Bruno the Trashman

  Muppeteer :   CAROLL SPINNEY    Design  Team :  CAROLL SPINNEY  • (  Design er  )  BRUNO   THE  TRASH MAN  is a sanitation engineer on  SESAME STREET  who act s 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 help  OSCAR THE GROUCH  to enter the stages.  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 left hand while in side the  BRUNO  costume. The  TRASH CAN  was connect ed to an opening in  BRUNO  ' s stom ach.

Though usually  BRUNO  ' s a silent  SESAME STREET  character, 1 of the few time s that  BRUNO  spoke was in t he song  "  Put  IT  in the  TRASH   CAN  " , which he sang as part of a sing in g group , "  BRUNO  & t h e  TRASH  m e n  ". He had a brief line at the end of Follow That  BIRD , say in g " Sure , Boss  ! " when  OSCAR  asked him to just go take a walk around the block. Similarly, when  OSCAR  asks him a question in the special ''[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Here_Come_the_Puppets! Here Come the Puppets ! ]'',  BRUNO  does manage to get out t he sentence " Well , uh . . . " before  OSCAR  cuts him o ff & 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 t he latter , surprised both  OSCAR  ( to his  disappointment ) & t h e hum ans ( to the ir amaze ment ) at how good of a skater he was.

After several years in storage, the puppet ' s foam eventually just completely , literally disintegrate d. .  SPINNEY  later remarked in a live appear ance that rebuild ing the puppet would have been prohibitively expensive, & the character was retired.

T V / Movie s / Special s

 *  SESAME STREET  ( 1 9 6 9 - present )


 * Episode 1899 ( 1 9 8 3 )
 * Episode 2495 ( 1 9 88 )
 * Episode 2595 ( 1 9 8 9 )
 * Episode 2746 ( 1990 )
 * Episode 2840 ( 1 99 1 )
 * Episode 3023 ( 1993 )
 * Episode 3055 ( 1 99 3 )
 * Episode 3083 ( 1 99 3 )
 * Here Come the Puppets ! ( 1 9 8 0 )
 * Follow That  BIRD  ( 1 9 8 5 )
 * The Muppets : A Celebration of 30 Year s ( 19 8 6 )
 *  SESAME   STREET , Special ( 1 9 88 )
 *  BIG   BIRD  ' s Birth day or Let  ME  Eat Cake ( 1 99 1 )

Book s

 * 1 s t Day of School ( 1 9 8 2 )
 *  Ernie  ' s Neighbor hood ( 1 9 8 7 )
 *  OSCAR  ' s  GROUCHY  Sound s  ( 1 99 0 )
 *  Fro m  TRASH  to Treasure  ( 1 99 3 )