If you’ve watched any episodes of HBO’s megahit Game of Thrones, which returns to our screens on April 12, you will have noticed that becoming the king or queen of Westeros and sitting upon its imposing Iron Throne involves quite a bit of Machiavellian manoeuvring, a dragon or three, and death on a grand and epic scale, that may or may not involve the death of close relatives and friends.
It is not a job for the fainthearted that much is certain.
In Sesame Street‘s hilarious parody of the show, the death quotient is unsurprisingly far lower, as in negligible, but the klutz factor is at all time high as Ned Stark seeks to find a new occupant of the throne of Jesteros with a jaunty, though no less competitive for that, game of musical chairs.
And not just any chairs mind you.
To accomplish his task of finding a new king or queen he will need the help of an able-bodied, quick-thinking assistant … or Grover Bluejoy, whoever manages to get over that great big wall outside first.
Unfortunately for Ned, but endlessly amusingly for us, it is Grover Bluejoy who arrives to help get things underway, although his ability to do this may be a tad hampered by his lack of understanding about exactly how you play musical chairs.
Once that is sorted out – to his disappointment, and frankly mine, it does not involve the use of a rubber chicken thought that could only add to the fun of the game surely – it is up to Grover to provide the music for this extraordinarily important undertaking.
One that Robb, Cersie, Joffrey, and Daeneyrus are taking very, very seriously, unlike Grover Bluejoy who seems blithely unaware of the chaos he is causing or the possibility that someone other than the contending four may end up atop the throne made of whiffle bats.
The parody, which is well and truly up there with the best parodies the always pop culturally on point Sesame Street has produced, is full to the dragon-filled skies with Game of Thrones references including a reminder to Ned to not lose his head.
Oh and an hilarious reminder to bring a sweater with you because as Grover Bluejoy reminds us, and we’re all too aware, “Winter IS coming” …
As is Game of Thrones, whose fifth season premieres on April 12.