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Cookie Monster is a blue
Muppet The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses ...
character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
on the long-running PBS/ HBO children's television show ''
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...
.'' In a song in 2004, and later in an interview in 2017, Cookie Monster revealed his real name as "Sid". He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating catchphrases, such as "Me want cookie!" As his name suggests, his preferred food is cookies; though he eats almost anything, including inedible objects. Chocolate chip cookies are his favorite kind. His speech is often grammatically incorrect; he always uses "Me" to refer to himself in place of "I","My", and "Mine". Despite his voracious appetite for cookies, Cookie Monster shows awareness of healthy eating habits for young children and also enjoys fruits and vegetables. He is known to have a mother, a younger sister, and a cousin, identical in design, who does not like cookies. All three share his characteristic
blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
fur and " googly eyes". He also has a father, who appeared in a ''
Monsterpiece Theater ''Monsterpiece Theater'' is a recurring segment on the popular children's television series ''Sesame Street'', a parody of '' Masterpiece Theatre''. Format While using Muppet characters to act out educational principles, primarily Grover and ot ...
'' sketch promoting
energy conservation Energy conservation is the effort to reduce wasteful energy consumption by using fewer energy services. This can be done by using energy more effectively (using less energy for continuous service) or changing one's behavior to use less service (f ...
,
water conservation Water conservation includes all the policies, strategies and activities to sustainably manage the natural resource of fresh water, to protect the hydrosphere, and to meet the current and future human demand (thus avoiding water scarcity). Popula ...
and
environmentalism Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment (biophysical), environment, par ...
. Cookie Monster's mother and father both share his enormous appetite and craving for cookies.


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 General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...
commercial that featured three crunchy 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 William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established ...
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 a sketch on ''
The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...
'', in which he ruins a girl's beautiful day. Known from then on as the
Beautiful Day Monster The Muppets are an ensemble group of comedic puppet characters originally created by Jim Henson. The Muppets have appeared in multiple television series, films, and other media appearances since the 1950s. The majority of the characters listed ...
, he made a number of appearances on ''Sesame Street'' and ''
The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as ...
''. 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, called "The Computer Dinner", the monster (with frightening eyes and fangs) devours a complex coffee making machine as it describes its different parts. When he is finished, the machine announces the monster has activated the machine's anti-vandalism system, which contains the most powerful explosives 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 used a similarly-designed and equally hungry monster for three commercials selling Munchos, a
Frito-Lay Frito-Lay is an American subsidiary of PepsiCo that manufactures, markets, and sells corn chips, potato chips, and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-fla ...
potato snack. 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. According to Frank Oz, in a later routine the then unnamed monster won a quiz show and for winning was "given the choice of $10,000 cash, a new car, a trip to Hawaii, or a cookie." He took the cookie and from then on he was Cookie Monster. Cookie Monster, still unnamed, made his ''Sesame Street'' debut in the first episode, interfering with
Kermit the Frog Kermit the Frog is a Muppet character created and originally performed by Jim Henson. Introduced in 1955, Kermit serves as the everyman protagonist of numerous Muppet productions, most notably ''Sesame Street'' and ''The Muppet Show'', as well ...
's "famous W lecture" by eating a model "W" bit by bit. He turns it into an "N", a "V", and finally an "I", to Kermit's frustration. He then tries to eat Kermit. It was during the first season that Cookie Monster got his name and began using the growly vernacular (e.g., "Me eat cookie!") that would become part of his character. His signature song, "
C Is For Cookie "C Is For Cookie", by Joe Raposo, is a song performed by Cookie Monster ( Frank Oz), a Muppet character from the preschool television series ''Sesame Street''. It was first performed in Season 3, although it had been released on '' The Muppet Al ...
", was first aired during the 1971–72 season, and became one of the best-known songs from ''Sesame Street''.


