A heterogeneous group of furry creatures, many of whom share the last name "Monster". Characters here are sorted by the date of their first appearance on the show (by every ten seasons).
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In General
- Benevolent Monsters: The majority of them are friendly.
- Cloudcuckoolanders: Whereas human muppets and animal muppets tend to be either wisecracking or sophisticated, monster muppets tend to be playful, rambunctious, and often don't adhere to common sense.
- Intelligible Unintelligible: A few of them (e.g. Frazzle, Mel and the Two-Headed Monster) speak in a strange gibberish. Other monsters who speak human languages are able to understand them.
- Our Monsters Are Different: They may all technically be from one species, but they all share radically different fur colors, shapes, and heights.
- Species Surname: Many have the last name "Monster".
- Vague Age: All of the monsters ages are left purposely vague, many of them having childish traits while still having jobs or living alone, such as Cookie Monster and Grover. The only major exceptions are Elmo, Zoe, Rudy and Rosita who are 3 and 5 respectively.
Seasons 1-10
Alistair Cookie
- Performed by: Frank Oz
The host of Monsterpiece Theater. He is basically Cookie Monster in a red robe.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear whether or not he's just a persona for Cookie Monster or a separate character.
- Big Eater: He snacks on cookies off screen during the entirety of the Monsterpiece Theater opening, with crumbs spilling over the title.
- Character Catchphrase: "Good evening, And welcome to Monsterpiece Theater. Me your host, Alistair Cookie."
- Do Not Adjust Your Set: While running Monsters With Dirty Faces, He tells viewers not to adjust their TV sets, because the movie is in Black and White.
- Edible Theme Naming: His last name is Cookie.
- Meaningful Name: The "Alistair" part is not really meaningful unless you count the celebrity reference, but his surname points out his resemblance to Cookie Monster and his love of cookies.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: He is based on Alistair Cooke, the host of Masterpiece Theatre. The character continued to be used well past Cooke's retirement from the position in 1992. Cooke himself wryly appreciated the spoof. At a 1991 dinner celebrating the 20th anniversary of Masterpiece Theater, he predicted that if he was remembered at all, he would be best remembered by fans of Sesame Street as "Alistair Cookie, the Cookie Monster of Monsterpiece Theater."
- Only Sane Man: Sometimes acts as one to the cast and crew of Monsterpiece Theater, especially in segments where they air the wrong movie and he was the only one aware of it.
- You No Take Candle: Just like Cookie Monster, he says, "me" instead of "I" and omits words like "is" and "am".
Cookie Monster
C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me!
- Performed by: Frank Oz (1969-2004), David Rudman (2001-present)
The very incarnation of gluttony. He loves cookies more than anything, but has been seen talking about "healthy" food, so kids can make good decisions in regard to nutrition. Cookie Monster has starred in several skits of his own in recent years, most recently "Cookie Monster's Foodie Truck", where he and Gonger (from The Furchester Hotel) visit the source of the missing ingredient of a recipe assigned to them by a child (Cookie's insatiable hunger is usually the reason why that ingredient is missing).
- Affectionate Nickname: The monster's closest friends, including Prairie Dawn and Gonger, often refer to him as "Cookie".
- Anti-Role Model: He eats terrible, unhealthy food nonstop, and he's proud of it. However, he does stress the importance of healthy food. Then again, he also eats non-food.
- The Artifact: His tendencies to eat everything are derived from his earlier appearances before his character was established as Cookie Monster. He was originally just an unnamed monster who devours anything, including non-foods, within reach. The character would soon shape up to be the monster we know and love today, gaining both name and his Trademark Favorite Food. Nonetheless, his trait to devour inedibles within his reaching path has long endured to this day.
- Ascended Meme: Cookie Monster's "OM NOM NOM!" catchphrase has become a meme, something that was brought up in an interview
, with Cookie Monster wondering why he hasn't received any royalties for it."Me should get me attorney on this." - Baby's First Words: The book "Me Cookie" reveals that "cookie" was his first word. Big surprise...
- Big Eater: He can and will eat just about anything and he rarely appears full.
- Big Word Shout: Occasionally, he will shout "Cowabunga." He is also known to shout the name of things he's planning to eat.
- Characterization Marches On: He behaved more like a toddler in the first season: he often interfered with others (though unaware he was doing so), was occasionally fussy when he didn't get his way and was scolded by other characters when he misbehaved. It wasn't until his song "C is for Cookie" in 1971 that Cookie Monster's personality was firmly established.
- Character Catchphrase: "COOOOOKIE!" "COWABUNGA!" and "OM-NOM-NOM-NOM!"
- Character Signature Song: C is for Cookie (That's good enough for me)....
- Crazy Consumption: Usually found eating very quickly while eating cookies.
- Deadpan Snarker: Surprisingly. It's sometimes hard to tell with his Hulk Speak, but he can be quite sarcastic - complete with Aside Glances, even.
- Demoted to Extra: To a degree. After the death of Jim Henson and starting from the slow retirement of Frank Oz from Muppet performing, Cookie Monster would be seen only a handful of times on the street itself (outside of the "Monsterpiece Theater" skits). Even when David Rudman started performing Cookie full-time, he would only pop up once in a while. By 2012, however, Cookie Monster began making more and more recurring appearances, to the point where he is now as popular as he ever was in the 1970s' (maybe even more so) and currently has a nearly daily segment devoted to him and Gonger making food on request.
- Extreme Omnivore: Despite his name, Cookie Monster doesn't limit himself to only eating cookies. He'll devour just about anything he can get his hands on, regardless of whether or not it's actually edible. In Dont Eat The Pictures, he has to be restrained from snacking on the museum exhibits, and Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird has him gradually turn a nice Volkswagen car into The Alleged Car over the course of the film. A list of the things that he's eaten can be found on the Muppets Wiki.
- Foil: To Prairie Dawn for a while, particularly during the "Letter of the Day" skits, among others. The two are often seen as an ideal pairing, as Prairie's prim and proper demeanor and insistence on order and cleanliness is the antithesis to Cookie's wild, messy gluttony.
- To Gonger for the Foodie Truck segments. Cookie operates as both the reason they usually have to go get a major ingredient from its source (teaching the audience where the food comes from) and the conduit through which Gonger can teach the audience how to make the recipe of the day.
- Foregone Conclusion: Cookie Monster will eat any cookies that are near him, no matter how important they are. He's gotten better at being patient, though. You can also expect him to eat something in sketches he appears in, regardless of if it's a cookie or not.
- Hidden Depths: He tends to come off as a dim-witted glutton, but as the years went by he started to be portrayed less dense and more single-minded. He's can be very clever when he wants to be, is a surprisingly talented artist (if he can resist eating his own paintings), has shown himself to be a big fan of high culture (host of "Monsterpiece Theater" as the gentrified Alistair Cookie), and even got a few Deadpan Snarker traits over time. In “Cardboard Castle”, it’s shown he can be very resourceful and clever when given the proper motivation (ie a promised cookie).
- Hulk Speak: His speech is a cross between this and You No Take Candle.
- Idiot Ball: He's wacky, yes, but not normally stupid... except for one skit which had him worry that there was a monster on the toy chest, when he is one.
- Instant Taste Addiction: Cookie Monster sings "The First Time Me Eat Cookie", remembering his mother introducing him to cookies when he was a baby. After one bite, cookies become his Trademark Favorite Food.
