(mouse clicks)
♪ (dramatic chord) ♪
- Hello, this is Kermit the Frog
and I am here... - (imitating) Kermit the Frog here.
- What a legend, Kermit the Frog.
- (Kermit) ...about the different ways that people can feel.
Now today I'm going to talk to you about being happy.
- Jim Henson was "the dude".
- (Kermit) This is a picture of a happy face,
and as a matter of fact, I am very happy--
- Is that the Cookie Man?
- That's Cookie Monster.
- Oh, this is Sesame Street! Cool!
- (Kermit) Now let's talk about... - Eat it.
- ..some of the things that-- - (Cookie Monster munches noisily)
- Yes!
- Typical Cookie Monster.
- Oh, Cookie Monster. - He just wants to eat--
- He ruins everything!
- (Kermit) That's the kind of thing that makes you feel mad!
You can tell I'm mad by the kind of things that I say to the monster.
Like this:
(screaming) You big, fat, stupid, rotten monster!
You make me so mad, I don't believe it!
You are without a doubt one of the nastiest monsters
I've ever seen! - Whoa.
- (Kermit) And I'm so mad I'm gonna tell all of my friends
how rotten you are and nobody's gonna ever play with you any more!
Nobody's gonna even talk to you any more!
- Dang, he's gonna put him on blast all over Twitter.
- (Kermit) And then I'm gonna tell your mother on you!
- (Cookie Monster) Oh, not my mommy!
- Kermit is like a mother[bleep].
- Choke him out, Cookie! Choke him out.
Don't let him get away with it.
- (Kermit) I'm gonna tell your mommy. (cracking up)
- (Cookie Monster) Oh, I be so sad!
- (Kermit) You're gonna be sad?
- (Cookie Monster) So sad if you tell my mommy.
So sad! - (laughing) What is happening?
- (Cookie Monster) So, so sad!
- (Kermit) Now we can talk about being sad.
- When did Kermit become my dad? (laughs)
- They used to teach us some messed up stuff back in the day.
- (Kermit) And he's sad because he feels bad.
- No, he's sad 'cause he has a [bleep] friend, Kermit!
- (Kermit) Don't feel so bad because I forgive you.
- This is the battered wife mentality.
It's like, "Okay, I'm going to verbally abuse you,
but then I'll make you feel better and it'll all be good."
- (Kermit) Now I had this sad face drawn
so I could tell everybody about feeling sad.
- Kermit's just masterminding this whole thing.
- (Kermit) And you just saved me the trouble
of showing them the sad face.
- Oh, so he used him.
- (Kermit) So now I don't even need it, and now I am happy again.
- $10.00 he's gonna eat it.
- (Cookie Monster) You don't need sad face?
- (Kermit) No, I don't need it. - (Cookie Monster) You sure?
- (Kermit) Sure, I'm sure.
Because you just now helped me--
(Cookie Monster munches noisily) - (cracking up) He eats it.
- When you piss me off, I'm going to eat something of yours.
- (Kermit) I'm gonna have to talk about being mad again!
(laughs)
- (Kermit screams) Listen, you dumb, stupid, rotten monster!
- He's so mean, but I still wanna hug him.
♪ (humming along with music) ♪
- Yay! That was cute.
- Kermit has anger issues. Who knew?
- What a roller coaster that was! (laughs)
- Sesame Street, bro. It's my [bleep].
♪ (dramatic chord) ♪
- (Finebros) So what did you just watch?
- I watched Kermit the Frog.
- The Muppets, right? - It's the Muppets.
- Maybe The Muppet Show, from ages ago?
- No, Sesame Street. It's gotta be Sesame Street.
- I used to watch Sesame Street all the time when I was a kid.
That and Electric Company.
- We watched a verbally abusive Kermit,
I guess before he had gone to anger management classes.
- Old-school clip of Sesame Street.
Have you watched Sesame Street lately? - (Finebros) Not lately.
- Dude, it's so funny. It's actually still really funny.
- (Finebros) Was there anything said by Kermit that was surprising to hear?
- Yeah, he's like a little bitch!
- Kermit verbally abused Cookie Monster,
- (laughing) Kermit the Frog's got some repressed rage or something.
- I have never seen Kermit have an attitude like that.
- If that was on the air today, it would be like an anti-bullying league
would go against that thing.
- I don't even think that's bad though
because now kids TV is so [bleep].
Your kids are gonna learn how horrible the world really is sooner or later.
- They are going to get pushed over on the playground.
Get over it.
- (Finebros) So this clip we showed aired in 1970.
- Oh, wow.
- (Finebros) What would you say is the difference in this
versus children's programming of today?
- You know what, man?
Kids would watch that now and be bored. - Be bored.
- It's just the same shot the whole way through.
I think to keep kids engaged now, things move a lot faster
and they're a lot more colorful.
- They would never let Kermit call him stupid and ugly.
- Today, the attorneys would be all over them,
saying, "You cannot have a Muppet eating styrofoam."
- You can't say anything that would offend somebody.
- You have so many people just waiting to grab that sign
and be like this, you know?
So they can't always be like, "Today, we're gonna talk about..."
and then you already see the mob outside,
just waiting to hold up the sign.
- (Finebros) So they've recently released these early seasons to DVD,
calling the Sesame Street: Old School. - Oh.
- (Finebros) But it comes with a disclaimer: "For adults only."
- (surprised) "For adults only?"
- (intrigued) Really? Really?
I'm assuming it's for scenes like that, which are too aggressive
or aggro for the typical pre-schooler.
- That's such a sheltered way of teaching.
- It's because parents nowadays tend to freak out over
every little tiny thing and they're probably worried
about being sued.
- "What can a child watch anymore?" is how I feel.
That was like-- I don't think that would have corrupted me.
