Sesame Street: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Context & Trivia

Recorded on June 10, 2019, at NPR's headquarters in Washington D.C., the concert was part of Sesame Street's 50th anniversary festivities, which also included a ten-date national tour. From a puppetry standpoint, the performance brings together eight principal characters alongside Count von Count, Herry Monster, Oscar the Grouch, and a penguin, all performed live before the audience. Puppet captain Matt Vogel also performed Big Bird, Count von Count, and Mr. Johnson; the rest of the cast included Ryan Dillon (Elmo), Eric Jacobson (Bert, Grover, and Oscar), Peter Linz (Ernie and Herry Monster), Carmen Osbahr (Rosita), David Rudman (Cookie Monster), and Leslie Carrara-Rudolph (Abby Cadabby and the penguin).

The Tiny Desk Concerts series was built around intimate, stripped-down performances at a single desk—a format that rarely has to account for twelve puppets and their performers sharing a confined space, some visible, some tucked out of sight. Scaling that setup to a full Sesame Street ensemble made the session an unusually demanding exercise in live puppetry logistics. Host Bob Boilen noted that the Sesame Street cast was among the most hardworking and dedicated groups he had ever worked with.