- Instant Web Hit: "Share it Maybe" got almost four million hits in four days.
- Internal Homage: Episode 4111 is centered around "Cookie World," which Cookie Monster makes up as his answer to the popular "Elmo's World" segment.
- iSophagus: Cookie Monster swallows Kellan Lutz's cell phone while they're trying to explain the word "vibrate," becoming the perfect visual aid in the process.
- Jabba Table Manners: Cookie isn't remotely evil, but his eating habits do reflect poorly on him.
- Large Ham: Being originally performed by Frank Oz, Cookie has had numerous hammy moments.
- Leitmotif: A short, instrumental version of "C Is for Cookie."
- Midas Touch: One street scene has him bestowed the "Cookie Touch" from the Cookie Fairy, granting him the ability to turn anything he touches into cookies. He soon discovers it has consequences when he transforms one of Telly's triangles, Big Bird's book, and even Chris into cookies, who chew him out for ruining their everyday activities and he soon learns having cookies all the time isn't a good idea.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: In his earliest appearances, he had fangs.
- Nightmare Sequence:
- In one episode, he has a nightmare about floating, singing cookies.
- In one episode, he dreams about a monster that turned into a cookie from eating too many cookies.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: According to the song "The First Time Me Eat Cookie", his name was Sidney before he started eating cookies - the "Cookie Monster" appellation was just a nickname that stuck. His name being Sid also gets a mention in this video where the Sesame Street characters answer questions from Google.
- Oral Fixation: A very common gesture for Cookie Monster when he's excited or hungry and there's no food (or other non-food object Cookie's interested in eating) around is for him to start chewing on his own fingers.
- Out-of-Character Moment:
- In the "Take a Rest" song, he mentions needing a nap after eating, which he generally does not.
- On two occasions, he has become afraid to eat cookies because of nightmares. However, both times, it only lasted a few moments.
- The Sesame Street Dictionary shows him not wanting cookies to illustrate the word "unusual".
- Parental Bonus: The undisputed king of this trope. If Sesame Street makes a clever pop-culture reference, chances are it comes from him.
- Sick Episode: He got a disease called "Cookie Flu" in one episode, which was not at all like regular influenza and its only symptom was uncontrollable sneezing at the sight of cookies. It went away the moment he stopped thinking about cookies.
- Trademark Favorite Food: It's right there in his name: cookies. He loves cookies.
- Trash the Set: He sometimes does this by eating the set.
- Vague Age: He is seen wandering around alone and occasionally working, but speaks in primitive grammar, has a packed lunch in one promotional video, and calls his mother "mommy". In "Take a Rest", he claims he takes naps, although he's never been seen taking naps outside of that song.
- And that's not getting into the "Cookie Monster's Foodie Truck" segments. When he and Gonger have to get the missing ingredient in whatever dish they're assigned that day, Cookie Monster drives the titular truck.
- He also appears to be entirely capable of cooking his own cookies.
- Vocal Evolution: In regards to David Rudman's voice for Cookie Monster. In his first performances as the googly-eyed, gluttonous furball, Rudman used a voice that obviously sounds like a direct impression of Frank Oz's Cookie Monster, gruffly shouting everything he says and pronouncing "cookie" as "COO-KAAAAAYYY". By the beginning of the 2010s', however, Rudman's Cookie Monster voice noticeably changed, being faithful to Oz's performance while making the character his own.
- What You Are in the Dark: Goes through one in the song/sketch "The Ballad of Casey McPhee". Cookie Monster plays the titular train engineer, Casey McPhee, who has been assigned to deliver carloads of cookies, ice cream, milk, and a tank of chocolate sauce to the children so they can have parties all year long. However, just when it seems like things will be smooth sailing, an avalanche covers the tracks and blocks the train's path. Now all alone, with no one to see him, Casey develops the urge to eat some of the cookies from his shipment. However, he quickly reconsiders, remembering that he has a duty to do, and that, if there were no cookies, the kids would be unhappy. Casey ultimately decides, "Me forget about the cookies... and eat the snow instead!"
- You No Take Candle: His well-known speech pattern is his bad grammar- he always refers to himself as "me" even when it would be grammatically correct to use another pronoun.
- Amusingly enough, some parents expressed concern about this; Frank Oz, ever the wit, responded thus (immortalized for posterity in this tweet):
An interviewer asked if I thought Cookie's way of speaking could be corrupting the kids. I said that I didn’t foresee a child growing up, becoming a lawyer, and saying, “Me want to represent you”.- And that tweet inspired this piece of fanart.
- Amusingly enough, some parents expressed concern about this; Frank Oz, ever the wit, responded thus (immortalized for posterity in this tweet
Cookie Monster's baby cousin
- Performed by: Jerry Nelson
Cookie Monster's cousin, who appeared in a sketch where he's trying to feed her cookies, but she does not want to eat one. Then Ernie appears with some groceries filled with fruits and vegetables (which Cousin Monster would go with). Cookie Monster complains that he loves cookies, but his baby cousin would not touch them. And Ernie explains maybe she does not like cookies, and tells Cookie Monster that he has to feed his baby cousin something else.
- Big Eater: Has quite a big appetite.
- Does Not Like Spam: Implied. She doesn't seem interested in cookies.
- Trademark Favorite Food: She loves fruits (such as an apple), and vegetables (such as carrots and celery). She would never touch cookies at all.
Frazzle
- Performed by: Jerry Nelson (regularly), Martin P. Robinson
An orange monster with big teeth.
- Face of a Thug: Has horns, thick eyebrows, prominent fangs, and yellow schlerae, but is actually friendly.
- Hulk Speak: In his "I Am" Song, The Frazzletones explain that his signature growl can mean many different things.
- Picky Eater: Sometimes when eating croissants, he refuses other foods.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Likes croissants because they remind him of his horns.
- The Unintelligible: Speaks mostly in gibberish, although will sometimes speak English.
Grover
- Performed by: Frank Oz (1970-2012), Eric Jacobson (1999-present)
A well-meaning, multitalented monster who suffers more humiliation and injury than the rest of the cast combined. He also goes as a superhero named Super Grover. (He became Super Grover 2.0 in 2010.)
- Ascended Extra: A puppet similar to Grover, but a greenish-brown color, was used throughout the first season, earning the name "Grover" near the end. Just a few weeks later on The Ed Sullivan Show, Grover appeared blue for the first time (though the Green Grover puppet also appeared at the end of the same sketch) and rose to a main character on the show that fall.
- Affectionate Parody:
- "SUP...ER GROVER!" parodies characters from the Superhero genre, with the absurd outfit and hammy tendencies of many of those characters.
- "Look at yourself. Now back to me. Now back to yourself. Now back to me. Sadly, you are not a monster..."
- The "Near & Far" sketch gets parodied itself quite a bit.
- This stint as a Disco Dancing Royalty ala Saturday Night Fever.
- The sketches in the restaurant underwent
Memetic Mutation via The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
- Amusing Injuries: More so than any other character, he ends up injured for comedy, often thanks to the ridiculous stunts he tries to pull off.
- Blue Is Heroic: Has blue fur and is a kind hearted sort. The heroic part especially comes into play when he becomes Super Grover.
- Butt-Monkey: Gets put through a lot of injuries and misfortune.
