), Hooper's Store has been given a vintage/retro redesign that's much more reminiscent of the original store from The '70s, making it seem as if the store has just set there and aged for 46 years, as opposed to having been renovated several times. The store does now offer free wi-fi, showing that it still keeps up with the time regardless.
• Retool: The show has always been described as an "experiment," where new things are tried out each year. Though the majority of the changes through the first three decades were fairly minor (dropping/adding certain characters and segments), major changes to the format have been done since the mid-2000s:
  • In 2002, the show was modeled after the day of a preschool child and became more structured; daily recurring segments happened in a specific sequence, and the street story, originally shown in parts throughout the hour, was condensed into one approx. 12 minute block.
  • In 2009, the show kept a similar format, only now modeled after pre-school programing blocks (such as Nick Jr.) with more long-form segments incorporated into the show.
  • 2016's changes condensed the show to a half-hour format, and shifted the show's focus to a central cast of six (Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Cookie Monster, Grover, Big Bird, and Oscar the Grouch), while the other Muppet characters are downgraded to supporting roles.
• Reveling in the New Form: In one "Hero Guy" skit, when Baby Bear turns Hero Guy into different animals, he enjoys being the hippo and is reluctant to turn back.
• Rhyming Wizardry:
  • All of Abby's spells need to rhyme in order to work, even if they otherwise don't make sense (e.g. "Feather, leather, feather, leather, now it's time to change the weather!") or use nonsense words (e.g. "Dumpkin, lumpkin, frumpkin, pumpkin!")
  • Subverted in "Imagine That", where Mumford is trying to find the correct spell to go to the beach. He thinks it's a rhyme that goes, "Alakazam, _____, magic take me to the sea!", but it's instead the more mundane-sounding "Alakazam, please take me to the beach."
• Ridiculously Alive Undead: The Count is a Friendly Neighborhood Vampire, yet he feels pain (as shown in an episode where he screams because a bee stung him) and one episode has him catch a type of flu that makes him faint.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons:
  • In one sketch, Ernie notices that his houseplant is growing faster when he plays music to it, and concludes that plants like music. While plants do respond to music (and other sounds) due to soundwaves causing vibrations, they can't have opinions or a concept of music.
  • In the hurricane episode, the farmer correctly assumes that a hurricane is coming. However, he thinks it's because his animals are dancing.
• Ring-Ring-CRUNCH!: Subverted in the "Time to Tick Tock" skit from the early 1990s with an alarm clock being used to count up to twelve in a boogie-woogie style, and among hitting twelve it rings very loudly and then breaks apart on its own.
• Road Trip Plot: The first quarter of Season 50 has Big Bird go on a road trip across America with Nina to visit his cousin in California. Special sketches were presented in each episode which feature Big Bird videochatting with Elmo about what place he's visiting at the moment. After returning home, the videochats now show some of the friends he made on the trip.
• Robot Buddy: Sam the Robot tried to be this in The '70s, but just couldn't get things right.
• Robot Dog: In one episode, after meeting Elmo's puppy Tango for the first time, the robot Norbert expresses a desire to have a dog of his own. Elmo, Tamir and Alan decide to create a robot dog companion for him, which Norbert ultimately names it Alfred after they give it to him.
• Rock–Paper–Scissors:
  • A newspaper sold at Hooper's Store featured the headline "Rock Wins! Paper and Scissors are bummed..."
  • In episodes 4145 and 4225, two pigs are shown to be constantly playing this game and keep tying at "Paper." This results in them constantly going...
  "Rock paper scissors SHOOT!" "Paper." "Paper." "TIEEEEEEEE!"
• Romantic Ride Sharing: At the end of the "One Way" song, the biker rides a motorcycle with his girlfriend in the back seat, hugging him.
• Roommate Drama: Ernie and Bert are two single puppet characters who live together and share a bedroom. Ernie is silly while Bert is serious, which causes comedic struggles such as Ernie waking up Bert in the middle of the night and them arguing over food.
• Rotating Protagonist: Each street scene selects 1-3 Muppet characters to be the central focus of the plot. Elmo, Big Bird, and Abby are used most often, and sometimes Oscar, Grover, or Telly have their moments in the limelight.
• Rousing Lullaby:
  • In Episode 0708, David and Gordon try to get a baby to sleep by making faces and silly noises, but these don't work. S.A.M. the Robot arrives and sings "Lullaby of Machine Land", a lullaby typically sung to different types of machines; those listed in the song including four-slice toasters, chicken roasters, commuter trains, and fire engines. In between verses, S.A.M. adds some loud beeping and ends the lullaby with several blasts from his smokestack. Despite all the noise, it manages to work on the human baby after all, as well as David and Gordon.
  • One episode had Ricky Gervais sing Elmo "the N Song", which was generally a relaxing song on an accoustic guitar until the refrain, when it switches to a loud electric guitar and Ricky loudly sings "N goes NA NA NA, NA NA NANA NA NA..."
  • In another, Oscar is babysitting baby Natasha, he tries to sing her a lullaby, but finds it boring, so he sings it quickly. Natasha doesn't fall asleep, but she doesn't seem too bothered by the song.
  • In the Elmo's Goodnight Stories tie-in book, Elmo wants to sing his mother's lullaby to his school friends, but forgets everything about it except that it involves shaking excess energy out of the extremities and turns it into an exercise song, which Ernie promptly lampshades.
• Rube Goldberg Device:
  • Kermit's What Happens Next machine. Or at least, it tries to be.
  • One episode has Baby Bear, Elmo, and Telly construct an automatic lemonade maker with Elmo riding his tricycle to set it in action.
  • A Season 49 episode reveals Elmo is into engineering, and uses his skills to make this sort of device to pick up his toys for him.
• Running Gag:
  • From Episode 3621 when Luis hurts his back, Big Bird has a habit of banging, kicking, or otherwise bumping into the couch Luis is resting on, causing him to yell in pain.
  • In the "Runaway Ts" episode whenever a letter T runs off, anyone who is present at the moment shouts, "WHAT'S GOING ON?!!", followed by a Sting.
  • In "Elmo's Christmas Countdown", Elmo keeps saying "It's a Christmas miracle!"

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