Ernie



Since 1969, Ernie has been one of the stars of Sesame Street. He and Bert form a comic duo that is one of the program's centerpieces, with Ernie acting the role of the naïve trouble-maker and Bert the world-weary foil.

Ernie is well known for his fondness for baths with his Rubber Duckie, and for trying to learn to play the saxophone because he wouldn't "put down the duckie." Ernie is also known for keeping Bert awake at night, for reasons such as wanting to play the drums at night, wanting to count something (like sheep), to observe something like a blackout, or even because he is waiting for his upstairs neighbor to drop his shoes.

Many Ernie and Bert sketches involve Ernie wanting to play a game with Bert, who would much rather do something else (like read). Ernie keeps annoying Bert with the game until Bert joins in -- and usually, by time Bert starts enjoying the game, Ernie is tired of playing the game and wants to do something else. Other sketches have involved them sharing some food by dividing it equally, only for one of them to have a bit more than the other, leading Ernie to make it even by eating the extra piece.

Ernie has also frequently made appearances without Bert. He has regularly appeared in skits with Cookie Monster, Sherlock Hemlock and Lefty the Salesman.

Starting in Season 33, he and Big Bird have starred in a daily segment called "Journey to Ernie". Starting in Season 36, the segment started appearing less often, and so far it has not been seen in Season 37.

Movies
Ernie has appeared in both of the Sesame Street movies. In Follow That Bird, he and Bert search for Big Bird by plane. Ernie piloted the plane, and eventually, after they found Big Bird, he flew the plane upside-down, singing "Upside Down World". However, after they lost Big Bird, Ernie blamed Bert for losing Big Bird.

In The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, Ernie and Bert served as hosts. Whenever it looked like something unsettling happened, Ernie had to reassure Bert (and the audience) that nothing bad was going to happen.

Ernie also appeared in the finales of The Muppet Movie and The Muppets Take Manhattan, the last of which he got a line.

Specials
In Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, Ernie decided to buy Bert a cigar box to store his paper clips in. However, as he didn't have any money, he traded his own Rubber Duckie for it. At the same time, Bert decided to get Ernie a soap dish to put his Rubber Duckie in, so that it wouldn't keep falling into the tub, but had to trade his paper clips for it. However, Mr. Hooper could tell that neither of them really wanted to give up their prized possessions, so Mr. Hooper gave them their things back as presents.

Ernie and Bert introduced a montage of Sesame Street clips in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years. Ernie also narrated a Christmas pageant, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, in A Muppet Family Christmas. In that same special, Ernie and Bert had a conversation with Doc, making them the only Sesame Street characters (not counting Kermit the Frog) to have interacted with Doc.

In Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting, he and Bert got a new video camera, and he talked Bert into using the camera to record footage of Sesame Street so that they could watch Sesame Street on television.

Performing Ernie
Ernie is a Live-Hand Muppet, meaning that while operating the head of the puppet with his right hand, the puppeteer inserts his left hand into a T-shaped sleeve, capped off with a glove that matches the fabric "skin" of the puppet, thus "becoming" the left arm of the puppet. A second puppeteer usually provides the right arm, although sometimes the right arm is simply stuffed and pinned to the puppet's chest. Other puppets of this type include Cookie Monster and Fozzie Bear.

Perspectives on Ernie

 * "I was fascinated with Ernie and Bert. Everything about Ernie and Bert fit with their characters. Because Ernie was chubby and had horizontal stripes. He had a soft orangy colored skin and black hair. And Bert on the other hand was rigid, and he was upright, and he has verticle stripes on his shirt and light yellow skin with really dark eyebrows. And I just thought this was amazing, to watch them work. Ernie was kind of bouncy, and fun and playful. And Bert was rigid and planted. He was always planted and had dull hobbies."
 * - Dave Goelz, MuppetFest December 2001

Trivia

 * Ernie made special appearances in two Muppet Show episodes: Episode 102: Connie Stevens and Episode 518: Marty Feldman.


 * John Tartaglia performed Ernie in the second season of Play with Me Sesame, and in some portions of that show's webite.


 * In the finale of The Muppet Movie, Ernie was performed by Earl Kress, better known as a writer. Kress recounted his experiences on the film on Muppet Central.


 * In Episode 0001, Ernie says that his favorite letter is E, and his favorite number is 2. However, in the song "Six", he revealed that his favorite number is 8,243,721.

Songs

 * Rubber Duckie
 * I Don't Want to Live on the Moon
 * The Honker-Duckie-Dinger Jamboree
 * D-U-C-K-I-E
 * Everybody Wash
 * Put Down the Duckie (song)
 * Do De Rubber Duck
 * Best Friends Blues
 * Share
 * Dance Myself to Sleep
 * Dee, Dee, Dee
 * One and One Make Two
 * Imagination
 * Imagine That
 * Things That I Remember
 * Sleep
 * But I Like You
 * Up Goes the Castle
 * If I Knew You Were Coming