Santa Claus is a traditional, secular figure of Christmas good cheer, generally depicted as a jolly fat, old man in a red suit. Other nations have their own variations, such as Father Christmas in England and Sinterklaas in the Netherlands.
He lives at the North Pole with his wife, Mrs. Claus, where he runs a workshop staffed by elves, and cares for the reindeer who pull his sleigh.
Santa has appeared in several Muppet/Sesame Street specials over the years, portrayed by different human actors and occasionally depicted as a Muppet. Muppet characters have sometimes felt the urge to don the familiar beard as well.
Santa Claus as a character[]
| Picture | Portrayer | Production / Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
Arthur Godfrey |
Santa appears alongside Scudge, Gleep, and other monsters in a brief holiday sketch. Set entirely in his workshop, the monsters attempt to steal toys until Santa shows them kindness by giving them the playthings as a present. |
|
unknown |
"Santa Claus" appeared as one of the ball guests, telling one of the Stepsisters that she reminded him of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. |
|
Art Carney |
This was Santa's first extended appearance in a Muppet production. Santa is an amiable figure, kind even to Cosmo Scam. He is also a hopeless amateur magician, forever practicing card tricks. |
|
unknown |
Uncle Traveling Matt encounters a department store Santa, who he assumes is a magical wish giving creature. |
|
mall Santa |
Miss Piggy sits on the lap of a mall Santa. |
|
Anything Muppet |
A Pumpkin Anything Muppet (Frank Oz) appears as Santa Claus, apparently unsure of his own identity. |
 |
Anything Muppet |
In another News Flash sketch, Kermit the Frog encounters a Fat Blue Santa (Kevin Clash), hoping to find out how he gets down the chimney. |
 |
Whatnot |
A Whatnot Santa appears during the line "everything's coming up sunshine and Santa Claus..." |
 |
Jon Stone (voice) |
Big Bird sits out on the roof of 123 Sesame Street to catch Santa in the act of delivering presents. Santa appears when Big Bird dozes off and is only seen in shadow, disappearing the moment Big Bird awakes. His voice (provided by Jon Stone)[1] is previously heard over a telephone swallowed by Cookie Monster. Stone also plays the narrator of the audio adaptation who gradually reveals himself to be Santa Claus. |
 |
animated, silent |
Santa Claus whizzes by, as the lyrics of the song "Good Things Happen in the Dark" mention him by name. |
 |
animated, silent |
An obscured Santa Claus is seen getting a restful sleep without the Northern Lights during the "Merry-Go-Round" song. |
 |
Tony Geiss |
A goodwill Santa stands in front of The Furry Arms Hotel. |
 |
Charles Durning |
This Santa is rather crotchety and frustrated by the side effects of Elmo's wish for having Christmas every day. He also gets to sing "Every Day Can't Be Christmas." |
 |
Charles Edward Hall |
Elmo travels to the North Pole near the end of the special. |
|
Dave "Squatch" Ward |
Fozzie runs into a compassionate Salvation Army Santa, and accidentally leaves his sack of money with him. |
|
Jay Brazeau |
In a deleted scene, a jolly Santa, apparently convinced he's the real deal, regretfully informs Kermit that he can't appear in their big holiday production. |
 |
Muppet Poser |
A poser puppet of Santa Claus helms his sleigh in the Macy's window display. |
 |
Charles Edward Hall |
Kermit with the Rockettes and Santa during Kermit's 50th Anniversary Tour. |
 |
Kevin James |
Kevin James shows another side of Santa Claus when he is issued a speeding ticket. |
 |
Richard Griffiths |
The Muppets race to make sure that three letters make their way to Santa. |
 |
Anything Muppet |
