Clash also built puppets for the Romper Room franchise. While appearing at a neighborhood festival, Clash was discovered by Baltimore television personality Stu Kerr, who became Clash's first mentor and hired him to perform in the children's show Caboose at Channel 2. While still in high school, Clash performed at venues throughout Baltimore, including schools, churches, fundraisers, and community events. īy the time he was a teenager, he had built almost 90 puppets, which he based upon commercials, popular music, and his friends. His first performances were for his mother's daycare children. When he was twelve, he made a monkey puppet out of the lining of his father's coat. He made his first puppet, a version of Mickey Mouse, at the age of 10. Clash developed an interest in puppetry at an early age, inspired by children's shows like Kukla, Fran and Ollie and Sesame Street.
Clash returned to puppeteering as a supporting performer in the comedy The Happytime Murders (2018).Ĭlash was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 17, 1960, the third of four children born to George Clash, a flash welder and handyman, and Gladys Clash, who ran a small daycare center in their two-bedroom, one-bath home in the Turner Station of Dundalk, Maryland. Clash's autobiography, My Life as a Furry Red Monster, was published in 2006 he was later the subject of the documentary Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey (2011).Ĭlash resigned from Sesame Street in 2012 after allegations of sexual impropriety, all of which he denied and were later dismissed due to expiration of the statute of limitations. Clash worked in various productions with The Jim Henson Company and occasionally on other projects.
He was the fifth puppeteer to perform Elmo, who became his signature character, and he also served as an executive producer and director for the show. He joined the cast of Captain Kangaroo in the early 1980s and began performing on Sesame Street in 1984. He also performed puppets for Labyrinth, Dinosaurs, Oobi, and various Muppet productions.Ĭlash developed an interest in puppetry at an early age and, in his teen years, performed for local television children's shows in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. He is best known for puppeteering Elmo on Sesame Street from 1984 to 2012. Kevin Jeffrey Clash (born September 17, 1960) is an American puppeteer, director and producer.