Bert (Sesame Street)

Bert and Ernie are two Muppet characters who appear together in numerous skits on the PBS/HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street''. Ernie acts the role of the naïve and exuberant troublemaker, while Bert is the world-weary foil.

Originated by Frank Oz and Jim Henson, the characters are currently performed by puppeteers Eric Jacobson and Peter Linz.

History

Bert and Ernie were built by Don Sahlin from a simple design scribbled by Jim Henson, creator of ''The Muppets''. Initially, Henson performed Bert, and Oz performed Ernie. After just one day of rehearsal, they switched characters. The original idea was to show that even though two people can have totally different characteristics, they can still be good friends.

According to writer Jon Stone, the relationship between Bert and Ernie reflected the real-life friendship between Oz and Henson. Although their names are commonly believed to have been drawn from those of two minor characters in the Frank Capra film '' It's A Wonderful Life'', sources from within the ''Sesame Street'' production team suggest that the identical names were coincidental.

According to A&E's ''Biography'', Bert and Ernie were virtually the only Muppets to appear in the ''Sesame Street'' pilot episode, which was screen-tested to a number of families in July 1969. Their brief appearance was the only part of the pilot that tested well, so it was decided that not only should Muppet characters be the "stars" of the show, but they should also interact with the human characters, something that was not done in the pilot.

An ordinary Bert and Ernie sketch involves Ernie coming up with a hare-brained idea, and Bert trying to talk him out of it, usually getting Bert frustrated and Ernie dumbfounded. For example, if Ernie wanted to do something loud while Bert is doing something quiet like reading a book or the newspaper, Bert would teach him how to be quiet; however, Ernie would still make some noise, which would cause Bert to either lose his temper or leave the room.

Bert

Bert was initially performed by Frank Oz. Since 1999, Muppeteer Eric Jacobson has been phased in as Bert's primary performer after Oz retired from most of his Muppet duties to focus on directing. Bert is a foamy and plasticky “hand rod puppet", which means that while the puppeteer's right arm is inserted into Bert's head to control the mouth, the puppeteer's left hand uses rods to control the arms of the puppet. Bert has one large eyebrow, known as a unibrow. Bert has also made cameo appearances within ''The Muppets'' franchise, including ''The Muppet Show'', its second pilot episode '' The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence'', '' The Muppet Movie'', and '' The Muppets Take Manhattan'', in addition to an appearance with Ernie on '' The Flip Wilson Show'' on September 14, 1972, on which he sang "Clink, Clank", a song about noises. Jacobson joined ''Sesame Street'' in 1994.

Characteristics

Physically, Bert represents a human, with yellow skin and a vertically elongated head, with a tuft of black hair at the top. Bert has a noted unibrow. Bert typically wears a shirt with vertical stripes, most commonly with orange, blue and green stripes. He also sports green pants and blue & white saddle, pigeon shoes.

As a character, Bert is portrayed as a serious, neat, and, according to Oz, "boring" individual, with apparently dull interests and tastes, such as paper clips, pigeons, and oatmeal.

Ernie

Ernie was originally performed by Jim Henson until his death in 1990. Steve Whitmire then played Ernie, following Henson's death, until 2014, followed by Billy Barkhurst until 2017. Currently, the character is performed by Peter Linz.

Ernie is a spongy "live hand puppet", meaning that while operating the head of the puppet with his right hand, the puppeteer inserts his left hand into a T-shaped sleeve, capped off with a glove that matches the fabric "skin" of the puppet, thus "becoming" the left arm of the puppet. A second puppeteer usually provides the right arm.

Ernie's performance of "Rubber Duckie," wherein he sings affectionately about his squeaking toy duck and the joy it brings him during bath time, became a modest mainstream hit, reaching No. 16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in September 1970.

Journey to Ernie

From ''Sesame Street'' season 33 (2002) until season 36 (2005), Ernie and Big Bird starred in a daily segment called " Journey to Ernie". Ernie was one of the hosts of the show '' Play with Me Sesame'', where he was performed by John Tartaglia during the second season. One regular segment that he hosted was "Ernie Says", a variation of the game Simon Says. In season 39 Bert and Ernie have appeared in the Bert and Ernie's great adventures segment.

Characteristics

Ernie has a characteristic chuckling laugh (a trait he shares with his baby cousin, Ernestine), and he also has his signature pronunciation of the word "again" (ay-gain). He is a friend and roommate of Bert; they share an apartment on Sesame Street. Ernie's appearance and clothing contrast with Bert, as he is the shorter and more round of the pair, and he wears a red and blue shirt with horizontal stripes, blue jeans, and red and white shoes. Whereas Bert's shirt has vertical stripes, and Bert has a tall, narrow head while Ernie's is wider than it is high. Additionally, Ernie has no visible eyebrows, while Bert displays a pronounced unibrow.

