Are Grover from Sesame Street and Kirk from Gilmore Girls THE SAME CHARACTER?

Hey Y’all,

This post is not about books but it’s been rattling around in my brain for a while now. If you follow any of my social media, you’ll know that the tiny perfect human I created is a big Sesame Street fan. It makes me really happy that he likes the show because it provides me with such a hefty dose of nostalgia PLUS it’s full of all kinds of academic/educational/emotional goodness. I could write an entire post fangirling over it. Actually, I STARTED writing an entire post fangirling over it, but I didn’t finish it because that’s how I roll sometimes. Anyway. The fact that I’ve been watching so much of it recently has really cemented this idea in my head:

GROVER AND KIRK FROM GILMORE GIRLS ARE THE SAME CHARACTER. This might be bordering on conspiracy theory, but hear me out.

EXHIBIT A: Almost every time you see either Grover or Kirk, they’re performing a different job. “Oh hey Grover, I didn’t know you worked in the laundromat.” “Oh hey Kirk, I see you’re selling custom mailboxes today.” It’s the defining running gag of both characters. Sometimes these jobs even overlap, like how both Kirk and Grover have both totally been dog walkers and waiters.

Left: Grover as Dog Walker. Right: Kirk as Dog Walker. COINCIDENCE?!

EXHIBIT B: They’re both lovably inept and kind of clueless. When Grover’s alter ego (known these days as Super Grover 2.0) arrives on the scene, he’s accompanied by the tagline “He shows up.” Because even if he’s not great at saving the day, he’s going to try. All of Grover’s terrible solutions usually result in the people he’s helping figuring things out for themselves. There’s a lot to admire there. And then there’s Kirk. He’s always willing to pitch in but usually screws something up. Remember the time he hid all the Easter eggs in the town square but didn’t keep a map of where they were hidden? Then all of Stars Hollow started to stink and Kirk was being all panicky and Kirk-like trying to track down the eggs? WHY DIDN’T YOU USE PLASTIC EGGS, KIRK??? Lovably inept. Kind of clueless. Not great at saving the day, but tries anyway. Is anyone else seeing this pattern?

EXHIBIT C: They’re both unintentionally wise. During the episode where Kirk attempts to sell Lorelai a Condoleezza Rice inspired mailbox for the newly renovated Dragonfly Inn, he utters the line that has become my personal motto: “Whimsy goes with everything.” Grover, in his literary masterpiece The Monster at the End of This Book (oh hey, I worked a book in here!!!) learns that the monster at the end of the book that he so fears (spoiler alert) is, in fact, “Me. Lovable furry old Grover.” THIS IS VERY PROFOUND AND IMPORTANT AND INSIGHTFUL.

Am I the first person to come to this conclusion? Probably not. I mean, sure, I did an extremely lazy google search trying to see if Amy Sherman-Palladino acknowledged that Grover was the inspiration for Kirk’s character and I didn’t find anything, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been discussed. There’s probably a whole giant subreddit on the subject, but Reddit has always impressed me as a corner of the internet decidedly unfriendly toward the type of person whose personal motto is “Whimsy goes with everything” so I steer clear. I just needed to get this off my chest, okay? And for whatever reason, people in my real life don’t seem too keen to listen to me wax poetic about Sesame Street and Gilmore Girls.

Thank you for indulging me.