Yip Yips
Encyclopedia
The Yip Yips are characters on the popular American children's television show Sesame Street
. They are interplanetary visitors, from the planet Mars
(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 tentacle
s, large eye
s, 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".
led the way with the first-known official Yip Yip merchandising, a "vintage"-look T-shirt with two Martians.http://www.hottopic.com/store/product.asp?LS=0&ITEM=299263&RN=1.#QNAN This was followed in the fall of 2004 with Gund bean-bag toys.http://www.tableandhome.com/prodfibfg 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
.
, 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.
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.
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
. They are interplanetary visitors, from the planet Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
(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
Squid
Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...
-like tentacle
Tentacle
A tentacle or bothrium is one of usually two or more elongated flexible organs present in animals, especially invertebrates. The term may also refer to the hairs of the leaves of some insectivorous plants. Usually, tentacles are used for feeding, feeling and grasping. Anatomically, they work like...
s, large eye
Eye
Eyes are organs that detect light and convert it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons. The simplest photoreceptors in conscious vision connect light to movement...
s, and antennae
Antenna (biology)
Antennae in biology have historically been paired appendages used for sensing in arthropods. More recently, the term has also been applied to cilium structures present in most cell types of eukaryotes....
, 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
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
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
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
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
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
, and then a chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
, 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
Jim Henson
James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...
, Frank Oz
Frank Oz
Frank Oz is a British-born American film director, actor, voice actor and puppeteer who is known for creating and performing the characters Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Show, Cookie Monster, Bert and Grover in Sesame Street, and for directing films, including the 1986 Little Shop of...
, Jerry Nelson
Jerry Nelson
Jerry Nelson is an American Muppet puppeteer, known for his wide range of characters, singing abilities, and his frequent partnership with Richard Hunt.-Early years:...
, Martin P. Robinson
Martin P. Robinson
Martin P. Robinson is a puppeteer for the Jim Henson Company. He originally built, designed, and performed the puppets for Little Shop of Horrors. He is perhaps best known for his work on Sesame Street. He has performed the characters of Telly Monster, Slimey the Worm, Mr. Snuffleupagus, and Tony...
, and Kevin Clash
Kevin Clash
Kevin Jeffrey Clash is an American puppeteer and voice actor whose characters include Elmo, Baby Sinclair, Clifford, Splinter and Hoots the Owl...
. 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
Sesamstraat
Sesamstraat is a children's television show in the Netherlands, spin off the popular U.S. children's program Sesame Street. In its early days the show was broadcast in Flanders as well. It is the second longest running foreign adaptation of Sesame Street without interruptions, behind only...
, the Yip Yips are called "Sjoerd and Hendrik Marsman", referring to the early 20th century poet Hendrik Marsman
Hendrik Marsman
Hendrik Marsman was a Dutch poet and writer. He drowned while escaping to Great Britain, when the ship he was on was torpedoed by a German submarine....
. Note that in Dutch, Marsman does literally mean "Martian".
Skits
- 1971 — Phone discovery by the Yip Yips
- 1972 — Grandfather clock discovery by the Yip Yips
- 1975 — Radio discovery by the Yip Yips
- 1985 — ErnieErnieErnie is a fictional character, a Muppet on the Public Broadcasting Service's long-running children's television show, Sesame Street. He and his roommate Bert form a comic duo that is one of the program's centerpieces, with Ernie acting the role of the naïve troublemaker and Bert the world-weary foil...
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." - 1987 — by the Yip Yips
- 1988 — with KermitKermit the FrogKermit the Frog is puppeteer Jim Henson's most famous Muppet creation, first introduced in 1955. He is the protagonist of many Muppet projects, most notably as the host of The Muppet Show, and has appeared in various sketches on Sesame Street, in commercials and in public service announcements over...
, Old MacDonald, various farm animals and the Yip Yips, on a "News Flash" from Old MacDonald's Farm. Yip Yips arrive in a spaceship - 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 BirdBig BirdBig Bird is a protagonist of the children's television show Sesame Street. Big Bird, like many of the other Sesame Street characters, is a Muppet character. He is sometimes referred to simply as "Bird" by his friends....
occasionally found himself in outer space, where he was helped by a Yip Yip in his search for Ernie - 1990 — — A Yip Yip contributes its voice to the Old MacDonald Cantata along with three HonkersHonkersHonkers are friendly monsters from the children's television program, Sesame Street. These creatures have horns instead of ears and their noses are bulbs that can be pressed so that a "honking" sound comes out of the horns. They come in various colours and have appeared in the show since 1979...
, a Dinger, and OscarOscar the GrouchOscar the Grouch is a Muppet character on the television program Sesame Street. He has a green body , has no nose , and lives in a trash can. His favorite thing in life is trash; evidence for this is the song "I Love Trash". A running theme is his compulsive hoarding of seemingly useless items...
's pet elephant Fluffy - Unknown — 80s?- Luis walks away from his computer briefly, and the Yip Yips visit during that time and experiment with pressing buttons on the computer. Luis comes back to find that his computer has been changed by someone. Later in the show, the Yip Yips come back and leave a flower on the keyboard, which Luis discovers (presumably early- to mid-1980s based on technological level of computer and those fuzzbuster outfits)
- Unknown — Yip Yips encounter a toaster
- Unknown — Yip Yips observe a man and a woman in love. (Likely early 90's based on clothing and hairstyles.)
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 TopicHot Topic
Hot Topic is an American retail chain specializing in music and pop culture-related clothing and accessories, as well as licensed music on CD. The majority of the stores are located in regional shopping malls. The first Hot Topic store was opened in 1988 by Orv Madden, who retired as CEO in 2000...
led the way with the first-known official Yip Yip merchandising, a "vintage"-look T-shirt with two Martians.http://www.hottopic.com/store/product.asp?LS=0&ITEM=299263&RN=1.#QNAN This was followed in the fall of 2004 with Gund bean-bag toys.http://www.tableandhome.com/prodfibfg 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
Sesame Street Unpaved
Sesame Street Unpaved is a name used for numerous Sesame Street related productions.*Sesame Street Unpaved was a nationwide tour of ten United States colleges to mark the thirtieth anniversary of children's television show Sesame Street...
.
Yip Yips in popular culture
On early episodes of SpongeBob SquarePantsSpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series, created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. Much of the series centers on the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of "Bikini Bottom"...
, 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
Drawn Together
Drawn Together is an American animated television series, which ran on Comedy Central from October 27, 2004 to November 14, 2007. The series was created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein, and uses a sitcom format with a TV reality show setting...
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.
In House of Cosbys
House of Cosbys
House of Cosbys was an animated cartoon about a Bill Cosby fan who creates a cloning machine to clone a series of Cosbys, each with a different personality.There were four episodes made by Justin Roiland, each about five minutes...
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.