When did Steve start performing Ernie?

[dwayne1115]

I have been watching some old SS made to video specals such as Elmo saves Chrismass and ss 25 years a muiscal celebration. and i was just wondering when Steve took over Ernie caues he was silent in both of these.

 

[GelflingWaldo]

Steve started doing Ernie in 1993, that was 3 years after Jim's passing. Durring the gap Ernie was silent and had no single regular performer.

 

[Phillip]

I think Steve first performed Ernie in the Sesame Street Stays Up Late special.

 

[dwayne1115]

that explains a lot well i was wondering. wow three years without Ernie talking Bert must have loved that.

 

[Xerus]

I remember Ernie first speaking again in that New Years special. That was a surprise.

And I also remember the skits he first started talking again. (During the 93/94 seasons.) The one where Ernie listens to rock and roll on his headphones so he wouldn't disturb Bert while reading. The one where Ernie kept opening and closing the door driving Bert crazy. And when Ernie was singing about the dream he had where there was an elephant in his drawer, an alligator under his bed, and Joey and Davy monkey were on his bed. All those were in the same seaon.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

I've never actually seen a silent Ernie in the 90s. I do remember that they still played the early sketches with Jim as Ernie, but I haven't really seen Ernie in anything new. The only time that I've seen Ernie silent was in "Elmo Saves Christmas" but that was when Steve had already been performing Ernie.

 

[dwayne1115]

Watch the 25 year video specal he is silent in all the new segments on there.
And come to think of it Ernie did laugh in the Elmo Saves Chrismass show.

There were really only about two main muppets that where silent in the 25 year specal that i saw Ernie and Forgetfull Jones but it was good to see both so soon after the passing of there close friends Jim and Richard.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Watch the 25 year video specal he is silent in all the new segments on there.
And come to think of it Ernie did laugh in the Elmo Saves Chrismass show.

Do you mean the "Musical Celebration" special or the other one where Joe Pesci plays sort of a 'grump' guy and wants to buy Sesame Street and turn it into some sort of antique shop or something? I haven't seen either in ages. Besides, they both came out in '94 when Steve was performing Ernie. I don't recall Ernie laughing in the Christmas special though. I'll have to look for that again.

 

[Collgoff]

I think Steve first performed Ernie in the Sesame Street Stays Up Late special.

That's right!

 

[minor muppetz]

According to the 40th anniversary book, Steve Whitmire's first performance as Ernie was in the sketch where Ernie and Bert go fishing, when Ernie keeps catching fish and Bert doesn't. That's the only instance I know of for sure where Steve performed Ernie in season 25.

According to the Muppet Central interview with Steve Whitmire, he said that he first did Ernie's voice when there was a need to make talking Ernie toys. I wonder what these toys are. Anybody know of any pre-1993 talking Ernie dolls voiced by Steve Whitmire? I actually started a thread about this long ago, and some people thought it might have been Sleep & Snore Ernie (which came out in 1997).

I wonder if maybe it took awhile for Steve to regularly do Ernie's voice. He hadn't been on Sesame Street until that point, and I think he was doing The Animal Show around the time he was recast as Ernie. Because there are a handful of productions from around the time he was recast when Ernie was silent (all of which have already been mentioned). Notice that Steve Whitmire has rarely performed anybody else on Sesame Street.

Though I know of a few Whitmire-as-Ernie skits that were broadcast in season 26 or 27, such as the one where Ernie does a drum experiment to see if Bert would fall asleep if he stood behind the drums without playing them. But I have a feeling he didn't start performing Ernie alot until season 29 or 30, performing on a much frequent basis until around season 36, when Ernie started making less appearances in puppet form.

I wonder if "A Musical Celebration" was recorded before Steve Whitmire's first Ernie performance. I read an article about Carlo Alban (the actor who played Carlo) which said that his first Sesame Street appearance was in that special, and I know he was on the show in season 25.