Video of Big Bird singing at Jim Henson's funeral

James says: "I'm 37, 6'4", 235 lbs, haven't shaved in 9 days, and I play drums in a metal band. Tears are running down my face like I'm a little kid lost in an amusement park. This is really something." Video of Big Bird singing at Jim Henson's funeral

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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mikerbaker

This needs to be labeled NSFW… I fear someone will notice me and ask why I’m crying. Damn! This is probably the first non-gross post that needs a unicorn chaser.

Jim Henson is the only person whose death I’ve cried for that I didn’t know. But I suppose we all knew him well, in a way.
Anne K.

….oh, that is just heartbreaking. As are the Mastercard commercials with Jim Henson. They always make me tear up a little and then want to watch The Muppet Caper for the fortieth million time.
EeyoreX

Well, technically , these wonderful clips are from Jim HensonÂ´s MEMORIAL service, not his actual funeral. Check the muppet Wiki:

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Jim_Henson's_Memorial

Yes, there is a Muppet Wiki!
Probably the best use of the internet ever.
shumizzle

I cannot fully appreciate the gravity of this situation until Takuan provides ruminations.
Freevo

I needed a good cry. Thanks.

Henson played such a major part in my childhood. He was/is so many children’s friend(s). I owe a lot to Henson and Dahl.
karenbcrazy

I’m a complete mess now after watching all the videos and reading the Wikis. Hopefully no one will notice me sniffling, the red nose or red eyes.

Thank you Jim Henson for giving me such wonderful memories.
Pinwiz

It’s the ending that really killed me. Thankfully I don’t have to go anywhere or be seen by anyone in a while.
David Newland

I’m a huge Henson fan. A few weeks back I went to a Henson retrospective in Washington that blew my mind – see it if it comes to a town near you.

I was prepared to get a little misty, but when I walked in and saw Kermit seated under a glass display case, I just about lost it.

I wasn’t the only one. Kids were having a grand time in the play area, while the grownups were wandering around looking at the materials with quivering chins and red eyes.

I keep the book “It’s Not Easy Being Green” next to me at my desk. It’s a comfort.
Robbo

It was a very sad and special day – and the part I remembered most of all was when Harry Belafonte sang: “We Come From The Fire”. They had given us all these colourful foam butterflies on thin black wires, the kind we used to always use in the shows – everyone had one – and as Belafonte began to sing everyone, unprompted, started waving their butterfiles. The entire place became a sea of vibrant colour rising over our heads. Jim would have loved it. Belafonte nearly lost it but carried on. Thanks for putting this up. We all remember him and miss him very much.
jimbuck

No tears or crying, but severe chills. Seeing people in mourning usually puts me over the edge.
Takuan

November 10th, 1969
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ffSyaReJek
Reldita

Thank you for posting this. I was in need of a good cry. I miss Kermie :-(
aoi

i join the legion of people crying in their cubicle thanks to this one…
this has me almost as choked up as i was after reading that at Jim’s funeral they had Kermit sitting on the casket with a sign hung around his neck saying â€œI lost my voice.â€
i couldn’t be thankful to have grown up inspired, educated, and entertained by the works of Jim Henson during my most impressionable years as a child.
ispinyarns

Jimmy: I didn’t make the connection until I read your comment. And then I was really sad. :(
Robbo: Are you a Muppet? That is the coolest thing!!!
scottso

This got removed by the user on YouTube before I could see it. My Google-fu has totally failed me, and I can’t find it anywhere. Does anyone know where else I might be able to see it?
Tomas

I’m a 61 year old guy not prone to such things, but for some reason I can NOT articulate I, too, need to go wipe my eyes and compose myself.

Thank you, Boing Boing
Rampant

Since every other post is a crying post, I guess that I am the only one who thought this was funny. When you have a guy in a gigantic costume awkwardly walking down in front of a somber group of people, it is going to be funny regardless of how great the guy was.
jancola

Caroll Spinney visited my school when I was in third grade, and it stands as one of my favorite memories as a child. He is a wonderful entertainer.
Mindpowered

“More importantly, the service was open to the public and the seats and aisles were filled with fans. The most touching thing to me was to see so many parents holding small children who were in turn clutching their Ernies or Kermits in their little arms.”

http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/chris_barry/archive/2005/09/08/1722.aspx
technogeek

Certainly appropriate.

Perhaps more powerful is the song that Tom Smith wrote remembering Jim from Kermit’s point of view: _A_Frog_And_His_Boy_. Lyrics can be found at http://www.tomsmithonline.com/lyrics/boy_frog.htm

(Yes, I am a filker. No, I am not Tom Smith.)
aoi

@34
ack! i meant, “i couldn’t be more thankful…” an error courtesy of the sobbing.
Angstrom

hmm, OK then
here’s one that isn’t cubicle friendly either.

Frank Oz talks about His Friend, at Jim Henson’s Memorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Geccx-CnSS4
wylkyn

What are guys doing to me?!!!

Like so many of you, I grew up with Sesame Street. It was one of the few TV programs I got to watch as a very young boy back in the 60s, and I credit that show (and my sister who liked to play school) for teaching me to read by the time I was 3.

