Monsterpiece Theater Monsterpiece Theater is a recurring " Sesame Street " sketch hosted by Cookie Monster as Alistair Cookie . The sketch parodies the PBS anthology series " Masterpiece Theater " , originally hosted by Alistair Cooke . In his earliest introductions , the urbane Alistair Cookie held an unlit pipe ( which he usually ate by the end ) . Due to concerns over even the appearance of smoking , the pipe was later dropped , and scenes in earlier skits were re - taped ( without the prop ) . The segment premiered in Season 10 and continued to appear on the show through Season 32 . The segment brings a cultural element to the series by presenting stirring dramas based on classic literature , plays , or movies . As befits the title , many of the stars were indeed monsters , most notably Grover ( who starred in more than a dozen skits ) . A few ( notably " Me , Claudius " and " Upstairs , Downstairs " ) spoofed specific " Masterpiece Theater " series . The stirring theme music was composed by Sam Pottle . The segment was created by Tony Geiss . Similar segments have appeared in recent years sharing certain elements with the " Monsterpiece Theater " segments . In Season 37 , " Dinner Theatre " premiered in which food themes are used to parody classic plays and musicals . The following year in Season 38 , Cookie Monster bookended a sketch he describes as an " American Monster Classic . " In it , Grover plays a monster who has forgotten his keys , in a take on " A Streetcar Named Desire " . The " Sesame Street " CD - ROM games " Grover ' s Travels " , " Elmo Through the Looking - Glass " and " The Three Grouchketeers " are presented as Monsterpiece Theater episodes . Openings . This segment has had at least three different openings , the first two of which specifically reflected the then - current " Masterpiece Theater " intros . Each opening change effectively replaced the previous title format on all sketches in most cases ( old and new , though a 1998 airing of " The 39 Stairs " used the 1992 intro rather than the 1995 intro , possibly due to an editing mistake . ) One early skit , " Me , Claudius , " featured no title card and opened on the camera panning across various statues before trucking over to Alistair Cookie as the theme was heard . The first regular opening sequence had the title on a blue background , with a Union Jack flag as the P in " Monsterpiece " , with the camera zooming out on the flag . A handful of sketches that originally featured this opening ( " Upstairs , Downstairs " , " Chariots of Fur " , " The King and I " ) also ended with a shot of the title card . " Upstairs , Downstairs " is the only known instance ( so far ) of the title card zooming back into the " P " to close the segment . Some time in Season 23 , this opening was replaced with a longer opening , which panned around a room , showing pictures and books referencing past and then - current segments . The opening theme music was also re - recorded to sound more full and orchestral , heard in its entirety over audio of Cookie Monster eating cookies ( mostly lines taken from a , along with a belch and " Excuse me " from " Christmas Eve on Sesame Street " ) . The name of the skit was also spelled as " Monsterpiece Theatre . " In Season 27 , another new opening ( much shorter ) had the title sliding in front of a computer - animated green curtain . Most international productions simply omit the title card ; however , the 1996 version of " Barrio Sésamo " had a custom intro for " Teatro de Monstruos . " See also . _ _ NOWYSIWYG _ _