Herbert Birdsfoot
From Muppet Wiki
Herbert Birdsfoot was introduced on Sesame Street in Season 2 as a lecturer, usually with Grover as his assistant. He took over Kermit's lecturing job on the street for a short time, although Kermit popped up occasionally somewhere in the second half of this season. The character was mostly active until Season 5.
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.[1]
Contents |
Sketches
| Picture | Summary | Earliest Known Appearance | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
 | AN Family Story | Episode 0158 | Big Bird tells Herbert a story about the AN family at his nest. |
 | Over and Under | Episode 0198 | Herbert Birdsfoot demonstrates "over" and "under" by having Grover lie over a mattress. Then Grover lies under the mattress, and Herbert drives the point home by adding more objects over Grover. |
| | AN Family Lecture | Episode 0231 | Herbert and Grover talk about "AN" words. |
 | Count to 20 | Episode 0235 | Herbert and Grover count to 20.
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 | ET Family Lecture | Episode 0263 | Grover and Herbert demonstrate the "ET" word family in different words. |
 | T-H-E | Episode 0266 | Herbert explains the importance of the word "THE". |
 | Alphabet | Episode 0267 | Grover and Herbert recite the alphabet together. |
 | Shadows | Episode 0271 | Grover sees his shadow follow him around, and thinks it's a person following him. However, Herbert Birdsfoot explains what a shadow is.
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| | Hopping Poem | Episode 0271 | Herbert recites a hopping poem. |
 | M Sound | Episode 0276 | Herbert Birdsfoot thinks that Grover is talking about the letter M whenever he makes an Mmmmm sound, but Grover is only making the sound because he ate peanut butter and got his mouth stuck shut.
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 | Counting Three Blocks | Episode 0309 | Herbert Birdsfoot arranges three blocks for Grover to count. No matter how the blocks are arranged, they still add up to three. Herbert asks Grover to count some oranges as well. Grover confesses that he's good at counting blocks -- but he doesn't know how to count oranges!
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 | ET Family Delivery (3-part sketch) | Episode 0573 | Herbert presents the "ET" word family, as a deliveryman brings in different letter. The deliveryman gets progressively furious as Herbert makes him sound out the word and refuses to give him a signature until he does so. |
 | Ernie Borrows a Vacuum | Episode 1068 | Ernie wants to borrow Herbert's vacuum cleaner, but he worries about how Herbert will respond. Maybe Herbert's taking a bath, and he'll be so angry at Ernie for interrupting him that he'll tell everyone to never loan Ernie anything ever again! |
 | M and W | Herbert explains what the letters M and W look like with a very uncooperative letter that keeps switching itself. The letter eventually stops switching, and Herb solves the problem by rotating the camera angle, turning the letter upside down.
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Album appearances
- The Official Sesame Street 2 Book-and-Record Album (1971), "High, Middle, Low"
- The Muppet Alphabet Album (1971), "Herbert's Silly Poem" and "The Tale of Tom Tattertall Tuttletut"
- Havin' Fun with Ernie & Bert (1972), "The Magic Cookie" and "Pat Pat Patty Pat"
- Bert's Blockbusters (1974), "Pat Pat Patty Pat"
- Big Bird Sings! (1974), "Big Bird Writes a Poem"
- C is for Cookie (1974), "The Magic Cookie" and "The Monster's Three Wishes"
- Let a Frown Be Your Umbrella (1974), "The Monster's Three Wishes"
- Letters ...and Numbers, Too! (1975), "Herbert's Silly Poem"
- Ernie and Bert's Greatest Hits (1996), "High, Middle, Low" (Note: This release is only credited to Ernie and Bert, but Herbert sings the high part.)
Book appearances
- The Sesame Street Storybook (1971)
- The Sesame Street ABC Storybook (1974)
- The Sesame Street Dictionary (1980)
- A Day in the Life of Oscar the Grouch (1981)
- Put & Play Magic Show (1981)
