Top 10 Most Savage Sesame Street Moments

Cookie Monster has a hard time making friends sometimes, thanks to his addiction to cookies. In this Season 1 episode, Kermit’s lesson on happiness quickly takes a turn when Cookie Monster arrives and proceeds to eat his visual display (which unfortunately resembles a large cookie). Kermit then changes his topic to anger, and goes on a tirade of insults, calling him a “stupid, rotten monster,” among other things. The real sting comes when the frog says he’ll tell everyone how rotten Cookie is, and that no one will want to play with him. Ouch, Kermit.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Oscar the Grouch is on this list. In this episode, Oscar shows us his new device - a cellular phone. Remember, it’s the 90s, so don’t expect an iPhone. In the guise of “testing out the phone,” Oscar calls Hooper’s Store repeatedly, interrupting Gina’s work every time. On the third call, Gina tells him not to call, as she’s busy. The store’s owner Mr. Handford comes by and asks to use the phone to call his store. Oscar gladly hands it over, and Gina picks up the phone and is rude, thinking it’s Oscar again. Oscar is delighted at his mischief once again. Who hurt you, Oscar?

Elmo is a popular little red monster and has made quite a few appearances on talk shows. He appeared a couple of times on the Australian talk show “Rove,” and on these visits, Elmo was a little more candid. At one point in this 2008 interview, Elmo misunderstands a cue from a producer and thinks he had only 2 minutes left on the show. Now, Elmo knows how important he is, and calls out Rove for only granting him 2 minutes when he came so far. He asks Rove if he’s aware of the cost of travel, or the cost of fuel. Elmo turns on the ‘tude, and we’re behind him.

It doesn’t pay to throw a fit, and Big Bird finds out the hard way in this clip from “Sesame Street.” When Granny Bird cancels a visit, Big Bird goes from sad to angry and grumbles a bunch of nonsense in his frustration. Bob does his best to help, but nothing can console the bird. When Granny actually does show up, Big Bird is behind a wall, still grumbling. When informed that she has arrived, he refuses to come out, as he is still angry. So, Granny Bird just leaves. Big Bird finally emerges, only to get even angrier that she’s gone. Granny ain’t putting up with no sass, Big Bird. Don’t worry, it turns out well in the end, of course.

In recent years, parodies of Donald Trump have been a dime a dozen. However, did you know that “Sesame Street” was throwing shade in the business mogul’s direction long before anyone else? In 1988, the show aired an episode in which they introduced a crooked little muppet known as “Ronald Grump.” Grump convinces Oscar the Grouch to give up his area in order to build “Grump Tower,” a Grouch apartment building. Amid the protests of other inhabitants of the street, Ronald builds his tower. Oscar regrets his decision, and Grump tries to charge him an exorbitant sum for the return of his area. We see what you did there, Sesame Street.

Oscar isn’t the only Grouch on the block. In fact, he has a girlfriend named Grundgetta. She’s just as pleasant as he is, of course. In a 1984 episode, Grundgetta was invited to dinner at Gordon and Susan’s house. Following the meal, the couple gets into a bit of an argument over whose turn it is to do the dishes. Grundgetta loves negativity and actually cheers them on to continue the argument. She then imagines the fight carrying on for years, as the dishes pile up and the argument gets very heated. She’s… kind of a sadist. Luckily for the couple, her plans backfire. We get being friendly and all, but perhaps don’t invite her next time?

In honor of the show’s 40th anniversary, many guest stars appeared on “Sesame Street.” One seemingly unlikely guest star was comedian Ricky Gervais, who spent quite a bit of time with Elmo. In some of the outtakes from an Associated Press interview, Elmo got a little sassy. At one point, he asks the interviewer where the interview was lost, as the banter between Elmo and Gervais gets out of hand. Elmo also schools Gervais, when the latter asks why the little monster wears pajamas to bed, but is basically nude the rest of the time. Elmo responds with “it’s acting, Mr. Gervais. Acting.” He also warns Gervais not to touch him at one point. What a diva.

Anyone who has had to deal with customer service work is familiar with this particular kind of customer. In a series of skits, Grover works as a waiter, and always finds himself having to serve a blue guy who can only modernly be described as a “male Karen.” In one instance, the customer sits and almost immediately yells “waiter!”, then orders a sandwich and returns it multiple times, as it doesn’t exactly match the image on the menu. In another skit, the customer complains that there are certain letters missing from his alphabet soup. Grover knows this man is ridiculous and is all of us in his frustrations.

Johnny Cash appeared on “Sesame Street” a few times; his first appearance was in 1973. In the episode, he met a few friends and sang a couple of tunes, one of which was to Oscar the Grouch. Cash knocks on Oscar’s garbage can, and serenades him with a song called “Nasty Dan.” Oscar really enjoys the tune, as it’s about a pretty terrible man. But as expected, Oscar can’t stay nice for long, and when the song ends, he asks The Man in Black: “aren’t you Johnny Trash?” Cash corrects him, unenthused, and continues on his way, wishing Oscar a “rotten day”.

Sometimes, the muppets are a little too relatable. In 1975, a man by the name of Gary Dahl made millions selling “Pet Rocks,” which were exactly what you think - a rock in a box. However, some kids have a lot of imagination. One such “kid” is “Sesame Street”’s own Zoe, good friend to Elmo. She has a pet rock named Rocco, whom Elmo is not a fan of. As the day progresses, Elmo grows more and more frustrated with what he considers to be nonsense: Rocco can apparently talk, eat, etc. Elmo is having none of it, and not hiding his feelings at all. He finds the entire concept ridiculous, openly laughs at Zoe, and points out all the nonsense, and we love it.