Say It Ain't So, Elmo

In a classic case of TMI (too much information), a former Sesame Streeter blows the lid off the raunch in that 'hood (which began long before hoochie mama Katy Perry dropped by for a risqué visit):

...For starters, just for laughs -- and probably because taping any television show can be an incredibly boring and drawn-out process -- certain members of the crew used to place postcards containing images of scantily clad women on the rack inside Mr. Hooper's grocery store. Of course, the viewer at home could never make out what, exactly, was on those cards, and that made it all the more fun.

Along the same lines, the prop department had its fun naming the products that stocked the shelves of good ole Mr. Hooper's store, such as "Poop Away" toilet paper. (I won't even tell you what the fiber cereals were called.) Once in a while, a box of condoms would mysteriously appear between cereal boxes.

During one taping, an episode in which a morally bankrupt and dejected Cookie Monster slumped slowly off-screen after being falsely accused of stealing cookies, the sound effects guy let out a shotgun blast. Of course, that sound never made it to tape, but it had the crew in hysterics.

One of the best things about working on "Sesame Street" is the Christmas parties. They're legendary. Each year is a new theme. One particularly fun year, the entire set was turned into a 1960s go-go bar, complete with dancing girls shakin' it in Big Bird's nest.

Whatever the theme, each and every year, Elmo and his pals would perform R-rated skits that would leave the audience in stitches. One of my favorites was the time Ernie and Bert finally came out of the closet. Good times...

Bird Bird a lech? Elmo a potty mouth? Ernie and Bert not "just good friends"?

Must all my illusions be shattered one by one?