Speaker 1: How you doing out there?
Speaker 2: It's me Tigger.
Speaker 3: I am Dark Wayne Duck. It's me Bunkers Deep Bobcat.
Speaker 1: All right, y'all?
Speaker 3: Did it great? Your favorite firefly you desire?
Speaker 2: Hold old Knock guy.
Speaker 1: My name is Jim Cummings and welcome to tuned in. Hello,
Speaker 1: Hello out there, everybody, Jim Cummings here. Now I know
Speaker 1: what you're thinking. When is d Bradley Baker going to
Speaker 1: be on the podcast Good News Ladies and gentlemen, presenting
Speaker 1: none other the Myth, the Man, the Legend, Dee Bradley Baker.
Speaker 3: I'm here now, Hi, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: For joining us.
Speaker 1: Have you met Brendan from down Under?
Speaker 3: I did fifteen seconds ago?
Speaker 4: Hello again, Okay, it's lovely to meet you.
Speaker 3: Did great to meet you. Where's my Where do I look?
Speaker 3: Do I look at Brenda on the laptop? Or do
Speaker 3: I look up here at one of these camps?
Speaker 2: This is?
Speaker 5: This is the audience here, and that's your audience camera
Speaker 5: if you want to look at that, and then you
Speaker 5: can just talk to Brendan.
Speaker 1: Or okay you ever, I don't talk to Brendon. I
Speaker 1: don't do my best to ignore him. Yes, that's right.
Speaker 1: Chris is there, I'm here.
Speaker 2: We're fine.
Speaker 1: He's a it's actually an animatronic. There's no one down there.
Speaker 1: He's a Disney replicant.
Speaker 3: He's an AI.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, better than being an a whole.
Speaker 3: Hey, good night everybody.
Speaker 1: Well, hey man, glad to be glad to have you here.
Speaker 1: Thank Yes, that's right. Well we've we've seen many other
Speaker 1: dimensions over the years, haven't we.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we have. It feels kind of like, uh, you know,
Speaker 3: we're past the end of an era and it's sort
Speaker 3: of forming into a new one.
Speaker 1: These things, Okay, what's the new one?
Speaker 3: The new one is no more ensembles and we just
Speaker 3: see each others podcasts.
Speaker 1: Yeah, podcast I miss the ensemble stuff. We've talked about
Speaker 1: it before. I like having people in the room. I
Speaker 1: like interacting. I like talking with people, and if they
Speaker 1: say something, it might inspire something different from you. And
Speaker 1: you know, I've said it before. I won't belabor it.
Speaker 1: But if you do an ad lib that they want
Speaker 1: to keep, sometimes the line after yours doesn't work, so
Speaker 1: that person has to come back in and redo something, restated,
Speaker 1: reconfigure it so that it matches and makes sense, which
Speaker 1: usually they don't complain because it's another session, but it's
Speaker 1: still a bit of an inconvenience, you know, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you ever have that, Chris, absolutely,
Speaker 1: And when you do the Clones, they I just love
Speaker 1: that you're the Clones, I mean, And which clone?
Speaker 2: Are you?
Speaker 1: The Clones?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I know, but which one? All ten thousand of them?
Speaker 3: Yeah, except for Omega and U and Emery, I'm not them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, hell with them?
Speaker 1: Who see, I don't even know who they are, so
Speaker 1: the hell with them.
Speaker 3: Well, Omega was the Lynchpin clone sister in the Mad Batch.
Speaker 1: Oh her yes, oh yes, she said, ne'er do well?
Speaker 3: Well sort of yes to good ends though she she
Speaker 3: kind of saved the day in the end there. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean that that was a show where for a
Speaker 3: lot of it I was kind of I served as
Speaker 3: the ensemble. And I miss that show very very much.
Speaker 3: But that's that's like nothing else. I mean, it's such
Speaker 3: a it's such an odd, unique project. That's like nothing else.
Speaker 3: But for me, I mean, I was thinking today just
Speaker 3: in the legacy of the shows that you and I
Speaker 3: have done, that I really do miss ensembles. There's there's
Speaker 3: a lot of shows that I miss, not just the
Speaker 3: way that it's written and what the show is about,
Speaker 3: and then of course how people love it and how
Speaker 3: the animation looks. But you have this kind of Carol
Speaker 3: Burnett's show sort of collegial fun that the story, as
Speaker 3: you were saying, kind of comes from. It allows for
Speaker 3: a much more effective uh, improvisation and just the living
Speaker 3: theater of creating something together as a group, which is
Speaker 3: I mean for me, that's why I got into Why
Speaker 3: why I Why why I gravitated to acting? I think
Speaker 3: is because it was a group activity. These days, Uh,
Speaker 3: it's a it's a weird way in where you start yeah,
Speaker 3: with by yourself in isolation, either on TikTok or YouTube,
Speaker 3: and then maybe you branch off into doing a podcast
Speaker 3: or or maybe you collaborate with others. But it's less
Speaker 3: of a of a theatrical, more straight.
Speaker 1: Experience in it's more linear, yeah, straight too.
Speaker 3: But then there are those of us, you know, like
Speaker 3: a Tom Kenny for instance, Carlos Alzeraki, who come from
Speaker 3: stand up, which is solitary performing, but you're still connecting
Speaker 3: with a live audience, which I think is a really
Speaker 3: important part of learning the antenna of the intuition that
Speaker 3: you need in order to problem solve and create a story,
Speaker 3: you know, in real time efficiently, which is that's kind
Speaker 3: of the value that we bring as session players, which
Speaker 3: is really how I think of myself, is part of
Speaker 3: an ensemble that's mostly anonymous, not really in it to
Speaker 3: be front and center doing the rock star solo necessarily,
Speaker 3: although there's times where where it falls to us. But
Speaker 3: for the most part, we're there to connect and with others,
Speaker 3: to read the room, to read the script, and to
Speaker 3: work with the producer and the writers to find something
Speaker 3: that flavors the stew as beautifully as we possibly can.
Speaker 3: And we do that together as a group, not and
Speaker 3: I think it's more of a challenge to do an isolation,
Speaker 3: especially if you don't come from the experience of having
Speaker 3: him done that in some way.
Speaker 1: I agree, Yeah, I agree. Well, I really really like
Speaker 1: recording with others. Yeah, you know, and COVID smacked us
Speaker 1: all around for a while, and you know, I've and
Speaker 1: we've stayed that way regrettably. You know, I'm like, we've
Speaker 1: done Mickey Mouse Club, Micky Mouse House and Mouse, Mickey
Speaker 1: Mouse Funhouse, but you know, on on for about thirty years.
Speaker 1: And when we did a few of them, very few
Speaker 1: of them. I just thought they were great because you
Speaker 1: feed off the other person's energy that ad lib Well,
Speaker 1: he said something a little different. Now I'll say something
Speaker 1: a little different, and if it works, it works, and
Speaker 1: if it doesn't, you just go over it do it again.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think the energy of the other performers, it
Speaker 3: not only fuels, but it inspires and it really makes
Speaker 3: everything just that much better. I think you can get
Speaker 3: close to that if you have good people, good performers,
Speaker 3: and then and the creators know what they want. But
Speaker 3: if there's more searching involved, yeah, or or or maybe
Speaker 3: those on the other side of the glass are less
Speaker 3: theatrically inclined, and shall we say, it's more effort to
Speaker 3: find something that fits beautifully in the story that they're
Speaker 3: trying to make as good as they possibly can.
