Sesame Street Japan Welcomes A New Family Member to the International Fold

Everyone knows Kevin Clash as the man behind that beloved little red monster Elmo, but not so many people know that he is also senior creative advisor for Sesame Workshop, responsible for training puppeteers all over the world when a new Sesame Street co-production launches.

In that role, Clash traveled to Tokyo in 2004 to help get Sesame Street Japan off the ground; in the space of two intensive weeks, he held puppeteer auditions and helped train the selected puppeteers.

Clash recalls that when he arrived in Japan, he was immediately impressed with the diligence and the seriousness that the puppeteers displayed.

Teena, Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Mojabo (Sesame Street Japan)

“They’re so disciplined and so wanting to learn, they’re amazing…those kids really blew me away,” Clash says.

From the beginning, Sesame Street Japan was intended to be very much geared toward the Japanese audience, incorporating Japanese ideals and comedy styles.

“We wanted to create a show that focuses on the needs of Japanese children,” says Manabu Nagaoka, Sesame Workshop’s producer for Sesame Street Japan.

To accomplish this goal, Sesame Workshop and the Japanese production team worked together to develop new characters to complement Big Bird, Bert, Ernie, and Elmo. The new Muppets include Mojabo, a green and purple monster, and Teena, who reflects “kawaii,” or the cuteness that is prevalent in Japanese culture. There’s also a comedic bird and frog duo, Arthur and Pierre, whose sense of humor is typical of a traditional Japanese comedy form called “manzai.”

Manabu believes that these additions really increased the show’s ability to appeal to a Japanese audience. But creating the characters was only half the battle; Clash still needed to find a group of highly skilled and dedicated puppeteers to play them.

Preparing the puppeteers to carry the Sesame torch

Clash recalls that while he was auditioning puppeteers in Japan, there were certain qualities in a person’s performance and personality that told him that this was the right person for the job.

“There are basic things that you see in the performer: lip synching, controlling the puppet so it looks real, the personality and the character. You need to see if they can bring the puppet to life,” he explains.

Sesame Street Japan Associate Producer Masayuki Sato recalls that Clash managed to make the audition process enjoyable by explaining that the point was not to drop people who didn’t qualify, but to practice puppeteering together and see who has the talent.

“So, everyone got a little training and even those who were turned down said they had a good time,” Masayuki says.

Clash points out that it’s incredibly challenging to bring new puppeteers up to speed on playing a Muppet’s character, and that the amount of time that he has to work with a new group is never sufficient to train them fully. Instead, he looks at it as giving the puppeteers the basic tools they need to carry on without his guidance.

“You give them all you can in that short period,” he says. “I’m over there for two weeks, and the first half of that is auditions, the second half is training. The first four days of the shooting, you say, ok, I’ve done all that I can, and then you go away.”

It’s also up to Clash and his colleagues to prepare the cast puppeteers for the physically challenging aspects of spending hours at a time inside a Muppet costume. When he realized that he had cast a smoker to play Big Bird, Clash tried to impress upon him how crucial it is to be healthy to be able to play a Muppet.

“I told him, ‘You will not be able to do this if you smoke. You need your lungs and your energy,’ Clash says.

Sure enough, on set one day, they saw Big Bird start to sway, and quickly pulled the costume off.

“This kid was grey,” Clash remembers. “People don’t realize how hard it is to be inside these costumes for a long period of time.”

Besides preparing people for the reality of life inside a Muppet costume, Clash and his colleagues make a point of getting the new puppeteers excited about continuing the Sesame Street mission in their own country. To do this, Clash and fellow Muppeteer Noel MacNeal showed the new Sesame Street Japan puppeteers other international Sesame Street shows as a way of introducing them to their extended family.

 “We show them that they have family in Portugal, they have family in Amsterdam, and Germany, and we keep cheerleading and keeping the excitement up and telling them that they are now running with the gauntlet and with another country. And they get excited about that. They get really, really excited,” says Clash.

Making intimate connections with puppeteers around the world

Clash says that the intensive puppeteer training period is a powerful way to experience a new country and to quickly make close friends. He goes there with the intention of connecting with the people he works with, and says that it’s a great feeling to know that you’re going to give them this knowledge and that he’s going to learn about a new culture.  

“You’re coming in and trying to create something with them. You make these wonderful friends, and they become a part of something that you will never forget.”

He says that it often isn’t until after the training is over that he looks back and realizes how close he has become with the people he has worked with.  

“You don’t realize what’s happening until it’s time to leave, there’s so much on our plate.”

He recalls that when saying goodbye to the Japanese puppeteers, it wasn’t until they all started hugging him that he realized the closeness of the friendships he had made. Clash left Japan feeling incredibly positive about the team’s accomplishments in a very brief period of time. Asked if he feels proud of the result, Clash answers with a resounding yes.

“Oh yeah. You just wanna cry.”