A quick word: Trekkie Monster

SMART COOKIE: Trekkie Monster is eating up the exposure he is getting from Avenue Q. Photo / Supplied

... Or at least the creature behind the monster, a role that is part-Cookie Monster, part-Oscar the Grouch and part-guy who spends too much time on his own surfing the net for its more unsavoury offerings. He got the role after spotting an ad in a newspaper and has been playing it in the touring hit puppet comedy musical ever since.

It must have been your dream role?
Being an actor was quite new for me. But looking in the newspaper at the adult section I saw a big ad saying, "Looking for monster. If you monster, call number". So I did. And I'm just so happy that my dreams came true. Here I am, in a part where I can play myself - an internet porn-obsessed monster. It's my part. This is written for me. They write this musical and it's pretty much about me and my real life. So let's just say I don't have to do much acting.

But were you worried about your story in the show being too one-dimensional - and the audience only seeing your character as a porn monster?
Oh there is much much more to Trekkie. I secretly invest in porn on the side, I make a lot of money out of porn - which comes in very handy as you'll find out in the second part of the show when I give a lot of my money away to Kate Monster's Montessori school fund. A lot of people think there is not much to me in the first act, when I come across as an internet-crazy guy. But as you will see, I'm quite charming and the ladies like me a lot. Secretly, ladies love a bad boy. I'm a bad boy.

I was actually going to ask, has the role made you somewhat of a sex symbol?
Very much so. A bit of a rock star actually. I get the chicks. There are always chicks waiting for me at the stage door wanting things signed, they get me to sign lots of things - lots of rude naughty things.

That's all part of the job I guess. So, like you say, you are the star of the show so how have you dealt with the exposure?
It's hard to keep up. I have bags under my eyes and since I started with the show I've been working very hard. Before I used to spend most of the day on the internet looking at porn and now I'm out during the day doing this and that, doing interviews for TV and radio, and then the show, and then I come home and I can't go to sleep because I have to look for porn. I don't get much sleep. But I love it, I love the exposure, I love the fans, and they seem to love me. I just keep going and live the dream.

You were a natural for the part but what did you have to learn to play Trekkie?
I had to learn to control myself a little bit. I'll tell you a funny story. During rehearsals there is a scene in the show where Princeton and Kate Monster have sex on stage. I wanted to join in but they said you can't do that because it's just pretend. They said they were just acting. So I had to learn a few things: self-control and to pretend.

Do you catch up with Cookie Monster much?
Sometimes I see him at Christmas because he's a long-lost relative.

He must be proud of your success?
I think he's a little bit jealous actually because he invested in a cookie company but it didn't really take off. But porn took off. So we catch up now and then but we don't have that much in common. He eats cookies and I'm talking about porn; he's got blue fur and I've got brown fur; I've got horns and he's got big googly eyes.

You're more handsome.
Oh yes, thank you. I've got pink feather hair.

Are you changing anything about Trekkie for your shows in New Zealand or is he a truly universal character?
Trekkie is universal but New Zealand is our last stop so I'm planning on going out with a bang. I'm going to ramp it up a few notches. I'm looking forward to it so much.

Avenue Q starts tonight at the Civic and runs until May 30.