query: Who was the original voice of Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street?
passage: Oscar the Grouch
Oscar the Grouch is a character on the television program Sesame Street. He has a green body, no visible nose, and lives in a trash can. His favorite thing is trash, as evidenced by the song "I Love Trash", with a running theme being his collection of seemingly useless items. Although the term "Grouch" aptly describes Oscar's misanthropic interaction with the other characters, it also refers to his species. His birthday, as noted by Sesame Workshop, is on June 1. The character is performed by Caroll Spinney, and has been performed by him since the show's first episode. Since 2015, Eric Jacobson has been the understudy for the character.
passage: List of human Sesame Street characters
Since the premiere of the children's television program "Sesame Street" on July 21, 1969, it has included what writer Malcolm Gladwell has called "the essence of "Sesame Street"—the artful blend of fluffy monsters and earnest adults". The original cast, chosen by original producer Jon Stone, consisted of four human actors—Matt Robinson, who played Gordon; Loretta Long, who played Gordon's wife, Susan; Will Lee, who played Mr. Hooper; and Bob McGrath, who played Bob. Unlike most children's television programs at the time, the producers of "Sesame Street" decided against using a single host and cast a group of ethnically diverse, primarily African American actors/presenters, with, as "Sesame Street" researcher Gerald S. Lesser put it, "a variety of distinctive and reliable personalities".