Bert is a yellow
Muppet
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are ...
character
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
on the long running
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
and
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
children's
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
show ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
''. Bert was originally performed by
Frank Oz.
Since 1999, Muppeteer
Eric Jacobson
Eric Jacobson is an American puppeteer. He is best known for performing Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle for The Muppets Studio, as well as ''Sesame Street'' characters Bert, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, and Guy Smiley—all roles tha ...
has been phased in as Bert's primary performer. Bert has also made cameo appearances within ''
The Muppets
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety- sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses ...
'' franchise, including ''
The Muppet Show
''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a ser ...
'', its second pilot episode ''
The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence'', ''
The Muppet Movie
''The Muppet Movie'' is a 1979 American musical road comedy film directed by James Frawley, produced by Jim Henson, and the first theatrical film featuring the Muppets. A co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States, the film w ...
'', 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.
Bert's age has never been defined, but performer on ''
Sesame Street Live'', Taylor Morgan, has said that "I just kind of try to think like a six year old or a seven year old, because that's how old Bert is."
He and his roommate
Ernie form a
comic duo
A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases f ...
that is one of the program's centerpieces, with Bert acting as the world weary foil, to Ernie's naive troublemaking.
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
"Rubber Duckie" is a song sung by the The Muppets, Muppet character Ernie (Sesame Street), Ernie (voiced by Jim Henson) on ''Sesame Street''. The song is named after Ernie's toy, a rubber ducky affectionately named Rubber Duckie.
The song, writt ...
", in September 1970.
See also
*
Bert and Ernie
*
Bert is Evil
Bert is Evil is the name of a parody website, founded by Dino Ignacio on March 30, 1997, which featured Bert, a character on the American children's television program ''Sesame Street''. In 1998, Dino Ignacio, Wout J Reinders and Jasper Hulshoff P ...
*
Ernie
References
Sesame Street Muppet characters
Television characters introduced in 1969
Television sidekicks
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