Ernie is known for his fondness for baths with his Rubber Duckie and for trying to learn to play the saxophone. Ernie is also known for keeping Bert awake at night, for reasons such as wanting to play the drums, wanting to count something (like sheep), to observe something like a blackout, or even because he is waiting for his upstairs neighbor to drop his shoes.

Roles in other projects

Ernie also appears in the finales of '' The Muppet Movie'' and '' The Muppets Take Manhattan'', in the last of which he gets a line.

Ernie and Bert introduce a montage of ''Sesame Street'' clips in '' The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years''. Ernie also narrates a Christmas pageant, Twas the Night Before Christmas'', in '' A Muppet Family Christmas''. In that same special, Ernie and Bert have a conversation with Doc, making them the only ''Sesame Street'' characters (not counting Kermit the Frog) to have interacted with Doc.

"Rubber Duckie" song

Ernie sang about his affection for Rubber Duckie in a skit, which aired during the first season of ''Sesame Street''. The song "Rubber Duckie" from that skit became a modest mainstream hit, reaching No. 16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in September 1970.

Performing Ernie

Ernie is a "Live Hand Muppet," meaning that while operating the head of the puppet with his right hand, the puppeteer inserts his left hand into a T-shaped sleeve, capped off with a glove that matches the fabric "skin" of the puppet, thus "becoming" the left arm of the puppet. A second puppeteer usually provides the right arm, although sometimes the right arm is simply stuffed and pinned to the puppet's chest or the second puppeteer will perform both arms.

The original segment of the song "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon" was one of the rare instances when Ernie's full body was shown. It reportedly took three puppeteers to perform Ernie in this segment: Jim Henson performed Ernie's head and left hand, while two other puppeteers operated Ernie's right hand and feet respectively. Other puppets of this type include Cookie Monster, Fozzie Bear, Beaker, and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew.

Jim Henson's original Ernie puppet is on display at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia.

Appearances

A typical Bert and Ernie skit has Ernie coming up with a harebrained idea, and Bert trying to talk him out of it, ending with Bert losing his temper, while Ernie becomes oblivious to his own bad idea.

Other sketches have involved Bert and Ernie sharing a snack by division, but finding that one of them has a bit more; Ernie humorously decides to try to make it even by eating the extra piece, which goes forth until the entire snack is all eaten up. Others have also involved Ernie eating part of Bert's snack he prepares for himself, and when Bert comes back from somewhere, Ernie tries to make several (usually unsuccessful) attempts to cover up the crime in front of Bert.

Some other plotlines involved Ernie wanting to play a game with Bert, who would much rather do something else (like read). Ernie keeps irking Bert with the game until Bert joins — and usually, by the time Bert starts enjoying the game, Ernie is tired of playing the game and wants to do something else.

Ernie makes appearances without Bert, usually within the framework of another double act. He has regularly appeared in skits with Grover, Cookie Monster, Sherlock Hemlock and Lefty the Salesman.

Ernie and Bert also appear in '' Out to Lunch'' (1974), and are the hosts of this crossover special.

In '' Christmas Eve on Sesame Street'' (1978), Ernie decides to buy Bert a cigar box to store his paper clips in. As he does not have any money, he trades his own Rubber Duckie for it. At the same time, Bert decides to get Ernie a soap dish to put his Rubber Duckie in, so that it will not keep falling into the tub, but has to trade his paper clips for it. Thankfully, Mr. Hooper can tell that neither of them really wants to give up their prized possessions, and so gives them their things back as presents.

In '' Sesame Street... 20 Years & Still Counting'' (1989), he and Bert get a new video camera, and he talks Bert into using the camera to record footage of Sesame Street so that they can watch ''Sesame Street'' on television.

Ernie appears in both of the ''Sesame Street'' movies. In '' Follow That Bird'' (1985), he and Bert search for Big Bird by plane. Ernie pilots the plane, and eventually, after they find Big Bird, he flies the plane upside-down, singing "Upside Down World". However, after they lose Big Bird, Ernie blames Bert.

Ernie appears in the video special ''123 Count with Me'' (1997), teaching Humphrey and Ingrid at the Furry Arms Hotel how counting can be very useful.

