The Big Bad Wolf



The Big Bad Wolf is a famous fairy tale character, professional windbag, and connoisseur of pork and baskets of goodies. He continually engages in good-natured pursuit of The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood. He has been seen on Sesame Street in many different incarnations over the years, most commonly performed by Jerry Nelson (and occasionally by Kevin Clashand others.) The character debuted in the Sesame Street News Flash segments which re-enacted or spoofed his stories, and later began making appearances on the street itself.

The earliest version of the Big Bad Wolf appeared in 1971, a a giant blue shaggy wolf with an angry expression and a variation of the early Herry Monster puppet. A 1985 News Flash segment substituted a green Big Bad Wolf, in exploring the feelings of the three pigs. By 1988, the character had been redesigned, and a purple puppet was used most often (and would also be used for Jackman Wolf). Other versions of the puppet with different fur colors have also popped up from time to time. However, the puppets feature one thing in common: they have a moving eyebrow mechanism.

The Big Bad Wolf has occasionally shown range outside of blowing down houses and chasing pigs. In a 1980 News Flash, with Cookie Monster as Little Red Riding Hood, he appeared as Dr. Wolf, tending to Cookie's sick grandmother. On another occasion, he invaded Ernie and Bert's Apartment, where Bert assumed it was merely Ernie in another disguise. (When the skit was adapted into book form as The Many Faces of Ernie, the Big Bad Wolf was replaced by Frazzle.) He was also a member of Guy Smiley's studio audience in a skit where the game show host takes his entire audience out to lunch, and was also seen in Sing, Hoot & Howl.

In the late 1990s and beyond, in his now mostly standard purple form, the Big Bad Wolf frequently played key roles in street storylines and in videos. He showed a flair for civil service as well, functioning as City Nest Inspector in episode 3980, and using his hurricane breath to determine whether Big Bird's new nest was safe and could withstand the elements. In Episode 4035, the Big Bad Wolf's brother Leonard visited Sesame Street, and taught Elmo and Rosita that not all wolves are the same.

On the video front, he appeared in The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street, providing security as "Pig Control", helping Grover recite his speech for Kermit without being bothered by the three little pigs. The Wolf also starred in the direct-to-video Peter and the Wolf; as performed by Noel MacNeal, this was his most substantial role to date.

In 2007, the Big Bad Wolf was revamped again in a grey variation using a similar puppet pattern. In Episode 4135, he appears on Sesame Street to terrorize the pigs as Prairie Dawn provides a Special Report for Fairy Tale News.

Casting history

 * Jerry Nelson: 1971-2000s
 * Kevin Clash: 1980s
 * Joey Mazzarino: 2004
 * Marty Robinson: 2005-2006

Book Appearances

 * Grover's Little Red Riding Hood (1976)
 * Big Bird's Red Book (1977)
 * The Sesame Street Dictionary (1980)