Speaker 1: Hey, Christy, Hey Will, how are you? I'm doing so great.
Speaker 1: Today's guest was just such a rainbow. He really is.
Speaker 1: It's a strange way to to describe him, but yes
Speaker 1: he is. And normally we would do our intro at
Speaker 1: the beginning, but I'm away and I had some technical issues,
Speaker 1: so we got to talk to this amazing man first
Speaker 1: and now we're enjoying him second. But who's our guest today?
Speaker 1: Oh man, it's the one, the only Rob Paulson. Wait
Speaker 1: to hear this. Hi guys, Hey, how are you? Hey buddy,
Speaker 1: this is the coolest thing. So for everybody here at
Speaker 1: I Hear Voices. The first thing we need to say
Speaker 1: is that this show would absolutely not exist without our
Speaker 1: guest today, because one of the greatest shows in history
Speaker 1: for anybody who loved animation was Talking Tunes. Oh God,
Speaker 1: bless you well man by the way you lowered your
Speaker 1: standards enough to get on to come on my show.
Speaker 1: That's not you're kidding. You know how honored I was
Speaker 1: to be able to sit there with you. And without
Speaker 1: Talking Tunes, I Hear Voices would not exist. So credit
Speaker 1: where credit is due. We were trying to to pick
Speaker 1: up the torch, which is absolutely impossible to do after
Speaker 1: having such a brilliant show, So thank you for joining us. Hello, Christie,
Speaker 1: nice to see it loves to have a lot of
Speaker 1: foudu in the water tower. Look at that beautiful smile. Wow,
Speaker 1: I am really excited to me because I'm a huge
Speaker 1: fan of yours. You look pretty normal size to me.
Speaker 1: But thank you very much. All of this is uh
Speaker 1: is just well, you know, well, anytime anytime anyone takes
Speaker 1: a moment to express their appreciation for something that you
Speaker 1: were paid to do for free, um you would have
Speaker 1: done for free, is a is a profound compliment. And
Speaker 1: I I love it when people say, well, I know
Speaker 1: you hear this all the time, but it's the first
Speaker 1: time I heard it from you, and it's always incredibly
Speaker 1: flattering and humbling. So thank you, Christie. It's very strange.
Speaker 1: One of the things that's so strange and and wonderful. Uh.
Speaker 1: And and you know, anytime there's anything terrible like the pandemic,
Speaker 1: you try to look for positives wherever you can And
Speaker 1: one of the things that came out that was so
Speaker 1: positive was a whole new group of people found animation.
Speaker 1: Hey man, it has blown up off rightfully so the
Speaker 1: most talented actors you will ever meet in history, from
Speaker 1: any genre of acting. You want to pick our bar
Speaker 1: non voice over actors. I will say that till the
Speaker 1: day I beg if they are the best ever. And
Speaker 1: people they're starting to get there due just a little bit.
Speaker 1: And when you're at a convention and you're seeing on
Speaker 1: camera actors with a decent line of people, and then
Speaker 1: the voice over actors with people down the street, you
Speaker 1: realize you are finally getting their due. Isn't that something? Uh?
Speaker 1: It is. I started my career in in Hollywood forty
Speaker 1: four years ago, uh, ostensibly to do what I had
Speaker 1: done at theater, guide music and all that. So I
Speaker 1: came out and was doing TV and movies and a
Speaker 1: lot of commercials on camera. H But as you know, well, um,
Speaker 1: you know, average looking Caucasian kids from Michigan or a
Speaker 1: diamond doesn't Uh. Some are talented, some art and sometimes
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter, especially when commercials are small parts on television.
Speaker 1: If you fit the suit, you got a shot. Um.
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you what. Everybody loves cartoons virtually, and
Speaker 1: when I got here, cartoons were pretty much relegated to
Speaker 1: Saturday morning. The Three networks. Um, and so they were
Speaker 1: literally a handful of actors who were fortunate up to
Speaker 1: do them all and rightfully so June Foray and now
Speaker 1: blank and you know does Butler and just legends over
Speaker 1: and over and over and over again. Um. So in
Speaker 1: the mid eighties, I think my agent, uh called. By
Speaker 1: the way, I'm still represented by them. They still haven't
Speaker 1: figured it out that they should. Don't be a long
Speaker 1: time ago, but um they said, have you ever thought
Speaker 1: about auditioning for animation as well? Sure, but it's that
Speaker 1: gig is closed. Well, you know, things are starting to change.
Speaker 1: Of course, this was before uh the Internet, before HBO,
Speaker 1: certainly before Cartoon Network anything. So the first show I
Speaker 1: went to audition forward shows were g I Joe and Transformers,
Speaker 1: and I got a gig, and I remember just minor characters.
Speaker 1: I called my agent literally when I found a phone booth, um,
Speaker 1: and I said, do whatever it takes, send me out
Speaker 1: for more of this. The first thing I noticed when
Speaker 1: I walked into this room of wonderful actors, several of
Speaker 1: whom where people I recognized from episodic television. You know,
Speaker 1: Bob Rigiley or Bill Daily or Marsha Wallace, whomever. And
Speaker 1: the second thing I noticed is that they were not
Speaker 1: only obviously gifted, but they were utterly unencumbered by how
Speaker 1: they looked. They were monsters and you know, bad guys,
Speaker 1: good guys singing, not singing exactly why kids begin acting
Speaker 1: in the first place. It's literally like high tech sandbox.
Speaker 1: And I thought, man on, man, now you're talking. Nobody
Speaker 1: gives up Pardner. You know what what I'm looking like? Um,
Speaker 1: I was only limited by my chops, my willingness to
Speaker 1: be fearless, small enough, you know what I mean, but
Speaker 1: not not worry about how I looked, at how I
Speaker 1: came across, and by getting the right angle or or
Speaker 1: my teeth, none of that. It was literally like being
Speaker 1: a kid saying, all right, you be the monster, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be the guy to kill the monster. That's
Speaker 1: what it was. And oh my god, it really was
Speaker 1: like like somebody had shown a light on this is
Speaker 1: the reason you came to Hollywood. Uh. And honestly, now,
Speaker 1: when I'm old enough to be pretty much everybody's grandfather,
Speaker 1: people don't know. People don't know that I was the
Speaker 1: entertainment at the last time. Pretty old I was checky
Speaker 1: of arimathea, you know, but sit down, Judas, that's exactly
Speaker 1: and you know what it was, Jesus, what a party,
Speaker 1: and you know it was. It was great. But nonetheless, Uh,
Speaker 1: now that I'm older, I'm young enough to travel around
Speaker 1: the world doing what I'm doing now getting a chance
Speaker 1: to meet people, as you had alluded to earlier. Well,
Speaker 1: these fantastic conventions, which are so ubiquitous, they're springing up
Speaker 1: like it's on a twelve year old. I couldn't be
Speaker 1: more excited. The stories we hear over and over again,
Speaker 1: you guys, is the extent to which these characters connect
Speaker 1: with people. It got me through this my father died.
Speaker 1: We used to watch it together, you name it. And
Speaker 1: it is so much bigger than my paycheck. It is
Speaker 1: so much bigger than an action figure or rating point.
Speaker 1: And as long as I can do this physically and
Speaker 1: travel around, I can't get enough of it. It is
Speaker 1: after the pandemic and increcredible reminder of not only how
Speaker 1: fortunate we all are to do this gig, but our
Speaker 1: work really is important. It really is, and oh my god,
Speaker 1: you guys can't enough of it. Well, it's also the
Speaker 1: thing that's amazing is it's generational, which is something that
Speaker 1: I love so and every generation really believes that they
Speaker 1: have their own, their best, their best cartoons. And with
Speaker 1: the funny thing is mine does um so everything, So
Speaker 1: everything you've done when we're talking about we can get
Speaker 1: and we're going to get into Pinky and the Brain
Speaker 1: and all this stuff obviously, but when you say the
Speaker 1: first thing you did was G I Joe's, I had
Speaker 1: to run home to watch G I Joe. I would
Speaker 1: cry when I missed G I Joe. I mean it
Speaker 1: was one of those things where this was back in
Speaker 1: the day where there was one VCR and somebody had
Speaker 1: it on the streets. So it wasn't you couldn't. You
Speaker 1: didn't record anything. There was no no YouTube, no DVDs.
