Harvey Kneeslapper

Harvey Kneeslapper is Sesame Street’s googly-eyed mad practical joker, always pulling pranks on others, punctuated with his hysterical laugh. He was the first character created by Norman Stiles.Muppets Gone Missing: Norman Stiles at GraphicPolicy.com
Usually, his pranks involved either letters or numbers that are followed through bad puns, which he would slap onto his Anything Muppet victims (many of whom were made from Fat Blue AMs, including a Jerry Nelson character that resembled Mr. Johnson). In most of his skits, his pranks succeeded, much to the annoyance of his dupes.
However, on rare occasions, Harvey's pranks backfired on him, with the end results reversed, giving his victims the last laugh and leaving Harvey in a dissatisfied mood. Such instances usually occurred in skits where he explained his prank in advance to the audience. 
Eventually, his raucous laugh became too hard on Frank Oz's throat and Harvey, who was always considered a one-joke character, was dropped from the show.Sesame Street Unpaved page 134 Oz later recalled that initially the character was "a funny idea, and then I realized, first of all, it's exhausting. And second of all, it's not that funny. He's one of the dead Muppets."ToughPigs.com "An Interview with Frank Oz, Part 1" by Joe Hennes and Ryan Roe, March 12, 2018 Even after Harvey stopped appearing in new material, his existing segments continued to be used in new episodes up until Season 32. He also additionally appeared in the Letters CD-ROM game, pretending to be a shark in Ernie's tub.
After decades of absence, he made a cameo appearance in Episode 4209 (performed by Matt Vogel), where he slaps a "7" on Wolfgang’s beach ball. He made a similar, anniversary-related appearance in Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration (performed here by Eric Jacobson), where he sticks a letter U on host Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He also appears in The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo as an audience member.
==Episodic appearances==
* Episode 0349 (voiceover)
* Episode 0359
* Episode 0403
* Episode 0471
* Episode 0515
* Episode 0523
* Episode 0525
* Episode 0615
* Episode 0742
* Episode 0827
* Episode 4209
==Sketches==
Picture	Summary / First 	Description
 	Do You Know Where I Wanna B?Episode 0277 	Harvey asks a man, "Do you know where I wanna be?" The man doesn't know. Harvey says, "I wanna B here!" and then slaps a letter B onto his chest.
 	Away FromEpisode 0278 	Salesman Harvey asks Tony if he gets attacked by monsters and run over by crowds. Herry Monster attacks him and a crowd walks all over him, so the answer is yes. Harvey has a simple solution for Tony: AWAY FROM! The next time those things happen to Tony, he can get AWAY FROM them.
 	Wanna see something funny?Episode 0283 	In a park, Harvey comes up behind a man, asks him, "Wanna see something funny?" and then holds a mirror up. The man sees nothing funny... until he looks at Harvey!
 	Do You Want Me To Keep An I On Your Hat?Episode 0288 	Harvey asks a man, "Do you want me to keep an eye on your hat?" The man says yes. Harvey then puts a letter I on top of his hat, crushing it in the process.
 	D OnEpisode 0292 	Harvey approaches a man and says, "Knock, knock!" The man asks, "Who's there?" Harvey says, "Dion." The man asks, "Dion who?" Then Harvey slaps a letter D on the man's chest and says, "D on you!"
 	Do Ya Have an A on Ya?Episode 0293 	Harvey asks a man if he has an A on him. He doesn't, so Harvey slaps a letter A on him.
 	Wanna C?Episode 0294 	Harvey Kneeslapper looks inside a paper bag and laughs and asks a man, "Wanna see?" He says yes, so Harvey slaps a letter C on him.
 	ConfettiEpisode 0353 	Harvey sets up a bucket of confetti above a door, so that whoever pulls the rope attached to the bucket will get the confetti dumped on them. Instead, a little girl walks by and pulls the rope so that the confetti lands on Harvey!Two variations of this sketch were made.
