Then and now, Maitland created many of his sounds through manual foley, in the tradition of old-time radio sound men, including Cookie Monster's cookie eating noises, footsteps for Muppets, and crashes. As Maitland recalled, "The first job I had in 1969 was for a song called 'Windy.' They wanted a big crash at the end[...] So I went and got all the stagehands, and we made this big pile of junk in the middle of the stage. And at the right point, I threw myself at the pile and smashed it all over the floor." Maitland is also the squeaky voice of Oscar's pet Slimey, operated by Martin P. Robinson.