Speaker 1: If you caught the show, you caught the show. If
Speaker 1: you didn't, you didn't. But the idea that you got
Speaker 1: to do G I Joe and Transformers, and that was
Speaker 1: during the ThunderCats and he Man and silver Hawks. I
Speaker 1: mean again that those that's my jam, that's my that's
Speaker 1: it got me into those cartoons. So I've got to
Speaker 1: know a little bit about what it was like to
Speaker 1: record G I Joe. Oh well, I walked in and
Speaker 1: Charlie Avert, the lovely Charlie Adder, who just had a
Speaker 1: birthday I think the day before yesterday. Uh Charlie and
Speaker 1: I meant on G I Joe five six um and
Speaker 1: Uh Charlie came from a heavy duty Broadway background and
Speaker 1: my background was live theater music and then commercials in
Speaker 1: l a um. But we were both really really excited.
Speaker 1: And as a kid, when I was a kid, G
Speaker 1: I Joe was an action figure for boys. It was
Speaker 1: like about that talk. Of course you always said, oh
Speaker 1: it's like a Kendall. No, it's not a doll. It's
Speaker 1: an acid figure and one of which I had. So
Speaker 1: as soon as my agent said G I Joe, I said, oh,
Speaker 1: I am so in yeah, try and stop me. So
Speaker 1: I got hired to do a character called snow Job,
Speaker 1: who was, uh, like I, a Nordic winter soldier, you know.
Speaker 1: So he was. He was the Polar. He was a
Speaker 1: polar Polar ranger. Came with the sled with the snowmobile
Speaker 1: and he did check this out, Christie. He came with
Speaker 1: the sled. He was all dressed in white, a white
Speaker 1: a white weapon, okay, and he's got a white hood.
Speaker 1: So everything is gonna meld in a mission with the
Speaker 1: snow sea. You can't see, but what they also don't
Speaker 1: tell you. He's got a bright red beer and so
Speaker 1: he's like a real Santa Clause. Well said, thank you,
Speaker 1: Well said a little more spelled from Boston. And so
Speaker 1: I really thinking to myself, Yeah, as much as I
Speaker 1: as much as I want to do this gig and
Speaker 1: Ruski with half a half a link of being able
Speaker 1: to fire his weapon could not be off in three
Speaker 1: hundred yards, you know. But every single time you guys
Speaker 1: walked in, I could not wait to get to the
Speaker 1: the studio. And every time I saw the people whom
Speaker 1: I you know, um, Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, over and
Speaker 1: over and over again and natily, did I know I
Speaker 1: was going to have a really great experience. I was
Speaker 1: going to have just a fun experience because you know
Speaker 1: these folks and they're so talented, but they're also uh
Speaker 1: just the nicest, most accepting, zero pretense, no arrogance. Uh.
Speaker 1: I really truly felt like I'd won the lottery. And
Speaker 1: I was so thrilled to get g I Joe because
Speaker 1: it was a big deal for me. And then they
Speaker 1: called me had this, we're doing this other thing called Transformers,
Speaker 1: and so I go and become an aerial bot. And
Speaker 1: to this day when I go to UH conventions, people
Speaker 1: come up to me with I didn't even know that
Speaker 1: there was a snow Job action figure? Are you kidding?
Speaker 1: My god? How about that? Yeah? I do, my god.
Speaker 1: They're they're incredibly uh they become incredibly um. If you
Speaker 1: can find a brand new with the bubble thing still
Speaker 1: on it focks and has the card to the back
Speaker 1: and he tells you the whole back story of everybody
Speaker 1: was to save the cards. You could, you could cut
Speaker 1: them out and save the cards. And I had all
Speaker 1: the cards and all the guys, and it was I
Speaker 1: was that kid. I mean that g I Joe, especially
Speaker 1: G I Joe, Transformers, mask um, those were all like
Speaker 1: you said, that's it was just commercials for the toys.
Speaker 1: But that's all that's all I cared about. It was
Speaker 1: the greatest thing in the world. So that's that was
Speaker 1: my You you change my life in that way. You
Speaker 1: That's what it was. That's what it was when you
Speaker 1: were What I find interesting about the rooms that we
Speaker 1: all work in as voice actors and the community of
Speaker 1: people just obviously who were so talented and supportive. We
Speaker 1: hear this time and time again. But do you feel like,
Speaker 1: I know, some movies it's almost like life imitates art.
Speaker 1: But with g I, Joe, did you feel like it
Speaker 1: was a more math skilling kind of recording process or five? Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean totally. I was trying to be you know,
Speaker 1: uh in terms of the context of the character, trying
Speaker 1: to be, you know, a badass. Now that I had
Speaker 1: my little had a sort of a down east, the
Speaker 1: sort of accent there from up and on the northeast,
Speaker 1: you know, and and knowing is half the battle, yo, Joe. Um,
Speaker 1: it was the coolest thing in the world. But that's
Speaker 1: the thing. I'm five nine and a half of buck fifty.
Speaker 1: Nobody is going to be intimidated by me, Christie, at
Speaker 1: least with respect to my you know, bad ashes. Um.
Speaker 1: But man, I I can well, like well all of
Speaker 1: you questioned, not just well you too, Christie, all of
Speaker 1: us can play characters, uh, for whom we would never
Speaker 1: be considered on camera ever. And UM. To to have
Speaker 1: that experience still and now to be able to see
Speaker 1: generational I was this weekend I was with Maurice la Marshall,
Speaker 1: we're doing a thing in Ohio. Oh my god, with
Speaker 1: Pinky in the brain and g I Joe. We have
Speaker 1: three generations grandparents who are sixty five, who were thirty
Speaker 1: when the shows came out, wash them in college or whatever,
Speaker 1: had a couple of beers or drank the bong water
Speaker 1: and watched cartoons, you know, And now they have their
Speaker 1: children and grandchildren and they're all yeah, yeah, And people say, well,
Speaker 1: you know, I got to tell you now thinking they drink. Dude.
Speaker 1: Steven Spielberg is seventy six. He's my boss, you think,
Speaker 1: but he gives him a problem for being the biggest
Speaker 1: richest nerd in Hollywood. Of course not. But these are
Speaker 1: utterly uh, not at all. I'm what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 1: It's not at all inappropriate for anybody to watch cartoons.
Speaker 1: My god. If I if I watch Bamby now, I
Speaker 1: still fall apart when he starts, when Babby starts screaming
Speaker 1: for his mom, I always do course, does that happen
Speaker 1: like the Babby's mom is dead by? Like the credits,
Speaker 1: by the way, exactly what a way to start a
Speaker 1: film that's like, my popcorn is not even done? What
Speaker 1: are you doing. I love that that as well, stated
Speaker 1: so perfectly at the beginning the incredible platinum lining for
Speaker 1: people in our business Visa v COVID is exactly that
Speaker 1: that it drove people to kind of go, well, you
Speaker 1: know what, I haven't watched G I Joe in a
Speaker 1: million years. Let me see if I could paint it
Speaker 1: on YouTube. Oh my god, what this dude, I've got? All?
Speaker 1: G I jo was on YouTube's and it absolutely has
Speaker 1: blown my mind how how marvelous these characters hold up
Speaker 1: forever and the extent to which they inspired brand new
Speaker 1: creators to go to all these lengths because there's so
Speaker 1: much technology now that they can use that never was
Speaker 1: available all those years ago. You know what's funny is
Speaker 1: I I constantly remind myself and my my wife joke.
Speaker 1: My wife and I joke about this the whole time,
Speaker 1: because it's kind of like a motto I live by.
Speaker 1: There is a very big difference between childish and childlike,
Speaker 1: and cartoons and animation are the perfect way to remain
Speaker 1: childlike for as long as you want. In defense though
Speaker 1: of the nerd Dum, I also think like something that's
Speaker 1: brought me to animation time and time again, is is
Speaker 1: the art of it, right? I mean every everything that
Speaker 1: we see that you've done, it's like different, you know,
Speaker 1: everything is just a little Yeah, Ninja Turtles is not
Speaker 1: pinky in the brain. We're not even getting into Ninja
Speaker 1: Turtles yet we got that much, so much I can't
Speaker 1: even it's so much to talk about, um, but no,
Speaker 1: but it is. It's it sounds ridiculous, but coming from
Speaker 1: on camera and Rob you did this as well, and
Speaker 1: Christie you did this as well, you can get burnt
Speaker 1: out very quickly. And the industry becomes the industry and
Speaker 1: it's this machine. And it's like you forget about the
Speaker 1: love of acting in the love and you and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden you're in a booth yeah, and
Speaker 1: then next thing you know, you're like, wow, this is
Speaker 1: what I wanted the whole time, is just acting well.
