Guess what Elmo's thinking about today! YA-TA-TA-TAAAAAA! That's right! The tropes in Elmo's show! You know, the tropes on Elmo's show!

Elmo's World was a segment featured at the tail end of each Sesame Street episode from 1998 to 2012. The segments were produced from 1998 to 2009, and were aired on new Sesame Street episodes up until the 2012-13 season, when it was replaced by Elmo the Musical. However, a retooled version of the show was introduced in 2017, with a shorter format, new songs replacing the old ones, and the addition of a talking smartphone named Smartie. Recuts of the original episodes are shown in addition to new ones.

The Elmo's World segment focuses on one subject throughout its 15-minute course, and numerous skits, anecdotes, puns and other gags all center on that subject. The routine is almost entirely rigid, so it's only proper that the tropes start off with...

• Once per Episode:
  • The theme song kicks everything off, of course. "Lala, lala... lala, lala... Elmo's World..."
  • Elmo reveals the subject of the day (hereinafter referred to as "Subject X").
  • A 30-second clip montage relating to Subject X is shown.
  • "Dorothy's been thinking about (Subject X) too!" Elmo says as a small model pertaining to Subject X is shown inside Dorothy's fishbowl.
  • Dorothy relays something factual about the subject and Elmo says "Dorothy has a question: How do you (do something involving Subject X)"? First, Elmo asks his neighbors, the Noodle Family. Mr. Noodle, his brother (known as Mr. Noodle's brother, Mr. Noodle), or his sister (known as Mr. Noodle's sister, Ms. Noodle), or any combination of the above, attempt to answer Dorothy's question in a very slapstick manner, but usually fail, prompting Elmo to walk away saying, "Oh, Mr. Noodle". Sometimes the failure continues as a Funny Background Event. The segment is intended to be comical, demonstrating that the Noodles aren't all too bright.
  • Next, a few kids demonstrate how it's done in front of Dorothy.
  • Finally, Elmo wants to ask a baby. He goes over to the baby with a prop related to Subject X and asks him/her how to do something involving it, who more often than not does nothing in response. But Elmo doesn't seem to mind, says thank you to the baby and kisses him/her.
  • "And now, Elmo has a question foooo-o-o-o-o-o-or YOU!" He asks the viewers to help him count items involving Subject X in a CGI animation.
  • An animated computer may prance in at this point and declare that "Elmo has mail!" Elmo then watches a video e-mail from one of his Muppet friends.
  • An animated end table (named "Drawer") then tosses out a "do random things have/do Subject X" quiz, where kids, in voice-over, provide the answers. Almost always a birthday cake and a random Sesame Street character are involved. The segment usually begins with Elmo failing to open the Drawer until it finally opens up on its own, often pushing him offscreen.
  • Next is a live-action film, usually involving a child and their experiences with Subject X, who "told Elmo all about it!"
  • Elmo then wants to find out more about Subject X; at that point, an animated television saunters in so Elmo can watch a short animated segment on a channel devoted to Subject X. Most of the time, it's "The Boy/Girl Who Loved (Subject X)", a song by Bubbles Martin, or a lecture on the subject by the Lecture Lady (voiced by Andrea Martin).
  • "How can Elmo find out even MORE about (Subject X)?" To get the answer, he talks to an expert, often an inanimate object related to Subject X.
  • During the guest's speech, Dorothy imagines Elmo in a situation involving Subject X in a world called "Tickle Me Land". In this segment, Elmo may take on the form of any animal, nationality, or profession.
  • In the beginning of the show's run, Elmo would take time at this point to show a video about (Subject X), which he filmed with a miniature camera. This most often involved the help of a Muppet friend.
  • Finally, everyone sings The Closing Song, which is the name of Subject X sung over and over to the tune of "Jingle Bells", before Elmo says goodbye to Dorothy, the viewers, and the guest.

• The revised version has:
  • A new opening theme ("Elmo's full of wonder, wonder what we will discover, in Elmo's wonderful world!").
  • The subject of the day.
  • Asking Elmo's friend Smartie, a living smartphone, about the subject.
  • Playing a game with the viewer related to the subject, drawing on the wall in order to do so.
  • Asking the Noodle family.
  • Ending the segment with the original Happy Dance ("Learning about new things makes Elmo so happy, it makes him want to dance!").

