It's a toy. It looks like this:

Tickle Me Elmo

"The story of how a slow-selling, expensive doll become the must-have item of Christmas 1996, is a fascinating look at how the media can inspire a consumer-buying frenzy.

Tickle Me Elmo - a fuzzy red doll patterned after a Sesame Street muppet - went from languishing on store shelves to creating department store stampedes and making millions for its manufacturer Tyco Toys - all because a shrewd promotion involving talk show host Rosie O'Donnell and a little luck."

"Tickle Me Elmo is a study in mob mentality," says Stephen Sandberg, a U.S. toy buyer. "People today are looking for Elmo without even knowing what it looks like".

I just want to know if anyone on Mudcat will admit to owing one of the stupid things now...and if it still works.