Herbert Birdsfoot

[Don_Music_2004]

Can anyone list all the sketches Herbert Birdsfoot ever appeared in?

[jasontarkus]

I can’t list every sketch he was ever in - but I can list one that no one else seems to remember. It’s actually my favourite Herbert Birdsfoot sketch of all time!! (It must be early to mid 70’s vintage.)

It is a three part sketch where Grover & Herbert are talking about the ‘AN’ family - i.e. words that end in the letters ‘AN’. In the case of the three sketches the words are RAN, CAN & FAN.

In each sketch Herbert spells the word while Grover demonstrates what the word means.

The funniest sketch is the last one - FAN - where Grover turns on a fan which produces a hurricane force wind. They both go sailing off the screen after which you hear an enormous CRASH!!

First Herbert….

“TURN OFF THE FAN GROVER!! - TURN OFF THE FAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN!!!!!" (*CRASH*)

Then a few seconds later Grover goes sailing past the screen yelling…"HEEEEERBBBBBB!!!!!" (*CRASH*)

Does anyone have this sketch??

[Ziffel]

Wow I haven't thought about that sketch since I saw it over 30 years ago. I definitely recall that fan and Grover yelling, "Herb!" as he was being blown across the screen.
The Ernie borrowing a vacuum cleaner from Herbert skit is a great one. I also liked the one where Grover is afraid of his shadow and Herbert educates him on what shadows are. Grover closes the skit with his classic line, "Oh I am so EMBARRASSED!" Then there's the one where Grover demonstrates for Herbert how he can count blocks. But he does not know how to count oranges! And the one where Grover gets his mouth stuck shut with peanut butter. Herb helps Grover but then it gets stuck again. Those are the Herb skits that are pretty clear in my memory.
A few others I recall somewhat are:
(1) Herbert has some cookies located in some kind of contraption he invented. He configured it so The Cookie Monster would have to do some things on order to get to the cookies. I think one thing involved a pulley. I think Cookie Monster eventually figured out what to do. In any case, I remember the ending. He said, "Monster think of better way to get cookies." Then he smashes the contraption. The camera then shows a perturbed Herbert. I recall the music too, but can't describe it by typing. It was four beats.
(2) I believe it was Grover that was with Herbert in this one. Grover was holding something like a weight that said help on it. But it was pretty heavy for him and he yelled, "Help!" Herbie comes on the scene and says, "You need help?" Grover says yes. So Herb gives him another weight that says help. Grover yells help again and Herb comes back and says, "You need more help?" and gives him a third weight that says help. I remember this happens until Grover is holding four weights. But I forgot what happens after that. I think maybe Grover fell down, but not sure.
(3) This one I hardly recall what happens at all. All I remember was Herbert was standing next to Grover and Grover wasn't ready to do what Herb wanted. So Herb was a little annoyed and frustrated and said, "Okay, we'll wait." I think this may have been a two part sketch.
Those are the Herbert Birdsfoot skits I can think of right now. There is also that one on the record where he sings the high, middle, low song with Ernie and Bert. On the show I think the song was done with three anything muppets.

[mikebennidict]

yeah it was. i only has the 1st SS album but thatw as the case with many SS songs. here's more on them http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showthread.php?t=13232&highlight=albums

[GeeBee]

I can’t list every sketch he was ever in - but I can list one that no one else seems to remember. It’s actually my favourite Herbert Birdsfoot sketch of all time!! (It must be early to mid 70’s vintage.)

It is a three part sketch where Grover & Herbert are talking about the ‘AN’ family - i.e. words that end in the letters ‘AN’. In the case of the three sketches the words are RAN, CAN & FAN.

In each sketch Herbert spells the word while Grover demonstrates what the word means.

The funniest sketch is the last one - FAN - where Grover turns on a fan which produces a hurricane force wind. They both go sailing off the screen after which you hear an enormous CRASH!!

First Herbert….

