Bert (Sesame Street)
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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
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and
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children's
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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 Frank Oz (born Frank Richard Oznowicz; May 25, 1944) is an American actor, puppeteer, and filmmaker. He began his career as a puppeteer, performing the Muppet characters of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle in ''The Muppet Show ...
. 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 role ...
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'', ''
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'', and ''
The Muppets Take Manhattan ''The Muppets Take Manhattan'' is a 1984 American musical comedy drama film directed by Frank Oz. It is the third theatrical film in ''The Muppets'' franchise. In addition to the Muppet performance, the film features special appearances by Art ...
'', in addition to an appearance with Ernie on ''
The Flip Wilson Show ''The Flip Wilson Show'' is an hour-long variety show that originally aired in the US on NBC from September 17, 1970, to June 27, 1974. The show starred American comedian Flip Wilson; the program was one of the first American television programs ...
'' 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 ''Sesame Street Live'' is a live touring show based on the children's television show ''Sesame Street'' produced by Feld Entertainment. History The VEE Corporation was started in March 1980 by founder Vincent Egan, who had an idea to produce a l ...
'', 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 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 (born c ...
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 fo ...
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 and Ernie are two Muppet characters who appear together in numerous skits on the long-running PBS/HBO children's television show, ''Sesame Street''. Originated by Frank Oz and Jim Henson, the characters are currently performed by puppeteer ...
*
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 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 (born c ...


References

Sesame Street Muppet characters Television characters introduced in 1969 Television sidekicks {{puppet-stub