The Complete History of Avenue Q

From concept to closing, we're going through every major event in the life of the 2004 Best Musical Tony winner!
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[@Nick-ty9us]

I love the fact they actually hired Sesame Street puppeteers to do this

[@bryson6582]

Fun fact the person who does the puppeteering and voice for rod is the current puppeteer of gobo fraggle

[@kermitTHEdinosaur93]

@@bryson6582 I also heard he for a brief while did Ernie from Sesame Street in a few projects like the second season of a Sesame Street spin-off called Play with Me Sesame.

[@bryson6582]

@@kermitTHEdinosaur93 yes he did

[@PaddyMesser2006]

3:00 The Muppets are heavily known for being musicals, them rejecting the idea just shows how out of touch they were with the brand

[@natalieventimiglia7338]

Jim Henson wanted to make an adults muppets series, he honestly would have loved Avenue Q.

[@mississipiansupplier]

@natalieventimiglia7338 That would’ve been VERY interesting. With Henson at the helm, the characters might’ve been consistent enough for Disney to not fire Steve Whitmire.

[@AliceOfSherwood]

i think if it came to a point they couldn't use Gary Coleman anymore, they have plenty of other former child actors to choose from. I'd suggest McCauley Culkin.

[@bryson6582]

But isn't McCauley Culkin doing good these days

[@twindrill2852]

@@bryson6582 Plus dude’s got a family to take care of. I think he needs a break from all that potential drama.

[@cameronnorris220]

I’d still offer the part to Culkin himself

[@daelen.cclark]

@@cameronnorris220 Maybe. Or have him play a pastiche of his worst aspects as a self-parody. (Even then, that’s gotta be handled carefully.)

[@adrienfoisy9448]

The issue with Culkin is that he’s white, so “everyone’s a little bit racist” would be thrown off entirely

[@Elizabelle79]

I love when Jim Henson's widow saw the show and said, "What a wonderful love letter to Jim's work. He would have loved this."

[@kylemorello4787]

"People thought the creators of the show hated The Muppets." ... Is that why the puppets look incredibly authentic to a classic Jim Henson production? Or that the way they perform them looks like they studied the art of Muppetry hard? Or that the music sounds reminiscent of Joe Raposo? Or why Kate feels almost exactly like Prairie Dawn as an adult? Or why out of all the Bert and Ernie parodies, Nicky and Rod are among the few that makes gay implications of tact and grace.

[@babyrodent]

So I have a couple of fun things to share regarding Avenue Q, one that's secondhand from family members and one that I got to experience for myself. My older sister and our mom got to see the show back in 2006 when they were visiting New York (I was staying in California with Dad, for the record, since I was around 12 years old at the time) and they got to donate money during "The Money Song" and got a Playbill. In 2016, I finally got the chance to see the show when the community college I attended at the time performed a licensed production. Just as my sister and mom did before, I got to donate money during "The Money Song". Quick aside: for that production, there was a character that was a walking cow that showed up twice- first during the "You Can Be Loud As You Want", the second time during "There is Life Outside Your Apartment" as a taxi driver. This production was unhinged as Avenue Q could be, and I have no complaints.

[@malcolmoluwasanmi6398]

Avenue Q is one of my favourite theatre productions of all times and something that should be mandatory for teens to see.

[@saltbaker8683]

Im still surpseid to think this one never got any movie adaptions outside of Meet The Feebles or The Happytime Murders.

[@tyrannosaurusallen3703]

Feebles came out before though.

[@saltbaker8683]

@@tyrannosaurusallen3703 True. But then again; why you think there some hardcore fans who still wanted to see a Movie Adaptions all those years ago or nowadays ,but don't take my word for It. Some didn't even mind a long awaited sequel as well!

[@FormalFilmsProductions]

I literally made a presentation for a game night with my friends about how I would make an avenue Q movie. I honestly believe that this film could work as a film with some re-tweaking.

[@CinnamonGrrlErin1]

Feebles and Happytime have nothing to do with each other or Avenue Q except for being puppet movies aimed at an adult audience.

[@tysargent9647]

I know, despite the fact it won the Best Musical Tony. Even Little Shop of Horrors received a film adaptation during its initial off-Broadway run.

