Tropes G to J / Sesame Street

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

Game Show Appearance:
- Big Bird and Oscar appeared semi-regularly in episodes of the original version of The Hollywood Squares (with Big Bird calling host Peter Marshall 'Mr Marshmallow'), and Elmo has appeared on the revival versions.
- Kermit appeared with his 'friend' Jim Henson, and Big Bird with his 'friend' Carroll Spinney, on separate episodes of the syndicated version of What's My Line?.
Game Show Host: Guy Smiley and Sonny Friendly. Also "Pat Playjacks", in a one-shot Wheel of Fortune parody called Squeal of Fortune, And Gordon in What Happens Next?, And even real person game show hosts like Richard Dawson was the host of a one-shot Family Feud parody called Family Food.
Gender-Blender Name: Chuckie Sue was originally named Chuckie because Telly thought she was male. Upon finding out her real sex, he renamed her Chuckie Sue.
Gender Flip: The "Alligator King" cartoon focused on an Alligator King and his seven sons trying to cheer him. When Celina's class put on a play based on the video in Episode 3408, the sons were changed to unisex "alligator children", with the seventh child played by Gabi.
Generation Xerox: The 2016 Christmas special Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas shows the street in the 19th Century, where the great-grandfatehrs of Elmo, Cookie, Grover and others are more or less identical to their present-day counterparts (save for some extra mustaches). Though, this is merely a story made up by Elmo's dad.
- An episode featuring a visit from Gordon's father reveals he used to be a famous singing star. A flashback has him portrayed by Miles, Gordon's son.
Getting the Baby to Sleep:
- In one episode, Big Bird and Carlo babysit Natasha who doesn't seem to want to take her nap, and they try various methods to make her sleepy, but end up making other Muppets fall asleep as well. By episode's end, Natasha finally takes her nap, and everyone else has fallen asleep as well.
- Another episode has Big Bird, Rosita, and Elmo play family with the former two as the parents and the latter as their baby whom they try constantly to get him to fall asleep, from playing peekaboo to singing lullabies. They succeed when Luis reads them Goodnight Moon, which not only makes Elmo fall asleep, but also Big Bird and Rosita as well.
"Getting Ready for Bed" Plot:
- One skit is about Elmo and Abby's bedtimes.
- One animated skit is about mothers tucking in their children.
- One skit has Humphrey putting Natasha down for the night and singing a lullaby called "Goodnight Natasha".
- A book based on the series called "Time for Bed, Elmo!" has Elmo doing various activities such as feeding Dorothy and stroking the cat even though it's bedtime. It ends with him falling asleep when his babysitter makes him count sheep.
Gift for an Outgrown Interest: In one episode, Baby Bear's grandma visits, but doesn't realize that he's no longer a baby. At one point, she gives him a new bonnet, which he thinks is just too juvenile. She even tries to put him in a diaper, but he refuses.
Given Name Reveal: Cookie Monster says in "The First Time Me Eat Cookie" that his real name is Sid.
Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: Lily the tiger, from the Chinese coproduction Sesame Street: Big Bird Looks at the World. ^note While she likes wearing bows and the color pink, she's also an avid martial arts enthusiast.
Glass-Shattering Sound: A variation on this with Diva La Diva, a one-off character who visited the street in a 90's episode. Professed to be "the world's loudest singer," La Diva's pipes are definitely loud enough to cause damage and while there's one instance of her voice shattering some glasses on the counter at Hooper's Store, her voice mostly causes trembling and making shelves, with items on them, fall in the Fix-It Shop and Hooper's. At the end of the episode, a cassette tape of her voice makes everything in Big Bird's nest fall off the walls - not even the Mr. Hooper picture was safe!
Glitch Episode: In S.A.M. the robot's debut episode, he had a glitch which caused him to repeat himself, prompting someone to hit him and him to say, "Thank you".
Good Behavior Points: In "Don't Get Pushy", Telly starts an impromptu school, with Elmo and Rosita as his students. Gold stars are awarded to students who answer questions correctly, but taken away as punishment for infractions.
The Golden Rule: Lessons on bullying usually play out with one character bullying another and a third reasoning with the bully and asking them how they would feel if someone else treated them that way. It's usually enough to get the bully to knock it off.
Gone Horribly Right:
- Episode 3178, Mr. Handford tells Telly that you can try new foods easily by putting them into a sandwich, which leads Telly to try and make the very first sandwich with everything on it.
- In a 1998 episode, after the letter X decides to quit the alphabet and Gordon sings him a song that gets him to change his mind, since he's in the middle of a lot of words, X decides to get a new lease on life and live fully independent of the other letters, thus deciding not to rejoin the alphabet.
- In an episode from 2000, Alan finds himself in the same spot as Mr. Handford did. After hanging a sign that says "Hooper's Store: Where you can have whatever you want just the way you want it." Telly orders a grilled cheese sandwich but makes requests that are progressively more ridiculous for how his lunch should be served. After he enjoys his lunch, Alan takes down the sign admitting that hanging it was a mistake because it worked a little too well at getting Telly to have a specifically-catered lunch.
