Cousin Itt - Character

Character

Itt Addams is the cousin of Gomez Addams. He is a short being whose entire body is shrouded by long hair. When Gomez asks Cousin Itt what is underneath all the hair, Cousin Itt replies, "Roots" ("The Winning of Morticia Addams"). His hair color changed throughout the years but in the 1998 Addams Family TV series his hair color was blond. He usually wears sunglasses, a derby hat, and gloves. He speaks in a high-pitched gibberish language which the other members of the family can understand though it is incomprehensible to anyone else. The Addams find nothing odd about Itt's appearance, and in one episode of the series, Gomez is surprised by the idea that other people could not understand Itt's speech ("My Fair Cousin Itt"). Itt is often celebrated by the family as being "full of talent" in areas such as acting, singing, and marriage counseling (though he once accidentally separated Gomez and Morticia while trying to practice). He is also known to have an extremely high IQ of over 300 (as explained by Gomez), shown when he guesses every Rorschach Test correctly, places all of the boxes in the correct slots, and in other ways ("Cousin Itt and the Vocational Counselor"). In one episode, Cousin Itt took elocution lessons and developed a (dubbed) voice with a mellifluous, mid-Atlantic accent; this voice did not survive into future episodes.

Cousin Itt did not live in the mansion with the main characters, although he made frequent guest appearances when he would visit them. He was therefore a recurring character, not a main character. Although known to spend time in the chimney, Itt has his own room in the mansion, furnished in proportion to his size and with a low ceiling. He is depicted as a carefree bachelor with an extravagant lifestyle, and is renowned among the Addamses for his many female companions. He had an on-again/off-again relationship with Morticia's sister Ophelia.

In the movie, The Addams Family (1991), Cousin Itt had an affair with Margaret, the wife of Tully, the corrupt lawyer trying to get his hands on the Addams' money. In the sequel, Addams Family Values (1993), Margaret and Itt are married (as Tully had been buried alive by Pugsley and Wednesday) and have a baby (a miniature version of Itt), aptly named "What." Margaret explains that "What!" was the first word out of the obstetrician's mouth upon seeing the baby. Oddly, even before Itt marries Margaret, she is shown to understand his speech. In the movies, his hair is straighter and his voice is squeakier than in the TV series.

Cousin Itt makes a cameo appearance at the beginning of Act II in the Addams Family Musical on Broadway.