Ted Lasso Star Says F-Word On Sesame Street
Sesame Street got another one of its very unusual lessons as a Ted Lasso star came on and dropped an F-bomb to Tamir and Cookie Monster.
Sesame Street has had any number of weird, borderline inappropriate guests on to teach the child and Muppet residents of the neighborhood lessons about life. There was the time Sopranos star James Gandolfini showed up to talk about eating vegetables and get terrified by a giant piece of broccoli (which he implicitly had murdered off-screen later). There was the odd day when rapper/actor/NWA member Ice Cube showed up and turned into a literal ice cube. There was even the notorious, headline-making time when pop star Katy Perry performed a duet with Elmo and scandalized easily scandalized parents across the nation by being exactly who she was famous for being. And now Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein is appearing on an upcoming episode of Sesame Street to talk about the F-word. Here’s a preview clip:
While Brett Goldstein’s Ted Lasso character Roy Kent is particularly noted for his prolific and creative use of the four-letter F-word, in this case, the word is “fairness.” That is a much more typical word for Sesame Street, which has been a reliable and beloved source of children’s television since 1969. In this case, Goldstein is introduced baking cookies with Tamir (a Muppet introduced to Sesame Street in 2020 in The Power of We special). After telling Tamir that he finds baking relaxing (despite his famously intensely gravelly voice), they ramp up for the traditional Sesame Street word of the day; the Muppet child mentions that the word will begin with the letter F, which Goldstein notably pauses to say that he loves that letter. Don’t we all, Brett?
After several drumrolls from Tamir, we discover Sesame Street’s word of the day is “fairness.” Brett Goldstein defines that word as “whenever everyone gets what they need,” which, feels pretty correct. Then Cookie Monster shows up (as he must wherever cookies are involved) and reinforces the necessity of fairness because although he is indeed a monster, he is not that kind of monster. Then they decide to form a soccer team (which the British Goldstein politely refrains from calling “football”) and Cookie Monster instantly assigns himself the role of team captain. However, it does seem like the blue beast has some actual footwork skills, so hopefully, we will see a full-on Ted Lasso riff on Sesame Street at some point.
Brett Goldstein is in good company by joining the long list of famous people who have shown up on Sesame Street. The long-running educational program moved from its traditional home of the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) to HBO in 2015 after encountering financial difficulties, and then to the new streaming platform HBO Max. Goldstein himself has seen his star rise suddenly in recent years. After appearing and writing on numerous television programs in the United Kingdom, he shot to prominence as a writer and star of Ted Lasso, the breakout hit of Apple TV+. Goldstein wrote the role of tough-talking, secretly emotionally vulnerable team captain Roy Kent and found himself convinced that he needed to play it. He emailed self-made clips in character to the producers of Ted Lasso as an audition, and reportedly, no one else was ever auditioned. After all, no one can say the F-word like Roy Kent.
