Bruno the Trashman

  Muppeteer :   Caroll Spinney   Design Team:  Caroll Spinney  • ( Designer )  Bruno the Trash man  is a sanitation engineer on Sesame Street who acts as personal chauffeur to Oscar the Grouch.

During the 1970 s, the Sesame Street cast made live performances across the country , but there was no effective way to get Oscar  to enter the stage. Caroll Spinney, inspired by a puppet character on  The Gong Show  , conceived of a full - body  garbage  man who could physically carry  Oscar. Since his arms are usually just holding onto Oscar  ' s  trash can ,  Caroll Spinney  was able to perform  Oscar  as well as  Oscar  's right hand while inside the Bruno costume. The trash can  was connected to an opening in Bruno 's stomach.

Though generally Bruno ' s a silent character, 1 of the few times that Bruno spoke was in the song " Put It in the Trash Can  " , which he sang as part of a singing group , "  Bruno & the Trash men  ". He had a brief line at the end of Follow That Bird, saying " Sure , Boss  ! " when  Oscar  asked him to take a walk around the block. Similarly, when Oscar  asks him a question in ''[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Here_Come_the_Puppets! Here Come the Puppets ! ]'', Bruno gets out a " Well , uh . . . " before Oscar  cuts him off & says that's enough. An invisible wire was connected from Bruno 's mouth to somewhere inside the trash can.

According to Caroll Spinney , Bruno 's greatest moment was at the end of Follow That Bird " as he slowly walks into the sunset carrying  Oscar  ". . Bruno has demonstrated skills at rollerskating while also carrying Oscar  in  his   trash can , in both ''[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Here_Come_the_Puppets! Here Come the Puppets ! ] & Big Bird 's Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake''. Bruno, in the latter , surprised both Oscar  ( to his disappointment ) & the hum ans ( to the ir amazement ) at how good of a skater he was.

After several years in storage, the puppet 's foam eventually disintegrated. . Spinney  later remarked in a live appearance that rebuilding the puppet would have been prohibitively expensive, & the character was retired.

TV / Movies / Specials

 * Sesame Street ( 1969 - present )


 * Episode 2495 ( 1988 )
 * Episode 2595 ( 1989 )
 * Episode 2746 ( 1990 )
 * Episode 3023 ( 1993 )
 * Episode 3055 ( 1993 )
 * Episode 3083 ( 1993 )
 * Here Come the Puppets ! ( 1980 )
 * Follow That Bird ( 1985 )
 * The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years ( 1986 )
 * Sesame Street, Special ( 1988 )
 * Big Bird 's Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake ( 1991 )

Books

 * 1st Day of School (1982 )
 * Ernie 's Neighborhood ( 1987 )
 *  Oscar  's Grouchy Sounds  ( 1990 )
 *  From  Trash  to Treasure  ( 1993 )