Development

In 2006, in response to growing concerns about record levels of
childhood obesity Childhood obesity is a condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child's health or well-being. As methods to determine body fat directly are difficult, the diagnosis of obesity is often based on BMI. Due to the rising prevalence o ...
in the United States, ''Sesame Street'' began airing segments titled
Healthy Habits for Life The children's television show ''Sesame Street'', which premiered on public broadcasting television stations in 1969, was the first show of its kind that utilized a detailed and comprehensive educational curriculum, with specific educational goals ...
. 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 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 Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing pu ...
's TV program, Cookie Monster explained his new philosophy that "Cookies are a sometimes food." On February 10, 2008, NPR host Elizabeth Blair interviewed Cookie Monster for the ''
All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...
'' segment ''In Character''. He answered the Proust Questionnaire, as well as revealing some of his favorite and non-favorite things. In a June 19, 2008, appearance on ''
The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show fo ...
'', Cookie Monster again explained that "Cookies are a sometimes food." Colbert had asked agitatedly why Cookie Monster had "abandoned the pro-cookie agenda" and thus caused
fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...
to become the favorite snack of American children, according to a study Colbert had heard. Colbert criticized Cookie Monster for not wearing a cookie
lapel pin A lapel pin, also known as an enamel pin, is a small pin worn on clothing, often on the lapel of a jacket, attached to a bag, or displayed on a piece of fabric. Lapel pins can be ornamental or can indicate the wearer's affiliation with an organiz ...
. Cookie Monster also claimed to have "crazy times during the '70s and '80s", referring to himself as "the Robert Downey Jr. of cookies." After eating a cookie to prove he still likes cookies, Cookie Monster asked if the Peabody Award, a round medallion on a small pedestal, was a cookie. When Colbert returned to speak to Cookie Monster at the end of the show, the award had disappeared and Cookie Monster was wiping his mouth with a napkin. On November 24, 2010, Cookie Monster started a Facebook page as part of a campaign to host ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...
''. Though his bid to host ''Saturday Night Live'' failed, he was allowed to appear with
Jeff Bridges Jeffrey Leon Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an American actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. Bridges comes from a prominent ac ...
when Jeff hosted the show and sang the Christmas song " Silver Bells".


Casting history

Main performers * Frank Oz – From 1969 to 2001; occasionally until 2004 * David Rudman – From 2001 to present Rudman officially became Cookie Monster in ''Sesame Street's'' 2002 season (taped 2001). Oz continued to occasionally perform Cookie Monster until 2004.


Merchandise

Various toys and other icons of the Cookie Monster have been produced over the years. The most obvious is a
cookie jar Cookie jars are utilitarian or decorative ceramic or glass jars often found in American and Canadian kitchens. In the United Kingdom, they are known as biscuit barrels or biscuit jars. If they are cans made out of tinplate, they are called bisc ...
, of which numerous types have been available. Numerous children's books featuring Cookie Monster have been published over the years: *''
Happy Birthday, Cookie Monster ''Happy Birthday, Cookie Monster'' is a children's book written by Felice Haus, with illustrations by Carol Nicklaus, published in 1986 by Random House. The book features Cookie Monster, a character from the PBS children's television series ' ...
'' *''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

Familiar to generations of ''Sesame Street'' watchers, Cookie Monster is remembered for his gluttony and his deep, rumbly distinctive voice.


Immoderation

In 1990 U.S. Budget Director
Richard Darman Richard Gordon "Dick" Darman (May 10, 1943January 25, 2008) was an American businessman and government official who served in senior positions during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Early life Darman was born in Charlot ...
wrote an introduction to the federal budget with a section "Green Eyeshades and the Cookie Monster" in which he called Cookie "the quintessential consumer", and the enormous budget "the Ultimate Cookie Monster." In the
Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...
program '' Good Eats'' episode "Three Chips for Sister Marsha" (first aired December 13, 2000), a puppet named Maj. Wilfred D. Cookie who looks like a green version of Cookie Monster appears. Asked about his well-known "brother", he responds, "I told you never to mention that ruffian. All he knows about cookies is how to shovel them into his face." In the Fox animated series ''
Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ch ...
'' episode "
Model Misbehavior The fourth season of '' Family Guy'' aired on Fox from May 1, 2005, to May 21, 2006, and consisted of thirty episodes, making it the longest season to date. The first half of the season is included within the volume 3 DVD box set, which was rel ...
", Cookie Monster is shown in a
psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociat ...
, repeatedly foiling
drug rehab Drug rehabilitation is the process of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and street drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin or amphetamines. The general intent i ...
-styled efforts to cure his cookie addiction. In the ''Sesame Street'' parody ''
Avenue Q ''Avenue Q'' is a musical comedy featuring puppets and human actors with music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and book by Jeff Whitty. It won Best Musical, Book, and Score at the 2004 Tony Awards. The show's format is a parody of ...
'', the character of Trekkie Monster is loosely based on Cookie Monster, sharing his speech pattern and addictive personality.


