Guy Smiley
| Guy Smiley | |
|---|---|
| Sesame Street character | |
| First appearance | 1969 (as Sonny Friendly) |
| Created by | Jim Henson |
| Portrayed by | Jim Henson (1969–1990) Steve Whitmire (1998) Eric Jacobson (2005–present) |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
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. Smiley has also hosted 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.
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 performed 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, Smiley will officially return to the show.
The character is said to be modeled after game show host Jim Perry.
Smiley has hosted many game show skits, such as:
In Sesame Street's premiere season (1969-70), Smiley hosted the first segment of "The Answer Lady," featuring an elderly woman named Granny Fanny Nesselrode who claimed she had the answer to everything but never gave the best answer to any question sent in by a viewer. Smiley was later replaced by a regionally accented Muppet host who bore some resemblance to him.
Smiley did make some appearances that didn't have anything notable to do with his hosting career. When Cookie Monster was in a bakery chewing up items that rhymed with the word "buy", Smiley came in announcing he was "Guy Smiley, star of 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 wrongly realizing that the rhyming item was "GUY!", and chasing Smiley around the bakery, trying to bite his hand off.
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