- With the exception of his sketches with Mr. Johnson, in which it's usually the latter who ends up the Butt-Monkey. Ditto his appearances with Kermit.
- Can't You Read the Sign?: After Mr. Johnson complains to Grover the Flight Attendant that he's bored and has nothing to read.
- Character Catchphrase:
- "Hel-lo everybod-ee! This is your lovable little furry pal, Grover!"
- To Kermit: "HEEEEEEEEY, FROGGY BAYBEEEEE! [*backslap*]"
- Character Tics:
- Will fall over when he's very emotional.
- Always says "super" in this particular way.
- Determinator: The limits to which he pushes himself are actually quite admirable.
- The Ditz: Grover isn't stupid per se, but he tends to miss the obvious in situations where he's trying to help others.
- Fainting: Grover does this a lot (although it could be interpreted as ham acting).
- First Day of School Episode: The children's book (and book-and-record set) Grover Goes to School (1982). Grover is so eager to make friends on his first day of school that he ends up trading away his prized possessions for lamer substitutes, and this makes him miserable until he realizes he can make friends by just being himself.
- Flying Brick: Super-Grover apparently believes he's one of these, judging from how often he tries to bend bars and lift heavy objects. He actually is capable of flight, but takeoffs and landings are a problem for him.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Waiter Grover in La Casa de Comidas ("House of Foods"). He claims he's been learning some compatible Spanish words from Luis, and uses some of them in this sketch (i.e. mantequilla (butter), arroz (rice) and papas (potatoes)), along with of course the numbers from 1 to 4. However, some of the "Spanish" words he uses are made up - the Spanish equivalent of the French bon appétit is buen provecho, not "bon apetito."
- I Can't Hear You: In the 1970 sketch on The Ed Sullivan Show that marked the debut of Blue Grover and definitively established his character, he interrupts Kermit's song by loudly strumming on a banjo. When Kermit asks why he's playing a banjo, Grover (using contractions in a case of Early-Installment Weirdness) responds "I can't hear you, I'm playing the banjo!"
- Jack of All Trades: Has several jobs, including waiter, taxi driver, and flight attendant.
- Keet: Grover is highly enthusiastic. "HEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY, FROGGY BAYBEEEEE!"
- The Klutz: Is a bit clumsy and accident-prone.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Depending on the sketch. In solo scenes, Grover is usually rather knowledgable about the subjects he's presenting. But, when paired with someone else or in one of his many guises (superhero, professor, marshal, camp counselor, etc.), he's usually not as much of an expert as he claims to be.
- Large Ham: One of the hammiest of the Muppet monsters. It helps that Frank Oz performs him.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Grover was named after U.S. President Grover Cleveland.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Grover has held nearly 90 different jobs over the course of the show.
- Nice Guy: He's not very good at helping others, and he's clumsier than a three-legged giraffe, but he means well.
- Precision F-Strike:
- When he appeared with other Muppets performed by Frank Oz in An Evening with Jim Henson and Frank Oz, in response to a marionette question.Grover: I do not know what the hell that means.
- And the odd viral moment at the end of 2018 when half the internet was convinced that a clip of Grover saying "That sounds like an excellent idea!" included an F-bomb.
- When he appeared with other Muppets performed by Frank Oz in An Evening with Jim Henson and Frank Oz, in response to a marionette question.
- Rhymes on a Dime: In one of the Waiter Grover skits, much to Mr. Johnson's immense irritation.Grover: Round and tasty on a bun/Pickles, French fries, yum yum yum.
- Secret Identity: For a certain value of "secret." He tries to convince others he and Super Grover are unrelated.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Often brags about how experienced, knowledgable and multi-talented he is when in reality, it's almost completely opposite.
- Spock Speak: According to original performer Frank Oz, Grover rarely uses contractions (except in songs) because he's obsessed with doing everything right.
- Superheroes Wear Capes: Wears a red cape when he's being Super Grover.
- Superman Substitute: His superhero alter-ego is Super Grover, complete with wearing a thunder bolt with the letter G on his chest.
- That Makes Me Feel Angry: "I feel so ______!" is one of his recurring lines, to enthusiastically express whatever emotion he happens to be feeling at the moment.
- Verbal Tic: Grover is known for speaking without contractions, giving him a much more formal vernacular. For instance, if one were to say the word "you're", Grover will always say it as "you are"; no exceptions.
- Vocal Evolution: In the first season Grover (who spent most of the season nameless, outside of being called "Fuzzyface" a few times) and Cookie Monster weren't distinct characters yet, and Frank Oz used an almost-identical voice for both. It was up to later on in mid- or late-second season that Grover got his more distinct and familiar voice. As Oz got older and when Eric Jacobson took over, Grover's voice noticeably deepened a bit, to the point that it started sounding a little like a gravelly Miss Piggy.
- Yodel Land: In one sketch Grover, clad in lederhosen, climbs to the top of an Alpine ridge to demonstrate what an echo is.note
Herry
- Performed by: Jerry Nelson (1970-2003), Peter Linz (2015-present)
A large, blue monster. He's strong and has a gruff voice but he is very sweet. Always wanting to help out but usually inadvertently ended up breaking more than he fixed. Herry was a main character on the show from Season 2 (1970-1971) until Season 31 (2000).
- Badbutt: Was meant to be the "tough guy" among the cast. Being from a show for preschoolers, you obviously can't get too tough...
- The Big Guy: He's very big.
- Blind Without 'Em: Episode 1261 reveals that he's near-sighted, so he is taken to the eye doctor for some glasses.
- Blue Is Heroic: A blue furred monster who is very nice.
- Characterization Marches On: Debuts in Season 2 as a loose replacement for The Beautiful Day Monster and shown a few traits that were not so less abrasive than his predecessor's. Many earlier sketches from Season 2 would depict him with slight aggression even deliberately trying to scare other characters albeit as a "harmless" prank. Several seasons later as the character would mature and mellow out, he would now be known as one of the most gentle and affable monsters on the show but as one who Does Not Know His Own Strength.
- Demoted to Extra: This happened to him in the early 2000s. The Bus Came Back as of 2017, as Herry has begun to make more and more appearances of varying prominence. He's now Darrin'd by Peter Linz, as Jerry Nelson passed away in 2012.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: Sometimes he accidentally breaks things with his strength. He even had a song about it, titled "I Can't Help It."
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Herry originally had a blue nose, to match the rest of his fur. Beginning with season 3, his nose became purple. His eyebrows also became thinner over the years.
- Extreme Omnivore: At least once he shared a bicycle with Cookie Monster - with share defined as both monsters eating it together, much to Kermit's chagrin.
- Gentle Giant: A strong, tall monster but a nice one.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Although Herry is usually only seen from the waist up on the show, various merchandise of him, as well as his illustrated appearances depict him wearing a pair of red and white striped pants.
- Lovable Jock: He's a nice, friendly guy who fills his time playing baseball or football.
- Meaningful Name: Considering his enormous strength, it's pretty clear that he's named after Hercules.
- "Metaphor" Is My Middle Name: Before singing "A Song for Two" with an Anything Muppet girl, he says "Cooperation" is his middle name. "Herry Cooperation Monster."
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Jerry Nelson modeled Herry's voice off of Jimmy Durante.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Herry, along with his tough-guy vibe, loves dolls and isn't the least bit ashamed of it.