Speaker 1: And how many times do you guys, both of you
Speaker 1: here as on camera's talent, how many times you meet
Speaker 1: people who are primarily doing on camera gigs and they
Speaker 1: just said, oh my god, who who duration I so bad?
Speaker 1: They want to do Simpsons? Are you know family Guy
Speaker 1: or whatever? And big actors too, big actors time? How
Speaker 1: do you get that gig. How do you do that?
Speaker 1: How do I get that? And it's like, oh, give
Speaker 1: you my agents name, sir, who's won two Academy Awards. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I mean we did up. I was Donna Tello in
Speaker 1: a two thousand and twelve version of Nickelodeon of Turtles
Speaker 1: at Nickelodeon and the last season, a thirteen episode arc
Speaker 1: and I get to work one day and David Tennant
Speaker 1: is they're doing this particular bad guy. And of course
Speaker 1: I'm a huge fan of broad Church and let alone
Speaker 1: the doctor or who would all be? So I said, Dave,
Speaker 1: what a pleasure? Oh man, thank you? And I said,
Speaker 1: I said, I we are real. Did you'd be here?
Speaker 1: And he said it was absolutely a little bit sort
Speaker 1: of non plus not in a really horrible but he said,
Speaker 1: this is Ninja Turtles. And it wasn't. It wasn't like, well,
Speaker 1: it's turtles. He was, no, this is Ninja turtles. Man
Speaker 1: um anybody John Cena was on it, um um. It
Speaker 1: just yeah, And it lasts for utterly forever. That silly
Speaker 1: little song. I shouldn't say silly that song. I sang
Speaker 1: an animaniaction with all the countries of the world that
Speaker 1: that that song has now as a stand alone several
Speaker 1: piece of modern animation art period. End of story. It's
Speaker 1: about to three minutes it and of course it was
Speaker 1: very glad to sing it. But the hard part. We
Speaker 1: live in Hollywood, you guys. You can throw a dark
Speaker 1: and get a good singer. What you can't do is
Speaker 1: throw a darkness somebody to write that stuff. And that
Speaker 1: is such a testament to great writing, great animation. Uh.
Speaker 1: And you don't have to know animaniacs exactly, Christie. You
Speaker 1: ain't got to know nothing about Warner Brothers animation, animaniac nothing.
Speaker 1: You could watch that and just go, oh my god.
Speaker 1: And that that's what I love about about this particular
Speaker 1: gig is it's uh, it's sort of not even contextual.
Speaker 1: You can watch it for its own reason. Many pieces
Speaker 1: and and are many different shows and they are exciting, inspiring,
Speaker 1: mind blowing, and they're like you just want to watch
Speaker 1: them again and again and again. Well, my one of
Speaker 1: my favorite stories Jason Marsden. Um so, my my best
Speaker 1: friend Jason, when we were doing Boy Meets World. Um,
Speaker 1: the audience, you know, there's a warm up guy for
Speaker 1: the audience while they're there, and in between scenes, people
Speaker 1: would get up and do Yeah, they get up and
Speaker 1: do different um uh talents for the audience. And Jason
Speaker 1: would always grab the microphone and do that song every
Speaker 1: single week. He just do it in the voice as
Speaker 1: much as he could to try to try to emulate you.
Speaker 1: And I heard that song over and over and over
Speaker 1: from Mr Mark. I just I just love that boy
Speaker 1: so much. We did me too. He um. We did
Speaker 1: uh you know show together called goof Troop and then
Speaker 1: we did the Goofy movie. That was another one of
Speaker 1: those things. I don't know. Five six years ago, I
Speaker 1: gotta call and Disney said, you guys know all about
Speaker 1: d twenty three and the big Disney. We are just there.
Speaker 1: We were just there in a couple of weekends. OK. Right,
Speaker 1: So they called and said, hey, we're doing a Goofy movie. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, retrospective twenty anniversaries. Great. I'd love to come
Speaker 1: down you guys. I had no idea how big that
Speaker 1: movie is. Two millions of people huge, And it's not
Speaker 1: only a charming little movie. But I know I'm preaching
Speaker 1: of the choir. But for all your folks out there,
Speaker 1: if you've not seen it, watch it again or watch it.
Speaker 1: But but also so um my son is now thirty eight,
Speaker 1: but anyone, any young boy with his father, can utterly
Speaker 1: relate to the difficulties that both were having. Both Max
Speaker 1: and Goofy were having to communicate with It's timeless. It
Speaker 1: is about, you know, Max hinding his way and Goofy
Speaker 1: went to let go and trying to communicate. Very difficult.
Speaker 1: But those performances Bill Farmer as Goofy and Jason Marsden
Speaker 1: as Max, we're nothing short of incredible. They were heartrending,
Speaker 1: oh beautiful and almost like human human elements. Absolutely, Christie
Speaker 1: and uh, you know you can see Goofy just gosh.
Speaker 1: I just don't know. I don't know, honey, I don't
Speaker 1: know what to say to woman. I don't love him
Speaker 1: so much. But it's perfect. And yeah, talk about acting
Speaker 1: is acting those characters. They're just fine actors. Jason and
Speaker 1: Billy are just world class actors. It's not a wonder
Speaker 1: that they they do so well because they're really talented.
Speaker 1: I remember asking Andrea Romano about that, where I said,
Speaker 1: because you know, working with Andrea, you never know it
Speaker 1: was like that, like the teenage meeting Ninja Turtles thing
Speaker 1: where you walk in the room and you never knew
Speaker 1: the actors that were going to be there, and you
Speaker 1: were like, oh my god, I get to work with
Speaker 1: John Ritter, I get to where it was just one
Speaker 1: but Robert Patrick, one person after the next. And I
Speaker 1: always asked her, I said, what now when you're casting?
Speaker 1: You know, with Andrea, I try to get as many
Speaker 1: little tidbits from her as that possibly could. And I
Speaker 1: was like, how how do you do your casting? And
Speaker 1: she said, I don't ever cast voice over actors. I
Speaker 1: cast actors. That's it. She's like, some of them can
Speaker 1: do a bunch of voices, some of them can't. But
Speaker 1: I always cast actors, and that's that's the difference. Is
Speaker 1: it interesting? If you go down her IMDb of the
Speaker 1: shows on which she was a director, most, I would say,
Speaker 1: most of, not all, All are are iconic shows that
Speaker 1: show and the reason they are is because, for example,
Speaker 1: Mark Hamill is a tripic actor. Of course, he's a
Speaker 1: tripic actor. Kevin Conroy is a mind blowing actor, right,
Speaker 1: So Tress McNeil over and over and over and over
Speaker 1: and over again. And so it makes perfect sense that
Speaker 1: not only is she a tripic director, but she knows
Speaker 1: that it is not just about to do in the
Speaker 1: funny voice. And I think more and more people, thanks
Speaker 1: to shows like yours, are starting to understand it. Wow.
Speaker 1: Uh And I know you guys get this at all
Speaker 1: the time from young people. Christie, I'm a big fan.
Speaker 1: How do I if you get into this? What do
Speaker 1: you suggest I do? I do a really great Bart
Speaker 1: Simpson good for you and and have a blast. But
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to burst your bubble. I would never
Speaker 1: tell you not to come out here. But it's about acting,
Speaker 1: and it's about improv acting maybe music, stretching yourself, being
Speaker 1: utterly self aware. That is to say, not that you're
Speaker 1: a beautiful young woman that goes out the window, a
Speaker 1: beautiful young woman when you walk out the door. But
Speaker 1: the idea is to inhabit the character. And that's why
Speaker 1: people love bugs. That's why people love Barts, why they
Speaker 1: love Goofy, why they love you know, all these characters.
Speaker 1: They're wonderfully well. You mentioned before the term high tech
Speaker 1: sandbox to play in, and I think that's something that
Speaker 1: we haven't heard before. Will and it's really love that shirt.
Speaker 1: I play in a high tech sandbox. And you know, Robert,
Speaker 1: you had that Vanity Fair YouTube. You know video that
Speaker 1: we saw and I mean, well you saw it, right,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've seen it. You've I think you've quoted
Speaker 1: it before Vanity Fairview. Robin. He does all the voices
Speaker 1: and it's it's amazing. If you haven't seen it, not
Speaker 1: will But you guys listening, if you haven't seen it,
Speaker 1: you should definitely go and check out Rob's amazing ability
Speaker 1: to just inhabit all of those characters. But I mean,
Speaker 1: could we talk about that, I mean, your approach, whatever
Speaker 1: you want. He takes all the different characters. Oh, he
Speaker 1: takes all the characters and he just goes and he
Speaker 1: plays and it's amazing to watch. Well, you guys know
Speaker 1: this also, And I think Billy another guy. I gotta
Speaker 1: stop dropping names, but we love it. But Billy, you
Speaker 1: guys know Billy West and not again on our show.
