Ernie and Lefty...

[muppet maniac]

Has anyone ever noticed that the only person Lefty ever tries to sell something to is Ernie? How come not any other characters like Grover, Guy Smiley, or Bert? I do however remember one part in the Sesame Street dictionary where they had him with Oscar.

 

[Giar Fraggle]

Maybe because Ernie's more gullible than most?

Or because Frank Oz would have had a hard time performing Lefty and another of his characters at the same time?

Or because Frank was at his performing finest when he was paired with Jim, whose main character on the show was Ernie?

...Nah.

 

[minor muppetz]

Or because Frank Oz would have had a hard time performing Lefty and another of his characters at the same time?

There are a lot of early sketches where Frank Oz performed multiple characters in the same scene. Examples include Kermit's lecture on big and little (where Oz performs three monsters who all appear in the same shot), Pick Your Pet (where Oz performs four roles), I Whistle a Happy Tune (where he performs every character), Beat the Time with Cookie Monster (where he performs both Cookie Monster and a train engineer), and a lot of others.

 

[BEAR]

A lot of it could just be comic and chemistry purposes. Ernie and Lefty just had great chemistry, which is mostly due to the performances of Oz and Henson together. Lefty and Bert just might not have worked. Bert too smart to get involved with a sketchy stranger of a salesman. Ernie on the other hand... As for Grover...he is the one that is usually the nemisis for the straightman. Grover just isn't as good a straight man as he is the silly one. Ernie is more versatile in that way. He can be the silly trickster with Bert, but then can easily become the straight man to characters like Cookie Monster and the Count.

 

[Ziffel]

And also Grover was sometimes a salesman himself to that blue guy and to Kermit.
Cookie Monster would probably have been a good one for Lefty to sell to (since he can be a little naive at times) but the problem would be that little would interest CM unless it's something to eat (remember on that Guy Smiley game show how CM wasn't even happy about winning a jet plane because 'No can eat jet plane!'). Plus you'd also have the problem of Frank Oz having to work both CM and Lefty (as with Lefty & Grover and Lefty & Bert).
Now Oscar would be a great prospect for Lefty since he LIKES junk! However, the sketches then would lack a comedic and interesting element. All it would be is:

Lefty: Hey bud, you wanna buy this here thingamajig? It's only a nickel.
Oscar: Hey that looks beautiful. I'll take it. Here you go.
Lefty: And here you are, thanks.

 

[BEAR]

Now Oscar would be a great prospect for Lefty since he LIKES junk! However, the sketches then would lack a comedic and interesting element. All it would be is:

Lefty: Hey bud, you wanna buy this here thingamajig? It's only a nickel.
Oscar: Hey that looks beautiful. I'll take it. Here you go.
Lefty: And here you are, thanks.

This actually made me laugh really hard. Only because it was so unfunny and random. Truly, Ziff, that was hilarious!

 

[Ziffel]

heh heh heh grouchy: laugh), thanks!

And isn't it funny how Lefty zeroed in on Ernie for attempted sales because Ernie isn't as bright as others like Bert and Kermit, but on "Green Acres" Mr. Haney (the "Lefty" of that show!) spent so much time trying to sell his junk to Oliver, the most intelligent person on the show by far.