Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh and
Speaker 1: there's Chuck and Jerry's sitting in for a date. So
Speaker 1: this is short stuff.
Speaker 2: Hit it, Chuck in a world where two dufases podcast.
Speaker 2: That's my imitation everybody of Don Lafontaine, And this is
Speaker 2: a bit of tribute to the man that was known
Speaker 2: as the voice of God, Don Lafontaine, the movie trailer guy.
Speaker 1: That's right, that's exactly what a lot of people call him,
Speaker 1: the movie trailer guy because he has to credit Chuck
Speaker 1: this eye popping number. I'm gonna take this one, Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's hear it. Over the course of his career, he
Speaker 1: recorded more than five thousand film trailers, oh man previews,
Speaker 1: five thousand previews, seven and fifty thousand television spots like
Speaker 1: commercials and promos and all that stuff.
Speaker 2: I bet Don Lafontaine when he passed away in two
Speaker 2: thousand and eight, I think thousand and eight was a
Speaker 2: very very rich man.
Speaker 1: I would think so, I would think so. And good
Speaker 1: for him, sure, I mean he did it with his
Speaker 1: own hard work. I mean, by the end of his life,
Speaker 1: he was working basically till the end. Yeah, and by
Speaker 1: the end of his life. He had built out a
Speaker 1: home office and was averaging seven voiceovers a day, which
Speaker 1: you if you don't do voiceovers, you're probably like, that
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like that much. I'd knock that out in
Speaker 1: like fifteen minutes. Yeah, no, you wouldn't, because it's actually
Speaker 1: surprisingly difficult, and if you're actually working with the professional company,
Speaker 1: they will make you do that over and over and
Speaker 1: over again, and it is quite it's quite awful. I
Speaker 1: don't recommend it. Yeahbody who doesn't love voiceover?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we read our audiobook and it was not fun.
Speaker 2: And this is two guys who talked for a living
Speaker 2: into a microphone and it was pretty painstaking.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the director was even great.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, everyone did a great job. Everyone was awesome.
Speaker 2: It had nothing to do with that. It was just
Speaker 2: very monotonous. It just wasn't for us. You know, we're
Speaker 2: very off the cuff obviously the way we do our show,
Speaker 2: and did not transfer over to like exact readings of things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, like exact. It has to be exact
Speaker 1: or you'll get yelled at all.
Speaker 2: Right, So Don Lafontaine was born in Duluth, Minnesota. He
Speaker 2: served in the military and the well, he was in
Speaker 2: the army because he was in the United States Army
Speaker 2: Band and Chorus and worked as a recording engineer there,
Speaker 2: and once he got out, he continued engineering at the
Speaker 2: National Recording Studios in New York City, and in nineteen
Speaker 2: sixty two he got hooked up with a producer radio
Speaker 2: producer named Floyd Peterson, and Peterson just happened to be
Speaker 2: working with Stanley the Great Stanley Kuper Come Doctor Strangelove
Speaker 2: was creating these kind of radio promos and it was
Speaker 2: like really successful. So he and Lafontaine hooked up and said,
Speaker 2: all right, we should like be like legit partners from
Speaker 2: now on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they did legitimize that. They formed Floyd L. Peterson, Inc.
Speaker 1: And I think this is the impression I have is
Speaker 1: that initially Don la Fontaine just kept doing his engineering thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1: It wasn't until nineteen sixty five, a few years into
Speaker 1: their partnership that I guess there was some scheduling mix
Speaker 1: up and a voiceover actor didn't show up on time
Speaker 1: or for their slot, so Don la Fontan had to
Speaker 1: step in and record some radio spots for the Gunfighters
Speaker 1: of Casa Grande for MGM, and MGM said, brother, we
Speaker 1: are just gonna buy this whole thing outright. This proof
Speaker 1: of concept is done. You invented the plane with the
Speaker 1: seatback trays and everything right out of the gate.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're like, hey, you with a perfect voice, give
Speaker 2: this a shot.
Speaker 1: Exactly.
Speaker 2: This is at a time when film production and promotion
Speaker 2: were all kind of done in house, like you made
Speaker 2: the movie and then you didn't go to a different
Speaker 2: company to like cut the trailer or whatever. Like they
Speaker 2: did it all themselves, right, And they were like, hey,
Speaker 2: I think we can disrupt this tradition. And they I
Speaker 2: don't know why that was funny. Why was that funny?
Speaker 1: Disruptors disruption? It's just such like a twenty thirteen horrible
Speaker 1: Silicon Valley horror show.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I wasn't thinking of it in the terms of disruptors,
Speaker 2: but they literally disrupted.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you're right, yeah, but no, no, I mean
Speaker 1: I wasn't laughing at you chose.
