Tickle Me Elmo

Tickle Me Elmo is a plush toy based on the Sesame Street Muppet character Elmo and was released by Tyco Preschool in 1996. Tickle Me Elmo shakes, giggles, and says “Oh boy!” and “That tickles!” when his belly or foot is squeezed.

In 1995, Greg Hyman and Ron Dubren created a plush toy, “Tickles the Chimp,” that giggled when tickled. After pitching the toy to Tyco, they originally planned on designing a Tickle Me Tasmanian Devil toy. However, Tyco lost the right to create a Looney Tunes plush toy, but acquired the rights to create a Sesame Street toy. The Tickle Me Elmo toy was then developed.

Tickle Me Elmo gained mainstream popularity after Rosie O’Donnell featured the doll on her talk show in October 1996.

Tyco released additional Sesame Street plush characters in 1997, including Tickle Me Ernie, Tickle Me Big Bird, and Tickle Me Cookie Monster. In 1998, Tickle Me Zoe and Tickle Me Grover were released. Other Tickle Me Elmo variations include Chicken Dance Elmo and Let’s Pretend Elmo.

Fisher-Price released a special tenth anniversary edition of Tickle Me Elmo in 2006 called TMX, also known as Tickle Me Elmo Ten or Tickle Me eXtreme. A Christmas version of the TMX was released in 2007. Playskool released the LOL Elmo (also known as Tickle Time Elmo) in 2012.

According to a 1997 People magazine article, Tickle Me Elmo originally retailed for $28.99. The doll was resold by scalpers for as high as $1,500.00.

Wikipedia: Tickle Me Elmo

Fandom Muppet Wiki: Tickle Me Elmo

Amazon: Tickle Me Elmo

People Article: Just Tickled

Mental Floss: Oral History: When Tickle Me Elmo Ruled the World