Guy Smiley
Encyclopedia
Guy Smiley is a character on Sesame Street
who was dubbed "America's favorite game show
host." His skits are among those on the show that parody commercial media. Guy has also hosted parodies of This Is Your Life
called "Here Is Your Life." Guests who were profiled included a loaf of bread, a tooth and a tree (all aimed at teaching children how things are made). He has also hosted pageants for numbers and letters.
Performed by Jim Henson
, the character was mostly discontinued upon Henson's death in 1990. He appeared as a background character in a street scene in 1998, and was performed by Steve Whitmire
. He also appeared in the CD-ROMs, "Let's Make a Word" (a spoof of Let's Make a Deal
) and "Get Set to Learn", where his voice was credited to Don Reardon. More recently the character has been played by Eric Jacobson
, starting with video inserts in the touring exhibit "Sesame Street Presents: The Body". As seen in the preview for the 39th season, Guy Smiley will officially return to the show.
The character is said to be modeled after game show host Jim Perry.
was in a bakery
chewing up items that rhymed with the word "pie
", Smiley came in announcing he was "Guy Smiley, star of daytime TV
." At this point, Cookie couldn't remember that it was a pie he was after, and the repeated use of words that did rhyme with "pie" did nothing to jog his memory. The scene ended with him chasing Guy around the bakery, trying to eat him.
He also appeared in a sketch featuring Grover
as an Elevator Operator. It was to teach kids to face the front of an elevator. In this sketch, "Mr Smiley" (as Grover calls him) is also voiced by Jim Henson, but with a different voice to his game show personality.
In one movie theatre skit with Bert and Ernie, using Guy as a one-line extra, the character is puppeted by Richard Hunt
.
He also appeared in On Vacation With Guy Smiley, in which he tried to photograph various animals in the jungle.
Guy shows up as a non-speaking background extra (wearing an odd, unusually stern expression) along with many other muppets in the musical skit "Some/None".
The Colbert Report has also parodied Mitt Romney
by comparing him to Guy Smiley.
with the name of Portuguese TV presenter Carlos Cruz
. In the Netherlands
, he is called Henk Glimlach, Glimlach meaning "Smile". In Germany he appears plainly as Robert, quite probably because of Robert Lembke, a very well known German game show
host.
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
who was dubbed "America's favorite game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
host." His skits are among those on the show that parody commercial media. Guy has also hosted parodies of This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
called "Here Is Your Life." Guests who were profiled included a loaf of bread, a tooth and a tree (all aimed at teaching children how things are made). He has also hosted pageants for numbers and letters.
Performed by Jim Henson
Jim Henson
James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...
, the character was mostly discontinued upon Henson's death in 1990. He appeared as a background character in a street scene in 1998, and was performed by Steve Whitmire
Steve Whitmire
Steven Whitmire is an American puppeteer who works for The Jim Henson Company, Sesame Workshop and Disney's The Muppets Studio. He has been the performer of two signature Muppets - Kermit the Frog and Sesame Street's Ernie - since the death of their creator and original performer, Jim Henson, in...
. He also appeared in the CD-ROMs, "Let's Make a Word" (a spoof of Let's Make a Deal
Let's Make a Deal
Let's Make a Deal is a television game show which originated in the United States and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The show is based around deals offered to members of the audience by the host. The traders usually have to weigh the possibility of an offer being...
) and "Get Set to Learn", where his voice was credited to Don Reardon. More recently the character has been played by Eric Jacobson
Eric Jacobson
Eric Jacobson is a puppeteer and Muppet performer, who has been the primary replacement puppeteer for Frank Oz's characters since 2001.-Career:...
, starting with video inserts in the touring exhibit "Sesame Street Presents: The Body". As seen in the preview for the 39th season, Guy Smiley will officially return to the show.
The character is said to be modeled after game show host Jim Perry.
Game shows
Guy Smiley has hosted many of the following game show skits, such as:-}- The Remembering Game — A spoof of ConcentrationConcentration (game show)Concentration was an American TV game show based on the children's memory game of the same name. Matching cards represented prizes that contestants could win...
, two contestants try to match prizes on a four-space board. In its one appearance, Cookie MonsterCookie MonsterCookie Monster is a Muppet on the children's television show Sesame Street. He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating phrases: "Me want cookie!", "Me eat cookie!", and "Om nom nom nom" . He often eats anything and everything, including danishes, donuts, lettuce, apples,...
and an Anything Muppet named Bill Smith didn't like the prizes they had "won," so they traded prizes. Cookie had won an airplane and Bill had won a cookie.
- What's My Part? — A spoof of What's My Line?What's My Line?What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....
— Three blindfolded celebrities had to identify a body part before all three of them were disqualified (by asking a question that had a "no" answer). The first segment, featuring a nose, starred panelists Cookie Monster, Bennett Snerf and Arlene Frantic (the latter two Muppet parodies of longtime What's My Line? panelists Bennett CerfBennett CerfBennett Alfred Cerf was a publisher and co-founder of Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearances lecturing across the United States, and for his television appearances in the panel game show What's My Line?.-Biography:Bennett Cerf...
and Arlene FrancisArlene FrancisArlene Francis was an American actress, radio talk show host, and game show panelist...
). It ran for 4 segments.
- Get Wordy - A spoof of Jeopardy!Jeopardy!Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
, Guy reads a meaning of a phrase and contestants have to guess what the phrase is.
- Mystery Guest — A spoof of a term used on What's My Line?What's My Line?What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....
— The contestants, (Cookie MonsterCookie MonsterCookie Monster is a Muppet on the children's television show Sesame Street. He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating phrases: "Me want cookie!", "Me eat cookie!", and "Om nom nom nom" . He often eats anything and everything, including danishes, donuts, lettuce, apples,...
