Teeny Little Super Guy



Teeny Little Super Guy appeared in animated segments created by Paul Fierlinger for Sesame Street, beginning in Season 15. Though ostensibly a superhero, Teeny Little Super Guy was actually more of a practical problem solver. Writer Jim Thurman provided the character's gravelly voice, and scripted the segments. The segments were distinguished by Fierlinger's unique animation method, wrapping cels around transparent plastic cups, so that a movement cycle could be achieved by simple rotation of the cups. This also allowed Fierlinger to use a kitchen counter and assorted dishes and kitchenware as props, inside his own kitchen. Some segments featured flashbacks to Teeny Little Super Guy's childhood. Reruns of these segments carried on until 2001.

The first Teeny Little Super Guy cartoon took two months to create. Fierlinger spoke at length about the character and production process in a 2005 Livejournal post. He initially pitched the idea to producer Dave Connell. "It was his [Connell's] idea that the character be a super hero, which made me hate him for that for about a week. I couldn’t understand people who couldn’t come up with anything more original for an animated character than yet another super guy. But Jim Thurman started playing him down and I dropped my resentments. We all followed Sesame Street’s curriculum of topics and I was given a contract to develop the series. I had a couple of months to create the hundreds of cups that were needed to play out any possible scenario and create the sound tracks."

A total of 13 segments were produced. The theme song and background score were composed by Larry Gold, with lyrics by Stuart Horn. Essra Mohawk sang the vocals, recorded to create the illusion of four-part harmony.

In Episode 4196, Luis was inspecting Leela's troubled washing machine. He managed to extract seven items, including the famous Teeny Little Super Guy. Luis, Leela and Elmo give a rather befuddled look, indicating they are surprised to see the famous character after so many years.

Credits

 * Executive Producer: Dave Connell & Dulcy Singer
 * Producer: Lisa Simon
 * Supervising Producer: Edith Zornow
 * Director: Paul Fierlinger
 * Writer/Voices: Jim Thurman
 * Engineer: John Avarnese
 * Editor: Patrick McMahon
 * Music Composer: Larry Gold
 * Theme song vocals: Essra Mohawk