Speaker 1: Well, I know that, you know a lot of people
Speaker 1: are prone to ad libbing someone that we both know.
Speaker 1: But I don't want to come across as snide, so
Speaker 1: I'm not going to mention his name. But it's just
Speaker 1: something that happens. And there is that fine line, because
Speaker 1: what will happen is you have a clever line. Oh,
Speaker 1: that's really good, that's really good. Okay, but it stopped
Speaker 1: the story cold. You did your funny line. Now we
Speaker 1: have to kind of kickstart the storyline again. And so
Speaker 1: I think if you can add lib in character and
Speaker 1: it serves the storyline, you're good. But if it's just
Speaker 1: you doing hey wack hey, I'll tell you you know,
Speaker 1: it's not so good.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think of it like seasoning. I mean, we
Speaker 3: did a little panel sag this week and for voice actors,
Speaker 3: and that was one of the questions was what about
Speaker 3: improv And to me, it's like asking, well, what about
Speaker 3: salt or what about seasoning? About it, it's like, well,
Speaker 3: let's taste the soup and see if it needs it,
Speaker 3: you know, and and just a little bit, you know,
Speaker 3: a little can go a long way on that, and
Speaker 3: once you put in too much you've kind of need
Speaker 3: to start over or change things in a really substantial way.
Speaker 3: And so it's very case by case and in the
Speaker 3: moment and specific to the story that's being told.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: You have to serve the story first, yep.
Speaker 3: Got to serve the story. And that's I mean, that's
Speaker 3: kind of that's the role of a session player, of
Speaker 3: a voiceover session player is to is to do that
Speaker 3: kind of efficiently and beautifully and with a sense of
Speaker 3: fun and and so you're in and you're out quickly.
Speaker 3: But it felt great and it solves it. Often it
Speaker 3: ends up being better than they ever hoped. That's what
Speaker 3: you want with what you bring, that you bring something
Speaker 3: that not only fulfills it, but it exceeds expectation. And
Speaker 3: it's done in this sufficient way so that you justify
Speaker 3: the price tag, the union price tag of bringing in
Speaker 3: a professional hopefully.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, and hopefully even more than the bare minimum
Speaker 1: of people. Absolutely so true.
Speaker 4: One of my favorite quotes of yours days is that
Speaker 4: you're just touching on my job is done well if
Speaker 4: nobody thinks about me, if I'm invisible. Yeah, And it's
Speaker 4: true because, as you were touching on, when they bring
Speaker 4: in these big names, now it's all about, oh, we've
Speaker 4: got this guy voice in this character, as opposed to
Speaker 4: how good is this character? It's more about who's voicing
Speaker 4: it these days.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it makes the marketing people happy to bring in
Speaker 3: famous people, and sometimes a famous person can deliver the goods.
Speaker 3: But for me, and maybe that's just because of my career,
Speaker 3: but it's also just somebody he likes to watch this
Speaker 3: kind of stuff that is distracting. I don't want to
Speaker 3: think about I frankly don't want to see behind the
Speaker 3: scenes that I don't want to. I don't want to.
Speaker 3: I don't want to think about the actor playing the role.
Speaker 3: I want to think about the work.
Speaker 1: I want.
Speaker 3: I want to see the story. That's what matters to me.
Speaker 3: That's what matters to me as a as a voice actor.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're all Robin Williams anyway, right.
Speaker 3: Right, I mean he was kind of the the the
Speaker 3: Roman candle that started this whole fireworks show of bringing
Speaker 3: in someone who is a name and then building a
Speaker 3: character around it, and that that was a brilliant choice.
Speaker 3: I work there, Yeah, I worked beautifully there. But now
Speaker 3: for me, it gets in the way. There's there's trailers.
Speaker 3: I won't say which, but like there's there's trailers now
Speaker 3: where they they're really hammering it in who the famous
Speaker 3: person is that's talking right now, And so then you're
Speaker 3: watching the trailer just thinking of the famous person and
Speaker 3: it's like, wow, this really takes me out of the trailer,
Speaker 3: which probably tells me too much of the story anyway.
Speaker 3: In addition, and it's just but I mean it's it's
Speaker 3: just one more feature of I think, an industry that's
Speaker 3: more fearful and money angled and less creative. And I
Speaker 3: mean some of my favorite movies I've ever seen were
Speaker 3: movies that I didn't know who any of these people were.
Speaker 3: I think back, there's any number of examples, like Star
Speaker 3: Wars is Like when I was a kid, Star Wars,
Speaker 3: I didn't know anybody in that movie. I didn't know
Speaker 3: anyone at all. That was not what was drawing me
Speaker 3: into that movie or what made me go see it
Speaker 3: one hundred times afterwards. But it was a great innovative
Speaker 3: movie that I was afraid to make, bold, creative, interesting
Speaker 3: choices that came together and worked beautifully. That's what made
Speaker 3: me love that movie. Not that there were name brand
Speaker 3: people that I was going to see as as famous people.
Speaker 1: And the sound of the pew pew, absolutely, I just
Speaker 1: that really is so damn cool. And then not to
Speaker 1: divert too far off there, but I saw the making
Speaker 1: of Star Wars, and do you know how they did that.
Speaker 1: They got that the face of the laser rifle sound.
Speaker 1: They went out to the country, got a big giant
Speaker 1: telephone pole that was held in place with the really thick,
Speaker 1: strong cable and hit the cable with a hammer.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 3: I love that.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 1: And they dipped it in reverb.
Speaker 2: Done. Done.
Speaker 1: Now we've got a thousand gunshots.
Speaker 3: There's something so wonderfully open and innovative about everything about
Speaker 3: that original Star Wars. Oh god, it's we really lack.
Speaker 3: It was the first time for everything, it really was
Speaker 3: and it wasn't an expensive movie per se. It I
Speaker 3: think it costs less than Logan's Run, which came out
Speaker 3: a few months before, and everyone's like, ooh, Logan's Run,
Speaker 3: the big special effects movie, and the Star Wars like uh,
Speaker 3: bye bye yeah, and uh, it's just it. It's more
Speaker 3: and more, especially in a movie cinema, it's uh, it's
Speaker 3: hard to find something that just knocks you in the
Speaker 3: face and just say, wow, I've never seen this, completely
Speaker 3: didn't expect it, and it's and it's full of really bold,
Speaker 3: creative choices like that, rather than you know, replication of
Speaker 3: an ip that everybody knows, which I mean to be fair,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of great examples of really good uh
Speaker 3: standard you know, I p that that's that's beautifully done.
