Elmo



Elmo is a 3½ year old furry red Muppet monster with an orange nose. He currently hosts the last full segment on Sesame Street, called "Elmo's World," which is aimed at toddlers. On "Elmo's World," Elmo is accompanied by his goldfish, Dorothy, and the Noodle Family—Mr. Noodle, his brother (known as Mr. Noodle's brother, Mr. Noodle), and his sister (known as Mr. Noodle's sister, Ms. Noodle).

The character is self-described as 3-and-a-half years old, and refers to himself almost entirely in the third person. As with many children of his age, he is seen somewhat infrequently with a favorite toy of his: an orange monster-like doll named David. Elmo lives with his mommy, his daddy, and, in some storybooks, a sister named Daisy.

Early years
The puppet that would eventually become Elmo has been around since the early 1970s. During this time, he was referred to as Baby Monster, and had a number of performers ranging from Caroll Spinney to Jerry Nelson for background scenes. Elmo first appeared on Sesame Street specifically as "Elmo" in Season 12 where he was performed by Brian Muehl until 1984. Richard Hunt performed him for a year, and later turned him over to Kevin Clash in 1985, choosing Clash because he was the only other person in the Muppeteer lounge at the time. Around that time, writer David Korr took a liking to the character, and backed up with the positive research, started using it regularly.

Popularity
A popular doll called the Tickle Me Elmo was manufactured in his likeness, and became the must-have toy during the 1996 Christmas season. A tenth anniversary edition, T.M.X. Elmo, was released in 2006. Other Elmo toys include Hokey Pokey Elmo ("Hokey Cokey Elmo" in the U.K.), Limbo Elmo, Chicken Dance Elmo and Let's Pretend Elmo.

Elmo was the star of the full-length, theatrically released motion picture The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. He also made minor appearances in Follow That Bird, the wedding scene in The Muppets Take Manhattan, and A Muppet Family Christmas.

Elmo can be seen in the home videos Elmo's Sing-Along Guessing Game, The Best of Elmo, Elmocize, and Elmo Visits the Doctor, and has also appeared in many other videos, including Play-Along Games and Songs, We All Sing Together and A Celebration of Me, Grover. Elmo has also starred in specials such as Elmopalooza and The Street We Live On.

Behind the scenes
There are either eight or nine Elmo puppets currently available. Kevin Clash told Channel Newsasia that "this one [on my lap] is rodded. There's a full radio-controlled Elmo, there's one for the blue screen, etc. They do different things."

Additionally, dozens of Elmo variants have been created by the Muppet Workshop (now, Jim Henson's Puppet Workshop) almost exclusively for use in Tickle Me Land as figments of Dorothy's imagination. These creations build on the basic premise of the Elmo puppet, to create a unique design which displays a variation of Elmo as anything from a rock to an elephant, to even a male doctor and female nurse.

At the Muppets, Music & Magic event at The Cinema Arts Centre in August 2007, Elmo joked that the reason he speaks in the third person is that he gets paid for each time he says "Elmo."

Trivia

 * On Big Bag, Elmo made a guest appearance in one episode, as Chelli's pen-pal.
 * Elmo's earliest illustrated appearance was in The Sesame Street Circus of Opposites.
 * For the 2005/2006 season, Sesamstraat moved into new scenery. The scenery was introduced with a TV special. Bert, Ernie, Cookie Monster and Elmo flew over to Holland for this special occasion. It was the first time the American characters visited the Dutch street.