Speaker 1: What a sweet man first and foremost a delightful, sweet
Speaker 1: kind on giving man giving and but he opens his mouth,
Speaker 1: it's just hm. But Billy coined the phrase, and I
Speaker 1: think he's right. He said, you know what, Robbie, what
Speaker 1: I love about voice actors is we're fearless. And he's right,
Speaker 1: especially I mean while they're working, um, when the producers say,
Speaker 1: you know, well, we're looking to a guy. Do you
Speaker 1: do a very good dot n I said, well, I
Speaker 1: don't really do a good dot Knox, but I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what I'll do. I'll give you my take on it,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna jump right in. And the worst that
Speaker 1: can happen is the director of a reduce the last
Speaker 1: little bit and says, well, you're right, it is not
Speaker 1: terribly good, but you know what what you did there
Speaker 1: was pretty interesting, and you know, let me take out
Speaker 1: a second. Yeah, we don't need donats go go ahead
Speaker 1: and do that some more. Well, and that stuff happens
Speaker 1: all the time. I've also seen people who say, hey, Rob,
Speaker 1: can you do good Donna? Jesus, you know Jeff Benness
Speaker 1: the guy I don't. I don't want to embarrass myself.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, get Jeff Benni and yep, boom. You just
Speaker 1: lost a chance to show that you are fearless if
Speaker 1: you're willing to play, and that you are not And
Speaker 1: you said it earlier, Christie. It's a it's a big
Speaker 1: team experience, and uh it. It really is important not
Speaker 1: to have that adult junk about oh my god, I'm
Speaker 1: getting old and all that stuff when you know and
Speaker 1: it's not about leave your ego outside the door and
Speaker 1: if somebody says do not say I'll do the best
Speaker 1: I can, but meant to it and you never know
Speaker 1: when the producer is going to Christie was unterly fearless.
Speaker 1: She jumped right in. It was not exactly what we
Speaker 1: thought we wanted, but Christie's talent and her willingness to
Speaker 1: jump in the pool was so great. She came up
Speaker 1: with something we never would have thought of it. We're
Speaker 1: going to write that character to the show. Happens all
Speaker 1: the time. I think it has an energy to it too,
Speaker 1: right where if you're really going for it and you're
Speaker 1: really trying something and you're free in that moment with
Speaker 1: your voice, well, it's it's it's also it's one of
Speaker 1: those things where I think what you just said is
Speaker 1: very very important because we so we're One of the
Speaker 1: things we love to do here on I Hear Voices
Speaker 1: is we have, you know, an amateur come in and
Speaker 1: they get to work with some of these legends, which
Speaker 1: obviously we're going to do a little bit later um,
Speaker 1: but we try to give nuggets of or have our
Speaker 1: guests give nuggets of of of advice on how to
Speaker 1: navigate not only the world of animation, but just acting
Speaker 1: in general. And something you just said there is is
Speaker 1: hugely important in something that we haven't really covered. And
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter whether it's animation, it's on camera, it's radio,
Speaker 1: it's jokes, whatever it is, you have to commit a
Speaker 1: hundred persist if you get the worst case scenario is
Speaker 1: you're going to run into the wall, but you're gonna
Speaker 1: run into the If you walk into the wall, nobody cares.
Speaker 1: If you run into the wall for full steam, there's
Speaker 1: a chance you're gonna break through. UM. So that you
Speaker 1: have to commit to everything that you do UM. And
Speaker 1: you know, for instance, in sitcom, you commit to the
Speaker 1: joke and you are relying on your writers to know that, Hey,
Speaker 1: if I commit to the joke percent, you're going to
Speaker 1: be able to see that the joke doesn't work. But
Speaker 1: I gave it. If I give you, you're not gonna
Speaker 1: know whether the joke's gonna work or not. I give
Speaker 1: You're going to know the joke didn't work. It's the
Speaker 1: same in animation. And that is one of the things
Speaker 1: with the actors and actresses in the booth that you
Speaker 1: get to work with is I don't ever think I've
Speaker 1: ever ever seen anybody who works consistently half asid never
Speaker 1: And you know, uh um, I've started directing a little
Speaker 1: bit and I really enjoyed and that it is so
Speaker 1: much easier to pull an actor back than to say,
Speaker 1: come on, come on, just I don't want to tell
Speaker 1: you how to do it, but god, you're you're not
Speaker 1: getting it and uh. And so you don't want to
Speaker 1: put an actor on their heels. You don't want to
Speaker 1: embarrass them. But if somebody says, uh, and how many
Speaker 1: times have you been in a a session with somebody
Speaker 1: who's kind of just given, especially on camera talent, and
Speaker 1: they say, we need you to really when this happens,
Speaker 1: you're you're screaming because your girlfriend has been stolen in
Speaker 1: the monster Journey. But they're they're used to having the
Speaker 1: camera right here, and so Andrea will say, okay, let's
Speaker 1: dud again. It's just really screaming. So what happens They
Speaker 1: finally get there, and when the person screams at the
Speaker 1: level that the producers and the directors are happy with,
Speaker 1: they kind of that's like the way out of my
Speaker 1: comfort zone exactly. So but but if you see John Demago,
Speaker 1: or you see you know, or you see uh Welker
Speaker 1: or any of those other guys, it is astonishing. And
Speaker 1: I've worked with Frank I don't know three hundred times.
Speaker 1: I've known him forever. Every time I work with that guy,
Speaker 1: he does something that just said, Frank, where did that
Speaker 1: come from? And he The point is, folks and young
Speaker 1: actors out there, Frank never stops learning, he never stops
Speaker 1: coming up with new stuff. Guy's got all the money
Speaker 1: he'll ever need. Same thing with Tress, same thing with
Speaker 1: Nancy Cartwright, same thing with all of it there. They
Speaker 1: love the process. They are bona fide actors and it's
Speaker 1: something that is utterly part of their soul. I mean,
Speaker 1: and whether they're getting paid for it or not, if
Speaker 1: I'm hanging out with with you guys and Billy and Uhde,
Speaker 1: Bradley Baker, Um, April Winchell or whatever, in five or
Speaker 1: ten minutes, will have all these wonderful actors being lit
Speaker 1: up by one another and it's going like this, and
Speaker 1: we're laughing our guts out. The people around us think
Speaker 1: we were utterly insane, but it's and there's no money involved.
Speaker 1: It's just about the joy right of the process. And
Speaker 1: when you see that happen in the studio. I tell
Speaker 1: people all the time, you guys, that's the show. That
Speaker 1: is the freaking show. And you're a room with people
Speaker 1: like that playing that game at high level, and it's
Speaker 1: just it talked about a high tide raising all boats.
Speaker 1: I'm way better around those people they do. Christine, at
Speaker 1: the beginning, you learned pretty quickly, which is precisely what
Speaker 1: Will was suggesting about the commitment. You learned pretty quickly
Speaker 1: that it's okay to be a little bit afraid of that,
Speaker 1: but if you don't make the choice to jump in,
Speaker 1: then you're gonna get run over because people are so
Speaker 1: good and the bar is so hot, and you know,
Speaker 1: if I die tomorrow, be a little bit of a drag.
Speaker 1: My wife had had plenty of money, and they'd say, well,
Speaker 1: I reckon, we better start recasting. So there are plenty
Speaker 1: of really fabulous actors out there, and when the best
Speaker 1: of the best don't rest on their laurels, they just don't.
Speaker 1: And that's why it's well it is. But it's also
Speaker 1: the only thing I can liken it too. When you're
Speaker 1: in a room with with these amazing men and women
Speaker 1: that are pushing each other but also at times trying
Speaker 1: to one up each other. The only feeling I've ever
Speaker 1: had like that in my life is trying to make
Speaker 1: my brother's laugh. Like there's like you're trying to get
Speaker 1: your get respect, but you also want to earn. It's
Speaker 1: the strangest thing. But again, you're right when it comes
Speaker 1: to the commitment. You're never gonna hear anybody say, John DiMaggio,
Speaker 1: can you bring it up to It's always bring it
Speaker 1: back yet, and that's what you want. That's exactly as
Speaker 1: you are listening to each other too, all performing and
Speaker 1: raising the bar. Oh yeah, you have to listen to me. Sure.
