Cookie Monster

For other uses, see [[:the Sesame Street character]].

Cookie Monster is a popular Muppet character on the children's television show Sesame Street. He is covered with blue fur and has "googly eyes", but he is most known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating sound "Omm nom nom nom". He can (and often does) eat anything and everything (even eating the four letters in the word "food", salt and pepper shakers, a napkin, and even a telephone, as well as other foods like danishes donuts, and even a painting of a cookie), but his favorite choice of food above everything else is cookies, hence his name; in a song in 2004, Cookie Monster revealed that, before he ate his first cookie, his name was Sid. (Chocolate-chip cookies are his favorite kind; oatmeal cookies are his second favorite.) The character has been performed by Frank Oz and David Rudman. He is known to have a mother, a younger sister, and an identically-designed cousin, but not much else is known about his family.

Origin

File:Wheelstealer.JPG

The Wheel Stealer (1966), sketch from Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles

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 an Ed Sullivan Show sketch, 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.

File:Ibm proto cookie.jpg

Clip from "Coffee Break Machine" (1967)

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. The noise Cookie Monster emits while consuming cookies is referred to as the 'Cookie monster noise'.

File:TV cookie monster monsterpiece theatre.jpg As "Alistair Cookie" in an early 1990s Monsterpiece Theatre segment.

File:Tv sesame street kermit peeks down at cookie monster.jpg Kermit peers down at Cookie Monster in an early 1970s skit.

File:Tv sesame street cookie monster interested.jpg Cookie Monster interested in a baking sheet of cookies in 2003 episode "Cookie Hood" (4033).

History and evolution

The idea of Cookie setting a good example for children with respect to their eating habits is not new; it has been used since the 1970s with public service announcements and individual sketches. In fact, Sesame Workshop released a home video in 2000 called Happy Healthy Monsters. However, he is unfortunately not seen exercising on the video (some of his fellow Sesame monsters commented, however, that Cookie is looking rather svelte now and has lost weight, and his friend Grover has commented that he is also on a diet).

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 right and exercise. The Healthy Habits for Life segments caused false Internet rumors that Cookie Monster's name had been changed to Veggie Monster.

In a 2007 appearance on Martha Stewart's TV program, Cookie Monster explained his new philosophy that "Cookies are a sometime food." However, he promised that he was not going to change his name to "Brussels Sprouts Monster."

Casting history

Main Performers

• Frank Oz — From 1969 to present
• David Rudman — From 2001 to present

Alternate Performers

• Jim Henson — in The Ed Sullivan Show
• Joe Raposo — in Everyone Likes Ice Cream
• Eric Jacobson — occasionally in 2001 and 2005

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

There is a Tickle-Me Cookie Monster available; however, this did not sell as well as the Tickle-Me Elmo

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.
• Caricatures of Cookie Monster have been used in mainstream entertainment such as Family Guy, South Park, and others.
• In 1990, U.S. Budget Director Richard Darmand (who has a Ph.D. from Harvard) 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 an episode of the Fox animated series Family Guy, Cookie Monster is shown in rehab. He is a patient in a psychiatric hospital. He apparently is trying to quit eating cookies. Later, he is shown in the womens' bathroom, trying to cook a spoonful of cookie dough with a cigarette lighter. In that same episode, he is seen minding his own business in his room when the doctor comes in and finds cookies stashed under the mattress.
• In the November 26th, 2007 episode of World Wrestling Entertainment's Monday Night RAW, wrestler Chris Jericho used an image of the Cookie Monster to emphasize his need for a WWE Championship match. The skit used 4 images in symbolizing a phrase used by Jericho, which was "Me Want Title Match", with the Cookie Monster representing "want."

See also

• Cookie Monster Munch
• C is for Cookie

References

• "Cookie Monster Eating Less Cookies". Associated Press - Carter, Chelsea. Retrieved July 25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• "Cookie Monster curbs cookie habit". BBC News. Retrieved July 25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

External links

• Muppet Wiki: Cookie Monster