Speaker 2: No, No, I know you're laughing at people that used
Speaker 2: were disruptors with a straight face.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the disruptors themselves.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, sure, all right, so they were disruptors straight faced,
Speaker 2: and they said they kind of developed the modern movie
Speaker 2: trailer as we know it together. It was you know
Speaker 2: it was. It was a very creative time for them,
Speaker 2: and they were the first to create these like catchphrases
Speaker 2: that are now very ubiquitous across the trailer industry. And
Speaker 2: you know this example, I think this came from the
Speaker 2: New York Times Obituary or maybe sag aftra or Don
Speaker 2: Lafontaine dot com. But they listed some of these sort
Speaker 2: of catchphrases that are now just all over the place,
Speaker 2: like a one man army or nowhere to run, nowhere
Speaker 2: to hide and no way out. But of course in
Speaker 2: a world was the money slogan, and Lafontaine just kind
Speaker 2: of crystallized it when he was like, it's just a
Speaker 2: very rapid way to set the scene when you can
Speaker 2: say in a world where where violence rules, like that
Speaker 2: kind of says it all. And just a handful of
Speaker 2: words about what kind of movie you're about.
Speaker 1: To see, Yeah, because if a ninety minute movie is
Speaker 1: ideal to have like a nice, steady, crisp clip, yeah,
Speaker 1: a trailer has to be evening crisper, even at a
Speaker 1: steadier clip. You have to be able to, yeah, surmise
Speaker 1: a bunch of stuff from just a few words, and
Speaker 1: that was a I mean, that was a great innovation.
Speaker 1: I saw basically everywhere that he's the one that came
Speaker 1: up with that. He's certainly credited with. I get the
Speaker 1: impression no Hollywood historian has actually gone to the trouble
Speaker 1: of identifying that. Yes, he definitely was the one who
Speaker 1: pioneered it. Everybody's like, yeah, it was Don la Fontaine.
Speaker 2: Yeah all right, Uh, nice caveat, And we'll be back
Speaker 2: right after this with more on the Voice of God.
Speaker 1: As why why k.
Speaker 2: All right? So in a world is the kind kind
Speaker 2: of thing that has been parodied many, many times over
Speaker 2: the years. Like once it became so ubiquitous, every comedian
Speaker 2: latched onto it. They were in Geico commercials, The Simpsons
Speaker 2: movie like used Don Lafontaine and at the end, like
Speaker 2: Homer was talking back to Don Lafontaine as the voice
Speaker 2: of God and that was kind of fun. So obviously
Speaker 2: that's the kind of thing that's going to be parodied.
Speaker 2: But as far as his real career goes, we can
Speaker 2: go back to nineteen seventy six when he started his
Speaker 2: own production company, Don Lafontaine Associates, and his first assignment
Speaker 2: Out of the Gate was Godfather Part two, and two
Speaker 2: years later, Paramount Pictures said, hey, why don't you just
Speaker 2: come work for us and run our trailer department.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he said, katching, I'll be right there. Yes,
Speaker 1: I always loved your mountain logo. Yeah, me too, that
Speaker 1: that was such a great thing. At the beginning of
Speaker 1: Raiders of the Lost, art dissolves from the Paramount logo
Speaker 1: into the actual mountain.
Speaker 2: I knew you're going to say that. I just Disclosure
Speaker 2: Day the new Spielberg, and I highly recommend it.
Speaker 1: Okay, good. I saw back rooms in the theater twice
Speaker 1: within three days. Oh wow, I really liked it a lot.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, did you see you twice just because
Speaker 2: you wanted to? Or you're like, oh I got to
Speaker 2: take you me back and see.
Speaker 1: This both of those?
Speaker 2: Okay, cool, Yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so but yes, I recommend that as well. I'll
Speaker 1: go see Disclosure Day. Yeah, you're the second group of
Speaker 1: people who recommended it.
Speaker 2: I'm a group. You are amazing.
Speaker 1: That's how important you are.
Speaker 2: All right. So he worked at Paramount for just a
Speaker 2: few years. Left in eighty one moved to la which
Speaker 2: is ironically where a Paramount is. And there was an
Speaker 2: agent named Steve Tisherman who said, hey, you should really
Speaker 2: like like he wasn't the voice of God, the voice
Speaker 2: of God yet in nineteen eighty one he were like,
Speaker 2: you should really just concentrate on this because you're so
Speaker 2: good at it. Sure, and that was it. That's when
Speaker 2: he really cemented his legacy as just the voiceover guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Real, quick question, Chuck, why does Steve Tisherman's name
Speaker 1: sound familiar? I did not get a chance to look
Speaker 1: him up, but I don't know. Is he like a
Speaker 1: legendary agent?
Speaker 2: I have no idea. Actually it didn't ring familiar to me.
Speaker 1: Okay, it did for me for some reason, maybe you know.
Speaker 1: But yes, don la Fontaine did become the king of voiceovers,
Speaker 1: the voice of God after about that time, starting in
Speaker 1: the eighties, he became the like the in house I guess,
Speaker 1: voice for all four of the networks in America plus
Speaker 1: the overlooked fifth one UPN.
Speaker 2: That's right, and TNT and TBS Cartoon Network. I mean,
Speaker 2: you can hardly name a brand without you know, mentioning
Speaker 2: Donden Lafontaine having voiced for them.
Speaker 1: You're not going to say all these brands that's funny.