Santa visits Ernie and Bert in their German apartment. |
 |
unknown |
Calling Elmo on the "video phone". |
 |
Brad Oscar |
Santa Claus performs "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" with Kermit the Frog at The White House, and later joins him for a sing-along rendition of "Jingle Bells" and "Winter Wonderland." |
 |
Craig Robinson |
Santa joins the Muppets' party with Cee Lo Green. |
 |
unknown |
Santa Claus joined Miss Piggy, President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Reese Witherspoon and others for a sing-along rendition of "Jingle Bells." |
 |
Jim Gaffigan |
In the bedtime story told to Elmo, Santa visits Sesame Street for the first time after the spirit of kindness has been brought to the neighborhood. Santa later visits Elmo's bedroom while he is asleep. |
 |
Anything Muppet |
Santa Claus visits the Furchester Hotel, bringing gifts to all the guests who presumed he'd miss them due to their re-locating. |
 |
Anything Muppet |
On the twelfth day of Christmas, Santa (Ryan Dillon)[2] brings Cookie Monster twelve snowman cookies. This version of Santa also appears in "Jingle Bells and Seashells." |
 |
unknown |
Santa appears in an animated silhouette, on-screen with his face obscured, and in voiceover provided by Tyler Bunch. |
 |
Matt Danner |
The Muppet Babies almost run into Santa while traveling to Planet Gonzo. |
Characters dressing as Santa Claus[]
| Picture | Portrayer | Production / Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
Abby Cadabby |
Abby Cadabby dressed as Santa while doing holiday preparations. |
|
Baby Animal |
Baby Animal dressed up as Santa to show who would come down the chimney that Baby Piggy must clean. |
|
Baby Kermit |
Baby Kermit Christmas squeeze toy from 1989. |
|
Bear |
Bear plays Santa despite the residents of The Big Blue House worrying that he might not come this year. |
|
Bert |
Bert dresses as Santa in this German TV special from 1975. |
|
Bert and Ernie |
Bert and Ernie collaborate as Santa Claus. |
|
Bert |
Bert dresses as Santa Claus. |
|
Bert |
Bert takes part in Rumpel's Christmas song as Santa on Die Grosse Sesamstrassen-Musikshow. |
|
Big Bird |
Big Bird taking on the role of Santa with Snuffy taking on the role of the reindeer. |
|
The Big Bad Wolf |
The wolf dresses as Santa to infiltrate Sandy Pig's home. |
|
Bobo the Bear |
Bobo is asked to fill in for the absent Santa. |
 |
Cactus |
A cactus is seen in the background of the Muppets' Halloween party dressed as Santa. |
 |
Clifford |
Clifford dresses as Santa Claus for a Muppet Christmas medley (Kermit states it was originally supposed to be Fozzie). |
|
Cookie Monster |
Cookie Monster dresses as Santa in order to trick Elmo out of his plate of cookies. |
|
Cookie Monster |
|
|
Cosmo Scam |
Cosmo Scam poses as Santa. |
 |
Doc |
Doc appears as Santa at the end of the special, passing out presents. |
|
Doc Hogg |
Doc appears as "Santa Hogg" at the Woodland Valley Mall. |
|
Elmo |
Used in Sesame Street marketing and social media. |
|
Elmo |
Mini plush of Elmo dressed as Santa Claus. |
|
Ernie |
Ernie appears as Santa, with Bert as his reindeer. Used for merchandise, including Bert, was wünschst du dir? |
|
Fozzie Bear |
Fozzie dresses as Santa for the Muppet Magazine Christmas party. |
|
Fozzie Bear |
Fozzie dresses as a salvation army Santa for the number "The Pleasure of Your Company." |
|
Fozzie Bear |
Fozzie almost doesn't play Santa on Up Late with Miss Piggy because Becky broke up with him, but after a reassuring phone call, he decides to play Santa after all. |
 |
Gonzo |
Gonzo's chickens play the part of Santa's reindeer in a holiday mix-up medley. |
 |
Grover |
Grover takes on the role of Santa Claus to leave presents on Sesame Street. |
 |
Grover |
Grover dressed as Santa for the 2014 family holiday party. |
 |
Herry Monster |
Herry dresses as Santa Claus to help collect toys and food for needy families. |
 |
Herry Monster |
Herry dresses as Santa Claus on a 1980 Sesamstrasse magazine cover. |
 |
Junior Gorg |
Junior Gorg dressed as Santa sweater. |
|
Kermit the Frog |
Kermit plays the role of Santa coming down the chimney. |
|
Kermit the Frog |
Kermit dresses as Santa, with Miss Piggy holding mistletoe over his head, in a 1977 wall decoration by Hallmark. The same picture can be seen in the dressing rooms on The Muppet Show and the front cover of the March 8, 1979 issue of Lhiton. |
|
Kermit the Frog |
In 1981, Hallmark made a poseable wall decoration with Kermit dressed as Santa. |
|
Kermit the Frog |
Remake of the 1977 Hallmark photo. |
|
Kermit the Frog |
Kermit is dressed as Santa on the cover of the Winter 1987 issue of Muppet Magazine with Pee-Wee Herman and his stocking. |
|
Kermit the Frog |
Kermit delivered his traditional holiday introduction for The Christmas Toy after climbing down the chimney. |
 |
Kermit the Frog |
Released in 1990 by Presents, a division of Hamilton Gifts. |
 |
Kermit the Frog |
Santa Kermit & his frog elves stop by the studio "to wish everybody a happy season" and sing "Jingle Bells." |
 |
Kermit the Frog |
Kermit is pictured on the cover of the sheet music book dressed as Santa Claus. |
 |
Kermit the Frog |
In 2003, Sababa sold a grayscale Kermit plush doll dressed in a pantsless, red Santa Claus costume. |
|
Miss Piggy |
Santa Claus can't make it for Christmas Day, so Miss Piggy cheers up Robin by dressing up as Mother Christmas in "Kermit's Christmas Diary". |
|
Miss Piggy |
Miss Piggy dresses up as Santa Claus in several promotional images from the mid-2000s, on one occasion letting Kermit borrow her hat. |
|
Oscar the Grouch |
Christmas Carole transforms Oscar when he won't come out of his can. |
|
Pops |
Pops plays a department store Santa entertaining Robin on his knee. |
|
Robin the Frog |
Robin uses one of Kermit's socks and a can of whipped cream to appear as Santa. |
|
Rowlf |
Rowlf is dressed as Santa in the December 24, 1964 episode. |
|
Schmoodle |
Schmoodle dresses as Santa Claus. Cookie Monster jokingly says, "he look like Santa Paws." |
|
Sesamstrasse cast |
The official website's annual advent calendar features Elmo, Pferd, Ernie, Wolle, Bert, Grobi, Finchen and Krümelmonster in Santa hats and beards. |
 |
Mr. Snuffleupagus |
Snuffy assumes the role of Santa for scientific purposes, in an attempt to demonstrate how someone as large as Santa can fit down a tiny chimney. |
 |
a Snuffleupagus |
At the Snuffleupagus-American Day Parade, one Snuffleupagus portrays "Snuffleupa-Claus." |
|
The Swedish Chef |
The Santa Chef Action Figure was released as Palisades' 2004 holiday figure. |
|
Taminella Grinderfall |
Taminella poses as Santa as part of her scheme to steal Princess Gwendolinda's birthday presents. |
 |
Two-Headed Monster |
The Monster plays jolly Saint Nick in the Sesame Street gang's Christmas pageant. |
|
Uncle Traveling Matt |
Mike Quinn manipulates Uncle Matt dressed as Santa for a French Postcards from Traveling Matt segment. |
|
Waldorf |
Waldorf plays the role of Santa in the Muppet Babies comic book adaptation of "A Visit from St. Nicholas". |
|
Wilkins |
Wilkins plays Santa, with Wontkins as his reindeer. |
Santa Claus in books[]
References[]
Santa Claus illustration glimpsed in The Organized Mind film footage
Young David encounters Santa Claus (Sesame Street Episode 0889)
- Kermit's lecture on hair (First: Episode 0028) is accompanied by a hippie whose facial hair reminds Kermit that, "If you're a big, grown-up man, or Santa Claus, and you have hair on your face, it's called a beard."