“TURN OFF THE FAN GROVER!! - TURN OFF THE FAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN!!!!!" (*CRASH*)

Then a few seconds later Grover goes sailing past the screen yelling…"HEEEEERBBBBBB!!!!!" (*CRASH*)

Does anyone have this sketch??

There was also a street scene where Herbert is with Big Bird at the nest. Big Bird tells a story of the 'AN' family that seems to exasperate Herbert. I believe Herbert made a few street appearances. At that time, "street muppets" and "skit muppets" were pretty much interchangeable.

[Ziffel]

One that I am about 99% sure that Herbert Birdsfoot also appeared in (but only recall about 50% of how the skit goes!) had a guy making a delivery of something or things to whom I think was Herbert. The guy kept wanting Herbert to just sign for it so he could get back in his truck and go. But Herbert kept insisting on something first. I just remember how funny it was with the delivery muppet getting so frustrated. "Will you SIGN this??!!" He also kept saying that another guy in his delivery truck was sitting there laughing. At one point he turns to the unseen man in the truck and says, "Okay I see you laughing! Now knock it off!" I forgot how the skit concluded. I think Herb does eventually sign.

[Daffyfan2003]

One that I am about 99% sure that Herbert Birdsfoot also appeared in (but only recall about 50% of how the skit goes!) had a guy making a delivery of something or things to whom I think was Herbert. The guy kept wanting Herbert to just sign for it so he could get back in his truck and go. But Herbert kept insisting on something first. I just remember how funny it was with the delivery muppet getting so frustrated. "Will you SIGN this??!!" He also kept saying that another guy in his delivery truck was sitting there laughing. At one point he turns to the unseen man in the truck and says, "Okay I see you laughing! Now knock it off!" I forgot how the skit concluded. I think Herb does eventually sign.

Yes, that was mentioned before. That's about the only sketch with Herb that I remember.

[mikebennidict]

One that I am about 99% sure that Herbert Birdsfoot also appeared in (but only recall about 50% of how the skit goes!) had a guy making a delivery of something or things to whom I think was Herbert. The guy kept wanting Herbert to just sign for it so he could get back in his truck and go. But Herbert kept insisting on something first. I just remember how funny it was with the delivery muppet getting so frustrated. "Will you SIGN this??!!" He also kept saying that another guy in his delivery truck was sitting there laughing. At one point he turns to the unseen man in the truck and says, "Okay I see you laughing! Now knock it off!" I forgot how the skit concluded. I think Herb does eventually sign.
check out the similler threads below and if it's not there i'll type it up.

[Ziffel]

I don't see it in any of those threads listed below. I had looked through all the Herbert threads I could find yesterday too before I posted this. Daffyfan said it was mentioned before but I haven't come across it. It might have been brought up at a different thread. Any additional details on this skit you can provide will be great, thanks mike.

[mikebennidict]

Herbert has and ET and this deliveryman has these other letters. a W,S, and M well each time the man wants him to sign the paper Herbert wants him to make the sound of the letters he brought off the truck as Herbert makes the ET sound. obviously the man doesn't like this. after the man delivers the last letter he looks to the left yelling that enough Charlie turn around I see ya smiling! this could be you instead of Me you know!? finally after helping Herb sounding the last word he's intriged, sorry of i speleld that wrong and tell charlie probably the truck driver to come over and he how great this delivery they made was.

[Ziffel]

Charlie, that's right! I just couldn't think of his name but knew that delivery guy kept referring to him by some name. Also, thanks for refreshing me on what the items delivered actually were. And I hadn't recalled that the delivery guy ended up enjoying what Herb wanted him to do. It was so funny how mad he got when he told Charlie to knock it off.

