Billy Bunny's Animal Songs

Billy Bunny's Animal Songs video

Billy Bunny's Animal Songs was released direct-to-video on May 21, 1993. It was the first of the titles in the Muppet Sing-Alongs series.

This special was notable at the time for being the first video release featuring Steve Whitmire performing Kermit. (The Muppet Christmas Carol was released on video later in the year.) It was also the first production filmed after Jim Henson's death in 1990 and was immediately followed by production on The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson.

Kevin Clash played the starring role of Billy Bunny. In the video Billy sings his way through the forest as he runs across a swamp full of frogs, a cave full of rapping bears and a singing porcupine (and even an appearance by one of the ever-present Muppet penguins). Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and Fran Brill performed various animals of the forest, and Carmen Osbahr is credited in one of her first productions with the Muppets.

Characters

• Billy Bunny
• The Gophers
• Cecil, Percival & Edgar Bear
• The Termite
• The Raccoons
• The Porcupine
• The Frogs
• The Turtle

Quotes

From Chris Barry, Jim Hill Media:"Billy Bunny’s Animal Songs" was a Muppet Sing-Along home video aimed at a very young demographic. It was meant to teach kids about different animals as the lead character, Billy, sings his way through the forest. Billy Bunny, performed by Muppeteer Kevin Clash (best known for Elmo) runs across a swamp full of very Kermit-like frogs, a cave full of rapping Bears and a sultry singing porcupine. Veteran Muppeteers Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt and Fran Brill played a variety of animals scattered throughout the forest. There was even an appearance by the ubiquitous Muppet penguin. The animals were cute, the songs were memorable and overall it was a pretty unique bit of Muppet history as none of the major characters were featured in this video. Perhaps the plans were to expand this character in the future. Amazon.com lists this video’s release date as 1993. Considering we shot this in 1990, it’s quite odd that this took 3 years to release and then Billy quietly disappeared."