SNL and David Harbour give Oscar the Grouch a Joker-style origin story

It's not easy being green in the very adult Sesame Street parody.

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

CNET freelancer Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.

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Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

Oct. 13, 2019 8:10 a.m. PT

Does the world need one more gritty, depressing origin-story movie? It does if that origin-story movie is Grouch, an obvious Joker parody cooked up by Saturday Night Live and starring David Harbor as everyone's favorite trash-can dweller.

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Sesame Street fans will appreciate the parody trailer, which includes grim and mature versions of The Count, Guy Smiley, Big Bird, Snuffleupagus, Cookie Monster, Ernie and Bert as crime victims and a crack-selling Elmo.

And Joker fans will marvel at Harbour's ability to take on a disturbing Taxi Driver-esque character who turns to the dark side on a Sesame Street where all the sunny days have vanished.

"If everybody calls you trash, and everyone treats you like trash, why don't you become trash?" Harbour's Oscar muses.

It's not for kids, but this parody is spot-on.