[@connorbeith3232]

The reason I first heard of this was through hearing the "PORN" soundbite from "The Internet Is For Porn" used in a lot of YTPs and general shitposts, as well as seeing parodies of "If You Were Gay."

[@TheLyricsAnalyst]

What YTPs were they in?? :0

[@lealextn]

Avenue Q literally shaped my life and career. I am an actor, singer, puppeteer, puppet builder (currently surrounded by my Avenue Q puppet replicas), translator (adapted the whole play to Canadian French)... None of that would've happened without these little fuzz balls.

[@slashbash1347]

Figuratively.

[@lealextn]

No, literally "literally". @@slashbash1347

[@saint_squared525]

Same, also I remember my AveQ phase to the point where I remember your old TheFoamMaster YT channel.

[@lealextn]

​@@saint_squared525 oh. my. god. 🤯 Even I barely remember this channel!!

[@stephaniekoluch374]

what a legendary musical

[@DexterYesMandarkNo]

I've experienced this as a child on old KZbin (where else?), I knew I shouldn't have done that but hey we all make mistakes. As much I hate musicals, Avenue Q is the ONLY musical I like the most. Thanks for the full history, Mementos. Highly recommend this!

[@tonialston1968]

One of the writers from this show helped the South Park guys make The Book of Mormon.

[@kenthuang436]

I saw this off Broadway and it is one of my favorite musicals. I like to think of it as Sesame Street meets South Park.

[@CinnamonGrrlErin1]

You could totally write a Broadway show: "Moral Oral: The Musical."

[@mediamementosofficial]

Billy and I DEFINITELY haven’t thrown the idea around at all and MOST CERTAINLY have not written up an outline a few months back. 😉

[@knightryder11]

@@mediamementosofficial yk before I even saw your comment I had a feeling youd say smth like this Tho I'd love to see yalls take on morel oral

[@georgerobertson7010]

2:02 do you hate the muppet Christmas Carol?

[@FormalFilmsProductions]

Legitimately one of my favorite musicals of all time! I found out about this show during my senior year of high school and I’ve loved it ever since

[@caleb1413]

As a fellow theatre fan I'd love it if you did more musical-related videos!

[@Duhitsvirgilstar]

The show really did change my life, I saw it when I had just turned 15, so when they had their anniversary, my parents surprised me with tickets to the 54 Below show for my eighth grade graduation, if I hadn’t found this show, I never would’ve gotten over my stage fright by making a puppet of my own and performing with her in the talent show that same year, I also never would’ve came out as Bisexual to my parents and family as well, it really changed my life for the better and I got to know the cast personally and they’ve all truly helped me through SO MUCH, I’ve seen the show six times and I loved every minute of it, never got old no matter how many times we saw it, since then, it’s been my dream show and hopefully I’ll get to perform in it one day but the show really changed my life and it will forever be in my heart 🧡

[@CJBStudios]

I’m honestly surprised that you’re actually talking about this, especially given that you talked about it *a lot* back on your old channel.

[@SatinFoxx]

The song "If you were gay" opened a LOT of doors for me

[@thekoolkrab3226]

As someone who hasn’t heard of Avenue Q until now, hearing about its history and premise makes me wanna see it, which is unfortunate because of its closing. Maybe there’s some decent upload online somewhere? Idk

[@bnicethegaynerd6025]

I had already subscribed to you and liked your content. Then I found a video by you about my favorite musical of all time and I immediately had huge respect for you

[@itsjustnat]

I LOVE this show!!!! Wish I could see an in-person production!!! Thank you for your story!!!

