Waiting for....Muppet?

The wits of children’s shows never cease to amaze me. Who ever thought that Sesame Street would make its own parody version of “Waiting for Godot”? In the “Monsterpiece Theater” segment of Sesame Street, there is an episode called “Waiting for Elmo” where “Groover and Telly Monster lament near a tree waiting for Elmo. In disgust, the tree both monster monsters are waiting by leaves.” The play is introduced as “A modern masterpiece, a play so modern, so brilliant it makes absolutely no sense.” Alistair Cookie monster then says it doesn’t make sense to him, but maybe you (the viewer) can find out what it means. The clip is only a couple of minutes long. The setting consists of a leafless tree and windy noises. The two monsters are standing side by side gesturing frantically as they usually do. The dialogue is stripped down basic (intended for children) and they say they are waiting for Elmo to come and play with them. The blue monster says that when Elmo finally comes to play with them, they will be so happy. The blue monster is more optimistic, while the red one is more skeptic about the situation. Maybe the red one is Estragon. It doesn’t take long for them to get mad at Elmo for making them wait “How dare he keeps us by this tree waiting, waiting, waiting!” Like children, their mood swings are quick and violent. There is a special emphasis on emotion, something we don’t see much in the play, yet logica,l for children understand emotions easily. What is particular about the play is the tree’s intervention. It’s as if it was a spectator of the play. It says, “I’ve been waiting for this play to make some sense. I don’t get it!” The tree ends up by taking off and the Muppets follow him. The tree’s intervention only helps to ridicule the notion of the play even more. However, it can be looked upon as the ignorant response this play had when first published. It still may provoke this reaction, and most likely children don’t have the background knowledge to understand the situation, but its presence is what is important.  This stripped down version of “Waiting for Godot” highlights the absurdity of the play. It is perhaps the most existentialist version of the play, which makes sense with the nature of the show, as children can be the biggest existentialists.