YMMV / I Am Big Bird

• Harsher in Hindsight: One section of the film talks about how Matt Vogel became Caroll Spinney's understudy to play Big Bird, with the plan to have him take the role permanently when Spinney fully retired, explaining how they wanted to avoid a situation like what happened after Jim Henson died, when they were suddenly faced with needing to recast Kermit the Frog, before giving the job to Steve Whitmire. Vogel discusses how he's trying to prepare for that day. In 2016 Whitmire was suddenly let go from the Henson organization, and Vogel was given the extra assignment of becoming the new Kermit, which adds several new layers of irony to the segment.
• No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: One scene talks about when Mitt Romney endorsed ending government funding for PBS in a 2012 Presidential debate, but tried to soften the blow by claiming that he loved Big Bird, leading to the bird becoming a hot topic for political pundits. In the middle of it, Big Bird made an appearance on Weekend Update to talk with Seth Meyers, and the audience ate it up, especially once they realized it was Caroll inside the puppet.^note Big Bird's appearance marked a strange full circle moment for the Muppets on SNL. Henson and associates had been regulars during the first season with the ill-received Land of Gorch sketches, and the writing staff loathed writing for them, with head writer Michael O'Donoghue putting a noose on a Big Bird doll and hanging it up in his office and outright stating "I won't write for felt", while cast member John Belushi referred to them as the "Mucking Fuppets."
• Tear Jerker: Pretty much the entire damn movie.
  • One of the most heartrending segments of the film is the one detailing Carroll's divorce from his first wife and his Despair Event Horizon afterwards.
  • The sight of Jerry Nelson, whose health had deteriorated so badly at that point that he was on oxygen. Jerry passed away just a few months after the film was announced.
  • The whole section about Jim Henson's death. Not only does it show Big Bird's rendition of "Bein' Green" at the memorial service in its entirety, but everyone interviewed (especially Frank Oz) was still clearly shaken up by Henson's sudden passing, decades later.

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