Big Bird is a
Muppet character designed by
Jim Henson
James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, actor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating ''Fraggle Rock'' ( ...
and built by
Kermit Love for the children's television show ''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, 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 Worksh ...
''. An bright yellow
anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...
bird,
he can
roller skate
Roller skates are boots with wheels mounted to the bottom, allowing the user to travel on hard surfaces similarly to an ice skater on ice. The first roller skate was an inline skate design, effectively an ice skate with a line of wheels replac ...
,
ice skate
Ice skates are metal blades attached underfoot and used to propel the bearer across a sheet of ice while ice skating.
The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with leather straps. These skates ...
,
dance
Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
,
swim,
sing
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...
, write
poetry
Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
,
draw, and ride a
unicycle
A unicycle is a vehicle that touches the ground with only one wheel. The most common variation has a frame with a saddle, and has a pedal-driven direct-drive. A two speed hub is commercially available for faster unicycling. Unicycling is prac ...
. Despite this wide array of talents, he is prone to frequent misunderstandings, on one occasion even singing the
alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...
as a single word (pronouncing it as in the song "
ABC-DEF-GHI"). He would refer to grocer
Mr. Hooper as "Mr. Looper", among other mispronunciations. He lives in a large
nest
A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold Egg (biology), eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of ...
behind the
123 Sesame Street brownstone and right next to
Oscar the Grouch
Oscar the Grouch is a List of Sesame Street Muppets, Muppet character created by Jim Henson and Jon Stone for the PBS/HBO children's television program ''Sesame Street''. He has a green body, no visible nose, and lives in a Sesame Street (fiction ...
's
trash can
A waste container, also known as a dustbin, rubbish bin, trash can, garbage can, wastepaper basket, and wastebasket, among other names, is a type of container intended to store waste that is usually made out of metal or plastic. The words "r ...
. In Season 46, the nest sits within a small, furnished maple tree, and is no longer hidden by used construction doors. He has a teddy bear named Radar.
Caroll Spinney
Caroll Edwin Spinney (December 26, 1933 – December 8, 2019) was an American puppeteer, cartoonist, author, artist and speaker, most famous for playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on ''Sesame Street'' from its inception in 1969 until 2018.
...
performed Big Bird from 1969 to 2018.
Matt Vogel began as an understudy in 1996 before becoming the character's full-time performer in 2018.
In 2000, Big Bird was named a
Living Legend by the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
.
Performing Big Bird
Big Bird was performed by
Caroll Spinney
Caroll Edwin Spinney (December 26, 1933 – December 8, 2019) was an American puppeteer, cartoonist, author, artist and speaker, most famous for playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on ''Sesame Street'' from its inception in 1969 until 2018.
...
starting in 1969. In the later years of Spinney's career, the show gradually started training new performers to play Big Bird. The apprentices included both
Rick Lyon
Richard S. Lyon (born February 25, 1958) is an American puppeteer, actor, and puppet designer and builder. He has worked for The Jim Henson Company as one of the operators of Big Bird. He appeared on Broadway theatre, Broadway originating the ro ...
in the opening theme song of the show's 33rd season, and later
Matt Vogel in the show's "Journey to Ernie" segment. Vogel became Big Bird's primary performer after Spinney's retirement.
Spinney was sick during the taping of a few first-season episodes, so Daniel Seagren performed Big Bird in those episodes.
He also performed Big Bird when he appeared on ''
The Ed Sullivan Show
''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...
'' in 1969 and on ''
Hollywood Squares
''Hollywood Squares'' (originally ''The Hollywood Squares'', later stylized as ''H2: Hollywood Squares'') is an American game show in which two contestants compete in a game of tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The show originally aired as a ...
'' in the 1970s.
According to ''The Story of Jim Henson'' by Stephanie St. Pierre, the costume was built for
Jim Henson
James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, actor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating ''Fraggle Rock'' ( ...
to perform, but when Henson tried it on,
Kermit Love, who had built the costume, did not think that Henson was walking like a bird is supposed to walk, and so Henson decided not to perform Big Bird.
Frank Oz
Frank Richard Oznowicz (born May 25, 1944), known professionally as Frank Oz, is an American puppeteer, filmmaker and actor. He is best known for his involvement with Jim Henson and George Lucas through ''The Muppets'', ''Sesame Street'', and '' ...
was offered the part, but since he disliked performing full-body characters, he turned down the job.
