Kevin Clash

Although he did not join the Henson oranization until the 1984-85 season, Kevin Clash-performer of the immensely popular Elmo-quickly proved himself as a puppeteer of outstanding ability.
"When I was ten years old, I saw Sesame Street for the first time, ans I knew then and there that I wanted to be a puppeteer with the Muppets. I finally met Jim by working on the Sesame Street float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and soon after was hired for the show.
"In 1985, we did The Muppets-A Celebration of Thirty Years. We were doing a scene that involved over two hundred puppets, and Jim asked all the main puppeteers to help the hundred or so background puppeteers with their performances. Steve Whitmire and I were watching the monitor when we noticed this one little white rabbit in the background of the shot. While all the puppets were calmly and rhythmically singing to the prerecorded song, this rabbit was hyperactively jumping up and down and shamelessly upstaging the other Muppets. We looked at each other in horror and I told Steve I would talk to Wayne Moss, the manager, and have him instruct the rabbit's puppeteer to tone down the wild movement.
"When asked, Wayne gave me a puzzled look and said, 'Are you sure you want me to tell that puppeteer to tone down?' I said, 'Of course, he's upstaging everybody else!' Wayne reluctantly spoke the instrctions into his walkie-talkie. The puppet slowly sank behind the table as the puppeteer's head slowly rose above it. It was Jim!"

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