Sherlock Hemlock

Sherlock Hemlock (who calls himself "the world's greatest detective") is a former Muppet character on the children's TV show "Sesame Street". His catchphrase is "Egad!" which he exclaims whenever he makes a discovery. Sherlock Hemlock was performed by Jerry Nelson.

Prevalence on the Show

While Sherlock Hemlock made frequent appearances on the show in the 1970s and '80s, in recent years he has been phased out in favor of newer characters. However, he, like Lefty the Salesman, Guy Smiley, and The Amazing Mumford, is still a popular main character on "Sesamstrasse", the German version of the show.

Name and Appearance

Sherlock Hemlock is an obvious parody of Sherlock Holmes and the stereotypical detective. He wears a similar hat and cloak and looks at everything through a magnifying glass. However, his name also seems to be a reference to hemlock, the poisonous plant used to kill the philosopher Socrates.

He appears to have been originally made from a Green Anything Muppet.

Famous Skits

Sherlock Hemlock is known for his humorous skits in which he tries to solve a mystery, only to discover that he is the culprit. A well-known example of this is the "Chicken Salad Sandwich" skit. In this skit, Ernie opens his lunch box to find that half of his sandwich is missing, so he asks Sherlock Hemlock to help him figure out who took the missing half. After analyzing some clues like leftover bread crusts ("many people think bread crust is yucky" Sherlock says), they come to the conclusion that Sherlock ate half of the sandwich, and he asks for the other half as his reward. Another memorable sketch was the "Twiddlebug Picnic Case" when he deduced when the Twiddlebugs were having a picnic being interrupted by Herry Monster. One of his most famous segments is "X Marks the Spot" in which Sherlock sings about the letter "X". The imagery of X-ray machines and bottles of poison used during the number frightened many young viewers. He is also known for occasionally having a dog help him solve mysteries; the dog often solves the mystery long before Sherlock does.

Sherlock Hemlock starred in all of the episodes of a former recurring "Sesame Street" segment, "Mysterious Theater" (hosted by Vincent Twice Vincent Twice), which is spoof of the TV series "Mystery!" (once hosted by Vincent Price). In these sketches, he is added a trusted companion, Watson (a dog performed by Kevin Clash), a spoof of Sherlock Holmes' companion Dr. Watson. Watson frequently solved the case long before Hemlock, but is unable to communicate this to his master who wouldn't find what Watson discovered until the end of each segment.

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