Bip Bippadotta



Bip Bippadotta is a character on Sesame Street who is the counterpart of Mahna Mahna from The Muppet Show. Although both characters are most well known for performing the nonsense song "Mahna Mahna," they have always been portrayed by different puppets and considered separate entities.

When "Mahna Mahna" is performed on Sesame Street and related albums, the song is actually called "Mah Na Mah Na," with lead vocals provided by a character also called Mah Na Mah Na. This character, a Reddish-Magenta Little Anything Muppet, was the prototype for Bip Bippadotta. Unlike his counterpart Mahna Mahna, who premiered on The Ed Sullivan Show at roughly the same time, Mah Na Mah Na wore a sweater, and had dark brown hair and standard Muppet eyes. His back-up vocals were provided by Green and Purple Anything Muppet girls, who sing "pa tee, pa tee pee" instead of "do doo, do doo doo" like the Snowths who usually accompany Mahna Mahna.

The puppet would go through many evolutions and eventually look much more like Mahna Mahna than this first incarnation. First, he was changed to a Pumpkin Orange Little Anything Muppet with orange hair and a furry green tunic in the 1970s. It was at this point, on Every Body's Record, that he was first christened Bip Bippadotta. He would later be depicted as Lavender and then Purple Anything Muppets. In the 1980s, Bip was given sunglasses to cover his eyes, as opposed to the blinking eye feature on Mahna Mahna.

Unlike Mahna Mahna, who was almost exclusively associated with the song after which he is named (or perhaps the name after which he is songed), Bip Bippadotta has performed a variety of songs on Sesame Street, including "Fat Cat Scat," "Everybody's Song," "Air," "Scratch My Back," and "None Some All."