- Sick Episode: At the end of "It's No Fun Being Sick", he catches Flossie's illness, but he recovers.
- Starstruck Speechless: In the episode in which Céline Dion guest stars, he's too shy to go up and introduce himself to her, and when she comes up to introduce herself and begins to sing to him, he can barely get the words out. Eventually he recovers enough to sing along with her, with Big Bird and Elmo joining in.
Telly
- Performed by: Bob Payne (1979), Brian Muehl (1979-1984), Martin P. Robinson (1984-present)
A neurotic, easily discouraged monster. Was best friends with Oscar; now best friends with Baby Bear. He also has an obsession with triangles.
- Artifact Name: His name, "Telly Monster", originates from his early characterization, where he was obsessed with watching TV. He grew out of that trait over time, but the name stuck anyway.
- Characterization Marches On: He was originally obsessed with television, but grew out of that over the years.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Downplayed. While he seems on the same plane of reality as everyone else, he has a vivid imagination and a strange interest in triangles.
- Dagwood Sandwich: Makes a sandwich with all the ingredients he can think of in one episode.
- Does Not Like Spam: When he made the "everything sandwich", the lettuce was the only ingredient he disliked. This carries over into newer episodes as well; in one such instance, Chris brings Telly a tuna sandwich just the way he likes it (with no lettuce), which immediately leads to the appearance of a mob of protesting vegetables.
- The Eeyore: Telly is known for being somewhat pessimistic.
- Hidden Depths: He can play the guitar, even once performing a song comparing different shapes to triangles called "Three Sides Now" (a Suspiciously Similar Song to Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now").
- Intrepid Reporter: In the "Monster on the Spot" segments.
- Lovable Coward: Is sweet and nervy.
- Mind-Control Eyes: In his early, TV-obsessed appearances, his eyes would turn into red spirals when he watched TV.
- Mood-Swinger: Will often go from being calm to scared at the drop of a hat.
- Mr. Imagination: A lot of his worries are due to his vivid imagination running away with him.
- Nervous Wreck: His neuroticism is probably his most prevalent trait.
- Out of Focus: Telly appeared in nearly every episode from 1980 to 2015. Since 2016, his role is considerably smaller.
- Puppy Love: While he doesn't have an official age, he's generally treated as a kid; and
Marty Robinson confirms that Telly has a crush on Rosita. - Sick Episode: In one episode, he gets "triangle-sneeze-itis" which makes him sneeze while near triangles.]
- Somethingitis: Gets "triangle-sneeze-itis" in one episode.
- Something Person: Played Texas Telly In "The Golden Triangle of Destiny."
- Story Arc: He spends several episodes with a broken arm.
- With Friends Like These...: Was once sort-of-friends with Oscar, of all people. Three guesses how that usually went. Thankfully, he later found a much better friend in Baby Bear.
- You Watch Too Much X: A big aspect of his character at first. While more physical activity is being encouraged nowadays, his obsession does still occasionally show up.
Two-Headed Monster
- Performed by: Peter Friedman and Richard Hunt (ca. 1978), Jerry Nelson and Richard Hunt (1978–1991), Jerry Nelson and David Rudman (1992–2000), Joey Mazzarino and David Rudman (2001–2015), Eric Jacobson and David Rudman (2016-present)
- Art Imitates Life: The character was created when Jerry Nelson and Richard Hunt were goofing around on the set one day and told everyone they were a two-headed monster.
- Big Eater: Implied. Both heads share a body (and therefore, a stomach), but eat separate meals.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: One of the Two-Headed Monster's heads has them. Verging on a Big Ol' Unibrow.
- Drama king: Sometimes, he/they overact/s, for example, when one head cries because the other has more milk.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Usually appears in order to teach the merits of cooperation or sound out words phonetically.
- Hulk Speak: More so than Cookie Monster.
- And that's when they're actually saying coherent words.
- Injury Tropes: Played for laughs with the two after they see several Honkers pass by them in the segment where they spell out the word honk. The head played by Richard then decides to see if the other head played by Jerry makes a honking noise by squeezing their nose a little too hard and hearing no honking sound.
- It Runs in the Family: The late Richard Hunt's brother, Adam, voiced his brother's head of the Two-Headed Monster in David Rudman's place in the 1997 CD-ROM Sesame Street Search and Learn Adventures. His vocal similarity to Richard is remarkable.
- Multiple Head Case: Exactly What It Says on the Tin in their (his?) name, right?
- No Indoor Voice: The Two-Headed Monster's heads are very loud and rambunctious. Often, once they get going, the segment's voiceover has to literally shout to be heard over them.
- No Name Given: Well, sort of. Was named "Horn and Hardart"note in his first appearance in the late '70s; this name was never used again.
- Pronoun Trouble: Occasionally, it's played as a gag as to whether the Two-Headed Monster should be referred to as a "him" or "them". If the Two-Headed Monster does have a preference, it's never come up.
- Two Beings, One Body: No one is certain whether or not it's one being with two heads, or this trope; this was lampshaded in A Muppet Family Christmas by Bert and Ernie.
- The Unintelligible: They are (or he is; it's hard to tell whether it's two people or one person) either speaking in Hulk Speak or gibberish.
Seasons 11-20
Aristotle
- Performed by: Richard Hunt
A blind, grey monster who enjoys collecting things.
- Collector of the Strange: Some of the things he’s collected are lettuce, broken sports gear, and bologna sandwiches.
- In-Series Nickname: Ari
- Non-Standard Character Design: he’s one of the only monsters to be built with ears.
Deena
- Performer: Karen Prell
An energetic, pink monster who has red hair, wild rolling eyes, and a passion for play. She lives in a cave with her caretaker, Pearl.
- Genki Girl: She takes her energy to extremes rarely met by the other Sesame Street monsters, which is unsurprising, as the performer of Deena would later become best known for portraying Red Fraggle on Fraggle Rock.
- Put on a Bus: Writer Norman Stiles says he created Deena, named after one of his friends, to emphasize the role of play in the development of the brain at a time when it was not promoted widely. Stiles would eventually recall that "for whatever reason, as we tried the character in a few sketches, Deena’s insistence on playing was more annoying than amusing." However, Karen Prell believed her own performance of the character, which was deemed "over-the-top" in an interview, led to her short time on the series. Regardless, both Deena and Pearl saw dramatically reduced roles starting in the twelfth season, and one of their last known appearances together was in the wedding sequence of The Muppets Take Manhattan. The Deena puppet would eventually morph into the character of Humphrey.
- Third-Person Person: "DEENA WANTS TO PLAY!"
Elmo
"These are the tropes, la la la la, Elmo's tropes."
- Performed by: Various (1980 — 1984) Kevin Clash (1984-2012), Ryan Dillon (2013-present)
A 3½-year-old monster who speaks in a high-pitched voice and eschews pronouns. Was best friends with Zoe; now best friends with Abby Cadabby. Hosts the "Elmo's World" and "Elmo: The Musical" segments, as well as The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo, and the object of 1996's Tickle-Me-Elmo craze.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: In Elmo's animated appearances in The Monster at the End of this Story and the Furry Friends Forever specials, his purple eyelids are changed to dark red.
- Ascended Extra: Pretty much the ultimate of this trope. He started out as a utility monster puppet, but shortly after was christened the name Elmo. Brian Muehl and Richard Hunt performed him in a handful of episodes between 1980-1984, but when Kevin Clash took over, Elmo became a much more prominent character and is now the star of the show.
