Billy Barkhurst

[Schfifty]

With the way that Sesame has played down to younger, younger kids in the last several years, I'm not sure if Herry's even, like, marketable nowadays. Seems like he started becoming just a sporadic character once Elmo's World became popular, and even beforehand he was still making frequent appearances in home videos like Monster Hits and We All Sing Together.

But it would be nice if we could see him a few more times in the near future.

 

[D'Snowth]

Well, it's kind of the same with Telly, even though he's had a more solid presence in recent years than Herry: the problem with Telly is younger kids can't appreciate him as the homage to Woody Allen and George Costanza that he is, because kids don't know who Woody Allen or George Costanza are to see how Telly embodies their insecure, paranoid, worrisome traits.

Then, of course, lest we forget Ernie and Bert themselves: essentially the Felix and Oscar of the Muppet world, but most of the time, Ernie and Bert scenes are more dialogue-heavy and rely more on wit, wordplay, and banter that younger kids today would find boring and uninteresting; kids want action and physical stuff, which Ernie and Bert can't quite offer.

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

I do see what you all are saying. But I still think it would be cool if they used Herry on the show no matter how often he'll appear. Last year, Peter performed him at a SW puppeteer workshop, and various people who attended the workshop like @cahuenga , Rachel Herrick, and Tau Bennett got to take pictures and/or videos with him (as well as with The Count and Telly). Additionally, Funko came out with a Herry pop figure earlier this year. So, with both of these factors in mind, I honestly think it would be strange if they didn't put him to use whether he becomes a regular character on the show again or not.

 

[D'Snowth]

How often do they have puppeteering workshops? Because I've only heard about the one they had in 2013 or 2014 or whenever it was that many of us submitted video demos for, but apparently they've had more since then based on discussions around here.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Maybe he could return as a recurring character in season 50. Just a thought.

 

[D'Snowth]

They curiously seem to be bringing back a few older Muppets as minor, recurring characters in the seasons to come: Herry, Biff and Sully, and didn't I see Simon Soundman in a behind-the-scenes photo?

 

[LittleJerry92]

How about an anniversary cameo from these guys?

Or these guys?

Hey, a guy can dream.

 

[Muppet Master]

I feel really bad for Billy. Poor guy just got his big break only to have it taken away from him.

 

[antsamthompson9]

To be fair, he was really just a voice-over artist.

That's not true. Billy's been a puppeteer for a while before he became Ernie. He played a character named Buster on the TV show Kid Fitness. Since people have been saying he's not a very good singer after hearing him sing as Ernie, skip to 5:00 on this video to see just how well he really can sing:

He was also a puppeteer on the Futurama parody, Fan-o-rama. Here's him assisting another puppeteer on a bunraku puppet:

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

That's not true. Billy's been a puppeteer for a while before he became Ernie. He played a character named Buster on the TV show Kid Fitness. Since people have been saying he's not a very good singer after hearing him sing as Ernie, skip to 5:00 on this video to see just how well he really can sing:

That tree looks like it wants to eat me.