 	Would You Like 1?Episode 0408 	Harvey holds a cookie and asks a man if he wants one. He answers "Sure," and Harvey sticks a number 1 onto his shirt.
 	I'd Love 2Episode 0417 	Harvey is bouncing on a pogo stick. He asks a man if he'd like to try it and he replies, "I'd love to!" Harvey then slaps a number 2 on the man's shirt.
 	X Marks the SpotEpisode 0456 	Harvey says, "X marks the spot!" A man asks, "What spot?" Harvey slaps a spot and a letter X on him.
 	HelpEpisode 0460 	Harvey asks a man carrying several heavy packages if he needs any help. Harvey then slaps the word HELP on his packages.
 	Picture of UEpisode 0468 	Harvey goes to a man and asks, "Do you mind if I take a picture of you?" The man gives him permission, but Harvey asks, "What's down there?" When the man looks down, Harvey slaps a letter U on top of his head, takes a picture of it and says "Thank U!" before he leaves.
center 	Robin Hood's Merry MenEpisode 0480 	Ernie (playing Robin Hood) auditions Anything Muppets to be his Merry Men. After screening two individuals who don't meet the requirements, Harvey Kneeslapper is sent in laughing. Ernie thinks he's found a merry man and hires him immediately, but following a string of incessant jokes, decides he's too merry after all and fires him.
‎ 	OPEN the Toy ClosetEpisode 0552 	Part 1: Harvey hangs an "OPEN" sign on a closet and has filled it with so many toys that when somebody opens it, all of the toys in the closet will fall on that person. A girl opens the closet, but none of the toys fall out. When Harvey opens it after she leaves, they fall all over him.
Part 2: Harvey has refilled the closet. A boy tries to open it, but the door is stuck. When the boy has left, Harvey opens the closet and the toys fall on him again.
Part 3: Harvey has refilled the closet again. The boy and girl come by again and open the door. Instead of toys falling, the closet leads to another place. After the two of them have gone through and closed the door behind them, Harvey opens the closet and the toys fall on him yet again.
 	3 SticksEpisode 0570 	Harvey is looking down and saying "Three sticks!" A man asks "Three sticks where?" Then Harvey says "3 sticks right here!" and sticks a number 3 on the man's head.
 	Letter REpisode 0583 	Harvey tells a mailman that he has a letter for his mother: the letter R! (Note: A similar practical joke was pulled in The Muppet Show episode 115, which also included the letter R and was pulled by another Frank Oz character, Fozzie Bear.)
 	Sticky 4Episode 0668 	Harvey Kneeslapper tells a man that "stickys" are really useful. The man asks, "What's a sticky for?" Then Harvey slaps a number 4 on his chest and says, "This is sticky and it's a four!"
 	Sesame Street News Flash: Man in SnowstormEpisode 0750	In a three-part News Flash sketch, Kermit reports on a tip they received regarding someone standing in the snow for a long time. However, none of the people Kermit encounters are that person. After getting buried in snow, he meets Harvey Kneeslapper, who tells Kermit that he is the one who made the call, which was a prank call. As it turns out, Kermit was the one standing out in the storm.
 	Gimme 5Episode 0991 	Harvey explains to the audience that he is holding a joy buzzer in his hand and plans on asking somebody to give him five, shocking his next victim's hand. However, when he asks a victim to "Gimme five!" the other man slaps a number 5 on his shirt.
==Songs==
* "Hee Hee Ha Ha"
* "Tell a Joke"
==Book appearances==
* More Sesame Street Finger Puppets (1972)
* The Sesame Street ABC Storybook (1974)
* Big Bird's Busy Book (1975)
* How to Be a Grouch (1976)
* The Sesame Street Mother Goose (1976)
* Put & Play Magic Show (1981)
* The Sesame Street Treasury Volume 1 (1983)
==Sources==
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Category:Sesame Street Muppet Characters
Category:Sesame Street Characters
Category:Muppet Characters
Category:Sesame Street Character Sketches