Elmo (and Puppeteer Kevin Clash) | 10 Questions | TIME

Hello. I'm Belinda Luscombe. I am editor-at-large of TIME magazine. Today we ask 10

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to a man who is one of the most famous people in the world and yet can walk down the street without being recognized, at least until now, when he is the subject of a new documentary. Kevin Clash, it's a pleasure and Elmo is an even bigger pleasure. Thank you for having us. Kevin, when people ask you, you know, at parties or on a plane, what do you do, what do you tell them? I tell them I'm a Sesame Street artist. I act, direct and produce Sesame.

And they say, 'Oh, would I know any of your work?' Well, the funny thing is that a flight attendant asked me and said, 'Well, could you say something on the plane?' And I did like Elmo, and all the people in the aisle seats looked out when I came out and said, 'no.' And your documentary 'Being Elmo' is now available. How much of Elmo is actually you and how much is some character you made up in your head? No, you know that all the characters we create, that we help create, are part of us.

Turns out he's one of my personalities. How long have you been with Elmo? Oh, about 30 years. Do you ever, honestly, can you ever block your ears, do you ever get tired of Elmo? No. You know I really had a good

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. It's been so much fun for so many years, because you're acting, you know? It's a lot of fun and the scripts are all different. The music is all different, so it's been a lot of fun. Are you surprised how huge it has become? Yes, very surprised, because you never know. There's no crystal ball, so you hope someone likes what you're doing, and luckily they do.

Do all the adult fans Elmo has miss you at all? Not at all. I mean, I'm very excited that a show, a children's show, has such a large adult audience without children. I think it's cool, because I'm even friends with Winton Marcellus, who used to come and do the show. He said it's the best variety show on television. One day you'll be able to watch it as Arrested Development. The next day it's Yo-Yo Ma, you know, acting with these characters and stuff. It's something you can sit back and really enjoy. Are some actors more skilled than others at acting with puppets?

The reason we have so many celebrities and sports across the board is because they grew up watching the show, now they have their own kids and they want to show them that they're on the show. So there's this connection for the show to last so long and there's this connection that they have, so a lot of

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s they know the show. Elmo. Yes. Are you surprised to have so many friends? No, Elmo is not surprised. Elmo loves his friends and they love Elmo. What do you think people really like about you? Well, Elmo doesn't know. We just get along well.

Have you had a favorite play date? Well, Elmo hopes that he can sing with Miss Barbara Streisand. Miss Barbara Streisand? Yes. That's exciting. And does Dorothy ever get jealous that you have to do all these duets? Well, she gets a little worried when Elmo leaves and is gone for a long time, but Elmo Skypes with her. Elmo, how do you react if people say bad things to you? Elmo doesn't. Don't you react? No. Doesn't it bother you? Elmo has no idea or understands why. Alright, and has Elmo ever had Deep? Thank you. Elmo, have you ever had a fight with one of your friends?

Well, Elmo was a little mad at Zoey one time because Elmo, Zoey tore up Elmo's blanket. And how did she do it? But she didn't do it on purpose. Elmo was just upset. And how did you solve that? Elmo said he was sorry and she helped him sew his blanket back together. You know Elmo. I think we could send you to the Middle East. Maybe you can solve some problems there. Actually? Where is the Middle East? Elmo, thank you very much. Is it close to Sesame Street? Very. Oh God. Elmo, Kevin, thank you so much for doing this.

Thanks for having us. Yes. If everyone else your age is doing something very different from what you do, there will always be someone telling you that you might not be successful, that you might not make money at it, all those things will go away if you really focus. in What makes you happy.