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Stemming from a conversation on Andrew's page, I think it might be good to start a thread that would benefit the performer pages we've been building up in recent months. Specifically, whenever there is a more difficult case to figure out who performed what, we can discuss it here. Many of the characters are identifiable by voice, but once we get into crowds and animals, it can be a tougher thing to pinpoint. This thread will hopefully discourage edit wars that some pages may attract by discussing the questionable performances, then arriving at a consensus among the editors.
With that in mind, and to start out, the performer info for Elmo's World: Pets was put into question. Here's what I had to say on the subject on Andrew's talk page when I added performer information back in January:
"For the EW info, I was using a YouTube copy of the segment here (YouTube), and Vogel does have dialogue as the turtle. ("Come back here, rabbit!") The cat and dog sing along with Elmo at the beginning of the "Pets" song, before the rest of the crowd joins in, so their performers are easier to sort out. Joey can be heard as the parrot at the very beginning of the segment, comparing it to other performances he's done such as in Episode 3839 and Episode 3582."
Thoughts? -- Tony (talk) 01:34, 17 April 2022 (UTC)
- To make it clearer, the dog and cat were, in this edit, attributed to John Tartaglia and Stephanie D'Abruzzo. They just bark or meow until 15:38. The cat meows again then both sing "Pets Pets Pets." I think I can hear D'Abruzzo as the cat, but it's still not a lot to go on. I personally wouldn't try to pin the brief singing dog to anyone without reference or a source.
- Matt Vogel as the turtle, I'd agree with. The parrot just makes noises, while speaking in the other instances where we know it's Mazzarino. It feels like a maybe but really needs a closer sound only comparison, either isolated audio or specific, but at that point I'm not sure it's worth bothering, and definitely not worth edit warring over inclusions in puppeteer' character pages. Some other ears on this would help, but right now the only one I'd personally feel fine with re-adding without actual info from performers or documents is Matt Vogel as the turtle. -- Andrew 21:54, 18 April 2022 (UTC)
- Another up for debate: the Green cowboy in "Try, Try Again." Here's the video: (YouTube) The video quality is not very good, and we don't have the English version for the here/there variant yet, but for this one I'm hearing a southern Gobo. -- Tony (talk) 01:09, 18 May 2022 (UTC)
- Thanks for the link; I forgot that the audio for the latter had come from an audio cassette recording for Episode 1733. It sounds to me like Jerry in the here/there one, but again the audio isn't the cleanest. -- Tony (talk) 01:29, 18 May 2022 (UTC)
- The Episode 214: Elton John page credits Jerry as Elton John's Lunch, and I can clearly hear him going "Elton, oh Elton!" Can any other voicechasers hear it? —Anthony (talk) 04:06, 18 August 2022 (UTC)
- Ant, please re-read Name That Voice which addresses some of the general issues with voice identifications, but also Muppet Wiki:Sources. Much as we try to keep the wiki accurate, "this article says so" is not a source in itself unless it has citations. The specific edit to add "Elton's John" was made by an unreliable blocked user who would add random claims. The original statement was that Jerry Nelson played "food" and was added by a different blocked user who made incorrect identifications or just made things up.
- Personally, I don't think it's worth arguing if claims for a possible crowd voice are undone. When it's an unmistakable stand-alone voice, that's one thing, or we have behind the scenes footage or anecdotes. In a case like this, odds are decent it's whoever was working that episode as a group, but it's not worth the effort to try to argue that someone said five syllables or some sounds. -- 20:06, 18 August 2022 (UTC)
Poco Loco[]
The character infobox on Poco Loco says that Jerry Nelson performed him from 1974 to 1978. How is this known if none of his episodes from this era are in circulation? —Scott (talk) 01:32, 16 May 2022 (UTC)
- The credit sequence for Episode 0800 from Old School: Volume 2 has Jerry as Poco, but so far that seems to be the only video from that era. -- Tony (talk) 01:39, 16 May 2022 (UTC)