‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ Theme Gets ‘Sesame Street’ Makeover
What does Will Smith have in common with Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie?
Not much, to be honest, but the Muppet duo have used the theme song to Smith’s old television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as the basis for telling their own origin tale, in a recent Sesame Street video.
You can watch the video below.
Fans of the original will notice a number of spoofed elements in the new video, from the spinning thrones to the graffiti-covered wall (though Bert is cleaning graffiti off the wall, instead of adding to it, as Smith’s character did in the original video).
Bert’s mother even makes an appearance — who knew Bert had a mother? — wearing hair curlers, like Smith’s character’s mother did in the old Fresh Prince clip.
The Sesame Street spoof is not the first time The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme has been appropriated for comic intent. Jimmy Fallon filmed a parody when he took The Tonight Show to Los Angeles in 2015 (three years after he covered the song while imitating classic rocker Neil Young for a YouTube Presents clip).
Most recently, Saturday Night Live parodied the Fresh Prince theme in a zany, violent video featuring cast member Chris Redd.
There’s no word yet on whether Smith has seen Sesame Street’s video. Earlier this year there was word of a potential animated Fresh Prince of Bel-Air series in the works, as well as a possible reboot with a female protagonist in the role of “Fresh Princess.”