The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo

The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo is an American late-night talk show hosted by the Muppet character Elmo. It is a spin-off of Sesame Street and was developed exclusively for the HBO Max streaming service. The series, consisting of 13 episodes, debuted on HBO Max on May 27, 2020. The first three episodes were available at launch, after which new episodes were premiered weekly. Each episode runs for 15 minutes. In March 2021, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on September 30, 2021, when the show moved to the service's Cartoonito section. However, in August 2022, the series was removed from HBO Max.
Premise
The host of the late-night talk show series is the Muppet character Elmo. The American program's main curricular goals are centered around children's bedtime routines, of which each episode demonstrates a different aspect. The Israeli program focuses primarily on long-form, in-depth celebrity interviews, designed to help younger viewers connect with others on a deeper level.
Episodes
Season 1 (2020)
Season 2 (2021)
International broadcast
In Southeast Asia, the series is aired through HBO Go and episodes are released alongside their HBO Max releases in the United States. In Canada, the series premiered on Treehouse TV on September 5, 2020. In New Zealand, the series premiered on TVNZ OnDemand on January 8, 2021. The show began airing on Cartoon Network in the United States on January 28, 2022 under the Cartoonito brand.
Sesame Workshop announced the production of an Israeli adaptation of the series, titled The Talk Show with Elmo (tvKHnyt hAyrvH SHl Almv), which is slated to premiere on Hop! Channel in October of the same year. 14 episodes have been produced.
Production
The pilot show was directed by Benjamin Lehmann and was produced in January 2019, and features special guest Kacey Musgraves performing "Rubber Duckie". Full production of the series took place in November and December 2019.
In addition to Musgraves, confirmed guests were Jimmy Fallon, the Jonas Brothers, John Oliver, an uncredited actor Victor Joel Ortiz portraying Batman, Jason Sudeikis, Kwame Alexander, Sara Bareilles, Miles Brown, Ciara, Andy Cohen, Dan + Shay, Josh Groban, Mykal-Michelle Harris, H.E.R., Hoda Kotb, Lil Nas X, Blake Lively, John Mulaney, Pentatonix, Ben Platt, Jonathan Van Ness, Olivia Wilde and Sofia Carson. On March 29, 2021, HBO Max renewed the series for a second season.
Reception
The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo received positive reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the first season of the show an 81% "fresh" rating based on 16 reviews with an average rating of 7/10. The critical consensus is: "With great guests, fun games, and a lot of silly songs, The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo is a fitting bedtime show for tots that parents may even enjoy as well". Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100, assigned a rating score of 70 based on 8 critic reviews, meaning favorable reviews for the first season.
The show has been reviewed by The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, The Week, and Comic Book Resources among others.
Accolades
References
Some content in this article was copied from the Muppet Wiki, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA 3.0) license.
Other websites
The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo at Sesame Workshop
on HBO Max (archived)
2020 American television series debuts
2021 American television series endings
American television spin-offs
English-language television programs
Sesame Street
HBO Max original programming