Director Jon Stone, in the 1994 documentary ''The World of Jim Henson'', revealed that the Big Bird costume actually did not have any openings that would allow the actor to see; a small television was strapped to the actor's chest to allow him to navigate. The camera was set up for Spinney by technician Walt Rauffer, on the suggestion of director Bob Myhrum. Rauffer rigged the camera to a harness strapped to Spinney's chest; Spinney reported that they called the camera "the electronic bra". When Big Bird's performer is performing on location and cannot get a video feed, a small hole is made in the costume to allow him to see. In such cases, Big Bird wears a
necktie
A necktie, long tie, or simply a tie, is a cloth article of formal neckwear or office attire worn for decorative or symbolic purposes, resting under a folded shirt collar or knotted at the throat, and usually draped down the chest. On rare o ...
to cover the hole. This can also be seen in the ''
Sesame Street Live'' shows.
In scenes where Big Bird and
Oscar the Grouch
Oscar the Grouch is a List of Sesame Street Muppets, Muppet character created by Jim Henson and Jon Stone for the PBS/HBO children's television program ''Sesame Street''. He has a green body, no visible nose, and lives in a Sesame Street (fiction ...
(both characters performed by Spinney) interact in a scene together, the situation has varied depending on the number of lines one or the other is given. When Spinney performed Big Bird, a second puppeteer operated Oscar to Spinney's vocals. Beginning in 1997, Vogel would operate Big Bird and Oscar was performed by Spinney as usual until 2015.
In 2015, due to being diagnosed with
dystonia
Dystonia is a neurology, neurological Hyperkinesia, hyperkinetic Movement disorders, movement disorder in which sustained or repetitive muscle contractions occur involuntarily, resulting in twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal fixed po ...
, Spinney no longer puppeteered the Big Bird suit full-time. Matt Vogel took over puppetry duties, manipulating the puppet to Spinney's vocals (either pre-recorded, dubbed in post-production, or provided live on set). Spinney continued to provide Big Bird's voice on the series for seasons 46 and 47, as well as select commercials, online videos, and the special ''
Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas''. Afterwards, Spinney entered semi-retirement, and Matt Vogel fully assumed the role. Despite this, Spinney continued to receive onscreen credit for playing the characters through Season 50.
On October 17, 2018, Spinney announced his official retirement from both his characters. The following day, he recorded his final performances as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch as part of Episode 5022 for the series' landmark 50th anniversary, though, when the episode aired, none of his vocals were kept in. Spinney's final vocal performance as Big Bird to air was in the cold open for Episode 4920.
Costume and portrayal
Big Bird was designed by a drawing from
Jim Henson
James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, actor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating ''Fraggle Rock'' ( ...
and built by
Kermit Love in 1969. The design was based on a previous Henson creation, a dragon that the puppeteer created for a La Choy advertising campaign. The Big Bird performer is completely enclosed within the costume, and extends their right hand over their head to operate the head and neck of the puppet. The Muppeteer's left hand serves as the Bird's left wing, while the right wing is stuffed and hangs loosely from a fishing line that runs through a loop under the neck and attaches to the wrist of the left hand. The right hand thus does the opposite of the left hand: as the left hand goes down, the right hand is pulled up by the fishing line. A secondary muppeteer would be used in scenes where Big Bird uses both his wings or holds something in the right wing.
Big Bird's body suit weighs ten pounds, and his head weighs four pounds. According to writer Louise Gikow, the heat inside the suit is "unbearable, and it's extraordinarily difficult to hold Big Bird's head."
Different versions of Big Bird are portrayed in some international versions of ''Sesame Street''. For example, the
Dutch version has a blue bird named Pino. In the Latin American version (Plaza Sésamo), Big Bird's parrot cousin, Abelardo Montoya, is featured. He appears similar to Big Bird, but he is green.
Big Bird's appearance has changed over the years, as has his personality. He originally had very few feathers on the top of his head; his body feathers were also more shaggy and unkempt. As time went on he gradually gained more feathers on his head, giving it a more rounded appearance, and developed a blaze-like crest of lighter yellow feathers above his eyes. His body feathers got fluffier, rounder and more well groomed as well. His personality developed over time from a more dopey and "bird-brained" character into the gentle, childlike innocent he is known as today. Although all the ''Sesame Street'' Muppet characters are technically ageless, Big Bird is psychologically written to represent a six-year-old.