[Ziffel]

A few others I recall somewhat are:
(2) I believe it was Grover that was with Herbert in this one. Grover was holding something like a weight that said help on it. But it was pretty heavy for him and he yelled, "Help!" Herbie comes on the scene and says, "You need help?" Grover says yes. So Herb gives him another weight that says help. Grover yells help again and Herb comes back and says, "You need more help?" and gives him a third weight that says help. I remember this happens until Grover is holding four weights. But I forgot what happens after that. I think maybe Grover fell down, but not sure.

Just thought of something somewhat similar Sesame Street showed (yes I did those consecutive s words on purpose!). Grover lifted a barbell and as he is holding it he is really struggling. He says, "Oh this barbell is so heavyyyyy."
Then he falls down. But I don't recall anything else of this skit.

[mikebennidict]

i don't think Herb was in this one. if i have the right 1 in mind, grover tris to picks up a feather but can't because it's attached to Big Bird who's heavy witch is why Grover can't pick up the feather.

[Ziffel]

Not sure if that happened in the same one or not. And yes, Herbert wasn't in this one. I was going to comment on this barbell scene in the Grover thread, but since I remembered the Herbert and Grover skit with Grover lifting the "help" weights I thought I'd do it in connection with that one.

[mikebennidict]

Herbert has and ET and this deliveryman has these other letters. a W,S, and M well each time the man wants him to sign the paper Herbert wants him to make the sound of the letters he brought off the truck as Herbert makes the ET sound. obviously the man doesn't like this. after the man delivers the last letter he looks to the left yelling that's enough Charlie turn around I see ya smiling! this could be you instead of Me you know!? finally after helping Herb sounding the last word he's intriged, sorry of i spelled that wrong and tell charlie probably the truck driver to come over and he how great this delivery they made was.
another thing i should of mentioned was after the M was brought out and after a 3rd consecutive time to get Herb to sign it and of course he say not untill you make the sound on the letter M! delivery man goes yabadabadbada dam!

[Daffyfan2003]

The delivery man said 'da**?' I don't remember that?

[mikebennidict]

well he wasn't acually swearing as it might of sounded. he was just smarting off at Herbert, trying to sound like him.

[mikebennidict]

of course the way i posed it makes it sound like i said he did but it was just part of how he samrted off at Herb. sorry for the confusion.

[SesameMike]

What happened in the delivery guy sketch was, the fella brought out one of the packages and, in an irked tone, asked Herbert to sign the slip. Herbert steadfastly responded:

"Not until we make the sound!" with an onomotopoiea rhythm.

The delivery guy responded:
"blah-ble-blah-ble-blah-ble-bloun"(???) with that same rhythm.

You know how some kids (and a few non-kids at that) make fun of others by repeated what they just said with a fake lisp? That's what the delivery guy was doing. Some folks do that when there's no "legitimate" point to ridicule them on.

---
As for the sketch with Grover holding up the heavy blocks reading "HELP", after Herbert Birdsfoot had placed two extra HELPs on Grover's load, HB responds to the Help! cry with: "You need MORE help?" Grover replies that he does not; everything is just fine. HB leaves, and Grover then collapses backwards under the weight of the three blocks. Now off-camera, we hear Grover let out one last, subdued but desperate, "Help!"

[minor muppetz]

there are quite a few herbert birdsfoot segments that i have only heard on albums (of course, the ony one i can remember actually seeing is the one where herbert tries to talk about the letter m, which keeps turning upside down), but were any of the following ever done on the show:

the magic cookie, narrarated by herbert birdsfoot and featuring cookie monster looking for joy and happiness.

herbs silly k poem.

the tale of tom tattertall tuttletutt.

[mikebennidict]

i remember a coupl of HB and Grover segments. 1 where they'd say the alphabet. Herb says a letter, Grover repeats it, For some reason Grover gets emotional and screams the last 4 letters and his voice echoes in the room. they also counted to 20 in another 1 and now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I recall it though I'm sure Grover did or acted out just like in the letter segment.

