Early (pre-Kevin Clash) Elmo appearances (Brian Muehl and Richard Hunt)

[Oscarfan]

Aw, I like Brian's Telly. He has a lot of emotional honesty with the character.

Maybe we just haven't seen enough of him to fully judge, while there's 20+ years of Marty as Telly readily availible to us.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Personally, his voice just really goes through my head.... and I always thought Marty really put more character into him than Brian did. But to each his own, I suppose.

 

[D'Snowth]

Marty breathed life into both Telly and Snuffy as far as I'm concerned. Both characters were pretty much one-dimensional in the hands of their original performers: Brian's Telly was always whining and bellyaching over something, and Jerry's Snuffy was a giant Eeyore. Marty brought a broader emotional range to both characters that they lacked beforehand: his Telly is so lovably neurotic, and can get passionate, highstrung, and manic about anything; and I honestly can't imagine Jerry's Snuffy singing and dancing to such a bouncy and upbeat tune like "Bubble on my Snuffle."

It's still interesting to see the transitional period though, and I think Marty is a prime example of a character inheritor, who tried a little too hard to basically imitate the way his predesessors did the characters he inherited, before making the characters his own. FTB is a good showcase of Marty doing a slightly whiney Telly in a similar vein as Brian, and his Snuffy voice is softer and less emotive, a la Jerry.

 

[minor muppetz]

Jerry's Snuffy was a giant Eeyore. Marty brought a broader emotional range to both characters that they lacked beforehand: his Telly is so lovably neurotic, and can get passionate, highstrung, and manic about anything; and I honestly can't imagine Jerry's Snuffy singing and dancing to such a bouncy and upbeat tune like "Bubble on my Snuffle."

Do you suppose Martin Robinson's improvements of Snuffy came about because the cast finally got to see him? When Jerry Nelson (and Michael Earl) performed him, he was pretty much only seen with Big Bird and the kids, but five years after Martin took over, Snuffy could suddenly interact with anybody. Or do you think his personality started to improve before the adults all finally saw him?

 

[D'Snowth]

I don't think so. Even when Snuffy started interacting with the rest of the cast and other characters, Marty still continued to perform him in a more similar vein as Jerry.

Come to think of it, the improvement in Snuffy didn't seem to begin surfacing until the late 80s . . . maybe making him a big brother to Alice had something to do with it, this is one of the earliest examples I can think of Marty's Snuffy showing more enthusiam and emotion as opposed to his ho-hum kind of performance:

 

[Cookie3001]

I just thought of something. Cheryl Blaylock posted a Mona Monster clip on her facebook page recently. Brian Muehl has a facebook page so maybe one of us can ask him if he can post any Elmo clips on facebook.

 

[datman24]

I just thought of something. Cheryl Blaylock posted a Mona Monster clip on her facebook page recently. Brian Muehl has a facebook page so maybe one of us can ask him if he can post any Elmo clips on facebook.

I have a better idea: Don't.

 

[Cookie3001]

I have a better idea: Don't.

Have any of you tried asking him before?

 

[datman24]

Have any of you tried asking him before?

No, and I would prefer not to ask because if they do actually listen and post clips, pretty soon more people will start demanding that they post more, and it just gets ugly. Also, typically when you are involved in a television program, you are legally contracted by the network or whatever company owns the rights to it not to publicize any clips from said program.

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

I just thought of something. Cheryl Blaylock posted a Mona Monster clip on her facebook page recently. Brian Muehl has a facebook page so maybe one of us can ask him if he can post any Elmo clips on facebook.

I wouldn't do that.