Billy Barkhurst

[sesamemuppetfan]

Ya know everyone is wanting this big huge drama thing of "Oh my gosh Steve is not in the Sesame Credits!" and "Oh my Gosh Steve is not working on Sesame anymore!" However my thinking on this is, Who really cares?!?!? With Steve preforming Ernie whether it was due to the writing, or Steve's availability Ernie's presence on the show was becoming less and less as the years went on. Now it seems that Sesame want to have Ernie (Who is a fan favorite of a lot of adults who grew up with the show) in the spotlight more. For that reason they have Billy, who is doing great with Ernie's voice, and personality. So I honestly think that instead of focusing on the negative and the drama that is clearly not there of Steve performing on the show, and be happy that we have one of the first and one of the most beloved Sesame Muppets back in the spotlight. I honestly don't think Ernie has been in the spot light this much since Jim's death, and for that I'm very glad.

Amen. Plus, having a new performer for Ernie is definitely better than no Ernie at all.

 

[dwayne1115]

Amen. Plus, having a new performer for Ernie is definitely better than no Ernie at all.

Yes! I agree with that 100%

 

[muppetlover123]

Is that Matt performing Big Bird? It sounds alot like him

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

Is that Matt performing Big Bird? It sounds alot like him

I'd wanna think so.

 

[antsamthompson9]

Is that Matt performing Big Bird? It sounds alot like him

It is.

 

[dwayne1115]

Matt said it was on his Facebook account. He also said that Peter Linz was inside the bird when he was performing the Count.

 

[muppetlover123]

Thanks everyone!

 

[Drtooth]

So I honestly think that instead of focusing on the negative and the drama that is clearly not there of Steve performing on the show, and be happy that we have one of the first and one of the most beloved Sesame Muppets back in the spotlight. I honestly don't think Ernie has been in the spot light this much since Jim's death, and for that I'm very glad.

Agreed 110%. Steve's still around, he's still performing Kermit. They just have another Ernie performer while Steve is doing other things. And if he's the permanent new Ernie, that's not a bad thing either as we're seeing more and more of Ernie and Bert in recent years. Though they did make quite a few E&B segments for international consumption with their respective performers.

 

[antsamthompson9]

@Oscarfan and @JonnyBMuppetMan, do you guys think you could be wrong about Billy not puppeteering Ernie in the 2 street stories he was in this season? It's kinda obvious that when watching the Vine videos and the Oprah appearance that Billy's Ernie voice sounds the same whether he's following a script or just winging it.

 

[SpinneyBigBird1]

@Oscarfan and @JonnyBMuppetMan, do you guys think you could be wrong about Billy not puppeteering Ernie in the 2 street stories he was in this season? It's kinda obvious that when watching the Vine videos and the Oprah appearance that Billy's Ernie voice sounds the same whether he's following a script or just winging it.

It didn't seem like Billy was actually pupppeteering in at least the first of the two street stories. He probably was just unavailable for the taping day. But it seems he has since taken over both voice and puppetry.