Speaker 1: The only technical thing is that sometimes you have to
Speaker 1: be very careful about overlapping one another because of the
Speaker 1: technical aspects of the animation. But no, I'm always better.
Speaker 1: Obviously with respect to COVID, you know, we've all been
Speaker 1: lucky enough to keep working, whether recording from home or
Speaker 1: solo in a studio. But I'm an old dog. I
Speaker 1: much prefer to be with the other actors. They absolutely
Speaker 1: make me better. And when you go home exhausted from
Speaker 1: four hours of doing what you would do for free,
Speaker 1: and what a great way to go through life. You're
Speaker 1: exhausted from lapping and hanging out with people that you
Speaker 1: would choose to be your friends. Holy smoke. Okay, So
Speaker 1: before we we bring in our special guests, which we're
Speaker 1: gonna to play with us again because ladies and gentlemen,
Speaker 1: we have brought back a fan favorite which were so
Speaker 1: excited to have back us, the Garden. We're very excited.
Speaker 1: We could not have Rob Paulson here and not do
Speaker 1: a little bit of work with But I need to
Speaker 1: know some of your basic backgrounds. So for instance, Rob,
Speaker 1: what was your animation jam growing up? What were the
Speaker 1: shows that you wanted to watch when you were a kid?
Speaker 1: Looney Tunes, uh, flint Stone's Johnny Quest. Um, I love
Speaker 1: Johnny Quest and I got to be my first uh
Speaker 1: steady gig animation was was with the God Blessing the
Speaker 1: late Great Gordon Hunt. And there was a a reboot
Speaker 1: of Johnny Quest in the mid eighties and I got
Speaker 1: to be Hog and I really thought I was going
Speaker 1: to lose my mind. But yeah, those shows, there were
Speaker 1: a couple of people don't remember, especially there's no reasoning
Speaker 1: with their younger folks don't know that flint Stones was
Speaker 1: a prime time animated show on ABC. Uh. There was
Speaker 1: another animated show with William Wyndham as the star called
Speaker 1: um Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. It was a
Speaker 1: prime time animated show. Really, I believe, Yeah, I believe
Speaker 1: even Johnny Quest uh was was the Jetsons was Jetsons
Speaker 1: also prized one? Yeah, and I love the Jetson's uh
Speaker 1: in fact two quick stories. Um, this is the coolest thing.
Speaker 1: I remember when we did the first episode of the
Speaker 1: Johnny Quest reboot and Don Messi, who was the voice
Speaker 1: of Dr Quest also was a Boo Boo bear and
Speaker 1: uh um uh Bubba Louie Bubba Louie on Quick Drama
Speaker 1: Crazy Talent, okay uh. He was the voice of Scooby
Speaker 1: Doo until he passed away and Frank now was doing it.
Speaker 1: But the first episode of the Johnny Quest I was
Speaker 1: in in which I was I was sitting next to
Speaker 1: Mr Uh you know, Don to Mr Messi, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden he says, careful, Johnny, there's an It
Speaker 1: was like I thought, for lunch, I'll have to have
Speaker 1: a seizure salad. Uh. It was. It was Dr freaking
Speaker 1: Quest right next to uh. And I kind of had
Speaker 1: to gather myself. Then a couple of years later there
Speaker 1: was a Jetson's movie in which I played uh, a
Speaker 1: rock and roll star, and I was in love with
Speaker 1: Judy Jetson, so I got to go to work. I
Speaker 1: went to work one day and Gordon Hut says, hey, Robbie,
Speaker 1: mel Blank is here? Ay? Good? You want to sit
Speaker 1: next to him? And I said, of course. So Mr
Speaker 1: Blank was probably I don't know, late seventies, and he
Speaker 1: passed away as uh I sat next to them, and
Speaker 1: of course it took me a while to must have
Speaker 1: the courage, but I said, Mr Blank look like anyone
Speaker 1: with a pulse. I'm a I'm a fan and uh,
Speaker 1: I just not only need to tell you that, but
Speaker 1: if it's not too much trouble. And of course he
Speaker 1: knew exactly what he wanted, took off his glasses and
Speaker 1: looks at me, said yeah, what's up, doc? And it
Speaker 1: was mind melted. Yeah, And immediately immediately, you guys, I
Speaker 1: was transported back to sitting in Livonia, Michigan. You know
Speaker 1: what's the television? Um? And just killed the web, killed
Speaker 1: the web's things and fire. I've seen all those a
Speaker 1: hundred times, and it was sudden, I'm sitting next to
Speaker 1: this guy was like, you know, kind of small and
Speaker 1: old and and that one none of that matter. It
Speaker 1: was just astonishing, almost chemical experience of what's up, Doc?
Speaker 1: That was real. It's the voice. Yeah, No, I've had
Speaker 1: I've told this before, I've told the story before. But
Speaker 1: I had exactly the same, exactly the same moment when
Speaker 1: I was doing Transformers and so I was I was
Speaker 1: Bumblebee and Peter Colin comes in and he's sitting there,
Speaker 1: and I'm next to kry Peyton and there's you know,
Speaker 1: a couple of us were all in our warties and
Speaker 1: we're sitting there and the first line, Peter just goes
Speaker 1: Bumblebee and we almost cried in the room, like literally,
Speaker 1: and it took me thirty seconds to realize I had
Speaker 1: to answer him. It was like he was talking to
Speaker 1: me and I was eight years old. I had my
Speaker 1: Transformers in front of me, and instantly there's almost nothing
Speaker 1: that that brings you back to that place that fast
Speaker 1: as when you were a fan of cartoons growing up,
Speaker 1: and you hear that voice and you I could smell
Speaker 1: the carpet was on again, and I was it was amazing.
Speaker 1: So you have those moments, they are magical. I remember
Speaker 1: a few years ago when the first Transformers movie came out,
Speaker 1: the first Michael Baby movie came out, and Maurice Uh
Speaker 1: texted me from the Chinese theater. They said, you know,
Speaker 1: we're all kind of excited, but you know, Robbie, I
Speaker 1: don't know. They hadn't really talked much about the voice cast,
Speaker 1: and of course to the COGNISENTI the the real ill
Speaker 1: have you getting Transformers fans? They were like, I hope
Speaker 1: they don't put you know, Kevin Nelon as the voice
Speaker 1: in here, and so he said, I'll let you know
Speaker 1: how it goes. So Mo calls me afterwards. She says, Robbie,
Speaker 1: we're sitting here and the audience is full, I mean
Speaker 1: jam And as soon as Optimists comes on on the screen,
Speaker 1: everybody's screaming and yelling. And then Peter says on the
Speaker 1: bus rollout and they everybody jumped up hot corn one
Speaker 1: in the air. They started clapping because it was utterly
Speaker 1: authentic and their fears were completely blown out. They're just like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, it's really optimised and it matters. It matters.
Speaker 1: It's not about whether or not Brad Pitt as a
Speaker 1: talking dragon. I love Brad Pitt, but unless Brad Pitt
Speaker 1: creates the voice that becomes iconic, it doesn't really matter.
Speaker 1: And boy, I just I love the those characters have
Speaker 1: that much power. Yes, yes, And also I know that
Speaker 1: we're going to bring our guest on pretty soon. Right well,
Speaker 1: it feels like we'll probably, I think. But I have
Speaker 1: a couple I there, we got right when we talk
Speaker 1: about the voice being an instrument, right, this is my
Speaker 1: final thing. And I'll let well with his questions because
Speaker 1: we love you when when we talk about the voice.
Speaker 1: By the way, I have my I have my dush
Speaker 1: proof clothes on. Okay, good because it's there. Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: we're it's it's gonna be essentially the first row of
Speaker 1: a Gallagher concert for for a little while here. So
Speaker 1: welcome to see worl No for me to um and
Speaker 1: uh you know you It says you know in our
Speaker 1: notes that you are a survivor of throat cancer. M Um.
Speaker 1: That's about that amazing amazing, well it really got my attention. Um,
Speaker 1: not toe cancer, not hair cancer. But but I have
Speaker 1: to tell you, honestly, and I'm so glad you brought that, Um,
Speaker 1: I'm fine. I'm gonna die someday, but not from throat cancer. However, Um,
Speaker 1: all of us who are halfway decent humans move through
Speaker 1: our lives in a certain hopefully uh well rounded sense
Speaker 1: of kindness and empathy and sympathy. I mean we all
Speaker 1: live in we live in l l A. I mean
Speaker 1: they are homeless encampments on every corner. How many times
Speaker 1: a day do you go there? But for the grace
Speaker 1: of God? Um? And so when I was diagnosed, the
Speaker 1: first thing it was kind of go, wow, that's a
Speaker 1: little bit of a surprise. UM. And it wasn't about
Speaker 1: why me, Oh my God and the boys that why
Speaker 1: why the not me? Do you think anybody wants this?
