Nightline: Kevin Clash on "Being Elmo"

[FUZZYRED]

Someone upload Nightline: Kevin Clash on being Elmo and at 2 mins and 55 sec, they show a clip of Richard Hunt perform Elmo in caveman voice! I'm surpise that when Richard perform Elmo in 1983 to 1984 and Elmo might been in street scene for a few epsoides before he threw puppet to Kevin Clash. Also, Bob was there with two kids interacted early Elmo!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG4zoI0DsTQ&feature=related

 

[D'Snowth]

Well, now we finally have an idea of what Richard's Elmo sounded like... almost like Scooter with a sore throat... yeah, I can kind of see why Richard didn;t like him, this isn't like his usual performances that are usually big and high energy, which would've been unusual for a little monster like Elmo.

 

[LinkiePie<3]

Scooter can never talk in third person... his accent, and personality is matured for a little red moppet, like Elmo.

*yay* <3

This grew my attention. Now, I must see the documentary... soon!

Thanks for sharing, FUZZYRED!

 

[mr3urious]

Gee, you think Richard would have been a great choice considering how energetic his other characters are, and that he would have passed on some of that energy to Elmo.

 

[D'Snowth]

Gee, you think Richard would have been a great choice considering how energetic his other characters are, and that he would have passed on some of that energy to Elmo.

You would think, but apparently the directors or producers or whoever kept complaioning that he made Elmo too off-the-wall and hyperactive, and that they constantly had to ask him to tone it down, which kind of ticked him off, hence why he simply tossed the character to whoever was around and it happened to be Kevin.

 

[FUZZYRED]

No worries Linkie Pie<3! I would keep look out for other Elmo history cause I alway on laptop. Did anyone notice the girl sit on Bob and you can tell that she wasn't interest in Elmo with caveman? Thankfully Kevin Clash used the voice today and lots of kids in love with him!

 

[Drtooth]

You would think, but apparently the directors or producers or whoever kept complaioning that he made Elmo too off-the-wall and hyperactive, and that they constantly had to ask him to tone it down, which kind of ticked him off, hence why he simply tossed the character to whoever was around and it happened to be Kevin.

Yeah, Elmo just wouldn't work well under Richard. His calmest character is Scooter. I could see a Scooter-like Elmo... but it just wouldn't have been the same. Baby Bear? I tend to think that's David Rudman's tribute to Richard. But other than Scooter, Richard's characters were loud and bombastic. Look at Junior Gorg. He has the personality and sound of a giant child. Leo the Party Monster, always excited to party. Even Aristotle was a little wacky.

Kevin made Elmo a believable child. There are only a handful of Muppets I consider young children, and Elmo, Big Bird, Robin the Frog, and Zoe are that group. Ernie may say he's six, but he seems older. Grover can't be younger than 16 in my mind with his employment history. I can't see the Fraggles Five being younger than mid-teens (Boober's gotta be in his 30's). but Elmo is a believable 3 1/2 year old.

 

[minor muppetz]

Yeah, Elmo just wouldn't work well under Richard. His calmest character is Scooter. I could see a Scooter-like Elmo... but it just wouldn't have been the same. Baby Bear? I tend to think that's David Rudman's tribute to Richard. But other than Scooter, Richard's characters were loud and bombastic. Look at Junior Gorg. He has the personality and sound of a giant child. Leo the Party Monster, always excited to party. Even Aristotle was a little wacky.

Kevin made Elmo a believable child. There are only a handful of Muppets I consider young children, and Elmo, Big Bird, Robin the Frog, and Zoe are that group. Ernie may say he's six, but he seems older. Grover can't be younger than 16 in my mind with his employment history. I can't see the Fraggles Five being younger than mid-teens (Boober's gotta be in his 30's). but Elmo is a believable 3 1/2 year old.

I feel like Elmo isn't that quiet. He has appeared in at least two different segments teaching the concepts of loud and quiet. And his voice is quite loud. Hunt also had another quiet character, Sully.

 

[Drtooth]

I have to admit, I don't like the term quiet as it applies to Elmo as I'd say he's more not all that wild. There is a lot of character evolution, but if you check out earlier Elmo bits (like the Monster Hits video) he's much more a bratty little kid than the calmer, gentler character he is today. More like an ill behaved 2 year old than a 3 1/2 year old. At least in that video.

To really understand Richard's Elmo, we'd need more than a 2 second clip of his voice. Seems the character was a little more bombastic than hyper.

 

[JLG]

I feel like Elmo isn't that quiet. He has appeared in at least two different segments teaching the concepts of loud and quiet.

Well, the big way Clash's Elmo voice has evolved is that the voice used to be much quieter in the beginning. Almost whispery, really. I actually miss that. It was a more low-key characterization (and a little easier on the ears, LOL).
It's hard to pinpoint when the voice evolved into its final form, because it happened slowly. From early '90s clips I have, by then it had lost the whisperiness, but it still had a softer quality than it has now. But by 1998 and Elmo's World, the change was complete.

Ernie may say he's six, but he seems older. Grover can't be younger than 16 in my mind with his employment history

Where did Ernie say he was six? (Apart from that "I'll be a doctor in 23 years" sketch where it's indirectly implied).
Personally I see Ernie and Bert as two guys in their early-to-mid 20s sharing a basement apartment, and Ernie just happens to be an overgrown kid (albeit a tongue-in-cheek one much of the time).
As for Grover, I see him, Herry and Cookie as being about 8, and his employment history can be chalked up to monsters being employable at much earlier ages than humans. Some monsters also get their secondary sex charactertistics at very early ages----the bearded and mustachioed Two-Headed Monster, f'rinstance. =)