Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 14:33, 15 June 2006

This article is about the Sesame Street character. For other uses of the term, see Cookie Monster (disambiguation).

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. He can (and often does) eat anything and everything, but his favorite choice of food above everything else is cookies. The character has been performed by Frank Oz and David Rudman.

Origin

Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles explains Cookie Monster's early life: "In 1966, Henson drew three monsters that 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 insatiable 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.

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) devoured a complex machine as the machine described its purpose and construction. At the end of the sketch, the talking machine explains that it's wired with a security system that's set to explode if it's tampered with. The monster promptly explodes. This sketch was also performed in October, 1967 on The Ed Sullivan Show.

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.

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.

History and evolution

Cookie Monster has a deep, growly voice, and speaks with a simplistic diction (e.g., "Me want cookie!"). He is at his most gentrified when presenting Monsterpiece Theater, a reference to the real-life Masterpiece Theatre, as "Alistair Cookie", a reference to broadcaster Alistair Cooke. Cookie Monster has been performed from his earliest appearances until the early 2000s by Frank Oz and in Oz's absence by David Rudman. Cookie Monster's voice is similar to other characters voiced by Oz: the Star Wars character Yoda and Sesame Street's Grover.

Since Sesame Street's major reformat in 2002, Cookie Monster has hosted a regular segment called "Letter of the Day". In each episode he is presented with a cookie, upon which is written the letter of the day, in icing. Despite his best intentions, and various implausible schemes, he always succumbs to temptation.

To counter concerns that the character encourages poor eating habits, there are a number of "Healthy Habits for Life" segments and plotlines in which Cookie Monster encourages viewers to have a balanced diet, even though cookies continue to be Cookie Monster's staple food. An April 7, 2005, Associated Press article noted that Cookie Monster may be eating more healthy cookies, as opposed to chocolate chip. On April 12, 2005, Sesame Street producers announced that Cookie Monster will be eating healthy foods and advocating "cookies are a sometimes food". Shortly afterwards, The Washington Post ran a piece on April 23, 2005 lamenting that political correctness was stripping Cookie Monster of his beloved cookies.

Even with this trend to deemphasize cookies in the character's diet, the idea of Cookie Monster 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, which includes such sequences.

During the 80's his younger, female cousin appeared with him in several sketches. She was essentially a smaller version of him, except with lighter fur and a pink bow on her head. She could only say one or two words at a time.

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

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 to allow for more interaction between Cookie Monster and Bert/Grover.

Books

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
• 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

Cultural references

• An article in The Wall Street Journal notes that the guttural singing style in death metal bands is called "Cookie Monster singing".

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)

1. Fusilli, Jim. "That's Good Enough for Me: Cookie Monsters of death-metal music." The Wall Street Journal. February 1, 2006.

External links

• Muppet Wiki: Cookie Monster
• Transcript of Cookie Monster's appearance on Martha Stewart Living
• Video of Cookie Monster on Martha Stewart Living

• Fictional monsters
• Fictional overeaters
• Sesame Street Muppet characters