Grouches



Grouches are an eccentric race of pessimistic, argumentative, unhygenic furry creatures who live wherever there is garbage - trash cans, city dumps, even the occasional landfill.

A grouch's mission in life is to be as miserable and grouchy as possible, and pass that feeling on to everyone else. Only then will a grouch feel in touch with his or her world and be happy. Yet, even though a grouch may show happiness at anyone's misfortune (including his or her own), a grouch would never admit to being happy. Such is the stability of a grouch's life: so balanced, and yet so unbalanced. Oscar is especially aware of this.

Anything a grouch likes is best described (to you and me) as rotten, smelly, yucky, awful, dirty, and trashy, to name a few. A grouch will only buy appliances that don't work, keep pets that no person would keep in a house (e.g. elephants and worms), eat foods that are undesirable for any reason, sing out-of-tune, play the radio at high volume, and bathe in mud. (More about grouches can be learned in the book How to Be a Grouch.)

Whoever your favorite celebrity is, or whatever your favorite TV show or attraction is, the grouches are sure to have taken it and made their own opposite version of it. Examples include TV show host Sally Messy Yuckyael and the theme park, Six Crabs Yucky World. With their many parallels of real aspects of American culture and of the human condition, the grouches are one of the most important assets to Sesame Street's diverse environment.

Grouch Index

 * (in order of first appearance)


 * Oscar the Grouch – The resident Grouch of Sesame Street (0001)
 * Granny Grouch – Oscar's grandmother (0131)
 * Otto the Grouch – Oscar's brother (How to Be a Grouch)
 * Smiling George - Oscar's friendly cousin (How to Be a Grouch)
 * Leon the Grouch – Oscar's friend (The Sesame Street Bedtime Storybook)
 * Oswald the Grouch – Oscar's Puerto Rican counterpart (1316)
 * Grungetta – Oscar's girlfriend (Season 14)
 * Filthomena – Oscar's niece (When Oscar Was a Little Grouch)
 * Grandpa Grouch – Oscar's grandfather (Season 18)
 * Irvine – Oscar's niece (2606)
 * Filthomena – Oscar's schoolmate (What's in Oscar's Trash Can? and Other Good-Night Stories)
 * Prunella the Grouch – Tourist grouch (3119)
 * Sally Messy Yuckyael (3120)
 * Uncle Hank – Oscar's uncle (Sesame Street Stays Up Late)
 * Travis the Grouch - Junkband member (Oscar's Grouch Jamboree)
 * Mrs. Grouch – Oscar's mother (Sesame Street Magazine: issue 249)
 * Grizzy – Young girl grouch (The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland)
 * Grouch Mayor – Mayor of Grouchland (The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland)
 * Grouch Cop – Police office in Grouchland (The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland)
 * Grouch Cab Driver – Cab driver in Grouchland (The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland)
 * Grouch Jailer – Jailer in Grouchland (The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland)
 * Bad Humor Man – Ice cream salesgrouch (The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland)
 * Grouch Ice Cream Customer – Resident of Grouchland (The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland)
 * Sharon Groan – Grouch celebrity (The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland)
 * Felix the Grouch – Oscar's old friend (3891)
 * Donald Grump – famous Grouch entrepreneur (4104)
 * Omagrossa – Contestant for Grump's helper (4104)
 * Swampy - Contestant for Grump's helper (4104)
 * Ernest the Grouch – Oscar's brother (???)

Grouches from Around the World
 * Moishe Oofnik from Rechov Sumsum
 * Mordicus from 1, Rue Sésame
 * Rumpel from Sesamstrasse
 * Bodoque, Paco and Pancho Contreras from Plaza Sésamo
 * Kirpik from ''Susam Sokağı
 * Ferrao from Rua Sésamo
 * Kiko Matsing from Sesame!

Human Grouches Though Grouches are usually presented as a unique species, much like Monsters or Honkers, occasionally humans have shown up as grouches, likely designated as such because of a similarity and sympathy in temperament and personality.
 * Danny DeVito as Vincent Van Grouch, curator of the Museum of Trash on Sesame Street
 * Bob received a Grouch make-over in Season 36 of Sesame Street
 * Sandra Bernhard as the grouch waitress in Follow That Bird
 * Paul Bartel as the grouch cook in Follow That Bird
 * Tracey Ullman as a student of a grouch etiquette school taught by one of Oscar's relatives.
 * and of course, Oscar also has his Grouchketeers.

Trivia

 * The most famous Grouch is Oscar the Grouch, but many other grouches have surfaced over the years. Grouches figured prominently in both Sesame Street films, Follow That Bird and especially The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. The latter explained that most Grouches come from Grouchland USA, presented as Oscar's hometown, though many grouches are also found internationally. According to the production notes for Elmo in Grouchland, twenty-five new grouch puppets were created for the film (and reused in variations, to create a large grouch population). Many of these are still used on the show today.
 * According to Sesame Street Magazine, October 15th is National Grouch Day.