Funny / Bear in the Big Blue House

Although it's a show that teaches kids life lessons, it's still made by the same studio that brought us The Muppets. As a result, the writing is as clever as any other Jim Henson Television production.

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• A lot of moments where Tutter the mouse gets caught up in the moment, but then utters out, "Oh... thank you Beaaaar!" What sells it is the way he says it.
• In one episode, the cast is having a picnic and Bear is trying to convince Treelo that they should have fruits and vegetables other than just bananas (or "bananananas", as Treelo calls them). He eventually convinces Treelo that they should bring tomatoes, but when he tells Treelo to put the tomato in the picnic basket, Treelo clutches the tomato and says that it's his friend. "The tomato is your friend?", deadpans Bear, casting an Aside Glance at the audience.
  • This later causes Tutter to cry out incredulously "IT'S A TOMATO!!!!!"
• When agitated, Tutter has a tendency to swear by shouting out names of cheeses, such as "Oh, Cheddar Chunks!", "Oh, Gouda!", "Oh, Brie!", or even "Great Gobs of Gorgonzola!".
• Harry the Duck rigidly insists on referring to Bear as "Mr. Bear," even though Bear tells him repeatedly "...Oh, and Harry? It's just Bear."
• "A Beary Bear Christmas":
  • The kids are bickering about holiday preparations. Bear sort of shouts at them a bit to try to get their attention, then sings a bit of the show theme to remind them that he's still there.
  • Bear invites Jack to stay in the Big Blue House for a while and rest. Jack had been protesting up to that point that he needed to move along, but at this he flops over on the couch and immediately dozes off. Tutter stares in disbelief and makes a comment to either nobody in particular, or to the audience.
    Tutter: (incredulous) He's sleepin'!
  • On Christmas Eve, the kids all go to bed, including finally Tutter.
    Bear: And not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
• So much of "When You've Got to Go!", particularly the "Toileteers".
  • The song "Your Potty Chair", which makes owning a potty chair seem like Serious Business with lyrics such as "Now come and join a long tradition". There's also "Your tush is clean, your tush is dry. Flush it down and wave goodbye!", which unintentionally makes it sound as though you're flushing your tush down.
  • In the real kids segment, two boys just shrug and say, "I just have to go."
  • Said "Toileteers" is a fancy name for pretty much anyone, as they claim it's for "everyone who uses, or is going to use, the potty".
• "Santa Hogg" having to listen to the kids' increasingly outrageous Christmas wishes in "A Beary Bear Christmas" and his expression.
  Tutter: Just... tons and tons of cheese! Limburgers and Bries...
• In "Raiders of the Lost Cheese", Tutter leads his friends on a quest to find the "great lost cheese", his great grandpa Tutterly T. Tutter's legendary treasure. They find it, alright, and, of course, it turns out to be all old, moldy and nasty. Heh. What did they expect?
• From the "Imagine That" song from the episode by the same name:
  Ojo: I could be Bear!
  Bear: You could?
  Ojo: Do you always smell this good? Hey, Bear! That sounds just like you.
• "You Go, Ojo!":
  • Ojo wants to know if Ursa is male or female, but Bear doesn't understand at first because Ojo phrases the question as "What is Ursa?" Also, the hilarious way Ojo's voice squeaks when she says "She's a girl bear?!"
  • Ojo's song all about her is performed by her and Bear. Despite this, she still manages to insert herself in the boys' song "Oh, Boy" from "Boys Will Be Boys".
    Pip and Pop: Let's go chase the squirrels.
    Bear: Oh, boy
    Ojo: Let's play with the girls!
• Just the fact that the show did certain songs in certain styles. For example, "Otter Love" is performed as an R&B/soul ballad with rap inserts from Bear. "It's so rare / The way you care / Go on, declare / Share your love." Another song, "Find the Words," is performed by Bear as a gospel spiritual. "You got to say / The words, hallelujah / Come on and say the words!"
• From the "Dear Grandma" song, performed by Tutter - "Thanks for the chocolate cakes covered in cheese / For teaching me how to say 'thanks' in Chinese!"^note It's "xie xie" for those who might be wondering, though that's never actually mentioned in the song itself. Yeah, Tutter just thanked his Grandma Flutter for teaching him how to say "thanks."
• "Dance Fever":
  • Everyone in the Big Blue House is having a lazy day, except for Treelo, who feels like dancing. Even Bear just wants to sit and relax, but Treelo takes on the wall of the Fourth-Wall Observer, saying that he knows how to get Bear to dance. He suggests that Bear might feel an "itching" and "scritching" and so forth, until finally he's got Bear and the others dancing "The Bear Cha-Cha-Cha."