[@snowysiamese6262]

I saw you in Gävle Sweden! Thankyou for passing by! ❤❤❤

[@PomboTheScruff]

This was such a tonic ❤ I've not played Bustin Out since I was a kid, and this brought back soooo many memories. I remember the struggle was real 😂 Thank you for the trip down memory lane x

[@TrekkiemonsterUK]

Loved this video. I'm 50 in July and Avenue Q is still my favourite musical theatre show (however my fave musical movie is The Greatest Showman!). As for my fave song and character well it has to be TIIFP and Trekkie Monster. I've even earned the nickname of Trekkie amongst some of my friends and it's more often than not my gaming names. Like you I've got AveQ memorabilia including fully signed UK West end cast program, and I've two framed posters for the west end shows 5th anniversary on my wall along with three postcards in a frame. My most loved item though is a photo of Me with Trekkie Monster and Tom Parsons - who played TM - that sits proudly framed on my cabinet. It's sad really considering my age that im so obsessed with AVEQ but 21 years ago I was really ill, I discovered the soundtrack and it got me through some really rough times in hospital at that time, especially "TIIFP" and of course "For Now". Anyways thanks for a great video, I really enjoyed it. 😉 👍😀

[@iagodoslago9875]

this was the musical that got me into musicals years ago! it's incredible.

[@chiebukachibee-zoraedu]

2:07: So you don't like The Muppets Christmas Carol or Muppets Treasure Island?

[@snoogansthejew]

I just finished a small community theater production of Avenue Q, and this was a fun video to see! Thanks for putting this all together 😊

[@ripleyandweeds1288]

I found out about this through re-uploads of the soundtrack on youtube, mainly 'A Fine Fine Line'. Though I admit, I haven't seen the full musical anywhere, its a bit hard to find a good quality recording on youtube.

[@bryson6582]

It's one of the reasons I started doing puppeteering even the puppeteers and human actors did good

[@usuallyangry]

Aaaaahhhh, I remember my first time listening to "The Internet is For Porn" behind my parents' backs. That sweet innocent time when I didn't know what porn entailed and I thought it was a hate song about the internet as a whole.

[@lundonanioopie]

TY OMG ILYSM I NEEDED THIS VIDEO FOR AN ASIGNMENT

[@jojonono2679]

Never seen this play but I enjoy your content so I watched anyway.

[@Theatrekidsstuff]

I’m sorry i am late but I would love if you talked about anything Avenue Q like the characters,sets,songs, etc this is my favorite musical and would love if you talked more about it since it is a very underrated unique musical!

[@KainaX122]

“I’m what you would call ‘A Theatre Kid’. . . “ I mean, I would say ‘nerd’ instead of ‘kid’, but po-tay-to, po-tah-to Just kidding. Keep up the good work, dude 👍🏻

[@AARONSINGSBROADWAY]

loved this xx

[@ZeroZmm]

I found this video cus I was nostalgic for Avenue Q.. I was a huge fan of it growing up and I was lucky enough to watch it live right at the end in 2019, of course I didn't know it would be the end..but I even got to take pictures with the crew. I wish I'd met the og cast but these guys were great too. I can admit it made me cry finally watching it live too~

[@sarahs.6575]

I am still so dumbfounded about the Tony win. I first heard about the musical from a documentary we watched in my theater class in high school. Although I totally think the win was deserved, it’s interesting how this musical has so much less cultural relevance nowadays, whereas wicked is pretty well known.

[@Elizabelle79]

13:50 When I saw it in Sydney there was a freak once in a lifetime red dust storm... so of course "Red Dust is only for now!"

[@oddlysomething]

Bobby Lopez is honestly insanely skilled when it comes to working on the music of musicals. The fact that he worked both on this (which I really enjoyed), and TBOM (which is my all-time favourite) is kinda crazy

[@BufordBuzzard]

Loved it!

[@Christian1999DK]

well this musical is actually comming to Denmark. but yea the show is abit of a hit and miss with the changeing of the language, but then again ive only known it in english. But the song about racism is kinda hitting me the right way, i my self am not from a minority and i feel like alot of people tend to use the minority or privelage talk, it all has become abit of a niche thing cause the term is being use to frequently, that i think the meaning of the world has disapeared. i think humor is a good way to sorta show these problems and it should be, well some people might be uptight about the subject and say it is offensive or whatever but honestly, if a song should be added to the show it could be about the current meta about people wanting to die on a hill in alot of arguments, that even if they are shown proof of them being wrong, they will strait up ignore that fact and keep on going or another song could be about how the fight between gender equallity is makeing people very unsure of what is an appropriate aproach to the other gender (especialy for guys towards women). or who knows the whole talking about toxic masculinity and the obession about fame and fortune when what i want to be is well not famous but respected, cause fame is alot of things but respect is alot better in my book. But i love your videos and have watched alot of them

