List of celebrity guest stars on Sesame Street
From Freepedia
This is a list of celebrity guest stars on the children's television series Sesame Street. An asterisk (*) indicates those celebrities who are known to have recited or sung the alphabet.
Actors/Comedians
- Maria Conchita Alonso
- Julie Andrews
- Yul Brynner
- Richard Belzer
- Annette Bening
- Candice Bergen
- Corbin Bernsen
- Carol Burnett, in an extremely brief appearance in the first episode
- John Candy
- Jim Carrey, in a skit about "Happy Feet", originally written for Steve Martin.
- Margaret Cho, in a segment with Prairie Dawn
- Glenn Close
- Imogene Coca, in the special A Special Sesame Street Christmas; her primary function in the special was to be called an idiot by Ethel Merman
- Bill Cosby**
- Billy Crystal
- Jane Curtin
- Jamie Lee Curtis
- Tyne Daly
- Geena Davis
- Richard Dawson, in a parody of Family Feud called "Family Food" (where a Muppet family is asked to name the basic food groups).
- Ellen DeGeneres*
- Robert De Niro
- Danny DeVito
- Fran Drescher
- Sally Field
- Harvey Fierstein, season 35, singing the parody song "Everything's Coming Up Noses"
- Henry Fonda, in the special A Special Sesame Street Christmas
- Jodie Foster
- James Gandolfini
- Mel Gibson, playing Hamlet to Elmo's Claudius
- Seth Green, season 35, running the Letter of the Month Club with Telly
- Whoopi Goldberg
- John Goodman
- David Alan Grier
- Charles Grodin
- Madeline Kahn
- Jeremy Irons
- James Earl Jones*
- Burt Lancaster*
- Nathan Lane
- Shari Lewis and Lambchop*
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus
- Jean Marsh
- Andrea Martin
- Ethel Merman, in the special A Special Sesame Street Christmas; her primary function in the special was to call Imogene Coca an idiot
- Rick Moranis
- Julianne Moore, season 35, with Count von Count in Far From Heaven parody Far From Seven
- Kathy Najimy, in Cinderelmo
- Liam Neeson
- Rosie O'Donnell
- Mandy Patinkin
- Rhea Perlman
- Joe Pesci
- Lou Diamond Phillips
- Oliver Platt, in Cinderelmo
- Natalie Portman, dressed as an elephant and ran Hooper's store for one episode, while Alan was on vacation.
- Paul Reubens, as Pee-Wee Herman
- Julia Roberts
- Tim Robbins, who asks to stay at The Furry Arms hotel.
- Chris Rock
- Fred Rogers
- Keri Russell, in Cinderelmo
- Lea Salonga
- Susan Sarandon*
- Will Smith
- Dick Smothers, one half of The Smothers Brothers, in the special A Special Sesame Street Christmas
- French Stewart, in Cinderelmo
- Patrick Stewart*
- Ben Stiller
- Marisa Tomei
- Lily Tomlin
- Kathleen Turner
- Leslie Uggams, in the special A Special Sesame Street Christmas, Uggams thinks lemonade is hot cocoa
- Tracey Ullman
- Robin Williams
- Noah Wyle
- Little Theatre for the Deaf, an acting troupe, who show Zoe how to sign the word "dancing"
Celebrities
- Maya Angelou
- Tyra Banks
- Cindy Crawford
- Phil Donahue
- Ken Jennings
- Robert MacNeil
- Al Roker
- Vonda Shephard, singing "Everybody's Song"
- Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert
- Barbara Walters
Political figures
- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
- First Lady Laura Bush, in episode 4032, reading an original book called Wubba Wubba Wubba to Elmo, Big Bird, and some children.
- First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who recited the free verse poem "I Am - Somebody."
- Ralph Nader, who sang People in Your Neighborhood with Bob
Musicians
- James Galway
- Dizzy Gillespie
- Savion Glover
- Herbie Hancock
- Kronos Quartet
- Lang Lang
- Yo-Yo Ma
- Branford Marsalis
- Wynton Marsalis
- Seiji Ozawa
- Itzhak Perlman, episodes 1563 and 2574, teaches a girl how to play the violin.
- Joshua Bell, possibly in the 12th season, playing his violin in the episode where Telly debuts, and plays his tuba.
- Max Roach
- Isaac Stern
Singers
- Paula Abdul
- Backstreet Boys
- Lea Salonga
- Tony Bennett
- George Benson, episode 2124, singing Greatest Love of All
- Harry Belafonte*
- Rubén Blades
- Garth Brooks
- Jimmy Buffett
- Cab Calloway
- Mary Chapin Carpenter*
- Aaron and Nick Carter, two-headed monster skit, aired with Baby Bear's little sibling's birth, second episode.
