Biff

PERFORMER	Jerry Nelson
DEBUT	1973
PATTERN	Large Lavender Live Hand

Biff and his niece, Roxie Marie.

Biff is a construction worker on Sesame Street who speaks with a gruff New York accent. His partner is Sully. Biff first appeared in Season 4, and made periodic appearances through Season 30.

Biff often asks for Sully's opinion, but interrupts him before Sully gets a chance to even make a sound. He also tends to ask him questions and then eggs Sully on by repeating, "Huh? Huh? Huh?", a reference to a routine by comedy duo Burns and Schreiber. As performer Jerry Nelson said in an interview, "Sully wasn't so much Schreiber, but Biff was the Jack Burns character." Biff often has trouble figuring out how to perform various tasks, and by the time he's figured it out, Sully has already finished it.

Biff has a niece named Roxie Marie. According to Episode 2608, he also has four kids - Timmy, Tommy, Tammy and infant Mary-Biff. In the song "Five Feet High and Rising," he mentions that he's married to a woman named Ethyl, but in Episode 3217, his wife's name is Celeste. In Episode 1737, he mentions having a dog named Tuffy.

According to Episode 2294, Biff says he grew up in Canarsie (a neighborhood in Brooklyn). Biff mentions in Episode 3087 that he attended P.S. 186, where he was the self-proclaimed counting ace.

He has sung songs such as "We Coulda," "Think of Your Fingers," "This Song is For the Birds," and appeared in "Do De Rubber Duck." He also appeared with Judy Collins in the song "One Thing Leads to Another," and with Johnny Cash in "Five Feet High and Rising."

In Elmopalooza, Biff uses a jackhammer to get Jon Stewart and Prairie Dawn out of the dressing room, but when he puts it on full throttle, it shakes him all the way to the stage. Later during "One Small Voice," he and Sully appear in the audience at the talent show.

The duo made background cameos in episodes Episode 4204 and 4712. In season 50, he made his first new speaking appearances in Episode 5017 and 5033, now performed by Matt Vogel.

A similarly named construction foreman, Bif, exists off-screen. Two construction worker Anything Muppets who looked similar to Biff and Sully made background appearances in the "Outrageous Makeover: Home Addition" sketch. (First: Episode 4132)

Filmography

See also Biff and Sully Sketches

• Sesame Street
• Julie on Sesame Street
• The Muppet Movie
• The Muppets Take Manhattan
• Follow That Bird
• The Muppets: A Celebration of Thirty Years
• Sing Along
• A Muppet Family Christmas
• Don't Forget to Watch the Movie
• Elmopalooza
• A Brief History of Motion Pictures
• Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration
• The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo

Episodic appearances

• Season 4: 0487, 0532
• Season 5: 0543, 0553, 0606
• Season 6: 0671, 0680, 0702, 0744
• Season 7: 0810, 0821, 0839
• Season 8: 0950, Episode 1009, 1045
• Season 9: 1145
• Season 10: 1190, 1287
• Season 11: 1360, 1362, 1371
• Season 13: 1610, 1613
• Season 14: 1733, 1736, 1737, 1743, 1750, 1782, 1799
• Season 15: 1863, 1955
• Season 17: 2148
• Season 18: 2289, 2294, 2320, 2355
• Season 19: 2357
• Season 20: 2608
• Season 21: 2706
• Season 22: 2791, 2792, 2793, 2795, 2826, 2870, 2874
• Season 23: 2906, 2928, 2984
• Season 24: 3013, 3087
• Season 25: 3136, 3154, 3193, 3217, 3260
• Season 26: 3333, 3387
• Season 29: 3703
• Season 30: 3845
• Season 40: 4204
• Season 47: 4712
• Season 50: 5017, 5033

Book appearances

• Big Bird's Busy Book (1975)
• I'm My Mommy - I'm My Daddy (1975, with green skin)
• The Sesame Street Book of Fairy Tales (1975)
• How to Be a Grouch (1976)
• Cookie Monster's Book of Cookie Shapes (1979)
• The Count Counts a Party (1980)
• The House That Biff Built (1980)
• I Like School (1980)
• The Sesame Street Dictionary (1980)
• The Sesame Street Pet Show (1980)
• The Tool Box Book (1980)
• What Did You Bring? (1980)
• The Amazing Mumford Presents the Magic Weather Show (1981)
• A Day in the Life of Oscar the Grouch (1981)
• I Have a Friend (1981)
• Put & Play Magic Show (1981)
• What Do You Do? (1981)
• City (1982)
• Sesame Street Finding Out Encyclopedia 5: The EF Book (1982)
• Sesame Street Finding Out Encyclopedia 9: The NO Book (1982)
• Sesame Street Finding Out Encyclopedia 13: The T Book (1982)
• Everyone Makes Mistakes (1983)
• Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street? (1984)
• A Silly Sesame Street Story: The Three Little Pigs (1984)
• Sesame Street ABC (1986)
• A Birthday Surprise (1987)
• A New Playground on Sesame Street (1988)
• Oscar's Grouchy Sounds (1990)
• Bright and Early with Elmo (1994)

See also

• Bif