, Don MusicDon MusicComposer Don Music was a Muppet character on the children's television show Sesame Street. He was performed and voiced by Richard Hunt.The typically amusing sketch would have him become frustrated by his inability to think of the final line to well known songs such as "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"...
and Sherlock HemlockSherlock HemlockSherlock Hemlock is a former Muppet character on the children's TV show Sesame Street. His catchphrase is "Egad!" which he exclaims whenever he makes a discovery...
), must guess who the Mystery Guest is. In this clip, it was the letter X, but nobody guessed correctly, and it turned out that the letter X belonged in the exit sign. It ran once.
- Beat the Time — A spoof of Beat the ClockBeat the ClockBeat the Clock is a Goodson-Todman game show which has aired on American television in several versions since 1950.The original show, hosted by Bud Collyer, ran on CBS from 1950–1958 and ABC from 1958–1961. The show was revived in syndication as The New Beat the Clock from 1969–1974, with Jack Narz...
— The contestant must bring in a number of things that rhyme with the key word or contain something. In the most famous segment, Cookie Monster must find three things that rhyme with "rain", and will win a cookie if successful before the arrow on the clock reaches zero. Cookie manages to find a cane he stole from an old man, a chain holding a monster (FrazzleFrazzleFrazzle is the only Muppet monster intended to be "scary" in the children's television series Sesame Street. During the late-1980s to early-1990s, his career was limited to that of a background extra, due to his intimidating appearance....
) and, at the last second, arrives onto the stage by smashing through the wall with a trainTrainA train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
(the same train he rode in "The Ballad of Casey McPhee"). It ran for 5 segments. Another "Beat the Time" involved the Count, where the Count has to bring in two things that come from the sky (his thunder and lightning when he counts). This is the one where Guy reveals his real name to be Bernie Liederkrantz.
- To Tell a Face — A spoof of To Tell the TruthTo Tell the TruthTo Tell the Truth is an American television panel game show created by Bob Stewart and produced by Goodson-Todman Productions that has aired in various forms since 1956 both on networks and in syndication...
— A Baby must figure out who is real person out of three panelists. It ran for 7 segments.
- The Triangle Is Right — A spoof on the title The Price Is RightThe Price Is Right (U.S. game show)The Price Is Right is an American game show which was created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Contestants compete to identify the pricing of merchandise to win cash and prizes. The show is well-known for its signature line of "Come on down!" when the announcer directs newly selected contestants to...
— Every question is answered with the response, "A triangle" (a possible indirect reference to the real-life quiz show scandalsQuiz show scandalsThe American quiz show scandals of the 1950s were a series of revelations that contestants of several popular television quiz shows were secretly given assistance by the show's producers to arrange the outcome of a supposedly fair competition....
of the '50s). It was short-lived.
Other appearances
Guy did make some appearances that didn't have anything notable to do with his hosting career. When Cookie MonsterCookie Monster
Cookie Monster is a Muppet on the children's television show Sesame Street. He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating phrases: "Me want cookie!", "Me eat cookie!", and "Om nom nom nom" . He often eats anything and everything, including danishes, donuts, lettuce, apples,...
was in a bakery
Bakery
A bakery is an establishment which produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cakes, pastries and pies. Some retail bakeries are also cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who wish to consume the baked goods on the premises.-See also:*Baker*Cake...
chewing up items that rhymed with the word "pie
Pie
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients....
", Smiley came in announcing he was "Guy Smiley, star of daytime TV
Daytime television
Daytime television is the general term for television shows produced that are intended to air during the daytime hours on weekdays. This article is about American daytime television, for information about international daytime television see Daytime television....
." At this point, Cookie couldn't remember that it was a pie he was after, and the repeated use of words that did rhyme with "pie" did nothing to jog his memory. The scene ended with him chasing Guy around the bakery, trying to eat him.
He also appeared in a sketch featuring Grover
Grover
Grover is a Muppet character on the popular television show Sesame Street. Self-described as lovable, cute and furry, he is a monster who almost never uses contractions when speaking or singing....
as an Elevator Operator. It was to teach kids to face the front of an elevator. In this sketch, "Mr Smiley" (as Grover calls him) is also voiced by Jim Henson, but with a different voice to his game show personality.
In one movie theatre skit with Bert and Ernie, using Guy as a one-line extra, the character is puppeted by Richard Hunt
Richard Hunt (puppeteer)
Richard Hunt was an American puppeteer best known as a Muppet performer. Hunt's Muppet roles included Scooter, Beaker, Janice, Statler, and Sweetums.-Early years:...
.
He also appeared in On Vacation With Guy Smiley, in which he tried to photograph various animals in the jungle.
Guy shows up as a non-speaking background extra (wearing an odd, unusually stern expression) along with many other muppets in the musical skit "Some/None".
The Colbert Report has also parodied Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
by comparing him to Guy Smiley.
International
Sesame Street is localized for some different markets, where Guy Smiley is often renamed. In Portuguese, for example, he's Carlos Luz, a play on wordsWord play
Word play or wordplay is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement...
with the name of Portuguese TV presenter Carlos Cruz
Carlos Cruz (television presenter)
Carlos Cruz GCIH is a Portuguese former television presenter who has been convicted on charges of child sexual abuse.-Biography:Carlos Cruz was born in 1942 in Torres Novas...
. In the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, he is called Henk Glimlach, Glimlach meaning "Smile". In Germany he appears plainly as Robert, quite probably because of Robert Lembke, a very well known German game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
host.