List of celebrity guest stars on Sesame Street/old
This is a list of celebrity guest stars on the children's television series Sesame Street. An asterisk (*) indicates those celebrities who are known to have recited or sung the alphabet during their appearance.
Actors/Comedians
- Jason Alexander
- Tim Allen
- Maria Conchita Alonso
- Julie Andrews
- Bill Bailey
- Richard Belzer
- Roberto Benigni
- Annette Bening
- Candice Bergen
- Corbin Bernsen
- Cate Blanchett
- Gary Burghoff
- LeVar Burton
- Carol Burnett, in an extremely brief appearance in the first episode
- Yul Brynner
- John Candy
- Jim Carrey, in a skit about "Happy Feet", originally written for Steve Martin.
- Margaret Cho, in a segment with Prairie Dawn
- Glenn Close
- Imogene Coca, in the special A Special Sesame Street Christmas; her primary function in the special was to be called an idiot by Ethel Merman
- Bill Cosby
- Billy Crystal
- Jane Curtin
- Jamie Lee Curtis
- Willem Dafoe
- Tyne Daly
- Geena Davis
- Richard Dawson, in a parody of Family Feud called "Family Food" (where a Muppet family is asked to name the basic food groups).
- Ellen DeGeneres
- Robert De Niro
- Danny DeVito
- Fran Drescher
- Will Ferrell
- Sally Field
- Harvey Fierstein, season 35, singing the parody song "Everything's Coming Up Noses"
- Henry Fonda, in the special A Special Sesame Street Christmas
- Jodie Foster
- Michael J. Fox
- James Gandolfini
- Judy Garland
- Mel Gibson, playing Hamlet to Elmo's Claudius
- Seth Green, season 35, running the Letter of the Month Club with Telly
- Tom Green
- Rupert Grint
- Whoopi Goldberg
- John Goodman
- David Alan Grier
- Charles Grodin
- Tom Hanks
- Ron Howard
- Madeline Kahn
- Jeremy Irons
- James Earl Jones
- Werner Klemperer
- Burt Lancaster
- Nathan Lane
- Shari Lewis and Lambchop
- Lucy Liu
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus
- Marco Marquez
- Jean Marsh
- Andrea Martin
- Ian McKellen
- Ethel Merman, in the special A Special Sesame Street Christmas; her primary function in the special was to call Imogene Coca an idiot
- Rick Moranis
- Julianne Moore, season 35, with Count von Count in Far From Heaven parody Far From Seven
- Kathy Najimy, as the Evil Stepmother in Cinderelmo
- Liam Neeson
- Leonard Nimoy
- Rosie O'Donnell
- Mandy Patinkin
- Rhea Perlman
- Joe Pesci
- Lou Diamond Phillips
- Oliver Platt, in Cinderelmo
- Natalie Portman, dressed as an elephant and ran Hooper's store for one episode, while Alan was on vacation.
- Paul Reubens, as Pee-Wee Herman
- Julia Roberts
- Tim Robbins, who asks to stay at The Furry Arms hotel.
- Chris Rock
- Fred Rogers
- Keri Russell, in as the Princess CinderElmo
- Lea Salonga
- Susan Sarandon
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Steven Seagal
- William Shatner
- Will Smith
- Dick Smothers, one half of The Smothers Brothers, in the special A Special Sesame Street Christmas
- French Stewart, as the Prince in Cinderelmo
- Patrick Stewart*
- Ben Stiller
- Barbara Streisand
- Marisa Tomei
- Lily Tomlin
- Kathleen Turner
- Leslie Uggams, in the special A Special Sesame Street Christmas, Uggams thinks lemonade is hot cocoa
- Tracey Ullman
- Denzel Washington
- Adam West
- Wil Wheaton
- Robin Williams
- Elijah Wood
- Noah Wyle
- Little Theatre for the Deaf, an acting troupe, who show Zoe how to sign the word "dancing"
Celebrities
- Maya Angelou
- Tyra Banks
- Michael Buffer
- Sally Ride
- Cindy Crawford
- Carson Daly
- Phil Donahue
- David Hasselhoff
- Ken Jennings
- Robert MacNeil
- Dan Rather
- Al Roker
- Vonda Shephard, singing "Everybody's Song"
- Richard Simmons
- Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert
- Ben Stein
- Barbara Walters
Political figures
- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
- US president George W. Bush
- First Lady Laura Bush, in episode 4032, reading an original book called Wubba Wubba Wubba to Elmo, Big Bird, and some children.
