Meeting the man behind Big Bird (and Oscar the Grouch)

Me with Caroll Spinney, plus two of his closest friends from Sesame Street

On April 27 of this year, a documentary film called I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story made its world premiere at the HotDocs festival in Toronto. In case you don't know who Mr. Spinney is, you've likely grown up hearing his voice on the now 45-year-old children's TV show Sesame Street.

Spinney has performed both Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch since the series began. At 80 years old, he is the last of the original Muppet performers who can still be heard regularly on the show every weekday morning. He has lived an extraordinary and rewarding life, and I highly recommend seeing his movie. I don't like to give spoilers, except to say that through some dramatic highs and lows, Caroll Spinney has managed to maintain his artistic integrity as an actor, animator, singer and comic performer.

One of my favourite moments in I Am Big Bird is his fond remembrance of Jim Henson, his late mentor and best friend.



Spinney, like Henson, comes across as a gentle genius. I saw the film four days after its premiere with a packed audience. After the screening, he and the two directors appeared and took some questions from the audience. I even got to ask him a question about a book I loved as a child, How to Be a Grouch. Spinney, who wrote and illustrated the book credited to Oscar the Grouch, shared that he came up with the book's concept as a self-book for aspiring grouches.

A few minutes after leaving the theatre, I got to meet him! He was warm and friendly, and genuinely pleased to meet with some of his lifelong fans. At one point during our conversation, he asked me if I had the same physical disability as Tarah Schaeffer, a former child actress who acted on Sesame Street during the '90s. The question didn't bother me because I remembered seeing her on the show. In fact, I was honoured he mentioned her because I told him I had made contact with her on Facebook. He seemed quite impressed!

Here is a profile of Caroll Spinney done by CBC earlier this year.



I enjoyed meeting Spinney and watching his film. Meeting him and seeing I Am Big Bird is an early nominee for personal favourite moment of 2014.

As I said goodbye to Caroll Spinney, he said, as Big Bird, "Nice to meet you," followed by "Have a rotten day" in his Oscar voice.