Now, here I am: a grown man who can’t leave his office because he would have to explain that Big Bird made him cry. I wish they would release full episodes of that show on either DVD or the Internet. They would make a mint from nostalgic saps like me.

Looks like I’ll be watching the Muppet Show DVDs with my daughter when I get home tonight.
Editz

This should sober you up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21OH0wlkfbc
Tordelback

Terribly funny and wonderfully sad, now I’m going into an important meeting with red eyes.
carlovely

i shouldn’t have watched this at work :(
Keeper of the Lantern

The only thing kinda cheesy is that crappy tux-thing Big Bird is wearing. Did they get the Sesame Street prop people to make it?
geopet

@ #11 Keith: When Big Bird says, “Thank you, Kermit.” that took me to a different level, too. And then I read these comments! Man. Too much.
RJ

I remember when Jim Henson died. It was a long time ago, but this still isn’t easy to watch.
arkizzle

Frank Oz made me cry.. :(
Anonymous

I’m really tired and I misread this somehow as Big Bird singing at ‘Jimmy Hendrix’s’ funeral – Yeh er, I’m going to bed now. . .
akbar56

Wow, so Denis Leary was not 100% correct about this on No Cure For Cancer. His joke really doesn’t work at all with this.
Bionicrat2

Here’s a Wikipedia bit on his funeral:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Henson#Death
zdkm

I didn’t think I would, but I did tear up.
jimmyjojo

That the thing that kills you is when you think, “But this is Kermit’s song… oh.”

[choke]
Anonymous

I was watching another eulogy/song on Youtube recently that had the same effect on my heartstrings, the video of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman’s service.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsHk9WC7fnQ
David Carroll

Yep. I just grabbed a facial tissue myself. Can you imagine how hard it was for Carroll Spinney, who worked with Henson all those years to perform that song?

I recall seeing Kermit on the Ed Sullivan show. He was grey then. So was everybody on TV as I recall! ;{)
Will_Tingle

@ #37 – I’m with you on this – Bigbird at a somber event cannot be anything but funny…

The Kermit “I lost my voice” thing AOI@ #34 mentioned reminded me of my personal favorite tribute – the Mel Blanc one…

http://www.greatamericanink.com/passing/images/speechless.jpg
Keith

I thought this was merely sad . . . until BB looks up and says, “Thank you, Kermit,” at the end. Then sob city.

More Big Bird weepiness: Watch him learn about Mr. Hooper’s death on Sesame Street. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZTvDZHRFrU
Really a bold move for the show.
scionofgrace

I’m astonished Spinney made it all the way through the song without crying. You can hear it in his voice, pulled thin by his own sorrow.

Wow, how touching. The world would be a duller place without the Muppets. There’s such warmth and joy in their humor.
richlb

I remember seeing the funeral before. It was probably one of the classiest tributes I’ve ever viewed. Nothing too hokey.
Sean Eric FAgan

I knew it would get to me — he was one of the very few people I thought deserved to be treated as a celebrity — but the Wikipedia description of the funeral got to me more.

Thank you for putting up the video.
wispsmoke

Part two of the memorial, when everyone comes up on the stage, made me start crying. So sad.
Sekino

I couldn’t make it to the end without breaking in tears. But this was so appropriate in both its whimsy and earnestness that I don’t mind at all. It was beautiful.
Bonnie

If you don’t cry watching this, you’re dead inside.
TK

Total respect to Caroll Spinney for his composure to deliver with such weight on his shoulders (literally).
Zart

Wow, you’re all total pansies.

KIDDING! KIDDING!

I’m crying too.
wolfiesma

It is very sad, but, Jim Henson lived a wonderful life and left us a legacy that lives on. He was taken too soon… but what he made with the time he had! His life enriched so many millions and continues to do so daily. What if we all aspired to such greatness?
Daemon

There have been few people as widely loved as Jim Henson. The world really did lose a bit of colour when he died.
Sekino

Very true, Wolfiesma.

I happened to be watching Dark Crystal just a few days ago with my better half; and we were sorry there weren’t more movies like Jim Henson’s. I don’t think he has an equal and/or true successor. You can feel his love of stories and fantasy through everything he touched and he had a way to make both kids and adults run with it. I wish there was more of it. But I guess it also makes it even more precious. What a wonderful creator.
GeekMan

Here’s the clip from the funeral that ends in all the muppets singing “Just One Person”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ3Q-Qw9jCQ

Incredibly touching.
Tom Hale

OMFG!, why the hell did you link to Graham Chapman’s service? I hadn’t seen this and I didn’t need one more thing to think about while I’m trying to get to sleep. Thank you – you son of a bitch.
slgalt

I’ve never been able to listen to the new Kermit voice. Damn you Boing Boing, sometimes “wonderful” is really sad.
Tom Hale

Whatever their beliefs, heaven surly has a special place for people that have brought such happiness, laughter, and introspection to the world. Jim Henson, Graham Chapman, George Carlin, who am I forgetting? – while they may have been irreverent, they inspired laughter, happiness, thought, and self analysis to their listeners. To me, that’s enough to get them past heavens gates. Could you really imagine an afterlife without Monty Python? I can’t
Anonymous

Original link is dead. Here’s a reposted youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrZyMptC2eQ
arikol

Yup, greatness can be about just making a lot of people a little bit happier.