In popular culture

Sexual orientation discussion

Bert and Ernie live together in an apartment located in the basement of 123 Sesame Street. Despite sleeping in separate beds, they share the same bedroom, which has led to some speculation that they are a representation of a gay couple. This has repeatedly been denied by Sesame Workshop,

and some of Bert's interactions with female characters do appear to show that he is attracted to women, like serenading Connie Stevens in the ''Some Enchanted Evening'' segment of a first-season episode of ''The Muppet Show'', and recording a song about his girlfriend, "I Want to Hold Your Ear", which was released on several albums. In July 2013, ''The New Yorker'' magazine chose an image of Bert and Ernie by artist Jack Hunter, titled ''Moment of Joy'', as the cover of their publication, which covers the Supreme Court decisions on the Defense of Marriage Act and California's .

In September 2018, Mark Saltzman, one of the script and songwriters for ''Sesame Street'', stated in an interview with ''Queerty'' that when he wrote Bert and Ernie, they were often analogues for his own intimate relationship with film editor Arnold Glassman. Though he did not say Bert and Ernie were intended as a gay couple, online articles reported so.

Sesame Workshop responded by stating that Bert and Ernie have no sexual orientations, because they are puppets. Frank Oz, who previously performed as Bert, stated Bert and Ernie were not gay, saying,

They're not, of course, a gay couple. But why that question? Does it really matter? Why the need to define people as only gay? There's much more to a human being than just straightness or gayness.

The Gay Star News reported that fans reacted negatively to Sesame Workshop's statement. Frank Oz later tweeted in September 2018:

A last thought: If Jim and I had created Bert and Ernie as gay characters they would be inauthentic, coming from two straight men. However, I have now learned that many view them as representative of a loving gay relationship. And that's pretty wonderful. Thanks for helping me understand.

Parody and other uses

From March 30, 1997, to , the parody website " Bert is Evil" displayed Bert in a number of doctored photographs, implicating him in crimes ranging from the Assassination of John F. Kennedy to those of Jack the Ripper. A similar image from another source and featuring Bert conferring with Osama bin Laden was mistakenly included by a Bangladeshi print shop on a series of protest signs in October 2001 and 2002.

The German comedy sketch series, '' Freitag Nacht News'' had a recurring sketch called ''Bernie und Ert'' created by Attik Kargar, who performed the puppets and supplied the voice of Bernie. Bernie and Ert are a parody of Ernie and Bert, and especially redubbed on '' Sesamstrasse''. The puppets had no nose, one eye each, and swapped hairstyles. Depicting them as a dysfunctional gay couple of petty criminals (Bernie being a promiscuous bisexual), each sketch focused on typically adult themes such as crime, drug abuse, masturbation, and Friday the 13th. In February 2003, ''Bernie and Ert'' were dropped from the series because of legal concerns; however, older episodes circulate on the internet.

Bernie and Ert also appeared in a ''Freitag Nacht News'' sequence called ''Bullzeye'' in a sketch called "Popo Club". Bernie and Ert both wore black masks and leather jackets, disguised as Unknown No. 1 and Unknown No. 2 respectively, with another character named Winfred, propagating bizarre sexual practices. This skit became popular that it resulted in more skits called "Popo Club" featuring Unknowns No. 1 and 2, with occasional appearances by Winfred.

The musical '' Avenue Q'', an adult-oriented parody of ''Sesame Street'', features a pair of characters named Rod (performed by John Tartaglia) and Nicky (performed by Rick Lyon), who are parodies of Bert and Ernie, respectively. Rod is a conservative investment banker and closeted homosexual, while Nicky is his slacker roommate who suspects that Rod may be gay.

It is commonly believed that Bert and Ernie were named after Bert the policeman (Ward Bond) and Ernie the taxi driver ( Frank Faylen), two characters from the 1946 film '' It's a Wonderful Life''. However, in a correction for the 1999 "Annual Xmas Quiz" in the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', which made this claim, series writer Jerry Juhl said that the shared names were "purely coincidental". Juhl stated that shortly after Henson's death in 1990, he was told by producer Jon Stone that when Henson and Stone studied the puppets, "they decided that one of them looked like an Ernie, and the other one looked like a Bert." Despite this, the special '' Elmo Saves Christmas'' references the rumor, during a scene in which Bert and Ernie walk by a television set, which is playing ''It's a Wonderful Life''. The pair are surprised when they hear George Bailey (James Stewart) exclaim, "Bert! Ernie! What's the matter with you two guys? You were here on my wedding night!"

In the pilot episode of '' Eerie, Indiana'', which aired in 1991, Marshal and Simon are subtly asked for help by a pair of twin brothers named Bertram and Ernest (called Bert and Ernie for short), because their mother has forced them to sleep every night in her ''Forever Ware'' containers, thus having kept them at age twelve for over thirty years. This could allude to the fact Bert and Ernie have not aged in all the years that ''Sesame Street'' has aired.