- All-Loving Hero: He likes everyone, even Oscar. "Elmo loves you."
- Aside Glance: Whenever Zoe is talking to Rocco, he turns to the camera.Elmo: Elmo doesn't believe this.
- Baby Talk: Elmo's general form of speech, particularly to babies.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Elmo in general is a very innocent, cheerful and sweet-natured monster, but he very much has his limits. One such case of his limits being pushed too far was shown in episode 3809, in which after his attempts to say the number of the day were interrupted by Zoe and Rocco constantly, Elmo, just when he thinks he's able to say the number of the day, ends up getting interrupted by Zoe yet again, who ends up beating him to saying number of the day on behalf of Rocco. This, unsurprisingly, results in Elmo hitting his Rage Breaking Point and calling them out in an anger filled rant.Elmo: [annoyed] Elmo is supposed to say the number of the day, not Rocco.Zoe: Well, Rocco says you were taking too long. He couldn't wait anymore.[Elmo turns to Zoe and Rocco, growling quietly. Then he explodes.]Elmo: ELMO DOESN'T BELIEVE THIS!!! All— All day long, Elmo wanted to do... wa-wa-... was say the number of the day! But, nooooooooooo...! Elmo has to sing to Rocco! Elmo has to play the silly word game! Elmo, w-w-... watch Rocco's favorite movie! And when finally, when it came time for Elmo to say the number of the day, Rocco... Rocco says it before ELMO!!!!Zoe: Oh, well. Come on, Elmo. Let's play with Rocco.Elmo: Ohhhhhh, no. Elmo is not playing with Rocco, or you anymore! ELMO IS GOING TO PLAY BY HIMSEEEEEEEEEELLLF!!! (Runs away in anger)Zoe: Wait, Elmo! Come back!...Rocco says he didn't mean it!
- Breakout Character: He first appeared as a background character in 1980. Now he and Abby Cadabby are the show's most dominant characters.
- Character Catchphrase:
- He says "Elmo loves you" a lot.
- During his Characterization Marches On phase in the early-mid 80s, he often like to say "yes-yes".
- Character Signature Song: This is the song, La-la la-la, Elmo's Song....
- Characterization Marches On: In his earlier incarnations in the early Eighties, he was basically a presumably-adult monster with a deeper, nasally, squawky voice who showed up every so often. When the Muppet was brought in as a named character: Elmo’s personality would bounce between that of a rowdy caveman and a mischievous prankster. It wasn't until Richard Hunt, who hated doing Elmo, literally tossed the Muppet to Kevin Clash that Elmo was retooled into the bouncy, high-voiced, sweet-natured child-monster we know today.
- Cheerful Child: Elmo is a kind monster, is pretty upbeat, and is three years old.
- Cuddle Bug: He's very hug-friendly.
- Deadpan Snarker: He usually is one of the nicer characters on a show filled with nice characters...and then when Zoe introduces Rocco, he turns into this AND the Only Sane Man.
- Determinator: He wouldn't give up on helping his friends whenever they needed it.
- Dub Name Change: Takalani Sesame, the South African version of the series, formerly named him Neno. It was changed in preparation for the series' 20th anniversary in 2020, and to bring the name of the character in line with the US series and other international co-productions.
- Enmity with an Object: He has a one-sided rivalry with Zoe's pet rock Rocco.
- Excited Kids' Show Host: Of the Elmo's World and Elmo the Musical segments, as well as The Not-Too-Late Show.
- Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Elmo is (or at least tries to be) friends with everyone on Sesame Street (even Oscar), and almost never feels anger towards any of them. However, the only person (or rather thing in this case) he can't stand is Zoe's pet rock Rocco, and its sheer presence is one of the very few things that enrages the little red monster.
- He often gets flustered and constantly reminds Zoe that "Rocco's just a rock!" While Elmo is driven crazy by Rocco's (and Zoe's) antics, the other characters are usually unfazed and willing to play along with Zoe's pretending. In Episode 4235, Elmo accidentally loses Rocco and comes to realize how special he is to Zoe (much like Elmo's Baby David).
- Flanderization: Since the mid-1990s, Elmo has become more loud, excited to unbearable levels, and hyperactive. He's also gained a tendency to hang out mostly with Cookie Monster, Zoe, Abby, Baby Bear, Telly, and Rosita.
- Friend to All Children: He kisses a lot of babies.
- Gone Horribly Right: Elmo gives a lecture on different ways that people sleep. The audience is so receptive that he can't sleep when it's over.Elmo: Go home!
- Hypocritical Humor: In one sketch/segment, Elmo thinks he can play games with a plant (Gloria), yet he’s annoyed at how Zoe is friends with a rock (Rocco). Ironic, isn't it?
- Iconic Sequel Character: Over the years, he's become so iconic and so famous, that many are amazed to remember or discover that he was only introduced in season 12. And even then, wasn't fully formed until season 17.
- Little Mr. Snarker: Rarely, but he can't help making sardonic remarks in regards to Zoe's pet rock, which he really doubts is alive, even no matter how many times he tries to tell Zoe that Rocco is just a rock that can't do anything (e.g., cry, talk, walk, blink, run a temperature, etc.), the message, however, doesn't eventually go through nowhere, as she continues to fall on deaf ears, still thinking and insisting that Rocco is alive (at least in her own mind(set) and from her point of view), despite the inanimate state proving otherwise nonetheless, and ultimately prompting to try and dismay the latter even further.
- Mascot's Name Goes Unchanged: Due in no small part to exposure via the internet, Elmo has a regular character in co-productions developed for Latin America, Israel, Norway, and the Arab world, where the name "Elmo" is retained.
- Military Brat: Yes, believe it or not. This was central to a series of videos specifically made to help military children cope with having a parent deployed, so he subverts most of the typical, negative stereotypes.
- Mr. Imagination: Has lots of imagination spots, especially in Elmo's World.
- Never Learned to Read: Still illiterate due to being only three years old.
- No Name Given: He was a minor background Muppet simply known as "Baby Monster" before 1984, when his current character started to take shape.
- Nice Guy: One of the nicest characters of the show, being cuddly and sweet natured.
- One-Episode Fear: He was afraid to go into Hooper's Store during the episode it caught fire.
- Only Sane Man: Or rather Only Sane Monster. Whenever Zoe appears with her pet rock Rocco, he is the only character that does not take the rock seriously and has to remind Zoe that, "He's a rock!" Mostly, this is because he believes Zoe is using Rocco as an excuse for attention and to get her way.
- Precocious Crush: One story concerns Elmo naively wanting to marry Gina. On learning this, she explains to him that she does love him very much, but that the relationship they have is "a 'friend' kind of love."
- Red Is Heroic: Has red fur and is very nice.
- Series Mascot: Possibly the most well-known Sesame Street character, he's taken Big Bird's place in this position and features on and in a lot of merchandise.
- Sick Episode:
- He gets an earache in "Elmo Visits the Doctor".
- One toy features Elmo having a cold.
- One licensed game involves him having either a cold, toothache, or earache.
