Hi. I'm Belinda Luscombe.
I'm an editor at large at TIME Magazine.
Today we're asking 10 questions of a man who is one of the most famous characters in the world
and yet can walk in the street unrecognized,
at least until now, when he's the subject of a new documentary.
Kevin Clash, it's a pleasure and Elmo it's an even bigger pleasure.
Thanks for having us.
Kevin, when people ask, you know, at parties or on a plane, what it is you do,
what do you tell them?
I tell them I'm performer with Sesame Street.
I perform, direct, produce Sesame.
And do they say, 'Oh would I know any of your work?'
Well, what's funny is a flight attendant asked me,
and she said 'Oh well could you say something, on the plane?'
And I did as Elmo, and all of the people on the aisle seats peaked out as I walked out,
and they said, 'nah'.
And your documentary 'Being Elmo' is out now.
How much of Elmo is actually you and how much of
it is some character that's you made up in your head?
No, it's you know all the characters that we create, that we help create, is a part of us.
So he's just happened to be one of the the personalities of me.
How long is it that you've been with Elmo now?
Oh close to 30 years now.
Do you ever honestly, do you ever, you can cover his ears, do you ever get sick of Elmo?
No. You know I really have a good time. It's been a lot of fun over, over so many years,
because you're performing, you know.
So it's a lot of fun and the scripts are all different.
The music is all different, so it's been a great deal of fun.
Are you surprised at how enormous he has become?
Yeah very surprised, because you never know.
There's no crystal ball, so you hope that what you're doing,
somebody will like and fortunately they do.
Are you at all weirded out by all the adult fans that Elmo has?
No not at all. I mean, I I'm really excited that a show,
a children's program, has such a large adult viewership without children.
I think that's great, because even,
I'm friends with Winton Marcellus who used to come in and do the show.
He said it's the best variety show on TV.
You one day you can you can watch it as Arrested Development.
The next day it's Yo-Yo Ma, you know, performing with these characters and stuff.
It's something that you could sit down and really really enjoy.
Are some actors more adept at performing with the puppets than others?
The reason why we get so many celebrities and sports and you know across the board
is because they either grew up watching the show,
they have their own children now and they want to show them that they're on the show.
So there's this connection for the show to be on
that long and there's this connection that they have,
and so a lot of times they know the show.
Elmo.
Yes.
Are you surprised that you have so many friends?
No Elmo's not surprised. Elmo loves friends,
and they love Elmo.
What do you think it is about you that people really like?
Well, Elmo doesn't know. We just get along.
Have you had a favorite play date?
Well Elmo hopes that Elmo gets to sing with Miss Barbara Streisand.
Miss Barbara Streisand?
Yeah.
That's exciting. And does Dorothy ever get jealous that you have to get to do all these duets?
Well she gets she gets kind of concerned when Elmo leaves and goes away for a long time,
but Elmo Skypes with her.
Elmo, how do you react if people say mean things to you?
Elmo doesn't.
You don't react?
No.
Doesn't bother you?
Elmo has no idea or understand why.
All right, and have you Elmo ever had
Deep. Thank you.
Elmo, have you ever had a fight with any of your friends?
Well, Elmo was kind of mad at Zoey once because Elmo, Zoey ripped Elmo's blanket.
And how did she?
But she didn't do it on purpose. Elmo was just upset.
And how did you resolve that?
Elmo said he was sorry, and she helped Elmo sew his blanket together again.
You know Elmo I think we could dispatch you to the
Middle East. Maybe you could solve some problems there.
Really? Where's the Middle East?
Elmo thank you so much.
Is that close to Sesame Street?
Very.
Oh good.
Elmo, Kevin, thanks so much for doing this.
Thank you for having us.
Yeah.
If everybody else your age is doing something very different to what you're doing,
there's always gonna be someone saying that you might not succeed,
you might not make any money with that,
all of those things will go away if you really focus on what makes you happy.