Sesame Street Muppets answer questions on Wired

[D'Snowth]

And I guess Telly's not as popular a character as he was before?

Telly was never that popular a character. I remember Marty once gave an intereview talking about the Muppets at a public event, where photographers were trying to get pictures (heh, puppet paparazzi), and apparently one photographer kept calling out to him, "Over here! Purple Elmo! Over here!" So Marty had Telly lose it like a diva, "Oh, I'm the Purple Elmo? Well okay, don't forget Oscar over here, he's the Green Elmo! And Cookie Monster over here, he's the Blue Elmo!" Even Joey said in spite of his best efforts to write more for Telly, kids somehow don't like him as much as the writers think they would . . . then again, Telly is a Muppet embodiedment of Woody Allen and George Costanza, so how many kids can even appreciate that?

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Telly was never that popular a character. I remember Marty once gave an intereview talking about the Muppets at a public event, where photographers were trying to get pictures (heh, puppet paparazzi), and apparently one photographer kept calling out to him, "Over here! Purple Elmo! Over here!" So Marty had Telly lose it like a diva, "Oh, I'm the Purple Elmo? Well okay, don't forget Oscar over here, he's the Green Elmo! And Cookie Monster over here, he's the Blue Elmo!" Even Joey said in spite of his best efforts to write more for Telly, kids somehow don't like him as much as the writers think they would . . . then again, Telly is a Muppet embodiedment of Woody Allen and George Costanza, so how many kids can even appreciate that?

Although, it seems like Telly started to get a bit more popular somewhere around season 42, when he finally started being included in more merchandise. But, I guess that moment passed. Like you said though, he's probably just a bit too intense for some kids. Plus he's not as cute as Abby or Elmo, and doesn't have the high squeaky voice either.
And, I think Baby Bear would've been a more popular character if the writers had handled him correctly. I think after the nineties, he became too bland, which is probably why they don't use him as often anymore.

Billy's voice for Ernie doesn't bother me so much as his lip syncing does: seems like Ernie is just flapping his mouth half of the time rather than hitting every syllable.

Yeah, that's another thing that bothers me. The puppeteering isn't quite as good, and he doesn't have the high amount of energy that Steve's Ernie had. Although, I will give him the benefit of the doubt with the puppeteering since he's still pretty new, and even Jim wasn't quite as good in the first couple of seasons as he was later.

 

[D'Snowth]

Although, I will give him the benefit of the doubt with the puppeteering since he's still pretty new, and even Jim wasn't quite as good in the first couple of seasons as he was later.

I've noticed that somehow, Ernie was the one character who Jim didn't always lip sync to every syllable - I don't know if it had something to do with the way Ernie's head and mouth were constructed or what, but it's noticeable from time to time. Here's an example:

"I bet I know what Cookie Monster's dreaming about" has thirteen syllables, yet Ernie only opens his mouth seven times.

Like I said, I kind of have to chalk it up to however Ernie's head was constructed, because that can really make or break how you can perform a puppet. Maybe that also has something to do with Billy's lip syncing, I'm not sure.

 

[Oscarfan]

Billy's manipulation doesn't bug me that much. He's left-handed, so that might have an affect.

 

[D'Snowth]

Perhaps. Seems like sometimes Louise Gold's performances vary as well. Again, I think a lot of depends on the mobility, flexibility, and overall construction of the puppet itself.

 

[tutter_fan]

I thought the 'how to get to Sesame Street' topic was great and funny. Even the gag about not seeing the assistant's face was hilarious. Matt Vogel's Count was spot on. I think it'd be funny if they did it with some of the Muppet Show characters. Newsie would be a great character to use. They could do the running gag about the assistant