The Two-Headed Monster is a comical, light purple

Muppet The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are ...

monster on the television show ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

'', first appearing in season 9, 1978.

History

The Two-Headed Monster, as the name implies, is an example of bicephaly. The right-hand head has purple hair and a black beard, with upturned horns, whereas the left-hand head has black hair and a purple beard, with downturned horns. They have slightly different personalities, with the left-hand head seemingly the more rational and sensible of the two, but also slightly grouchier. Speaking in baby-like gibberish except when emphasizing a word, which is usually enough for them to communicate with others, the monster, in typical sketches, would sound out words in front of a brick wall, or do something else which involves cooperation. They are presumably

dicephalic parapagus twins Skeletal structure of dicephalic twins. B. C. Hirst & G. A. Piersol, Human monstrosities. Wellcome L0027955. (1893) Dicephalic parapagus () is a rare form of partial twinning with two heads side by side on one torso. Infants conjoined this way ...

, as their mother made an appearance in one sketch when they sounded the word "mom"; she has a single head and speaks normally. They share a single pair of arms and legs.

Inspiration

The creation of this monster was inspired by performers

Jerry Nelson Jerry L. Nelson (July 10, 1934 – August 23, 2012) was an American puppeteer, best known for his work with The Muppets. Renowned for his wide range of characters and singing abilities, he performed Muppet characters on ''Sesame Street'', ' ...

and Richard Hunt playing around on the set one day, saying that they were a monster with two heads. While right-handed performers use their right hands to perform the heads of characters and their left to perform left hands, whoever performs the left half of the monster performs the head with the left hand, and the right hand with their right hand.

Performers

The performers for the Two-Headed Monster are listed in order of the history from the Left Head and the Right Head: * Richard Hunt and

Peter Friedman Peter Friedman (born April 24, 1949) is an American stage, film, and television actor. Life and career Born in New York City, Friedman graduated from Hofstra University Jerry Nelson Jerry L. Nelson (July 10, 1934 – August 23, 2012) was an American puppeteer, best known for his work with The Muppets. Renowned for his wide range of characters and singing abilities, he performed Muppet characters on ''Sesame Street'', ' ...

and Richard Hunt (1978–1991) *

and Adam Hunt (''Let's Make a Word!'' PC game, 1995) *

and

David Rudman David Rudman (born June 1, 1963) is an American puppeteer, puppet builder, writer, director, and producer known for his involvement with the Muppets and ''Sesame Street''. Career David Rudman has been a ''Sesame Street'' Muppet performer sinc ...

(1998–2000) *

Joey Mazzarino Joseph Mazzarino (; born June 4, 1968) is an American actor, puppeteer, writer and director. He is best known for his roles on ''Sesame Street'' as Murray Monster, Stinky the Stinkweed and other Muppets, and being Head Writer and Director on ' ...

and

(2001–2016) * Martin P. Robinson and

(Episode 4024, 2002) *

Eric Jacobson Eric Jacobson is an American puppeteer. He is best known for performing Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle for The Muppets Studio, as well as ''Sesame Street'' characters Bert, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, and Guy Smiley—all role ...

and

(2016–present) *

Stephanie D'Abruzzo Stephanie Ann D'Abruzzo (; born December 7, 1971) is an American actress, puppeteer and singer. She has performed various Muppets in the TV program ''Sesame Street''. She held starring roles on '' Oobi'' and ''The Book of Pooh''. She was one of ...

and

(Episode 4733, 2017)

Design team

The Two-Headed Monster was designed by

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and '' Fraggle Rock'' (1983–1987) and ...

and built by

Caroly Wilcox Carolyn Wilcox (May 16, 1931 – January 9, 2021), known as Caroly Wilcox, was an American theatre professional, best known for her work with the Muppets, on television programs including ''Sesame Street,'' ''The Muppet Show'', and ''Fraggle Roc ...

References

External links

* {{Sesame Street Characters Sesame Street Muppet characters Fictional monsters Television characters introduced in 1978