Every Time Cookie Monster Was A Total Jerk With Someone Else's Food

Cookie Monster is one of the most beloved characters on Sesame Street, one of the longest-running shows on television. The googly-eyed monster is both cuddly and completely obsessed with eating cookies. According to History.com, puppeteer Jim Henson created the blue furry puppet for the sketch comedy series for children, which debuted on PBS in 1969. These days, Cookie Monster is a series regular who brings laughs and lessons to the audience. In classic episodes, though, Cookie Monster is kind of a jerk — stealing, tricking, and gobbling up someone else's food and anything else remotely edible. The monster really acquires food at all costs. Other puppets are left shocked as the monster prevails in devouring their meal and are left disappointed with empty plates and bellies.

Is Cookie Monster still one of the best Muppet characters? Absolutely. His appetite offers plenty of opportunities for young viewers to learn about sharing, consequences of poor behavior, and new vocabulary thanks to these antics. But is he also a total sneak who is not to be trusted? You bet. This is one monster who will stop at nothing to clear a plate. Here's a look at every time Cookie Monster was a total jerk with someone else's food.

An early version of the cookie-obsessed puppet performed by Jim Henson first appeared on television in 1966. The puppet later known as Cookie Monster was introduced as a sneaky snack stealer and appears in a black-and-white commercial for Wheels, Flutes and Crowns, a line of snack crackers produced by General Foods. In the commercial, the highly desirable snacks are constantly at risk of being eaten by a range of monsters.

Cookie Monster is first seen on the prowl for the delicious wheel-shaped, cheese-flavored snack left out by an unwitting Muppet. The monster has jagged teeth and a deeper voice than Cookie Monster stans are used to hearing. He announces, "I'm a Wheel stealer" before laughing and scarfing down the entire plate of snacks. Let's just say the remainder of the snacks don't fare much better throughout the rest of the commercial. Cookie Monster has changed some since then, of course, but his appetite remains as strong as ever.

In this classic scene, Cookie Monster discovers a delicious cookie left out for the taking. In reality, that cookie belongs to his puppet friend Prairie, and she plans on eating it. It also happens to be Prairie's only cookie. Understandably, Prairie is firm about the monster not gobbling it up. Showing he isn't one for manners over appetite, Cookie Monster decides in order to get the cookie he could throw a tantrum to force Prairie to hand over the treat.

Deflecting the persistent monster, Prairie uses this opportunity to have him imagine what might happen as a result of throwing a tantrum. Turns out, pounding his fists and demanding the cookie would hurt his hands. Cookie Monster uses some quick thinking and decides he could just steal the cookie instead. The two puppets imagine the monster taking the cookie without permission. Seeing the imaginary monster gobbling up the baked good, Cookie Monster exclaims with perfect logic, "Hey, me got the cookie! Stealing works!" Since this is a kid's show after all, Prairie imagines teaching him a lesson by calling the police to take the thief to jail.

The puppets reach a truce and decide to share the cookie, splitting it in half with true equality. This is pretty generous of Prairie considering Cookie Monster acts like a total jerk in threatening to take it from her.

We find Cookie Monster causing another scene-stealing moment in this old-school Sesame Street episode. Ernie, the happy-go-lucky half of the duo Bert and Ernie, is ready to dig into a box labeled cookies. In perhaps divine timing, a sad Cookie Monster walks by with his head hung low. Ernie suggests that Cookie Monster look up at the sky to feel better. "Take a deep breath, throw back your shoulders, and look up," he says. What does the monster see? Does he see birds flying up above or the sun shining in the sky? He could've, but it's Ernie's box of chocolate chip cookies that really catches his eye. As Ernie waxes poetic about happiness and rainbows, Cookie Monster puts the entire box of cookies in his belly.

The monster flings cookies everywhere as he admits to an oblivious Ernie that "monster feel very happy now." Ernie really gains steam in his monologue about looking up without noticing the feeding frenzy coming to an end. Cookie Monster thanks the puppet for his advice and leaves. It turns out that looking down really does make a Muppet sad; when Ernie finally looks away from the sky to see his empty cookie box, his mood certainly changes.

The gullible puppet Ernie is Cookie Monster's unwitting victim thanks to a new piece of technology. Cookie approaches Ernie, excited to show his friend a new invention. The blue monster boasts the "cookie counter" machine would allow him to guess how many cookies are in Ernie's cookie box. Sounds like a pretty helpful tool, right? Ernie is skeptical. After all, the monster is known for his tricks.