- Vice president Dick Cheney
- First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Senator John Edwards
- Judge Ruth Vader Ginsberg
- Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who recited the free verse poem "I Am - Somebody."
- Senator John Kerry
- Governor Jim McGreevey
- Senator Joe Liberman
- Ralph Nader, who sang People in Your Neighborhood with Bob
- Secretary of State Colin Powell
Musicians
- James Galway
- Dizzy Gillespie
- Evelyn Glennie, performing a percussion duet with Linda Bove
- Savion Glover
- Herbie Hancock
- Alison Krauss
- Kronos Quartet
- Lang Lang
- Yo-Yo Ma
- Branford Marsalis
- Wynton Marsalis
- Seiji Ozawa
- Itzhak Perlman, episodes 1563 and 2574, teaches a girl how to play the violin.
- Joshua Bell, possibly in the 12th season, playing his violin in the episode where Telly debuts, and plays his tuba.
- Max Roach
- Isaac Stern
Singers
- Paula Abdul
- Backstreet Boys
- Lea Salonga
- Tony Bennett
- George Benson, episode 2124, singing Greatest Love of All
- Harry Belafonte
- Rubén Blades
- Garth Brooks
- Jimmy Buffett
- Cab Calloway
- Mary Chapin Carpenter*
- Aaron and Nick Carter, two-headed monster skit, aired with Baby Bear's little sibling's birth, second episode.
- Johnny Cash, singing "Nasty Dan"
- Tracy Chapman
- Ray Charles*, singing in the courtyard at the end of Sesame Street; Kermit and Ray also sang the duo also sang "Bein' Green".
- Chubby Checker
- Destiny's Child, singing "New Way to Walk"
- The Dixie Chicks
- David Allan Coe
- Judy Collins, who became a regular cast member
- Shawn Colvin, singing "I Don't Want to Live On the Moon" in Elmopalooza
- Perry Como
- Celia Cruz
- Bo Diddley
- Plácido Domingo
- En Vogue, singing "I Want a Monster in Elmopalooza
- Gloria Estefan, singing "Mambo I Yi Yi" in Elmopalooza
- Melissa Etheridge
- José Feliciano
- 14 Karat Soul
- The Four Tops
- Crystal Gayle
- Goo Goo Dolls
- Faith Hill
- Lena Horne, singing "How About You?" to Grover when he was shy
- Mahalia Jackson
- Michael Jackson, in the special A Special Sesame Street Christmas
- Wyclef Jean, season 36, rapping "Healthy Food" with Cookie Monster, for Healthy Habits for Life
- Waylon Jennings
- Billy Joel*, singing "Just the Way You Are" to Oscar the Grouch
- Norah Jones, season 35, singing "Don’t Know Why 'Y' Didn't Come" with Elmo and the letter "Y"
- Wynonna Judd
- Alicia Keys
- Chaka Khan
- Kid 'N Play
- B.B. King
- Gladys Knight and the Pips
- Patti LaBelle
- Queen Latifah
- Ladysmith Black Mambazo*, sang the Alphabet Song with Paul Simon, and also the "African Alphabet Song" (1:48) with Kermit included on "Jim Henson: A Sesame Street Celebration"
- Cyndi Lauper
- Little Richard, singing "Rubber Duckie"
- Kenny Loggins
- Ziggy Marley
- Martina McBride, season 35
- Tim McGraw
- Don McLean
- Bobby McFerrin
- Menudo
- The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
- Moby
- Anne Murray, in the special A Special Sesame Street Christmas; Murray's segment featured a magic egg nog container
- Holly Near
- Willie Nelson
- Aaron Neville, singing "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon"
- *NSYNC
- The Pointer Sisters, singing "Pinball Number Count"
- Lou Rawls
- Helen Reddy
- R.E.M., singing "Furry Happy Monsters"
- Little Richard
- Smokey Robinson
- Linda Ronstadt
- Diana Ross
- Buffy Sainte-Marie, who became a regular cast member
- Diane Schuur, sung "From Your Head" (2:04) with Elmo, song included on Songs From The Street
- Jill Scott, singing "We Are All Earthlings" [1]
- Pete Seeger, singing "Sweet-A Little Baby"
- Carly Simon
- Paul Simon*, who sang "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard" and also performed the Alphabet Song with Ladysmith Black Mambazo
- Britney Spears
- Ruben Studdard*, with Elmo
- Take 6
- James Taylor, singing "Jellyman Kelly"
- The Temptations
- Randy Travis
- Stevie Wonder
- Joe Williams
Who didn't sing on the show
- Percy Sledge, in his 1970s segment, he greets the viewer, says that "we're going to count" from one to ten, and then does so multiple times.
