Sesame Seeds (Episode 4): Cookie Monster
I’ve actually been looking forward to this episode quite a bit, because today we’re gonna take a look at my favorite Sesame Street character, Cookie Monster.
Despite his name, there’s more to his origins than just eating cookies. So grab every snack you can find, cause we’re taking a deep bite into Cookie Monster’s history.
Unlike the first four characters in this series, Cookie Monster goes way back to before Sesame Street was even thought of. Jim Henson was known for using his muppets for many commercials in the 60s, and in 1966, he would make a commercial for three snacks called Wheels, Flutes and Crowns. The commercial revolved around three different monsters (The Wheel Stealer, The Flute Snatcher, and The Crown Grabber) who were each known for robbing people of these snacks and eating them themselves.
Sadly, the commercial was never aired on TV. But that didn’t mean that Jim was done with the monsters he had created for it. Though, of the three, The Flute Snatcher would have the shortest history, making only two cameos in future Muppet productions. The Crown Grabber would form a new identity as the Beautiful Day Monster, and as for the Wheel Stealer, he went on to even bigger things.
The next year, Jim reused his Wheel Stealer puppet for an IBM training video, where the monster would eat a talking machine, which would explode in his stomach after full digestion. The short would later be performed on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Then, in 1969, Jim would film three new snack commercials that actually did air on TV for Munchos Potato Chips. The commercials revolved around a man named Fred and an updated version of the WS monster, now named Arnold. In these, Arnold would exhibit some of the special traits that would be super important to his future character.
After the three ads, Jim had a chance to keep doing commercials for Munchos, but he rejected the offer, because he and Arnold were going to a little street called Sesame Street.
Don Sahlin redesigned the monster with blue fur, and from there, he would join several other monsters who appeared during segments in between the show. But he would stand out among them, due to one thing: His appetite.
For the first few episodes, this monster would eat anything and everything he could get his hands on, and he had the most interactions with Ernie and Kermit. It wasn’t until episode 11, where his true character would start to take form.
In that episode, a segment was aired, where the monster would eat Ernie’s cookies and drink his milk, and coincidentally, he only spoke the words “milk” and “cookie”. And after that, I guess you could say it was all… milk and cookies.
Being concretely puppeteered by Frank Oz, the blue, googly-eyed monster would still eat anything and everything, but cookies were now at the top of his list. So much so in fact, he was renamed Cookie Monster, and in season three, he would sing one of the most popular Sesame Street songs of all time.
All of the kids and their parents would enjoy seeing Cookie Monster tear into whatever he was eating, despite the fact that he was never really eating anything.
But even though Cookie Monster’s hunger could get him into trouble most of the time, and prevented him from writing a letter to Santa, he knew when he had to put his stomach aside, and do the right thing.
In episode 725, when David has to go help his Grandma, Cookie Monster volunteers to watch over Hooper’s Store, and gives his Monster’s Honor that he won’t eat the cookies David put on display. Instead, he eats everything else inside of the store, and the cookies when David gets back.
In the special Don’t Eat The Pictures, when the cast gets locked in the Metropolitan Art Museum, Cookie Monster has to remember he can’t eat any of the art he sees, but as soon as they get out he gets to eat a hot dog cart.
And in Big Bird’s birthday special, Cookie Monster has to wait for the birthday cake to be served, so in the meantime, he eats almost everything on Sesame Street.
Throughout the 70s and 80s, Cookie made his mark as an excellent member of the muppet cast of the show. He even got the chance to show his more sophisticated side by hosting the segment Monsterpiece Theater, as Allistair Cookie.
But when the 90s rolled around, things weren’t looking so hot.
You see, as I mentioned before, Cookie Monster was performed by Frank Oz, who, in the 90s, was starting to have less and less involvement with Sesame Street. Monsters like Cookie Monster and Grover were now being substituted by monsters like Telly and Elmo, who had their own new puppeteers.
It’s not that Cookie was entirely absent during this time period, but his presence was diminishing noticeably.
That is, until the 2000s, where Cookie got himself a new puppeteer who could perform when Frank wasn’t around. That puppeteer was David Rudman, who was already performing Baby Bear. And the best part was, Bert and Grover, Oz’s other popular characters had both been passed onto Eric Jacobson, so now, the three characters could have more natural interactions because they were being puppeteered by different people.
Now that Cookie Monster had a new puppeteer, he would go on to host the letter of the day segments in season 33 to season 38, where he would frequently be paired with Prairie Dawn, one of his more enjoyable comedy partners.