- After the mail is delivered in Sesame Street Episode 0068, Big Bird guesses that Santa Claus had just come by to hand-deliver a response to the letter he wrote last Christmas.
- In The Sesame Street Book & Record recording of "The People in Your Neighborhood," an Anything Muppet (Jim Henson) claims that, wearing a hat and carrying a bag over his shoulder, he could be Santa Claus. Holding a postman's hat, Bob tells him no. The AM responds, "What's wrong with Santa Claus? ... Don't you like Christmas?"
- Gary Owens misidentifies an animated secret drawing as Santa Claus. It is, in fact, a policeman.
- Oscar the Grouch coaches the kids on how to be rotten in Sesame Street Episode 0361. So rotten, in fact, that Santa Claus will reward them with a stocking full of terrific coal.
- Guy Smiley calls snow Santa Claus' kind of weather in the 1972 Sesame Street sketch "The Weather Show."
- The version of "The Organized Mind" performed on The Tonight Show in 1974 features an image of Santa Claus when the character browses through his good thoughts.
- Big Bird guesses that Santa Claus will arrive when Susan tells him someone will be visiting soon in Episode 0730 of Sesame Street; it turns out to be skywriter Alphabet Bates.
- An AM farmer (Jerry Nelson) in a season 7 edition of "The People in Your Neighborhood" (First: Episode 0892) asks Bob, "Did you know that Santa Claus is a farmer? ... He's always saying, “ho, ho, ho!”"
- Grover uses Santa Claus as one of his selling points when trying to sell snow to Kermit in a 1976 Sesame Street sketch (First: Episode 0848).
- In Episode 0889 of Sesame Street, David's grandmother Grace shows off some old family photos, including one of David as a kid on Santa's lap.
- In the lyrics of "Can You Picture That" from The Muppet Movie, Floyd Pepper and Janice sing that "even Santa Claus believes in you."
- In Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, Oscar asks Big Bird and Patty how Santa Claus can deliver presents on Christmas Eve if he can't fit through the narrow chimneys on Sesame Street. Kermit and Grover interview various kids on the subject trying to help solve the mystery. Eventually, Big Bird decides to stay up all night on the roof to wait for Santa Claus. Although jingle bells and footsteps are heard when Big Bird falls asleep, Santa Claus is not actually seen. Meanwhile, Cookie Monster tries repeatedly to write a letter to Santa Claus, and speaks to him by shouting into his belly after having eaten the telephone on which he had dialed Santa's number.
- Eager to win votes in his run for mayor in Sesame Street Episode 1562, Oscar shouts at Willy, calling him Santa Claus and whisker-face (Kermit Love played Santa on the cover of several New York magazine issues).
- In the Fraggle Rock episode "Don't Cry Over Spilt Milk," Gobo distracts Sprocket by saying, "Hey look, there's Santy Claus!"
- In Sesame Street Episode 1786, Forgetful Jones mistakenly thinks a picture of a girl's pigtails is the beard of "Santy Claus."
- Olivia asks, "Who says ho-ho-ho?" in the 1984 song "Who, What, Where, When, Why, How?" An Anything Muppet (Richard Hunt) responds, "Everybody knows Santa Claus!"
- The song "Good Things Happen in the Dark" claims that without the dark, there would be no gifts that would arrive by Santa's sleigh.
- Big Bird writes a book called "How to Laugh" in Sesame Street Episode 2437. One example is "The Santa Claus Laugh" which he and the kids demonstrate.
- When Big Bird realizes that every grown-up was once a little kid in Sesame Street Episode 2621, he notes that that applies to Santa Claus as well.
- A poster for Beach Blanket Beaker in the queuing area of Muppet*Vision 3D features a lobster in the role of "Sandy Claws".
- When Mr. Handford expresses his wish for a new store in Sesame Street Episode 2791, Big Bird says that maybe he could ask Santa Claus.