Speaker 2: And then you know, he was sort of the in
Speaker 2: show announcer for award shows for the Academy Awards at times,
Speaker 2: and just you know, it was a heck of a career.
Speaker 2: And I love it when someone can find a niche
Speaker 2: like that and just like dominate it to that degree.
Speaker 2: It's really kind of fun.
Speaker 1: He definitely did dominate it, and not just dominate it,
Speaker 1: but also make fun of yourself too.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he had a great sense of humor.
Speaker 1: I feel like, Yeah, that Geico commercial, I went back
Speaker 1: and watched it, the one from two thousand and five. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is so cute. There's this real Geico customer telling
Speaker 1: about like this story where they had to, like, you know,
Speaker 1: call Geico and you know, I guess make a claint
Speaker 1: that's the word I'm looking for sure. And it was
Speaker 1: just an average everyday story. So they hired Don la
Speaker 1: Fontaine to kind of movie it up, and so he
Speaker 1: was translating what the woman was saying. It was very cute. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I bet he made some good scratch from them too.
Speaker 1: I hope. So, man, he definitely deserved it. And by
Speaker 1: the way, if you are if you work in advertising
Speaker 1: for Geico, you guys have been killing it for the
Speaker 1: entire century so far.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think they always put out a pretty fun spot.
Speaker 1: Remember the Geico Caveman.
Speaker 2: That's great.
Speaker 1: Did you know that there was a short lived TV
Speaker 1: show featuring them? Can't remember that.
Speaker 2: He did it actually come out? I remember it was
Speaker 2: a yeah, okay, yeah. I didn't know if they actually
Speaker 2: made it to air, but I knew it. It was
Speaker 2: a thing. It was rough, Yeah, I mean that probably
Speaker 2: wasn't Some things are best leftist thirty minute or thirty
Speaker 2: second ads, you know, right, like most things. Probably.
Speaker 1: Yeah, America is very fickle, so this is well.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it's surprising or not, because he
Speaker 2: kind of had that deep baritone. But he was an
Speaker 2: on and off smoker for a lot of his life
Speaker 2: and he had quit though for two solid decades. He
Speaker 2: did the right thing before he was admitted to Cedar
Speaker 2: Sinai very sadly in two thousand and eight with the
Speaker 2: pulmonary embolism. Was in critical condition the week after that,
Speaker 2: and his family was like, let's pray for Dawn, Like
Speaker 2: he needs to hear from everybody, And on September first,
Speaker 2: two thousand and eight, he passed at the age of
Speaker 2: sixty eight, ten days into his hospitalization, and he is
Speaker 2: interned at the fantastic legendary Hollywood Forever Cemetery, which is great.
Speaker 1: Which we did a whole short stuff on itself.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Apparently his last final performance was in a Phineas
Speaker 1: and ferb episode. I'm pretty sure, and I know it's
Speaker 1: a cartoon. I'm pretty sure it's Nickelodeon cartoon. The episode
Speaker 1: is the Chronicles of Meep if you want to go
Speaker 1: hear him. His final line was in a World there
Speaker 1: I said it happy. This is a great final line.
Speaker 1: And they put a little short tribute to him at
Speaker 1: the end of the episode, so good for them.
Speaker 2: I wonder if he has a star on the Hollywood
Speaker 2: Walk of Fame, because he totally should.
Speaker 1: If he doesn't, then the Walk of Fame needs to
Speaker 1: get their act together.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm looking that up real quick because that was
Speaker 2: something that I meant to look up earlier.
Speaker 1: Well, hold on, while you're looking that up, let me
Speaker 1: mention there's a twenty thirteen movie written and directed by
Speaker 1: Lake Bell. Oh yeah, called a World, and it's about
Speaker 1: like the voiceover World. I guess. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's great.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I haven't seen it. Have you seen it?
Speaker 2: I have not seen that movie, but I'm a fan
Speaker 2: of Blake Bell from Children's Hospital. Uh, And I've just learned.
Speaker 2: And of course I don't know if this is right
Speaker 2: or not. The AI overviews are so bad it's hysterical.
Speaker 1: Sometimes let me just make something.
Speaker 2: Up because that says no. But then I'm seeing a
Speaker 2: picture of him with a star, so maybe yes. Yesterday
Speaker 2: I asked, uh, whatever the stupid assistant in my house is, uh,
Speaker 2: because I wasn't sure if Ireland had made the World
Speaker 2: Cup this year? And I said Ireland in the World
Speaker 2: Cup and it said no, Ireland is an Ireland.
Speaker 1: God.
Speaker 2: Wow, yeah, not a joke. Wow, pretty unbelievable.
Speaker 1: At least it acknowledge that Ireland exists.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's making everything better.
Speaker 1: Right sure? Yeah, but like by this all.
Speaker 2: Right, So I'll do some real research and see if
Speaker 2: he has that star on the Walk of Fame and
Speaker 2: I'll report back later.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because ironically, the AI assistant could be right because
Speaker 1: another AI program created a fake picture of him on
Speaker 1: with the star. Yeah, what a time to be alive.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: That's it. I guess short stuff's out right short Stuff's Out.
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