'Sesame Street' Honors 'Birdman' With a Delightful Big Bird Parody
Sure, Oscars would be nice, but director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman just achieved peak cultural relevance: a Sesame Street-made viral video parody.
In the short spoof above, Caroll Spinney, the man who has played Big Bird for the last 46 years, is lightly mocked by his 8-foot-tall alter ego, just as Michael Keaton’s Riggan Thomson is shadowed by a hectoring hallucination of his former movie superhero Birdman. (Dedicated Sesame Street fans will recall that Big Bird himself also had a longtime “imaginary” friend in Mr. Snuffleupagus.)
"We’ve survived hurricanes, trips to Hawaii, Puerto Rico, China, Japan… ticklish monsters!" Big Bird tells Spinney, recounting just a few of their many adventures.
Keaton shadowed by his alter ego in 'Birdman'
Birdman's Keaton won a Golden Globe and is nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of the over-the-hill actor haunted by the character that launched him to Hollywood success two decades prior. You won't find any of that self-loathing in Spinney: As the upcoming documentary I Am Big Bird makes clear, the 81-year-old actor is not at all eager to retire from his gig as the iconic bird.
I am Big Bird hits theaters and VOD on May 5.
Image credit: AP Photo/Copyright Twentieth Century Fox, Atsushi Nishijima, File