- When Alice Snuffleupagus gets a tree branch stuck in her hair in Sesame Street Episode 3055, Snuffy suggests they could play Santa Claus and his reindeer.
- Benny Rabbit uses the lack of Santa Claus nearby as evidence for the fact that it's not Christmas in Sesame Street Episode 3409.
- In Get Up and Dance, when Celina asks if the caller on the other end of her phone is Oscar, he retorts with "No, it's Santa Claus!"
- In Muppets from Space, Gonzo hears a voice outside his window when he wakes up. Approaching, he asks, "Rizzo?" Rizzo replies, "No, it's Santa. But I forgot my reindeer."
- Santa visited Kermit and Tiffany Thornton (unseen) during the music video for "I Believe."
- In The Muppet Show Comic Book: Family Reunion, Fozzie Bear (as "Baron Munchfozzen") holds up a newspaper with the headline: "Baron Marries Pink Gorilla, Santa Claus and Tooth Fairy to Attend Wedding".
- A betting form posted on the door of Pepe's stateroom aboard Disney Cruise Line's ship, the Disney Fantasy, lists Sandy Claws as one of the competitors of Pepe's Crab Races.
- In The Muppets episode "Got Silk?", Rizzo points out that RuPaul is wearing Santa Claus boxers.
- In The Muppets Mayhem episode "Drift Away," Charlamagne tha God interviews Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. Under the impression that he is the theological figure, Zoot asks him if he knows Santa.
Santa hats[]
A Muppet Family Christmas
"A Berry Bear Christmas"
Connections[]
The following actors, who have appeared in Muppet/Henson productions, have portrayed Santa in other film or television appearances.
- Ed Asner voiced Santa in The Story of Santa Claus (1996, TV) and Olive the Other Reindeer (1999, TV) and appeared on camera as Santa in The Ellen Show (2001, TV) and Elf (2003, film).
- Fred Astaire played Santa in The Man in the Santa Claus Suit (TV, 1979).
- John Astin voiced Santa in an episode of Higglytown Heroes (2004, TV)
- Mel Brooks voiced Santa in an episode of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron (2002, TV).
- David Canary played Santa in Secret Santa (1994, TV).
- Art Carney reprised the role of Santa in The Night They Saved Christmas (1984, TV).
- Charles Durning played Santa in several TV movies: It Nearly Wasn't Christmas (1989), Mrs. Santa Claus (1996), Mr. St. Nick (2002), and A Boyfriend for Christmas (2004).
- Gilbert Gottfried voiced Santa in Billy and Mandy Save Christmas (2005, TV)
- John Goodman voiced Santa in the direct-to-video specials Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie (1998) and It's a SpongeBob Christmas! (2012), a Robot Santa in Futurama (1999, TV), and played the part in The Year Without a Santa Claus (2006, TV).
- James Earl Jones voiced Santa Claus in an episode of Recess (1997, TV)
- Bruce Kirby played Santa in A Different Kind of Christmas (1996, TV)
- Kermit Love appeared as Santa on the December 1982, 1984 and 1985 covers of New York
- Stuart Pankin played Santa in an episode of The Hughleys (1998, TV)
- Gerry Parkes played a retiring Santa Claus in Must Be Santa (1999, TV)
- Austin Pendleton played a street corner Santa in Christmas with the Cranks (2004, film)
- William Shatner voiced Santa in It's a Very Merry Eek's-mas (1993, TV)
- Hal Smith voiced Santa in numerous Hanna-Barbera Christmas specials from 1964 to 1993
- Jeffrey Tambor voiced Santa in The ChubbChubbs Save Xmas (2007)
- Peter Ustinov played Santa in Julie's Christmas Special (1973, TV)
- Frank Welker voiced Santa in A Chipmunk Christmas (1981, TV) and Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas (1992, TV)
- George Wendt played Santa in A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All (2008, TV)
Sources[]
- ↑ Interview with the Muppet Mindset. Joseph Bailey. December 20, 2011
- ↑ Ryan Dillon on Instagram