Move over “Saturday Night Love.” There’s a new guest spot being coveted by top celebs – and it doesn’t involve Amy Poehler or Seth Meyers.
No, it’s Elmo and Grover that have Heidi Klum, David Beckham, Kim Cattrall, Sandra Oh, Randy Jackson and Neil Patrick Harris heading over to “Sesame Street.”
“We get so many requests,” says Executive Producer Carolyn Parente, who’s been with the show for 20 years and began her career at “Sesame Street,” as she says, “schlepping tapes.” “We get calls from the client. They’ll come from personal meetings. I’ll meet someone at a charity event. We have a long list of people but we can’t possibly shoot them all.” This year, some celebs got lucky. Heidi Klum, David Beckham, Jessica Alba, Jack Black, Sandra Oh, Neil Patrick Harris, Chandra Wilson and Brian Williams will appear on the 39th season of the show. Just for a chance to cozy up with Elmo. Or the Count. And then share the appearance with their kids, who often accompany them to the set.
“Sandra Oh could not get over being on the set,” says Parente. “It’s coming to that magical place that’s Sesame Street. It’s a wonderful thing to share a different side of the celebrities. Their guard goes way down. They’re kind of in awe of the characters.”
Matching up a celebrity with the appropriate segment, says Parente, “depends on who their childhood favorites were and who their own children’s favorites are.” Many stars signed up for the show’s minute-long Word on the Street literacy program, which defines one word per day. Heidi Klum helped define “compliment.” David Beckham did “persistent.” A pregnant Jessica Alba described “scrumptious.” Jack Black did two words, “disguise” and “octagon.”
Some celebrities attain a new level of cachet when they are transformed into puppets. This season, “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader” host Jeff Foxworhy becomes Jeff Bawksworthy, host of “Are You Smarter Than an Egg Layer?” in which he asks contestants must to count eggs. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin have been immortalized as their “30 Rock” characters, Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy, in a spoof called “30 Rocks.
“We’ve never had any complaints,” says Parente about the celebrity spoof, who adds that all voices are supplied by in-house puppeteers. “There are very few people who’ve been immortalized in puppet form, so it’s a badge of honor.”
SESAME STREET
Weekdays, 7 a.m., PBS (WNET)