Banana in the ear

Banana in the ear is a classic Sesame Street routine by Ernie and Bert that first appeared in the show's second season. In their apartment, Bert notices Ernie holding a banana in his ear. Bert tries to talk to Ernie, but he replies, "I can't hear you! I have a banana in my ear!" 
While produced as a three-part sketch, it is the first part that is most often quoted and has been referenced subsequently on Sesame Street and in other media.
==Sesame Street==
* At the beginning of Episode 3423 of Sesame Street, Telly can be heard telling the punchline of the joke to Elmo and Susan.
* Elmo's Christmas Countdown features "The Bert and Ernie Christmas Special," with Tony Sirico and Steve Schirripa portraying Bert and Ernie. The two try to play a scene where Bert tells Ernie he has a gingerbread man in his ear. The real Bert and Ernie direct their performances and end up re-enacting the sketch themselves.
* A 2017 Vanity Fair YouTube video, where the Sesame Street Muppets recite famous movie quotes, has Bert quoting "What we've got here is a failure to communicate" from Cool Hand Luke while Ernie has a banana in his ear.
* Prairie Dawn reads a book called "I Can't Hear You I've Got a Banana in My Ear" by Yum E. [cropped] in Grover's Cute and Adorable Book of Books.
* During the second of Chrysler's "Listen! Drive! Surprise!" videos, Ernie stalls reviewing his pre-drive checklist to prepare his "cellphone" in case they get a call. Ernie sticks a banana in his ear and once again can't hear Bert.
* In the 2018 YouTube video "Bert and Ernie of Sesame Street," Bert and Ernie recall when they first met, Ernie couldn't hear Bert after he introduced himself since he had a banana in his ear.
* In Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration, Bert tries to get in contact with Ernie on his cellphone. Ernie lets Bert know that he's unable to hear him with his banana, punctuated by a comedic music button. Joseph Gordon-Levitt notes the terrible phone reception bananas have.
* The third installment of "What's That Snack" has Ernie attempting to guess a food that is a yummy, healthy fruit, has a peel, and is yellow. Ernie is stumped and opts to phone a friend using the winning snack: a banana. Ernie recites the line when Cookie Monster tries to get his attention.
* Playing a song association game for Elle in 2023, Ernie places a banana in his ear in response to Bert singing "Day-O" (The Banana Boat Song).
* A 2024 social media video features baby versions of Ernie and Bert acting out the routine.
;Honorable Mentions
* An earlier Ernie and Bert sketch from Season 1 has Ernie digging through a basket to find the ringing telephone. He pulls out a banana and starts talking into it like a phone. Ernie gives the banana to Bert to talk to while he tells a caller on their real phone that Bert's unavailable. The sketch was re-adapted for a Season 31 insert where Ernie has Bert talk with Gladys the elephant on a banana.
* Ernie plays Pinocchio in the Sesame Street book Fairy Tales; instead of his nose growing into a tree branch when he lies (as in some versions of the story), his nose grows into a banana.
* When Ernie spends the night at Big Bird's nest in Episode 3913, he accepts a banana from Gordon as a sleepover snack, raises it to his ear and says, "Hey look, I'm talking on the banana phone!" When the real phone rings, Ernie is shocked and tries to answer the banana.
* Fruit versions of Ernie and Bert were made for social media in April of 2018 with a banana in Ernie's ear. 
* In a 2019 video produced for Common Sense Media's "Device Free Dinner" campaign, Bert and Ernie put their phones in a dresser. Ernie's phone is, of course, a banana.
* A January 3, 2023 tweet from @SesameStreet asks what Ernie says when he answers his banana phone. The accompanying image is a photo of Ernie in the park playing chess with a banana in his ear. 
* In a TikTok video on January 27th, 2024, when Hoots the Owl plays his saxophone while Ernie and Bert are eating by Hooper's Store, Ernie can't hear Bert calling him and says, "I've got some smooth saxophone in my ears!" 
==The Muppets==
* While not a direct reference to the Sesame Street skit, Avery Schreiber mentions in The Muppet Show episode 116 that his comedy partner Jack Burns disapproved of the banana-in-the-ear shtick. Fozzie Bear tries sticking a banana in his ear to no laughs. Schreiber then tries it and cracks up the audience, including Statler and Waldorf.
* Fozzie appears with a banana in his ear in "Jester at the Court of Henry VIII", a spoof of Hans Holbein's Portrait of Henry VIII in Miss Piggy's Art Masterpiece Calendar. The text on the painting says "Bananum in aure habeo" -- Latin for "I have a banana in my ear."
* The program for The Muppet Show on Tour: 2nd Edition states that Baby Fozzie's first joke was "I can't hear you--I've got mashed bananas in my ear."
* In an AMC Theatres policy trailer promoting 2011's The Muppets, Fozzie enters the movie theater talking into a banana, quoting the punchline from the Sesame Street sketch.
* Fozzie was asked what the secret is to making the "banana in the ear" gag work in a 2016 Q&A on Facebook live for @midnight. In response, Fozzie stakes ownership of the gag and claims that he pioneered it, having gone through several other fruits including a pineapple.
Fozzie Banana Ear 2.jpg|Promotional photo
Fozzie Banana Ear 3.jpg|Promotional photo
Fozzie-TalkingOnABanana.jpg|Promotional photo
Holbein.jpg|Fozzie as Henry VIII
==Outside References==
* An animated segment from The Electric Company features two characters acting out and paraphrasing the sketch, with texted dialogue over their heads as they speak. In at least one episode, Lorne Greene appears following the bit, commenting that he has a "Bonanza" in his ear.
* A story in the comic book Jughead #101 (1997) has Jughead stuffing bananas in his ears to avoid listening to the paper Dilton keeps reading to him. When Pop Tate tries to get Jughead's attention, Archie responds "He can't hear you, Pop! He's got bananas in his ears!"
* The sketch is referenced in an early scene of the film Baby Driver (2017) when Baby holds a banana to his ear and quotes Ernie's line as he talks with his deaf foster father Joseph.
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Category:Running Gags
Category:Sesame Street Lists