- Signature Laugh: His high-pitched laughter drove a toy craze in the mid-1990s when it was matched with a doll of Elmo.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: Elmo has a near irrational dislike for Zoe’s pet rock, Rocco, but tolerates his presence for the sake of Zoe.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Elmo's fur, eyeshadow, and nose colors were taken from his father, while his body type and nose shape were taken from his mother.
- Sudden Anatomy: His eyelids appear when he's sleepy.
- Third-Person Person: He always refers to himself in as "Elmo" instead of "I" or "me."Elmo: And Elmo's Elmo.
- He also usually refers to those he's talking to directly in the third person, for example, "Elmo thinks Abby could ask Julia to play again" instead of "I think you could ask Julia to play again."
- He does occasionally speak in the first person though. Particularly early on. Humorously, sometimes he'll use both third and first person speech in one sentence.
Elmo: Me?! What did Elmo do?" - Toilet Training Plot: A flashback in "Elmo's Potty Time" showed him a year ago being potty trained.
Leo the Party Monster
- Performed by: Richard Hunt
An orange, pink-haired monster who's obsessed with partying, to the extent that he even hosts a talk show on the subject.
- Companion Cube: He's almost never seen without his portable radio, so he can have his party music on the go with him.
- Large Ham: He has No Indoor Voice, and rarely lets a sentence finish without some sort of exhortation to "PAAAAARTAAAYYYYYY!"
- Large Ham Title: Besides regularly appending his name with "the Party Monster", he also refers to himself as "Leo, The Total Party Monster of the Known Universe" at one point.
- Life of the Party: Leo views himself as this, especially in situations where there's no actual party happening.
Natasha
- Performed by: Kevin Clash
A baby monster. Her parents are Humphrey and Ingrid.
- Babysitting Episode: Natasha gets babysat in several episodes.
- Baby's First Words: Natasha's first words were "Oh, dear" because that was what Snuffy had been saying while trying unsuccessfully to get her to talk.
- Baby See, Baby Do:
- Natasha's first words (oh dear) came from copying Snuffy.
- Natasha copies the Count when he sings to her in one episode.
- Inverted once, when Humphrey copies Natasha.
- Baby Talk: Natasha can't talk, only babble.
- Character Tics: Natasha blows raspberries a lot. She also has a habit of "shaking her shoe and going, 'cuckoo'" when she's happy.
- Daddy's Girl: Humphrey and Natasha get along very well.
- The Diaper Change: Natasha has her diaper changed in one episode.
- Happy Rain: She and her parents like the rain.
- One-Episode Fear: One episode focuses on the characters finding out that Natasha is afraid of rain and correcting it.
- Straying Baby: In Episode 2851, Maria is tasked with babysitting Natasha while trying to do her work at the Fix-it Shop at the same time. Natasha keeps crawling away whenever Maria is busy with her work, so Maria has to find her and bring her back to her high chair whenever she does this.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Natasha is scared of the rain for an episode.
Pearl
- Performer: Brian Meehl
A brown monster who lives in a cave with Deena, for whom she serves as a caretaker. She likes peace and quiet, which is often difficult for her to achieve because of Deena's relentless energy.
- Put on a Bus: Both Deena and Pearl saw dramatically reduced roles starting in the twelfth season, and one of their last known appearances together was in the wedding sequence of The Muppets Take Manhattan. The Pearl puppet later became used for extras in various sketches, minus her orange tuft of hair.
- Team Mom: Often tries to calm down her roommate, especially when that character's overtly energetic tendencies come into play.
Ruby
- Performed by: Camille Bonora (1988-1992)
A bright red haired orange-yellow monster who loves learning experience and research on everything.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: a lot of her experiments are, odd to say the least.
- For Science!: Much of what she does, no matter how silly it might be, is all for the purpose of doing an experiment.
- Reused Character Design: She's basically Leo the Party Monster with different hair and a smaller nose.
- Security Blanket: In the "Guys and Dolls" song from Monsterpiece Theater, she loves playing with her toy truck.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: has mostly masculine interests but has also been shown to be interested in dolls and bows.
Seasons 21-30
Baby Tooth and the Fuzzy Funk
- Performed by: Various
The three Muppet monster dancers who appeared in the 1990s. They sometimes dance with humans.
Humphrey and Ingrid
- Performed by: David Rudman (Humphrey), Joey Mazzarino (Ingrid)
Baby Natasha's parents. Humphrey and Ingrid work as employees at the Furry Arms hotel.
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Humphrey wears a red spotted necktie with a white collar.
- Ambiguously Related: There's a monster named Freda played by Ingrid's puppet. Being related might explain the family resemblance.
- Affectionate Nickname: Ingrid and Humphrey call Natasha many pet names. They even sing a song about it in one episode.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Let's just say that Humphry and Ingrid can be rather... dense. Much to the chagrin of most of the people on Sesame Street.
- Doting Parent: Ingrid and Humphrey think Natasha is amazing and fawn over everything she does.
- Furry Baldness: Humphrey has thicker fur on the back of his head meant to resemble a receding hairline.
- Happy Rain: They like the rain.
- Literal-Minded: Ingrid and Humphrey just do not understand the meaning of simple directions.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Inverted; Humprhey is a male with pink fur, while Ingrid is a female with blue fur.
Merry Monster
- Performed by: Joey Mazzarino
A tiny, squeaky voiced monster.
- Alliterative Name
- No Indoor Voice: her whole shtick.
The Monster Cookie
The Monster Cookie
- Performed by: Jerry Nelson
A giant talking cookie who is, to put it simply, a personification of the phrase "You are what you eat". He appeared in the 1992 sketch, where Cookie Monster has a very sad nightmare after waring the last of his birthday cookies. He tells Cookie Monster his sad story on how he became a cookie. He used to a blue furry monster as well, but his cookie-only diet caused him to turn into a cookie, and he regrets sadly that he never had healthier foods. As Cookie Monster wakes up from his sad dream, he declares that he will never eat cookies again and starts eating carrots, fish, and whole wheat bread. But then he eats a cookie afterwards, with the remark "Well, maybe sometime a cookie!"
- Berserk Button: As Cookie Monster was about to eat him, He shouts with anger "Keep your hands off, pal!"
- Dream People: He only appeared in a dream, so he's likely not a real monster.
- One-Shot Character: He only appeared in Cookie Monster's dream.
Rosita
- Performed by: Carmen Osbahr (1991-present)
A 5-year-old bilingual monster who plays guitar. She was originally patterned after a fruit bat, but lost the wings in Season 35 through 51. She stated in an interview that they just popped off when flying.
- Blue Is Heroic: While her fur is not as deep of a blue as Grover or Herry's, she's just as kind.
- Continuity Nod: Luis taught her how to play the guitar, and she has retained that skill very well.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: For the first thirteen years of the character, Rosita had a pair of wings, and we've seen her use them to fly (or rather, attempt to; a couple of 1990s episodes have her discover that she can't actually fly). 2004 onward, the wings disappeared and there has never been an explanation as to why on the show. According to her puppeteer, the choice was made by the merchandising wing of Sesame Street. In 2021, however, Rosita grew back her wings.
- Gratuitous Spanish: She peppers her sentences with Spanish phrases to introduce basic Spanish vocabulary to the kids. She also has an occasional segment where she gives the "Spanish Word of the Day".
- The Smurfette Principle: Rosita has the distinction of being the first female monster in the Sesame Street cast, and was the only female monster until Zoe arrived in 1993.