Speaker 3: Big tent poles big names, big expense, and it's good
Speaker 3: or or it can be really good. Often though it's
Speaker 3: it can be a little flat, a little tiresome, a
Speaker 3: little a little too expected and too familiar, and uh,
Speaker 3: it's just kind of a big money machine. But but maybe,
Speaker 3: I mean maybe Hollywood's always been a version of that,
Speaker 3: where the money calls the shots, and and like you know,
Speaker 3: Buster Keaton, this innovative director, we're just going to use
Speaker 3: him as kind of a funny guy to do some
Speaker 3: not so funny lines. And he's he's just going to
Speaker 3: do his thing, and we're doing these musicals, and you know,
Speaker 3: you just kind of you don't really pay attention to
Speaker 3: being creatively innovative when you're making this giant money machine
Speaker 3: in the big sausage factory of Hollywood.
Speaker 1: We make a lot of sausage.
Speaker 3: We do, and some of it's quite tasty, but some
Speaker 3: that's a little overcooked or too big, and you can't
Speaker 3: eat that much.
Speaker 1: That's right. God, now you you have been because I
Speaker 1: did my notes here and I'm trying to think of
Speaker 1: the first time that we might have worked together. Was
Speaker 1: it Phineas and.
Speaker 3: Firm, Well it did some Yeah, I did incidentals and
Speaker 3: I did the sound of Perry of the Platypus, but
Speaker 3: I was, can you give us some Perry Perry's Perry's just.
Speaker 2: Just like I know that that kills me.
Speaker 1: This guy's got more sounds in him. It's like you're
Speaker 1: like Frank Welker's soul son or something like, well did
Speaker 1: that come out right?
Speaker 3: He's a great inspiration. Absolutely, And he's the best. And
Speaker 3: he's I always I said, he's like he's Coke, and
Speaker 3: I'm I'm like Arci Cola.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I've often said that he's the Beatles and the rest
Speaker 1: of us are really trying to get into the Stones. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because he's the Beatles.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And that's another beautiful example of when I was
Speaker 3: starting out three decades ago in Hollywood. Is to be
Speaker 3: in the room with him and you and and Charlie
Speaker 3: Adler and Tress and and others like that who are
Speaker 3: really online, really confident, and and I could I could
Speaker 3: see you know, being this little insecure, kind of comedy
Speaker 3: oriented weirdo. How you present yourself and how you bring
Speaker 3: the power that's unique to you into a session so
Speaker 3: that it's collaborative and so that it's fun, and so
Speaker 3: that it really adds this fantastic element to what's happening,
Speaker 3: and that I needed to find my own version of that.
Speaker 3: That the answer is not to try to replicate any
Speaker 3: of that, but you learn from that and you sort
Speaker 3: of catch the spark from it and ignite your own flame.
Speaker 3: And I'm just very, very lucky that I came into
Speaker 3: this industry with that sort of an education available to
Speaker 3: me when I was auditioning. It's one of my soapboxes too,
Speaker 3: that the new generation they can't they can't learn from
Speaker 3: others in the audition booth. There isn't even an audition
Speaker 3: booth anymore. You're sitting by yourself and you're trying to diagnose.
Speaker 3: It's like being a doctor where you can't talk to
Speaker 3: the patient, you can't touch the patient. You have to
Speaker 3: just kind of look the patient over and then try
Speaker 3: to come up with what needs to be done. And
Speaker 3: this generation has to really search in the dark for
Speaker 3: the right kind of tone, the right kind of pace,
Speaker 3: and the right angle for auditioning, which I think is
Speaker 3: the hardest thing to do, but it used to be
Speaker 3: when I started. It's like, well, some have isdns, but
Speaker 3: you want to go easy on that because some people
Speaker 3: get their isdns where they audition from home, and then
Speaker 3: suddenly they just stop booking. And now that's everybody, yeah,
Speaker 3: where it's hardest for everybody without the input to kind
Speaker 3: of triangulate what it is you want to do.
Speaker 1: Well, it's good to have somebody who's got a pipeline
Speaker 1: to the producer, if not the producers themselves, the directors
Speaker 1: and the people hiring. And there was a place, happy
Speaker 1: to mention it called the voice caster where some of
Speaker 1: the best things that ever happened to me happened there.
Speaker 1: First through the audition processes, they call you in, they
Speaker 1: give you the sides, which is the script, and you
Speaker 1: put your head, wrap your head around it, and you know,
Speaker 1: you study it, look look at it for like ten
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes, and then you go in, you audition, you
Speaker 1: and you leave and wait. And that's kind of the
Speaker 1: way it was always. But now we're sitting in our
Speaker 1: closets or wherever home studios and you know, recording this,
Speaker 1: recording that. Then we're editing it. Now you're the editor.
Speaker 1: Now you're the producer. Now you're you know, you're the talent.
Speaker 1: And then you set it out and wait and it
Speaker 1: just it's not the same. It just doesn't feel like
Speaker 1: the same because you don't feel like you're performing because
Speaker 1: the people who are on the other side of the glass,
Speaker 1: as I say, they for me, they're an audience first,
Speaker 1: and if and if there's a bit of an audience
Speaker 1: factor there, I tend to elevate. I tend to Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm a little better.
Speaker 3: It's a meaningful part of the equation of what's happening.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just better.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And to sit in the in your little audition
Speaker 3: booth at home, you're wearing all these hats that you're
Speaker 3: you may not be trained in and are not part
Speaker 3: of why you got into this. It's like I didn't
Speaker 3: get into acting or voice acting to be a director
Speaker 3: or a producer or or an engineer, and these are
Speaker 3: all things that you need to be good at. Otherwise,
Speaker 3: what talent you have, it won't matter because it stops
Speaker 3: at the audition if it's not good enough. And it's yeah,
Speaker 3: it's a great conundrum. The Union, Fortunately, they're offering a
Speaker 3: lot of free workshops with a lot of good people
Speaker 3: coming in so so you know those who are who
Speaker 3: are aspiring to this can see face to face. In
Speaker 3: addition to maybe studying with somebody who knows how to
Speaker 3: do this, hopefully face to face. And I would love
Speaker 3: if if I mean for me, I also for me
Speaker 3: personally doing things like stand up and improv where you're
Speaker 3: working with a live situation that you know you've got,
Speaker 3: You've got co that might work in this context, but
Speaker 3: now it's got to work in this context with these people,
Speaker 3: and you start to be able to dance, tap dance,
Speaker 3: read the room and yeah, and find it, you know,
Speaker 3: with whatever this audience is. And that was hugely important
Speaker 3: to me in being ready for doing this kind of work,
Speaker 3: was improv in particular.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and did you do stand up?
Speaker 4: I did.
Speaker 3: I did stand up for a couple of years, and
Speaker 3: the lifestyle didn't appeal, but.
Speaker 2: I learned that was rock and roll.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you learn a lot from that from doing it,
Speaker 3: but also from the others who are doing it, and
Speaker 3: for those who are trying but aren't they're never going
Speaker 3: to make it, those who've made it but wish they
Speaker 3: could get out, those who are just going to go
Speaker 3: straight to sitcom, which is how it was in the
Speaker 3: late eighties. And then I also did I did a
Speaker 3: couple of years of improv with sac theater. It was
Speaker 3: just Theater Sports in Orlando, Florida, with the likes of
Speaker 3: Wayne Brady and Jonathan Magnum and others. And I really
Speaker 3: learned a lot very quickly from that. It's like, I
Speaker 3: like this. It turns out I think I'm good at this,
Speaker 3: And and then it brought me these improvisational antenna that
Speaker 3: I use now all the time. That's that's vital to
Speaker 3: what I think we do, is it's highly improvisational. That is,
Speaker 3: you're ready, You're ready to steer it in whatever way
Speaker 3: it needs to go. And and that's the fun of it.
