Sherlock Hemlock - Famous Skits

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, originally aired in 1970, which was Sherlock's first appearance. 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 the song "X Marks the Spot" in which Sherlock sings about the letter "X". The imagery of X-ray machines, a flashing railroad crossing, bottles of poison, danger signs, and grover getting electrocuted by the x-ray machine 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 aided a trusted companion, Watson (a dog performed by Kevin Clash), a spoof of Sherlock Holmes's 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 (very similar to Inspector Gadget).