Music

The guttural singing style in
death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, fe ...
bands is commonly (if facetiously) compared to Cookie Monster's low-pitched, gravelly voice.
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
's song " Hold On", recorded in 1970 (only a year after ''Sesame Street'' debuted), features Lennon shouting "Cookie!" in Cookie Monster's voice, in the middle of the instrumental break in an otherwise calm, quiet song.
Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
, aware of Lennon's love for Cookie Monster, also screams "Cookie!" in Cookie Monster's voice in his song "
Early 1970 "Early 1970" is a song by English rock musician Ringo Starr that was released as the B-side of his April 1971 single "It Don't Come Easy". A rare example of Starr's songwriting at the time, it was inspired by the break-up of the Beatles and docu ...
", released in 1971.


Entertainment

In the ''
Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ch ...
'' episode "
Back to the Pilot "Back to the Pilot" is the fifth episode of the tenth season of the animated comedy series ''Family Guy''. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 13, 2011. In "Back to the Pilot", two of the show's main characters, baby genius ...
", due to alterations in the past, Stewie thinks Cookie Monster could have invented
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...
; in this timeline, he would have called it "Cookiebook". In ''
The Empire Strikes Back ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based on a stor ...
'' spoof " Something, Something, Something, Dark Side", Cookie Monster is cast as the Wampa. In another
sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...
related takeoff, the ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...
'' spoof '' Hardware Wars'' features "Chewchilla the Wookiee Monster" in the role of
Chewbacca Chewbacca ( ), nicknamed "Chewie", is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He is a Wookiee, a tall, hirsute, bipedal, intelligent species originating from the fictional planet of Kashyyyk. Chewbacca is the loyal friend and fi ...
. Cookie Monster also appears in '' Mad'', first in "Mouse M.D", a parody of '' House M.D.'', then as the main character in "Cookie Blue", a parody of '' Rookie Blue''.


Apple

When the
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...
personal assistant
Siri Siri ( ) is a virtual assistant that is part of Apple Inc.'s iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, and audioOS operating systems. It uses voice queries, gesture based control, focus-tracking and a natural-language user interface to answer qu ...
is asked the question, "what is
zero divided by zero In calculus and other branches of mathematical analysis, limits involving an algebraic combination of functions in an independent variable may often be evaluated by replacing these functions by their limits; if the expression obtained after this s ...
", Siri responds with the answer: "Imagine that you have zero cookies and you split them evenly among zero friends. How many cookies does each person get? See? It doesn’t make sense. And Cookie Monster is sad that there are no cookies, and you are sad that you have no friends." On March 16, 2016,
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...
released an ad titled "Timer" starring Cookie Monster, where he uses the "Hey Siri" feature in the iPhone 6S to set a timer and play an album while he waits for cookies to bake.


Other

A popular internet parody of ''
The Great Wave off Kanagawa is a woodblock print by Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist Hokusai, created in late 1831 during the Edo period of Japanese history. The print depicts three boats moving through a storm-tossed sea, with a large wave forming a spiral in the centre ...
'', titled "Sea is for Cookie", was created for a
Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...
Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the industry standard not only in rast ...
competition. The piece features the wave with googly eyes and cookies in the crest, resembling Cookie Monster eating cookies.


See also

*
Cookie Monster Munch There have been a variety of ''Sesame Street'' video games released for video game platforms. Most of the ''Sesame Street'' video games were published and developed by NewKidCo. Video games ''The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland'' ''Alpha Beam ...
*
C Is For Cookie "C Is For Cookie", by Joe Raposo, is a song performed by Cookie Monster ( Frank Oz), a Muppet character from the preschool television series ''Sesame Street''. It was first performed in Season 3, although it had been released on '' The Muppet Al ...
* Cookie Monster vocals


References

This article incorporates
Creative Commons license A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyric ...
CC-BY SA 3.0 text from the Muppet Wiki article
Cookie Monster
.


External links


Public Broadcasting System - Sesame Street
{{Authority control Television characters introduced in 1966 Fictional chefs Sesame Street Muppet characters Fictional monsters Cookies in popular culture de:Sesamstraße#Krümelmonster