Who is "Bad Barney"?

[muppet maniac]

There was an episode from around the 6th season (it's on Muppet Wiki) where this guy blackmailed Big Bird...who was he exactly? Was he a human or an Anything Muppet?

 

[Beauregard]

Or was he a huge purple dinasaur?

 

[The Count]

Watch it Bo... We'll let you off with a warning this time, but make sure you don't let the MupPD catch you making such references again.

As for the character in question, I believe there was another forum member who reported that Bad Barney was a cowboy vllain who appeared in one of the earlier coloring books. Unsure who said it, you'd have to do a site-wide search to find the post. Hope this helps though.

 

[superboober]

I remember the character was used at least once in the mid 80s, enticing Telly to steal from Mr. MacIntosh's fruit cart.

 

[sesameguy]

Believe it or not, I do remember Bad Barney (but barely!)

He was indeed pictured in one of the early coloring books (the "Who's who" coloring book with Bert coloring a picture of Ernie on the cover). He was not a cowboy - that would be "Bad Bart," who was pictured in the same picture in the coloring book. The label at the bottom said, "Bad Bart and Bad Barney."

Bad Barney was performed by Richard Hunt (His voice was similar to "Headline Howie's" if you've seen that Unpaved episode.) He basically had a purple head (think Amazing Mumford or Dr. Nobel Price) covered with huge sunglasses and wild hair on top. He wore a red (I think) sweater.

I don't recall any blackmail, but I do remember an episode where Bad Barney was making fun of Big Bird (calling him "big chicken" or something like that) and Big Bird was going over to the grown-ups to get some advice. This is one of the few times that the issue of bullying was ever talked about on the show. It's a subject that, sadly, maybe should be talked about more often with kids. That's one of the issues with the show today, that it does not cover many of the more unpleasant issues kids have to deal with.

This was from a very old (late 1970s era) episode. If anyone has a copy of that coloring book (and a scanner), maybe they could post a picture of this guy to confirm that he existed!

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[sesameguy]

I remember the character was used at least once in the mid 80s, enticing Telly to steal from Mr. MacIntosh's fruit cart.

No kidding! I would have loved to see that. I don't suppose anyone has this on tape?

 

[CensoredAlso]

I don't recall any blackmail, but I do remember an episode where Bad Barney was making fun of Big Bird (calling him "big chicken" or something like that) and Big Bird was going over to the grown-ups to get some advice. This is one of the few times that the issue of bullying was ever talked about on the show. It's a subject that, sadly, maybe should be talked about more often with kids. That's one of the issues with the show today, that it does not cover many of the more unpleasant issues kids have to deal with.

Absolutely, it's a very serious issue that isn't being addressed enough in our society. Kids are young and immature, they're not born knowing right and wrong. They have to be taught by adults. Kids who are bullied have to know how to handle themselves and not let it destroy their self esteem. And adults need to stop being so complacent and clueless.

And you're right, from what I've seen Sesame Street used to regularly address a lot of serious issues. Such as how love has to be between two people, or that in a discussion you will have different opinions. Like in these two clips from the '80s

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-Dd0CluxHjo

http://youtube.com/watch?v=I-VroZElgp0

But now, the show is far too "babyish" to address such topics. And even when they have tried, it doesn't feel like real emotion (at least in my opinion). It's a shame because very few other kids shows are addressing the topics either.

Well, hopefully old clips like these will eventually end up on youtube or another Old School DVD.