Oscar the Grouch

Oscar the Grouch is one of the major characters on Sesame Street, and has been on the show since the first episode. He has a green body, has no nose, and lives in a garbage can. In fact, he loves trash so much that he's rarely seen outside of his can.

According to Sesame Street Unpaved, "The character of Oscar was inspired by a nasty waiter from a restaurant called Oscar's Tavern in Manhattan. Jim Henson and Jon Stone were waited on by a man who was so rude and grouchy that he surpassed annoying and started to actually amuse both Jim and Jon. They were so entertained that going to Oscar's Tavern became a sort of masochistic form of luncheon entertainment for them, and their waiter forever became immortalized as the world's most famous grouch." (In the Ask Henson.com web column, Jim Henson Company Archivist Karen Falk said that the restaurant was named "Oscar's Salt of the Sea" -- and went on to say, "Some of the designs that we have in the Archives were done by Jim Henson on Oscar's paper placemats!")

While Jim Henson's first sketches for Oscar colored him purple, the original Oscar puppet was orange. After the first season, the original puppet was torn apart, and a new puppet was built. This one was green, which remained his color. (Oscar's explanation for his color change was that he had vacationed at Swamp Mushy Muddy, where the dampness had turned him green overnight.) He temporarily turned white (and nice) in the Sesame Street Live show Elmo's Coloring Book.

His trademark song is "I Love Trash".

Oscar's girlfriend is Grungetta.

By the second season, it was established that "Grouch" is a species of its own. Oscar's grandmother Granny Grouch appeared in the 2nd season premiere, Episode 0131.

Oscar has many forms of transportation. He can move with his legs sticking out of the can, as seen in Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, Don't Eat The Pictures, and Sesame Street Live. He also often has Bruno The Trashman carry his can around while he's inside. In addition to those modes of transportation, he frequently moves outside of the trash can.

Oscar's friend and pet is Slimey, an orange worm. On occasional episodes he has mentioned leaving Sesame Street to attend "the annual Grouch convention in Syracuse, New York."

Oscar has a car, the Sloppy Jalopy, which was used in Follow That Bird and many episodes of Sesame Street.

Oscar has appeared in segments such as "The Adventures of Trash Gordon", "Ask Oscar", and "Sneak Peek Previews".

He is often teamed up with Telly Monster.

During the first season of Sesame Street, the street set was arranged such that Spinney, who is right-handed, was forced to operate Oscar's head with his left hand. A subsequent redesign of the set allowed Spinney to switch hands.

In Oscar's trashcan

 * Slimey, Oscar's pet worm
 * Fluffy, Oscar's pet elephant (only her trunk is shown)

Characters that have gone into Oscar's trashcan

 * Elmo, Elmo in Grouchland
 * Irvine, (Episode 2606) -- Oscar's niece was in the can while Oscar was away
 * Big Bird, Elmo in Grouchland

When making an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Grover responded to a question from Jimmy, stating that he has never been in Oscar's trash can. He also stated that "anybody is allowed [in Oscar's trash can, but] who would want to go in there? Huh?" 

Trivia

 * Oscar is seen outside of his can in A Muppet Family Christmas.
 * Actor Hervé Villechaize, famous for playing Tatoo on Fantasy Island, portrayed Oscar's legs when he walked around with the trash can covering most of his body. Hervé represented Oscar's lower half until Bruno the Trashman was introduced.
 * Oscar's first words on Sesame Street were: "Don't bang on my can! Go away."