Samson

Samson is a character from Sesamstrasse, the German co-production of Sesame Street.

Samson is a sweet big shaggy brown bear. He has a black spot on his nose and two large sneakers on his feet. He is big and tough, and a little clumsy. He lives in a cave, and he loves lying in his hammock and dancing. His best friend is Tiffy. Samson is best known for saying "uuiuuiuui!" ('oy oy oy!') when he's confused, and for his trademark song "Ich bin Samson, und ich schaff's!" (I am Samson, and I can do anything).

Samson represents the psychological age of a five year old.

Samson has been the main full body character on Sesamstrasse since the German street sequences started in 1977. His original performer was Peter Röders, who played the bear for six years. Nowadays, opera singer Klaus Esch plays Samson.

Samson was designed by Kermit Love. In a German documentary, Kermit Love explains how Samson was originally created as a teddy bear, since teddy bears were very popular in Germany. The teddy bear 'grew and grew, until he became Samson'. According to Kermit Love, children are not afraid to be trampled by the giant bear: he is their friend, because he is a puppet. Since Samson is a walkaround character, most of his body language comes from his feet and the way he walks, which is why his shoes are so large.

Just like in its American counterpart, German Sesame characters like Samson have gone through some changes in appearance over the decades:

Samson has a cousin named Simson who looks exactly like him, except that Simson wears a baseball cap. Simson was made from the old Samson costume #2, and appeared numerous times during the 1990s.