Colambo

PERFORMER	Joey Mazzarino
DEBUT	1992

Colambo is a Muppet lamb detective seen in a series of Sesame Street segments. His office is located at 45th and 8th Street in New York City. His specialty was solving nursery rhyme crimes, such as "Mother Hubbard's Heist."

Colambo was a semi-regular on the show from Season 23 to Season 27. He once helped Kevin Kline (as Nick Chicken) solve the mystery of the missing chicken in Episode 3129. He also made appearances in the street plots of Episode 3100 and Episode 3468. His last appearance to date was in Episode 3902 (Season 31), helping in the search for Oscar's pet elephant Fluffy.

The character is a parody of TV detective Columbo (played by Peter Falk, whose voice Colambo imitates). He shares Columbo's "One more question" mannerism and often talks about his never-seen wife. While often just called Colambo or "Detective Colambo," his rank is lieutenant (same as Columbo) according to "The Case of the Missing Pig" and "Mother Hubbard's Heist."

The character came about when the Sesame Street producers asked the Muppet performers to visit the Muppet Workshop and experiment with puppets to develop new characters, which would then be presented to the writing staff. Mazzarino found a little black lamb puppet and conceived of Colambo, recording a short infomercial with the character. The creative team liked the pitch and Mazzarino eventually was invited to join the writing staff as a result.

Sketches

Picture	Title / First Appearance	Description
	The Lost Slipper Caper Episode 2983	Colambo helps Cinderella figure out what happened to her glass slipper. The Prince shows up with it, and takes Colambo with him to the palace.
	The Case of the Missing Pig Episode 3112	Colambo interrogates Tom Piper's Son for info about a missing pig.
	The Great Plum Plunder Episode 3121	Colambo, in his office, decides to have a piece of Christmas pie, when he notices a plum missing from it. He asks the janitor, Little Jack Horner, some questions about what he was doing in the corner. It turns out that Jack had stuck in his thumb and pulled out the plum. Video: Best of Sesame Street Spoofs!
	Mother Hubbard's Heist Episode 3228	Colambo visits the home of Old Mother Hubbard to investigate a missing bone for her dog, Bootsie. Online: (YouTube)