Speaker 3: And that's you know, that's that's it. That's what it is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you give them one as written and one
Speaker 1: as it should be.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: That's that's right, for better or worse.
Speaker 2: That's kind of my.
Speaker 3: Faupefully, they're receptive. Sometimes they aren't. Sometimes they just want
Speaker 3: to hear what they did and oh yeah, sometimes they
Speaker 3: just want the line read. It's like, okay, I'm a
Speaker 3: session player, sure and and and I will do it.
Speaker 3: Tell me the line and I will say it as
Speaker 3: you did. But if I can, I'm going to try
Speaker 3: to give it to you the best that I think
Speaker 3: that it can be and a lot of the times
Speaker 3: it's compelling me in a way, you're kind of hired
Speaker 3: for your opinion. To be really good in something means
Speaker 3: that you've got a really strong, compelling, sensible and an
Speaker 3: opinion that of what needs to happen, and it brings
Speaker 3: others along, it doesn't threaten them, and it helps. And
Speaker 3: that's that's kind of how I think about it these days,
Speaker 3: is that you're hired for an opinion in a way.
Speaker 2: That's true.
Speaker 1: No, you're right, Yeah, what do you think about this?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think chances are put that copy in front of you,
Speaker 3: you're going to have a strong take on this, right,
Speaker 3: like this right, and that strong take is very probably
Speaker 3: going to be the best thing that you can give them.
Speaker 3: And that's it's not like this sorting searching process, but
Speaker 3: you lock right into it because you know what you do,
Speaker 3: and you know the whole orchestra that's available, and you
Speaker 3: just dial those instruments and here it is, and this
Speaker 3: is the best it's going to be. May I'll do
Speaker 3: what you want, but this is the best my best
Speaker 3: I got.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, I always joll My line is, instincts are
Speaker 1: the best stinks, you know, So you know, if it
Speaker 1: works inside your head, chances are someone out here in
Speaker 1: the world will agree. And if not, well then you
Speaker 1: go back to the drawing bird. All right, we'll do
Speaker 1: it your way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, yeah, that's doable too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4: If you're a fan of everything we do here at
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Speaker 4: where supporters not only get early and add free access
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Speaker 4: today at patreon dot com slash gym Commings podcast link
Speaker 4: is in the description of this show.
Speaker 1: What was your very first job?
Speaker 3: Well, did we mean that my first I mean, like
Speaker 3: my first show biz job. Well, it was a game
Speaker 3: show called Legends of the Hidden Temple, and I voiced
Speaker 3: this giant talking rock in this kid's game show on Nickelodeon.
Speaker 3: Before that, I had done stand up in children's theater
Speaker 3: and plays and musicals and shows at Disney World. And
Speaker 3: oh yeah, just yeah, all you used to work at
Speaker 3: Disney World.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I worked at Disney World four and a half years
Speaker 3: doing a a kind of a sketch improv show and
Speaker 3: then also kind of street theater storytelling in the World
Speaker 3: Showcase at Epcot. And then I was also the walk
Speaker 3: around Beetlejuice at Universal Studios when that opened up in
Speaker 3: nineteen ninety in Orlando. And I so I go.
Speaker 2: Through the walk around Beatles Juice.
Speaker 3: I get, yeah, come on, come on over here, just
Speaker 3: take a picture of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: Oh man, that's great.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I do these squeaky clean family shows during the day,
Speaker 3: and then at night I go over and don the
Speaker 3: Beatle Juice makeup and just kind of harass people in
Speaker 3: a way that they just loved. And it was it
Speaker 3: was it was perfect. Here Beetlejuice, harass my girlfriend, or okay,
Speaker 3: Beetle Juice, take a picture with me and my friends
Speaker 3: or whatever, and everybody laughs. It's a kind of freedom
Speaker 3: that I just can't I can't describe. But it was
Speaker 3: all the things I liked. It was character, it was improvisational,
Speaker 3: and uh, and it's about stepping over boundaries, but in
Speaker 3: a in an amicable way. But you're stepping over boundaries,
Speaker 3: especially as beetle juice. Wow, and everyone is on board
Speaker 3: for it except for the elderly. The elderly weren't on
Speaker 3: board with beetle Juice, but everyone else on down was
Speaker 3: just very much come over and harass this and saypriate things.
Speaker 1: And it's like the reason that people like Don Rickles,
Speaker 1: you know, it's kind of something in that in that
Speaker 1: NEXTI way, come.
Speaker 3: Over and let me have it, but you do it
Speaker 3: in a way that you know. I mean, it's like
Speaker 3: you're you're coming after me, but you like me, and
Speaker 3: we're doing this together and it is fun and we're
Speaker 3: both doing it. Look what we're doing it, and it's
Speaker 3: it's exciting and it's fun. Yeah. So that that's kind
Speaker 3: of where I started, was with that, and then the
Speaker 3: Nickelodeon game show and the and the host Kirk Fogg said,
Speaker 3: come check out Los Angeles, and I was starting to
Speaker 3: do voiceover work out there at the time, and I.
Speaker 1: Was doing in Orlando, and I.
Speaker 3: Like doing the character stuff on stage and when we
Speaker 3: do like improv, I would do odd characters. I like
Speaker 3: to sing. I was doing singing training, so my voice
Speaker 3: was strong and I like doing weird things with my voice,
Speaker 3: and so I just said, so, I said, uh, I
Speaker 3: think I'll just try checking out Los Angeles. My wife
Speaker 3: was was good for that too, because she was an actor,
Speaker 3: and we just said, all right, well, life's good out
Speaker 3: here in Orlando. It's sustainable, we have healthcare, we have,
Speaker 3: you know, a steady job, lots of different stages to
Speaker 3: perform on.
Speaker 1: Interesting.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it can get bigger and better and who
Speaker 3: know go who knows where in La. So we're of
Speaker 3: the age. Let's just give it a try, and happily
Speaker 3: it worked. You just don't really know until you dive
Speaker 3: in if you can really swim in those waters. But
Speaker 3: it it worked out, it worked out.
Speaker 1: How old were you when you did that?
Speaker 2: I was.
Speaker 3: I would be around twenty nine or thirty. I'm sixty
Speaker 3: two right now, so yeah, it was like half my
Speaker 3: life ago, but it was. Yeah. I mean, it's it's
Speaker 3: it's I think you've got to You've got to sort
Speaker 3: of strategically jump off diving boards throughout your life, at
Speaker 3: all stages in life, and even now. I think it's important.
Speaker 3: You know, even in a later stage of a career
Speaker 3: as a as an as a as a freelance actor
Speaker 3: and artist, is that you've got to find things that
Speaker 3: you like and that are odd and that challenged you,
Speaker 3: and that maybe a big swing at the towards the fences,
Speaker 3: but you still got to do it. I mean, for instance,
Speaker 3: I went and saw they did a staging, a concert
Speaker 3: staging of Randy Newman's Faust that I saw this weekend.
