Number Painter gets his comeuppance? ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

That Number Painter on 'Sesame Street' was a cool peep!

But even ol' Mr. Bentley isn't safe from paying the consequences for his numerophilia.

The Number Painter sketches featured all the numbers from 2 through 11 inclusive. In many of these uproarious skits, he emerges satisfied. In others, he is chased away but ultimately suffers no payback. In still others, his victim attempts to humiliate him, but the unembarrassable Painter seems undaunted.

But in the sketch for 11 - which is presumably his final appearance - the Number Painter finally learns whether vandalism truly pays:



In this clip, the Painter sneaks into a doctor's office and tries to paint an 11 on the window of the door. After almost being caught red-handed by the nurse (played by Stockard Channing), the Painter sits back down and reveals that although he's great with numbers, he is illiterate, as he holds his magazine upside-down.

After the window washer - a Painter victim in previous sketches - finally gets his revenge, he smiles with a deep sense of fulfillment. But this was just the beginning of the Painter's last stand.

As the Number Painter is reduced nearly to tears at the loss of his 11, the nurse opens the door and drags him into the examining room to see the doc.

Draw your own conclusions as to why the poor ol' Painter is never seen again.

I guess this was designed to teach kids that there are consequences for painting numbers on things. Hence, a generation of children were able to make informed choices about whether to engage in this death-defying activity.