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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.