Speaker 1: Of course not um, but now and of course it
Speaker 1: was a little bit frightening. Um. It was. The treatment
Speaker 1: was very difficult for obvious reasons that the radiation you know,
Speaker 1: kind of tears up your throat, your your mouth. But
Speaker 1: now that I'm through it, I have an important story.
Speaker 1: Not because I'm an actor with throat cancer, but because
Speaker 1: I I'm U a guy whose instrument, as you suggested,
Speaker 1: was in uh pretty you know, it was pretty dire
Speaker 1: danger there for a while uh, but not only did
Speaker 1: I survive it, and I'm different, Rob two point oh
Speaker 1: is different. I lost fifty pounds that I didn't have
Speaker 1: to lose. I couldn't taste frud for I don't know
Speaker 1: about three years. Um. I my salim glands were pretty
Speaker 1: much shot. But it saved my life and it saved
Speaker 1: my voice. So now when I have the great good
Speaker 1: fortune of being on with people like you who asked
Speaker 1: me about it, we'd never know, you, guys, when somebody's
Speaker 1: gonna be watching this terrific show and say, hey, man,
Speaker 1: I was watching Christy and Will the other day and
Speaker 1: there was this by Ron Pullman. I don't know if
Speaker 1: that was his name was, But it turns out the guy, uh,
Speaker 1: you know as cartoons and this person watching may have
Speaker 1: a loved one who's going through the same thing. You
Speaker 1: just never know. Ah. And if they said, oh my god,
Speaker 1: uncle Bill, I'm gonna send you something. You gotta watch
Speaker 1: this this guy who was on the show, these two
Speaker 1: lovely people. Remember how much you turned me on too
Speaker 1: pinky in the brain a million years ago, and how
Speaker 1: much we still love watching saying hey, what do you
Speaker 1: do tonight? Uncle Bill? And you know or you think
Speaker 1: that what I'm all that stuff. This guy is your
Speaker 1: age and he survived throat cancer. You got this man.
Speaker 1: That's why it's important. So now not only have I
Speaker 1: been beyond fortunately to make a living doing essentially what
Speaker 1: got me in trouble in seventh grade, um, I now
Speaker 1: have a story with which I can help people. And
Speaker 1: it is not about whether or not they buy an
Speaker 1: autograph or buy an action figure. It's a It's a
Speaker 1: pure human exchange of information. Uh. And when I say
Speaker 1: to somebody either I do have the opportunity to talk
Speaker 1: to a lot of people about it, do a lot
Speaker 1: of engagements. Um. And so whether I'm holding somebody's hand
Speaker 1: literally or figuredily and speaking about our mutual experiences, and
Speaker 1: I say, man, I get it, I get it. And
Speaker 1: that is a big deal when you're able to say
Speaker 1: to somebody with utter authenticity, I really know what you're
Speaker 1: going through. Because I don't know what a homeless family
Speaker 1: is going through. I never will. I can give them
Speaker 1: all the money I've got. But when I say, God,
Speaker 1: I know what you're saying, No, you don't. And it
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that it's you don't want to stop being
Speaker 1: empathic and sympathetic, but if you're able to say you
Speaker 1: know with utter certainty, you're just another human. You're not
Speaker 1: a doctor, but you know what the struggle is like.
Speaker 1: That's a really important part of my life now. And
Speaker 1: it turns out that that cancer experience for me had
Speaker 1: a platinum lining. So I'm really grateful that you asked
Speaker 1: you about that's the platinum lining. What is the platinum
Speaker 1: lining up? The fact that I'm able to talk about
Speaker 1: it and that I not only can do my job,
Speaker 1: and I'll tell you very quickly, Um, it was pretty
Speaker 1: difficult because of it was eight weeks of radiation or
Speaker 1: a bunch of chemo and all that. Um. But we
Speaker 1: are enjoying a renaissance of Animaniacs. We got to do
Speaker 1: a reboot of Animaniacs, and so there's a lot of
Speaker 1: music in those shows. And I'm a singer before anything.
Speaker 1: The reason I got the gig on Animaniacs was I'm
Speaker 1: a singer. And and so I remember on the new
Speaker 1: New Bunch that we've done for hul we started, they
Speaker 1: dropped in two thousand and we're recording in two thousand nineteen.
Speaker 1: And my cancer it was in two thousand sixty. Um,
Speaker 1: and I remember the first song I got to sing
Speaker 1: for animaniacs. Um, it was a little bit uh, it
Speaker 1: was a little bit off putting. I jumped into it.
Speaker 1: I was prepared, but still I haven't done anything. I
Speaker 1: got done with my treatment and when I got to
Speaker 1: the song, it was a remarkable experience that I won't forget.
Speaker 1: It was like, it was like, Okay, this is my
Speaker 1: trial by fire. This is these people love me. Ah,
Speaker 1: they will do anything to help me, but it's a business.
Speaker 1: And I told them right from the beginning. I said, look, man,
Speaker 1: I'm not a hero, but I am. I am logical
Speaker 1: and I'm rational. I know you love me. I know
Speaker 1: you're gonna do everything you can to wait till I
Speaker 1: get better. Great, But if you can't, or if I
Speaker 1: come back and you listen to stuff and you go
Speaker 1: back and put it together, and you said, Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: how do we tell him that we love him? But
Speaker 1: you might have to get somebody to sink for him,
Speaker 1: or or maybe you know, recast and we'll do it.
Speaker 1: It's not the end of the world. I'm alive it.
Speaker 1: You guys have nothing to prove to me. You this
Speaker 1: is a business. You didn't ask me to get the cancer.
Speaker 1: I didn't ask for it, nobody wants it, so please.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that you are concerned about how this lands
Speaker 1: on me. But I'm a big boy, and you guys
Speaker 1: gotta do what you gotta do. So when I got
Speaker 1: through it and they used it, and they used all
Speaker 1: the music, I did, all this thing, I've done it,
Speaker 1: it was a remarkable time to just take a break
Speaker 1: and say, wow, thank God for cutting edge medicine. But
Speaker 1: also over and above that um my podcast on which
Speaker 1: was so kind to be a part, I ended every episode.
Speaker 1: I say, laugh is the best medicine. The cool thing
Speaker 1: is you can't ode and the refills are free. And
Speaker 1: I'm telling you what it's that God's honest truth. The
Speaker 1: the ability to laugh at myself. Um two, uh, find
Speaker 1: ways to laugh at the parts that were kind of dark,
Speaker 1: make fun of myself when I looked, you know, just
Speaker 1: like like a skeleton with a little bit of skin
Speaker 1: all written. I mean, does not everybody works that way?
Speaker 1: That worked for me. And the joy that all these
Speaker 1: characters that I've been so lucky to perform over the years,
Speaker 1: all right, it's right in here. And so I call
Speaker 1: up Pinky and call up Jacko and all the other knuckleheads,
Speaker 1: Carl Wheezer and all that, and it just it just
Speaker 1: helped me get through that madness. So that's why it's
Speaker 1: the platinum lining. And that's why Christie, I'm so grateful
Speaker 1: that you guys let me ramble on about it. It's
Speaker 1: a big deal for me. It's amazing. And now you're
Speaker 1: helping other people who are who are dealing with the
Speaker 1: same thing. That is pretty incredible. Yeah, there's uh one
Speaker 1: of my my favorite uh anecdotes very quickly about something
Speaker 1: like that is exactly what we're talking about. Where a
Speaker 1: man falls into a hole and he's down there and
Speaker 1: and people are walking over him, and he sees a
Speaker 1: police officer and he says, officer, you gotta help me,
Speaker 1: I've fallen in the hole. And the officer throws him
Speaker 1: a pair of cuffs and says, don't worry. If somebody
Speaker 1: somebody comes at you can arrest him. And then the
Speaker 1: doctor walks by and and he says, doc, you gotta
Speaker 1: help me. I've fallen into a hole. Please help me.
Speaker 1: And the doctor writes some prescription and throws it down
Speaker 1: the hole and walks by, and he sees his best
Speaker 1: friend walk by, and he says, it's you. You gotta
Speaker 1: help me, And the guy jumps in the hole with
Speaker 1: him and he says, what are you What are you
Speaker 1: doing now? We're both down here, and he says, yeah,
Speaker 1: but I've been here before and I know the way out.