The costume is partially assembled by company American Plume & Fancy Feather, using the tail feathers from
turkeys; as the feathers are rarely clean, company owner Anthony Trento calls the Big Bird costume his "toughest customer".
Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization and Television station, television company that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's ...
is said to reject roughly 90 percent of all the feathers selected for use on the costume.
International versions (adaptations)
Select filmography
*''
Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, 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 Worksh ...
'' (1969–present) (TV)
*''
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street'' (1978) (TV)
*''
A Special Sesame Street Christmas'' (1978) (TV)
*''
The Muppet Show
''The Muppet Show'' is a variety sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and starring the Muppets. It is presented as a variety show, featuring recurring sketches and musical numbers interspersed with ongoing plot-lines with ru ...
'' ... episode #318 (1979) (TV, Crossover with ''
The Muppets
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, slapstick, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Musical theatre, musical Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Cre ...
'')
*''
The Muppet Movie'' (1979) (Crossover with ''The Muppets'')
*''
Big Bird in China'' (1983) (TV)
*''
Don't Eat the Pictures'' (1983) (TV)
*''
Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird'' (1985)
*''Sesame Street: Play-Along Games and Songs'' (1986)
*''
The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years'' (1986) (TV, Crossover with ''The Muppets'')
*''
A Muppet Family Christmas'' (1987) (TV, Crossover with ''The Muppets'')
*''Sesame Street: Magic on Sesame Street'' (1988)
*''Count It Higher: Great Music Videos From Sesame Street'' (1988)
*''
Big Bird in Japan'' (1989) (TV)
*''
The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson'' (1990) (TV, Crossover with ''The Muppets'')
*''
Big Bird's Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake'' (1991) (TV)
*''
Sesame Street Stays Up Late'' (1993) (TV)
*''Sesame Street: Big Bird Sings!'' (1995)
*''
Elmo Saves Christmas'' (1996) (TV)
*''Sesame Street: Get Up and Dance'' (1997)
*''Sesame Street: Kids' Favorite Songs'' (1999)
*''
The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland'' (1999)
*''Sesame Street: Let's Make Music'' (2000)
*''Elmo's Musical Adventure: The Story of Peter and the Wolf'' (2001)
*''
Sesame Beginnings'' (2006–2007)
*''
The Furchester Hotel'' ... episodes #201 and #216 (2016) (TV)
*''The Magical Wand Chase'' (2017) (TV)
*''
Sesame Street: Elmo's Playdate'' (2020) (TV)
*''The ABCs of COVID-19: A CNN/Sesame Street Town Hall for Kids and Parents'' (2020) (TV)
*''Furry Friends Forever: Elmo Gets a Puppy'' (2021) (TV)
*''See Us Coming Together - A Sesame Street Special'' (2021) (TV)
Guest appearances
Source:
*''
The Electric Company
''The Electric Company'' is an American educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, now known as Sesame Workshop). It was co-created by Paul Dooley, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett. ...
'' ... episode #131 (1972)
*''
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the American-based department store chain Macy's. The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States ...
'' (1974–present)
*''
Hollywood Squares
''Hollywood Squares'' (originally ''The Hollywood Squares'', later stylized as ''H2: Hollywood Squares'') is an American game show in which two contestants compete in a game of tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The show originally aired as a ...
'' (1976–1977, 2000, 2001)
*''
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'' (sometimes shortened to ''Mister Rogers'') is an American half-hour educational children's television series that ran from 1968 to 2001. It was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. Its original incarnation, the se ...
'' ... episode #1483 (1981)
*''Kids Like These'' (1987)
*''
Hey Hey, It's Saturday'' (1995)
*''
Soul Man'' (1998)
*''
Jeopardy!
''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...
'' (2006)
*''
Deal or No Deal'' (2006)
*''
A Capitol Fourth'' (2009)
*''
Jimmy Kimmel Live'' (2009)
*''
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' (2011)
*''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'' (2012, 2015)
*''
The Colbert Report
''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December ...
'' (2013, 2014)
*''
Super Bowl 50'' (2016)
*''
The Kelly Clarkson Show
''The Kelly Clarkson Show'' is an American daytime television variety talk show hosted by Kelly Clarkson. It is produced and distributed by NBCUniversal Syndication Studios and features Clarkson interviewing celebrities and segments about "ev ...
'' (2019)
*''
The Late Late Show with James Corden
''The Late Late Show with James Corden'' (also known simply as ''Late Late'') is an American late-night talk show that aired on CBS from 2015 to 2023. It is the fourth and final iteration of '' The Late Late Show'', and aired in the United Sta ...
'' (2019)
*''
The Drew Barrymore Show'' (2020)
Commercials
Source:
*
Kmart
Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...
(1997, 1999, 2003)
*
Ford (1998)
*
Ad Council
The Advertising Council, commonly known as Ad Council, is an American nonprofit organization that produces, distributes, and promotes public service announcements or PSAs on behalf of various sponsors, including nonprofit organizations, non-gover ...
(1990s, 2024)
*
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
(2003)
*
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
(2016, 2018)
*
Doordash (2021)
Species
The book ''“G” is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street'' cites a producer of ''Sesame Street'' who refers to Big Bird as a
canary.
In the
series 11 episode, "Mister Rogers Talks about Competition" of the show, ''
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'' (sometimes shortened to ''Mister Rogers'') is an American half-hour educational children's television series that ran from 1968 to 2001. It was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. Its original incarnation, the se ...
'', Big Bird was asked by King Friday XIII if he was related to the
cassowary; he replied, "I'm actually a Golden Condor." On the January 23, 1976 episode of ''
Hollywood Squares
''Hollywood Squares'' (originally ''The Hollywood Squares'', later stylized as ''H2: Hollywood Squares'') is an American game show in which two contestants compete in a game of tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The show originally aired as a ...
'', Big Bird was asked what kind of bird he is and said he was a
lark
Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Larks have a cosmopolitan distribution with the largest number of species occurring in Africa. Only a single species, the horned lark, occurs in North America, and only Horsfield's bush lark occ ...
, causing host
Peter Marshall to crack up. In the film ''
Don't Eat the Pictures'', Osiris calls Big Bird an
ibis
The ibis () (collective plural ibises; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...
. Zoologist Mike Dickison suggested in his popular
Pechakucha talk that Big Bird represents a unique species that evolved from the
whooping crane
The whooping crane (''Grus americana'') is an endangered Crane (bird), crane species, native to North America, named for its "whooping" calls. Along with the sandhill crane (''Antigone canadensis''), it is one of only two crane species native to ...
.
For decades,
Oscar the Grouch
Oscar the Grouch is a List of Sesame Street Muppets, Muppet character created by Jim Henson and Jon Stone for the PBS/HBO children's television program ''Sesame Street''. He has a green body, no visible nose, and lives in a Sesame Street (fiction ...
has been calling Big Bird a turkey, more as an insult rather than a reference to his species. Big Bird is always described as being flightless.
Use of Big Bird in the 2012 US presidential election
During the
first presidential debate on October 3, 2012,
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...
used Big Bird as an example of spending cuts he would make to reduce the federal budget deficit. Romney told the moderator,
Jim Lehrer
James Charles Lehrer ( ; May 19, 1934 – January 23, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. He was the executive editor and a news anchor for the ''PBS News Hour'' on PBS and was known for his role as a debate ...
, "I like PBS, I love Big Bird. Actually like you, too. But I'm not going to – I'm not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for. That's number one."
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
’s campaign later released a satirical advertisement in which Romney described Big Bird as an "evil genius" and "a menace to our economy", and depicted Romney as more concerned with cracking down on Big Bird than on white collar criminals such as
Bernie Madoff and
Ken Lay
Kenneth Lee Lay (April 15, 1942 – July 5, 2006) was an American businessman and political donor who was the founder, chief executive officer and chairman of Enron. He was heavily involved in Enron's accounting scandal that unraveled in 2001 ...
.
Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization and Television station, television company that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's ...
subsequently asked that both campaigns remove ''Sesame Street'' characters from campaign materials, stating on their website: "Sesame Workshop is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization and we do not endorse candidates or participate in political campaigns."
In response to the mention in the debates, Big Bird made an appearance in a 2012
Weekend Update
''Weekend Update'' is a ''Saturday Night Live'' sketch and satirical news program that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest-running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast and been featu ...
segment on
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
with then host
Seth Meyers. During the interview, Big Bird joked about how he suddenly "felt famous" after being mentioned in the debates, but refused to make any political statements as to not "ruffle any feathers."