[BEAR]

This character has always confused me. I know who he is, and eventually I got to see a picture of him, but I don't think I have ever actually seen a sketch with him. What years was he on? It was probably before my time. I have heard several recordings of him but never saw him. He was the mysterious man to me.

[Ziffel]

i remember a coupl of HB and Grover segments. 1 where they'd say the alphabet. Herb says a letter, Grover repeats it, For some reason Grover gets emotional and screams the last 4 letters and his voice echoes in the room. they also counted to 20 in another 1 and now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I recall it though I'm sure Grover did or acted out just like in the letter segment.

This reminded me of when it was brought up in a thread (http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showthread.php?t=19999&highlight=grover) several months ago. Fuzzgobo had a pretty hilarious post in it!

[GeeBee]

This character has always confused me. I know who he is, and eventually I got to see a picture of him, but I don't think I have ever actually seen a sketch with him. What years was he on? It was probably before my time. I have heard several recordings of him but never saw him. He was the mysterious man to me.


They made sure that Herbert Birdsfoot would stay mysterious to those too young to remember him by not including him in the Sesame Street Unpaved book. He really was conspicuously absent from it, which I never could figure out. Granted, he wasn't the most popular muppet on the show, but he was significant enough to have a place in Sesame Street history. He would have been perfect for the "Whatever Happened To" section.

Most of his sketches involved giving a lecture with Grover as an assistant and were pretty much like the skits with Kermit and Grover. I think some people speculated that Herbert was used as a substitute for Kermit after the Muppet Show began, but this is not correct. Herbert was around long before the Muppet Show. I remember seeing skits with Kermit and Grover as well as Herbert and Grover in the same era and Grover even made reference to Herbert Birdsfoot in one of the Kermit skits.

Occasionally, Herbert would be in different types of skits. He was in a street scene with Big Bird, a very funny skit with Ernie, and a few other miscellaneous ones, but he was best known for his lectures.

I couldn't say exactly when Herbert stopped appearing, but he seems to be a character who faded out somewhere along the line.

[GonzoLeaper]

Herbert Birdsfoot has definitely been around for quite a while. I'm not sure if he was there at the start in 1969, but I think he must have been there by at least 1970. At an antique mall one time, I found the first 2 issues of Sesame Street Magazine!!! This was really cool to look at because there were so many classic Sesame Street characters in there! On one of them, (I think it may have been the 2nd. issue) Grover and Herbert Birdsfoot were prominently featured on the cover! I'm pretty sure that was copyrighted 1970. I've heard Herbert Birdsfoot's voice before, on songs like the original version of "Imagination"- available on the Sesame Street Platinum Too album
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002BQ1/qid=1131209485/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-3232137-7955010?v=glance&s=music

I don't recall ever seeing any video clips of him or anything though. Does anyone know if there are any Herbert Birdsfoot appearances on any of the Sesame Street home videos?

:confused: :eek: :cool:

[BooberFraggless]

Herbert Birdsfoot first appeared on the show in 1970 and was only there for a couple of years. He was originally made to replace Kermit. Kermit actually left Sesame Street during the second Season, and came back at the beggining of the third. A lot of people don't know that, but it's true. Herbert Birdsfoot stayed on during Kermit's first season back (Season 3) but he left either after that, or at the end of the 4th Season. I think he was originally supposed to be a more popular charachter, becuase he is included in many old Sesame Street recordings. Especially in group scenes with all the other charachters. Believe it or not, they actually reaired some of his old skits during the 80's and 90's on the show. So in a way he was there for a lot longer than he really was. The last time he was ever on the show was in a 30th Season episode in an old skit when Ernie throws a surprize Party for Bert. It's the same episode when it was Linda's Birthday and Snuffy goes into Oscar's Can. It's funny how even though he only lasted a few years, they continued to air his old skits for over 25 years. While charachters like Roosevelt Franklin, and Profesor Hastings, they pulled all the old skits with them when they no longer appeared in any new material.

