Telly Monster
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Telly Monster, known usually as just Telly, is an eternally worrying maroon monster Muppet on Sesame Street. He is puppeteered by Martin P. Robinson.
On his debut in 1979, he was known as the Television Monster, a character that was fixated on television. He had antennae standing out of the top of his head, and his eyes would whirl around when he watched television. After that stint through season eleven, producers worried that he would be a negative influence on their easily influenced viewers, and changed him into the worry-wart character that he has been ever since.
His first appearance on Sesame Street, after the Television Monster stint, was with guest star Joshua Redman playing the violin, while Telly played his tuba.
Although some people believed Telly was named for film and television star Telly Savalas, this is untrue; his name is derived from the British slang term for a television, "telly".
Telly is a triangle lover, and he has a pet hamster Chuckie Sue. He has been known to uncontrollably pogo stick around Sesame Street, often causing havoc with all that gets in his way. This segment is shown on Sesame Street Unpaved. Baby Bear is his best friend and appears occasionally in many of the main plots in the later series.
Personality-wise, Telly is a fidgeting, nervous wreck, prone easily to manic behavior and paranoia.
[edit] International
Sesame Street is localized for some different markets, and Telly is often renamed. In Portuguese, his name is Telmo.