Speaker 1: So there's that. That is one of my favorite anecdotes ever.
Speaker 1: And it's that same kind of kind of thing. So
Speaker 1: I had a bunch of questions for you. I don't
Speaker 1: even want to ask him anymore because that I want
Speaker 1: to end right there. It was no, it's perfect. There
Speaker 1: is one question that we ask everybody, and there's only
Speaker 1: one question that I want to know, and that's and
Speaker 1: I don't think you're even gonna be able to answer
Speaker 1: this because you've been everybody. One character you haven't played
Speaker 1: that you want to, any character you want, who would
Speaker 1: you pick? I really like every after. I really would
Speaker 1: love to get a crack at the joker. I just
Speaker 1: I think, And you know why, I think because uh
Speaker 1: Mark has set the bar so high that I love
Speaker 1: a challenge and I would love to come up with
Speaker 1: something that was different but interesting. Um and my like
Speaker 1: I mentioned, my son is thirty eight is in the
Speaker 1: video game business. And I remember Mark and Kevin are
Speaker 1: both dear friends. I know you know those guys, and
Speaker 1: um uh, my son loves the Batman franchise. And he said,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you what. I love the Chris Nolan movies.
Speaker 1: I love Christian Bale, Michael Keaton, all that stuff. I
Speaker 1: love watching it. I love the whole mythos of Batman.
Speaker 1: But I'm telling you what this is after you met
Speaker 1: Kevin Conroy and he said, there is no doubt that
Speaker 1: if I had to watch one version the rest of
Speaker 1: my life, I easily watch the animated series forever and
Speaker 1: never looked back. His Batman is Kevin and his joker
Speaker 1: is Mark. And I love that character because it's so rich.
Speaker 1: But I don't know that I have said that had
Speaker 1: I never heard Mark doing it. Mark just killed it
Speaker 1: so much that I kind of want to go, well,
Speaker 1: I don't expect it to be better. That's a very
Speaker 1: subjective thing, but I would love the challenge of coming
Speaker 1: up my own version because I've just been so transfixed
Speaker 1: by Marx. You know it's pretty cool. I think, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's great. Well, yeah that we we get that a lot,
Speaker 1: and I think that is the character that everybody seems
Speaker 1: to want to tackle is the joker, So we love
Speaker 1: that we have our voice over actor with us. He's
Speaker 1: coming in today. His name is Brandon and Brandon is
Speaker 1: going to be joining us for Across the Garden, which
Speaker 1: is coming back. He asked me have brought it back
Speaker 1: because people requested it, and we, frankly just absolutely love
Speaker 1: to do it. So we can't wait in there is Brandon. Hey, Brandon,
Speaker 1: are you've got snow job here? Yeah? I can't with
Speaker 1: the g I Joe anymore. I'm gonna start crying, um
Speaker 1: brand So Brandon, we we've obviously won before and we've
Speaker 1: met you at conventions yep. And actually I won the
Speaker 1: fan xbo one one. You won the Live I Hear
Speaker 1: Voices Fan Expo episode, which is great. So where are
Speaker 1: you from? Denver, Colorado? That's okay, You're from from the
Speaker 1: from the Windy Apple, the mile high Windy Apple of Denver,
Speaker 1: which we love. And did you get your your script? Oh?
Speaker 1: Yes I did, and you are going to be playing
Speaker 1: Sue No Sue as in Spread it O. You excited
Speaker 1: about our contest coming up? Oh yeah, yet you're like
Speaker 1: our number one exactly and we will talk about it
Speaker 1: more fuller, but just a quick plug for Christie. What
Speaker 1: was the contest called again califragilistic? So nope, not even close.
Speaker 1: You're not even trying. She's given up trying. Every episode
Speaker 1: I try and I fail. We are going to try again. No,
Speaker 1: we are, of course once again announcing the Super Awesome
Speaker 1: Contest to become the Next Big Voice Actor contest close close,
Speaker 1: that was actually closer than Christie. The Super Awesome Contest
Speaker 1: to Become the Next Big Voice Actor. We will be
Speaker 1: announcing all of the great prizes and everything. I think
Speaker 1: we're gonna be. It's gonna be right around Halloween, if
Speaker 1: not on Halloween, that we are going to be able
Speaker 1: to really jump into the contest. One person out there
Speaker 1: is going to win the opportunity to get an amazing
Speaker 1: voice actor career. We can open the door a little
Speaker 1: bit for you, we can crack it, but then you
Speaker 1: got to kick it open with your talent, is the plan.
Speaker 1: But as we're waiting for the contest to launch, we're
Speaker 1: getting back into Across the Garden. And for those of
Speaker 1: you who are our old fan like Brandon, Yes I
Speaker 1: said that right fan. Um, we have two characters that
Speaker 1: we invented in the fly called Ricky and Mocha, who
Speaker 1: are two little mice that are trying to get across
Speaker 1: the garden to get to the other side so that
Speaker 1: Mocha can see her boyfriend at the mall. And we
Speaker 1: have had some wonderful amateur voice over actors, some amazing
Speaker 1: uh pros that come on and we are hopefully the
Speaker 1: goal is then amateurre um animators are going to take
Speaker 1: these little segments and they're going to animate together a cartoon,
Speaker 1: and all of these amateur voiceover actors are going to
Speaker 1: get a chance to be on the very right. It
Speaker 1: is a ton of fun. We really can't wait. So yes,
Speaker 1: Ricky and Mocha are still on their journey and we
Speaker 1: are going to pick it up once again Exterior Woods Continuous.
Speaker 1: Is everybody ready? All right? Here we go Brandon you ready? Yes,
Speaker 1: got my script? We're good. I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready.
Speaker 1: Do we go, folks, Let's do it. Ricky and Moca
Speaker 1: are still on their journey in the woods. Uh Moca,
Speaker 1: do you ever get the feeling that we're not actually
Speaker 1: really like, we're just fictional characters being written by someone
Speaker 1: else to fulfill some kind of empty hole. They have
Speaker 1: in their life. Yeah, you know, like we're never going
Speaker 1: to actually get to them all to see your boyfriend
Speaker 1: if you even exist. Like every time we feel like
Speaker 1: we're getting close to some other crazy character is just
Speaker 1: gonna pop up and distract us. No got me neither.
Speaker 1: Do you hear that? Do you hear that? Come on,
Speaker 1: Ricky Moco, come over a small hill to find a
Speaker 1: tiny little kitchen set up in the middle of the clearing.
Speaker 1: A chipmunk in a chef's hat and coat is berating
Speaker 1: another chipmunk in a black chef's coat, So you'll think
Speaker 1: you are to we now you dounky? Are you a donkey?
Speaker 1: These are to me? Seriously? Can you answer me? Because
Speaker 1: my eyes don't work too good anymore. No chef saying
Speaker 1: why would you do this to my south? Tell me
Speaker 1: why you do this to my house? I don't know ship.
Speaker 1: I just thought he needed something. He did something, dude,
Speaker 1: that something. This ric p as been eating my family
Speaker 1: for general. What is possibly um flavor? Bab Jeff hit
Speaker 1: Sue in the head with a ladle Oh damn, that
Speaker 1: finest prea teach in the world. I drive myself and
Speaker 1: I'm giving it. Glowing radio RAI one you can pulls
Speaker 1: out a piece of paper and shoves it at Sue.
Speaker 1: Chef monks Boarder Lisauce should be renamed board all days
Speaker 1: to us with this limited depth and indescribable texture, says
Speaker 1: would be better surf speckling up a hole in the
Speaker 1: wall then on a plate. See quote in describe texture
Speaker 1: close court. You cannot buy pub like that. You're dumb.
Speaker 1: I don't think you are the words. Ricky and Mocha
Speaker 1: walk up. Excuse us? Can I help you? Pap hit
Speaker 1: with the ladle again? You're just this? Can you you know?
Speaker 1: I feel like I have asked this? How do we
Speaker 1: get to the ball? Hit with the ladle? You're thinking?
Speaker 1: How about? I'm sorry? Sue's face goes bright red. That it.
Speaker 1: He walks over the pot, grabs two spoons and dips in,
Speaker 1: and he turns and shoved the spoons into Ricky and
Speaker 1: Mocha's mouths. How does this taste? Do you? Their eyes
Speaker 1: light up? This is the best thing, so good. The
Speaker 1: background chef grabs two spoons and dips him into his
Speaker 1: own pot and walks over. Okay, now did you try
Speaker 1: this one? Before they can answer, he shoves the spoons
Speaker 1: in Rickey and Mocha's mouth. A beat passes. They turned. No,
Speaker 1: I don't for me. Oh, I think you see you'll
Speaker 1: see you'll see you see you see him. He might
Speaker 1: teach you now gold kill dogs potatoes. Chef's about to
Speaker 1: answer when Sue slowly raises the ladle again many check.
