On a rainy afternoon recently, Ernie the Muppet was trying to get through to his roommate Bert.

Normally they would be together, side-by-orange-and-yellow-side. Not these days.

Peter Linz, the puppeteer who plays Ernie, the gleeful “Sesame Street” character, was in his small home office in Westchester County, N.Y., with the Muppet hoisted on his arm. He wore a headband with a mic around his forehead, and he peered into an ad hoc monitor set up on a music stand. Perched on a puppeteer’s dolly three feet off the ground, he called to his teenage son to be quiet before he hit record.

He did Ernie’s tee-hee giggle. Watching from a dozen screens around the country, a director, editor, producers, curriculum experts and other colleagues were all working at a distance — and furiously fast.

The newest “Sesame Street” special, “Elmo’s Playdate,” was taking shape. The special, which debuted April 14, features Elmo having a virtual meet-up with his Muppet pals and celebrities like Lin-Manuel Miranda and Anne Hathaway.