[Splurge]

Jerry Nelson once wrote in a post years ago (sorry, it's not accessable anymore) that he himself liked the character, whose voice he based on Jiminy Cricket. However, Jim Henson and Frank Oz didn't care for the Herbert as much as Jerry did, and felt the character just wasn't working. As a result, well, there you go.

That's just one of those things that can happen in TV.

[Rosewood]

Concidering I was 3 when the show first aired, I must have been 4 or 5 when "Herbie" was on the show. And the thing I seem to remember most about him is that he and Grover seemed to be inseperable. I was always under the impression that he was Grovers best friend! I guess I was just to young to understand, when he ultimately "got the axe", that he wouldn't be comming back.:sympathy::cry:

[BEAR]

Concidering I was 3 when the show first aired, I must have been 4 or 5 when "Herbie" was on the show. And the thing I seem to remember most about him is that he and Grover seemed to be inseperable. I was always under the impression that he was Grovers best friend! I guess I was just to young to understand, when he ultimately "got the axe", that he wouldn't be comming back.:sympathy::cry:

And then Kermit became his "best friend".

[Rosewood]

And then Kermit became his "best friend".

I do remember the fact that Kermit basicaly took over for old Herb, taking grovers back-slaps and all. I never thought of this before, but mabey Herbie just got tired of getting the wind knocked out of him all the time! (LOL!):p

[Ziffel]

Did Grover really slap Herbie's back too? I don't recall ever seeing that happen. But I sure do recall Grover doing that to Kermit a bunch of times. One of my favorites of Herb and Grover together is that one where Grover was afraid of his own shadow until Herb came along and explained to Grover that it was not a stranger following him but just a shadow.

[ssetta]

Well, I think the main reason why they didn't keep Herbert was actually because not that many people liked him. I mean, his lectures were kind of plain, and didn't really go anywhere. And he was a real person, just like a regular schoolteacher, and I think most little kids tend to like monsters and other creatures better. I mean, Kermit is OBVIOUSLY more popular than Herbert.

[GeeBee]

Some people have said that Herbert Birdsfoot looked and sounded like Ned Flanders from the Simpsons.

[GeeBee]

Well, I think the main reason why they didn't keep Herbert was actually because not that many people liked him. I mean, his lectures were kind of plain, and didn't really go anywhere. And he was a real person, just like a regular schoolteacher, and I think most little kids tend to like monsters and other creatures better. I mean, Kermit is OBVIOUSLY more popular than Herbert.

True, Herbert Birdsfoot's character didn't really have a "gimmick" to define him. I suppose they could have developed his character and given him more personality, but since he was basically just there to do the same things that Kermit could do, they probably figured it wasn't worth it. Still, Herbert Birdsfoot was a part of my childhood and there are a lot of nostalgic memories about his skits with Grover. Like Farley, he was another minor character whose voice seemed to appear on Sesame Street records and albums a lot.

[BEAR]

Well, I think the main reason why they didn't keep Herbert was actually because not that many people liked him. I mean, his lectures were kind of plain, and didn't really go anywhere. And he was a real person, just like a regular schoolteacher, and I think most little kids tend to like monsters and other creatures better.

Yeah, he basically did things that Bob would usually do I think. Only difference is Grover couldn't slap Bob on the back and knock him over.

[GonzoLeaper]

Here's a transcript of a Herbert Birdsfoot and Grover sketch, where Grover calls him "Herbie baby". I thought there had been some confusion on that, so assuming the transcriber is correct, Grover did call Herbert "Herbie baby" sometimes and I imagine he gave him a good slap on the back sometime throughout the years.
http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_Dancer/grocount.html

[GonzoLeaper]

And here's a transcript of a skit with Ernie and Herb. Wow! There's definitely some good stuff here I need to see sometime.
http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_Dancer/vacuum.html

Actually, just check out the whole site. There's tons of great song lyrics, song files, and even sketch transcripts and some classic video clips!
:)

[tutter_fan]

Anyone got a picture of herbie?

