Brian Muehl's Elmo

[BooberFraggless]

Does anyone remember anything about Brian Meehl's Elmo? Carroll Spinney talked about him a little in his book saying that he would say things in a whispery way like "Play? play with Elmo?, yeah yeah yeah!" So apparantley the charachter was named Elmo back then. I'm not sure if there's a whole lot of early 80's SS viewers on here. But I'm wondering if anyone remembers any episodes with Brian Meehl's Elmo from back then. Did he ever interact with mr. Hooper? that would be totally cool to see.

 

[minor muppetz]

I know that Brian Meehl performed Elmo in the Monsterpiece Theatre sketch Me, Claudius. He also performed Elmo in the song We're All Monsters, but after kevin Clash took over, Kevin dubbed Elmos lines. I wonder if Richard Hunt dubbed over Elmos lines in the song. Anyway, I think both of those skits have been shown on Noggin.

A&E Biography Close-Up: Sesame Street showed a brief clip of Elmo talking in Monsterpiece Theatre: Me, Claudius, but the narrarator mistakingly says that Richard Hunt performed Elmo in that skit. Elmo's voice in that scene does not sound like any Richard Hunt voice I've heard, and besides, Richard Hunt was performing another monster in that scene (although it was very common during the early years for performers to perform multiple voices in the same scene, even if that scene didn't have any regular characters at all).

Oddly enough, Brian Meehls Elmo doesn't sound like any other Brian Meehl voice I've heard (I've heard his Telly Monster, Mr. Knack and Bogg from Eureeka's Castle, Bruno from Dog City, a bear from the Marty Feldman episode of The Muppet Show, and Tattooey from The Muppets Take Manhattan). Did Brian Meehl use that voice for any other character?

Watching that clip, I thought that Elmo sounded similar to other characters that kevin Clash performed, such as Benny Rabbit. I know that kevin Clash took over the role of Dr. Nobel Price, who was originally performed by Brian Meehl. Did Dr. Price originally have the same voice as Elmo originally had?

 

[BEAR]

I know that Brian Meehl performed Elmo in the Monsterpiece Theatre sketch Me, Claudius. He also performed Elmo in the song We're All Monsters, but after kevin Clash took over, Kevin dubbed Elmos lines. I wonder if Richard Hunt dubbed over Elmos lines in the song. Anyway, I think both of those skits have been shown on Noggin.

A&E Biography Close-Up: Sesame Street showed a brief clip of Elmo talking in Monsterpiece Theatre: Me, Claudius, but the narrarator mistakingly says that Richard Hunt performed Elmo in that skit. Elmo's voice in that scene does not sound like any Richard Hunt voice I've heard, and besides, Richard Hunt was performing another monster in that scene (although it was very common during the early years for performers to perform multiple voices in the same scene, even if that scene didn't have any regular characters at all).

Oddly enough, Brian Meehls Elmo doesn't sound like any other Brian Meehl voice I've heard (I've heard his Telly Monster, Mr. Knack and Bogg from Eureeka's Castle, Bruno from Dog City, a bear from the Marty Feldman episode of The Muppet Show, and Tattooey from The Muppets Take Manhattan). Did Brian Meehl use that voice for any other character?

Watching that clip, I thought that Elmo sounded similar to other characters that kevin Clash performed, such as Benny Rabbit. I know that kevin Clash took over the role of Dr. Nobel Price, who was originally performed by Brian Meehl. Did Dr. Price originally have the same voice as Elmo originally had?

I guess Benny just sounded like Elmo with a lower, gruffer voice. He was like Elmo with an attitude, but couldn't you say the same about Oscar and Big Bird? Sometimes you will hear a little Oscar creep into Bird's voice.

 

[MuppetDude]

I know that Brian Meehl performed Elmo in the Monsterpiece Theatre sketch Me, Claudius. He also performed Elmo in the song We're All Monsters, but after kevin Clash took over, Kevin dubbed Elmos lines.

Actually, that was Jerry Nelson. And the original "We Are All Monsters" clip wasn't on Noggin.

 

[BooberFraggless]

[Did Dr. Price originally have the same voice as Elmo originally had?

Actually, Brian Meehl's Dr. Nobel Price sounded almost exactly like he did after Kevin Clash took over. I'd have to say in all the charachters over the years that have been recast, Dr. Nobel Price was the one whose voice didn't really change at all. Kevin was very good at mocking the voice.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

About "We are all monsters," I have heard about Kevin dubbing over the original Elmo's lines. (I believe that was Caroll, not Brian) My question is, when Kevin did the rerecording, did he change the pronoun "I" to "Elmo?" I've read that at the lyrics archive and it doesn't sound like something Elmo would sing with his current voice.

 

[minor muppetz]

Actually, that was Jerry Nelson.

Are you sure? If jerry nelson did perform Elmo in that skit, then I wonder why I haven't read any information about that before. I would have thought that somebody here would have mentioned it. If Nelson only performed Elmo that one time then I can see why it wouldn't be mentioend in any major informative books like Sesame Street Unpaved. I guess it's reasonable that that wasn't mentioned in the A&E Biography (although it's still a mistake as the announcer mentioned Richard Hunt performing Elmo in that scene).

Could that alos mean that Elmo originally did not have a regular performer for a few years before Brian Meehle began performing Elmo?

 

[minor muppetz]

Actually, Brian Meehl's Dr. Nobel Price sounded almost exactly like he did after Kevin Clash took over. I'd have to say in all the charachters over the years that have been recast, Dr. Nobel Price was the one whose voice didn't really change at all. Kevin was very good at mocking the voice.

I am not familiar with how Dr. Nobel Price sounded regardless of who performed him. Did Dr. Nobel Price sound like Benny?

 

[BooberFraggless]

Dr. Nobel Price sounded more like Hoots, only with a little bit of a squekier voice. When Brian Meehl played him, his voice was squeaky, but just a tad lower. Kevin's was more high pitched.

 

[BooberFraggless]

Actually, that was Jerry Nelson. And the original "We Are All Monsters" clip wasn't on Noggin.

I seriously doubt Jerry Nelson ever performed Elmo, and I'm pretty sure that was Brian Meehl's Elmo that was in the "wer'e all monsters skit" Carroll Spinney only performed Elmo in the early 70's, and it wasn't even Elmo back then it was Baby Monster. I can tell the wer'e all Monsters skit isn't from the early 70's. I can tell just by the film quality and the type of Monsters that were used. I think Richard only performed Elmo for one season, since Brian left the show in 1984, and Kevin didn't start performing him until 1985.