Speaker 1: He smiles and turns to Ricky and Mocha is just
Speaker 1: around the bed. Thank you for your service. Thank you
Speaker 1: getting weirder right, Yeah, so, good job, great job, Brandon. Honestly,
Speaker 1: he's getting better and better with it. From the time
Speaker 1: I feel like we first met him and heard him,
Speaker 1: he's always been also, Brandon. You might not because you're
Speaker 1: in the waiting room, certainly didn't hear the conversation that
Speaker 1: we were just having with Rob. But you did something
Speaker 1: that exactly what we were talking about. You committed to
Speaker 1: what we were doing, and that is the first most
Speaker 1: important thing you got to do, Brandon. You came in
Speaker 1: and you nailed it. So congratulation. How to give my
Speaker 1: best hundred tem per cent all of that times. Look
Speaker 1: at him going, look at him going, He'll win that. Oh, Brandon,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. Congratulations. Is there any place where
Speaker 1: people can find you. Do you have any social media presence?
Speaker 1: I do well. I have personal Facebook and Instagram. Instagram
Speaker 1: is h g A Brandon easy fine, so you guys
Speaker 1: can find me there. Perfect and other than that, I'm
Speaker 1: just about around in the world. There's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Brandon. That is the best. Thank you,
Speaker 1: and I hope to see you guys soon against pleasure.
Speaker 1: We'll see you agoon, good luck. Thank you. One more thing,
Speaker 1: this was my first voice acting Joe. Hey, there's no first,
Speaker 1: like first my friend. I know. It was an honor.
Speaker 1: Thank Thank you, Brandon. Bye bye. How lovely that you
Speaker 1: guys do that. I just think that's great that you're
Speaker 1: finding a way to include folks. Good for you, Thank you.
Speaker 1: It is so much fun. And yeah, when we so
Speaker 1: the first we've actually announced this before, but the first
Speaker 1: thing you actually win is a one year contract with
Speaker 1: a voice over agency. Wow. And there's another couple of
Speaker 1: prizes that we are still working on that are still
Speaker 1: going to be absolutely outstanding. So once again, that is
Speaker 1: the man. Christie. What's the names? Just okay, you know,
Speaker 1: hold on, what's it called? CHRISTI? It is the super
Speaker 1: awesome contest to become the next big voice actor. So
Speaker 1: awesome contest to become the next big voice actor. There,
Speaker 1: I do it, you did so, thank you come back.
Speaker 1: He had the time one of the and I was
Speaker 1: going to talk to you about this later. This might
Speaker 1: be cut. We'll see if we're going to cut this
Speaker 1: or not. But one of the things we're gonna do
Speaker 1: is when we get down to the final two contestants,
Speaker 1: um actually might be the final four, they're going to
Speaker 1: get for you know, a day or so just over zoom.
Speaker 1: They're going to get a voice over mentor that's going
Speaker 1: to help them and uh, and then we go to
Speaker 1: pick the big final winner. So um yeah, we'd love
Speaker 1: to have you involved somewhere down the law. It would
Speaker 1: be absolutely a pleasure. Anything you guys want. I just
Speaker 1: love to look. You guys were in a happy business.
Speaker 1: Isn't this the coolest thing in the world? And look
Speaker 1: we are. That's sweet Brandon. He will never forget that,
Speaker 1: irrespectable what happens down the road, he will never forget that.
Speaker 1: And it's thanks to you guys. That's a very big deal.
Speaker 1: It's cool as if we were having fun. So you
Speaker 1: can join us obviously on anywhere you listen to podcasts
Speaker 1: or on the I Heart radio app and uh yeah,
Speaker 1: please join us and again, um I can't. I can
Speaker 1: wish I could remember the name of the contest contest
Speaker 1: to become the next big voice over actor. I guess
Speaker 1: you almost had a great voice over. Sorry voice over actor.
Speaker 1: There you voice actor? Okay, got it, I'll get it
Speaker 1: next time. All right, next time, next episode, now, Rob.
Speaker 1: I always end by saying, if you think you can
Speaker 1: do what we do, step up and put your voices
Speaker 1: where your mouth is. I think we should end with
Speaker 1: his you could do us a favor. If you could
Speaker 1: do us a favor and you could take us out
Speaker 1: with the talking tunes. I was so appreciate the happiness, laughing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. Let me do something very crauickly
Speaker 1: because if you guys will get a kicked out of this.
Speaker 1: Um Will was doing a bit of the United States
Speaker 1: count well that song, a little bit of Inside Baseball.
Speaker 1: Check out how much talent. This is a great example
Speaker 1: of you guys watching. Is that you when you're in Hollywood,
Speaker 1: uh or New York? You never know. I always tell
Speaker 1: young people, surround yourself with people of a like mind.
Speaker 1: Go to class go out to eat with actors. Just
Speaker 1: uh I remember when Animanias was coming along and I
Speaker 1: got the job, there was obviously music that was a
Speaker 1: big part of it. Um So I had never met
Speaker 1: Randy Rogal, who wrote most of the songs that you
Speaker 1: guys know from Animanias, including Yako's World. But what people
Speaker 1: don't know is that Jacko's World was the song that
Speaker 1: Randy Rogal dave two Warner Brothers as his audition piece.
Speaker 1: He wrote that song when they said all right, well
Speaker 1: what have you got? Can you write something on spect?
Speaker 1: He said, I sure, Ken He wrote that song just
Speaker 1: because he could and played it for them. And that's
Speaker 1: one of those things when you hear it, you stick
Speaker 1: your head out the door on Mr Spielberg, I think
Speaker 1: you should hear this, and not only that. So it
Speaker 1: was the first song he wrote for Animaniacs, and it
Speaker 1: was the first song I recorded. Talked about setting the
Speaker 1: bar high, unbelievable and he didn't disappoint. However, a few
Speaker 1: years later, uh I told Randy, I said, you know,
Speaker 1: I've been doing a convention. People every now and then
Speaker 1: say are they going to update the Apples World? Because
Speaker 1: you know there are a lot of different countries that
Speaker 1: they have come to be and some of them gone
Speaker 1: away since that song was written, he said, you know what,
Speaker 1: you're right, So an extra eleven minutes on a Tuesday,
Speaker 1: and he wrote the follow This is just a quick
Speaker 1: update of the song. Okay, it goes like this. Montenegro
Speaker 1: and Bodnia, Herze Obania, the Soviet Union is gone. It's
Speaker 1: that bag Georgia, Moldovia, Latvia, Batjan who's bekas on? Hey
Speaker 1: k hey, I mean talk about left Serbian Cross about
Speaker 1: you Sama, about Balbin Bruni, McCowen, Primia, than Eritrea, Ukraini
Speaker 1: outther Stony, here's not Sooni and New Caledonia. He just Lobonia.
Speaker 1: I've read Coasting Cape Berti and Door the Solomon out
Speaker 1: of Dubai something wow. So he just came up with it.
Speaker 1: And as you can tell by the beautiful Christie Romano
Speaker 1: and the impossibly handsome Will the we can all absolutely agree,
Speaker 1: folks that laughter is so the best medicine. You don't
Speaker 1: know why Becauld you can't owe d and the refills
Speaker 1: are free. Thanks a lot, you, guys. It was an
Speaker 1: absolute privilege hanging Thank you. Thanks guys, I hear Voices
Speaker 1: as hosted by Wilfred l and Christy Carlson Romano. Executive
Speaker 1: produced by Wilfred Ill, Brendan Rooney, Amy Sugarman and Vicky
Speaker 1: Ernst Chang. Our executive in charge of production is Danielle Romo.
Speaker 1: Our producer is Lorraine very Was, and our editor slash
Speaker 1: engineer is Brian Burton. And that was my announcer voice.
Speaker 1: Some side effects of listening to I Hear Voices are
Speaker 1: sore abs from hilarity falling down the coco melon rabbit hole,
Speaker 1: sneezing due to mass nostalgia, and hugs. Follow I Hear
Speaker 1: Voices wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss
Speaker 1: any of the amazing voices. Be sure to follow us
Speaker 1: on Instagram and TikTok at I Hear Voices podcast. To
Speaker 1: see the video stream, subscribe to my YouTube channel. You
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Speaker 1: you about the Internet. The who