A lesson on shoes from Sesame Street: "Monsters don't need shoes. We can do everything in our monster feet!"

By Justin Owings on Aug 3, 2009 | In general | 2 comments »

Why am I watching Sesame Street? Well, my toddler nephew is a big fan of Sesame Street. When a recent episode featured the "fairy shoeperson" played by Neil Patrick Harris and included a bit of commentary on shoes by way of Telly and Abby, my brother told me all about it. Just the other night, I finally got to watch the clip, and I have to admit, it was pretty entertaining.

You can watch the relevant clip via the two YouTube videos below (about nine minutes total).

The first clip is a little introductory song and dance that is hilarious in its own right as we get to see Neil Patrick Harris doing a song and dance in a suit with wings. He parades about giving shoes to unwitting humans who, of course, break out into song and dance. Note the mop shoes:

And the second clip:

If you want to skip to the punchline, in the second clip the "shoe fairy" keeps trying to find the right shoes for Telly, who finds them all seriously wanting. When the shoe fairy has had enough with trying to please Telly, he disappears leaving Telly unshod [Around 5:00 in the video]. Telly doesn't realize he's barefoot and exclaims, "Hey now these shoes make my feel great! I can move in these! These shoes are perfect!" Here's the remaining dialogue:

Abby: But you gotta have shoes, Telly.

Telly: I don't want any shoes.

Abby: Huh?

Telly: No, no, no shoes. I like my toes to roam and roam free!

Abby: No shoes?

Telly: Yeah, see, shoes are great for people and fairies to protect their feet, but I'm a monster and monsters don't need shoes. We can do everything in our monster feet!

Abby: You mean everything?

Telly: Yeah we can run and jump and dance and hop!

[Both laugh]

Abby: I didn't know that!

Of course, Telly's logic for monsters is just as applicable for humans, but well, you knew that already, right? Perhaps the shoe fairy should have tried to outfit Telly in some Vibram threefingers.

Chalk one up for monster logic.

For a full synopsis of this episode of Sesame Street including a few thumbnail snapshots, see the Muppet wiki entry on episode 4162.

About the Author — I founded BirthdayShoes.com in April 2009 on realizing just how much I enjoyed having "free feet" - I mostly wanted to use them for weights, sprints, and plyometrics (I'm not much of a runner!). I'm a Googler by day and minimalist footwear aficionado by night; you can find me 'round Atlanta. If you want to catch up with what I'm doing outside of the site here, follow me on twitter @bdayshoes or @justinno or check out my personal site JustinOwings.com.
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