Sesame Street Character Voice Comparisons

[Daffyfan4ever]

It's definitely Brian. It can't be Marty, he's doing Snuffy in the same scene. And you'd be able to tell if one of their voices was pre-recorded.

Yeah. I forgot about that, but that would be another reason. Though it wouldn't have been impossible if Marty were to loop in the voices for one of the characters.

Seems the character started to evolve a more energetic personality and delivery before Marty took the role over. So it wasn't all Marty's take on the character that made him less of a sad sack.

Yeah. Again, I always thought even Marty's earliest Telly voice moved away from Brians voice, such as in the 'Ask Oscar: Discussion" sketch. Now that one didn't sound like Brian or Marty as Telly, but according to the comments on You Tube, it was indeed Marty. But he sounded different there than he did in the sketch when he was with Snuffy and Fluffy. It's a shame they don't have any Telly voice comparisons there. That's something that would be worth looking into.

 

[Convincing John]

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.

Well, here's a couple of non-Kevin Clash Elmo clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNUX9LPr4rA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSOu5C55kUA

They might both be Jerry Nelson, but I'm not sure.

I know that there's more to the character, much more than just the voice. There's the movement, the mannerisms and the personality. I'll toss in my two cents and say that Eric really has come a long way. He seems to be better at Bert than Grover, but maybe he's more comfortable with Bert.

I always wondered why Frank didn't say "Here, you perform Cookie, too." Eric's doing all of Frank's other main characters. Why not Cookie?

Also...I know that Matt Vogel is doing his best, but he really needs to work on the Bird. Caroll has a more fluid way with Big Bird's movements and subtleties with expressing emotion. Vogel is almost too energetic with Big Bird. Even in the 80's or even 70's, Big Bird was a character that was more curious about life as opposed to a "bouncy", happy character like say, Elmo or Murray. The Bird's more complex than that.

Matt's gotta work on his voice, too. If Caroll says "that's good enough", then fine, I guess. To me, Matt's Big Bird sounds like he needs Vicks Vapo Rub. He's got a stuffed-up beak.

Steve, I gotta give the guy so much credit. None of us know what it's like to be in that guy's shoes and he works so hard trying to get, as Frank put it "inside the soul of Jim" to perform the characters he does, Kermit, Ernie, whoever.

It's one thing to be a Muppeteer and the original Muppeteer right there, training you on how to perform their characters. Think Yoda training Luke.

It's quite another thing to have the whole boss of the Muppets die, then to be assigned the most famous Muppet of all. Steve had a "Ben Kenobi training Luke" type of experience. He got a lot of Muppeteering experience with his own characters. He also got advice from Jim. But Jim suddenly vanished, sadly far too soon, leaving Steve to do the best he could with the skills he had learned.

Telly has grown on me over the years. I think Martin Robinson does an excellent job with him and I've always enjoyed the Telly/Oscar moments, be they the Sneak Peek Previews, Ask Oscar or other segments.

Telly still worries a lot, I think. He also freaks out, which is a really funny part of his character. Otherwise he'd just be a monster who really likes triangles (yawn). The recent Telly moments I really liked were when he declared himself a mad scientist "I'm a MAD scientist! MAD!" & I also laughed at Telly desperately begging Leela to help him make a huge amount of those Rakhi bracelets. Telly's had some really funny moments recently. I hope he gets to do more with Oscar soon.

Yeah...and why the heck isn't there more Telly merchandise?

Convincing John

 

[D'Snowth]

Well, here's a couple of non-Kevin Clash Elmo clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNUX9LPr4rA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSOu5C55kUA

They might both be Jerry Nelson, but I'm not sure.

The latter of the two is Brian, though there have been some sources (like Biography) that incorrectly cited that as Richard's Elmo.

I always wondered why Frank didn't say "Here, you perform Cookie, too." Eric's doing all of Frank's other main characters. Why not Cookie?

It was because they wanted to do sketches with both Grover and Cookie in frame at the same time, and it was easier and more practical to do so with two different puppeteers.

Matt's gotta work on his voice, too. If Caroll says "that's good enough", then fine, I guess. To me, Matt's Big Bird sounds like he needs Vicks Vapo Rub. He's got a stuffed-up beak.

I've always likened Matt's Big Bird to sort of the transitional days of Caroll's Bird, when he slowly phased out the yokel accent and made him sound higher and more-childlike...

Steve, I gotta give the guy so much credit. None of us know what it's like to be in that guy's shoes and he works so hard trying to get, as Frank put it "inside the soul of Jim" to perform the characters he does, Kermit, Ernie, whoever.

It's one thing to be a Muppeteer and the original Muppeteer right there, training you on how to perform their characters. Think Yoda training Luke.