COVID-19 vaccine and parody Twitter account
On November 6, 2021, the character's official Twitter account posted that Big Bird had received a
COVID-19 vaccine
A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19).
Knowledge about the structure and fun ...
, in an effort to promote vaccination of children. After
President Joe Biden responded in support, U.S. Senator
Ted Cruz
Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...
criticized Sesame Street for the statement. In response, a parody Twitter account, Big Bird for Senate, (not affiliated with or endorsed by Sesame Workshop) was created portraying Big Bird as a candidate for Cruz's senate seat. The account gained over 100,000 followers in its first week, and numerous other accounts were made casting Sesame Street characters as campaign officials. The original account has since been deleted.
Other appearances
''Follow That Bird'' (1985)
In 1985, Big Bird was the star of his own film, ''
Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird'', alongside the cast of ''Sesame Street''. The plot focused on him being moved away to live with a family of dodos by a meddling social-worker named Miss Finch (voiced by
Sally Kellerman
Sally Clare Kellerman (June 2, 1937 – February 24, 2022) was an American actress whose acting career spanned 60 years. Her role as List of M*A*S*H characters#Margaret Houlihan, Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in Robert Altman's film ''M*A*S ...
). He is not happy with his new home and he runs away and embarks on a cross-country adventure. Along the way, he finds help from a friendly truck driver (
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is considered one of the pioneers of the Outlaw country, outlaw movement in country music.
Jennings started playing ...
) and two farmer kids (
Alyson Court and Benjamin Barrett). But on the bad side, there are two unscrupulous carnival-owning brothers (
Dave Thomas and
Joe Flaherty
Joseph Flaherty (born Joseph O'Flaherty, June 21, 1941 – April 1, 2024) was an American actor, writer, and comedian. He is best known for his work on the Canadian sketch comedy '' SCTV'' from 1976 to 1984 (on which he also served as a write ...
) who want to kidnap and make him perform in their carnival for their own profit. In the meantime, his friends
Bert,
Ernie
Ernie is a masculine given name, frequently a short form (hypocorism) of Ernest, Ernald, Ernesto, or Verner. It may refer to:
People
* Ernie Accorsi (born 1941), American football executive
* Ernie Adams (disambiguation)
* Ernie Afaganis ...
,
Cookie Monster
Cookie Monster is a blue List of Sesame Street Muppets, Muppet character on the PBS/HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street.'' He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating catchphrases, such as "Me want cookie!" As ...
,
Grover
Grover is a blue Muppet character on the PBS/HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street''. Self-described as lovable, cute, and furry, he is a blue monster who rarely uses contractions when he speaks or sings. Grover was originally perfo ...
,
Count von Count,
Telly and Oscar the Grouch are in pursuit of him to find him and bring him back home safely. Also joining them are their human friends,
Gordon,
Maria,
Olivia and
Linda with
Bob aiding them from Sesame Street.
1970s and 1980s
In the mid-late 1970s, Big Bird made several appearances on ''
The Hollywood Squares''. As with
Mr. Hooper, Big Bird frequently mispronounced host
Peter Marshall's name, calling him "Mr. Marshmallow" or "Mr. Masher". In another episode, when asked by Marshall what kind of bird he was, Big Bird replied "I'm a lark", which
broke Marshall up.
He appeared in a
series 11 episode of ''
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'' (sometimes shortened to ''Mister Rogers'') is an American half-hour educational children's television series that ran from 1968 to 2001. It was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. Its original incarnation, the se ...
'' in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe segment, in which he enters the "Draw the Neighborhood" contest.
He made an appearance as a guest star on the third season of ''
The Muppet Show
''The Muppet Show'' is a variety sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and starring the Muppets. It is presented as a variety show, featuring recurring sketches and musical numbers interspersed with ongoing plot-lines with ru ...
''. A portrait of Big Bird also appeared in the pilot ''
The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence''.
Big Bird also made brief appearances in ''
The Muppet Movie'' and ''
The Muppets Take Manhattan''.
He appeared in ''
A Muppet Family Christmas'' holiday special, in which he dissuades the
Swedish Chef from cooking him for Christmas dinner by offering him a gift of homemade chocolate covered birdseed. They then sing a duet of "The Christmas Song".
