Tickle Me Elmo

Tickle Me Elmo is a plush doll of Elmo that giggles and says "That tickles!" when his belly is squeezed. Three squeezes in a row, however, would send him shaking in a laughing frenzy.

Produced by Tyco in 1996, Tickle Me Elmo not only became that year's hottest toy, but it became the hardest to find toy since the Cabbage Patch Kids craze in 1983. Tickle Me Elmo sold out of stores around the country within two hours on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the official start of the Christmas shopping season. Tyco, which had originally expected to sell 400,000 Tickle Me Elmos, could not keep up with demand, even though they continued to ship new product from their factories in Asia throughout the Christmas season. The company reporterdly sold over a million Tickle Me Elmo dolls by Christmas.

News reports of trampled store clerks and fights erupting over the last doll in the store were not uncommon. Disappointed shoppers, however, became even more disgruntled when The New York Daily news reported that John Gotti, Jr., son of the reputed mob boss, had purchased a case of Tickle Me Elmos at a Toys R Us store in Queens, New York, weeks after the store had sold out of them ; corporate officials stated that Gotti "was just fortunate to be in the right place at the right time" and was afforded no special treatment.

A black market quickly sprung up in classified ads and on the internet, with reports of parents spending hundreds of dollars on the toy, which had originally retailed at $29.99. Cartier even put a Tickle Me Elmo, draped with a diamond necklace and bracelet worth $1 million, in the window of their flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City; the doll was offered as a free gift with the purchase of the necklace and bracelet.

Although Elmo had been gaining prominence and popularity on Sesame Street since Kevin Clash took over the character in 1985, it was the publicity from the Tickle Me Elmo craze gave the character his biggest exposure and helped him skyrocket to even greater fame.

Tickle Me Elmo Variations
A new Elmo doll has been released every year following release of Tickle Me Elmo, including Let's Pretend Elmo and Chicken Dance Elmo, but none of the toys has achieved the success or popularity of the original. Only three of these variations have included "tickle" features.

Toss and Tickle Me Elmo
Toss and Tickle Me Elmo was released in 1998. As the name suggests, he laughs both when squeezed, just like the original Tickle Me Elmo, and when tossed.

Tickle Me Elmo Surprise
Tickle Me Elmo Surprise, also known as the "Surprise Edition" of Tickle Me Elmo, was released in the fall of 2001. This Elmo has five ticklish spots, but he only goes into his trademark laughing fit when the right spot is tickled. A contest was held in conjunction with the release of the doll, in which five of the "Surprise Edition" Elmos would stop laughing on January 9, 2002 and announce to the people squeezing them that they had won a prize. The grand prize was $200,000.

T.M.X.
T.M.X., which stands for Tickle Me Extreme or Tickle Me 10 (in honor of the tenth anniversary of Tickle Me Elmo), was released on September 19, 2006. T.M.X. Elmo has three ticklish spots, on his chin, belly, and foot. When Elmo is tickled once, he laughs and slap his leg twice, then sits down and rocks himself back up. When tickled twice, he falls backwards and kicks his feet, laughing even harder. And when tickled a third time, Elmo rolls over onto his stomach, pounding the floor with his fists (still laughing, mind you), and then finally stands back up again.

Other "Tickle Me" Characters
"Tickle Me" versions of Big Bird and Ernie were released in February 1997, with "Tickle Me" Cookie Monster (both regular and large versions) following in May. Although the toys hit shelves mere months after Christmas 1996, they never neared the popularity achieverd by Tickle Me Elmo.

Book Tie-ins
In 1997, Western Publishing and Random House published books that featured a tickle theme.
 * Big Bird's Ticklish Christmas (1997)
 * Tickle Me, Elmo! (1997)
 * Tickle Me: My Name is Elmo (1997)