The Big Comfy Couch

The Big Comfy Couch was a show that aired on children's networks such as PBS in the 1990s. It featured a female clown named Loonette with her doll, Molly. Both of them lived in a house with an enormous couch and a rug shaped like a clock, where Loonette would engage in a bizarre "clock stretch".

The series originally lasted from 1992 to 1996, five seasons. It debuted in the U.S. in 1994. It was revived for a 6th season in 2002. A 7th season was added in 2006. It has been the last so far. A total of 100 episodes were completed.


 * Aside Glance: Loonette does this in "Lettuce, Turnip and Pea." and "Ping Pong Polka".
 * Catch Phrase: "Package for Loonette the Clown!" - Major Bedhead
 * Crossover: The Dustbunny and Foley Family segments both crossed over when Loonette mistook one of the Dustbunnies for a doll and put it in the dollhouse.
 * Couch Of Holding
 * Dawson Casting: Alyson Court was a heck of a lot older than her pre-pubescent character. Justified in that everything in her house, including the titular couch, were huge. And that Alyson is 5'1".
 * The Doll Episode: Done almost every episode in the first 5 seasons with a family in a dollhouse named The Foleys.
 * Exactly What It Says On the Tin: And how. The show was about a . . . big comfy couch. The clock stretch rug was a rug shaped like a clock for doing stretches.
 * Everything's Better With Chickens: Loonette pulls a rubber chicken out of the couch in a lot of episodes.
 * Every Episode Ending And the clown jumped over the moon!
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: A line from a song Major Bedhead song is "Squirmin' squirmin' pants are burnin'"
 * An episode has Granny Garbonzo and Loonette making their own club. In one scene, they're blowing bubbles out of what looks like a bong. Here's a video of the scene (Skip to 00:24 for it.).
 * We reiterate: The clock stretch.
 * Hammerspace: Major Bedhead's bag in a couple episodes.
 * Hey, It's That Girl!: Loonette is Claire Redfield only in 5 year old, clown form.
 * Alyson Court: The actor that plays Loonette. (Well, the first one).
 * Hide Your Pregnancy: Averted. Loonette's clown suit was baggy enough to hide the fact that Alyson was pregnant in her last season.
 * Hypno Fool: In one episode, Molly refuses to take a nap after participating in a magic show. Loonette tries absolutely everything until, towards the very end of the episode (right before the story of the day), she says that she'll use magic. She then moves her magic wand back and forth in front of Molly's face, telling her that she's feeling sleepy. Within moments, Loonette is the one to fall asleep.
 * Medium Blending: When Loonette told a story, she was the only live-action character. The rest of the story was often told with story-page backdrops and puppets.
 * Non-Ironic Clown: EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER.
 * Heck, even the sun had a clown nose, and so did the dust bunnies (which were alive).
 * The Other Darrin: Alyson Court, the original actress who played Loonette left the show on the last season and was replaced by Ramona Gilmour-Darling who acted NOTHING like Alyson.
 * Punctuated for Emphasis: "Hey...WHO. MADE. THIS. BIG. MESS?!!!"
 * ...me?? *camera nods* ...I did, didn't I? Time for the Ten Second Tidy!
 * Or if there is no mess, The Ten Second Silly!
 * Rummage Fail: Loonette searching for the thing she needed in the couch always led to this, with her saying "nope" every time she pulled out the wrong thing, which was about 3-4 times. All of the rejected items stayed on the floor for the duration of the show, until Loonette realized the mess she made. And then...
 * Screen Shake: Used every now and then but abused in "Gesundheit".
 * Stock Sound Effects: Boy howdy.
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Uncle Chester replaced Auntie Macassar in Season 6.
 * Viewers are Morons: The "10-Second Tidy" usually lasted about a minute. And it was noticeable.
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: Loonette did this a couple times. Once she did it to prank Major Bedhead.

"And the clown jumped over the moon!"