Like so many other monkeys in Hollywood, George also dabbles in music in his spare time

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With the fifth season of Curious George premiering this Monday, September 6, on PBS KIDS (check local listings), The Laughing Stork attempted to get in touch with George to get the scoop on the new episodes.  Although George was too busy chatting with the likes of Access Hollywood‘s Billy Bush about his recent Emmy win for “Outstanding Children’s Animated Program,” we were fortunate enough to land an interview with the fabulous Dorothea Gillim, executive producer of Curious George for WGBH Boston.

LAUGHING STORK: I think we can all agree The Man with the Yellow Hat looks dashing in his signature color; however, he seems to be in a bit of a style rut. Would he ever consider mixing it up with, say, a more camera-friendly color such as blue? Or perhaps a trendy fedora?

DOROTHEA: The Man with the Yellow Hat would probably describe others as being in a style rut. Yellow rules!  He’s a trendsetter. One day, the whole world will be yellow. Such a cheery color!

LAUGHING STORK: George’s curiosity is always getting him into mishaps. Are you afraid that his penchant for mischief – and obvious celebrity — will make him fall prey to the dark side of Young Hollywood like other stars and starlets?

DOROTHEA: One of the truly wonderful things about George is his eternal innocence, so no, we’re not worried.

LAUGHING STORK: In the first season of the show, George accidentally bought one-hundred dozen donuts and did not know what to do with the extras. Could you please give him my contact information in case he makes that mistake again?

DOROTHEA: Sure thing. He’ll probably mess that up too, but innocently and all in the name of fun and education.

LAUGHING STORK: George sounds just adorable when he communicates; however, I can’t understand a word he says. How did The Man with the Yellow Hat become fluent in George-ese?

DOROTHEA: We work hard to make sure George conveys a lot through his tone and body language. Hopefully that’s how the Man and kids at home understand him. And if his thoughts are too complex, we throw in a thought bubble or two.

LAUGHING STORK: Despite his style rut, The Man with the Yellow Hat is quite a catch. He is an explorer, drives a convertible, flies a plane, has a pet monkey, is a doppelganger for Stephen Colbert and must be rather wealthy considering he has a nice apartment in “The City” and a country house. However, we don’t see or hear anything about his dating life. A theory on a lot of the gossip blogs: he is secretly seeing Professor Wiseman. Can you comment on the speculation? They do spend an awful lot of time together.

DOROTHEA: The Man with the Yellow Hat is a very private cartoon character. He prefers to keep his romantic life from the public eye.

LAUGHING STORK: Any insight into George’s misadventures this upcoming season of Curious George?

DOROTHEA: George is making a new friend this season — Marco, an 8-year-old boy who plays the drums in his family’s Pan-Latin band. George and Marco will go on lots of (mis)-adventures this season and, in the process, our audience will learn about Hispanic customs and culture. George will also get lost on the subway, learn how to barter, and meet the Vietnamese family that opens a store across the street. These episodes and others support this season’s theme of exposing preschoolers to social science. Of course the show will continue its mission to foster understanding of science, math and engineering through lots of monkey mayhem.

JEN:  Did you pay the man for the flowers?

BEN:  No, I thought YOU paid him.

SERAPHINA:  Oh boy.

George Clooney really needs to put on a few pounds.

These people could sure use more alcohol.

Amy Poehler should hire Star Jones as her FULL-TIME nipple guard (Star could use the work), because she was totally showing Betty White all of her, um, golden girls.

Giuliana Rancic needed that reality show to cover her tanning expenses.

Anna Paquin says, “Ole!”

Oh, look!  January Jones’ breasts are covered with cocktail umbrellas, which would have landed her on the best dressed list, if only she’d had the decency to put them in a Mai-Tai for me.

Glee‘s Naya Rivera is looking quite, er, DRAMATIC, no?  Her hair alone is taller than Ryan Seacrest.  True story.

Poor Kristen Wiig.  Dontcha just hate it when birds take up residence on your shoulders?

Eva LaRue, now starring in CSI:  Hoochieville.

Claire Danes, who I’ve noticed perpetually cocks her head to the left, is a glowing, radiant, happy-looking golden girl from head to toe.  Angela Chase would not approve.

Well, hello there, Jane Lynch!  Way to successfully make the cross-over from worst to best dressed.  The tabloid style pages will be SINGING your praises.  (See what I did there?)  Well-done.  Well-done, indeed.

Um, Kelly Osbourne, is that you?  You look fabulous, surprisingly chic and full of old-school glamour, but I think you left a few of your curves in the limo.

Dexter‘s Julie Benz killed it in her form-fitting white dress.

Glee‘s Lea Michele looks adorable.  And you just know she’s been practicing her requisite hands-on-hips red carpet pose in the mirror for months.

“I’m bringing ‘The Robot’ back!”

Awwww.  Coincidentally, this is what I look like after too many Skinny Girl margaritas.

On this morning’s Today show, producers finally booked a guest who seems to understand Kathie Lee.

“Music keeps me young.”

–Taylor Momsen, who just turned 17, in a Spin magazine interview, during which she also describes her fashion sense as “high-class hooker.”  Ah, precious youth of today!

What beautiful young ladies.  Wonder why they’re posing with wax figures…?