When it comes to kid's shows rooted in faith and Christian values, there’s one show that stands out: VeggieTales. This classic series tells the stories of the Bible through iconic characters that engage the minds of children through their silly antics, stories, and songs.
In this article we dive a little deeper into one of these wonderful characters: Larry the Cucumber. If you’ve wondered who this character is, his personality, inspiration, alter-egos, and more then look no further!
Created in 1993, VeggieTales introduces two core protagonists immediately, one of which is Larry the Cucumber. Larry is Bob the Tomato’s best friend, and is the co-host of VeggieTales, where they present fun and whimsical Bible stories and pop-culture parodies in a fun way kids can understand.
Larry is voiced by one of the co-creators of VeggieTales, Mike Nawrocki.
Larry is one of the protagonists of the faith-based kids show VeggieTales, and is seen in almost every episode of the series. The show is often used to explain Bible stories to kids, and Larry is generally considered to be a Christian character.
Every once in a while curious kids will ask their parents, “What’s the name of the VeggieTales cucumber?” The cucumber in VeggieTales is named Larry the Cucumber. He also goes by several other names and portrays various characters throughout the series, including “Larry Boy” (his super-hero alter-ego) and the “Minnesota Cuke”, adventurer extraordinaire. Larry, as far as we know, does not have a last name.
Larry the Cucumber is portrayed as a silly, quirky, child-like character. He’s the counterbalance to his best friend Bob, who’s more mature and grounded.
Larry is sometimes a little scatterbrained, and occasionally gets into disagreements with Bob about how to best teach a lesson or tell a story. These conflicts, while minor, also help kids learn that it’s ok to disagree with your friends sometimes, and that you can still come to a compromise.
Larry will often struggle in the same ways the kids he’s teaching do, often reading their fan mail on episodes. He’ll frequently end up learning the same lesson that’s being taught to the viewer.
While it might seem like a strange question to long-time viewers, some remember Larry’s character as having a lisp during the show. This is because during the initial production, Larry’s voice changed slightly during the first few episodes. During the first two episodes, Mike Nawrocki performed the voice with a lower voice without a lisp. During the third episode and beyond, Larry had a higher pitch voice with a slight lisp, which faded over time and became less prominent in later episodes.
Larry has been portrayed in several ways throughout the series - as his character presents the stories being told and stars in them. The character design of Larry is that of a green cucumber with a large single buck-tooth. He has green skin, like most cucumbers, and large egg-shaped eyes with black pupils. His nose and eyebrows have a slightly lighter color to them.
In the production of VeggieTales: In the House and VeggieTales: In the City, both produced by Netflix, all of the characters were redesigned to have distinct eyebrows and colored eyes (Larry’s are a light amber color). These character designs persisted throughout the Netflix series, but were generally poorly received by fans of the show - both parents and kids alike. The consensus seems to be that the original characters are the best.
Throughout his appearance in VeggieTales, Larry has several alter-egos that are recurring characters in the show.
LarryBoy is Larry the Cucumber’s crime-fighting superhero alter-ego in VeggieTales, and is first seen in Dave and the Giant Pickle. Larry often takes on the persona of LarryBoy in moments when he needs to feel special and brave. He sometimes appears with a cape, and is often likened to Batman.
The Minnesota Cuke is a recurring character played by Larry, first seen in the episode “Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson's Hairbrush”. The character is loosely based off of Indiana Jones, and is seen in several episodes and movies throughout the series. The Minnesota Cuke is sometimes mistaken as a cowboy - but Cowboy Larry is a different character.
One of the biggest reasons for Larry’s fame, importance, and popularity in VeggieTales is through his recurring segment on the series: Silly Songs with Larry.
These silly songs in VeggieTales are a fan-favorite among kids - and you may find them watching and singing them over and over (and over!) again. The songs feature silly and sometimes bizarre topics, such as:
Silly Songs with Larry has become one of the most popular and fun parts of VeggieTales, and the segment was featured in almost every episode of the original series.
Want to watch these episodes and more featuring some of Larry’s favorite Silly Songs? Check out Yippee.tv - the best place for kids to watch VeggieTales and dozens of other kid-friendly faith-based shows.
Larry the Cucumber is seen in almost every episode of VeggieTales, but a few notable episodes stand out.
Larry has played the characters of Little Joe in The Ballad of Little Joe, Moe in Moe and the Big Exit, and the strapping adventurer Minnesota Cuke, in Minnesota Cuke and The Search For Noah's Umbrella.
Want to watch Larry and his Veggie pals go on all sorts of fun adventures while they teach valuable faith-based lessons to kids? Check out all the episodes of VeggieTales on Yippee here, or the new episodes of The VeggieTales Show here!
Ready to sign up for Yippee but want the best annual price? Enter “COMPARE” when you sign up for an annual subscription and pay just $44.10 annually (a discount of 10% off our already great yearly price).