Two-Headed Monster

Sesame Street Muppet character

Fictional character

Left Head:
Richard Hunt (1978)
Jerry Nelson (1978–1999)
Joey Mazzarino (2001–2016)
Martin P. Robinson (2002)
Eric Jacobson (2016–present)
Stephanie D'Abruzzo (2017)
Right Head:
Peter Friedman (1978)
Richard Hunt (1978–1991)
Adam Hunt (1995)
David Rudman (1998–present)
Joey Mazzarino (2002)

In-universe informationSpeciesSesame Street Muppet MonsterGenderMaleNationalityAmericanFur/skin colorLight purple

The Two-Headed Monster is a comical, light purple Muppet monster on the television show Sesame Street, 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, then push them together to say the full word, or do something else which involves cooperation. They are presumably dicephalic parapagus twins, 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 and Richard Hunt playing around on the set one day, saying that they were a monster with two heads.^[1] 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.