Henson memorial service (1990)
On May 21, 1990, Big Bird appeared at Jim Henson's memorial service at
the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, singing
Kermit the Frog's signature song, "
Bein' Green". Performer Caroll Spinney nearly broke down several times during the deeply touching performance, which was later described by ''
Life
Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'' as "an epic and almost unbearably moving event".
21st century
Big Bird made a non-speaking appearance in ''
The West Wing
''The West Wing'' is an American political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White House, where t ...
'' Season 5 episode "
Eppur Si Muove". During a visit by
The Muppets
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, slapstick, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Musical theatre, musical Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Cre ...
to the White House, Big Bird sat down on a bench next to
C. J. Cregg, who had complained during the episode of past comparisons to Big Bird due to her height.
He appeared briefly at Qualcomm's
CES Keynote on January 7, 2013, to show off
Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization and Television station, television company that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's ...
's newest app, 'Big Bird's Words', due in Summer 2013.
He appeared in the final episode of ''
The Colbert Report
''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December ...
'' in 2014 along with
Cookie Monster
Cookie Monster is a blue List of Sesame Street Muppets, Muppet character on the PBS/HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street.'' He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating catchphrases, such as "Me want cookie!" As ...
and dozens of other celebrities singing "
We'll Meet Again
"We'll Meet Again" is a 1939 song by English singer Vera Lynn with music and lyrics composed and written by English songwriters Ross Parker and Hughie Charles. The song is one of the most famous of the Second World War era, resonating with ...
".
On February 16, 2015, Big Bird appeared alongside
Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama ( Robinson; born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United Stat ...
on ''
Billy on the Street'', a comedy game show hosted by
Billy Eichner. Before the quiz, Michelle Obama talked about "eat brighter", a campaign to promote healthy food in kids which she and a number of ''Sesame Street'' characters, including Big Bird, participated in. The short was
nominated for an Emmy Award later that year.
Big Bird appeared with Caroll Spinney in a spoof of the Academy Award-winning film ''
Birdman.'' Published on YouTube on February 19, 2015, the video shows Spinney sitting in a dressing room with a poster of Big Bird behind him. Spinney hears the voice of his
alter ego
An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other ...
, just as
Michael Keaton
Michael John Douglas (born September 5, 1951), known professionally as Michael Keaton, is an American actor. He has received numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for an Aca ...
's character Riggan hears his alter ego Birdman in the movie. He uses
telekinesis
Telekinesis () (alternatively called psychokinesis) is a purported psychic ability allowing an individual to influence a physical system without physical interaction. Experiments to prove the existence of telekinesis have historically been cri ...
to throw a box of tissues at the Big Bird poster. The spoof uses similar music to the ''Birdman'' film. The Big Birdman spoof appears as if it were shot in one long take, mimicking the long scenes of the movie. It follows Spinney out of the dressing room, down hallways, through doors, and out onto the sidewalk, where he is joined by Big Bird.
In an advertisement for
AT&T
AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
/
DirecTV
DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...
, Big Bird and other film/television personalities such as
David Hasselhoff (as his ''
Knight Rider'' persona
Michael Knight) and the
Oklahoma Sooners football
The Oklahoma Sooners football team represents the University of Oklahoma (OU) in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The program began in 1895 and is one of the most succ ...
team appear interspersed with the daily workings of a major city as someone walks around using the service's
TV Everywhere
TV Everywhere (also known as authenticated streaming or authenticated video on-demand) refers to a type of American subscription business model wherein access to streaming video content from a television channel requires users to "authenticate" ...
initiative.
At the 2019 Kennedy Center Honors, which was filmed on the day Spinney died, Vogel made an appearance as Big Bird for the event to celebrate ''Sesame Street'' being honored by the
Kennedy Center
The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...
.
References
Further reading
* Simon, Ellen
"He's Big Bird: Caroll Spinney loves every feather" Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
via
Google News
Google News is a news aggregator service developed by Google. It presents a continuous flow of links to articles organized from thousands of publishers and magazines.
Google News is available as an app on Android, iOS, and the Web. Google ...
, June 16, 2008. Accessed June 19, 2008.
* Demara, Bruce. "Sesame Street's Big Bird: Brought to you by the letter C". ''Toronto Star'', April 23, 2014, E1.
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Sesame Street Muppet characters
Anthropomorphic birds
Fictional flightless birds
Television characters introduced in 1969
Fictional canaries