Guy Smiley

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Guy Smiley is a fictional 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.^[1] Smiley has also hosted This Is Your Lunch and Here Is Your Life, a parody of This 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.

Joan Ganz Cooney cited the role as one of her favorite roles from his original performer Jim Henson,^[2] although it was his least favorite to perform, as the character had a boisterous voice which proved too hard on his throat.^[3] Due to this, the character's dialogue was usually pre-recorded so that Henson could do multiple takes without straining his throat.

The character was mostly discontinued upon Henson's death in 1990.

Game shows

Smiley has hosted many game show skits, such as:

• Can You Guess? — a satire of
  To Tell The Truth — Three Muppets, a father, mother and son, each announce themselves as "the mother of this family", and Grover
  (then called "Billy Monster") has to guess which is the true mother. (The Smiley character was then named "Big Bob".)
• Pick Your Pet — a blindfolded little girl Muppet, Betty Lou, must choose one of three animals (one a monster) as her own pet without being able to see any of them, after asking each of them how they would behave in her home as her pet and listening to their answers. (The Smiley character was then named "Sonny Friendly".)^[4]
• The Mr. and Mrs. Game — the first skit in which the host was named Guy Smiley, this satire of The Newlywed Game featured a monster couple. The object was for the wife to guess her husband's favorite color, food and sport without being told in advance, after Betty Lou took him into a soundproof booth so he couldn't hear his wife's answers.^[5]
• The Remembering Game — a spoof of
  Anything Muppet
  named Bill Smith didn't like the prizes they had "won", so they traded prizes after Cookie had won an airplane and Bill had won a cookie.
• What's My Part? — a spoof of
  Anything Muppets with human features. Professor Hastings won the game by accident after he complains his foot fell asleep.^[7]
• What's My Letter? – Based on the sixth track from the 1971
  Prairie Dawn to guess a particular letter of the alphabet.^[9]
• Get Wordy - a spoof of Jeopardy!, Smiley reads a meaning of a phrase and contestants have to guess what the phrase is.
• Mystery Guest — a spoof of a term used on
  Don Music and Sherlock Hemlock
  ), 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. After the contestants left, The announcer blurts "You sure fooled them, X." It ran once.
• Beat the Time — a spoof of
  Frazzle) and, at the last second, arrives onto the stage by smashing through the wall with a train (the same train he rode in "The Ballad of Casey McPhee"). It ran for four segments. Another segment 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 Smiley reveals his real name to be Bernie Liederkranz. In the next segment, Elmo had to three things that starts the SN sound. He found a snack of nuts and raisins he stole from a business man, A sneaker worn by Telly, and a Snuffleupagus. Elmo successfully did it before the arrow on the clock reaches zero, And Elmo's prize also started with a SN sound: A snowman wearing a Snorkel. ^[10]
• Bring that Thing = a spoof of a term used on Beat the Clock - The contestants are Stevie and Jonathan Martians (AKA The Yip-Yips). The martians must find 3 things in 30 seconds that helps them see at night. They found flashlight, A lamp, and they used their spaceship to bring the moon. The grand prize of a jar of fireflies.
• To Tell a Face — a spoof of To Tell the Truth — A Baby must figure out who is real person out of three panelists. It ran for seven segments.
• The Triangle Is Right — A spoof on the title
  quiz show scandals
  of the '50s). It was short-lived.
• What's My Job? — another spoof of What's My Line? - The three contestant monsters have to figure out what the person's job is. Round 1 was a firefighter, Round 2 was a dentist, and Round 3 was another game show host named Sonny Friendly (who thinks Guy Smiley is a guest). They argued at the end leaving with Guy Smiley remarking "This whole thing was a rotten idea! Who put this man on the show?" His suit was provided by Sierra Lagoon, while Sonny Friendly's suit was provided by Frederick La Frensworth.
• Say the Word — a spoof of
  The $25,000 Pyramid
  - The contestants are Chet O'Leary and Maurice Monster. Guy gives Chet the word "STOP" but Chet cannot say that word but give out clues to Maurice Monster on the word. He tickles Maurice Monster until Maurice yells "STOP!" and Guy Smiley blurted "That's right. You said the word STOP! Congratulations!"
• Name that Sound! — a spoof of Name That Tune There were two skits.
  • Grover: Grover has to guess the three sounds (Such as a train whistle, a dog barking, and faucet dripping). He got them all right, but after he guessed the faucet dripping, it got flooded.
  • Honker: A Honker has to figure out the sounds but since Guy Smiley couldn't understand them, the Honker brings in things that have been mentioned by the sounds (Such as a cow, a horse, and a fire engine).
• Dialing for Prizes Movie — a spoof of Dialing for Dollars The lucky contestant is Mr. Lucky. And the lucky word is "Fur". And the prizes are furry monsters.
• Here is Your Life — a spoof of This is Your Life - Guy Smiley honors the contestant (usually a certain object) They include:
  • an oak tree
  • a loaf of bread
  • a tooth
  • a right foot sneaker
  • a painting of a bowl of fruit
  • a house (2102 Shady Lane)
  • a carton of eggs
• The Letter of the Day Pageant — a spoof of Miss America Pageant in which all letters compete. The letter S can swim; the letter C addresses herself as the letter C; and the letter T can tap dance. Up came the vowel finalists, A, E, I, O, and U. The letter E wins the pageant, and Guy Smiley sings him a song about the letter E to honor the winner.
• The How Many Game - an unknown spoof. The Two Headed Monster are the contestants in a Guy Smiley game show. The screen reveals the number 2. They have only 30 seconds to find two things. But they found 1 bowling ball, three cows, and four sheeps. They found out they have two heads.
• Happiness Begins at 40 - The contestants are The Sad Family from Miserable Falls Colorado. They enter the studio sobbing dramatically, But gradely counts up to 40 to improve their emotion. They become happy when they reach to the number 40. When they become joyful, Guy Smiley remarks "Well, I guess this proves that Happiness does begin at 40."