What are some other tropes appearing in Elmo's World? Oh, good question, Dorothy!

• Actor Allusion: In the "Frogs" episode, after making a corny joke, Elmo says the audience, "Elmo made a funny!", calling back to Kevin Clash's previous film role as Master Splinter.
• Affectionate Parody: Cookie Monster did a sendup called "Cookie World" in one Sesame Street episode.
• Animate Inanimate Objects:
  • The door, the window shade, the TV, the computer and the one-drawer end table (a.k.a. "Drawer").
  • The segment also features Muppet guest speakers who are often objects that correlate to the topic of the episode, like a birthday cake for the "Birthdays" episode or a camera for the "Cameras" episode. You get the idea.
• Art Evolution: The animation has vastly improved in later episodes and is livelier and more colorful.
• Artistic License – Animal Care:
  • Fishbowls aren't held to be very good for fish.
  • In "Happy Holidays," Elmo brings her out into snowy weather, which probably would have frozen her in real life.
• Artistic License – Ornithology: The emperor penguin in "Penguins" is actually a king penguin, going by his appearance (he has an orange patch on the side of his head, while emperor penguins are yellow there).
• Babies Make Everything Better: "Elmo wants to ask a baby!" A few times, he ends up questioning a pair of babies. One episode even had babies as its subject.
• Bait-and-Switch: The film segment for "Friends" features a girl named Rebecca. It initially creates the impression that she invited another girl, who uses a wheelchair, over to play. However, when they're seen going to the library with Rebecca's mother, she says that she carried their books while her friend held the door open, revealing that she is the girl who uses the wheelchair, and she is narrating the film.
• Bananas Are Funny: There's an episode revolving around bananas, matching the overall silly tone of the show.
• Beeping Computers: Both the computer and the TV are always accompanied by beeping and technology sounds.
• Birthday Episode: Elmo celebrates Dorothy's birthday in the episode about birthdays.
• The Cameo: Kermit the Frog makes a brief appearance in the "Frogs" episode. Notable for being a rare post-Disney appearance.
• Cartoon Penguin: The "Penguins" episode includes a number of real penguin species, but some of the puppets and animated penguins are not supposed to be any particular kind. Their designs varied; they all had the usual black bodies and white bellies, while the puppets have orange feet and gray beaks, those that Elmo counts have white faces and orange beaks and feet, and the animated portion with the "penguins on parade" has three penguins with white faces and yellow bills.
• Coincidental Broadcast:
  • Elmo's TV just happens to be tuned to the channel about whatever Elmo's thinking about. (Examples: "The Teeth Channel", "The Building Things Channel", "The Frog Channel" and yes, "The Weather Channel".)
  • On the episode about skin, the TV shows the "All About Skin Channel". Evidently, "The Skin Channel" sounded too inappropriate for a children's TV show.
• Didn't Think This Through: When asked by Elmo how to do something, Mr. Noodle sometimes jumps right into trying to provide an answer without comprehending it first. "No, try again, Mr. Noodle!"
• Door Roulette: What's Elmo thinking about today? Most often after pontificating this, he'll go to the door behind him, open it... and either get run over by Muppet animals or people, have a wall of objects fall on him, or be confronted by a random snippet of video.
• Epic Fail: Each time the Noodles try to experiment the topic that is being discussed, it ends in a comical failure.
• Every Episode Ending: As noted, the segments would always close out episodes of Sesame Street.
• Feeling Blue: In the skit "Skin", Dorothy the fish has a Fantasy Sequence about Elmo as a chameleon turning blue because he's lonely.
• Firehouse Dalmatian:
  • In the episode, "Dogs", during the photo quiz, a question about a fire truck owning a dog is deemed false, but a dog can ride on the truck, and a Dalmatian appears on the truck as it is stated.
  • The "Mike the Firefighting Dog" segment in the episode, "Firefighters", features Mike the Dalmatian, who fulfills the role of a typical firefighter when he goes off to rescue a puppy from his burning doghouse. It's later revealed to be a dream he was having.
