Grover

Grover, also known as Super Grover and Grover Monster, is a muppet character on the popular television show Sesame Street. Self-described as lovable, cute and furry, he is a blue monster who rarely uses contractions when he speaks or sings. Grover was originally performed by Frank Oz from his earliest appearances. Eric Jacobson began performing Grover in 1998; he has performed the character regularly since 2000.

A prototype version of Grover appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in a Christmas Eve appearance in 1967. This puppet had greenish-brown fur and a red nose. He also had a raspier voice and was played a bit more unkempt than Grover would later behave. The monster was referred to 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 a necktie, he appeared in the Sesame Street Pitch Reel in the board-room sequences. During the first season of Sesame Street, the character was nicknamed “Fuzzyface” or “The Hairy One”, though neither would be used for his actual name. In his book The Tipping Point, author Malcolm Gladwell notes that the character “was used in promotional films for IBM”.