Big Bird's Brazilian cousin Garibaldo is a whole vibe
Big Bird blew some minds on Friday afternoon, but his cousin from Brazil was the day's unexpected star.
It all started when the Sesame Street star launched into a Twitter thread running through some of his international relatives. See, the educational kid's series is an international phenomenon. But because the show covers the basics — our ABCs and 123s — a version written for U.S. children won't really be helpful in other parts of the world.
So there are multiple versions of the show, each with their own title and cast of characters. Big Bird, being such a central figure, has a ton of counterparts in other nations. They all have different names and looks, and are canonically cousins.
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Just peep some examples real quick.
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It's delightful, right? Just a wholesome thread of gigantic, talking canary bird-muppets. Very in keeping with Sesame Street's whole approach. Mostly.
One of Big Bird's tweets introduces followers to his Brazilian cousin, Garibaldo. Now Garibaldo hasn't been around in some time. He was Big Bird's counterpart on Vila Sésamo for five years in the mid-'70s, voiced by Laerte Morrone. He then made a comeback a few decades later, when Vila Sésamo returned in 2007. That Garibaldo, voiced by Fernando Gomes, stuck around until 2014. (He's had some other appearances too.)
Big Bird's post about Garibaldo created a bit of a ruckus. The photo he uses is maybe not Garibaldo's best moment. He looks a little... creepy? Haunted? Threatening? Definitely one of those (or all of those). Big Bird even seems to acknowledge this in his caption, writing "[h]e may look scary but he's one of the nicest birds I know!"
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You... you OK, Garibaldo? He really does look like he's seen some shit, right? The people of Twitter immediately picked up on this too — and probably would have even without Big Bird's prompting. That led to some truly hilarious and/or loving responses, as these things often do.
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The international Sesame Street cast is an entire rabbit hole unto itself. My favorite discovery is unquestionably Günni, a talking muppet toilet (you read that right) from the German spin-off series, Eine Möhre für Zwei. The comedy series follows a muppet sheep and a muppet horse who live together in a giant carrot house in Hamburg. Günni is a recurring character who the Muppets Wiki describes thusly:
He's a little cocky, tells endless stories about his adventurous life, his famous ancestors, and the many jobs he's had throughout the years, but he has a good heart.
It's perfect.
You know, with Sesame Street being a big piece of HBO and HBO Max, bringing some of these fascinating international takes on the series to the streaming service sure could bring it a lot of added value.
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Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
