Telly Monster Telly Monster is a slightly neurotic young monster who lives at 1304 Sesame Street . Telly was initially conceived as a monster obsessed with watching television ; his name is short for Television Monster . In his early appearances on " Sesame Street " , Telly had antennas coming out of the top of his head , and his eyes would whirl around when he watched TV . His first appearance on the show was in Episode 1257 , during the tenth season . This one - note personality , along with the antennas and whirling eyes , was soon dropped , and Telly became the worrying , easily frustrated character he remains today ( however , in the Talk , Listen , Connect episode , he is still shown to be an expert on TV and computers ) . Telly was originally performed by Bob Payne for his first few appearances in 1979 , then by Brian Muehl who used a low , gruff - sounding voice . Muehl also developed Telly ' s worrywart personality , making Telly a character who always needed reassurance in order to be confident . When Martin P . Robinson took over in 1984 , he originally began with the personality Muehl already established for the character , using a voice similar to Muehl ’ s Telly voice . However , Telly evolved over time , gaining a much stronger emotional range . “ His main thing now is that he believes totally in whatever he ’ s into , ” says Robinson “ And he can turn on a dime and that doesn ’ t belie what he was feeling before . He can go from great joy to great sorrow and it ’ s all totally genuine . ” Early on , Telly was often paired with Oscar the Grouch , whom he tried to befriend against tremendous odds . The two were traveling companions in " Follow That Bird " , and Telly is a member of Oscar ' s fan club , the Grouchketeers . The two starred in two recurring sketches together : " Ask Oscar , " which Telly introduced ; and " Sneak Peek Previews . " A more recent pairing together was in a sketch demonstrating words that begin with the letter B . In recent years , Telly has often been seen in the company of his good friend Baby Bear . Telly has a great love of triangles , and owns a pet hamster named Chuckie Sue . Telly has a favorite toy doll which he named " Freddy . " When Telly was a baby monster , his favorite toy was a stuffed animal horse which he named " Clark " before he got " Freddy " . In the video " Bedtime Stories & Songs " , when Telly comes to Big Bird ' s nest for a sleepover , he brings a menagerie of different stuffed animals that almost overflow the entire nest . He also plays the bassoon , the tuba and , of course , the triangle . He also occasionally appears as a Monster on the Spot reporter . He also often jumps on a pogo stick , after Mr . Handford taught him how to in a 1993 episode . Modern versions of the Telly puppet have movable eyelids to let his eyes widen , a handy technique when the monster is in panic mode . There are also two Telly puppets that have been interchangeably used throughout the show . The more frequently used version is a " sack puppet " , similar in design to Cookie Monster or Rowlf the Dog , where the arm sleeves are directly attached to the base of the puppet . The second version is a full - body version of the character , with legs and feet attached . The puppet ' s arms are stuffed , with visible arm sleeves similar in design to the arms of Ernie or Fozzie Bear . For " Sesame Street ' s " 40th season , Sesame Workshop featured a digital promotion called " Muppetbook " , which featured profiles similar to those seen on Facebook . The profile listed squares , circles , and Woody Allen movies ( too much anxiety ) as Telly ' s pet peeves . Among his favorite songs are " I Whistle a Happy Tune , " " Don ' t Worry , Be Happy , " and " Don ' t Cry Out Loud . " _ _ NOWYSIWYG _ _