Mr. Snuffleupagus

Mr. Snuffleupagus is a full-bodied Muppet character who lives with his family in a cave, just off of Sesame Street.

His full name is Aloysius Snuffleupagus, although Big Bird and others call him Snuffy. His best friend is Big Bird, whom he affectionately calls simply "Bird." His favorite foods are cabbage and spaghetti. He has a sister named Alice Snuffleupagus and a friend named Rosalyn. Snuffleupaguses come from Hawaii.

For a time, his catch phrase was "Oh dear," which he once revealed to have been his first words as a baby.

Mr. Snuffleupagus first appeared on Sesame Street in Episode 0276, the third season premiere. When he first appeared, many of the adults assumed that he was Big Bird's imaginary friend, due to a series of coincidences and near-miss encounters which continually kept Snuffleupagi and humans apart. Big Bird would often try to find ways for Snuffy to meet the adults, but something would always cause Snuffy to leave before the humans could see him. Sometimes, all it would take for the adults to see Mr. Snuffleupagus would be to turn their heads, yet they usually wouldn't do so until Snuffy had already gone.

Various kids could see Mr. Snuffleupagus, some Muppets saw him, and even a few celebrities (including Judy Collins) saw him, but the main human adults never believed in his existance until Episode 2096 in 1985.

Mr. Snuffleupagus became real to the entire cast for a few reasons. One was because the writers were running out of new ways to have Snuffy just barely miss meeting others. Another factor was increased concerns that children would be afraid to tell things to their parents and risk being disbelieved.

It takes two people to perform Mr. Snuffleupagus. The person who performs the front also performs the voice. Jerry Nelson was the first to play the character, but back problems caused by the physical stress of the performance forced him to bow out. Michael Earl Davis took over for two seasons, before Marty Robinson became the permanent voice and face of Snuffy. The back of Mr. Snuffleupagus has been performed by Richard Hunt, Brian Muehl, and others, but since the early 1980s, the regular back-end has been Bryant Young.

Trivia

 * The original Mr. Snuffleupagus puppet had bright yellow eyes, immobile eyelids, and yellow eyelashes. He was redesigned in Season 4, gaining white eyes, eyelids, and eyelashes, looking more like he does today.


 * Whenever the Mr. Snuffleupagus puppet is in the set but not being used, it is hung on hooks so that it won't get in the way.


 * Though Snuffy's species is usually spelled Snuffleupagus, there have been occasions where it was spelled Snuffle-upagus with a dash. It appeared in this form in the credits for Don't Eat The Pictures and in a few Sesame Street books. However, it has most often been spelled Snuffleupagus, in productions such as Follow That Bird (on his mailbox, the postcard he sent to Big Bird, and the credits) and in  Sesame Street Unpaved.

International
On Italy's Piazza Sesamo, Snuffy is "Gino" and never eats Kiwi Fruit because they look like Tiny Snuffleupagus eggs. He can also understand all of the official EU languages. A running gag is that all of Gino's belongings (his vespa, clothes, the portions of meals he eats, the doorways he enters, his bathroom) are tiny!

Near Misses
There have been many times when other characters almost saw Mr. Snuffleupagus, only to just barely miss him. Some even heard him talk but thought they were imagining things. Here are some of the many close encounters between Mr. Snuffleupagus and others.


 * In an early appearance, Mr. Snuffleupagus counted people who didn't see him. Among these were Mr. Hooper, whose glasses fell off (he couldn't see anything without them), Cookie Monster, who was eating cookies and got his head stuck in the bag, and Maria, who looked out the window and stuck her head back in right before Mr. Snuffleupagus came into sight.


 * Forgetful Jones once encountered him, but then Snuffy left before Bob came onto the scene, and by the time Bob arrived, Forgetful Jones forgot all about his meeting with Snuffy.


 * Grover once had a bad case of the hiccups, so Big Bird tried to cure his hiccups by wearing scary costumes. When Mr. Snuffleupagus showed up, Grover thought he was just one of Big Bird's scary costumes.


 * Mr. Snuffleupagus once came to Sesame Street wearing his black and white striped pajamas. Bob was sleeping on the street, and woke up just before Snuffy left, and actually saw him. However, when Bob told Big Bird, he mentioned the black and white stripes, and Big Bird thought Bob was imagining things.


 * Not long before Snuffy was finally revealed to the adults, Gordon, Linda, and Maria decided they would believe Big Bird despite the lack of evidence. Once, Snuffy saw Linda sitting in the courtyard and walked up to her to say hello.  Unfortunately, she was facing away from him and couldn't hear his greeting.  Not realizing she was deaf, Snuffy eventually gave up and walked away.