- I was friends with this one girl who was all sheltered
her whole entire life and when she went to college, like--
- They go crazy.
- She's, like, in rehab. - They lose it.
- I made up that whole story, but-- - You just made that whole story up?
- (Finebros) Here are some other things from old-school Sesame Street.
Let me know if you think it's suitable for kids.
- Okay. Love this.
- (Finebros) A young girl moves to Sesame Street and is shown around
the neighborhood by an adult male stranger
who holds her hand. - Uh, not a good idea.
- Not okay.
- That might not be intended for today's pre-schooler's needs.
- If you're alone on the street as a kid,
they teach them now adult males are the most dangerous thing
on the planet.
- (sarcastically) Hey, if you're ever in a strange part of town,
approach an adult male 'cause they're all friendly.
That's a terrible lesson.
- Yeah, probably not the best way to go.
- "Probably?"
Your children are gonna get abducted. - (laughs)
- Well, I just think that people nowadays read too far into things.
- That's what's wrong with our society.
He doesn't touch her inappropriately,
but with our society today, it's like, "He probably raped her!"
You know? It's like, "How dare Sesame Street show something like that?""
- (Finebros) Teaching you all about the letter O,
but with a Muppet who has a big trenchcoat
and is always looking behind him and offering, "Would you like a letter O?"
- No. Taking things from people on the street?
No, they would absolutely not allow that today.
- Okay, so maybe a little borderline there, Sesame Street. (laughs)
- I don't give a [bleep].
I feel like if I have a problem with a TV show,
it's my responsibility as a parent to teach my children
the issues that are on the TV.
- Kids need entertainment that addresses the world
they actually see.
- Kids don't know that skeezy dude in jacket offering them
something is drugs and that's bad?
- Yeah, and then they'll grow up with a fun sense of humor.
- It's not like you watched that, and the little kid's gonna grow up
to be like, "Who's this creepy guy in the trenchcoat?
I hope he has O's for me."
Kids aren't stupid.
- (Finebros) What about an animation
about two very thin legs with two knees that talk to each other,
and then someone yelling for the girl that they belong to,
"Come and play with us!"
And then the girl says, "No, I want to just sit here"
and then the knees get fatter and fatter
until the legs are giant and obese
and they don't do anything anymore?
- You guys aren't making this up, right?
- (cracking up) - Well...
(both crack up)
- Today they'd be like, "Well, you can't do that
because fat kids might get offended."
Well, if you don't go out and play, you're gonna get fat!
- I love it.
There's some fat kids out there and we need to get them movin'.
- (Finebros) So why is it then that something that was completely okay
for children decades ago, that was made for children,
now comes out and you're like, "You cannot let the kids watch this."
Why? - We've somehow grown into this
"what is socially acceptable?" and the status quo.
That's what's ruining everything. Everyone's too sensitive!
- We baby our babies too much.
- In some ways, the world's getting so much more crazy,
and then in some ways it's getting so much more conservative.
- They weren't so worried about kids before.
You know what I mean?
Now they have years of people watching TV and figuring out,
"Oh, this might be bad for them. This might not be bad for them."
- It's getting to the point where I feel like I can't even make a joke
about anything without offending somebody.
- I get offended by people that get offended so easily.
- (Finebros) So television has standards for kids content,
but YouTube does not.
Is there anything on YouTube you think kids shouldn't be watching?
- Have you seen what we do?
Kids watch us!
- Sometimes I watch my own stuff
and I forget that there's actual young, young kids watching it
and I feel bad about it.
- We just basically vomit everything out of our brains as adults
and we're like, "No problem!"
And then we go to VidCon and there's 13 nine-year-olds that come up
and they're like, "(squeaky voice) I love Table Talk!"
And I'm like, "Oh [bleep]!"
- When you were a kid, if you had a TV in your room,
how cool to have a TV in your room!
Now, you know, every kid has a TV in their room,
under their sheets, at night, and they're just watching
whatever they want.
- The great thing about YouTube is that pretty much anything goes,
but the scary thing about YouTube is that pretty much anything goes.
- The parent's job nowadays is a lot more harder
than it was back in the day because now, with YouTube,
it is awesome, but at the same time...
you've got big responsibilities.
- (Finebros) Finally, do you think we've gotten too overly-protective
these days with kids or do you think it's good
that we're that specific?
- I don't think it's a bad thing.
I think people are trying to be more careful.
- People should be able to do and say whatever they want,
but it's my option to watch it or not,
and it's my option to not let my kids watch that.
- We're over-protective of children, generally,
and that's why I was so bored as a child.
- If we can all laugh at each other, then that's how you bring people together.
- If we're all just afraid to say anything about anybody,
then it's like, "What are we going to be watching?"
- We kind of placate the things that kids normally do
when they want to go out and have antics
and run around and jump off things.
We just give them a screen and they watch other people do
that kind of stuff, you know?
And I don't think that's a great experience for life.
I think kids should live life and not watch it.
- I definitely think people are getting--
now they're so uptight about their children.
There's all of these things they can't do and can't see.
- Yeah, but maybe we'd say a different opinion if we had children.
- Yeah, totally. - Lucas probably has four kids somewhere.
- I do. Don't know where they are.
(cracking up)
- Not monitoring what they're watching.
- (as Kermit) Hi-ho! I'm Kermit the Frog!
Thank you for watching YouTubers React. Yaaaaay!
- What the frog said.
- If you don't subscribe to all of the people below,
(gritting teeth) I am gonna get so mad, you stupid buttheads!
(laughs) I am so sorry. I love you.
- ♪ So long, farewell ♪
♪ Da da da da da da da ♪
- We'll see you guys next time. Bye!
I did a great job.
- We should do that as an act. - We should!
Next time.
♪ (end music) ♪