Here's a secret: one of my all-time favorite Muppets isn't one that is seen regularly like your Grovers or Gonzos. Chances are you don't own any merchandise or DVDs with him in them. He doesn't even speak the Queen's English. I have a soft spot in my heart for Moishe Oofnik, Rechov Sumsum's resident hobo.
Fun Fact #1: Moishe might be the only Sesame Street Muppet to have gotten drunk on-screen.
Thankfully for me and the rest of Moishe's fan club, SISU Entertainment just released "Meet Oofnik the Grouch", a new DVD featuring everybody's favorite Israeli garbage-dweller. The DVD boasts three full episodes of Rechov Sumsum, plus bonus clips. The total running time came to about an hour, which already trumps the domestic Sesame DVDs, which usually come to about half that.
Fun Fact #2: "Meet Oofnik the Grouch" translates into "Meet Grouch the Grouch." It's like using your "PIN number" at an "ATM machine".
This being a foreign production, the video is naturally in Hebrew with English subtitles. While that wouldn't bother you or me, that's the one factor that might turn kids off. Vicariously, that might turn you off too if you're the one who little Timmy keeps asking "What did he say? Now what did she say? Now what did he say? Can I have more caffeine? I like turtles!"
Moishe, as you would guess, is just like his American counterpart, Oscar. They're both jerkfaces, they both live in trash cans, and they're both probably one step away from going postal on all of their neighbors.
In the first episode, Moishe demonstrates what he does when he's angry: he plays his noisemaker, which calms him down (why a Grouch would want to calm down is beyond me). Noah, the orange monster, has another method for cooling off, but he won't show it since he's not actually mad. In classic Grouch form, Moishe emasculates Noah for not being capable of anger, which of course makes him infuriated. Then Noah reveals his secret method as he begins adding numbers ("One and one are two, two and two are four..."), and the magic of mathematics sedates him into a near slumber. Though Moishe has been defeated, he still gets props for being able to piss off a kid in just 10 seconds flat.
The next episode features Avigile, a purple girlie-girl monster who speaks in the third person, much like another dude we know. Avigile tells Moishe that she wants to play with him, but like any self respecting Grouch, he tries to get rid of her by telling her that he's bringing out the dreaded "karambula." Avigile, shaken with fear, runs away to the safety of the grocery store where the clerk informs her that a karambula is just a star fruit. She introduces Avigile to some other fruits, and then Avigile goes back to Moishe's hovel to tell him that she still wants to play. Unfazed, Moishe then tries to scare her by threatening to bring out the "pasiflora," which Avigile coincidentally just learned is just a passion fruit. She then laughs right in Moishe's face, boasting that she's smarter than the homeless guy. And then I guess they played a game or something, we'll never know for sure. Moishe will apparently stoop pretty low to get rid of annoying children, even to go as far as threaten them with fruit.
Fun Fact #3: Monsters hate vitamin C.
In the third episode, everyone is playing "The Dwarf and the Giant," which is pretty much Secret Santa, but with a slightly politically incorrect name. Moishe is excited to get a Stinky Garbage Cake, which is made of mango peels, spinach, and rotten cucumbers. Unbeknownst to Avigile, Moishe is her "dwarf" and buys her a jar of the very best Spoiled Sardine Jelly. The ungrateful brat deduces who bought her the gift and says that it's the worst present she's ever gotten, with Moishe standing right next to her! Even though he already spent good money on the Grouch delicacy, Moishe disguises himself as Groucho Marx and forces himself to buy Avigile a "nice" gift. Kids these days, they're never happy.
There's a good deal of extra Moishe Oofnik sketches on the DVD in case you're not happy with just three. (C'mon, the guy is on the cover! Give the Grouch his screen time!) There's a sketch about Moishe wearing a watermelon peel as a hat, one where Moishe asks everyone in town to make as much noise as they can so he can fall asleep, and one where he thinks that kids never have anything important to say (and then ignores Avigile's warnings that the sign over his trash can is about to fall on his head). One sketch in particular involves Moishe trying to teach the kids at home that everyone is the same, which seems to be a valuable lesson for kids in the Middle East. He is then immediately countered by every person in town who tells Moishe how they're nothing like their neighbors. And then they all fought a war over the Gaza Strip, which is why you should always listen to Moishe Oofnik, kids.
Because the DVD contained full episodes, a few dubbed versions of our Sesame Street made the cut, with one Muppety skit for each one. A sketch I've never seen featuring Oscar, Grungetta, and a few other Grouches as cavemen inventing the word "Scram" (subtitled as "Get Lost", which is obviously not one word) was in the first episode. Bert singing "I've Got to Be Clean" also appeared, which proved to us that Bert has a lovely singing voice, even when he's singing in Hebrew. The last had another new-to-me sketch about Two Nosed, a kingdom of people with two noses ("They can sneeze twice at the same time!" What an astonishing mutant power!), where the king and queen won't allow their daughter to play with Elmo. They said it was because he only has one nose, but we all know it was because Two Nosed is constantly at war with Elmo's World.All in all, I had a great time watching and rewatching this DVD. Moishe Oofnik is hilarious in his jerkitude and filthiness. And because it's a foreign product, every sketch is brand new to us. If you don't mind a little light reading while you watch your Sesame, this DVD is highly recommended.
Click here to visit SISU Entertainment's website, where you can order this DVD, as well as other Rechov Sumsum and Shalom Sesame DVDs and merchandise.
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