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Bert and Ernie are two Muppet characters who appear together in numerous skits on the children's television show Sesame Street. Ernie acts the role of the naïve and exuberant trou…
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Investigate this subjectBert and Ernie are two Muppet characters who appear together in numerous skits on the children's television show Sesame Street. Ernie acts the role of the naïve and exuberant troublemaker, while Bert is the world-weary foil.
Bert and Ernie are two Muppet characters who appear together in numerous skits on the 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.
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. The common names were referenced during Bert & Ernie's cameo in Elmo Saves Christmas, when they walk by a TV showing a relevant scene from It's a Wonderful Life.
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 was initially performed by Frank Oz from 1969 to 2006. Since 1998, 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 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.
Physically, Bert represents a human, with yellow skin, an orange nose, 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.
From Sesame Street season 3 (1971-1972) until season 21 (1989-1990) He and Ernie starred in a daily segment called "Caveman Days". Bert was one of the hosts of the show Play With Me Sesame. Three computer game regular segments that he hosted was "Pigeon Patterns", "Oatmeal Art", and "Perfect Pairs". He and Ernie also star in the claymation series Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures, which aired as inserts on Sesame Street beginning in Season 39.
Ernie was originally performed by Jim Henson from 1969 until his death in 1990. Steve Whitmire then played Ernie, beginning in 1992, 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 animates 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.
From Sesame Street season 3 (1971-1972) until season 21 (1989-1990) He and Bert starred in a daily segment called "Caveman Days". From Sesame Street season 30 (1998-1999) until season 32 (2001), Ernie and the kids starred in a daily segment called "Ernie's Show and Tell". 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 occasionally performed by John Tartaglia during the second season. Two regular segments that he hosted was "Ernie Says", a variation of the game Simon Says, and He played on a computer in Ducks in a Row. He and Bert also star in the claymation series Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures, which aired as inserts on Sesame Street beginning in season 39.
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 Kermi
Source: Bert and Ernie (CC BY-SA)
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