- In the Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree Golden Book, a witch casts a spell on her cookie tree so that it will only give cookies to people who will share them to keep Cookie Monster from eating its cookies. The spell works, but a little too well, as now the tree won't give her any cookies, either. Fortunately for her, she and Cookie form an alliance and agree to share the cookies with each other. Unfortunately for her, Cookie gets carried away and eats all of the cookies anyway.
Goo Goo Getup:
- In Episode 0649, Oscar disguises himself in a baby bonnet and rides in an old baby carriage so people will be quiet and leave him alone, having gotten the idea from Maria, who had earlier told him to be quiet while a human baby was sleeping. Unfortunately for Oscar, this plan backfires, as Bob gives him some unwanted attention.
- In the series' 35th Anniversary special, "Elmo's World: The Street We Live On!", Elmo asks the children how Cookie Monster eats cookies. He then asks two babies, one of which is really Cookie Monster dressed as a baby.
- In a "Smart Cookies" sketch, The Crumb disguises himself in a baby bonnet to fool Cookie Monster so he can steal the teething biscuit of the baby that the Smart Cookies are babysitting.
- In Episode 3893, Baby Bear's grandma visits and thinks he's a literal baby, so she puts him in a bonnet. She wants to put him in a diaper, too, but he stops her.
- In Episode 3647, Rosita dresses Stinky the Plant in a bonnet, bib, and diaper so she can pretend that he's her baby, inspired by Carmen, an actual baby she saw, and the fact that like Carmen, Stinky can't do much.
Go-to-Sleep Ending:
- At the end of one episode, Big Bird has a baby Honker and her grandmother Honker honk him a lullaby; since Big Bird is unable to sleep well because it doesn't sound like Granny Bird's, he phones her to sing him to sleep. Because of the loud honking, Granny Bird had to scream the lullaby as loud as she could so Big Bird could finally fall asleep.
- The "Big Bird Loses Radar" street scene from Season 31 ends with Big Bird dozing off for his naptime, having finally found Radar.
- The "Birdy Pox" episode ends with Big Bird falling asleep after his Polka-Dot Disease finally wears off.
- The episode where Gordon pretends to be Grandpa Bird ends with Big Bird dozing off for a nap and Gordon tucking him in.
Great Gazoo: Abby, Mumford the Magician, and dozens of magical one-offs.
Green Aesop:
- Once an Episode during seasons 40 and 41.
- Willie Wimple Anyone? (He's a young boy who's bad to the environment).
Grew a Spine: Big Bird really grew this in the street scene for Episode 4512, when he finally learns to stick up for himself at Bird Court and plead to them it's wrong to take things that don't belong to you, like when Minnie Myna stole possession of his nest, which in turn returns the nest to his ownership.
Green Gators: The Alligator King in the animated musical segment of the same name is pale green.
Grocery Store Episode:
- In Episode 2783, Luis wants Maria to meet him at the supermarket. When Big Bird and Snuffy overhear, they want to go with her, and she agrees to let them. Along the way, Big Bird and Snuffy argue over who gets to push the shopping cart, Big Bird tries to decide whether he wants to get a big or small box of Captain Birdflake cereal, and Snuffy ends up getting a small box of Snuffleupagus Puffs (which is the size of Luis, much to Maria's surprise).
- In Episode 4931, Alan goes to Sarita's Supermarket, and Elmo, Abby, and Cookie Monster tag along. To make food shopping more fun for them, Alan starts a game where Elmo, Abby, and Cookie need to find three foods that start with the letter C from different sections of the grocery store before he finishes checking out.
- In Don't Forget the Oatmeal!, a book based on the series, Ernie and Bert go to the supermarket to buy their groceries. Ernie accidentally forgets to write "Oatmeal" on the shopping list, so Bert ties a string to his finger to help him remember. Around the same time, Cookie Monster goes to the supermarket to buy as many cookies as he can during the big cookie sale. When Cookie reaches the cookie aisle, he eats every cookie in sight, making a huge mess of the aisle. Ernie and Bert help him clean up and remind him to pay for all the cookies he had broken and eaten, and in all the excitement, they forget to buy the oatmeal.
Grossout Fakeout:
- In one episode, baby Natasha keeps crying and repeating, "Hoongie!". Gina and Zoe, who are babysitting her, wonder if this means she needs a diaper change, but she doesn't.
- In "Elmo's Potty Time", Grover says that his "body is trying to tell [him] something". Elmo thinks this is a euphemism for needing the bathroom, but actually he meant he was hungry.
"Groundhog Day" Loop: Happens in "Elmo Saves Christmas" after Elmo wishes for it to be Christmas every day. Unlike a true loop, everyone is aware of and experiences each Christmas, and holiday repeats as time moves forward. The seasons change from winter to spring, then summer (and presumably, fall), and then to the next winter.
Group-Identifying Feature:
- Dingers can be distinguished from monsters by the bicycle bells on their heads, which give them their names.
- One episode has a band called the Lead Police, a parody of The Police, who all wear leather jackets.