Speaker 3: Oh really, and it was.
Speaker 1: I had that. I bought that album.
Speaker 3: It was great, It was really great. They it's an
Speaker 3: interesting story.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it is so sly his lyrics.
Speaker 3: Yeah. God, I've always been a huge fan of him,
Speaker 3: and here he is. He's this old lion who's done
Speaker 3: all of these different things, and he put together this
Speaker 3: thing that was a musical that started out big, and
Speaker 3: the book wasn't quite right and they trimmed it down
Speaker 3: to this live performance that they did this weekend, and
Speaker 3: apparently he was very happy with it. I loved it.
Speaker 3: I thought they fixed a lot of things about the
Speaker 3: storyline and added more humor to it, and it was
Speaker 3: It's exciting for me to see someone who's, you know,
Speaker 3: later in their career, who's still really going for it,
Speaker 3: even Megalopolis Francis Ford Coppola, bless his heart. I mean,
Speaker 3: he's swinging big and swinging for the fences. And for
Speaker 3: me because I respect and and and admire his artist's heart,
Speaker 3: I I'm on board for him whether or not I
Speaker 3: think the movie is successful. I think there's something really
Speaker 3: admirable about an artist who is not afraid to swing
Speaker 3: big and to try something and just see if it works.
Speaker 3: And I think that's I think that's really it's.
Speaker 2: Not bad cool, that's good stuff. Wow.
Speaker 1: Well, who better than Randy Newman? You know his lyrics
Speaker 1: and his he's you know, he's.
Speaker 2: My close personal friend.
Speaker 1: In fact, let's call him let's do no no. But
Speaker 1: it's a you know, it's one of my honors to
Speaker 1: actually I do know him and and you know, sung
Speaker 1: any number of his songs, and so that kind of helps.
Speaker 3: He's magnificent and most people don't believe what he's done.
Speaker 3: They don't know the songs that he's written for himself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he and they all there are stories that
Speaker 1: have music in them.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I remember, way way back in Louisiana when I lived
Speaker 1: in Louisiana, he wrote that song Louisiana, louis They're trying
Speaker 1: to wash us away. Yeah, and it was about the
Speaker 1: great flood of nineteen twenty nine and how it just
Speaker 1: about literally did almost wash away Louisiana, and you know,
Speaker 1: and it just still resonates. And and he's like the
Speaker 1: poet laureate he is.
Speaker 3: He's like a Mark Twain songster of I mean, he's
Speaker 3: got this folksy but biting intelligence that is it can
Speaker 3: break your heart or it can just make me laugh
Speaker 3: more than anything, because he has what nobody has anymore, irony. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and he's masterful at that. If you check back his
Speaker 3: last few albums, not soundtracks, I'm talking about his song albums,
Speaker 3: you know, Harps and Angels and all that. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's it's some of my favorite songs of all for me.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I was really gratified to see how well
Speaker 3: his faust came off. And apparently he had been there
Speaker 3: at the first performance and was very pleased with it,
Speaker 3: and the audience was pleased with it, and I just
Speaker 3: I felt good for Randy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're not worried about him either. He's
Speaker 1: doing fine. That's good stuff. That is good stuff. So
Speaker 1: I have some questions.
Speaker 3: For you, ask me some questions.
Speaker 1: I would like to know who, of all your characters
Speaker 1: is your favorite.
Speaker 3: My favorite.
Speaker 2: Who's your favorite clone?
Speaker 1: That one that.
Speaker 3: Was the favorite clone. That's a tough one.
Speaker 1: No, I think I was kidding, I hope, unless you
Speaker 1: have a really cool answer.
Speaker 3: Well, the one that breaks my heart the most is fives.
Speaker 3: He died really tragically. Uh, And he was heroic. He
Speaker 3: was a hero that came that close. And he's one
Speaker 3: that breaks my heart that I really love. But I
Speaker 3: really I mean ninety nine and Rex, of course. And
Speaker 3: I can't really narrow that down very well.
Speaker 1: I know, I know that was a trick question, but
Speaker 1: it was.
Speaker 3: Let's see, I'll narrow it down to a couple. I'll
Speaker 3: say that it was. It was really fun. It was
Speaker 3: thrilling and and and scary and adventurous to perform Daffy
Speaker 3: Duck in space jam. That was early in my career.
Speaker 3: I wasn't. I'd only been out here for a couple
Speaker 3: of years yet, and I didn't know any better. And
Speaker 3: I didn't. It's not like I'd worked up a Daffy
Speaker 3: Duck impression, because I really didn't. I'm not really an impressionist.
Speaker 3: I don't. I'm not really drawn to it. I can,
Speaker 3: I can do it if i'm forced, but I generally
Speaker 3: am not drawn to it.
Speaker 1: Okay, now you're drawn to it, so you have to
Speaker 1: give us. You have to give us a little.
Speaker 3: Let's let's all laugh at the Duck like I mean,
Speaker 3: it's like I if I could big Daffy Duck, I
Speaker 3: would love to be Daffy Duck. This kind of benevolent chaos.
Speaker 1: He's all over the place, the plate.
Speaker 3: But it was fun to be thrown into that mix
Speaker 3: with the challenge of a classic character like that, right
Speaker 3: that I resonated with, and then to have to be
Speaker 3: working with Ivan Reightman and you know, and Billy West
Speaker 3: and on this whole big production. Got to work with
Speaker 3: Michael Jordan for a day wearing the green suit, and
Speaker 3: it was It was thrilling and exciting and also an
Speaker 3: education in that we weren't invited to the premiere. I've
Speaker 3: been writing a secretary. He told me that that was
Speaker 3: for the actors.
Speaker 1: What I kind of Oh my god, I remember that,
Speaker 1: I remember that.
Speaker 3: And so yeah, So the story goes that Billy, Billy West,
Speaker 3: he got his agent to call up and finally they
Speaker 3: gave two tickets to me because I was Daffy, and
Speaker 3: two to him because he was bugs.
Speaker 2: There was only.
Speaker 3: Fifteen voice actors and and so my.
Speaker 1: Wife don't have to cast.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's my wife gave up her ticket so
Speaker 3: I could take Porky Pig, which is Bob Bergen to
Speaker 3: the premiere. We we show up at Gramman's Chinese Theater
Speaker 3: and you know, the big guy with the clipboard and
Speaker 3: the sunglasses and the sorry so you're not on the list.
Speaker 3: You're at the theater over to the hide over here,
Speaker 3: this little theater that the secutives are not.
Speaker 1: A sheet up on the side of the building, and
Speaker 1: there's a guy with a projector.
Speaker 3: Like I am the star of this picture. And so
Speaker 3: you know, it was a little less than just in
Speaker 3: terms of how the the what's what's what's at work
Speaker 3: in Hollywood and how things play out, And so I
Speaker 3: didn't take it as as a as an affront. And plus,
Speaker 3: this is exactly what would happen to Daffy Duck if
Speaker 3: he were actually in a movie. He would not be
Speaker 3: allowed into the theater. So I think this is actually
Speaker 3: kind of appropriate. I know bugs personally, I know I
Speaker 3: am the see that pilster right there, you know that.