• The Flapping Dickey: In the episode about getting dressed, Elmo asks Mr. Noodle how he gets dressed, and Mr. Noodle dresses himself in a collared shirt, a dickie, and a bow tie. As this happens, the bottom button of the dickie comes undone and it sticks up. Mr. Noodle can't get it to stay down unless he holds it down.
• The Fool: The Noodles, who have no idea of how to perform a simple task and have to be guided by Elmo and the off-screen kid voices in order to do it correctly. Although, it mostly ends in a failure.
• Funny Background Event: Sometimes Mr. Noodle's fail will continue in the background as Elmo continues discussing about the topic.
• Funny Photo Phrase: At the end of "Cameras", a camera announces she will be taking a photo of everyone. However, a camera-shy cheese wedge begs Elmo not to say cheese. It turns out Elmo was going to say "broccoli". And so, a broccoli shows up and everyone says "broccoli" as the photo is being taken.
• Gasshole: The Drawer is one in the “Food” episode, letting out a loud burp when Elmo meets up with him (which Elmo excuses him for) and burping again after the quiz, as well as burping along to the song in the end.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: During the Noodle Family, counting quiz and photo quiz segments, a couple of kids are heard (but never seen) coaching the Noodles and responding to the quizzes, respectively.
• Interchangeable Asian Cultures: An odd version of this happens in "Penguins", where the presenter greets a macaroni penguin from the Indian Ocean with "Namaste, Apu". Macaroni penguins do live on some of the Indian Ocean's subantarctic islands, but nowhere near the Indian subcontinent the ocean was named for.
• Jerkass:
  • The Shade always messes when Elmo whenever he wants to talk to Mr. Noodle. Either refusing to move when pulled, or just flat-out not letting Elmo grab it.
  • The Drawer likes to knock Elmo down in the process of getting out the photo quiz. It's about as Jerkass as it can be in a preschooler-oriented program, anyway.
  • In "Happy Holidays", Door harassed Elmo with its mistletoe, demanding multiple kisses when it was first introduced, and insisting upon being kissed each time Elmo answered the door thereafter.
• Kazoos Mean Silliness: The theme song and the music that plays during the 30-second clip montage have a kazoo playing.
• Living Whirlwind: In the episode about Weather, Elmo meets a sentient tornado, who tells him that it's too dangerous to play outside when he's around, but there are ways he can play in safer kinds of weather.
• Mid-Air Food Failure: In the episode about food, Dorothy imagines Elmo as a chef making pizza in a pizza parlor. Elmo tosses his pizza dough into the air, but it doesn't come down, much to his bewilderment. In the next scene, Dorothy imagines Elmo as a farmer who picks an apple from a tree, and as Elmo shows the viewers the apple he picked, the pizza dough from the previous scene falls on his head, which he laughs off.
• Mythology Gag:
  • In "Happy Holidays", Elmo sings "Happy Holidays" to the tune of Jingle Bells. Then he and Dorothy join the cast of Sesame Street in the arbor to sing Jingle Bells itself.
  • In "Hair", Elmo asks viewers to count the brushes brushing his fur, and he's still ticklish. When the third brush makes contact with Elmo's fur, he starts laughing in a way he hadn't since Tickle Me Elmo.
• No Fourth Wall:
  • Elmo talks to the viewers for pretty much the entire duration of the episodes.
  • Most of Sesame Street's 35th anniversary special, The Street We Live On is an extra-long Elmo's World segment about Sesame Street.
• Planet of Steves: The apartment next door to Elmo, where you'll find Mr. Noodle, his brother, known as "Mr. Noodle's brother Mr. Noodle" (played by the late Michael Jeter), and occasionally his sister, known as "Mr. Noodle's sister Ms. Noodle" (played by Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth). Their first names are never mentioned.
• Prefers Going Barefoot: In "Feet", the cartoon that Elmo watches is about a girl who loves her feet so much that she does everything barefoot.
• Quacking Up: "Doctors" makes a visual pun on the phrase "quack doctor"; it features a few appearances by a duck dressed as a doctor.
