![]() We wanted to create a naive type face that would feel done by Steve's character's hand without it being too precious or quirky. Kyle Snarr at StruckAxiom on the delicate type design: The cherry on top is the whimsical and varied custom typography: the letters slink in and out of sight, vulnerable and idiosyncratic, wavering between wide and narrow, further lending the titles a sense of clumsy sensitivity. ![]() In the opening of Dinner for Schmucks, a tiny bespectacled mouse and his redheaded mousette engage in the sweetest of romantic clichés, demonstrating an artistry so fine it leans toward obsession. The minutiae gives way to several astonishing tableau vivants of miniatures created by the Chiodo Bros., a trio of fantastically talented craftsmen who produce everything from stop-motion animation and puppetry to make-up effects and animatronics. The song, "The Fool on the Hill," kicks off a journey through a series of close-ups of itty-bitty objects being selected, constructed, and assembled. And as a mouse figurine has her hair dyed vermilion, Paul McCartney's melancholic voice shepherds us through the opening titles for the delightfully downcast 2010 screwball comedy, Dinner for Schmucks. From it a tiny hat is removed while the credits sidle in, superimposed. Monsterpiece Theater is a recurring segment on the American version of the popular children's television series Sesame Street, a parody of Masterpiece Theatre.The wooden case is opened and inside, an array of tiny accoutrements. While using Muppet characters to act out educational principles, primarily Grover and other Muppet monsters, Monsterpiece Theater is also a parody of the similarly acclaimed PBS show Masterpiece Theatre, now known simply as Masterpiece. The theme song is also a modified version of Fanfare-Rondeau, the Masterpiece theme song, only with trumpets and a much more upbeat tempo. Monsterpiece Theater is hosted by Alistair Cookie, Cookie Monster trying his best to look like Alistair Cooke. He wears a smoking jacket and holds a pipe which he usually ends up eating. The segments are loosely based on classic literature, plays, films, and TV shows. Similar segments, titled Mysterious Theater and parodying fellow PBS anthology Mystery!, are hosted by "Vincent Twice Vincent Twice," a parody of Vincent Price.Īlistair Cookie is Cookie Monster's alter ego when hosting Monsterpiece Theater. Created as a spoof of the original Masterpiece Theatre host Alistair Cooke, Alistair Cookie is basically Cookie Monster in an English smoking jacket and ascot tie, although Cooke was neither a pipe smoker nor did he wear a smoking jacket on Masterpiece Theatre. Though seemingly more sedate and urbane, Alistair Cookie is still a Cookie Monster, devouring baked goods, props-and in the revamped opening in the 1990s, noisily consuming cookies over the theme, while offering judicious comments on the texture.Īlistair Cookie introduced viewers to a spot of culture while relaxing in a well-stuffed armchair. He used to appear smoking a pipe and then eating it at the end of each piece. In a 2004 Chicago Public Radio interview, David Rudman (who performs Cookie Monster) referred to Cookie Monster's occasional use of more advanced phrases, such as "It a bit esoteric," as his Alistair Cookie side: In the late 1980s, the pipe was gone so as not to reinforce smoking as a positive attribute. He throws out these words like, you know, "Me digress." It's his whole Alistair Cookie side. It's a whole 'nother side of Cookie, where he's just kinda, you know, laid back and intellectual, but he still has that "Me Alistair Cookie," and it's just such a funny contrast. Īlistair Cookie is generally a detached party who simply serves as a frame for the Monsterpiece Theater spoofs. Occasionally, however, the participants take their grievances directly to Alistair Cookie ("Twelve Angry Men", "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"), crash into his sanctum ("The 39 Stairs"), or otherwise disrupt his hosting duties. On rare occasions, Cookie Monster himself stars in the sketches, as in "Twin Beaks", invariably winning rave critical reviews from Alistair Cookie. ![]() Alistair Cooke retired from Masterpiece Theater in 1992, replaced by American host Russell Baker, but this had no effect on Alistair Cookie, as reported in The Washington Post from February 24, 1993: "A spokeswoman for Sesame Street yesterday reassured its fans-and their children-that despite the change at the top, Cookie Monster will continue to appear as Alistair Cookie, the host of 'Monsterpiece Theater'-big chair, fireplace and all.
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