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Cookie Monster

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Cookie Monster is a popular Muppet character on the children's television show Sesame Street. He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating phrases: "Me want cookie!", "Me eat cookie!", and "Omm nom nom nom" (said through a mouthful of food). He often eats anything and everything, including danishes, donuts, lettuce, apples, bananas, and inedible objects such as salt and pepper shakers, napkins, telephones, motorcycles, trucks, and the four letters in the word "food". Once, he even attempted to eat Guy Smiley and the petals and leaves off of Bert's flower costume in a Sesame Street Little Theater pageant. As evidenced by his name, however, his favorite food is cookies. Chocolate chip cookies are his favorite kind; oatmeal cookies are his second favorite. In a song in 2004, Cookie Monster revealed that, before he ate his first cookie, he believes his name was Sid.

He is known to have a mother, a younger sister, and an identically-designed cousin, who all share his characteristic blue fur and "googly eyes". He also has a father, who appeared in a Monsterpiece Theater sketch promoting energy conservation, water conservation and environmentalism. Both Cookie Monster's mother and father have his enormous appetite.

Origin

The book Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles explains Cookie Monster's origin as follows: "In 1966, Henson drew three monsters that ate cookies and appeared in a General Foods commercial that featured three crunch snack foods: Wheels, Crowns and Flutes. Each snack was represented by a different monster. The Wheel-Stealer was a short, fuzzy monster with wonky eyes and sharply pointed teeth. The Flute-Snatcher was a speed demon with a long, sharp nose and windblown hair. The Crown-Grabber was a hulk of a monster with a Boris Karloff accent and teeth that resembled giant knitting needles.

"These monsters had big appetites for the snack foods they were named after. Each time the Muppet narrator, a human-looking fellow, fixes himself a tray of Wheels, Flutes and Crowns, they disappear before he can eat them. One by one, the monsters sneak in and zoom away with the snacks. Frustrated and peckish, the narrator warns viewers that these pesky monsters could be disguised as someone in your own home, at which point the monsters briefly turn into people and then dissolve back to monsters again."

As it turns out, these commercials were never aired — but all three monsters had a future in the Muppet cast. The "Crown-Grabber" was used in a sketch on The Ed Sullivan Show, in which he ruins a girl's beautiful day. Known from then on as the Beautiful Day Monster, he made a number of appearances on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. The "Flute-Snatcher" turned into Snake Frackle, a background monster from The Great Santa Claus Switch and The Muppet Show.

In 1967, Henson used the "Wheel-Stealer" puppet for an IBM training film called Coffee Break Machine. In the sketch, the monster (with frightening eyes and fangs) devours a complex machine as the machine describes its purpose and construction. At the end of the sketch, the talking machine explains that its primary purpose is to produce the greatest explosion known to man. The monster promptly explodes. This sketch was also performed in October, 1967 on The Ed Sullivan Show. (It was also later performed on the George Burns episode of The Muppet Show using the Luncheon Counter Monster.)

Two years later, Henson pulled the puppet out of the box again for three commercials selling Munchos, a Frito-Lay potato chip. This time, the puppet was called Arnold, the Munching Monster. After the three ads were produced, Henson had the opportunity to renew the contract. He chose not to, because at that point he was working on Sesame Street — and that monster puppet was moving on to the next stage in his career.

Cookie Monster, still unnamed, made his Sesame Street debut in the first episode, interfering with Kermit the Frog's "famous W lecture" by eating a model "W" bit by bit (turning it into an "N", a "V", and finally an "I", to Kermit's frustration).

In his early appearances on the show, Cookie Monster seemed somewhat scary to younger viewers, as he personified the childhood fear of "being eaten by a monster". However, this fearsome image did not last long, and Cookie Monster quickly became one of the most popular and beloved characters on the show. Cookie Monster's theme song, "C is for Cookie", is one of the most famous songs from Sesame Street.

Evolution

In 2006, in response to growing concerns about record levels of childhood obesity in the U.S.A., Sesame Street began airing segments entitled Healthy Habits for Life. In these segments, the Muppet characters of Sesame Street talk about healthy habits, such as eating properly and exercising. The Healthy Habits for Life segments spawned false Internet rumors that Cookie Monster's name had been changed to Veggie Monster or would be taken off the show entirely.

In a 2007 appearance on Martha Stewart's TV program, Cookie Monster explained his new philosophy that "Cookies are a sometime food."

On February 10, 2008, NPR host Elizabeth Blair interviewed Cookie Monster for the All Things Considered segment In Character. He answered the Proust Questionnaire, as well as revealing some of his favorite and non-favorite things.

Casting history

Main Performers

Alternate Performers

David Rudman officially became Cookie Monster in Sesame Street's 2002 season (taped 2001), but the year before that, Rudman shared the part with Eric Jacobson. Once Jacobson was cast as Grover and Bert, Sesame Workshop chose Rudman as Cookie Monster to allow for more interaction between Cookie Monster and Bert/Grover. Frank Oz still performs Cookie Monster and his other Sesame Street characters a couple of times per year.

Merchandise

Numerous children's books featuring Cookie Monster have been published over the years:

  • Happy Birthday, Cookie Monster
  • Cookie Monster's Kitchen
  • Cookie Monster's Christmas
  • A Cookie Gone Wrong - Monster's Story
  • Biggest Cookie in the World
  • Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree
  • Cookie Monster's Good Time to Eat
  • Cookie Monster's Blue Book
  • Cookie Monster, Where are You?
  • Cookie Monster!
  • Cookie Monster's Activity Book
  • Cookie Monster Mammoth Color
  • Cookie Monster's Book of Cookie Shapes
  • Monster and the Surprise Cookie
  • Sesame Street: Wanted, the Great Cookie Thief

Cultural references

  • An article in The Wall Street Journal notes that the guttural singing style in death metal bands is called "Cookie Monster singing".
  • In the Star Wars spoof Hardware Wars, Chewchilla the Wookie Monster is an obvious takeoff on Cookie Monster.
  • Trekkie Monster in Avenue Q is based on Cookie Monster.
  • In 1990, U.S. Budget Director Richard Darmand wrote an introduction to the annual United States Federal Budget entitled, "Green Eyeshades and the Cookie Monster" in which he called the $260 billion U.S. budget deficit the "ultimate Cookie Monster" -- a giant monster that devours everything.
  • In the Fox animated series Family Guy episode "Model Misbehavior", Cookie Monster is shown in rehab. He is a patient in a psychiatric hospital. He apparently is trying to quit eating cookies. He is caught hiding a plate of cookies under his sheets, and denies having them by blaming it on a person who made his bed, named Derek. Later, Lois finds him in the women's bathroom, trying to cook a spoonful of cookie dough with a cigarette lighter in the same manner as a heroin addict.

See also

References

External links



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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 11:28:56 PDT (GMT -0700)
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