Cookie Monster

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.

Cookie Monster was derived from a one-off Muppet which appeared in an episode of The Ed Sullivan Show. A short sketch depicted a monster that greatly resembled Cookie Monster (albeit with frightening eyes and fangs) who devoured a complex machine. After being informed that the machine was a bomb, the monster promptly exploded.

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 become 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.

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 by Frank Oz, and in Oz's absence by David Rudman. Cookie Monster's voice is similar to the Star Wars character Yoda also voiced by Oz, although the voice of Grover (also by Oz) is closer.

Since Sesame Street's major reformat in 2002–2003, 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 encourages viewers to have a balanced diet, albeit that cookies continue to form Cookie Monster's staple foodstuff. An April 7, 2005 Associated Press article noted that Cookie Monster may be eating more healthy cookies, as opposed to chocolate chip[1] (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/04/07/entertainment/e123204D96.DTL). On April 15, 2005, Sesame Street producers announced that Cookie Monster will be eating healthy foods and advocating "cookies are a sometimes food". This idea of Cookie Monster setting an eating habits good example has been used since the 1970s with public service announcements and individual sketches.

According to the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4432415.stm), Frank Oz claims Cookie's originally intended name was "Sid".

In the 1990's, many Grindcore and other Metal bands began employing what are known as "Cookie Monster Vocals," (http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/05/the_real_most_i.html) named after the Cookie Monster's gutteral vocalisms.

Contents

1 International 2 Books 3 See also 4 External link 5 Other uses 5.1 Jargon File 5.2 Oreopithecus bambolii 5.3 Book by Vernor Vinge 5.4 Baseball Player 5.5 Crookie Monster 5.6 Trekkie Monster 6 References

International

Sesame Street is localised for different markets, and Cookie Monster is often renamed. In Sweden, he is "Kakmonstret"; in the Netherlands, he is "Koekiemonster"; in Mexico, he is the "Monstruo Comegalletas"; in Spain, his name is "Monstruo de las Galletas"; in Germany, he is "Krümelmonster" (Krümel means Crumbs); and in Norway, his name is "Kakemonsteret".

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

See also

• Cookie Monster Munch
• Sesame Street: Cookie Monster's Best Bites
• Monster Hits: Cookie's Best Bit

External link

• http://www.toughpigs.com/anthstreet03.htm - Transcript of Cookie Monster's appearance on Martha Stewart Living

Other uses

Jargon File

The Jargon File 2.4.2 has this entry for "Cookie Monster" (used with permission):

[from the children's TV program "Sesame Street"] Any of a family of early (1970s) hacks reported on TOPS-10, ITS, Multics, and elsewhere that would lock up either the victim's terminal (on a time-sharing machine) or the console (on a batch mainframe), repeatedly demanding "I WANT A COOKIE". The required responses ranged in complexity from "COOKIE" through "HAVE A COOKIE" and upward. Folklorist Jan Brunvand (see FOAF) has described these programs as urban legends (implying they probably never existed) but they existed, all right, in several different versions. See also wabbit. Interestingly, the term 'cookie monster' appears to be a retcon; the original term was cookie bear.

Oreopithecus bambolii

Cookie Monster is a nickname among paleontologists for an extinct species of hominid, Oreopithecus bambolii. Since an Oreo is a kind of cookie, the name was somewhat inevitable. The true etymology, however, is rather more mundane: it comes from the Greek oros and pithekos meaning "hill-ape".

Book by Vernor Vinge

Vernor Vinge wrote a book called The Cookie Monster which won a 2004 Hugo Award for Best Novella.

Baseball Player

David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox is nicknamed Cookie Monster, due to a slight physical resemblance, and a shared jovial demeanour, as well as his "monstrous" hitting prowess.

Crookie Monster

Underground hip-hop artist 8-Off Agallah developed a "thugged-out" parody devoted to the furry cookie-devouring Sesame Street character, titled "Crookie Monster". Co-produced by rising star Alchemist. You can listen to it here (http://www.gamecrib.com/audio/crookie.ram). (You need RealOne Player (http://www.real.com/) to listen.) Warning: Does contain adult language.

Trekkie Monster

In the adult Broadway musical Avenue Q, a show which parodies Sesame Street in many respects, a large, furry, similar-sounding puppet, Trekkie Monster, is obsessed not with cookies, but with internet porn.

References

• Carter, Chelsea: Cookie Monster Eating Less Cookies (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/04/07/entertainment/e123204D96.DTL), Associated Press, Apr. 7, 2005.

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