- Mentors: Rosita takes Gina's son Marco under her wing, because he is Guatemalan.
- Military Brat: Like Elmo, Rosita has to deal with having a military father. Her father comes home injured and confined to a wheelchair, and she has a hard time adjusting to the consequent changes.
- Nice Girl: A friendly monster who shows her compassion by giving hugs.
- True Blue Femininity: A blue furred creature who acts "girly".
- Overly Long Name: She's almost never referred to by it, but her full name is Rosita, la Monstrua de las Cuevas (literally "Rosita, the Monster of the Caves").
- Quirky Ukulele: She's a guitarist, but knows her way around many different stringed instruments, and employs them for various peppy, upbeat songs.
- Vocal Evolution: In her first 13 years on the show, Rosita's voice was high-pitched and raspy, almost sounding boyish. Later on, while still retaining the high pitch, her voice lost its rasp and sounds more ladylike and feminine.
Zoe
- Performed by: Fran Brill (1993-2014), Jennifer Barnhart (2015-present)
A monster who was added in the 1990s in order to add balance to a predominantly male cast. She is good friends with Elmo and Big Bird. She started wearing a tutu regularly in 2002, so people wouldn't be confused on whether she's a boy or a girl, but it was removed in 2017, now wearing it occasionally.
- Consulting Mister Puppet: Zoe's pet rock, Rocco, who she talks to in spite of Elmo's sarcastic rebukes (insistently reminding her that Rocco is just an inanimate rock).
- The Cover Changes the Gender: She did a cover of the Sesame Street song "Fur."
- Distaff Counterpart: Pretty much a female Elmo, plus a loyal rock sidekick.
- Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Zigzagged. Sometimes she wears a full ballet outfit, sometimes not.
- Girliness Upgrade: She wore a pink ballerina tutu regularly from seasons 33 to 48; she was sometimes seen with it before and since.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed. Although Zoe never intentionally means harm and is goodhearted most of the time, she does have a tendency to be self-centered and inconsiderate towards others, which tends to fuel several conflicts between her and Elmo. Justified since she's only a young child.
- Pink Means Feminine: Subverted, her ballerina tutu is pink and she does like ballet but she is a tomboy, and her fur is orange, typically a "masculine" color.
- Signature Laugh: A high-pitched, kind of shrill-sounding "Haw haw haw haw," which, to some people, sounds like a squeaky wagon wheel.
- The Smurfette Principle: She was the only female monster on the show aside from Rosita for a decade.
- Spelling Song: In one of her first inserts, this is how we are introduced to her.
- Thememobile: She rides in a vehicle called "The Zoe Mobile."
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Aside from having prominent eyelashes and a smaller pink nose, she usually sports a necklace and bracelets along with her hair decs.
- Tomboy: A mild example; she's a Genki Girl and She Cleans Up Nicely.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Abby's Girly Girl
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She has picked up on ballet and usually wears a pink ballerina tutu starting in Season 33 and she also wears a necklace, bracelets, and hair barrettes.
- Vocal Evolution: Fran Brill gave Zoe a child's voice similar to Elmo's; after Jennifer Barnhart took over, Zoe's voice got a few steps deeper with a faint Southern accent.
Seasons 31-40
Louie
- Performed by: Bill Barretta (2006-2010), Tyler Bunch (2007-present)
Elmo's father, who is a loving dad and ambiguously in the military.
- Good Parents: He, along with Mae, seem to be very supportive parents.
- Not So Above It All: Normally very level-headed, but he did sing a song about the potty in "Elmo's Potty Time". Truth in Television, some parents do sing to their kids to get them interested in potty training.
- Unexplained Accent: He and Mae have Southern accents, though Sesame Street is in New York.
Mae
- Performed by: Fran Brill (2006-2014), Stephanie D'Abruzzo (2019-present)
Elmo's mother.
- Good Parents: She seems to be a loving mother.
- Noodle Incident: In one episode, she loses her job, and it's unknown how.
The Monster Clubhouse Monsters
From left to right: Phoebe, Googel, Narf and Mel
- Phoebe performed by: Alice Dinnean (2001-2002), John Tartaglia (2002)Googel performed by: Stephanie D'AbruzzoNarf performed by: Joey MazzarinoMel performed by: Kevin Clash
Four energetic monsters named Phoebe, Googel, Mel and Narf. They have a club called the Monster Clubhouse, where they do wacky things like get chased by elephants.
- Aerith and Bob: Phoebe and Mel are common names. Googel and Narf, not so much.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: They often talk to the viewers.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: They have strange interests like being chased by elephants.
- Demoted to Extra: After Season 34, the Monster Clubhouse segments were discontinued since kids were not too familiar with the characters, resulting in the monsters becoming background characters.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Their "goodbye song" is just the word "goodbye" sung over and over.
- Ending Theme: At the end of the meeting, they will just sing "Goodbye" over and over, calling it the Goodbye Song.
- Extreme Omnivore: They'll eat almost anything during Snack Time, even things that aren't edible. Narf also ate a crash helmet once.
- Eyes Out of Sight: Mel's hair alwayscovers his eyes.
- Fake Interactivity: They often tell the viewers to join in with what they're doing.
- Genki Girl: Phoebe and Googel are extremely peppy. Mel and Narf are also Genki Guys.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Phoebe wears a skirt but no pants. Averted for the rest of them, who just go naked.
- Intelligible Unintelligible: Mel can only speak gibberish, but the others can understand him.
- The Klutz: All of them are pretty clumsy, but Narf is the clumsiest.
- The Leader: Googel seems to be the leader of the group, she is often the one who will say what they'll do next.
- Messy Hair: Phoebe has hair that sticks out all over the place.
- No Indoor Voice: They often yell a lot of their dialogue.
- Pun: Sometimes, Narf will fall from the ceiling and Googel will say, "Nice of you to drop by!".
- Spelling Song: When saying the name of their club, they will sing to the tune of "Old MacDonald", spelling out "Monster Club" but saying "house".Monsters: "M-O-N-S-T-E-R C-L-U-B-house!"
- Sudden Name Change: Phoebe and Googel were originally named Groogle and Mooba, respectively. In Season 33, their names were suddenly changed.
- The Unintelligible: Mel only speaks monster gibberish.
- Vague Age: They can hold club meetings without an adult directly watching them, and yet they take naps. Then again, these naps only last for about four seconds.
- You No Take Candle: Averted for Phoebe and Googel, who talk normally, and Mel, who speaks gibberish, but played straight for Narf, who uses primitive grammar (says "me" instead of "I", drops the word "is", etc).
Murray
- Performed by: Joey Mazzarino (2005-2015)
A fluffy orange monster with a round, oversized jaw who rose to fame by hosting a variety of recurring segments; namely Word on the Street and Murray Has a Little Lamb. These are unique in that they're kept separate from the regular Sesame Street scenes by being set in the "real world" where Murray has largely unscripted scenes interacting with "normal" people, with his Spanish-speaking lamb Ovejita.
- Alliterative Name: His surname is implied to be "Monster".
- Amusing Injuries: Frequently. Usually in the form of The Pratfall.