And then 2005 happened. For season 36, a greater focus was put on teaching kids how to be healthy, and Cookie Monster played a crucial part in exhibiting the types of healthy foods people should eat. But when the entertainment news company found out about this, they rewrote it to say that Cookie Monster was never eating cookies again and was turning into the Veggie Monster.
Now, I’ve already gone over why this rumor is completely false in Street Knowledge, so I’ll just let the rest of this article do the talking for me, instead.
As the show went on, Cookie Monster gained more and more screen time, both on the street and in segments. Then, in 2010, Cookie made an audition tape to host an episode of the hit comedy sketch show, Saturday Night Live.
Even though over 100,000 people supported the idea, Cookie didn’t get to host an episode, but he did get to sing an opening number with Jeff Bridges.
Then 2 years later, after tweeting a parody of Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe song, Cookie Monster actually got to make a parody music video of it, which currently has 23,962,851 views.
It was then that Cookie Monster had cemented himself, along with Elmo, Big Bird, and Abby, as one of the most popular Sesame Street Muppets of all time. Sesame Workshop realized this, and in season 44, he gained a new segment called Cookie’s Crumby Pictures, where he would take the leading role in parodies of many different movies.
Then, later that year, Cookie would join Elmo traveling to the UK, and starring in a new series called The Furchester Hotel, which ran for two seasons. Something very great would happen in the next season, but I’ll get to that later.
When the street moved to HBO, it was announced that Cookie Monster had gained an apartment above Hooper’s Store. More over, he and Grover now had new positions as the comic relief of the show.
He would also get a new segment called Smart Cookies, where he played the rookie on a team of special agent cookies trying to stop an evil baker known as The Crumb.
Coming back to what I said happened in the second season of TFH, a new character was introduced. His name was Gonger, puppeteered by Warrick Brownlow-Pike, and he was the hotel chef, which gave him plenty of opportunities to interact with Cookie Monster, who was the waiter of the hotel.
Something about Rudman and Pike’s dynamic energy made Cookie and Gonger’s scenes so enjoyable. So much so, in fact, that in season 48, Gonger came to Sesame Street and started a Food Truck business with Cookie Monster in what is now my favorite segment in the entire show.
Nowadays, Cookie Monster hasn’t gone through any big changes and seems to be adjusting to his new position on the show just fine. But what was it about Cookie Monster that resonated with so many people, including me? Well, for me, personally, I think the biggest reason is relatability. Come on, how many of us, have not, at some point, wanted to just go hog wild and eat our favorite foods as messy as possible? Not many, I would assume.
Growing up, Cookie Monster was NOT my favorite character. I knew he existed, and I thought he was alright, but my focus was almost always on Elmo. When the 2010s rolled around, I started to realize how much I love eating food, so as I continued watching Cookie on the show, the more I started to realize how much alike we were. Also, it’s because of him, I actually took the time to rediscover cookies, and how delicious they really tasted.
Not to mention Cookie is one of, if not THE funniest character on the show. Oz and Rudman, definitely contributed to that with their phenomenal performances.
But do you wanna know what really makes Sid the Cookie Monster such a great character? His heart.
I read a fanfiction on the Muppet Central Forum one time, I can’t find it now, but I did read it. Where Sesame Street was gonna get torn up to make a cookie factory or something like that. And in it, Cookie Monster makes numerous attempts to stop his neighbors from saving their neighborhood, and I’m sorry, but that’s not how Cookie Monster is.
And just so you know, that COULD have been how Cookie was. If in the wrong hands, Cookie Monster could be just like the worst of Mr. Krabs, where he only cares about one thing and nothing and no one else, which leads him to do horrible things. But he’s not like that.
Underneath that blue fur, googly eyes, and caveman speaking pattern lies someone with a true heart. He may love eating, but he also loves his friends and his home, and knows when he has to make sacrifices. If he has to get a train of cookies and milk to a town on the other side of a mountain and snow blocks his way, he’ll eat his way through the snow, if he’s with someone and there’s only one cookie left, he’ll break off half of it to give to them, and if Sesame Street was going to be torn down, he definitely would not willingly help that process succeed, even if it was for a cookie factory.
Cookie also helps teach kids about patience and self control. Even though he usually has no willpower, his friends are always there to help him use strategies to calm down and focus, and all of them can actually work for kids who also have trouble waiting for things.
But above all, Cookie Monster demonstrates that not everyone needs a lot to be happy in life. It doesn’t matter if it’s cookies, fruits, vegetables, snow, Emmy awards, Volkswagens, telephones, not even metal safes. As long as he can find something to eat, Cookie can and will be content with his life, and that’s why he’s remained such a great character for all of these years, and my personal favorite.
Well, thanks for joining for another episode. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go attend to a plate of cookies with my name on it. COWABUNGA!!
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