It's quite another thing to have the whole boss of the Muppets die, then to be assigned the most famous Muppet of all. Steve had a "Ben Kenobi training Luke" type of experience. He got a lot of Muppeteering experience with his own characters. He also got advice from Jim. But Jim suddenly vanished, sadly far too soon, leaving Steve to do the best he could with the skills he had learned.

Exactly, exactly, I couldn't have put that better myself.

Yeah...and why the heck isn't there more Telly merchandise?

I think it may have something to do with he's not as easily recognizable as other characters... I remember in an interview with Marty, he and the cast were at an awards ceremony with their respective Muppets, with pictures being taken, and some of the photographers and paparazzi weren't quite familiar with Telly, so when they wanted shots of him, they kept callng out to him as "Purple Elmo"... and there ARE similarities in the character designs: both are monsters with oranges noses and black mouths, though Telly's fur is more of a fuschia, which is kind of like a reddish purple. Anyway, it was funny hearing Marty say that Telly got really miffed at that like "Purple Elmo? I'm the Purple Elmo? Well okay! Don't forget Oscar over here, he's the Green Elmo! Oh, and Cookie Monster, he's the Blue Elmo!"

 

[Convincing John]

It was because they wanted to do sketches with both Grover and Cookie in frame at the same time, and it was easier and more practical to do so with two different puppeteers.

That's right! I forgot about that. There have been a few times where Eric has done one character and Frank has actually done the other. I think it was a clip with both Bert and Grover in it. It was one of those once-in-a-blue-moon times when Frank was on the set.

"Purple Elmo!" lol. Yeah, I heard that interview, too. I'm glad Telly reacted that way. Of course now, there are some people who refer to any Muppet as "Elmo". Oscar was on some daytime talk show and kids came up to him and said "Elmo?" Oscar said "I've never been so insulted in all my life." I get where Telly is not as recognizable as the other characters, but it could be that his fur color just doesn't "pop" enough when it comes to merchandising. Zoe was chosen to be that particular shade of orange to stand out against Elmo and also it made her more marketable against the towering, prehistoric purple horror of PBS.

This could be why there is little Baby Bear merchandise, too. He's...well, a brown bear. He'd pretty much blend in with all the other brown teddy bears available in stores. If he were, say, a neon green and blue monster with a bright pink nose or something, that's different. He'd stand out and be marketable like Elmo or Zoe.

Still, I think Telly's cool. Hopefully he'll get some good scenes this season.

Convincing John

 

[Canadian Fan]

Hmm, for now I'm going to go with Marty (or at least someone) trying to sound like Brian.

It sounded like Brian to me. I remember Brian's Telly before Marty took over. Too bad there wasn't any Telly merchandise, I always liked Telly. The Telly/Oscar moments were always funny.

Thanks for finding the early clips of Elmo. I'd say the second one is definitely Brian performing him (Richard did the voice of another monster in that clip).

 

[CBPuppets]

Is it just me or did the early versions of Bert & Ernie sound different from the late '70's versions. Jim and Frank's voices for the characters sounded more exciting in the late 1970's compared to the early 1970's (it could be that the characters were still being developed).

I still like Steve's Ernie a lot better compared to John's Ernie. Steve's version sounds more excitable.

The Two-Headed Monster is another one that was recast in recent years:

The Original with Jerry Nelson & Richard Hunt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5RbNxJnTqA

The Current version with Joey Mazzarino & David Rudman
(I couldn't find one with Jerry Nelson & David Rudman)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-PDXAcUw0s

I Found a clip that was the debut of the two headed monster!
(According to muppet wiki The Left head was performed by Richard Hunt and the Right Head was Performed by Peter Friedman.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGMNIZu82A4

of course you can see it with better quality here!

 

[Canadian Fan]

I Found a clip that was the debut of the two headed monster!
(According to muppet wiki The Left head was performed by Richard Hunt and the Right Head was Performed by Peter Friedman.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGMNIZu82A4

of course you can see it with better quality here!

Thanks for posting. I forgot about Peter Friedman performing half of the monster in the debut. Jerry and Richard had great chemistry with their characters though.

 

[D'Snowth]

Any relation to Gary Friedman?

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

I always wondered why Frank didn't say "Here, you perform Cookie, too." Eric's doing all of Frank's other main characters. Why not Cookie?

I think the main reason for that was to allow more interaction between and . Yet I don't know a lot of instances where that actually happened except in "Elmo's World: Happy Holidays" and maybe a few "Letter of the Day" segments.

Matt's gotta work on his voice, too. If Caroll says "that's good enough", then fine, I guess. To me, Matt's Big Bird sounds like he needs Vicks Vapo Rub. He's got a stuffed-up beak.

I always thought that Matt's BB voice was sort of a combination of the early Carroll Spinney voice and the way he sounds now, sort of like how that guy described Eric's Fozzie.

 

[D'Snowth]

Oscar was on some daytime talk show and kids came up to him and said "Elmo?" Oscar said "I've never been so insulted in all my life."

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA!