Yip Yips
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Yip-Yips are characters on the popular children's television show Sesame Street. They are interplanetary visitors, presumed to be from the planet Mars (in the first skit, as soon as they descend, their first word to each other is "...Not Mars." "Nope.") and used to be terrified by things like clocks, telephones and computers. When frightened, they would cover their eyes with the lower part of their jaw.
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 often come across common objects and, curious as to their names and functions, the Yip-Yips will consult a book presumably containing information about things on Earth (the book was referred to, accordingly as "Earth Book"). In one skit, for example, the Yip-Yips call a telephone a cow and a cat before deciding what it actually is.
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.
Interestingly, on Plaza Sésamo, the Spanish language version of Sesame Street, the Yip-Yips say, "Yip-yip-yip-yip... Baja. Baja." Baja means "short."
Contents |
[edit] Skits
- 1971 — Phone discovery by the Yip-Yips [1]
- 1972 — by the Yip-Yips
- 1975 — Radio discovery by the Yip-Yips
- 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 — (late 80s?) of the Yip-Yips as an excuse for something (similar to the Beautiful Day Monster's appearance in the chocolate cake skit) and when Bert goes into the other room, the Yip-Yips come down outside the window and materialize through the wall, when Ernie hollers that the Martians are there, Bert (off camera) tells him to ask them if they'd like any oatmeal.
- 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.[2]
[edit] Merchandising
Around the time of the 35th anniversary of the program, 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.[1] This was followed in the fall of 2004 with Gund bean-bag toys.[2]
Light switch plates, action figures (Palasades Toys), and stuffed toys were all suddenly created of the characters. The 2006 Sesame Street calendar features the Yip Yips for November, and they make an appearance on the front cover scene.
The only real acknowledgement of the character previous to 2003 was being mentioned in the 30th anniversary book Sesame Street Unpaved.
[edit] Yip Yips in popular culture
"The Yip Yip Club", founded 5 July 2001, holds claim to being the Internet's largest club or group, strictly themed to Sesame Street, despite the fact the group primarily deals with only one set of rather minimal characters. The club has grown extensively over the past few years; it has just under 1500 members. The sudden occurrence of Yip Yip merchandise could be due to the group proving a market for the characters, or it could be strictly coincidental.
The 1986 Jaleco videogame, Momoko 120% features enemies that look almost exactly like the Yip-Yips.
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.
Yip-Yip is also the name of a band. http://www.yip-yip.com