Grows on Trees: Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree is a Little Golden Book based on the series. In this book, a witch owns a cookie tree, and casts a spell on it so that it will only give cookies to people who will share them to keep Cookie Monster from eating its cookies. The spell works, but a little too well, as now the tree won't give the witch any cookies, either. At the end of the book, Cookie and the witch form an alliance and agree to share the cookies with each other (of course, Cookie gets carried away and ends up eating all of the cookies anyway).

Tropes brought to you by the letter H

Hair-Trigger Sound Effect: EVERY time the Count laughs, thunder follows.
Hammerspace: Oscar's trash can is often implied to be this (i.e. fits a lot of stuff in it).
Happy Dance: The "Elmo's World" segment has Elmo doing one. "When we learn something new, we do the happy dance, yeah!"
Happy Birthday to You!:
- Sung to Big Bird in the Direct to Video special "Big Bird's Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake".
- Also sung to the blind girl Carrie in one episode at her birthday party.
- At the end of "Big Bird Gets Lost", the gang sings "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" at Snuffy's roller skating birthday party.
Harassing Phone Call:
- The 1974 song "Telephone Rock" is about a puppet and his rock band who harass a telephone operator by trying to get people to listen to a story about rock music by calling them on the phone. The song ends with the group all sent to jail for the harassing calls.
- A "News Flash" segment also from 1975 has Kermit receive a phone call that someone is trapped out in a blizzard, and he goes outside to try and get a scoop on the individual. Nobody he asks knows anything about a person trapped outside and soon Kermit winds up nearly frozen in the blizzard himself. The segment ends with Harvey Kneeslapper calling to say the call was a prank call and that Kermit is now the blizzard trapped individual!
- In a 1993 episode Gina receives a phone call while working at Hooper's Store that angers her. We only hear her side of the conversation but the individual says something about how her and Savion should not be friends because of their different skin colors. Telly who is in the store overhears the conversation and asks what happens and Gina and Savion both explain it to him. When Telly asks what would happen if the individual calls again Gina and Savion demonstrate that they would simply blow a raspberry, not saying that the best thing to do is just hang up.
Hard Truth Aesop: In one 1993 episode, Gina and Savion spend some time hanging out together, only for Gina to get a cruel phone call from a bigot who tells her that people of different races shouldn't be friends. The existence of racism alone is a Hard Truths Aesop, especially in the somewhat-idealized world of Sesame Street (presumably it was one of the street's inhabitants who saw them having fun and made the call). At the end of the episode, Gina and Savion acknowledge that the bigot could still be watching them at that very moment. They remain defiant and declare that they'll keep being friends anyway, but the sad fact is that racism and bigotry don't go away in an hour, and some people may never change their narrow-minded views.
Hated Item Makeover:
- In one skit, a man asks Oscar the Grouch to "do" his windows, i.e. clean them. He coats them with mud instead, since that's what Grouches mean when they talk about "doing" windows. The man gets angry.
- In one episode, Oscar's old school friend Felix visits. Unusually for a Grouch, Felix is a Neat Freak, so he cleans Oscar's trash can. Oscar hates this, but they decide the conflict is good for their friendship, since Grouches thrive on conflict.
Hates Being Touched: The Grouches (although they more hate affectionate touching) and Benny Rabbit, who wrote a whole song about 'don't touch me'.
Hat of Flight: Features in the "Above it All" song sequence animated by Sally Cruikshank.
Have a Gay Old Time: From "ABC-DEF-GHI":
It starts out like an "A" word, as anyone can see
But somewhere in the middle, it gets awful QR to me!
Head Desk:
- Muppet composer Don Music had a habit, when unable to find a rhyme, of slamming his forehead into the keys of his piano in sheer frustration. Which is why you don't see him anymore.
- An early Ernie and Bert segment from 1969 featured this at the end: Ernie slowly drives Bert nuts by his counting, and then Bert just loses it and bangs his head on a table in the background, and then runs screaming right past the camera and out the door. The ending would usually be cut from reruns due to concerns that kids would imitate Bert's head-banging.
Heat Wave:
- The song "It Sure is Hot" is about a hot day.
- One episode is about Baby Bear selling porridge on a hot day.
- In another episode, Maria is looking for some relief on a hot day, and the Amazing Mumford complies by casting a magic spell that changes the weather—leaving her stuck under a freezing and snowy cloud.
Height Angst:
- In the Don't Cry, Big Bird book, Big Bird is upset because he is too big to play games like jump rope, hopscotch, hide and seek, and even seesaw. His friends help him by tying two jump ropes together, making bigger hopscotch boxes, letting him be the seeker, and putting all of themselves on one end of the seesaw while he is on the other end. Big Bird also learns there are advantage to his big size, such as helping Betty Lou get her kite out of a tree.
- In Episode 4274, Elmo becomes tired of being the shortest one in his group of friends, so he uses Abby's magic wand to make himself bigger, until he becomes the size of a building. Abby is unable to fix the problem since she can only reverse the spell if Elmo wants to be short again, and Elmo doesn't want to go back to normal, since he's now the biggest one in his group of friends. Elmo soon discovers that his new big size causes more problems for him; he's unable to jump rope, find a good hiding spot for hide and seek, or even go into Hooper's store for a snack. After finding out that being big isn't all it's cracked up to be, he allows Abby to return him to his regular size, and enjoys a hug from his friends.
