Lefty is a shady-looking salesman in a trench coat who appears on Sesame Street. He speaks in a whispery voice, and usually tries to sell a customer (often being Ernie) such esoteric items as a letter O, a snowman, or an invisible ice cream cone. His sales pitches are rarely successful.
Lefty had his own "sneaky" musical theme at the beginning of most of his sketches. The Salesman signals to Ernie with a furtive whisper: "Hey, bud! C'mere." Ernie shouts, "Who, me?" and the Salesman shushes him excitedly. Ernie whispers, "Who, me?" The Salesman answers with an elongated "Riiiiiight," and then begins his sales pitch: "How would ya like to buy..."
Lefty's most well-known appearance was a song, "Would You Like to Buy an O?", which was recorded for the 1971 record The Muppet Alphabet Album, and later used on the show. (First: Episode 0364)
Some of Lefty's sketches involved his attempts to carry out assignments from his boss (see table guide down below for the page with those skits). The boss was originally the only character who referred to him as "Lefty." Until the late 2000s, production materials, storybooks, and record albums have labeled the character simply as "The Salesman." On at least two occasions, Grover has referred to him by name, suggesting that Lefty isn't so mysterious to some.
A 2008 book, Storybook ABCs, is the first use of Lefty's name in print. Grover is dressed as Jack (of "Beanstalk" fame), and the Salesman approaches from behind a tree with an offer: "Care for some candy beans for that cow?" Jack replies, "Thanks, Lefty! And do you also have a candlestick?" Lefty apparently has one in stock -- a few pages later, Jack (of "Jack Be Nimble" fame) jumps over the candlestick. At the end of the book, Lefty returns to feed four and twenty blackbirds with birdseed that fills his carry-all bag.
Lefty was mostly active on the show for the first four seasons (with one final skit in season 6), but his puppet would still occasionally be used in promo pictures, including a cast image from season 10. After his retirement, his existing skits were still kept in rotation until season 29.
After many years of absence, Lefty resurfaced in 2019 for new productions related to the show's 50th anniversary, now performed by Ryan Dillon.[1][2] He appeared at San Diego Comic-Con in July during the "Sesame Street Puppets Live!" show, and had a featured role in Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration, trying to sell Rosita and Super Grover a letter S in their pursuit for the missing Sesame Street sign. He also appears in The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo as an audience member.