Speaker 3: But it was a great lesson and it was a
Speaker 3: great adventure, and it was kind of a launch that
Speaker 3: I think affirmed some a little more confident confidence in
Speaker 3: myself and which I think you carry with you into
Speaker 3: your auditions and that leads to more work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there you go. That's good. Yeah.
Speaker 4: What I'll find amazing about that story is that you
Speaker 4: improvised most of the lines in that film Anyway, Space
Speaker 4: Jams Duffy anythink, Yeah, essentially created the jokes of that movie.
Speaker 4: But they're not gonna let you in the premiere. It
Speaker 4: bog was my mind.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, that's just that's just the power structure of
Speaker 3: an event, of a of a of a premiere. There's
Speaker 3: a whole power structure that's in play that is not
Speaker 3: It's not about a meritocracy sorting of who deserves and
Speaker 3: who should be. It's really about power and the money
Speaker 3: and optics and all these other things that really optics,
Speaker 3: for sure, it just don't matter. And and so ultimately
Speaker 3: it's like, that's all right, you can have your big
Speaker 3: thing that serves whatever your needs are, but it doesn't
Speaker 3: really matter to me that much. But yeah, that was
Speaker 3: one of the great things about Ivan Reightman, who is
Speaker 3: the guy that really directed us in the booth Forth
Speaker 3: Space Jam is that he's a friend of comedians and
Speaker 3: he knows to let comedians do their thing. You know,
Speaker 3: he knows you're going to get better if you let
Speaker 3: let people do what they're good at. And and he
Speaker 3: was its. He skewed more towards in directing it. Kind
Speaker 3: of the gradient is from control to freedom, right, And
Speaker 3: some directors are very controlling and they'll give you the
Speaker 3: line read and they want it to be exactly this way,
Speaker 3: and it's a miserable long experience that goes on too long,
Speaker 3: not very creative for you. On the other end is
Speaker 3: just the freedom of this. I was like, well, there's
Speaker 3: a script, but if you've got anything better or something
Speaker 3: that works, just go for it, or let's try some stuff.
Speaker 3: And that can be too free. But you know, Ivan
Speaker 3: Wrightman was very much on board with letting us try
Speaker 3: to make this funnier. In the mad dash that that
Speaker 3: was the making of Space Jam.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well you and Billy in the studio together as bugs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, they'd have us, they'd have us in the
Speaker 3: studio together, really the ensemble, and we'd read through the
Speaker 3: script and we'd riff off of each other and it
Speaker 3: just it wasn't run like it would be run by
Speaker 3: somebody who knows how to do animation, because there you
Speaker 3: isolate people so that you can so that the talking
Speaker 3: over that you're doing doesn't ruin the take. But that's
Speaker 3: not how we recorded it, because we were recorded by
Speaker 3: on camera feature people, and so they're letting us step
Speaker 3: on each other and talk over each other, and they're
Speaker 3: going to animate to that, which is that's a little
Speaker 3: bit tougher diceier. And plus there was only a year
Speaker 3: and a half of production on that movie literally before
Speaker 3: we got to get those T shirts and pajamas and
Speaker 3: target and there's an opening date, and so it was
Speaker 3: a mad rush and a lot of money was spent
Speaker 3: all over the planet to get that thing finished. Plus
Speaker 3: I'm right when the way he did it was that
Speaker 3: we would do our jokes and takes, they'd go back
Speaker 3: and animate it and he'd say, uh, we need we
Speaker 3: need to change this part. So we would go back
Speaker 3: and then re record it, come up with new stuff,
Speaker 3: and they'd have to go back and reanimate it. Yeah,
Speaker 3: so the the animator is cheap. Yeah, Yeah, it's that's
Speaker 3: that's uh, that's not usually how you do it. It's
Speaker 3: it's that's how you do on camera, not animation. Uh.
Speaker 3: The animator put it. He said, with with on camera,
Speaker 3: you shoot it first, then edit it later. With animation,
Speaker 3: you edit it first, then you shoot it. And they
Speaker 3: were shooting it like it was on camera, So it
Speaker 3: was it was it was quite a mad.
Speaker 4: Dashy you went invited to the Premier.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 4: You touched on that you worked today with Michael Jordan.
Speaker 4: We have to talk about that. What was that?
Speaker 3: Like, you know, it's it's I wish it were more interesting.
Speaker 3: I mean, ultimately, they what I think they should have
Speaker 3: done was to hire the actual voice actors to to
Speaker 3: don the green suits and to work with Michael Jordan,
Speaker 3: and I think it would have been even better. But
Speaker 3: that they gave to improv actors I think who did
Speaker 3: a good job, but they weren't really tasked with coming
Speaker 3: up with script ideas and so they just had to
Speaker 3: go off of the script, whereas we were.
Speaker 1: Kind of empowered and enabled the word.
Speaker 3: To bring stuff up so we could riff and we
Speaker 3: could have brought a lot more to it than we did.
Speaker 3: So it was just on that one day and Michael Jordan,
Speaker 3: I mean he seemed very nice very focused. There's Joe
Speaker 3: Pitka who's lurking in the back, and and Ivan Reightman
Speaker 3: was there a little more engaged with us, and and
Speaker 3: we you know, we we do our scene. We go
Speaker 3: through a couple of scenes, but pretty much as written
Speaker 3: is all we could do. And then Michael Jordan disappears
Speaker 3: back into his entourage. They kind of swallow him back
Speaker 3: up and he goes back into the entourage and they go,
Speaker 3: I don't know, play basketball or have a sandwich or something,
Speaker 3: but kind of isolated in his own kind of Michael
Speaker 3: Jordan bubble. But it was fun and exciting and had
Speaker 3: a day of doing it. You know, get an autograph?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 3: I didn't, dare did he?
Speaker 2: You wouldn't give him an autograph? No? She what an elitist?
Speaker 3: No, I would not. Man, he could beg.
Speaker 1: Well, okay, maybe eighty fifty bucks. How's that give him
Speaker 1: a discount? Yeah? Yeah, oh man, that's wild. When did
Speaker 1: you truly first know that you were going to be
Speaker 1: doing this? Not the podcast?
Speaker 3: I meant just voice acting, period.
Speaker 2: When did you get the boat? I'll tell you acting dancing?
