What's happenin' Baby! - Electric Company

[txvoltaire]

"Those cats were really smokin'!"

That 's one that can taken literally!

[eajosephedward]

Wow this things back Sooooooo many memories

[TheJediCharles]

What makes English a beautiful language is the enrichment of metaphors.

[ch20stn]

Hey baby, got any crack? (Baby moons the cool dude.)

[psykdiva]

I always liked this. I wonder what phrases the guy would use if they were going to rewrite it in today's slang?

[hoopersghost]

@psykdiva: Most of the idioms would remain the same: "catching a TV show", "on the tip of my tongue" , "rock group", "they were cool" and so on. But the older guy's use of "heavy" and "you dig?" would be unfamiliar to kids living 30 years later--and "That was an awesome show, get it?" doesn't conjure up obvious pictures that might confuse someone if taken literally. The "smokin' cats" reference probably WOULD get axed by PBS' Standards and Practices, unfortunately!

[d72jjpilc]

Yes, I remember this! When I saw it, it really blew my mind - a heavy clip indeed! Well, gotta split - catch you later!

[jamesms4]

This one made a real impression on me as a kid. I watch it now and realize they would never show it to kids today. At least not the part with the "cats smokin'." Modern children's cartoons don't depict people smoking. They even try to cut it out of classic cartoons like Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry.

[jamesms4]

@jamesms4 BTW, I'm not criticizing the cartoon, which I still love.  Just pointing out the PC attitude of today.

[texasghost]

Why didn't anyone have a problem with this back in the 70's...but now..you have Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson boycotting to have these destroyed? I hate the fact society has come to this. I'm hispanic and never had issues with people calling us beaners or stereotyping speedy gonzales cartoons...or the taco bell dog from the 90's.

Good lord people...get a grip.

[IceManLikeGervin]

lol

[deniseandread]

he does remind me of rudy from fat albert.

[SydbarF]

Awesome

[t2t3456]

holy crap....I remember this...I must of been 10 or so....funny, wow....thanks for the post

[pocodog1]

Was that kind of rasist

[rickstheone]

OMG I remember this. Brings back old memories. 

[panamaniak]

i remember this one! But I'm not even going to read the comments because I already know what's going to be said. This is youtube after all and NOTHING is sacred. In other words an assholes paradise.

[saturnaspider]

haha - blew my mind 0:32

[dog453679]

Cool! Like solid clip, man! Gotta go to work. Catch you later, you dig?

[bigpopparamma]

I remember this skit.

[davidls11]

Cute, but my favorite old Electric Company sketch is still the one about the sweet rolls:

/watch?v=k2JbTtJ3Aeo

[murielsartre]

I used to mix the dude up with Rudy from "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids".

[anomanous1]

Finally I found it. This was one of my favorite bits from The Electric Company.

[CaptainGoofysstash]

I believe that cat City Cat was used in at least 2 other cartoon shorts on The Electric Company like this: one had him (or someone like him) saying (while dribbling I think) all these words ending with "uck" (no jokes please.. I'm serious! lol), and as he says the last rhyming word "duck" he gets pelted by a silhouette in the audience who as a kid I thought must have been Freddy, as in "Steady Freddy". Can someone please put that one up?

[Mackadoeshez]

Slang...........lol

[joshuad450]

I think this is a perfectly appropriate act for all ages! Very amusing all throughout! (I don't suppose that baby is related to Amelia Bedelia?)

It also seems very definitive of its time period, yet it's still just as funny in modern times! That older guy reminds me of Rudy from "Fat Albert"!

[jeopardy60611]

I didn't realize until now that the listener was a baby because the speaker said "Hey baby."

[japesjake]

Monkey see Monkey do. :D

[PandaMishima]

Monkeys are pretty clever, after all.

[flowertrue]

Gotta love the guys pants! And how is it the baby had sunglasses in his diaper? YAY! ELECTRIC COMPANY

[twil9ght]

so clever, and yet so obvious

[heyheyheydude]

now you know that Rudy from Fat Albert had an older brother LOL

[BeatlesAmiYumi]

@heyheyheydude I didn't know Rudy had an older brother.

[DoinaSambaFan]

Ah yes...how the apple never falls far from the tree, LOL

[cmulwee001]

Interesting Sketch for The Electric Company.

The baby pictures everything literally, as he does not understand slang! Also one of the few

EC sketches that has nothing to do with reading skills.

[ali0tis]

SO that's how my young immigrant friends caught on so fast!

[PandaMishima]

You have to admit, the baby's version of things is pretty fun.

[hoopersghost]

@cmulwee001: I'd say that distinguishing literal vs. figurative language IS an important part of understanding a written text, even though TEC normally focused on other aspects of early literacy (sounds/spelling/punctuation and a few sight words).

[PandaMishima]

Kid learns pretty fast, doesn't he?

[RetroVal]

I loved this. I have been looking for it for years! I loved it when I was in 5th grade in 1973 and now I show it to my 5th grade students who love it, too! Thanks for the laughs!

[eddiebird26]

Hello if you show this to your class again please tell them I gave you the thumbs up(I am in your class).

[zipt123]

Right on! Glad to help! For me, the endless search was for an Electric Company song: shun-shun-shun T-I-O-N). I remembered how rockin' that song was. Somebody posted it on YouTube at mt request! I love YouTube! Keep the karma going and post something cool yourself.

[RetroVal]

Thank you! I have been trying to find this for years! I loved this back in 1973, when I was in 5th grade.  Now,

[dnm728]

This reminds me of the Tex Avery cartoon "Symphony in Slang" (1951).

[ebf1957]

There you have it. The inspiration for Huggy Bear from "Starsky and Hutch."