- In the "Beach: The Musical" episode of "Elmo: The Musical", a tiny shrimp suffers from this at first and sings a song about how her height prevents her from doing many things that she likes. When a wave washes King Crab's crown into a narrow cove, the Shrimp is the only one small enough to recover it. She does so, and finds out there are advantages to her diminutive size, making her feel proud.
Here We Go Again!:
- At end of the song "I heard my Dog Bark.", the dog barks again and wakes up all the other pets in the house.
- "There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza...". As per the lyrics for that song, it ends with Henry realizing that he still doesn't know what to carry the water in because there's a hole in his bucket.
- The A-plot of Christmas Eve on Sesame Street is kickstarted when Oscar asks Big Bird how Santa Claus can fit down a skinny chimney, as if Santa can't, the presents won't be delivered on Christmas Eve. Big Bird decides to stay up all night in the cold to find out. He falls asleep and misses seeing Santa, but the presents still get delivered anyway. When Big Bird finds out, Oscar asks him how the Easter Bunny hides his eggs in one night, much to Maria's annoyance.
- After Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor settles an argument between Baby Bear and Goldilocks, The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf appear, seeking the Justice's assistance, much to the annoyance of both her and Maria.
- In Episode 3358 (part of Season 26), the Letter Z doesn't like being at the end of the alphabet, so she wants to be the at the beginning. When the letter A refuses to let her, she quits the alphabet. By the end of the episode, she misses the other letters and decides to return to the alphabet. Unfortunately, she's still not happy about being at the end, so this time, she tries being somewhere in the middle.
- Uttered word-for-word by Elmo in Episode 4205 (Season 40). The plot deals Inspector Four (played by Judah Friedlander) threatening to shut down things on Sesame Street unless they have exactly four of something, while Elmo and Telly try to make sure thing stay safe. At the end of the story, he gets promoted to Inspector Five, meaning Elmo and Telly have to start all over again.
- In a sketch involving the Count, the Count goes to a bank to withdraw all the money from his account in $1 bills so he can count them one by one. Eventually, he gets to 1,000,003 dollars, and the bank teller asks him what he's going to buy with all that money. The Count tells him that he's not going to buy anything; he just wanted to count his money. The sketch ends with the Count deciding to deposit his money one by one, much to the bank teller's dismay.
- One Ernie and Bert sketch has the duo being kept awake by a dripping tap, which leads to Ernie making more sounds to drown it out, but that only makes it worse. Then, when Bert turns off all the sounds, Ernie falls asleep but Bert is kept awake again when Ernie snores.
- In another Ernie and Bert sketch, Bert has trouble with his TV glitching out and flashing the letter H on the screen. Ernie attempts to fix the TV by taking out everything that starts with H, and when he turns the TV back on, it starts flashing the letter I.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: Bert and Ernie are best male friends, and they're not a couple. Also, Big Bird and Snuffy and Baby Bear and Telly, but they're kids, so they're too young to be romantic couples anyway.
He Who Must Not Be Seen: Charlie the Chef (The owner of Charlie's Restaurant) is never seen.
Hibernation/Migration Situation:
- In one episode, Baby Bear reveals that his family sometimes takes all-day naps to make up for the sleep they miss by not hibernating. He decides to skip his all-day nap to play with Elmo and Telly, but keeps falling asleep, eventually learning that sleep is important and taking his all-day nap.
- In a Season 40 episode, Baby Bear's family decides to hibernate until April due to a porridge shortage. With this, Telly explains how he'll feel with no best friend. A hibernation consultant named Max eventually comes to the cottage and encourages them to sleep outside, which leads to them digging a hole on Sesame Street and Chris giving them bran flakes. The Bears decide not to hibernate and eat bran flakes all winter long!
Hidden Depths: A lot of humor is mined from the simple-minded monsters (such as Grover and Cookie) possessing rather advanced vocabulary.
Hidden Harasser: One cartoon featured a kid sure that there was an alligator in his room, but his mother couldn't find it. It turned out to be his dog having some fun with a flashlight.
The Hilarious Table: A guitarist sang "It's Funny", about how people laugh differently. At the end, he's surrounded by a crowd of guffawing people.
Guitarist: What's so funny?
Lavender Woman: You had to be there!
Hollywood Autism: Sesame Street has a character named Julia, who has Autism. So much emphasis is placed on her quirks that it stops the show in its tracks. Then the other Muppets begin imitating her...
- In fairness to the show, they did research and learned up about autism, but even they admitted it's impossible to represent everyone with autism, since it's different for everyone affected.
Homesickness Hymn:
- Invoked in the song "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon", where Ernie sings about all the cool places he'd like to visit...but only if it means he'll return home to his friends.
  Though I'd like to look down at the Earth up above
  I would miss all the places and people I love
  So although I may go, I'll be coming home soon
  'Cause I don't want to live on the moon.
