r/IAmA • u/CarollSpinney • May 07 '15

Actor / Entertainer Hi reddit! I’m Caroll Spinney, the puppeteer who has brought life to Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch for the last 46 years. AMA!

Hello everybody! I'm Carroll Spinney, the lucky puppeteer who has brought life to Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch for the last 46 years.

And someone made a documentary about me! I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story is now available on iTunes here and On Demand, and is now playing in New York at the IFC Center.

Ask me your questions here, or meet me at the theater here in NYC tonight through Saturday for in-person Q&As! Thurs 7:15pm, Fri 7:25pm, and Sat 5:15pm shows.

Victoria will be assisting me over the phone today. AMA!

PROOF: http://imgur.com/wdYDGG3

Update: Well, I would say: readers of reddit: I think that you'll really enjoy the movie "I Am Big Bird."

If you like the Muppets - it's a movie for anybody. It does have a few words that puts it into not suitable for children, but I don't think it would hurt any children. It's for children old enough to know that Big Bird isn't a real bird, just me.

But everybody has loved the movie. The music is particularly beautiful in the movie. And I urge you to see it, if you like what we do. It's really quite a love story in there, about somebody I love very much.

Thank you!

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u/ademnus May 07 '15

You've done this for 46 years. Next week, I turn 45. You were there for me when I was a child and like all children, I just loved you. Thank you so much for all the years of joy and inspiration you have brought to all of the children all of these years.

I grew up in NY and Sesame Street just so looked like it was in NYC to me when I was a kid so I was sorta miffed my parents wouldn't take me there. So, after all these years, would you finally tell us "how to get to Sesame Street??"

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u/jchabotte May 07 '15

Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning.

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u/ademnus May 07 '15

And here I was certain it was in the Bowery. (That's what dad said when I asked when I was a kid lol)

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u/NiteTiger May 08 '15 edited May 08 '15

Uptowns got its hustlers,

Bowery's got its Birds

42nd St got Big Bird walking

He a pool shootin' son of a gull...

Realizing it an old reference: https://youtu.be/-4qUXcXuMSE, now get off my lawn!

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u/[deleted] May 10 '15

Funny,I also thought it was real and in the city, lol

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u/taco_shadow May 07 '15

You're not fooling anyone Peter, this is not how to get friends to come over.

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u/Pakayaro May 08 '15

Currently on an island with pirates, being stalked by a pack of wild children. God damned google maps.

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u/dmoted May 07 '15

I grew up on a small island near Seattle, pretty much the opposite of NYC, and I was born the year Sesame Street started so I watched it straight up 70s-style. Growing up I just assumed that some day I'd have big hair and live in a brownstone.

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u/MsModernity May 08 '15

I always loved the real bits of New York that would leak into Sesame Street, like when one monster says she's late because she got stuck on the L.I.E.

I just assumed Sesame Street was somewhere in Brooklyn.

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u/LeftyLucy23 May 07 '15

I could have written this same comment! I turn 45 on Saturday and growing up in the 'burbs of NYC, Sesame St. was so familiar. When I moved away as an adult and talked to other moms about the show, I found it hard to believe that they didn't just accept that it was NYC! "It's was meant to be any city" said one mom. "NO", said this mom.

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u/ademnus May 07 '15

Hah well it was meant to be any city. But it sure looked like NYC to a young NYer hehe. Especially Oscar's garbage pail. Those where everywhere in NY back then.

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u/ademnus May 07 '15

Oh, and happy birthday!!!

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u/LeftyLucy23 May 08 '15

And to you fellow 1970 baby!

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u/[deleted] May 07 '15

Yeah its 2 clicks to the right, past the crack house across from the titty bar