[@declanalexander2100]

I know it’s been a year since this video was made Just a quick addition to the Gary Coleman side Marx and Lopez said that they originally intended to offer the Gary Coleman role to Coleman himself, and he expressed interest in accepting it, but did not show up for a meeting scheduled to discuss it. Then he threatened to sue due to the way he was depicted but ended up not suing

[@blossom114]

I LOVE avenue q. Saw it on tour in 2007 (with Rob McClure who is known now for Mrs Doubtfire. Nicest guy). I just went to London a couple of weeks ago (arriving back just over a week ago) for my 40th and saw two shows on the West End... first time seeing either of them onstage. Hamilton which of course was Brilliant (not even seeing the Disney plus video) and Phantom of The Opera (shocking it took it going off Broadway for me to finally go FINE! I'M GOING TO SEE IT! ). Not surprisingly the Phantom was also in Les Miserables (recently...and had been Jean Valjean, and further back Marius and Enjolras) and he had a huge biography of past shows, but when I got back to hotel, I read further and had an OMG HE WAS THE ORIGINAL LONDON'S PRINCETON AND ROD!!!!!!! And I got a picture with him! Had seen those clips many times (just not as much as the Broadway) but I was squeeing more about that than Les Mis (which I've seen twice , and not surprising he was in that as well!!). He was amazing. Thing to note: this year I've also seen the original Gary Coleman on Broadway in Wicked on Tour as Madam Morrible...twice, and Ann Harada as Mrs Potts in Beauty in the Beast in St Louis (saw her in 2019 as well in Matilda as Mrs Wormwood). Rob McClure will be coming through in a couple of months... hope to nag another one. I still love Avenue Q.. and one of my favorite songs from Broadway is There's a Fine Fine, Line. It's so...simple...but I love it.

[@jades.einstein]

THIS WAS ONLY 1 DAY AGO?

[@NintendoSunnyDee]

"The internet is for corn" was a recent trend after all

[@AB_Artz14]

I’m hoping for an avenue q pro shot!

[@BennSimonn]

I didn't think Princeton was a parody of any character. I thought Kate Monster was like a female Grover though

[@TheLyricsAnalyst]

People think that Kate monster is a parody of prairie dawn I’m sure

[@mdau]

On July 31, 2013 I saw the tenth anniversary performance at New World Stages (tickets were $10 that day)! I still remember Christmas Eve unintentionally mispronouncing “litretrature” with her Japanese accent, the performers couldn’t keep a straight face, and that fuelled the audience laughter even more. 2013 was a good year, I was about to start university and so Princeton’s story was kind of a sneak peek of what may have been to come. I look back at that time in my life fondly, and listening to the soundtrack of Avenue Q had a lot to do with that.

[@matesafranka6110]

Okay, so the Michael Jackson thing. What you mainly need to know is that (1) Gary Coleman is completely unknown in Hungary, and (2) more importantly, Hungary has basically no black population whatsoever, much less any professional black theater performers. The translators decided to swap him out for MJ so that a white person could play him but still make references to him being black in Everyone's a Little Bit Racist. A weird coincidence is that the Hungarian production ended up facing the exact same problem as the original: it was put on in the 2009 season, and MJ passed away during the show's run. The producers actually put a reference to that into the show: when MJ is introduced as the superintendent, he says he faked his death to get out of a lawsuit. (side note: Christmas Eve was also played by a white woman because, again, literally 95% white population. No script changes were made about her though, she's still said to be Japanese)

[@TheLyricsAnalyst]

I’ve seen a lot of white women play Christmas Eve- it’s not too bad as long as they fully commit to her character imo and don’t shy away from being too offensive as her character is very out there lol

[@ajzeg01]

You beat Wait in the Wings to it!

[@frenchabortion]

(18:25) you’re supposed to be saying 2009 but you’re saying it as 2019. You said that earlier as well

[@Selph94]

Thank you for making this video! I love Avenue Q ! I animated The More you Ruv someone on my channel. I'm so glad others still think about avenue q~!

