Cookie Monster

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

Cookie Monster
Sesame Street character

Cookie Monster singing his signature song "C Is For Cookie"
First appearance 1966: unaired Wheels, Crowns and Flutes commercials (as the Wheel Stealer)
Created by Jim Henson
Portrayed by Frank Oz (1969–2001, occasionally since 2001)
David Rudman (2001–present)
Information
Aliases Sid, Alistair Cookie, Arnold
Species Sesame Street Muppet Monster
Gender Male

Cookie Monster is a Muppet on the long-running children's television show Sesame Street. He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating phrases, such as "Me want cookie!" "Me eat cookie!" and "Om nom nom nom" (said through a mouth full of food). He often eats just about anything, including ice cream, hot dogs, cake, pizza, doughnuts, lettuce, apples, bananas, watermelon, as well as normally inedible objects. However, as his name suggests, his preferred 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 believed his name was Sid.[1][2][3] Despite his voracious appetite for cookies, Cookie Monster shows awareness of healthy eating habits for young children, and since 2006 he has said that cookies are "a sometime snack," and that he also enjoys fruits and eggplant.

He is known to have a mother, a younger sister, and an identically-designed cousin (who ironically does not like cookies), who all share his characteristic navy 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 share his enormous appetite and craving for cookies. He and his Sesame Street friends are popular motifs on T-shirts.

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[4] 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 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, 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, 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 ravenous monster 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. 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.[5]

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. 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", was first aired during the 1971–72 season, and became one of the best-known songs from Sesame Street.

According to the 1978 special Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, Cookie Monster is allergic to peanut butter cookies and hazelnut cookies.

Development

In 2006, in response to growing concerns about record levels of childhood obesity in the United States, Sesame Street began airing segments titled 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 Internet rumors that Cookie Monster's name had been changed to Veggie Monster or would be taken off the show entirely.[6][7]

In a 2007 appearance on Martha Stewart's TV program, Cookie Monster explained his new philosophy that "Cookies are a sometimes food."[8]

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.[6][9]

In a June 19, 2008, appearance on The Colbert Report, Cookie Monster again explained that "Cookies are a sometimes food." He also attempted to eat Stephen Colbert's Peabody Award. Colbert had asked agitatedly why Cookie Monster had "abandoned the pro-cookie agenda" and thus caused fruit 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. 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.[10] 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.[10]

On November 24, 2010, Cookie Monster started a Facebook page as part of a campaign to host Saturday Night Live.[11] Though his bid to host Saturday Night Live failed, he was allowed to appear with Jeff Bridges when he hosted the show and sing the Christmas song "Silver Bells".[12]

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, Frank Oz's primary successor. 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

Various toys and other icons of the Cookie Monster have been produced over the years. The most obvious is a cookie jar, of which several types have been offered.

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

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

Immoderation

In 1990 U.S. Budget Director Richard Darman 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."

As all monsters are, Cookie Monster is initially intimidating. His manner is gruff. His clumsiness occasionally causes damage. But quickly, Cookie Monster comes to be seen as benign—indeed, downright friendly. He has a few bad habits. He cannot resist gobbling up anything and everything that might be consumed, especially cookies. And he cannot quite control the way he spews forth crumbs. He is the quintessential consumer... The budget, for all its intimidating detail, might be seen similarly: as the Ultimate Cookie Monster. ... Its massive presence might be understood as little more than a compilation of cookies received, cookies crumbled, and crumbs spewed forth. Yet, apt though the Cookie Monster perspective may be, it does not suffice...
— U.S. Budget Director Richard Darman, unpublished version of the introduction to President Bush's 1991 Federal budget[14][15]

In the Food Network 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."[16] In the Fox animated series Family Guy episode "Model Misbehavior", Cookie Monster is shown in a psychiatric hospital, repeatedly foiling drug rehab-styled efforts to cure his cookie addiction.[17]

Trekkie Monster in Avenue Q is loosely based on Cookie Monster.

We wanted his name to indicate that he was obsessed, like Cookie Monster is obsessed with cookies. So we used 'Trekkie' both because it sounded like 'cookie' and because Trekkies are, by definition, obsessive fanatics.
— Jeff Marx, Avenue Q composer and lyricist[18]

Music

John Lennon'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.

The guttural singing style in death metal bands is commonly (if facetiously) compared to Cookie Monster's low-pitched, gravelly voice.[19]

Other

In Family Guy, Cookie Monster's voracious appetite was parodied and compared to the habits of a drug addict. He was shown being taken into a drug rehabilitation center, where his "contraband" was confiscated by security officials. Later in the episode, Lois walks in on C. M. squeezing a tube of cookie dough into a spoon and setting it alight; he yells at Lois to go away.

He appears briefly in the episode "Back to the Pilot", in which, due to alterations in the past, Cookie Monster invents a Facebook analogue called Cookiebook.[20]

In the The Empire Strikes Back spoof "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side", Cookie Monster is cast as the Wampa.[21]

In another sci-fi related takeoff, the Star Wars spoof Hardware Wars features "Chewchilla the Wookiee Monster" in the role of Chewbacca.

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.

When the Apple personal assistant Siri is asked the question, "what is zero divided by zero," she 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."[22][23]

On March 16, 2016, Apple 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.

See also

References

This article incorporates Creative Commons license CC-BY SA 3.0 text from the Muppet Wiki article "Cookie Monster".

  1. ↑ "Cookie Monster curbs cookie habit". BBC News. 2005-04-11. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  2. ↑ Sesame Street - "The First Time Me Eat Cookie". 7 April 2004. Event occurs at 0:30. Me was just a mild-mannered little kid. In fact, back then, me think me name was Sid. Yeah, yeah.
  3. ↑ "Cookie Monster: Me wasn't ...". Sesame Street (sesamestreet) on Twitter. 10 August 2010. Me wasn’t born with name “Cookie Monster.” It just nickname dat stuck. Me don’t remember me real name… maybe it was Sidney?
  4. ↑ Jim Henson's 1966 test commercial for General Foods Canada snack products Wheels, Flutes and Crowns on the Jim Henson Company's YouTube official channel.
  5. ↑ http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=439454321
  6. 1 2 Blair, Elizabeth (2008-02-11). "Cookie Monster: A Sweet, Sensual Id, Unfiltered". All Things Considered: In Character. NPR. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
  7. ↑ Carter, Chelsea J (2005-04-07). "Cookie Monster: 'Me eat less cookies'". USA Today. Associated Press. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  8. ↑ Adamick, Mike (November 20, 2007). "Why is Cookie Monster eating carrots?". SF Gate (blog).
  9. ↑ Graham, Trey (2008-02-11). "On Air: Cookie Monster". The 'In Character' Blog. NPR. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
  10. 1 2 Cookie Monster (2008-06-19). "Cookie Monster". The Colbert Report (Interview: video). Interview with Stephen Colbert. Comedy Central. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
  11. ↑ "Cookie Monster auditions to be 'SNL' host – The Marquee Blog". CNN. 2010-11-24.
  12. ↑ "'SNL' Clip of Jeff Bridges Dueting With Cookie Monster Becomes Viral Video Hit". The Hollywood Reporter. 2010-12-19.
  13. ↑ Jim Henson at the Internet Movie Database
  14. ↑ "The 1991 Budget: Excerpts from Darman". The New York Times. 1990-01-27. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  15. ↑ Light, Paul Charles (1999). The President's Agenda (3rd ed.). JHU Press. p. 235. ISBN 0-8018-6066-0.
  16. ↑ "EA1C05: Three Chips for Sister Marsha". Good Eats Fan Page. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  17. ↑ "Model Misbehavior". Family Guy. Season 4. Episode 10. 24 July 2005. Fox Broadcasting Company. – Cookie Monster hides a plate of cookies under his sheets. Later, Lois finds him in the women's bathroom, cooking a spoonful of cookie dough with a cigarette lighter in the same manner as a heroin addict.
  18. ↑ Pincus-Roth, Zachary. Avenue Q: The Book. Hyperion. p. 84. ISBN 1-4013-0298-X. Trekkie Monster is much like the Sesame Street character Cookie Monster—but with a more adult weakness... Marx: We wanted his name to indicate that he was obsessed, like Cookie Monster is obsessed with cookies. So we used 'Trekkie' both because it sounded like 'cookie' and because Trekkies are, by definition, obsessive fanatics.
  19. ↑ Fusilli, Jim (February 1, 2006). "That's Good Enough for Me". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on January 3, 2009.
  20. ↑ "Back to the Pilot". Family Guy. Season 10. Episode 5. 13 November 2011. Fox Broadcasting Company. – Stewie ponders if Brian changing the past may have resulted in Cookie Monster inventing Cookiebook instead of Facebook.
  21. ↑ "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side". Family Guy. Season 8. Episode 20. 23 May 2010. Fox Broadcasting Company. – Cookie runs away crying after Luke Skywalker (Chris Griffin) cuts off his arm.
  22. ↑ Marlow Stern, "Ask Siri What Zero Divided By Zero Is and Receive the Best Response Ever," The Daily Beast, 30 June 2015.
  23. ↑ Stephanie Webber, "Cookie Monster Responds to Siri's Amazing Zero Divided By Zero Answer," Us Weekly, 1 July 2015.
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