By most standards, Ricky Gervais‘s comedy isn’t exactly kid-friendly, so who in the hell let him hang out with Elmo? While on the set of Sesame Street, filming his appearance for a November episode, Gervais steered his interview with the red Muppet into different territory and, of course, some less than appropriate words came up. Thank goodness AP was there to catch it. Despite the fact that Gervais actually says, “Drugs, child abuse and the Holocaust” during the video, the clip is really delightful. And props to Elmo for not snapping! I know I would have lost it.
The whole thing’s a real treat and worth checking out. Leave the kids in the other room, though, unless you feel like answering some difficult questions later.
I think my favorite part is when Gervais cocks his head to the side and asks, “Do you know what necrophilia is?” and Elmo just freezes. It’s also very unusual to see someone get so poke-y and physical with Elmo. Perhaps I’ve just been away from Sesame Street too long to understand today’s standards for Muppet personal space. Towards the end, Elmo also gets a little sassy with the producer, all the while maintaining his Elmo charm. Perfection.
Clacked by Annie Wu 
on Mar 15, 2009 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
“Where did you lose this interview” – awesome ^^;
I hope you got the “Scrubs” episode with Elmo in it, it was close to what happened here. But not in a Holocaust-funny kind of way…