  • In the same episode, Treelo outright trolls Tutter as well. After everyone declares they're tired of dancing, Tutter declares his intention to have nap and dream of cheeses. He almost immediately falls asleep, muttering names of cheeses in his sleep. As he's doing so, Treelo walks up to him and starts singing "Limbo limbo, limbo limbo" right in his ear, as Bear stands behind him, staring in disbelief and making his nonverbal snarker expressions. Tutter says "Limburger, Limburger" in his sleep and then "Limbo, limbo" before waking with a start, as Treelo darts away just in time to avoid being caught.
• "To Clean or Not to Clean":
  • The Imagine Spot about what it would be like if Tutter, Ojo, Treelo, Pip, and Pop never bathed again.
    "WE'RE DIRTY!"
  • Ojo and Treelo tell Bear that they can't find Snowbear and Rockboy. Bear's response is about as sarcastic as he gets.
    Bear: Gee, I can't see why.
  • Pip and Pop's game of tag consists of simply tagging each other repeatedly in rapid succession and declaring "Tag, you're it!" because there's so much stuff piled up that they can't actually go anywhere.
• "What's In The Mail, Today?":
  • Bear shows off everything in the mail to Pip and Pop, who get disappointed when the stuff turns out to not be for them.
  • Pip and Pop need to find Treelo to deliver his package, and Bear offers to help him. Bear then absolutely hollers for Treelo. As several have noted, the contrast between how Bear calls for Shadow vs. how he calls for Treelo is staggering.
• "The Tutter Family Reunion":
  • Tutter's massive family has a reunion at the Big Blue House. Except that Tutter forgot to tell Bear that his extended family was quite so large and forgot to tell any of the other kids at all, resulting in mild confusion by Bear, and massive confusion from the latter...
    Pop: Tutter's family...
    Pip and Pop: is everywhere! Look! (pan cut to several mice playing pirates in the bathtub)
  • The Tutter family is indeed everywhere; in the bathtub, in the living room, and some even set up a whole card game on the bed. You know the latter is ridiculous when even Treelo gets an Aside Glance.
  • Later, this comment from Tutter as a good baker's dozen or so mice or so are playing in the kitchen.
    Tutter: It's a pity so few could make it.
  • Tutter himself finally starts getting annoyed with his own family.
    Tutter: (to Bear and others) And I don't mind saying, they can be a real pain in the... Grandma!
• "Ooh, Baby, Baby":
  • Bear notes that Tutter's becoming a real baby expert and asks if he'd like to change Baby Blotter's diaper. Tutter says it's not his area. Bear says he figured as much and turns briefly to Pip and Pop.
  Pip and Pop: Don't look at us, Bear!
  • Treelo's idea of acting like a baby involves a lot of screaming.
  Bear: Treelo's pretending to be a baby.
  Treelo: (screams louder)
  • Tutter offers to sing a lullaby for Baby Blotter, then proceeds to scream "Old MacDonald" as offkey as possible.
• In "Back to Nature", Bear has a bunch of stuff he's either throwing away or recycling. Tutter, however, thinks he could make use of it, so Bear tells him that he can have it.
  Tutter: All these riches are mine! Mine, I say! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!
• During Tutter's "Why Can't the Dirt Just Leave Me Alone?" song from "Dirt, I Love You So!", Pip and Pop suddenly pop up out of nowhere to provide backing vocals. Then, when the song is over, they make their exit just as quickly, sliding between the legs of a squatting Bear.
  Pip: Bye, Tutter! (whoosh)
  Pop: Bye, Tutter! (whoosh)
• In the opening of "Welcome to Woodland Valley, Pt. 2", Bear is explaining that he and Doc Hogg are about to get together to discuss what to do about the tree that fell on the library before the big potluck dinner that night. Just then, Doc Hogg shows up.
  Doc Hogg: I got a plan. You know I was sitting in bed, thinking about it, and suddenly, it came to me. The tree. First thing we gotta do is... get rid of the tree, huh?
  Bear: (Aside Glance) He's a genius, really.
  • In Part 1 of the same episode, Doc Hogg suddenly ducks into a movie theater playing his favorite film, Ben-Hare. Even funnier is that the scene shown parodies the famous chariot race sequence.