Speaker 3: You know, Well, when I came out here, I was
Speaker 3: open trying a lot of different things. I was doing
Speaker 3: on camera commercials and commercial voice acting and auditioning for
Speaker 3: for like little one off cartoons like they used to
Speaker 3: have back in the old days of Hanna Barbera a
Speaker 3: lot of cartoons and that kind of thing. But I
Speaker 3: was also trying to work my way into doing television
Speaker 3: and comedy. Comedy television fit me the best. I did
Speaker 3: a little series called The Journey of Alan Strange for Nickelodeon,
Speaker 3: where I was an on camera UFO nut had to
Speaker 3: dig deep for that and uh. But anyway, so I
Speaker 3: was auditioning and there was one point it was working
Speaker 3: on Cow and Chicken, which was my first really full
Speaker 3: series with with uh, with the Brilliant, the Dreaded Charlie,
Speaker 3: the Dreaded but brilliant, dreaded but brilliant Charlie and Candy
Speaker 3: Myler and a lot of other just really monstrously talented
Speaker 3: people who told me a lot very quickly. And I
Speaker 3: remember the producer of the on camera show was going
Speaker 3: to take me to producers on this show, but it
Speaker 3: conflicted with a Cow and Chicken record and her her
Speaker 3: basic take of the casting director was, well, are you
Speaker 3: going to go with me to producers? Can I I mean,
Speaker 3: have I have I wasted my time with you? Are
Speaker 3: are you or are you going to go to do
Speaker 3: this little cartoon? Because if you can't, if I'm going to,
Speaker 3: you know, put you in submit, you walk with you
Speaker 3: and then walk in with you to producers, and you're
Speaker 3: going to bail on me, then we're done. That's basically
Speaker 3: the picture that I got is it's like, this is
Speaker 3: a fork on the road, kid, and if you want
Speaker 3: to do your little voiceover thing, that's fine, but but
Speaker 3: that's it. And I just thought about it fairly briefly.
Speaker 3: It's like voiceovers. Let's see, it's air conditioned. I don't
Speaker 3: have to memorize lines. I get to work with really
Speaker 3: fabulous people. It's quick, it's close to home. They only
Speaker 3: use me for like two hours, maybe maybe three. I
Speaker 3: think I'm gonna be a voice actor. And so pretty
Speaker 3: much then I called off the dogs and just said,
Speaker 3: I think I'm just gonna be a voice actor. I
Speaker 3: can't I can't sustain trying to get two airplanes off
Speaker 3: the runway that are going in different directions. So so
Speaker 3: that that that was, you know, that would be probably
Speaker 3: around ninety five or six or something like that, and
Speaker 3: I kept doing commercials that choice. Huh yeah, absolutely. So
Speaker 3: it's a suit that fits me well, and it's a
Speaker 3: lot of fun, and it's something that I like, that
Speaker 3: likes me, and you know, it's a great career. It's
Speaker 3: as I'm it's fun to do. It's great fun. I mean,
Speaker 3: I listened to a lot of memoirs and audio biography
Speaker 3: is on audiobook of on camera people that do movies
Speaker 3: or television or such, and I'm very interested in that.
Speaker 3: But I've never listened through one to say, Gosh, I
Speaker 3: wish I had that career or wish I did that.
Speaker 3: It's like every time, it's like, man, I'm really glad
Speaker 3: I'm a voice actor. Oh yeah, I really, I have
Speaker 3: zero regrets about going into voice acting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah. Same here.
Speaker 1: I had occasion, maybe like three times to work with
Speaker 1: read a Moreno, Great read a Moreno. And I remember,
Speaker 1: you know, I was kind of thunderstruck obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, she she's yeah, you know, I mean from.
Speaker 2: West Side Story.
Speaker 1: I was sorry my whole life and it was just
Speaker 1: amazing to be sitting there and we were doing Bonkers
Speaker 1: Walker's Bonker's deep up kit and uh and she was
Speaker 1: there and she the second or third show, second show,
Speaker 1: I think, she goes, Okay, I just have to tell
Speaker 1: everybody here this is the am this thing I've ever
Speaker 1: done in my life. And she's looking at her, she goes,
Speaker 1: I can't tell you how happy I am to be
Speaker 1: here with all of you crazy people, you know, and
Speaker 1: and and she says, this is I've spent my whole
Speaker 1: life trying to calm myself down, trying to not beat
Speaker 1: like this guy over here me and uh and and
Speaker 1: uh what was I thinking? This is so much fun,
Speaker 1: This is so freeing, it's so and you know, and
Speaker 1: she's looking at everybody.
Speaker 2: And and and we're all going.
Speaker 1: Well, we're kind of glad to have you, you know,
Speaker 1: thanks for being here. Rita Moreno, who has an Emmy,
Speaker 1: a Grammy and Oscar and every literally every award you
Speaker 1: can get, pretty Tony as Tony and.
Speaker 2: And we're going, retal likes us. This is pretty cool.
Speaker 3: Well that's the right word, though, is freedom. There's it's
Speaker 3: and it's a it's a it's a daily dose of
Speaker 3: of totally fresh freedom. That's it's a different one. Everything
Speaker 3: that comes at you. That's it's it's the fun and
Speaker 3: the challenge of it is just to jump off a
Speaker 3: different diving board with a with a crazy character or
Speaker 3: a different idea, or a different style, a different tone.
Speaker 3: That's it, and it's it could be different things on
Speaker 3: multiple different shows a day, and it's such great variety
Speaker 3: and and it's I just feel bad for on camera
Speaker 3: or sometimes even stage actors who are just you're you're
Speaker 3: just in this little box and you're much more confined
Speaker 3: with your you know, your physical type and everything else.
Speaker 3: And in voice acting, there's just there's this maximized freedom,
Speaker 3: but it's not easier. It may be free, and it
Speaker 3: may be fun, but what you're bringing to bear as
Speaker 3: an actor is no less specific and no less contextually aware.
Speaker 3: And it's it's it's it's an art, but it's kind
Speaker 3: of a hidden, invisible one that I think people are
Speaker 3: only for the most part a kind of superficially aware of,
Speaker 3: because what they see is the is the fun characters
Speaker 3: and the and the voices coming out of us. But
Speaker 3: what they don't see is that that process that happens
Speaker 3: of coming up with the idea, of finding the idea
Speaker 3: of haunting it so something that just works just right
Speaker 3: and beautifully and then moving on and clearing the deck
Speaker 3: for the next idea. That's what's really impressive and beautiful
Speaker 3: to me about it. But it's it's kind of invisible,
Speaker 3: the the the the nuts and bolts process of it.
Speaker 4: If you're a fan of everything we do here at
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Speaker 4: where supporters not only get early and add free access
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Speaker 2: Would you would you rather?
Speaker 1: You know, say, you know, God forbid, some venerable actor
Speaker 1: passes away and now it's time to replace them. They
Speaker 1: needed someone else to do that character. It's still going now.
Speaker 1: Have you had experience with that and if so, do
Speaker 1: you prefer that or is it easier to pick up
Speaker 1: a character that's established, or do you prefer to start
Speaker 1: over start from scratch like with the Clone Wars or
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, where it's it's you you're the you
Speaker 1: are the original you know which do you have any
Speaker 1: comments on those?
Speaker 3: I mean, with the Clone Wars, the template was Tomur
Speaker 3: Morrison originally from the Features, but I wasn't really expected
Speaker 3: to kind of hang close to that. They let me
Speaker 3: move out from that into my my own thing, like
Speaker 3: like like Anaquin Anakin, they let go much much further.
Speaker 3: I mean anakline and the Clone Wars is very very
Speaker 3: different from the Clone Wars, the prequels Anakin. It's a
Speaker 3: very different character, voice, in a different tone and all
Speaker 3: the rest of it. So there was freedom that I
Speaker 3: mean for me personally, I don't I don't really want
Speaker 3: to copy what somebody else has done. I want to
Speaker 3: I want to do my own thing that that works beautifully.
Speaker 3: And in some cases it's like Okay, they want Daffy
Speaker 3: Duck or.
