Sam and Sid Sleaze are the main antagonists in the 1985 Sesame Street film Follow That Bird. They are a duo of brothers who ran a fraudulent circus called the Sleaze Brothers Funfair.
Sam was portrayed by Dave Thomas, and Sid was portrayed by Joe Flaherty.
Biography
Sam and Sid Sleaze were known to be running their funfair through unethical methods such as extorting their customers for profit. This was shown of when a little boy was stuck on top of the Ferris wheel, the brothers coerced him to pay a nickel to get down, much to the boy's anger.
After stealing an apple from the boy's lunchbox and sending him away, Sam and Sid learned of Big Bird's disappearance from the local newspaper, planning to capture him and exploit him as their star attraction for profit. Upon spotting Big Bird walking down a street having avoided Miss Finch who followed him from Oceanview, Sam and Sid drove their truck in an effort to use a big net to capture him. However, Big Bird avoids the net by bending down to look at his feet before disappearing, much to the Sleaze brothers' dismay.
Eventually, Sam and Sid finally caught Big Bird running through the outskirts, and they tricked him into entering hiding in a large cage, where they locked him up. Upon realizing the Sleaze brothers' true colors, Big Bird angrily objects and demands to be released, but Sam and Sid refused and instead painted him blue, dubbing him as the "Bluebird of Happiness". Sam and Sid then forced Big Bird to sing to customers, though Big Bird does so in a more sadder tone as he misses living in Sesame Street.
As Sam and Sid take delight in obtaining money from the customers for Big Bird's performance, two little children noticed how sad Big Bird is, and on Big Bird's advice, the kids went to a pay phone, informing the citizens of Sesame Street about Big Bird's current whereabouts.
When Big Bird's friends are trying to free him, Sam and Sid soon learned of this upon hearing Grover's shout (who tried to tear the cage bar open), so they drive off in their truck with Big Bird still in the cage. Fortunately, Gordon and his sister Olivia used their Volkswagen to rescue Big Bird, just as a state trooper arrives to force both Sam and Sid to pull over. Having been informed by the boy about what the Sleaze brothers did earlier, the state trooper places both Sam and Sid under arrest on the charges of theft, counterfeiting, extortion, fraud and stealing the boy's apple. Sam lies right in the state trooper's face, saying that they were holding the apple "for a friend", and Sid agrees. However, the trooper isn't fooled as he says that they can tell that to the judge, to which Sid bawls like a child. The annoyed trooper tells him to "be a man", but Sid refuses. As Sid continues to cry, Sam yells at him to shut up, but it only makes him cry even more.
It can be implied that both Sam and Sid will be sent to prison for their crimes with their funfair will be permanently closed while Big Bird happily returns back home to Sesame Street reuniting with his friends especially Mr. Snuffleupagus and finally convincing Miss Finch who followed him from Toadstool that Sesame Street is Big Bird's home.
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