Steve Whitmire has left the Muppets, Matt Vogel to continue as Kermit

[xSunnyEclipse]

Yeah I don't hate Matt. I'm proud of him for doing this because I know he's probably very nervous but will get better over time.

But even I preferred Steve over Jim so..even when in the year 4040 when Kermit has been performed by 10 other people...Steve will always be my favorite performance.

Also I just feel like Matt sounds a little tired or slow on the performance. I hope he can pick up a little more livelyness to the performance at the Hollywood Bowl. I'll give him time to improve because I believe he can.

Maybe someday we'll all grow to love Matt's performance just like Steve.

 

[Censored]

Honestly, I don't see any problem with Matt's performance of Kermit whatsoever. He sounds more like Jim than Steve ever did. No need for any improvement that I can see. He's got it 100%.

 

[Mo Frackle]

Wow, I was not expecting this news today.

Obviously this is Matt's first time playing Kermit, so I won't judge it yet, and neither should anybody else. Matt is going to grow into the role, just like Steve did. Don't forget, Steve's first performance was kind of meh too. Heck, even Jim continued to evolve the character over time. It took Ryan Dillon a while to get the hang of Elmo, but now I can't imagine anyone else taking over from Kevin. He will get better! Just the fact that he's already showing potential is a great sign that he can only get better from here. The mannerisms and attitude of a character are far more important than the voice, and even the voice will improve over time. Seriously guys, there's no reason to worry just yet.

Thank you! I think people are too quick to judge based on the first performance alone, sometimes.

Keep working on it, Matt!

 

[Censored]

Keep doing it the way you did, Matt! It is perfect! People will grow to love Jim's voice once again!

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

I wanted to share this interview that ToughPigs just released with DillonGale (Ryan Dillon and Mark Gale, check out their videos, they're great). In it, Ryan talks about taking over Elmo, and I just thought it was very appropriate for today. Skip to the 26:30 point:

Keep doing it the way you did, Matt! It is perfect! People will grow to love Jim's voice once again!

That's a bit of an odd way of putting it. Steve's intention was never to fully imitate Jim anyway, and neither should Matt.

 

[Censored]

Matt's Kermit sounds like Jim's Kermit. What are they supposed to tell him? Stop being true to the original character?

 

[mbmfrog]

I have no real problem with Matt's performance, and I'm sure it'll get even better with time.

But I am concerned about the characters that Matt "inherited" from Jerry. He's done such a great job performing characters like Floyd, Lew, and (especially) Uncle Deadly. Since Matt will obviously be busy with Kermit, does this mean those other characters will be pushed more into the background again?

Don't also forget Matt Vogel's Sesame Street Characters: and !!!

It's going to be a bit tricky to pull of a scene of Kermit with any of those characters in the near future.

 

[Censored]

Don't also forget Matt Vogel's Sesame Street Characters: and !!!

It's going to be a bit tricky to pull of a scene of Kermit with any of those characters in the near future.

Nah, they've been dealing with that since the early street days of Big Bird and Oscar.

 

[Banjo man]

Thought of the week video is finally up. Curious to know your reactions of Matt's peformance of Kermit.

I don't like it. It sounds Like Constantine when he is trying to do a Kermit impression.

 

[xSunnyEclipse]

I wish I could agree with everyone that he sounds just like Jim...

but to me he doesn't.

And that's okay. He doesn't have to. I want him to grow and develop Kermit into more than just "Let me impersonate Jim" kind of thing. Steve did, so Matt will too.