I don’t know about you, but I always find it hard to resist the siren song of YouTube’s “Suggestions” column, that never-ending stream of related videos which ensures I can never just watch the clip I came for and leave — there’s always something else tempting to click on, something I haven’t heard of or need to see again. Hours pass, my bandwidth allowance taps me nervously on the shoulder, but I still have to watch just one more before wrenching myself away.

This is what happened to me yesterday afternoon, when I went to dig out the link of a clip I’ve watched dozens of times, one of my very favourite moments of operatic humour — Beverly Sills’s appearance on the Muppet Show. What ensued was a veritable gala of opera through a Jim Henson filter, and now I feel the least I can do is share with you some of the highlights.

This was the first revelation to me. An appearance on Sesame Street by bass-baritone Samuel Ramey, smack bang in his vocal prime, singing a Bizet-inspired paean to (what else?) the letter ‘L’.

I love that he sings with as much commitment as if this were the original: it’s genuinely great singing, with the added bonus of puppets.

More Bizet, more hilarity and decidedly less great singing (though it’s wonderful in its own special way) from Beaker, The Swedish Chef and Animal in this, um, sultry rendition of Carmen’s Habanera.

Special, isn’t it? I think it’s spoilt me for the conventional version.

Back to Sesame Street, with a more recent offering which you’ve probably already seen — it’s done the rounds of Facebook several times. Here it is again, though, because it is irresistible: Renée Fleming counts from 1 to 5 in a tune you may just recognise.

She sounds fabulous, too; I would genuinely — and I mean this as a compliment — rather hear her sing this than the actual “Caro nome”.

In fact Sesame Street had its own resident opera singer, the one and only Placido Flamingo, who appeared in the “Live from the Nest” series. He did meet his namesake at one point, though I can’t seem to find a clip; but here’s his equivalent (well, not really) of Menotti’s The Telephone.

Was that the set of the Zeffirelli Bohème?

The irrepressibly Marilyn Horne also took her turn with the puppets, not surprisingly. A companion piece of Ramey’s “L Toreador”, here’s “C is for Cookie”.

Perfect. Whereas back on the Muppets, this piggy duet is anything but. I’m not sure what my favourite part is: the brilliantly mangled Italian, the Wagnerian horns (in Mozart) or Sam the Eagle. (I’m a big fan of Sam the Eagle, I think he and I have similar taste in sopranos.)

Good old Miss Piggy. If you’re still longing for more of her dulcet tones, she also sets forth her operatic credentials here, in a dress I’m fairly sure she stole from the Vienna State Opera Rosenkavalier (cf Anna Tomowa-Sintow, as Marschallin in said production.)

I think that’s the best of them, so that just leaves me to present the clip I mentioned right at the start. Here are Beverly Sills and a whole lot of pigs in a Verdi pastiche which, if you’ve not already seen it, is almost guaranteed to make your life just a little bit better.

I think this clip pretty much epitomises all that both Sesame Street and The Muppets got right about their operatic ventures. They’re hilarious whatever your opinion or knowledge of opera, they poke fun without ridiculing the artform, and the singing — when it’s not deliberately terrible — is The Genuine Article. Which I think is wonderful. They don’t really make children’s TV like this any more, do they? Or even, now I think of it, TV full stop. Thank god (or at least the Divine Miss Piggy) for the siren YouTube.