- Luis has "Escondido", where he contrasts the noisy city with his peaceful hometown in California (running through what the weather is like there in all four seasons).
Honesty Aesop:
- The children's book "Ernie's Little Lie". Ernie paints a portrait of Rubber Duckie to enter in Mr. Hooper's contest, but die to a misunderstanding, a painting of a tiger his cousin sent him gets entered instead... and wins. Ernie feels terrible about the deception and tearfully admits the truth. He doesn't win the contest, but everyone respects him for his honesty, and he decides to send his cousin the prize.
- In "Accidents Happen", Big Bird accidentally knocks over somebody's laundry and tells a bunch of conflicting lies, before deciding on the truth.
- In one of the "Noodles and Ned" skits, Noodles breaks Ned's toy plane and thinks of trying to hide it but then decides to tell the truth.
- In one episode, Telly lies that his uncle is a circus performer but then feels bad about it and learns to tell the truth.
- In one animated skit, a little girl named Cookie breaks the window and thinks of lying that Lucy the cat did it. However, she then imagines her family disowning Lucy and then Lucy running away, so she tells the truth.
- Zigzagged in "Linda Breaks Ruthie's Pitcher". Linda does break the pitcher, but she's deaf, so she didn't hear the crash, and she didn't see it break or feel the impact because she was in a hurry. Elmo forgets that Linda is deaf, though, so when she tells Ruthie she didn't know what happened to it, he thinks she's lying. When Ruthie asks Elmo if he knows what happened to the pitcher, he stammers, so she thinks he broke it. When he asks Ruthie what would happen if "hypothetically" someone she knew broke the pitcher, she mistakes it for an I Have This Friend situation, causing further confusion.
Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action: Abby's classmate Blogg is the child of a fairy and a troll.
House Fire: Actually a store fire because Hooper's Store has had three fires occur:
- The first was in episode 0540 during Season 5 where a pile of junk in the store's basement catches fire. The rest of the episode deals with the group cleaning out the building.
- In episode 2265 during Season 18 David's grilled cheese sandwich burns and is quickly extinguished, this after Elmo wishes for an "adventure"
- Season 33 kicked off with episode 3981, a Very Special Episode made as a response to the 9/11 attacks. After a fire occurs in Hooper's Store Elmo becomes frightened by all the commotion and becomes scared to go back inside the store. He and Maria then take a trip to the firehouse where Elmo learns about what firefighters do and how to be safe if a fire should occur. At the end Elmo says he is no longer scared since he knows that firefighters can help if a fire happens.
- Not from the actual series, a fire occured in the home video Sesame Street Vists the Firehouse, this one actually happening at an apartment building and destroying the attic where a monster lives.
How Can Santa Deliver All Those Toys?: Subverted. In Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, Oscar's question is, more accurately, "How can Santa fit down the chimney?" Big Bird nearly freezes waiting up for the answer, and doesn't get one. Elmo Saves Christmas reveals that he has a time-traveling reindeer.
How We Got Here: The "Bert's Blanket" song. Bert's bedtime is interrupted by a gaggle of sheep (with Jerry Nelson as the leader) who proceed to explain to him, in song form, where the wool to make blankets comes from (sheep grow wool to stay warm during the cold months, then it's sheared off by a rancher in the spring). It's even illustrated on screen, with Ernie playing the rancher. Bert then finishes the story (also in song) by explaining how the wool is made into a blanket (since the sheep didn't know).
Hulk Speak: Ironically, one of the most beloved characters of an Edutainment Show, Cookie Monster, embodies this trope perfectly, with the "me"/"I" substitution and a disdain for prepositions, among other things. But as the Monsterpiece Theatre segments show, he's very well-read.
Hunger Causes Lethargy: Shows up heaps of times, mostly centred around the idea of breakfast, which they cite as the most important meal:
- In the song "The Breakfast Club" (no relation to the movie), they sing, "Join the Breakfast Club, the Breakfast Club. Don't let your energy go glub, glub, glub" (as in, like a car running out of gas).
- In the song "The Most Important Meal of the Day" (or as it's sometimes known, "The Breakfast Song"), the singing chef recounts a story of a girl named Susie who skipped breakfast due to thinking it was unnecessary and "cruel", but then became too tired to play on the playground. She's seen yawning and leaning against a tree.
- In one Super Grover skit, skipping breakfast makes Grover too weak to lift a briefcase. This is also an example of Brought Down to Normal, since Super-Strength is one of his powers.
- Downplayed for the breakfast song Ernie sings. He says that breakfast "wakes [him] up", but it's unclear whether he needed waking up because he was hungry or because he's Not a Morning Person.
- In one skit, this is discussed when guest star Buzz Aldrin sees Telly saying, "I'm running low on energy" while playing astronaut. He thinks he means he's feeling sluggish and says, "Well, eat some food." Telly was actually talking in the context of his game, but it starts a conversation on food giving one energy.
- In one skit, a girl named Carolyn gets tired on the playground and the narrator thinks it's because the cake she ate didn't satiate her enough.