• In "The Best Thanksgiving Ever", Bear reassures Ojo that everything will be okay after her pageant doesn't work out the way she wanted and Bear burns the food. Then the doorbell rings, indicating the arrival of Grandma Flutter and Doc Hogg.
  Ojo: Oh, gee, Bear. Um, well, I hope this whole togetherness thing works for them too, 'cause, uh, we don't have any food.
• Bear's description of why a bathroom is called what it is in "Home is Where the Bear Is."
  Bear: Bath... room. Get it? It's the room where you take a bath, and, you know, other stuff.
  • Note how he doesn't mention using the toilet, which he would cover in a future episode.
  • Also, when Pip and Pop bathe, they are so happy (because they like the water) that they start singing a song about it... to the tune of "La Donna e Mobile" no less!
• "If at First You Don't Succeed":
  • Ojo is pretending to be a big bear, so Bear suggests she assume his normal role of asking the audience what we think. Ojo forgets what she's supposed to be asking, so Bear prompts her. After she asks, Bear prompts her with the line "What do you think?" which he would normally ask following the question. Ojo thinks he's talking to her and starts answering the question.
    Bear: Ask them again, what do they think?
    Ojo: Got it, Bear. Well? What do you think?
    Bear: Very good, Ojo.
  • Pip and Pop think that their failure to hula hoop means the hoops are broken or need batteries.
• In "Call It a Day", Tutter is looking over his food and says, "So many carrots, so much bran", and then Bear sits down near the plates, so Tutter says, "So much Bear."
• The episode "Clear as a Bell" kicks off with Tutter having lost his voice, so Bear hands him a bell to ding in case the mouse needs anything. The thing is, Tutter keeps ringing the bell, first to request a cup of water, the second time to add a straw, and finally to thank Bear. The third time, Bear is fully out of the kitchen and when the bell is rung again, he pops his head back into frame with an expression that just screams "What the hell does he want now?" Even funnier is how Bear doesn't say a word while walking to Tutter until he reaches him and utters, "Yes, Tutter?" Also funny is that each time Tutter rings the bell, he rings it constantly until Bear gets to him and asks him what it is that he needs.
• In "Halloween Bear", Bear finds Tutter in an excavator's costume inside his pumpkin, though he says that it's not a costume, just what he normally wears for a pumpkin dig. He continues that he loves digging pumpkins, that you might say he "digs" them. He then chuckles at his own joke, "Get it?! I dig 'em!" Bear turns to the audience with his usual nonverbal snark look with his eyebrows.
  Bear: Yes, Tutter, yes, we all got it. Thank you.
• From the "Picture of Health" song - "I have friends, do you know why? / It's because I keep my armpits dry..."
• In "Friends for Life", after Bear gets done sniffing the viewer, Pip and Pop ask Bear if he was "sniffin' again", making it sound like it's something dirty. Bear admits that yes, he was sniffing again, a little.^note Though he didn't inhale
  Pip and Pop: That Bear! He's a sniffer!
  • In that same episode, when Treelo convinces Tutter to play the game "Snow Bear and Rock Boy" with him when Ojo is busy, Tutter vehemently refuses, forcing Bear to step in and ask what all the commotion is.
  Tutter: I AM NOT A SNOW BEAR!!!
  Bear: What is going on?! What is going on?!
  Tutter: Well, I'll tell you what's going on, Bear!
• In "The Ojolympics", Tutter asks Bear if he's been working out, but Bear attributes his strength to eating cooked and buttered string beans.
• In "Boys Will Be Boys", Tutter is playing knight and wants to pretend to rescue Ojo from a dragon (Bear), but she says it's okay, that she's only playing house and doesn't need to be saved.
  Tutter: Oh, poor little Ojo. Poor, cute little Ojo. You don't have to act brave any longer. I, Tutter the Great, will be brave enough for both of us. Ha ha!
• In "Nothing to Fear", Tutter is afraid of Bear's skunk clock that Bear got from L.L. Bear in place of the bear clock that he had ordered. Bear leaves Tutter alone with the clock to get used to it. He returns from visiting Pip and Pop at the Otter Pond to find that Tutter has disassembled the clock.^note Apparently Bear managed to reassemble it, or ordered a new one, because it can be seen hanging on the kitchen wall in future episodes.
  Tutter: I'm happy to report, Bear, that you were right. It is a clock! In fact, it is a clock in the shape of a skunk. How about that?
  Bear: (gives Aside Glance to the viewer, closes his eyes and starts nodding his head slowly) Well, that's great news, Tutter.
