Look deep into the Cookie Monster's eyes, as they jiggle andbounce and roll every which way. Peer into his soul. There's a Zen-like calm amid the chaos.
"As long he has a cookie somewhere in sight, he's happy," saidHighland Park's David Rudman, who knows better than anyone else."It's kind of a nice way to go about life. One thing to make himhappy, that's all he needs."
Rudman should have an acute sense of what's going on inside CookieMonster because he's inside Cookie Monster.
For the past five years, the 40-year-old North Shore father offour has been the primary puppeteer for the shaggy blue "SesameStreet" star.
He fills in for Frank Oz, whose work as a feature film directorhas made him increasingly unavailable over the years for the Muppetroles he originated -- including Grover, Bert and Cookie Monster --on the cornerstone PBS children's series, which begins its 35thseason with an anniversary special at 7 p.m. Sunday on WTTW-Channel11.
Rudman, who grew up watching the Muppets like everyone else, hasbeen working with them since he was 18. He started on "Sesame Street"at 22 and, besides Cookie Monster, he's responsible for voicing suchstandout characters as Two-Headed Monster, Davey Monkey, SonnyFriendly and Baby Bear.
"Baby Bear had a very strong year," Rudman said by way ofexplaining his first Daytime Emmy nomination as outstanding performerin a children's series.
His work this past season as Cookie Monster and Baby Bear will beup against Jeff Corwin of NBC's "Jeff Corwin Unleashed," MichelleTrachtenberg of Discovery Kids' "Truth or Scare," the late LynneThigpen of Disney Channel's "Bear in the Big Blue House" and fellow"Sesame Street" puppeteer Kevin Clash, the man behind Elmo, on May 21at New York's Radio City Music Hall.
Rudman leases an apartment in New York, commuting from suburbanChicago during the three months a year that "Sesame Street" tapes atQueens' Kaufman Astoria Studios. He also returns for work on "Street"home videos, specials and other related work.
The rest of the year he runs his own local production company,Spiffy Pictures, and lives with his wife, Caren, and two sons and twodaughters -- ages 3, 6, 9 and 11 -- in Highland Park, the town wherehe grew up, the son of a Smith-Barney financial consultant whoencouraged his artistic bent.
"I was interested in television and film as a kid, but I was alsointerested in sculpture," said Rudman, whose off-the-"Street" workhas included the role of Fingerman in ads for Ziploc storage bags."When I saw the Muppets, it was a combination of all that. They werethese amazing works of art that were on television. ... There wasacting and character design. It was everything I liked to docombined."
Right around the time Rudman's mother died, when he was a studentat Highland Park's Elm Place Middle School, he and a pal worked up apuppet show and began taking their act around.
"Every weekend we were booked," he said. "We'd do four birthdayparties a weekend and we were making, like, 50 bucks a party. So wewere 11 years old and making all this money, but we were having somuch fun doing it. ... They weren't kiddie type shows. They were moregeared to middle-school kids."
When they got to Highland Park High, the shows became geared totheir high-school classmates, with Rudman writing the act andcreating his own puppets. "They were funny and the music was reallygood," he said. "I kept getting great support from the high schooland from the kids. They just seemed to love these shows and I loveddoing it. That's how I got a job with Henson."
What happened is the teen badgered the folks at the Jim HensonCo., not taking "We're not hiring anyone" or "We don't have interns"for an answer. He eventually broke down their resistance and wound upwith an internship, helping build Muppets between his high schoolgraduation and freshman year at the University of Connecticut.
When the internship ended, he left behind a tape of his charactersand puppetry for Muppet-master Henson, who had been in London allsummer making "The Dark Crystal." An impressed Henson called about ajob a month later.
"I said, 'All right, I think I've had enough of college,' but ...he said, 'Don't quit college. You can work for us during your breaks.Whenever you have a vacation coming up, just give us a call and letus know. If we have things going on, you can come out and work onstuff,' " Rudman recalled.
"So I would spend summer vacations in New York. I did 'The MuppetsTake Manhattan' when I was 19. I did 'Labyrinth' when I was 21. ...It was a nice way to go to college, knowing I had a job when Igraduated. A dream job. I learned a lot and I worked with Jim a lot,and he was great. He was not only a creative genius, but he was agreat teacher, too."
His first day on "Sesame Street," he was assigned to be a right-hand man, supplying the right hand for a character while a moreexperienced puppeteer was to work the head and left hand. But RichardHunt, one of the main Muppet performers at the time, had confidencethat the youngster could do more.
"I'd already worked with the Muppets on a couple things beforethat and he really wanted me just to jump in," Rudman said. "Richardsaid, 'You know, I'm not feeling too well. I'm going to go home. Whydon't you just do it?' I was like, 'Um, OK.' So he gave me thischaracter."
Suddenly, Rudman was playing a dentist and singing "Who Are thePeople in Your Neighborhood" with Bob McGrath, the "Sing Along WithMitch" alum who has been with "Sesame Street" since its Nov. 10,1969, debut.
"That was a surreal experience," Rudman said. "But it was great.It threw me right into the mix at the beginning. It was a goodexperience."
It still is. He has the job he's always wanted, where he gets tobe silly and sing the occasional duet with a Norah Jones, Sheryl Crowor B.B. King. In short, it's good to be Cookie Monster.
"I just probably came the closest to capturing who Cookie is, thereal Cookie," said Rudman, who was handpicked by Oz for the role."Cookie's complex. He's got a lot of stuff going on there. He'sobsessed with cookies, obviously. He's got that language of 'Me lovecookies,' but he also occasionally throws out these big words like,'It's a bit esoteric, but me thinks me can do it.'
"It's kind of funny that he's not just this monster who has thiscookie obsession. There are other things. He somehow knows a lot."
The eyes may wander, but they see all.
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