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

[Cookie3001]

I think the reason Sesame Workshop hasn't released any of these clips to the public is because Elmo is the most important part of their show and if they show their audience the old gruff sounding Elmo it might send the wrong message to kids. That's why the original version of "We Are All Monsters" was dubbed by Kevin Clash in every video release it's gotten.

 

[D'Snowth]

if they show their audience the old gruff sounding Elmo it might send the wrong message to kids.

Care to expand a little bit more on this logic?

 

[Cookie3001]

Care to expand a little bit more on this logic?

I'm just saying that Sesame Workshop is so worried about what the audiences will think that they can't release these early Elmo clips. The gruff sounding Elmo might scare little kids who are used to the falsetto voiced Elmo and they don't want that to happen because he is now the main part of the show. I remember when I was little being scared of the gruff sounding Elmo in the "Me Claudius" sketch .

 

[Blue Frackle]

I think that's totally plausible; it lines up with the Margaret Hamilton thing. They are that crazy.

 

[LittleJerry92]

That's what I've been saying!

Orange Oscar? Meh.

Green Grover? Meh.

Early Elmo? NOPE NOPE NOPE! THINK OF DA CHILDREN!

Really, how "Me, Claudius" got on the 40 years DVD, IDK.

 

[D'Snowth]

"Me, Claudius" has always been the one go-to clip for retrospectives and historical look-backs to detail the difference in Elmo's voice prior to Kevin Clash inheriting the character.

And, to be fair, even some of Brian Meehl's Telly (mainly BIG BIRD IN CHINA) was later dubbed by Marty Robinson.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Fair enough.

 

[MuppetSpot]

No disrespect to Brian but Marty was the guy who actually made Telly into a great character.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Yeah, Brian’s Telly was just very whiney and annoying.

 

[Blue Frackle]

Huge nostalgia for whiny Telly cause of Don't Eat the Pictures.