Guy Smiley facts for kids

Guy Smiley is a super energetic and friendly character from the TV show Sesame Street. He's known as "America's favorite game show host!" He loves to host all sorts of fun and silly game shows. These shows teach kids about numbers, letters, and how things work. His segments often make fun of real TV commercials and game shows in a funny way.

Guy Smiley also hosted shows like This Is Your Lunch and Here Is Your Life. These shows were spoofs of a real TV show called This Is Your Life. Guests on his show included a loaf of bread, a tooth, and a tree. These segments helped kids learn how everyday things are made. He also hosted special contests for numbers and letters.

Joan Ganz Cooney, one of the creators of Sesame Street, really loved Guy Smiley. She said it was one of her favorite characters performed by Jim Henson. However, Jim Henson himself didn't enjoy playing Guy Smiley as much. The character had a very loud voice, which was hard on Jim Henson's throat. Because of this, Guy Smiley's voice was often recorded ahead of time. This allowed Henson to do many takes without hurting his voice.

After Jim Henson passed away in 1990, Guy Smiley didn't appear as much. He was seen in the background in 1998. He also appeared in some computer games like "Let's Make a Word" and "Get Set to Learn." In these games, Don Reardon provided his voice. More recently, Eric Jacobson has been performing Guy Smiley. He started with videos for a traveling exhibit. Guy Smiley officially returned to Sesame Street in its 39th season.

Guy Smiley's Game Shows

Guy Smiley has hosted many funny game show skits on Sesame Street. Here are some of them:

• Can You Guess? — This show was a funny version of To Tell The Truth. Three Muppets, a father, mother, and son, all claimed to be "the mother of this family." Grover (who was called "Billy Monster" then) had to guess who the real mother was. In this skit, Guy Smiley was called "Big Bob."
• Pick Your Pet — A little girl Muppet named Betty Lou was blindfolded. She had to choose one of three animals as her pet without seeing them. She asked each animal how they would behave as a pet and listened to their answers. When this skit aired, Guy Smiley was called "Sonny Friendly."
• The Mr. and Mrs. Game — This was the first skit where the host was named Guy Smiley. It was a funny version of The Newlywed Game and featured a monster couple. The wife had to guess her husband's favorite color, food, and sport. Betty Lou took the husband into a soundproof room so he couldn't hear his wife's answers.
• The Remembering Game — This show was a spoof of Concentration. Two contestants tried to match prizes on a board with four spaces. In its only appearance, Cookie Monster and a Muppet named Bill Smith didn't like their prizes. Cookie had won an airplane, and Bill had won a cookie. They decided to trade prizes.
• What's My Part? — This show was a funny version of What's My Line?. Three blindfolded celebrities had to identify a body part. They were disqualified if they asked a question with a "no" answer.
  • The first part featured a nose. Panelists Cookie Monster, Bennett Snerf, and Arlene Frantic were noseless monsters. They were funny versions of real game show panelists. None of them guessed correctly, and the nose won the game.
  • The second part featured a foot. Snerf, Frantic, and Professor Hastings were Muppets with human features. Professor Hastings won by accident when he complained that his foot fell asleep.
• What's My Letter? – This skit was based on a song from The Muppet Alphabet Album. Guy Smiley challenged Prairie Dawn to guess a specific letter of the alphabet.
• Get Wordy - This show was a spoof of Jeopardy!. Smiley would read the meaning of a phrase, and contestants had to guess what the phrase was.
• Mystery Guest — This was a funny version of a part of What's My Line?. The contestants, Cookie Monster, Don Music, and Sherlock Hemlock, had to guess who the Mystery Guest was. In this skit, it was the letter X. Nobody guessed correctly. It turned out the letter X belonged in the exit sign. This skit only ran once.
• Beat the Time — This show was a spoof of Beat the Clock. The contestant had to bring in things that rhymed with a key word or contained something specific.
  • In a famous segment, Cookie Monster had to find three things that rhymed with "rain." If he succeeded before the clock ran out, he would win a cookie. Cookie found a cane, a chain holding a monster, and, at the last second, a train. He crashed through the wall with the train! This skit ran five times.
  • Another "Beat the Time" skit involved The Count. He had to bring in two things that come from the sky, like his thunder and lightning when he counts. In this skit, Smiley revealed his real name was Bernie Liederkranz.
• To Tell a Face — This was another spoof of To Tell the Truth. A baby had to figure out who was a real person out of three panelists. This skit ran seven times.
• The Triangle Is Right — This show was a funny version of The Price is Right. Every question was answered with "A triangle." This skit was short-lived.
• What's My Job? — This was another spoof of What's My Line?. Three monster contestants had to figure out what a person's job was.
  • Round 1 featured a firefighter.
  • Round 2 featured a dentist.
  • Round 3 featured another game show host named Sonny Friendly, who thought Guy Smiley was a guest! They argued at the end. Guy Smiley then said, "This whole thing was a rotten idea! Who put this man on the show?"
• Say the Word — This show was a spoof of The $25,000 Pyramid. The contestants were Chet O'Leary and Maurice Monster. Guy gave Chet the word "STOP." Chet couldn't say the word but had to give clues to Maurice Monster. He tickled Maurice until Maurice yelled "STOP!" Guy Smiley then shouted, "That's right. You said the word STOP! Congratulations!"
• Name that Sound! — This show was a spoof of Name That Tune. There were two skits:
  • Grover: Grover had to guess three sounds, like a train whistle, a dog barking, and a faucet dripping. He got them all right. After he guessed the faucet dripping, the stage got flooded!
  • Honker: A Honker had to figure out the sounds. Since Guy Smiley couldn't understand the Honker, the Honker brought in things that made the sounds, like a cow, a horse, and a fire engine.
• Dialing for Prizes Movie — This show was a spoof of Dialing for Dollars. The lucky contestant was Mr. Lucky. The lucky word was "Fur." The prizes were furry monsters!
• Here is Your Life — This show was a spoof of This is Your Life. Guy Smiley honored a contestant, usually an object. These included:
  • 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 — This show was a spoof of the Miss America Pageant. All the letters of the alphabet competed. The letter S could swim. The letter C introduced itself as the letter C. The letter T could tap dance. The vowel finalists were A, E, I, O, and U. The letter E won the pageant. Guy Smiley then sang a song about the letter E to celebrate the winner.

Other Fun Appearances

Guy Smiley also appeared in other parts of Sesame Street that weren't game shows.

In Sesame Street's very first season (1969–70), Smiley sang a song called "Gone with the Wind." While he sang, a strong wind blew away a tree, a house, a woman, and even his clothes! This segment was also shown in Spanish in other countries.

Also in that season, Smiley hosted the first part of "The Answer Lady." This segment featured an old woman named Granny Fanny Nesselrode. She claimed to have the answer to everything, but she never gave the best answer to any question from viewers. Later, a different Muppet host took over for Smiley in this segment.

Smiley also made appearances that weren't about his hosting career. Once, Cookie Monster was in a bakery eating things that rhymed with "buy." Smiley came in, announcing he was "Guy Smiley, star of daytime television." At this point, Cookie couldn't remember that he was looking for a pie. Even with many words that rhymed with "pie," Cookie couldn't remember. The scene ended with Cookie wrongly thinking the rhyming item was "GUY!" and chasing Smiley around the bakery, trying to eat his hand.

He also appeared in a skit with Grover as an Elevator Operator. This skit taught kids to face the front of an elevator. In this skit, "Mr. Smiley" (as Grover called him) was also voiced by Jim Henson, but with a different voice than his usual game show voice.

In one movie theater skit with Bert and Ernie, Smiley had a small, one-line role. In this sketch, puppeteer Richard Hunt operated Guy Smiley.

Guy Smiley once took his entire studio audience to lunch. There were only tables for 39 people, but 40 people came!

Guy Smiley also appeared in Alphabet Chat. He was doing a commercial for Bow Wow Chow while Mr. Chatterly was trying to give a lecture about the letter R.

He also appeared in On Vacation With Guy Smiley. In this skit, he tried to photograph different animals in the jungle. But his loud voice kept scaring them away! Finally, a tiger came along. The tiger roared and scared away Guy's guide. But then the tiger took the camera and took Guy's picture with the other animals.

Smiley also showed up as a background extra in the musical skit "Some/None." He was with many other Muppets.

Guy Smiley also hosted a special meeting for things that begin with the SH sound. Guests included a Shirt, a Shovel, a Shrimp, Sheep, a shepherd, and even a short-sized king.

Guy Smiley Around the World

Sesame Street is shown in many different countries. Because of this, Guy Smiley is often given different names.

• In Portugal, for example, he is called "Carlos Luz." This name is a funny play on words with a real TV presenter's name, Carlos Cruz.
• In the Netherlands, he is called "Henk Glimlach." "Glimlach" means "smile" in Dutch.
• In Germany, he is simply called "Robert." This might be after Robert Lembke, a famous German game show host.

• Guy Smiley on Muppet Wiki, a Wikia wiki

See also

In Spanish: Guy Smiley para niños