He was a close personal friend of the late Douglas Adams, acclaimed author of the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy. His brother, Jonathan Cerf, wrote Big Bird's Red Book.Ĭerf is also the co-creator and an Executive Producer of Between the Lions. His father, Bennett Cerf, was the co-founder of Random House books and a panelist of What's My Line? and his mother, Phyllis Fraser, co-founded Random House's Beginner Books with Dr. He additionally provided the piano glissandos for ' I'm Gonna Always Love You' in The Muppets Take Manhattan. Ĭerf's non- Sesame Muppet work includes development on the software projects Muppet Learning Keys and Muppetville, consulting and composing music for the short-lived series, Little Muppet Monsters, providing 'Additional Music' for the book-and-tape of The Case of the Missing Mother and Gonzo and the Giant Chicken, and composing music for the Muppet Time interstitials. As special consultant to CTW, Cerf helped develop Sesame Place's The Game Centre, which was credited as his 'creative brain-child'. Outside of songwriting, Cerf's script credits include co-writing the joint Sesame Street/ Electric Company TV special Out to Lunch, and the Sesame direct-to-video compilations Count it Higher, Monster Hits, Sing Yourself Silly, and Rock & Roll. Other Muppets Cerf voiced included Bruce Stringbean, Mick Swagger, How Now Brown, the Lead Frazzletone, and the Captain from ' Imagine That.' Cerf also sang on the Cecille theme song. He was the voice and namesake of Muppets Little Chrissy, the lead singer of the Alphabeats, and Chrissy, of Little Jerry and the Monotones. Both songs have been filmed in versions that feature large numbers of celebrities.Ĭerf also contributed vocals for many of his songs.

Īmong his best known works are ' Put Down the Duckie' and ' Monster in the Mirror,' two collaborations with former Sesame Street head writer Norman Stiles. However, Cerf's true forte was composing songs for the show, including parodies of contemporary pop hits. Cerf (born August 19, 1941) originally joined the Children's Television Workshop as director and editor of the non-broadcast products division for Sesame Street, which spun off books, records, toys, a comic strip, and others.

Sesame street little chrissy