In April 2013, a pair of high energy neutrinos detected at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, possibly of extragalactic origin, were nicknamed "Bert" and "Ernie". The British soap opera ''EastEnders'' has confirmed that characters Bert and Ernie Moon are named after the Muppets.

Discography

As the duo often sing in their skits, several albums were released, containing studio recorded versions of their songs. Bert's best known song is "Doin' the Pigeon". He and Ernie both had their own video, ''The Best of Ernie and Bert'', and their own album, ''Bert and Ernie's Greatest Hits''. Only Ernie, however, has hit the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 with his song "Rubber Duckie", in September 1970.

Internationally

''Sesame Street'' is localized for some different markets.

* Arab World, '' Iftah Ya Simsim'', Bert is "Badr", and Ernie is "Anis". They are called "Anis w Badr" ()
* Brazil, '' Vila Sésamo'', Bert is "Beto", and Ernie is "Ênio". They're called "Ênio e Beto".
* Catalonia, ''Barri Sèsam'', in the Catalan-language version, they are "Epi i Blai".
* Egypt, '' Alam Simsim'', Bert is "Hadi", and Ernie is Shadi. They are known as "Shadi w Hadi".
* France, '' 1, Rue Sésame'', Bert is "Bart" and Ernie is "Ernest". They are called "Ernest et Bart". In the French version, when Bert's brother Bart comes to visit, he is called "Bert".
* Germany, '' Sesamstraße'', they are called "Ernie und Bert".
* India, Galli Galli Sim Sim, they are called Bert aur Ernie.
* Israel, '' Rechov Sumsum'', Bert is "Bentz", a common short-form for the name "Ben-Tzion", and Ernie is "Arik", short-form for "Arie" ().
* Italy, ''Sesamo apriti'', Bert is "Berto" and Ernie is "Ernesto". They are called "Ernesto e Berto".
* Mexico and all Latin America, '' Plaza Sésamo'', Bert is "Beto", while Ernie is "Enrique". In addition, Ernie's cousin Ernestine is called "Enriqueta".
* Netherlands, '' Sesamstraat'' they are "Bert en Ernie". Paul Haenen provides Bert's voice, and Wim T. Schippers provides Ernie's.
* Norway, '' Sesam Stasjon'', Bert is "Bernt", while Ernie is "Erling". Usually, they're called "Bernt og Erling", respectively voiced by Harald Mæle and Magnus Nielsen.
* Pakistan, ''Khul Ja Sim Sim'', Bert is "Bablu", while Ernie is "Annu". They are commonly called "Annu aur Bablu".
* Poland, '' Ulica Sezamkowa'', Bert is "Hubert" and Ernie is "Emil". They are called "Hubert i Emil".
* Portugal, '' Rua Sésamo'', Bert is "Becas" and Ernie is "Egas". They are called "Egas e Becas", in the opposite order.
* Russia, '' Ulitsa Sezam'', Bert is Vlas and Ernie is Yenik. They are called ''Vlas i Yenik'' ("Влас и Еник")
* Spain, '' Barrio Sésamo'', Bert is "Blas", and Ernie is "Epi". Also, they are always called "Epi y Blas", in the opposite order.
* Turkey, '' Susam Sokağı'', Bert is "Büdü", while Ernie is "Edi". They are commonly called "Edi ile Büdü".

In other media

Books

Ernie is the subject of numerous books including:
*2021, ''Bert & Ernie'', Random House
*2019, ''The Importance of Being Ernie (and Bert)'', Imprint
*2012, ''Bert and Ernie Go Camping'', Candlewick Press
*1992, ''Ernie And His Merry Monsters'', Western Publishing
*1990, ''Ernie and Bert's New Kitten'', Random House
*1987, ''Ernie's Neighborhood'', Western Publishing
*1987, ''Just like Ernie'', Golden Books Publishing
*1987, ''Little Ernie's Animal Friends'', Random House
*1984, ''The Adventures of Ernie & Bert in Twiddlebug Land'', Random House
*1983, ''Ernie's Little Lie'', Random House
*1981, ''Ernie's Big Mess'', Random House
*1984, ''Ernie's Work of Art'', Western Publishing
*1979, ''The Many Faces of Ernie'', Western Publishing

Theme parks

Ernie was one of the first characters to appear at Sesame Place theme park as a costumed character, in May 1983. (He had previously appeared at the attraction's groundbreaking event.)

See also

* '' Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures''
* Bert is Evil
* Muppet Theory

References

External links

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Sesame Street at PBS Kids

Sesame Workshop


Transcripts of Bert and Ernie sketches

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bert And Ernie

American comedy duos
Fictional characters from New York City
Fictional duos
LGBTQ-related controversies in television
Sesame Street Muppet characters
Sesame Street segments
Television characters introduced in 1969
Television duos

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