‘I Am Big Bird’ and Vince Staples

Episode notes

 

 

L to R: Caroll Spinney on location with Kermit Love who built the original Big Bird puppet from a design created by Jim Henson.
Photo credit: Copper Pot Pictures‘I am Big Bird’: Caroll Spinney and Dave LaMattina on Big Bird’s Big HeartSpend a few minutes watching Sesame Street, and you’ll recognize some part of yourself in Big Bird. His kindness, curiosity and vulnerability resonate with everyone, young and old. But who brought Big Bird to life?

Caroll Spinney is the man inside the Big Bird suit, and he has been since 1969. (He’s also Oscar the Grouch). Dave LaMattina is the co-director, along with Chad Walker, of new a documentary about Spinney. It’s called I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story.

Spinney made his television debut in 1955, working on the local Las Vegas show Rascal Rabbit, then moved on to the East Coast and performed on Bozo the Clown. But he was looking for greater purpose in his work, and he found it. He met Jim Henson and began work on the pioneering children’s TV show, Sesame Street.

Spinney and LaMattina sit down to talk with us about Big Bird’s physical and spiritual evolution, how the 80-year-old Spinney manages to maneuver in a full-body puppet suit, and how Big Bird has helped so many children and adults deal with loss, love and their own feelings.

I Am Big Bird is in theaters nationwide.

This interview originally aired in June 2014.

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Photo courtesy Vince StaplesVince Staples on Rap, Growing Up in Long Beach, Gang Culture, and Why Being Hard is “Just Corny”The rapper Vince Staples is now 21 years old. As a teenager, he got jumped into a gang in Long Beach, where he’s from. He didn’t expect to become a rapper. And unlike some rappers, he doesn’t think street life is anything to brag about.

He’s been fighting against his own upbringing and the gang culture that surrounded him since childhood, and his verses reflect that. He’s released several well-received mixtapes, and he’s continually outshone other rappers in guest verses on their own tracks.

Staples talks to us about growing up, why gang banging seemed like fate, and how he became a rapper.

His debut LP, Summertime ’06 will be released by Def Jam on June 30th.

A different edit of this interview originally aired in June 2014.

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The Outshot: Game of ThronesLike the 18 million people who watch it each week, Jesse loves Game of Thrones. But though he finds himself jumping up and down and shouting at the TV, he doesn’t care how it all will end. Why? He’ll explain.

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