Talk:We Are All Monsters

First appearance

What's the source for this segment first airing in show #1405? -- MuppetDude 14:43, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

My correspondence with Sharon Lyew. --MuppetVJ 14:44, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Who's she? -- MuppetDude 14:46, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Director of Music Publishing at SW. She added that the redubbed Elmo version was first used in 2731. --MuppetVJ 14:50, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Nice! I think I'll add those episodes to the Wiki. -- MuppetDude 14:51, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Did she happen to have any info on other sketches' first appearances? -- MuppetDude 14:52, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

red monster, Elmo

What's the source for Jerry Nelson originally performing the red monster in this song? When the article was created, it originally said it was Brian Muehl. The version that appears on Monster Hits!, the red monster (Kevin Clash) identifies himself as Elmo in dialogue before the song begins and the lip-sync is pretty darn close. If Clash re-recorded this later, what was he originally saying? —Scott (talk) 04:34, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Clash did re-record it later - I think the monster said "And you don't look like me" which is basically what the other monsters said before him. The original version of the song (with the non-Clash monster voice) appears on The Gang's All Here, if you want to hear it for yourself and decide how Jerry it is. --MuppetVJ 04:40, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Interesting. So the puppet is still just an AM monster by 1983 and not called Elmo yet. Although, the audio version I just dug up on the LP I had buried doesn't have the opening dialogue that the video version on Monster Hits! has. I wonder how far apart the audio and video were produced. Trying to make a case for the Elmo puppet just being a random red monster is so much more difficult when they do stuff like this. —Scott (talk) 05:16, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

I was just looking at the page for The Gangs All Here, and I have a feeling that the audio and televised recordings were different. On that page, in the performer listing, Richard Hunt wasn't credited, though he performed the gray monster in that song. The only performers listed for that album are Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, and Caroll Spinney. Of course I've never seen the album case in person, so he could have been credited and somebody forgot to list him. --Minor muppetz 12:42, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

I adjusted the text on this page to more accurately reflect the differences in the two versions I have access to. It's definitely the same exact vocal tracks by Henson, Oz and Hunt, with Clash's replacing Nelson's. I'm left to wonder though, that the video could have been shot to the newly mixed track even two years later. —Scott (talk) 16:43, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

If it helps any, in the dubbed Sesamstraat version, the red monster has a 'regular monster' voice, not the Elmo voice performed by Hein Boele. It has always remained this way, even when Elmo became a character. The same goes for the Near and Far song. Maybe that says something... --Jogchem 16:48, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Some of you have said that this song is from 1983, and some have said that it featured the monster who would become Elmo. I looked at the page for The Sesame Street Circus of Opposites. That book was made in 1981, two years before this song was recorded, and in that book Elmo was referred to by name. So he was already known as Elmo by that point. --Minor muppetz 01:57, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

The The Sesame Street Circus of Opposites illustration is a two page spread showing Deena, Elmo, Telly and Pearl as clowns. It's possible that the group was meant to show off new characters for the 1981 season. -- Hilleyb 03:00, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

Hey, nice find Michael! That's our earliest conclusive evidence for the use of Elmo's name. —Scott (talk) 15:31, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

I have nothing to add, except that this conversation makes me love the wiki so much. Frog bless you all. -- Danny (talk) 15:35, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

I was just looking at a post at Muppet Central, which mentions the original version being available at You Tube, which would prove that the sketch was tapped before Kevin Clash took over, but in the same thread, it says that it's taken from a copy with Kevin Clash performing Elmo's voice, but with the audio version dubbed over the vocals, and was said that the person who uploaded that clip did an impression of Elmo's voice and dubbed it in the introduction. So the mysery of whether Kevin Clash originally performed Elmo in the clip remains a mystery for now. However, the video Monster Hits! does credit Brian Meuhl as a performer, but it could be for another skit as another monster character (or as the right hand of a character). --Minor muppetz 20:47, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

The page for The Gang's All Here says that the album consists entirely of TV soundtracks, so that would mean that this song was performed on the show first. Of course, that page doesn't cite any sources for the fact that the song uses television recordings (is there such a note in the album packaging?). --Minor muppetz 13:46, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Listen very closely. You'll notice that the tape hiss/background noise changes during Kevin's line, indicating that it was definitely relooped later. You don't need any more proof than that. --MuppetVJ 15:48, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Guillermo, I don't think the fact that Elmo's lines were redubbed later is in question. Michael's talking about the claim that all the songs from The Gang's All Here come from TV soundtracks. I have the LP buried away again, but I can check later to see if there's a note on the album about that. —Scott (talk) 15:54, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

The cover says "ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING FROM TV'S SESAME STREET." Plus, "My Polliwog Ways" is included without the dialogue at the beginning and end, meaning it's the backing track that was used on the show. That's enough evidence for me. --MuppetVJ 15:57, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

A number of fans have said that Elmo originally said "He doesn't look like me" as opposed to "He doens't look like Elmo". I was just watching the dubbed clip closely,and looking at the mouth movement he does move his mouth twice says "Elmo". So I guess either we've been wrong about the dubbing (though in that clip Elmo looks more like the puppet used in season 11 as opposed to season 17... And if it was refilmed it's odd that all the other voices remained the same) or Elmo spoke in the third person back then. --Minor muppetz 23:48, February 15, 2011 (UTC)

Date for the We Are All Monsters song

The correct written date for the We Are All Monsters song is actually 1979. It says so on the song lyric poster of Monster Hits.