• Rearrange the Song: At the end of the episode, Elmo plays "Jingle Bells" on his piano... however, the lyrics are just "water, water, water... water, water, water..." or "hands, hands, hands... hands, hands, hands..." or whatever the subject of the episode might be repeated ad nauseum to that effect. The "Farms" episode is an exception; instead, it's "Old McDonald Had a Farm" that's being rearranged.
• Repeated for Emphasis: In many episodes, when Elmo reveals the subject of the day, he says "Guess what Elmo is thinking about today? That's right, (Subject X)! You know, (Subject X)!"
• Running Gag:
  • Elmo opening the door to have whatever the subject of the episode is either fall on or trample over him.
  • Elmo trying to open Drawer, only for it to open by itself, and push Elmo off-screen.
• The Runt at the End:
  • In the episode about pets, when Elmo opens the door to his closet, a swarm of animals run out of it and past him. A turtle, who predictably isn't a very fast runner, trails behind them.
  • In the episode about fast and slow, Elmo counts fourteen racehorses as they run past him. Following behind them is a snail, whom Elmo says is going at a snail's pace.
• Sequel Episode: Some episodes address topics of earlier episodes more specifically or rarely, more broadly. For example, there's "Food" and "Bananas", "Pets", "Dogs", and "Cats", ^note  These last two episodes actually do both, as they respectively address canine and feline pets specifically, but also cover their wild counterparts."Shoes", "Hats", and "Getting Dressed".
• Shout-Out:
  • In "Music", Elmo interviews an accordion which has more than a little bit of white and scarlet on it.
  • In the home video "Reach for the Sky", Elmo announces the episode "Sky" by saying "Look up - way up!"
• Silent Snarker: Drawer has shades of this. Along with his frequent opposition to doing the photo quiz with Elmo, there's also a moment in "Noses" where he shakes his head (or drawer box?) in response to Elmo showing off by balancing a ball on his nose.
• Singing Voice Dissonance: Played for Laughs in "Happy Holidays". The Christmas Carolers have beautiful professional singing voices, but they have grating and annoying speaking voices.
• Strictly Formula: Indeed. The order of some of the routines is switched up in a handful of episodes, however.
• Stylistic Suck: The videos Elmo shoots from the early run of the show. The camera constantly moves, and his hands can be seen over the lens.
• Sudden Anatomy: In the episode about shoes, Elmo gains a tongue when he sticks it out to show a talking shoe that he has a tongue just like her.
• Suspender Snag: In one episode about getting dressed, Elmo asks Mr. Noodle how he gets dressed. When Mr. Noodle puts on his pants, he has a hard time keeping them from falling down, so Elmo and the children tell him to use his suspenders to hold them up. Mr. Noodle does so, but in the process, his suspenders get stuck to the hook on the door, which holds him back.
• That Syncing Feeling: In the episode about singing, Mr. Noodle appears to be singing opera at first, but it is soon revealed that he was lip-syncing to a tape recorder.
• Volumetric Mouth: Sometimes when Elmo talks loudly, you can only see his mouth and his nose.
• The Voiceless:
  • None of the household objects that Elmo interacts with actually talk (with the exception of the computer, who just says "Elmo has mail"). Instead, they communicate with body movements and sounds.
  • Same with Mr. Noodle and his family, who communicate with facial expressions and actions.
• Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Elmo is temporarily blinded, with his irises shrinking, after he opens the door to multiple cameras taking a picture of him at once in "Cameras".
• Wrap-Up Song:
  • Elmo's World ends with Elmo playing the piano and singing a song To the Tune of… "Jingle Bells" about that day's subject, ending by saying goodbye to Dorothy, the viewers, and whoever he interviewed on the topic of the day.
  • The reboot uses its "Happy Dance" song. Elmo says goodbye to the viewers in a similar manner to the original. In some episodes, he is joined by another Muppet from Sesame Street (usually either Grover or Cookie Monster) to sing the "Monster Dance".

Thaaaaat's Ellllmoooo's WOOOOOOOOORLD!

Statler: That's it? That's what's special about Elmo and his world?
Waldorf: What do you expect? Maybe it's because he's the only Muppet with lots of exaggeration!
Both Do-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-hoh!