- The Cameo: Murray very rarely appears in "street scenes." Joey Mazzarino has said that he prefers for Murray to be kept in the "real world" à la Uncle Traveling Matt.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Has proven to be his fate following Mazzarino's departure from the series in 2015, due to the show's format and runtime change that came with its move of first-run episodes from PBS to HBO. Matt Vogel confirmed in a May 2016 Facebook post that there were no plans to recast Murray because "it's such a Joey character". His regular "Tune-in" segments were dropped entirely (barring a few reused "Murray Has a Little Lamb" segments) and his only new appearances in that season were for a few celebrity musical numbers. In 2022, however, the Murray puppet began appearing as a generic monster on Ahlan Simsim, an Arabic co-production of Sesame Street.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Murray made several appearances before he was first called by name on screen.
- Epic Fail: A lot of his first attempts at the focal activity in the segment results in this. Once, while trying a high-kick in a Dance School segment, he not only sends himself flying onto his back, as he is wont to do, but manages to kick himself in the face in the process.
- Excited Kids' Show Host: Murray plays Type 1 to the hilt, on Murray Has A Little Lamb, and Word on the Street.
- Keet: Highly energetic.
- Larynx Dissonance: With a jaw like his, you may not expect his voice to be as high or childish as it is.
- Living Crashpad: Ovejita regularly uses him as one just as a way of greeting him at the start of each segment.
- Mad Libs Catchphrase: Ever since wrapping up each episode became his job, this has been how the letter and number of the day have been reviewed.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Murray has Ovejita, a little Spanish-speaking lamb with a tiny hairbow, sticks out from the cast of strange monsters. Although it's debatable whether she can be called a "sidekick", as he usually follows her lead.
- Palette Swap: His design is an orange variant of a purple monster, named Filfil, from the Egyptian co-production Alam Simsim. In fact, most of the crew just called him "Filfil" until someone came up with "Murray."
- Prison Episode: In the Little Kids, Big Challenge: Incarcerated episode, It reveals that his uncle was sent to jail because he violated the law.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Played with. He has quite a jaw on him, but his eyelids sport noticeable lashes.
Seasons 41-50
The Furchesters
Elmo's uncle Fergus, aunt Funella, and cousin Phoebe, who run a hotel in the United Kingdom.
- Alliterative Family: Downplayed. Fergus and Funella have names beginning with F, but Phoebe's, though it sounds the same, begins with P-H.
- Alliterative Name: Their names begin with F or P-H and their surname is Furchester.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: They sing to the audience at the end of all their skits.
- Character Catchphrase: "Fuzzawubba!" for Phoebe, whenever she gets an idea.
- Determinator: They have a whole song about their not giving up.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: They, along with Elmo and Cookie Monster, sing the Welcome to the Furchester Hotel song.
- Ending Theme: They sing a song about "don't check out" at the end of each segment.
- Lost Voice Plot: In "Animal Talk", Phoebe loses her voice, so they have to find a way to communicate with the animals.
- Lyrical Dissonance: The "Don't Check Out" song begs you not to leave, but to a cheerful melody.
- Meaningful Name: They have "fur" in their last names, and are furry monsters.
- Odd Name Out: Phoebe's the only one whose name doesn't start with F.
- Skeleton Key: Phoebe has a key that can open any door in the hotel, but she usually wears it around her neck.
- Solemn Ending Theme: Zigzagged for "Don't Check Out". Its lyrics beg the viewer not to go and claim that they will be less furry without them, but it has a merry tune.
- Something Itis: In one episode, Phoebe gets "Monster Mumble-itis", which is apparently what monsters get if they talk too much.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Phoebe can talk to animals, however, her parents cannot.
Gonger
- Performed by: Warrick Brownlow-Pike
A marble-mouthed monster chef who first appeared on The Furchester Hotel (the British co-production) before joining the domestic show for the "Cookie Monster's Foodie Truck" segments. Due to his weird voice, he very often mispronounces certain words: "pinea-pap-ple", "cran-ba-berry", "cheeeeeeese" "bana-na-na-na-na", etc, as well as adding an "h" sound to words that begin with a vowel.
- Ascended Extra: His first appearances on Furchester were simply banging a gong to signal Monster Tea Time (hence his name). By the second season, he gained a much more prominent role as the hotel chef. From there, he became the co-star to the new Cookie Monster segment, "Cookie Monster's Foodie Truck." Within a couple of short years, he now has merchandise and walk-around versions in parks and live shows.
- Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Gonger spends a lot of time correcting Cookie Monster’s misconceptions on the food they’re making.
- Character Catchphrase: *bangs a gong* “IT’S READY!”
- Not So Above It All: The taco segment of “Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck” reveals Gonger eats just as wildly and messily as Cookie does.
- Straight Man: To Cookie Monster. Sometimes, however, he has proven himself almost as wild as Cookie himself.
Rudy
- Performed by: Frankie Cordero (2017-present)
A blue-haired orange monster who is Abby Cadabby's stepbrother, introduced in season 47 to help introduce kids to blended families. He has a habit of "borrowing" his stepsister's wand without her permission.
- Hilarity Ensues: Whenever he gets his hands on Abby's wand.
- Interspecies Romance: Rudy's dad, a monster, married Abby's mom, a fairy, which explains how he and Abby became stepsiblings in the first place.
- Welcome Episode: "Hello Rudy"
Seasons 51-Present
Karli
- Performed by: Haley Jenkins
A young monster who was initially in foster care before moving back with her mother and was written to teach kids about foster care and parental addiction. While we don't know much about her as a person (apart from the fact that she has some toy elephants, plays soccer, and likes PB&J and pizza), she has a complex story line: she used to live alone with her mother, but then her mother got addicted to an unknown substance. While the mother was in rehab, Karli was fostered by a couple named Clem and Dalia. Now, Karli is living with her mother again, but the mother is still in group therapy.
- Alliterative List: Has a list of "Seven 'C's" to do with her mother's addiction: she didn't cause it, she can't control it, she can't cure it, but she can help take care of herself, communicate her feelings, make healthy choices, and celebrate herself.
- Ambiguously Absent Parent: No sign of her dad.
- Companion Cube: Has a stuffed elephant named Elephant.
- Foster Kid: She was introduced living with a foster family.
- Fragile Flower: In her first appearance, she and Elmo were making placemats, and when it appeared hers went missing, and she breaks down in tears.
- Girlish Pigtails: Has these.
- Good Parents: Clem and Dalia, her foster parents, make sure that Karli feels safe and loved as their “for-now daughter”. Karli also has nothing but positive things to say about her own mom. She’s an addict, but she’s working really hard to get better so she can do right by herself and her child.
- Heal the Cutie: A cutie like most Muppets who is in the process of healing. Karli has had a hard life (especially when you consider she’s roughly Elmo’s age), but with help from her friends and grown-ups she can trust, she’s making her way through to a better future for herself. For the real-world kids in Karli’s situation, she is intended to show them that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
- Junkie Parent: Her mother struggled with addiction, but fortunately is currently getting help and is in group therapy.
- Noodle Incident: We don't know what her mother got addicted to and how, though this is intentional as she’s meant to stand in for any parental addiction instead of a more specific situation.
- Very Special Episode: Karli is not part of the mainline Sesame Street cast; she was created specifically for Sesame Street in Communities, a branch of Sesame Workshop’s outreach initiative to handle sensitive topics that parents and kids can seek out in specific situations instead of waiting for an episode on the topic to come up in PBS or HBO’s rotation. She was brought onto the main show a few years later in Season 51.
