PERFORMER | Jerry Nelson |
DEBUT | 1973 |
PATTERN | Large Lavender Live Hand |
Biff is a construction worker on Sesame Street who speaks with a gruff New York accent. His partner is Sully. Biff first appeared in Season 4.
Biff often asks for Sully's opinion, but interrupts him before Sully gets a chance to even make a sound. He also tends to ask him questions and then eggs Sully on by repeating, "Huh? Huh? Huh?," a reference to the taxicab routine by comedy duo Burns and Schreiber. As performer Jerry Nelson said in an interview, "Sully wasn't so much Schreiber, but Biff was the Jack Burns character."[1] Biff often has trouble figuring out how to perform various tasks, and by the time he's figured it out, Sully has already finished it. Biff would then take the credit. While Biff normally interrupts Sully, on occasion (such as episodes 3333 and 3387) he also interrupts his niece, Roxie Marie, though she's at least able to get out some words when he does.
Besides his niece Roxie Marie, Biff's family includes his wife, Celeste (although in prior episodes, Biff says his wife's name is Ethel). According to Episode 2608, he also has four kids - Timmy, Tommy, Tammy and infant Mary-Biff. In Episode 1737, he mentions having a dog named Tuffy. In Episode 2870 he works on the sink in Hooper's Store, claiming his father was a plumber and that kind of work runs in the family.
According to episodes 1955 and 2294, Biff grew up and lives in Canarsie (a neighborhood in Brooklyn). Biff mentions in Episode 3087 that he attended P.S. 186, where he was the self-proclaimed counting ace. He is also a Republican, as mentioned in Sing Along.
He has sung songs such as "We Coulda," "Think of Your Fingers," "This Song is For the Birds," and appeared in "Do De Rubber Duck." He also appeared with Judy Collins in the song "One Thing Leads to Another," and with Johnny Cash in "Five Feet High and Rising." Like Sully, Biff sometimes plays the piano, though he doesn't play it as well as Sully. In one segment, he recalls when he'd play piano scales as a kid and, as an adult, has difficulty playing the most basic of scales. (First: Episode 0911) In another episode, Biff and Sully go to Bob for piano lessons. When Biff plays, poorly, Bob assumes the lessons are for him, only for Biff to reveal that he wants Sully to play like him so he can keep up with Biff. In another episode, when Biff has his thumb stuck inside a bowling ball, he does his daily piano practice regardless, playing it along with a recording of himself playing the piano without the bowling ball. After asking Telly if his piano playing sounds different with the bowling ball, Telly confirms that it sounds the same.
In Elmopalooza, Biff uses a jackhammer to get Jon Stewart and Prairie Dawn out of the dressing room, but when he puts it on full throttle, it shakes him all the way to the stage. Later during "One Small Voice," he and Sully appear in the audience at the talent show.
The duo made background cameos in episodes 4204 (performed by John Kennedy) and 4712. In season 50, he made his first new speaking appearances in Episode 5017 and 5033, now performed by Matt Vogel.
A similarly named construction foreman, Bif, exists off-screen. Two construction worker Anything Muppets who looked similar to Biff and Sully made background appearances in the "Outrageous Makeover: Home Addition" sketch. (First: Episode 4132)
Filmography[]
See also Biff and Sully Sketches
- Sesame Street
- Julie on Sesame Street
- The Muppet Movie
- The Muppets Take Manhattan
- Follow That Bird
- The Muppets: A Celebration of Thirty Years
- Sing Along
- A Muppet Family Christmas
- Don't Forget to Watch the Movie
- Elmopalooza
- A Brief History of Motion Pictures
- Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration
- The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo
Episodic appearances[]
- Season 4: 0487, 0532
- Season 5: 0543, 0545, 0553, 0561, 0562, 0572, 0580, 0582, 0599, 0605, 0606, 0630, 0638, 0640, 0646, 0660, 0663, 0665
- Season 6: 0671, 0674, 0680, 0689, 0694, 0695, 0702, 0718, 0720, 0735, 0743, 0744, 0753
- Season 7: 0810, 0816, 0817, 0821, 0829, 0837, 0838, 0839, 0869, 0872, 0873, 0909, 0918, 0925
- Season 8: 0942, 0943, 0950, 0955, 0961, 1009, 1015, 1021, 1045, 1046
- Season 9: 1057, 1130, 1138, 1145
- Season 10: 1190, 1200, 1201, 1209, 1213, 1266, 1287, 1297
- Season 11: 1360, 1361, 1362, 1371
- Season 13: 1610, 1613, 1667, 1675, 1677, 1688
- Season 14: 1733, 1736, 1737, 1743, 1750, 1773, 1777, 1782, 1799, 1831
- Season 15: 1863, 1955
- Season 17: 2131, 2148
- Season 18: 2289, 2294, 2320, 2355
- Season 19: 2357
- Season 20: 2608
- Season 21: 2658, 2706
- Season 22: 2791, 2792, 2793, 2795, 2802, 2826, 2870, 2874
- Season 23: 2878, 2906, 2928, 2930, 2984
- Season 24: 3013, 3087
- Season 25: 3136, 3154, 3193, 3217, 3252, 3260
- Season 26: 3333, 3387
- Season 29: 3703
- Season 30: 3787, 3845
- Season 40: 4204
- Season 47: 4712
- Season 50: 5017, 5033
- Season 51: 5115
- Season 54: 5425
Album appearances[]
Book appearances[]
- Big Bird's Busy Book (1975)
- I'm My Mommy - I'm My Daddy (1975, with green skin)
- The Sesame Street Book of Fairy Tales (1975)
- How to Be a Grouch (1976)
- Una Sorpresa (1976)
- Cookie Monster's Book of Cookie Shapes (1979)
- The Count Counts a Party (1980)
- The House That Biff Built (1980)
- I Like School (1980)
- The Sesame Street Dictionary (1980)
- The Sesame Street Pet Show (1980)
- The Tool Box Book (1980)
- What Did You Bring? (1980)
- The Amazing Mumford Presents the Magic Weather Show (1981)
- A Day in the Life of Oscar the Grouch (1981)
- I Have a Friend (1981)
- Put & Play Magic Show (1981)
- What Do You Do? (1981)
- City (1982)
- Sesame Street Finding Out Encyclopedia 5: The EF Book (1982)
- Sesame Street Finding Out Encyclopedia 9: The NO Book (1982)
- Sesame Street Finding Out Encyclopedia 13: The T Book (1982)
- Everyone Makes Mistakes (1983)
- Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street? (1984)
- A Silly Sesame Street Story: The Three Little Pigs (1984)
- Sesame Street ABC (1986)
- The Alphabet: The Great Alphabet Play (1986)
- A Birthday Surprise (1987)
- A New Playground on Sesame Street (1988)
- Oscar's Grouchy Sounds (1990)
- Bright and Early with Elmo (1994)
- Elmo's Night Before Christmas (1996)
See also[]
Sources[]
- ↑ Nelson, Jerry Tough Pigs interview