For 52 years, Sesame Street has been educating and entertaining our kids, and — let's be real — entertaining us too. The show has always walked the tricky balance between being a children's program but also being interesting enough for adults to watch along with their little ones. One way the show has kept adults tuning in has been by using celebrity guest stars. Sure, it's unlikely that our kids know who people like Sandra Oh or Johnny Cash are, but we know — and that makes seeing their surprise appearances that much more fun to watch.
In the show's decades-long run, dozens of celebrities have made cameos to teach us new words, talk about important life lessons, and sing fun songs. Some cameos stick out more than others, though, and we're still thinking about these 20 guest appearances years later.
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash stopped by the show in 1973 to sing the song "Nasty Dan" with Oscar the Grouch. The lyrics were all about a grumpy guy who wasn't too much unlike Oscar himself. Johnny didn't actually write the tune. It was penned by Sesame Street's head writer Jeff Moss, who also wrote the legendary "Rubber Duckie."
Stevie Wonder
It seems 1973 was a good year for music on Sesame Street, because in addition to Johnny Cash's appearance, Stevie Wonder also stopped by the show. He performed a rendition of the song, "1 2 3 Sesame Street" — along with a bangin' version of his own hit "Superstition" — and hung out with Grover.
Jim Carrey
The always exuberant Jim Carrey paid a visit to Sesame Street in 1992 to demonstrate how to show emotions with just your feet. The acting in the sketch is so good, it'll beg the question of how Jim doesn't have a single Oscar for any of his iconic comedic films. The man simply is acting.
Little Richard
Chances are the only version of "Rubber Duckie" you know is the Little Richard version, because it's so iconic. The legendary singer performed his cover in 1994, and it became an instant classic. Little Richard may have sang, "Rubber duckie you're the one," but really he was the one for bringing this rendition into our lives.
R.E.M
During the 1998 season, the popular rock band R.E.M joined Sesame Street for a rendition of their hit song "Shiny Happy People" — only this time it was called "Happy Furry Monsters." It's honestly just as good as the original, and maybe better. That's the power of a Sesame Street parody song.
Patti LaBelle
Only legendary singer Patti LaBelle could make the plain old alphabet sound this good. She was just singing a string of letters, and yet it was beautiful. Patti performed this gospel masterpiece in 1999, and it remains one of the few alphabet song renditions we can still listen to on repeat.
NSYNC
In 2000, NSYNC appeared on Sesame Street to sing a cover of the series hit "Believe in Yourself." The song was written for the show in 1972 and has been sung by many over the years, but this is the most memorable rendition. Who doesn't love seeing Justin Timberlake in a bucket hat singing to a bunch of muppets?
The Backstreet Boys
Not to be outdone by their boy band competition, the Backstreet Boys performed on Sesame Street two years later in 2002. For their guest spot, they sang "One Small Voice," a tune about how anyone can teach the world a song if they just try to use their voice. The song has also been covered by Kenny Loggins.
Destiny's Child
Back when Beyoncé was still in the band, she and the other Destiny's Child members performed on Sesame Street in 2002. They sang their version of the classic Sesame Street song "A New Way to Walk" with help from Grover, Elmo, and Zoe. Beyoncé's unparalleled star power was evident even then.
John Legend
The singer has been on Sesame Street to perform a couple of times, but we're partial to his appearance in the 2006 season premiere. Sporting some seriously outdated facial hair (a goatee, John? really?), he sang about singing songs (how meta) with jazzy musician muppet Hoots the owl.
Tina Fey
The Saturday Night Live actress tried out children's television in 2007. When she guest starred on Sesame Street, she played the captain of a group of pirates called Bookaneers, who were obsessed with reading. We'd want to pick up a book, too, after hearing Tina sing about how awesome reading is.
Sandra Oh
The actress said that guest starring on Sesame Street in 2008 was one of the highlights of her career. She played the Cookie Fairy, who helped Cookie Monster turn anything into a cookie with a single touch. If you're just familiar with Sandra's acting from Grey's Anatomy, you have to see her in this role. She's like a completely different person!
Neil Patrick Harris
During the height of his How I Met Your Mother popularity, Neil Patrick Harris swung by Sesame Street to play the Fairy Shoeperson — a fairy who can grant you shoes for all occasions. His HIMYM character, Barney, would have looked down on Neil for appearing on a kids' show, but we think this is legen-wait-for-it-dary.
Adam Sandler
"A Song About Elmo" has no business being as catchy as it is, but that's the magic of Adam Sandler. He can string a bunch of nonsense words together with a janky guitar tune and make it sound really good. That's what he did in 2009 when he was challenged by Elmo to write a song using rhyming words.
Katy Perry
Katy Perry's 2010 "Hot and Cold" parody with Elmo ended up getting pulled from the Sesame Street broadcast over complaints that her outfit was too revealing because you could see some cleavage. Fortunately, the song was still posted on YouTube for fans to enjoy, and it's actually quite a catchy tune.
Sarah Jessica Parker
Did Sesame Street just do a Sex and the City crossover? Why yes. In 2010, our very own Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) guest starred on the children's show in a segment called "Waiting for Big." Grover helped the actress find large items in her quest, but it turned out that the Big she was looking for was just Big Bird. (That would have been quite the SATC plot twist.)
Ryan Reynolds
Forget Pikachu — we loved when Ryan Reynolds played a giant letter "A" in a 2010 episode of Sesame Street. His appearance was part of a parody of The A-Team, only this time with a literal "A," as he and his muppet friends tried to solve problems using A-letter words. We wonder which costume Ryan liked better, Deadpool or A?
Steve Carell
In 2012, Steve Carell helped explain the concept of voting to Elmo and Abby on Sesame Street. Seeing as how his Office character, Michael Scott, was so proud of his own children's show appearance, it was fun to see Steve go on a children's show in real life. Good thing his Sesame Street appearance was a lot less distressing than Michael's spot on Fundle Bundle.
Lupita Nyong'o
In 2014, the Oscar winner took on a very important role — Sesame Street guest star. Lupita did a segment with Elmo about loving the skin you're in, which explored all the different tones (and in Elmo's case, textures) that our skin can have. Sesame Street has always been very intentional with how it discusses race and tolerance, and this video is no different.
One Direction
The British-Irish boy band joined Sesame Street in 2014 to turn their popular hit "What Makes You Beautiful" into the parody tune "What Makes U Useful." It was all about what a helpful letter "U" can be in all kinds of wordy situations. The video now has more than 61 million hits on YouTube — or should we say U-Tube?
