Bert (Sesame Street)

Ernie and his rubber duckie with Bert in Sesame Street.

Bert is a fictional character, a Muppet on the Public Broadcasting Service's long-running children's television show, Sesame Street. Bert was originally performed by Frank Oz. Since 2001, Muppeteer Eric Jacobson has been phased in as Bert's primary performer.

He and his roommate Ernie form a comic duo that is one of the program's centerpieces, with Bert acting the world-weary foil to Ernie's naive trouble-maker. A characteristic physical feature of Bert is his unibrow.

Characteristics

Bert, though intelligent, is also grumpy, boring and easily frustrated. He enjoys activities such as paper clip and bottle cap collecting, cooking oatmeal and watching pigeons. In one sketch, Bert reads a book called "Boring Stories" and chuckles, "Boy, these Boring Stories are really exciting!" In the book Sesame Street Unpaved, Frank Oz says, "I was never really happy with Bert's character until about a year in, when I realized... that he was a very boring character, and I'd use that weakness as a strength for him." On a 2007 episode of Martha Stewart's TV program, in a sidelong reference to the late Tommy Newsom of Tonight Show fame, Bert was ironically described as "Mr. Excitement" by pal Cookie Monster.

Bert has a pet pigeon named Bernice, and he created a dance called "Doin' the Pigeon". Bert serves as President of the National Association of W Lovers, a club dedicated to the letter W. Two conventions held by the W Lovers have been shown on the show. Bert has pet goldfish, two of whom are named Lyle and Talbot, a reference to the actor Lyle Talbot.

A typical "Bert and Ernie" skit has Ernie coming up with a hare-brained idea and Bert attempting to talk him out of it, ending with Bert completely losing his temper and Ernie remaining oblivious to his own bad idea.

Bert has a twin brother, Bart; a nephew, Brad; and an Aunt Matilda. Brad (presumed to be played by Richard Hunt) had a voice like Beaker, but slightly deeper, and while he still made baby-like noises, he was able to talk. Ernie brought a toy shark with him in one skit; Brad was scared by it, not realizing it was a toy. Bart looks exactly like Bert—Ernie once mistook Bart for Bert—but Bart wears a suit and fedora and is a salesman ("Bart's the name and selling's my game!"). Bart also tells several jokes, and laughs at his own jokes and has combed hair. Bert's Aunt Matilda is never shown, but is often talked about, usually concerning Bert buying presents for her for numerous reasons.

In the French version of Sesame Street, Bert and Bart are known by each other's names.

The age of Bert and Ernie is regularly discussed on forums. Nothing official has ever been said, but most consider the duo adults, as they do not appear to be highly dependent on others. Helping suggestions of the characters being young is a comment by Sesame Street Live performer Taylor Morgan. Morgan said to the Macon Telegraph that "I just kind of try to think like a 6-year-old or 7-year-old, because that's how old Bert is."

Although both live alone without parents, which would place them as adults, in one skit where Lefty tries to sell Ernie an O, Lefty begins with "Hey kid, come here!" Although this skit may just place Ernie as a kid and Bert's age would still be indeterminate.

Discography

As the duo often sing in their skits, several albums were released containing studio-recorded versions of their songs. Bert's best-known song is "Doin' the Pigeon". Additionally, he and Ernie both had their own video, The Best of Ernie and Bert, and their own album, Bert and Ernie's Greatest Hits. He also has a few of his own albums, such as Bert's Blockbusters and The Best of Bert.

International

Sesame Street is localised for some different markets, and Bert is often renamed.

• France: Bart, sometimes Bébert
• Israel: Bentz
• Kuwait: Bader
• Latin America: Beto
• Norway: Bernt
• Portugal: Becas
• Russia: Vlas (Влас)
• Spain: Blas
• Turkey: Büdü
• Netherlands: Bert
• Belgium: Bert
• Sweden: Bert
• Germany: Bert
• Brazil: Beto
• Egypt: Hadi

Parody

File:Bert and Ernie Married.jpg

Bert and Ernie shown as being married at the 2008 Chicago gay pride parade.

Ernie and Bert share an apartment in the basement of 123 Sesame Street (although, oddly, their bedroom has windows looking out onto the street). Although they sleep in separate beds but still in the same room, this has led to the occasional suggestion that they are gay lovers. Sesame Workshop, the corporation that owns the show and the characters, denies this and is occasionally compelled to point out that Bert and Ernie are puppets and have no sexuality whatsoever, although the rumors refer to the characters themselves and not the puppets. Bert was voiced by Frank Oz, Eric Jacobson and is being voiced by John Fiedler.

Despite this, some continue to insist that the relationship between Bert and Ernie are more than "just friends." A number of individuals have used this suggestion as fodder in popular culture parodies, including:

• Saturday Night Live — On a "Weekend Update" segment, Chevy Chase read a news story about Ernie and Bert "coming out of the closet."

• "Avenue Q" — The character of Rod is based on Bert and is a closeted homosexual.

• Family Guy — Bert and Ernie were featured as gay lovers in the episode "Mind over Murder," as part of a parody called "Homicide: Life on Sesame Street" (which also satirized Homicide: Life on the Street). Bert—a gruff, foul-mouthed, hard-drinking detective—is called at 3 a.m. to the scene of a homicide in front of Hooper's Store. He scolds Ernie for eating cookies in bed (a parody of a classic Sesame Street skit).

• Mad TV — The fourth episode of Season 12 of Mad TV that aired on November 4, 2006 had a parody of Sesame Street that depicted Bert as an internet predator on a MySpace parody website called Myplace.

• In Germany the TV comedy show Freitag Nacht News featured a series of sketches with "Bernie und Ert" as two puppets in leather gear entering a sex club. These episodes were highly popular and are still a sought item for filesharers. German comic artist OL made several parodies about Ernie and Bert as gay workmen from Poland.

• The song and dance "Doin' the Pigeon" inspired an end zone dance by San Francisco 49ers defensive back Merton Hanks.

Bert is Evil

Main article: Bert is Evil

A humor website Bert is Evil hosted digitally manipulated images and satiric articles as "evidence" of Bert being evil. The site drew worldwide attention in 2001 when a photo of a Bangladeshi street protest was distributed by the Reuters news agency. The photo included a protest sign that depicted Bert with Osama bin Laden, an image that had been inadvertently placed there by the owner of a poster shop in Dhaka.

See also

• Bert and Ernie

External links

Bert on Muppet Wiki

• Tough Pigs Anthology Transcripts of Ernie and Bert sketches