[@larrydirtybird]

“Trump! is only for now.” I was living in Manhattan back in 2003 and I remember when Avenue Q was off-Broadway. There was so much buzz about it. It was THE downtown show to go see. I remember one guy saying, “The muppets were fucking!!” Yet I never got around to seeing it off-Broadway so I was thrilled that it had simply moved to Broadway, not shut down. I remember the roars in the applause with the line, “ George Bush! Is only for now.” New Yorkers were so incredibly sick of Bush by then. Then in 2013, I was living in Shanghai China, and on the subway trains they had ads for Avenue Q. Avenue Q was playing in Shanghai! I never would’ve dreamed that in New York in 2003.

[@jakeginz]

This was a nice, wacked up, funny show

[@thefantasticretroreviewer3941]

This is quite a change for once

[@daelen.cclark]

Am I the only one who wants the Sesame Street muppets to sing “For Now”? Since it shares the optimistic outlook of Sesame Street without the naivety, it’d be a great thing to sing for kids. (If you’ve got the school-friendly version, might as well use it.)

[@RLucas3000]

Aw, I’m very sad they didn’t go with the original Trekkie monster uniform. I feel like ‘My Girlfriend Who Lives in Canada’ could be rewritten to PG-13. Usually it takes me a few listens of a score to fall in love with it. But Avenue Q was 1 of only 3 that I fell in love with instantly. The other two were Zanna, Don’t!, and bizarrely Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public!

[@frankiewelsh8802]

Avenue Q is my favourite musical Rod and Nicky are like me and my best friend I’m Rod and my best friend is Nicky even though Nicky is my favourite 😂

[@joecascone2189]

I love this show. But please note... There is no "soundtrack" available from this show. It is a "cast album". Soundtracks are from movies and TV shows. This makes me crazy coming from lay people (not Broadway savvy), and INSANE from people who should know better!

[@fakeperson9788]

Actually my first musical as a kid was “Horton hears a Who.” It was funny and very dark. The movie made it a soft story. But the actual story was Dark. It made me appreciate stories that reflect life. I actually made dark stories with jokes. It’s not for everyone, and it was for those that was okay with dark jokes. I don’t care what people think about my stories. I just wanted to show harsh realities and that people need to laugh every now and then. I can’t get published, because every is sensitive and offended at everything they can find offensive.

[@poisonedivysaur]

I knew nothing about the story. When I first heard about it, I was just told it's a puppet show, and they cuss a lot. I was in.

[@sonic23233]

I've only listened to the soundtrack

[@jfckq]

"The UK's version of Broadway" Uhm...

[@g.mitchell7110]

I'll never understand why, especially in an era where streaming is king, they don't do more pro-shot videos of stage productions and release those to home video. And I don't mean like Rent: Live, where they, for some reason, tried to turn a filmed stage production into a theatrical style movie (it was terrible) instead of trying to capture the essence of what it's like to see the stage production live, like Hamilton or the MTV version of Legally Blonde or the PBS showings of Sweeny Todd and Into the Woods. Do that. Film the whole stage for big production numbers, and cut to closeups when only a part of the stage is in use. I live about as far from any place that has musical theater productions as you can get. The closest city that gets touring productions is four hours away. This is to say that streaming and regional theater productions posted to KZbin are my primary sources of stage musicals. And those regional productions are often pretty good. They're just not, you know, Broadway quality. Ah, well, I'll have to make do with streaming and KZbin.

[@slashbash1347]

Did... did you just imply that Muppet Christmas Carol was mediocre?

[@olivia.2300]

yeah that pissed me off

[@user-eq8bw4ni2m]

Wait, so did they keep everyone’s a little bit racist in the school version? That would be wild

[@NerdOdieGames]

this video aint for little monste-

[@heatherjohnson6836]

17:50 was what was good was bad was whatever

[@isaacthemonke233]

Hope they don't make Trekkie an incel Really if they're given a bigger budget they could make him like a tentacled monster (Though when handling the puppet, it could probably get hectic)

[@KaminoKatie]

Just make Trekkie a Reddit or Discord moderator

[@lyokianhitchhiker]

@@KaminoKatieor make him live up to his name, like he was originally going to.

[@BowserTheThird]

How dare you show clips of the best Muppet Movie and talk about how Muppet Movies got Mediocre!