Sports figures
- Arthur Ashe
- Steve Austin
- Michael Chang
- Julius Erving
- Page Falkenberg
- Peggy Fleming
- The Harlem Globetrotters
- Rosie Grier
- Hulk Hogan
- Bo Jackson
- Chris Jericho
- Magic Johnson
- Joe Namath
- Martina Navratilova
- New York Giants
- New York Knicks
- New York Mets
- David Robinson
- Isiah Thomas
- Joe Torre, season 36, then manager of the New York Yankees. Torre showed Telly a few pointers on how to catch a ball, as part of Healthy Habits for Life.
- Venus Williams, season 35, with Elmo
- Dave Winfield
Pre-celebrities
The following persons were not celebrities at the time they appeared on Sesame Street, but later became well-known:
- Actress/Singer Tatyana Ali, ca. late 1980's
- Actor Alan Arkin
- Actor Paul Benedict (as The Number Painter, from 1969-74)
- Actress Stockard Channing as the victim of the Number Painter 1969-74)
- Dancer Angel Corella
- Dancer Savion Glover
- Actor Raúl Juliá as Rafael, 1971-1972 season
- Actor Haley Joel Osment, as Peter Lane ca. mid-1990's
- Actress Charlotte Rae, as Molly the Mail Carrier (early 1970's)
- Actress Holly Robinson-Peete, in the first episode, as 6-year-old "Sally"
- Guitarist Nile Rodgers (of Chic) played in the Sesame Street band in the early 1970s)
- Singer Luther Vandross, 1969
Celebrities who only lent their voices to the show
- Howard Morris, the voice of Jughead Jones
- Grace Slick, on Jefferson Airplane, for the Spies and Racecars pinball counting segment for the #2
Celebrities as characters
- Kenny Baker as R2-D2
- Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
- Arte Johnson (portraying his Nazi character from Laugh-In)
Fictional characters
- Jughead Jones
- The Pink Panther
- The Simpsons, including Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie.
Celebrities who appeared in related segments, not within the show itself
In season 35, PBS stations aired clips of celebrities chatting about their favourite memories of the show. These were dubbed their "Sesame Street Moment".
- Jason Biggs
- Wayne Brady
- Amy Brenneman
- Cher
- Harry Connick Jr.
- Harvey Fierstein
- Dennis Franz
- Kelsey Grammer
- Seth Green
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Norah Jones
- Martina McBride
- Julianne Moore
- Doris Roberts
- Ruben Studdard
- Venus Williams
Characters based on celebrities
- The Beetles, based on The Beatles
- The Cobble Stones, based on The Rolling Stones (the Cobble Stones' lead singer, Mick Swagger, was also based the Rolling Stones' lead singer, Mick Jagger)
- Alistair Cookie, based on Alistair Cooke
- Polly Darton, based on Dolly Parton
- Dr. Feel, based on Dr. Phil, season 35
- Placido Flamingo, based on Plácido Domingo
- Joe Hundred Guy, based on Joe Millionaire, season 35
- Donald Grump, based on Donald Trump
- Pat Playjacks, based on Pat Sajak
- The Oinker Sisters, based on the Pointer Sisters
- Bennett Snerf, based on Bennett Cerf and Arlene Frantic, based on Arlene Francis, on a parody of "What's My Line?"), season 1
- Bruce Stringbean, based on Bruce Springsteen
- Johnny Trash, based on Johnny Cash
- TriangleBob Trianglepants, based on Spongebob Squarepants, season 35
- Babwa Wawa, based on Barbara Walters
- H. Ross Parrot, based on Ross Perot
- Vincent Twice-Vincent Twice, based on Vincent Price