Monsterpiece Theater



Monsterpiece Theater is a recurring Sesame Street sketch hosted by Cookie Monster as Alistair Cookie.

The sketch is a parody of the PBS program, Masterpiece Theater, hosted by Alistair Cooke.

This segment has had at least three different openings. The first one had the title on a blue background, with a British flag as the P in "Monsterpiece". In the early 1990s, this opening was replaced with a longer opening, which panned around a room, showing pictures and books referencing past segments. In the late 1990s, another new opening was produced with the title sliding in front of a computer animated green curtain. Whenever a new opening was added, that opening would be used in all segments shown in those episodes, even if that particular segment was made years earlier.

Its successor, as of season 37 is Dinner Theatre.

Sketch Listings
'''Note: This sketch listing is not in any official order. Feel free to correct the order if you know the official order.'''


 * "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," starring Ricardo Monsterban
 * The Forty Thieves insist that they be counted, but by the time the counting is finished, the show has run out of time.
 * Inspired by: the story from the book One Thousand and One Nights


 * "Chariots of Fur" (Episode 1836)
 * Grover and Herry Monster have a race.
 * Inspired by: the film Chariots of Fire


 * "Cyranose DeBergerac"
 * A poet with a two-foot-long nose tries to help the queen of France finish her poem. Unfortunately, the word used to finish it is the word he's the most sensitive to: "nose."  One mention of that word and he'll go medieval on you! (After this segment aired, Cyranose himself appeared in a few episodes of Sesame Street.)
 * Inspired by: Cyrano de Bergerac


 * "Dances With Wolves"
 * A female pig is reluctant to dance with a wolf due to their differences, but eventually finds out that it's okay for two people who are different to dance together.
 * Inspired by: the Kevin Costner film


 * "Fiddler On The Roof"
 * A farmer and town villagers sing about "Addition," which involves putting one fiddler on the roof after another. By the song's end, the roof (under which "Monsterpiece Theater" is filmed) collapses.
 * Alistair Cookie: "Oy, gevalt."
 * Inspired by: the Stein/Bock/Harnick musical


 * "The 400 Blows" (part one)
 * Grover blows out the candles on his birthday cake 40 times.
 * Inspired by: the François Truffaut drama


 * "Gone With The Wind"
 * Kermit (as Green) and a female frog (Ms. Scarlet) are in a windy room. They decide to demonstrate subtraction by giving in to the wind.
 * Kermit: "Frankly, Ms. Scarlet, I haven't the froggiest -- er, foggiest!"
 * Inspired by: the Margaret Mitchell novel


 * "Guys And Dolls"
 * Herry Monster sings about how he likes to play with dolls, and Ruby sings about how she likes to play with trucks.
 * Inspired by: the Frank Loesser musical


 * "Hamlet"
 * Mel Gibson plays Hamlet, who keeps repeating "words, words, words" -- but Elmo can't read, so he only looks at "pictures, pictures, pictures."
 * Inspired by: the William Shakespeare tragedy


 * "Howard's End"
 * A yellow/pink rattlesnake named Howard slithers on a stone wall while he shows his beginning, middle, and end.
 * Alistair Cookie: "They certainly know how to tell a story over there in England. Ha, ha, ha."
 * Inspired by: the James Ivory drama


 * "Inside/Outside Story"
 * Maria is inside; Tony is outside. Will they ever meet face-to-face?
 * Inspired by: West Side Story
 * Blooper: In the intro, Alistair Cookie refers to the main characters as monsters, but they are actually Anything Muppets.


 * "The King And I"
 * Grover plays a king who dances with the letter I.
 * Inspired by: the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical


 * "Lethal Weapon 3"
 * Mel Gibson and Danny Glover observe a danger sign. They duck and take cover from a gigantic stone number 3 which falls from the sky
 * Inspired by: the Richard Donner movie


 * "Me, Claudius" (Episode 1576)
 * Bruce, Harvey, Maurice, and Elmo fight over which one is Claudius.
 * Inspired by: I, Claudius by Robert Graves
 * (Includes an appearance by the monster who would later become Elmo)


 * "Monster in a Box"
 * Spalding Monster (a gray monster) is supposed to be in a box, but instead he's on a box, and then under a box.
 * Inspired by: the Spalding Gray monologue


 * "Monsters of Venice"
 * The people of Venice (Anything Muppets) get ready for their big party. Grover and the monsters of Venice get upset because they weren't invited. But it turns out to be a surprise party for the monsters of Venice.
 * Inspired by: The Merchant of Venice, the William Shakespeare comedy


 * "Munch Ado About Nothing"
 * Waiter Grover laments to Mr. Johnson that the restaurant doesn't have anything he orders.
 * Inspired by: the Shakespeare comedy


 * "The Old Man and the C"
 * Grover is playing an old man on a row boat, which is on a giant letter C.
 * Inspired by: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway


 * "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"
 * The number 1 keeps flying over the wrong things. (Features a brief appearance by The Muppet Show's white chickens.)
 * Inspired by: the Ken Kesey novel


 * "The Postman Always Rings Twice"
 * Grover is waiting for the postman to deliver his important letter but, while waiting, many other people come to his house.
 * Inspired by: the film noir thriller


 * "The Sound of Music" (Episode 2615)
 * Grover is sitting on a hill, which moves to the sound of music.
 * Inspired by: the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical


 * "The Sun Also Rises"
 * An early version of Merry Monster and Grover are worried because their rooster will not crow (he's sick). Merry decides to experiment to see if the sun will rise even if the rooster doesn't crow. It does, but all the animals are asleep -- so Merry crows.
 * Inspired by: the Ernest Hemingway book


 * "The Taming of The Shoe"
 * Grover is accompanied by a talking shoe, whom he convinces to cooperate and help him walk to the Padua Mall.
 * Inspired by: The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare


 * "12 Angry Men"
 * After going through a situation similar to "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest," Alistair Cookie announces he's out of time and is confronted by 12 Angry Men.
 * Inspired by: the film


 * "39 Stairs"
 * Grover climbs 39 stairs to see what is at the top, and ends up being disappointed with the results.
 * Inspired by: the Alfred Hitchcock film, The 39 Steps


 * "Twin Beaks"
 * Cookie Monster stars in this tale, in which he is a detective in a town where everybody has two beaks.
 * Inspired by: the 1980s television series Twin Peaks


 * "Upstairs, Downstairs" (Episode 2558)
 * Grover runs up and down a flight of stairs (look for a picture of Dr. Teeth on the wall).
 * Inspired by: the British television series.


 * "Waiting For Elmo"
 * Telly and Grover wait for Elmo, and experience different emotions while reflecting on what they think is keeping Elmo away.
 * Inspired by: Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett