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

[D'Snowth]

Not really picking up on any of Richard's mannerisms or anything, but I do sense that Kevin is definitely going for Brian's Elmo, especially the way he says, "Yes-yes-yes!" Matter of fact, I would even say that what Kevin is doing here sounds like a less creepy version of Brian's Elmo.

 

[MuppetSpot]

Not really picking up on any of Richard's mannerisms or anything, but I do sense that Kevin is definitely going for Brian's Elmo, especially the way he says, "Yes-yes-yes!" Matter of fact, I would even say that what Kevin is doing here sounds like a less creepy version of Brian's Elmo.

Richard Elmo was very loud, I see Kevin doing the more earlier Brian Elmo

 

[minor muppetz]

I’m only seeing Kevin’s Elmo as being like Brian’s (and I can’t decide if that’s odd - Richard had been performing him, though only in four episodes, but Kevin wasn’t a regular performer during Brian’s time).

But Muppet Wiki posted one clip of Brian as Elmo, while all we’ve seen of Richard as Elmo so far has been a couple of short snippets of clips that appeared in a documentary (and a brief “no nono no...” in Follow That Bird). The sandbox page confirms that they have viewed all of Richard’s Elmo performances, even if none have been posted for us.

This Elmo seems to be quiet, the opposite of Richard’s loud Elmo.

 

[minor muppetz]

Looking at the sandbox page for early Elmo transitions again, I see I was wrong about there being only four episodes where Richard performed Elmo, as two more performances first aired after Kevin Clash took over (but were taped before).

Something I thought about. The listing of early Elmo inserts lists the "monster band" sketches, which haven't actually been found in any scripts (and would be hard to really know what to search for) and some have speculated were actually done for Sesame Place. But since we don't know when those segments were taped, we technically don't know that they came before Kevin took over. Yeah, they probably were from when Elmo was more commonly used as a generic monster, but we do know that one such sketch featured Grover intermixed with the generic monsters.

 

[Blue Frackle]

Well, Kevin Clash's first performance as Elmo has been confirmed and is on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1217953300529733634

"First few times" so definitely not confirmed as the first performance, but yeah, I saw this on discord and it's lit -- I still see the Richard Hunt monosyllabic caveman vibe in there.

I also didn't know Richard voiced an Elmo line in Follow That Bird.

 

[scarecroe]

"First few times" so definitely not confirmed as the first performance

It's the first.

 

[MuppetSpot]

It's the first.

I find it interesting how the voice is very quiet and it’s not Kevin doing a Richard impersonation

 

[D'Snowth]

Yeah, again, it clearly sounds more like Kevin doing a Brian imitation.

And, if this is, indeed, Kevin's first go as Elmo, does that mean this is when Richard got fed up, stormed into the green room, tossed Elmo to him, and had him take over the character?

 

[Fozzieboba]

It does. Did he still use that characteristic until season 17?

 

[jeremystclair]

an english version of hanful of crumbs just released we see jerry nelson who voices elmo speak. he doesnt use the deep voice more like pops from the muppets

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2525022124429442