Hurricane of Puns: In most versions of "People in Your Neighborhood", the Muppet job holders feel the need to keep making puns related to their jobs. The biggest example might be the florist and electrician version, where they try to squeeze in as many puns as they can even after the song is over.
The Hyena: Harvey Kneeslapper is very easily-amused and is laughing in nearly all his scenes.

Tropes brought to you by the letter I

"I Am" Song: "Big Bird's Song" from Episode 3246, Big Bird's favorite song where he sings about his various attributes which also doubles as a riddle where the listener has to guess who it's about, which is indeed Big Bird himself.
"I Am Great!" Song:
- Big Bird has "Wonderful Me" which he sings about all the things he can do and how great he is at doing them.
- Another by Big Bird is "Happy To Be Me" from "The Good Birds' Club", as he sings about how happy he is to be his true big bird self.
I Call Her "Vera": Or I Call My Bathtub "Rosie", in the very first episode.
I Can't Hear You: "Banana in the ear" is a classic routine by Ernie and Bert that first appeared in the show's second season. In their apartment, Bert notices Ernie holding a banana in his ear. Bert tries to talk to Ernie, but he replies, "I can't hear you! I have a banana in my ear!"
Iconic Item:
- Ernie's rubber duckie.
- Oscar's trash can. And he's never moved to a plastic container with wheels, either.
Iconic Sequel Character: Elmo made his first (official) appearance in 1984, 15 years after the premiere.
Idea Bulb: Rather the entire Idea Lamp in ''Sesame Street Stays Up Late!" when Telly gets the idea to simply try and hide from the incoming New Year.
Identical Twin Mistake: Played with. Chip and Dip are brothers, and are probably from the same litter since they once mentioned learning to talk around the same time, though it's unknown if they are twins or if there were more of them. Nevertheless, when Oscar firsts meets them, he thinks they're both the same cat popping up.
Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: In Which a Trope Is Described
I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham:
- In a Bert & Ernie skit, Ernie tries to get Bert to play a rhyming game despite Bert repeatedly refuting that he doesn't like to play games of the such. When they both get into the swing of it, Bert finds that he enjoys himself, so much so that bert wishes to keep playing even after Ernie grows tired and stops playing.
- In Episode 1062, Big Bird notices Susan eating apples for her lunch, and reveals he doesn't like them, but never tried one. After a few protests, Big Bird gives in and tries a slice, and he loves it so much he ends up wolfing down the rest of them.
- One segment about the letter "F" shows a girl who hated the letter to the point where everything that began with it started to disappear. Of course, this backfired as she bounced on a piece of furniture, then the floor so she was hanging on the door. She then asked for a firefighter to come save her, but that too, went poof. She realized this would be a catastrophe, and everything would be reverted, to the point where she would now like the letter.
Ignorant About Fire:
- Defied with the song "Get Out, Stay Out, Don't You Go Back In". It mentions that going back into a burning house to save a toy is a stupid idea.
- In one episode, Alan accidentally ignites a grease fire in Hooper's Store while trying to make fried chicken. It doesn't help that he leaves the stove unattended to talk to Maria and Elmo.
I Have Just One Thing to Say: In one skit spoofing The Love Boat, Ernie as The Captain with a bunch of Anything Muppets are repeatedly enthusing in over-the-top fashion about how they "Looove this boat!". This goes on for several minutes while one guy on a lawn chair is silently reading but appearing to grow annoyed. He then snaps and goes on a loud tirade about everyone's behavior ^note... only to sappily admit "I love this boat, too!" ^note.
Inanimate Competitor:
- In one skit, they have a "Whose Pet is Best?" competition and one contestant is Rocco the rock.
- One "Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures" skit has a bird competition. Bert enters Bernice, who's one of his pigeons, but Ernie enters his rubber duck.
Incendiary Exponent: A campfire in "The Ladybugs' Picnic" gets out of control and has to be put out by the fire department. In the original animation, the fire even burns the Ladybugs' marshmallows to a crisp.
Incredible Shrinking Man: More accurately "Incredible Shrinking Bird". In a two-part story a magic trick from Mumford gone awry causes Big Bird to shrink.
Indy Escape: Often done in spoofs of Indiana Jones:
- Episode 2687: where the gang evades what seemingly appears to be a boulder, but is actually the rare Golden Cabbage of Snuffertity
- Episode 3135: An Indiana Jones-type explorer engages in one of these throughout the episode, completely unnoticed by anyone.
- Episode 4161: Telly and Chris are pursued by a giant boulder.
I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Whenever Luis becomes his persona "Señor Zero," he makes this type of excuse to leave, such as needing to feed his undershirts or having left his wallet in the dishwasher.
Infant Sibling Jealousy:
- A variant in Episode 1230 (part of Season 10); S.A.M. the Robot is jealous of Moe, his baby brother who is a small electric motor. S.A.M. resents the attention that Moe receives for doing nothing of value, until David and Olivia help S.A.M. understand his role as a big brother and Moe's potential. S.A.M. pictures Moe becoming something important someday, such as an airplane motor or a generator for a building.
- In the A Baby Sister for Herry book, Herry dislikes his new baby sister, Flossie, at first. He dislikes whenever his parents have to stop playing with him to take care of her and having to play quietly whenever she tries to sleep. He tries acting like a baby himself to get their attention. When Herry's mother shows him pictures of him when he used to be a baby, this gets him to realize that he used to be just like Flossie. This gets Herry to change his attitude towards Flossie and help take care of her.
- In the direct-to-video release, "A New Baby in My House", when Snuffy gets mad at Alice for breaking his toy tiger, Mrs. Snuffleupagus tells them a story called "Prince Firstly's Little Surprise", which is also about a boy who gets mad at his younger sister. When Princess Azealia is born, Firstly becomes frustrated because of all the attention she receives. He first tries acting like a baby himself to get his parents to pay attention to him, then he tries acting naughty, but is caught and told off by Lord Elmo. He eventually decides to run away, but is soon found by Queen Quinella, who explains to him that she'll always love both him and Azealia equally. Firstly then changes his attitude and helps her and King Goodheart take care of Azealia.
- In the 3-part episode, "Three Bears and a New Baby", Baby Bear has mixed feelings about his baby sister, Curly. While he is excited about being a big brother, and gives Curly her name, he worries that their fairy tale, The Three Bears, will never be the same again. Baby Bear's first night with Curly doesn't go over too well, due to how much attention their parents give her, and this also interferes with his bedtime routine. Papa Bear tells Baby Bear that he will always love both him and Curly equally, and will find a way to have time for them both.
Injured Limb Episode:
- In one episode, known as "Wing in a Sling", Big Bird sprains his wing.
- During episode 1996 in Season 16, Luis breaks his arm and he spends the next few weeks' worth of episodes in a cast.
- Telly spent a few weeks during Season 24 (in 1993) with his arm in a cast after breaking it.
- In Episode 4001, Big Bird injures his ankle in a fall.
- In Episode 5023, Zoe breaks her arm when she slips on some banana peels (courtesy of Joey and Davey) while attempting her ballet jump. Charlie, Rosita, and Elmo try to find a game that Zoe can play with just one arm.
Ink-Suit Actor: Mr. Jerry in the 2009 Sesame special Families Stand Together is a Muppet based on, and voiced by, Jerry Nelson (albeit puppeteered by another performer, as Nelson had to give up puppeteering due to poor health some time earlier). He looks like Nelson did in his mid-seventies, as opposed to the Country Trio version of Jerry who resembled the performer in his late thirties/early forties.
Innocent Awkward Question: Played for Drama in a Very Special Episode, where Mr. Hooper (the owner of the convenience store/cafe) dies, and Big Bird (who's only six) asks why he had to die. The adults are stunned for a while, and then eventually Gordon (remembering how Big Bird was walking with his hands between his legs "just because" earlier) says that there isn't a reason, and it happened "just because".
Innocent Bigot: One sketch has two young boys playing Cowboys and Indians and one of them, Rick, speaking in Tonto Talk. Until a Native American boy calls them out, the two white boys didn't realise they were being offensive, since, due to what they'd seen on TV, they thought Native Americans actually talked like that.
In-Series Nickname: Oscar calls Maria "Skinny".
Insomnia Episode:
- In the third-to-last Season 31 episode, Ernie sleeps over at Big Bird's nest, but can't sleep, so he keeps Gordon up with his endless demands.
- In a 70s episode, Big Bird can't sleep, so Bert plays a marching record and he falls asleep in the arbor.
- In Episode 1837, Big Bird has a hard time going back to sleep after having a bad dream, so Maria, Susan, and the Honkers help him.
Instant Taste Addiction: Cookie Monster sings "The First Time Me Eat Cookie", remembering his mother introducing him to cookies when he was a baby. After one bite, cookies become his Trademark Favorite Food.
Instant Thunder: Typically played straight, especially with Count von Count, but there have been a couple of aversions...
- In a 1981 Ernie and Bert sketch where Ernie is afraid of a noisy thunderstorm during the night, he decides to quell his fears by imagining the lightning flashes are Olivia taking a picture with her flash camera, and the thunder that comes afterward is the photo subject dropping something.
- On episode 2061 during season 18 Big Bird winds up frightened by a thunderstorm that hits just as he tries to go to sleep. The first two thunderclaps are instantaneous but after Gordon and Susan teach him that he can tell how far away a thunderstorm is by counting the time between the lightning and thunder every thunderclap afterwards comes a few seconds after the lighting.
- Episode 4215, "Chicken When it Comes to Thunderstorms," has some chickens that are on Elmo and Abby Caddabby's T-ball team frightened by a thunderstorm with notably realistic lengthy gaps between the lightning and the thunder. This comes into play when Elmo and Abby suggest the chickens cover their eyes so they don't see the lightning, which works, until the thunder afterward freaks them out. Abby tries materializing earmuffs onto the chickens so the thunder doesn't scare them, but they end up still seeing the lightning, so that doesn't help. It's when Leela attempts to comfort the chickens when things begin to work out.
Intentional Mess Making: One skit involves Oscar annoying everybody by dirtying the windows instead of cleaning them and putting trash into some soup that was cooking.
Interactive Narrator: Gina serves as one when she told "Little Miss Muffet and the Spider: The Continuing Story"; Miss Muffet has a Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?-type of fear of spiders, and keeps running away screaming loudly from the spider that keeps following her everywhere. It isn't until Miss Muffet comes to Gina for advice, and she tells Miss Muffet that the spider might really be nice, and it turns out the spider just wants to be friends.
Internal Homage: One episode involves Celina and the kids who attend her dance studio putting on a live-action production of the Sesame Street short film "The Alligator King."
- In one episode Big Bird watches the "Ballet Dancing Yaks" song and wants to get together with two friends to do the same song and dance, but he is faced with a predicament when dozens of others want to join.
- There is an episode where everybody gets hooked on singing the "Yip Yip Family" song from the Martians.
- In an homage to Alphaboy, Big Bird spent one episode as Alphabird.
- In a season 31 episode, Telly and Baby Bear play Alphaquest.
Inventional Wisdom:
- An episode involves a high-powered air conditioning system being installed in the Furry Arms Hotel. Humphrey specifically states that it's only meant to be turned up to 10. If the knob is turned up to 14, it will break. Those are literally his exact words. Guess what the resident penguins end up doing.
- During the "Slimey to the Moon" arc one episode involves a crisis aboard the spaceship where the worms cannot get along after weeks of confinement. An incident leads to a button inside the ship being pressed that is specifically designed to put the ship off course if pressed. A bit of research reveals that there is a button to reverse the effect of the first button, but it is on the tip top of the ship's exterior—so that it cannot be pressed by accident!
Invincible Hero: Sesame Street's Emmy count is off the charts.
Iris Out: Used in the 1992-1998 opening. It's also at the end of the song, Indian U Call.
Irony: In Episode 1117, Big Bird has checked out a book and has his face in it while walking down the street, resulting in him bumping into people or crashing into things. Ironically, the book he checked out is called "How to Avoid Accidents".
Irritation Nightmare:
- One episode involves Oscar having nightmares about happy people and butterflies. He finds them scary in the night, but usually, happy people and butterflies are just pet peeves of his.
- One skit involves Cookie Monster having a nightmare about cookies flying around and him being unable to reach them.
It's a Wonderful Plot: After Elmo wishes for it to be Christmas every day in "Elmo Saves Christmas", Santa gives him a special time-traveling reindeer to take him forward in time and find out what will happen. After a year has passed, Elmo sees that his wish was not the most optimal one to make.
It Was Here, I Swear!: Crossed with You Have to Believe Me!, this was Big Bird's reaction from Seasons 3-16 whenever he brings the adults to meet Snuffy only to find he's not there (because he left the place earlier for whatever reason), leaving them to dismiss Snuffy as imaginary to which he protests.
"I Want" Song:
- The recurring song number "Somebody Come and Play" is about the singer wishing someone would play with them.
- In the "Hurricane" arc as the Three Pigs sing different ideas to replace Big Bird's nest, Big Bird sings his reaction: "All I Really Want is a Home".
- The 2018 special When You Wish Upon a Pickle starts off with one of these, as sung by the main cast.
- In Episode 3647, "Something Cold" is a song Elmo sings about wishing for Carlo to give him a cold treat to cool him down on a hot day instead of just telling him exactly what he wants, making Carlo guess on what it is.
I Will Find You: In the Cecile the Ball song I'm Gonna Get To You.

Tropes brought to you by the letter J

Jobless Parent Drama: One Very Special Episode has Elmo's mother lose her job, so their family has to make a point of spending less money.
Job Song:
- "People in Your Neighbourhood" is about several different jobs that people you might meet every day might have.
- "Do the Doctor" is a song sung by some doctors about a dance based on their profession.
- One song is sung by a construction worker about building in the "Elmo's World" skit about building.
- The 1995 song "What Do They Do When They Go Wherever They Go?" is another song about different jobs.
Jokers Love Junk Food: Ernie is a Cloud Cuckoolander who is shown enjoying various confectionery like chocolate ice cream, cake, and an ice cream soda. Bert, who has a Plain Palate for the most part, preferring foods like oatmeal and seltzer water, often plays the straight man to him.
Jump Rope Blunders:
- In the song "The Ladybugs' Picnic", the twelve ladybugs try to play jumprope, but the rope breaks.
- Discussed in "Dress Up Time", when the player dresses Cookie Monster for a snow day and equips him with a jump rope. He will say, "Me no think a jump rope will work in the snow" and imagine himself attempting to jump rope in the snow but sinking downwards.
- Downplayed in "Elmo's Potty Time", in which Zoe briefly stumbles and says, "Oops!" while jumping rope.
Just Eat Gilligan: During Seasons 3-16 when Snuffy was thought to be imaginary, Snuffy has no excuse to not give a holler or get the adults' attention while their backs are turned, likely due to his shy nature. Big Bird also doesn't bother to have someone stay with Snuffy in case he leaves early before he brings the adults to see him, something he doesn't think of until the Season 17 premiere once Elmo comes into play.

Sesame Street / Tropes G to J

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