[minor muppetz]

The last time he was ever on the show was in a 30th Season episode in an old skit when Ernie throws a surprize Party for Bert. It's the same episode when it was Linda's Birthday and Snuffy goes into Oscar's Can. It's funny how even though he only lasted a few years, they continued to air his old skits for over 25 years. While charachters like Roosevelt Franklin, and Profesor Hastings, they pulled all the old skits with them when they no longer appeared in any new material.

I think that Rosevelt Franklin also appeared in that skit.

[GonzoLeaper]

There's a picture of him right here!:)

http://www.sesame-encyclopedia.com/Alphabet/SesameH/HerbertBirdsfoot.html

[GeeBee]

I just found this out from the "Muppet Morsels" (the "Pop-Up Video" of the Muppet World) on The Muppet Show DVD first season.

It says,

"Jim Henson's father was an agricultural researcher for the federal government. One of the crops he would research was called Bird's-foot trefoil. This name stuck with Jim and he memorized it in the Sesame Street character Herbert Birdsfoot."

[tutter_fan]

Thanks!

[mikebennidict]

And here's a transcript of a skit with Ernie and Herb. Wow! There's definitely some good stuff here I need to see sometime.
http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_Dancer/vacuum.html

Actually, just check out the whole site. There's tons of great song lyrics, song files, and even sketch transcripts and some classic video clips!
:)
I wonder if there were any real life inncidents were kids saw this and they go around their neighborhoods knocking at doors and the minute someone answers, they yell OH YEAH? WELL IF THAT'S THE WAY YOU FEEL ABOUT IT YOU COULD JUST KEEP YOUR ROTTEN OLD VACUMM CLEANER SO THERE!

[mikebennidict]

I wonder how they ever came up with his last name Birdsfoot?

For years I wonder if I had even heard that right and it wasn't till learning more abour SS past I realized I was right after all.

[MuppetDude]

According to Muppet Wiki (which got it from the TMS season one Muppet Morsels): "His name is a play on the pasture crop "bird's-foot trefoil," which was familiar to Jim Henson because of his father's work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture."

[mikebennidict]

Herbert was on SS long before TMS.

[Mokeystar]

There's an old clip on the Sesame Workshop website with Herb trying to explain how a W is an upside down M. The letter keeps turning upside down, changing from a W to an M until it finally refuses to turn again and stays as a W. So to prove his point once again, the camera turns the stage upside down which shows the reluctant W as an M. I loved those "upside down" clips. :) And Herbie did such a wonderful job at being patient!

[ISNorden]

There's an old clip on the Sesame Workshop website with Herb trying to explain how a W is an upside down M. The letter keeps turning upside down, changing from a W to an M until it finally refuses to turn again and stays as a W. So to prove his point once again, the camera turns the stage upside down which shows the reluctant W as an M. I loved those "upside down" clips. :) And Herbie did such a wonderful job at being patient!

I saw Herbert's W/M clip myself as a girl, but the letter still got the better of him after the camera turned the view upside-down: once more, M became W as typical "frustrated character" music ended the sketch.

[mikebennidict]

Think all along the M was intentionally turning upside down and rightside up for spite and then realizing how Herb was making good use of this action, the M stopped which lead to HB's desision to turn upside down.

[mikebennidict]

Recently thought of this.

Wonder if HB was supposed to resemble a teacher considering how he was dressed?

Most muppets who hand propper names weren't generally dressed in suits and ties and the only another one I can think of was Professor Hastings,

[ISNorden]

Recently thought of this.

Wonder if HB was supposed to resemble a teacher considering how he was dressed?

Most muppets who hand proper names weren't generally dressed in suits and ties and the only another one I can think of was Professor Hastings.

The fact that Herbert only appeared in "lecture" Muppet sketches (and had other characters demonstrate his visual aids most of the time) also makes me think of him as a teacher. Good point!