Grover

Grover describes himself on Sesame Street as a "cute, furry little monster." Grover almost never uses contractions when speaking, giving him a distinctive vocal pattern in comparison to most television characters. His character is multi-talented, taking on many different roles and professions throughout the series' run.

Grover appears in several of recurring Sesame Street segments, including Grover the Waiter, Super Grover, and Global Grover. He also frequently appears in Monsterpiece Theater and the Spanish Word of the Day. He was one of the hosts of Play With Me Sesame, with his main feature being in interactive music sequences, as the self-proclaimed "moving and grooving monster".

Grover's 1971 storybook The Monster at the End of this Book was a best-seller for the Little Golden Books series, and remains a popular children's book today. Several sequels to the title have followed, and Grover has since been featured in dozens of books.

Origins
The character who would eventually become Grover was first seen on The Ed Sullivan Show in a Christmas Eve appearance in 1967. He appeared as Gleep, a monster in Santa's workshop. He later made a cameo appearance in The Muppets On Puppets in 1968 with the Rock and Roll Monster. In 1969, clad in necktie, he appeared in the Sesame Street Pitch Reel in the board room sequences.

During the first season of Sesame Street, this darker pre-cursor to Grover made several appearances (like many of the puppets used on Ed Sullivan), and by the end of the season he was named Grover. By Season 2 his fur became blue and his voice and personality began to change to his more permanent manner. The green-furred puppet would be used again as Grover's mother in a sketch in which Grover is afraid of the dark and has trouble sleeping.

Grover & Kermit
For many years, because of the consistency with which they would appear in skits together, Grover and Kermit the Frog had been considered close friends despite the annoyance of "Froggy Baby" (as Grover would call him, followed by a slap on the back). Grover often assisted Kermit in his lectures, often doing the more difficult demonstrations. Grover has also come to Kermit's home on many occasions, usually to provide a home service to Kermit (most frequently as a salesmonster). In 1998, Grover hosted a tribute show for Kermit in The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street, presenting him with an award for Frog of the Year. (Grover himself receives a tribute of his own in 2004's A Celebration of Me, Grover). As recently as a 2005 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Grover stated that his best friend on the street is Kermit.

Personality
Grover, along with Elmo, is one of the more popular characters created during the show's run, partially for his silly manner of speaking and also for his numerous imaginary adventures that children can easily identify with.

At a Museum of Television and Radio seminar in 1992, Frank Oz described his personal affection for the character:

"I like Grover because really, he's wiry. He's tough. He gets emotional. But also he tries very hard to help people, and do things right, to the extent that he doesn't use contractions in his words. If there's apostrophes in the script I get, I make the separation, because he doesn't say 'can't'. He says 'can not'... Grover came about organically. I worked on Cookie Monster, I worked on Bert. Grover just kind of happened. I guess that's why I like him."

Grover speaks almost entirely without the use of contractions. Some exceptions apply, such as in certain song lyrics like "Accidents Happen" from the Elmo's Potty Time home video.

The Ubiquitous Grover
Grover has left his mark in Sesame Street history as an enduring character, by way of his multi-faceted talents, and his self-professed cute and lovable personality. With a songbook to rival that of any other character of his lasting presence, his performances have included "Near and Far," "Over, Under, Around, and Through," "How Do You Do?" with Lena Horne, "Sing After Me" with Madeline Kahn and "Monster in the Mirror" amongst many others. His sweeter and sillier sides can often be seen in any number of improvised moments with kids.
 * See, Grover Sketches

Grover has also proven to be one of the most persistent characters over the years. No other resident of Sesame Street can lay claim to being (or at least trying to be) more helpful than Grover -- a feat he has achieved not only as an everyday monster, but via a series of alternate personae. Certainly his most heroic persona is none other than his superhero alter-ego, Super Grover. But even a superhero has his limits, and Grover has taken on more positions of employment than most people would dare to in their lifetimes.
 * See, Grover's Jobs

Trivia

 * Grover made a special appearance in episode 518 of The Muppet Show along with several other residents of Sesame Street.
 * In recent years, a newer, brighter Grover puppet has been used. The puppet was rebuilt in 2004 around the time Eric Jacobson's performances of the character were increasing.
 * Filmmaker John Landis performed Grover in the finale of The Muppet Movie.
 * According to a Noggin "Nogginoid," Grover is written to represent the psychological age of a 4 year old.
 * Frank Oz continues to perform Grover on a limited basis, most recently having appeared in a Waiter Grover segment from episode 4111, taking place at a Russian restaurant.
 * According to the book Sesame Street Unpaved, Grover's favorite songs are "Monster in the Mirror" and "I Will Survive." However, in the special, What's the Name of That Song?, he says that his favorite song is "What's the Name of That Song?"
 * When Jim Henson painted his infamous dressing room pipes on The Jack Paar Show, he used a piece of the original green Grover's fur as hair for one of the faces on the pipes.