Sesame Street Character Voice Comparisons

[D'Snowth]

Any character recast takes time to get used to. I remember way back in the early 2000s, I couldn't quite get used to Eric's Bert and Grover, David's Cookie, and I thought Matt's Big Bird sounded similar to earlier Caroll performances when Big Bird was more of a yokel than a kid.

That was then, but now, I don't think nothing of it really; it's like Oscarfan said, it's all about the character and the personality.

Not to mention, even when Jim was alive, there were various performer and voice changes within the characters, and not just on SST. Mildred had been voiced by Richard, Dave, and Frank; Nigel used to be a Jim character before John Lovelady started doing him; Janice was originated by Fran before Richard played her; and let's not forget Miss Piggy didn't start out as the regular, breakthrough character she became, and went through different performers, including Richard, before Frank took her fulltime.

 

[Canadian Fan]

Mr. Snuffleupagus had three different performers

Jerry Nelson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMop8vxPeJE

Michael Earl Davis (the only clip I could find with his performance):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm1W6C6dDRI

Martin P. Robinson (the voice I grew up with):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L073xTrriZE

I'll keep posting links if I find more characters that have been recast.

 

[D'Snowth]

It should be noted that until Marty, Jerry did still dub Snuffy's voice, despite not being able to physically perform him.

 

[Drtooth]

Another character that's gone through some changes - Telly Monster (why isn't there any merchandise of Telly, I'll never know)

Bob Payne (the original Telly Monster)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4JZJdcHCRw

Brian Muehl (I somewhat remember this version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfGD16Wnhsw

Martin P. Robinson (the current Telly Monster and the version I'm most familiar with)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdo79QS2Tcs

Grungetta was another character to be recast

Brian Muehl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zciCrhSLa6k

Pam Arciero
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBGPhxBW4ss

With the Utmost respect to Brian,I don't think the characters really took off until Martin and Pam took on those roles respectively. Had Brain stayed, that is, they would have been different characters.

Brain's Telly is a kind of quiet, where as Martin isn't afraid of making Telly so excited or worried that he goes into a much deeper, louder personality swing. I.E. This season's episode with the Happy scientists, when Telly gets so angry that his hypothesis was proven wrong, he breaks down and shouts "I'M A MAAAAD SCIENTIST! MAD I TELL YOU!" Dunno about Grundetta, though... I only saw that one skit about the number 9 that Brian did. Seems like he gave her a Monty Python "Pepperpot" type voice without the British accent.

As for Snuffy... hmm, seeing that Michael Earl Davis clip... that definitely sounds like the direction that Martin started taking. Actually, seems like when Jerry and Michael performed Snuffy they were pretty quiet as well. I guess Martin adds the reasonable amount of loudness to the characters he took on.

 

[Canadian Fan]

I think Marty's versions of Snuffy and Telly are the best ones. I've seen interviews on YouTube of Marty and you can tell he's a pretty funny guy. Bob Payne's original Telly was just plain weird.

I read on MuppetWikia that Michael did the puppeteering of Snuffy for the 10th season (1978-79) while Jerry looped in the voice and Michael did the voice for seasons 11 and 12. You'd need a strong back to do Snuffy (I can't imagine how Marty and Bryant have done it for so long).

No disrespect to Brian Muehl (he's a good puppeteer), but I like Pam's version of Grungetta better (maybe it's because she sounds grouchier).

I'm still trying to find early clips of Elmo when Brian or Richard performed him.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I actually liked the early Telly better as the more toned down neurotic who had a slightly unhealthy friendship with Oscar who was always pushing him around, lol.

 

[D'Snowth]

I actually liked the early Telly better as the more toned down neurotic who had a slightly unhealthy friendship with Oscar who was always pushing him around, lol.

Yeah, I remember years after Baby Bear had really taken off as a character, looking at merchandise at the time that always included those three little bits of trivia about the individual characters still saying that Telly's best friend was Oscar, instead of Baby Bear, I was like "Oh yeah... I remember that..."

 

[Drtooth]

I think Marty's versions of Snuffy and Telly are the best ones. I've seen interviews on YouTube of Marty and you can tell he's a pretty funny guy. Bob Payne's original Telly was just plain weird.

The original Telly was doomed from the start. I mean, the swirly eyes had to freak some kids out for one thing. And apparently, it's a crime to show someone on television watching television.

Yeah, but the current Telly, I have to say, is a little more fleshed out. I like how instead of just worrying, he goes to extremes of all his emotions. Like the letter of the Day club episode when he was blinded with non-stop excitement, or that episode where his bratty little cousin steals his triangles and he obsessively threatens to hit him for it. Though I do agree they need to make more episodes with him and Oscar. I LOVED the one where they go on the road trip, only to stop every other minute to pick something else up, causing Telly to completely blow up at Oscar.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Yeah, but the current Telly, I have to say, is a little more fleshed out. I like how instead of just worrying, he goes to extremes of all his emotions. Like the letter of the Day club episode when he was blinded with non-stop excitement,

I don't know, to me Telly seems mostly non-stop excited now, rather than a range of emotions. Pretty much all the characters on modern Sesame Street are non-stop excited now, and not much else. He felt like a more complex character as a worrier. Just my own opinion.

 

[D'Snowth]

Something else that's interesting to take into consideration...

When Marty first took over the characters of Snuffy and Telly, it was obvious that he tried (perhaps a little too hard) to make them sound almost exactly like the way Jerry and Brian had respectively did their voices; it's hard to tell exactly, but it seems like it wasn't until the late 80s or so that Marty really made the characters his own.