- Johnny Cash, singing "Nasty Dan"
- Tracy Chapman
- Ray Charles*
- Chubby Checker
- Destiny's Child, singing "New Way to Walk"
- The Dixie Chicks
- Celia Cruz
- Judy Collins, who became a regular cast member
- Shawn Colvin, singing "I Don't Want to Live On the Moon" in Elmopalooza
- Perry Como
- Bo Diddley
- Plácido Domingo
- En Vogue, singing "I Want a Monster in Elmopalooza
- Gloria Estefan, singing "Mambo I Yi Yi" in Elmopalooza
- Melissa Etheridge
- José Feliciano
- 14 Karat Soul
- The Four Tops
- Crystal Gayle
- Goo Goo Dolls
- Faith Hill
- Lena Horne, singing "How About You?" to Grover when he was shy
- Mahalia Jackson
- Michael Jackson, in the special A Special Sesame Street Christmas
- Wyclef Jean, season 36, rapping "Healthy Food" with Cookie Monster, for Healthy Habits for Life
- Waylon Jennings
- Billy Joel*, singing "Just the Way You Are" to Oscar the Grouch
- Norah Jones, season 35, singing "Don’t Know Why 'Y' Didn't Come" with Elmo and the letter "Y"
- Wynonna Judd
- Alicia Keys
- Kid 'N Play
- B.B. King
- Gladys Knight and the Pips
- Patti LaBelle
- Queen Latifah
- Ladysmith Black Mambazo* (sang the Alphabet Song with Paul Simon)
- Cyndi Lauper
- Little Richard, singing "Rubber Duckie"
- Kenny Loggins
- Ziggy Marley
- Martina McBride, season 35
- Tim McGraw
- Don McLean
- Bobby McFerrin
- Menudo
- The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
- Moby
- Anne Murray, in the special A Special Sesame Street Christmas; Murray's segment featured a magic egg nog container
- Holly Near
- Willie Nelson
- Aaron Neville, singing "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon"
- *NSYNC
- The Pointer Sisters, singing "Pinball Number Count"
- Lou Rawls
- Helen Reddy
- R.E.M., singing "Furry Happy Monsters"
- Little Richard
- Smokey Robinson
- Linda Ronstadt
- Diana Ross
- Buffy Sainte-Marie, who became a regular cast member
- Jill Scott, singing "We Are All Earthlings" [1]
- Pete Seeger, singing "Sweet-A Little Baby"
- Carly Simon
- Paul Simon*, who sang "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" and also performed the Alphabet Song with Ladysmith Black Mambazo
- Ruben Studdard, with Elmo
- Take 6
- James Taylor, singing "Jellyman Kelly"
- The Temptations
- Randy Travis
- Stevie Wonder
- Joe Williams
Who didn't sing on the show
- Percy Sledge, in his 1970s segment, he greets the viewer, says that "we're going to count" from one to ten, and then does so multiple times.
Sports figures
- Arthur Ashe
- Michael Chang
- Julius Erving
- Peggy Fleming
- The Harlem Globetrotters
- Rosie Grier
- Bo Jackson
- Joe Namath
- Martina Navratilova
- New York Giants
- New York Knicks
- New York Mets
- David Robinson
- Isiah Thomas
- Joe Torre, season 36, then manager of the New York Yankees. Torre showed Telly a few pointers on how to catch a ball, as part of Healthy Habits for Life.
- Venus Williams, season 35, with Elmo
- Dave Winfield
Pre-celebrities
The following persons were not celebrities at the time they appeared on Sesame Street, but later became well-known:
- Actress/Singer Tatyana Ali, ca. late 1980's
- Actor Alan Arkin
- Actor Paul Benedict (as The Number Painter, from 1969-74)
- Dancer Savion Glover
- Actor Raúl Juliá as Rafael, 1971-1972 season
- Actor Haley Joel Osment, as Peter Lane ca. mid-1990's
- Actress Charlotte Rae
- Actress Holly Robinson-Peete, in the first episode, as 6-year-old "Sally"
- Guitarist Nile Rodgers (of Chic) played in the Sesame Street band in the 1970s
- Singer Luther Vandross, first season 1969
Celebrities who only lent their voices to the show
- Howard Morris, the voice of Jughead Jones
- Grace Slick, on Jefferson Airplane, for the Spies and Racecars pinball counting segment for the #2
Celebrities as characters
- Kenny Baker as R2-D2
- Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
- Arte Johnson (portraying his Nazi character from Laugh-In)
Fictional characters
- Jughead Jones
- The Pink Panther
- The Simpsons, including Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie.
Celebrities who appeared in related segments, not within the show itself
In season 35, PBS stations aired clips of celebrities chatting about their favourite memories of the show. These were dubbed their "Sesame Street Moment".
- Jason Biggs
- Wayne Brady
- Amy Brenneman
- Cher
- Harry Connick Jr.
- Harvey Fierstein
- Dennis Franz
- Kelsey Grammer
- Seth Green
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Norah Jones
- Martina McBride
- Julianne Moore
- Doris Roberts
- Ruben Studdard
- Venus Williams
Characters based on celebrities
- Alistair Cookie, based on Alistair Cooke
- Polly Darton, based on Dolly Parton
- Dr. Feel, based on Dr. Phil, season 35
- Placido Flamingo, based on Placido Domingo
- Joe Hundred Guy, based on Joe Millionaire, season 35
- Pat Playjacks, based on Pat Sajak
- Bennett Snerf, based on Bennett Cerf and Arlene Frantic, based on Arlene Francis, on a parody of "What's My Line?"), season 1
- Bruce Springbean, based on Bruce Springsteen
- Johnny Trash, based on Johnny Cash
- TriangleBob Trianglepants, based on Spongebob Squarepants, season 35
- Babwa Wawa, based on Barbara Walters
- H. Ross Parrot, based on Ross Perot
See Also:
Human characters on Sesame Street
