Wim T. Schippers
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Wim T. Schippers does the voices of Ernie, Kermit, Guy Smiley and Count Von Count on Sesamstraat, the Dutch co-production of Sesame Street.
Wim T. Schippers is a well known Dutch comedian who is most known for his particular high voice. He is also an artist and he hosts the National Science Quiz.
Wim T. has been doing Ernie (and other voices) since Sesamstraat's first season in 1976, with Paul Haenen as Bert. The Dutch Bert and Ernie are extremely popular and funny. Jim Henson was so impressed by Paul and Wim's performances, that they're the only Bert and Ernie in the world who are allowed to make their own material. Paul and Wim have recorded a whole series of selfwritten Bert and Ernie record albums, and they also appear as Bert and Ernie in interviews.
Wim and Paul don't record the Bert and Ernie TV sketches for Sesamstraat together: partly because of their busy schedules, but also because they make each other laugh too much.
Wim T. Schippers made a guest appearance on Sesamstraat in the 25th season, as one of the celebrities reading a bedtime story. He also hosted the 25th anniversary New Years Eve special Sesamstraat In Paradiso.
In the 1990s, he performed Kermit (as a voiceover) in "Indoor Groceries" interviews with Tommie, who had to find three objects beginning with the same letter of the alphabet.
In the beginning, Wim's Ernie voice was an imitation of Jim Henson's Ernie. In later seasons when the American sketches became a little more fast-paced, Wim's voice grew a lot higher and energetic. Wim has the talent to record full sentences correctly in one try.