• In "Wait for Me", Bear asks the viewers if they ever had to wait for anything, then says "Yeah, wait", which is the normal cue for the word of the day to appear on the screen. Nothing happens. He clears his throat and then "wait" appears on-screen.
• In "The Yard Sale", Bear appoints Pip and Pop as the sales-otters for the yard sale. They try to sell the table that they're supposed to be using to hold stuff for the yard sale. After Bear points out that they need the table, they suggest that maybe they could sell the Big Blue House, resulting once again in Bear's Aside Glance as Pip says they could get at least 97 cents for it.
• In "First Day of Mouse School", Bear is near the point of blubbering about Tutter going to Mouse School - after all, mice just grow up so fast. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Doc Hogg appears behind him and seems nearly just as broken up about the whole thing himself.
• In "Show and Tell", Tutter's second idea for a show-and-tell project is his collection of moldy cheeses. Bear gives an Aside Glance that somehow manages to be even snarkier than usual, then pulls off telling Tutter with a straight face that he thinks it's a great idea.
• In "A Trip to the General Store", the kids decide to sell lemonade and cookies in order to raise money to buy stuff at the General Store. However, at the rate sales are going, they expect to have enough money by tomorrow or the day after. The problem is, Bear needs to go to the store to buy stuff today. He offers to buy out their entire stock, which they accept, even though their ingredients come from the Big Blue House, meaning that they were Bear's to begin with. Also, the "secret ingredient" in the lemonade is salt instead of sugar, because after all, as Ojo says, surely it's the same thing. It looks the same. Bear decides to pass on eating the cookies for the time being.
• In "Tutter's First Big Sleepover Bash", Bear is under the mistaken impression that the sleepover is going to be him, Tutter, Ojo and "a couple of mice". Apparently, he has learned absolutely nothing from "The Tutter Family Reunion".
• This, from one of the real kids segments...
  Girl: My Mom gets bills. My Dad gets bills. I never get a bill.
• In "Grandma Flutter's 100th Birthday", Tutter informs the group about it being Grandma Flutter's 100th birthday. Pip and Pop ask Bear if when Grandma Flutter was Baby Blotter's age, there were still dinosaurs walking the Earth.
  Bear: Wellllllll... no.
• In the "Some of the Colors I See" song from "A Wagon of a Different Color", Bear claims that if he could he'd paint the sun blue for a day and the moon with pink polka dots. Ray and Luna would certainly be interested to know about this.
• In "Need a Little Help Today", a flashback to the Quiet Time song puts Bear to sleep. Tutter then tries to get the kids to be quiet so he can nap, warranting this exchange:
  Tutter (extremely loud): QUIET, EVERYONE, QUIET! DON'T YOU ALL SEE THAT BEAR IS TRYING TO- (realizes Bear is now awake) -sleep?
  Bear (deadpan): Hi guys.
  All: Uh oh...
  Treelo (completely unbothered): Hi Bear.
• "Let's Get Interactive":
  • Bear tells Ojo and Tutter that to use Doc Hogg's computer that they have to "grab the mouse." Ojo grabs Tutter.
  • This profanity-filled outtake.
  Tutter: Well, come on, Ojo, come on, hurry up!
  Ojo: Yeah, this thing's a piece of shit. Let's go do something else.
  Tutter: Yeah, come on, hoe-bag, gimme chicken pot pie.
  Ojo: Hey, you squeezy little mouse, go get it your sorry-ass self!
  Tutter: Don't you talk back to me like that, bitch!
  Ojo: (shoves Tutter) Get out of my way, you piece of shit!
  Bear: (stares into the camera with a "WTF?" expression)
• Unintentional, but hilarious nonetheless; in Season 3, Treelo's puppet was remodeled with functional eyelids. However, one downside is that the eyelids couldn't close all the way. Thus, in scenes where he's supposed to have his eyes closed, he looks very stoned instead.
• In "When Harry Met Hallie," the other kids tell Harry that the fact that his mother laid an egg means that he's going to have a little baby brother or sister. Harry points out that this means he's going to be a big brother.
  Pop: Or sister.
  Pip: (Beat) Um... no. I don't think it works that way.
  Pop: Oh yeah.
• In "The Big Sleep", Tutter puts a pita bread on his head and calls himself Pita Bread. And he calls Bear silly for saying that pita bread is for eating instead of wearing.
• Everytime Tutter screams is hilarious. Heck someone even made a compilation of all of Tutter’s screams.