Holding the counting wand up to the box, a bell sounds five times. One for every cookie in the box. Ernie confirms that the counter works. Impressed, Ernie decides to inspect the machine. He doesn't always know how many cookies are in his cookie jar at home, so a counter could be helpful. Meanwhile, the trickster is at it again. The monster devours the whole box of cookies while Ernie is distracted.

The puppet with a mop of frizzy hair wants to test the machine for himself. Pointing the wand at the replaced cookie box, the bells are silent. Rightly so, Ernie is confused. "Ernie, take wand and point to my tummy," Cookie Monster suggests. Ernie points the wand toward the monster's blue belly and the bell dings five times. The monster leaves Ernie without any cookies, but at least we know the invention works.

Cookie Monster makes an unexpected appearance in a news segment on Sesame Street. Original Jim Henson puppet Kermit the Frog hosted a recurring sketch on the show called "News Flash" where he interviewed storybook characters. The story always takes a twist on the classic tales, including this adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood. Not surprisingly, Cookie Monster is caught on camera acting stingy with someone else's food.

Dressed in a trench coat and fedora, reporter Kermit stands with a microphone outside of the cottage belonging to Little Red Riding Hood's grandma, hoping for an exclusive look inside of Little Red's basket. Cookie Monster shows up as Red, donning a blonde wig and red coat. He meets Kermit and asks, "Are you sure you're not a wolf in frog's clothing?" You've got to love it.

Cookie Monster as Little Red agrees to show what goodies are in the basket for the sick granny, which just so happen to be an assortment of cookies. A shocked Kermit informs Cookie Monster that sick people want healthy treats, like chicken soup and fresh vegetables. Once the monster confirms his sick granny wouldn't want the sweets, he happily and pretty much immediately eats all the cookies. A little convenient, don't you think? The cookie stealer strikes again.

The puppets head to a carnival where Cookie Monster proves that he can eat anything. Cookie Monster decides to play a game to win — you guessed it — a cookie. The dealer places the cookie underneath one of three shells and performs some sleight of hand. The trick is to guess under which shell the cookie ends up. Cookie Monster is overjoyed by the game, dancing while under a circus tent and surrounded by colorful balloons.

The dealer shuffles the shells around on the table and invites the monster to guess. Cookie Monster points at the shell on the left, but selects the middle shell anticipating the trickery of the game. Turns out, he would have guessed right. The dealer is benevolent and allows the monster to guess one more time and even removes one of the shells to make it easier (plus teaches viewers the magic of subtraction, of course). After the dealer shuffles, Cookie Monster once again guesses incorrectly and proceeds to have a meltdown over losing the cookie. What is a monster to do? He decides to eat the shells sitting in front of him.

The poor dealer laments not being able to play his shell game and the perceptive Cookie Monster points out that he won't need that cookie anymore either. The dealer reluctantly gives Cookie Jerk Monster the cookie.

Fellow monster Telly learns perception is everything in this episode of Sesame Street. The easily scared puppet teaches viewers the difference between fast and slow. Cookie Monster makes an appearance just in time to notice a plate of cookies for the demonstration — are we noticing a trend, yet?

Stopping Cookie Monster in his tracks, Telly explains the cookies are for eating slowly. He illustrates the concept by nibbling on one cookie. Cookie watches in disbelief. The slow pace really is excruciating. Telly offers Cookie Monster a chance to do the same, to which he agrees. Cookie Monster proceeds to gobble the treats in seconds. Astonished, Telly insists that demonstration wasn't slow at all. Never one to skip a beat, the blue monster explains that the pace is considered to be slow for Cookie Monster. As a result, the audience learns about pace differently than Telly planned, but it's a whole lot funnier thanks to Cookie Monster's love of eating other people's food.

Kermit the Frog is known for his calm and cool demeanor. Leave it to Cookie Monster to rattle even the most zen of the Muppets, though. Kermit starts off this "series of lectures" about the various emotions people feel. In this lesson for young viewers, Cookie Monster unknowingly helps Kermit demonstrate two very different emotions: happy and mad.

Kermit uses a prop with a hand-drawn smiling face to demonstrate happiness. In typical fashion, a happy individual such as Kermit is smiling and friendly, but what if a monster happens to eat the very prop this green frog is using to demonstrate what happy looks like? Well, we don't have to imagine because Cookie Monster breaks the smiling face into pieces as he devours it.

