Yip Yips
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for electronic band see Yip-Yip
The Yip Yips (also known as the Martians) are characters on the popular children's television show Sesame Street. They are interplanetary visitors, from the planet Mars[1](in the first skit, as soon as they descend, their first words to each other are "...Not Mars." "Nope."). They marvel at devices such as clocks, telephones and computers. When frightened, each covers its face with the lower part of its jaw while making a distinctive "goom" noise.
In their skits, these creatures, with squid-like tentacles, large eyes, and antennae, materialize into a room and say, "Yip-yip-yip-yip... Uh-huh. Uh-huh", in monotone voices. They come across common objects and, curious as to their names and functions, the Yip Yips consult a book they call "Earth book" which presumably contains information about things on Earth. For example, in their first skit the Yip Yips try communicating with a telephone by common greetings such as "Hello", "Greetings", and "Hi there!" unsuccessfully. After each failure they say "nope nope nope". Next they address the phone as a cow, a cat, and then a chicken, only finally learning what it really is when it rings. They "ring" back at it with their voices, clearly pleased to have identified and established communication with it.
They are "Yip Yipped" by multiple muppeteers including Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Martin P. Robinson, and Kevin Clash. The puppets have a very simple design, controlled entirely by two rods (one for the body and eyes, the other for the front of the mouth). This allows their entire bodies to be seen on camera, appearing to float in the air.
The two Yip Yips seen most often are called "Bob" and "Joe". On the Dutch version, Sesamstraat, the Yip Yips are called "Sjoerd and Hendrik Marsman", referring to the early 20th century poet Hendrik Marsman. Note that in Dutch, Marsman does literally mean "Martian".
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[edit] Skits
- 1971 — Phone discovery by the Yip Yips
- 1972 — Grandfather clock discovery by the Yip Yips
- 1975 — Radio discovery by the Yip Yips
- 1985 — Ernie wakes up and is unable to find Bert. Ernie imagines that the Martians appeared in the middle of the night and asked Bert to join them in outer space. Bert then enters the room and informs Ernie that he was only in the kitchen making oatmeal. Bert leaves the room, and the Martians appear in exactly the way that Ernie had imagined. When Ernie yells to Bert asking what they should do about the visitors, Bert does not believe his story and replies, "Ask them if they want any oatmeal."[2]
- 1987 — by the Yip Yips
- 1989 — "Get Along", a song with Kermit, a cow, the Yip Yip aliens, Twiddlebugs and Greasers
- 1990 — Faucet discovery by the Yip Yips
- 1990 — Stars, moon, pigs, earth discovery by the Yip Yips
- 1991 — "Family" song with Yip Yip aliens
- 1992 — Wind discovery by the Yip Yips, from a fan
- 1994 — On Sesame Street's 25th Birthday: A Musical Celebration, Yip Yips audition for Big Bird, then go back to "stars"
- 1996 — "Outerspace Friend", a song by Telly with the Yip Yips
- 1998 — People in a limo, with the Yip Yips
- Unknown — Book discovery by the Yip Yips
- Unknown — (early 90s?) Visual appearance in "Brush Brush Boogie" sung by three blue monsters with hair over their eyes and yellow horns, had Maria brushing her hair, someone else using a brush, and the Yip Yips brushing their teeth, though they didn't speak
- Unknown — 2003 — In the recurring skit "Journey to Ernie", Big Bird occasionally found himself in outer space, where he was helped by a Yip Yip in his search for Ernie
- Unknown — late 80s — A Yip Yip contributes its voice to the Old MacDonald Cantata along with three Honkers, a Dinger, and Oscar's pet elephant Fluffy
- Unknown — with Kermit, Old MacDonald, various farm animals and the Yip Yips, on a "News Flash" from Old MacDonald's Farm. Yip Yips arrive in a spaceship
- Unknown — Computer discovery by the Yip Yips (presumably mid-1980s based on technological level of computer and those fuzzbuster outfits)
- Unknown — Yip Yips encounter a toaster
[edit] Merchandising
Around the time of Sesame Street 's 35th anniversary, licensors finally started to notice and recall the characters. In mid-to-late 2003, Hot Topic led the way with the first-known official Yip Yip merchandising, a "vintage"-look T-shirt with two Martians.[2] This was followed in the fall of 2004 with Gund bean-bag toys.[3] Light switch plates, action figures (by Palisades Toys), and stuffed toys followed. The 2006 Sesame Street calendar features the Yip Yips for November, and they make an appearance on the front cover.
The only real acknowledgement of the characters previous to 2003 was their mention in the 30th anniversary book Sesame Street Unpaved.
[edit] Yip Yips in popular culture
On early episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants, the population of Bikini Bottom generically resembled the Yip Yip characters, although as time passed they developed in more complex ways that drew them further from the Yip Yip stereotype. In the SpongeBob episode "I'm Your Biggest Fanatic", the Anchovie Jellyspotter sidekick characters behave and appear in a similar manner to the Yip Yips of Sesame Street.
In the Drawn Together episode "Little Orphan Hero", Foxxy Love, Princess Clara, Spanky Ham and Ling-Ling gather around the telephone, going "Yip yip yip yip yip...". In the scene, all the characters have strange triangular mouths, like the Yip Yips themselves. The director of that episode, Peter Avanzino, actually used a video file from The Yip Yip Club as reference.
In House of Cosbys Episode 3, the aliens talk like the Yip Yips.
Sirius/XM's Opie & Anthony Show frequently uses a sound clip of the Yip Yips to convey their disgust whenever a woman speaks.
Yip Yips have become popular fancy dress costumes.
[edit] References
- ^ "The Yip Yips (Martians)". Sesame Street. http://www.sesamestreet.org/onair/characters/martians.
- ^ [1] Ernie And Bert Meet The Martians