Viewers watch as the beloved frog becomes quite mad. Kermit flails and yells at the "nastiest monster" he's ever seen. Cookie Monster quakes and begins to cry for mercy when Kermit threatens to tell his mother — yet another emotion for Kermit to explain. Cookie Monster assists by pulling out the other prop with a sad face, which isn't exactly needed after the demonstration by the monster. The pair's truce doesn't last long as Cookie Monster proceeds to eat the new prop. Cookie Monster really just can't help himself, it seems.

Masterpiece Theatre fans will appreciate Sesame Street's "Monsterpiece Theatre" parody. Cookie Monster, or should we say Alistair Cookie, introduces "Conversations With My Father." Cookie Monster's bespeckled daddy teaches him valuable lessons about waste. The elder monster explains how turning off a dripping faucet can avoid wasting water and turning off the TV when no one is watching it conserves electricity.

When the monsters later discover a plate of cookies left on the table, Cookie Monster's father explains how wasteful it is to have "cookies just sitting there with nobody eating them." Like father like son, they both demolish the plate of cookies. That is until another puppet monster, Chef John, angrily interrupts the voracious monsters, "We were saving these cookies for everyone!" he declared. Three more outraged Muppets gather around, accessing the damage and chasing the greedy blue monsters out of the kitchen. Cookie Monster's last lesson is apparently how to save one's furry blue hide.

Cookie Monster is up to old tricks in this episode of Sesame Street. Lovable Muppet Ernie settles down with a full plate of oatmeal cookies, a plate he's been waiting all day to eat. Cookie Monster sneaks up, but this time Ernie isn't having any of it. He warns the monster to stay away from his delicious treats. Cookie Monster reluctantly says "okay" while Ernie continues to deny the blue monster.

Just as Ernie goes to take a bite, however, Cookie Monster stops him to ask a question. "You going to eat those cookies fast or are you going to eat those cookies slow?" he mused. Ernie doesn't see why it makes a difference, but Cookie Monster scoffs at his puppet friend because he believes it makes all the difference in the world.

Despite Ernie's hesitation, the monster offers to show how to eat a cookie slowly. The greedy monster then eats another cookie fast, then another slow. Before Ernie can stop him, the entire plate is gobbled up before his eyes. Poor Ernie surveys the empty plate, as the scheming monster promises to teach him about the difference between fast and slow any time. At least there are some crumbs to dump into his mouth, but with friends like this, who needs enemies?

A Cookie Monster in a bakery is worse than a bull in a china shop. The blue monster is in the local store to teach young viewers the word "important." Cookie Monster explained, "When something is important, it means [a] whole lot to you." In the case of this blue monster, cookies are on top of the importance list. Standing in front of four sheets of fresh cookies, the monster has a lot of his favorite food to talk about. Cookie picks up an oatmeal cookie, divulging how important it is to him. The bakery-style chocolate chip cookies also mean a lot to him, of course. He makes sure to acknowledge the butter cookie as well, since picking favorites might be rude. All cookies are important to the monster, but even more important to his tummy. A feeding frenzy commences.

It's unclear if these cookies are meant for the monster, but a customer's reaction seems to indicate that they shouldn't have been eaten. Cookie Monster ends up full of importance and scaring away customers in the process.

The Muppet Show ran from 1976 to 1981 and relied on a similar situational sketch comedy format as Sesame Street. The series used some of the same popular puppet characters with jokes aimed at adults and invited celebrities to guest star on the show. Arguably one of its biggest celebrities included was the Cookie Monster himself. In the brief cameo, Janice, the lead singer of puppet band The Electric Mayhem enters with, what else, but a plate of delicious Christmas cookies straight out of the oven. Cookie Monster meets her in the hallway and eats the entire plate almost before she can finish the announcement.

To add insult to injury, Janice asks her bandmate Animal to identify "that strange blue creature," but he doesn't seem to know the fellow monster. Predictably, though, he finds the rude behavior admirable. Acting like a monster isn't so bad, depending on which Muppet you ask.

In this early sketch, young viewers are learning how to count up 12 using eggs and an egg carton. Ernie decides to count in a similar manner using an egg carton, but he opts for 11 cookies and a single egg. All those cookies are bound to attract the one and only Cookie Monster. Ernie, who should really know better at this point, announces to the monster that he can count to 11. Cookie Monster wants to one-up him by counting backwards from 11. What could go wrong?

Cookie Monster starts at 11 and begins to eat one cookie per number counted. The monster proudly announces his accomplishment to a visibly shaken Ernie. "Wait a minute, you took all my cookies and all you left me was one egg," he says. Cookie Monster is not one to leave a job unfinished, so he promptly eats the egg as well.