Speaker 1: Something like that, it's like, well, that's established. I've got
Speaker 1: a it's pretty established.
Speaker 3: Yeah. But even with that, if something something like that
Speaker 3: that's that's absolutely established, you know, you can pick a
Speaker 3: decade and there's a different Daffy Duck to refer to.
Speaker 3: And then also with the way it's written, you're going
Speaker 3: to bring some of your own version to it. I mean,
Speaker 3: I suppose maybe you experienced that with Winnie the Pooh,
Speaker 3: where you're you're you're really trying to stay as close
Speaker 3: as you can, but then you freedom opens up, then
Speaker 3: it becomes yours.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's very very true. Yeah, I always thought that
Speaker 1: the first thing, you know, job one is you have
Speaker 1: to sound like it, like if Pooh yawns, if who
Speaker 1: has tummy trouble, if Poo has the hiccups, it has
Speaker 1: to be him, right, It has to sound like him.
Speaker 1: It can't sound like someone with the hiccups or you know.
Speaker 1: And then at that point, you know, it almost gets
Speaker 1: easier from there because if you if you've got those
Speaker 1: little nuances down, you can elaborate on that and and
Speaker 1: next thing you know, you're you're doing little soliloquies and
Speaker 1: uh yeah, and it just seems to be that way.
Speaker 3: You're no longer replicating, but you're generating. It's just not
Speaker 3: a photocopy.
Speaker 1: It.
Speaker 3: It might start kind of like that, which like here's
Speaker 3: the reference line, here's you, here's the reference line, here's you.
Speaker 3: You're really trying to hit that, But then it opens
Speaker 3: up and become something that's nuanced and and everything from
Speaker 3: just little incidental. Sounds like you're saying to a whole paragraph.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well back when I very very first started and
Speaker 1: I ended up being Winning the Pooh very early, very
Speaker 1: very early in my career, so it he was gone
Speaker 1: for a little while, but they still wanted it to
Speaker 1: sound like the original. Understandable, very understandable. But the problem
Speaker 1: was that he was in the like for instance, Pooh
Speaker 1: ought to be in pictures. It was Winnie the Pooh
Speaker 1: and Tigger and they all went to a movie theater.
Speaker 1: Now there were no movie theaters in the hundred that
Speaker 1: already boom right out of the gate. Is different, so
Speaker 1: he's not going to walk around saying oh, bother and
Speaker 1: pass the honey all day because there is no honey,
Speaker 1: and you're in a movie theater, which is a place
Speaker 1: Pooh never was. So by circumstpt, just by necessity, he
Speaker 1: had to grow. He had to be a little more,
Speaker 1: for lack of a better word, worldly.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a different energy because the movie cinema is
Speaker 3: going to be in a town and that's a different
Speaker 3: energy from.
Speaker 1: Woods. Yeah, and they actually I remember I can see
Speaker 1: it now, them walking in and out of the theater
Speaker 1: and it's like, okay, well, we've never seen this one before,
Speaker 1: have we?
Speaker 2: And uh?
Speaker 1: And the same was true with the movie Christopher Robin,
Speaker 1: which I I just was crazy about. I just loved it,
Speaker 1: you know, and and it came along at a perfect
Speaker 1: time in my life too.
Speaker 2: It helped me out.
Speaker 1: Oh you know, so things like that, and it's these
Speaker 1: little touchtones. But you can't some characters you can grow
Speaker 1: like that, and some of you just can't. You have
Speaker 1: to be true to the original. Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but every mission is different, you know, and you're
Speaker 3: and you're open to that, and sometimes you know, something
Speaker 3: comes across the uh, the feet it's like, you know,
Speaker 3: I just don't think. I don't think I have a
Speaker 3: good version of this for me. It's like I just
Speaker 3: I don't think I can make this sing. I'll pass.
Speaker 1: Have you ever oh yeah, oh, I was gonna ask you,
Speaker 1: have you ever turned down an audition or a role?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll turn down, I'll turn I'm trying to think
Speaker 3: I've ever turned down a roll. Possibly just they just
Speaker 3: want me to scream or it's like I can't, I
Speaker 3: can't do that. But I'll occasionally get an audition where
Speaker 3: I'll read through it and then It's like I read
Speaker 3: the audition and I check out who's making it, and
Speaker 3: and I see kind of what this needs to be,
Speaker 3: and I try it a little bit maybe, and it's like,
Speaker 3: I just I don't like what I'm doing. I don't
Speaker 3: I wouldn't cast me. I don't think I can make
Speaker 3: something that's good from this. So I'm I'm I'm not
Speaker 3: going to waste their time. I'm not going to waste
Speaker 3: my time or my voice. But I I'm I'm not gonna.
Speaker 3: I don't want to waste anyone's time. If I'm sending
Speaker 3: in an audition with you, yeah, well maybe, but what
Speaker 3: I don't want is to leave a bad impression. I
Speaker 3: don't want to send something as like what the hell
Speaker 3: was that? Or no, no, no no no. I at
Speaker 3: very worst, I want to hear, oh hmm, that's interesting.
Speaker 3: I can see it. Not what we're going for, but
Speaker 3: but interesting. Okay, yeah, he took a big swing knock gonna.
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, I've had a couple of those two
Speaker 1: because you're trying out for one character and then I
Speaker 1: can remember I wish I could think of who it was.
Speaker 1: I can't remember the series, but they said, well you
Speaker 1: are auditioned for Joe blow Blending. Yeah, and well they
Speaker 1: didn't like you for that, but now you are auditioned.
Speaker 1: They saved that because they want you to be the janitor. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I really love being the janitor, so you know,
Speaker 1: so I okay, yeah, I don't care which key got
Speaker 1: me through the door.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, I want to send in something that I'm
Speaker 3: proud of that it's like, at least I don't feel
Speaker 3: like I'm wasting their time. And I feel good about
Speaker 3: it because I think people remember that he's a casting
Speaker 3: director or or a director or a writer or whoever's
Speaker 3: listening to it. And I think, you know, like I
Speaker 3: like to say that some auditions take ten years to book,
Speaker 3: and if you do a good one today, that doesn't
Speaker 3: work for this show that was closed but not quite
Speaker 3: but man, was it interesting? Good They remember it, remember
Speaker 3: a good audition just like that.
Speaker 2: That's true.
Speaker 3: I remember a really bad audition as much as they'll
Speaker 3: remember a really good one. And I just want to
Speaker 3: have good memories, whether they're cast or not. So that's
Speaker 3: that's what I aspire to in sending in auditions. Mostly
Speaker 3: I'll take a swing at it, especially if they say
Speaker 3: it's a request and they they're thinking that I might
Speaker 3: have it, and they kind of were thinking, it's like, okay,
Speaker 3: I'll really I'll try. I'll really try.
Speaker 1: Yeah, your client request. Yeah, I don't think I've ever
Speaker 1: gotten one of those. Well they they you should go
Speaker 1: over to blah blah blah because they've requested you. Oh
Speaker 1: they did, so I won't be doing it. No, you
Speaker 1: probably won't be getting Yeah.
Speaker 3: Usually yeah, it works that way. Usually it does. If
Speaker 3: they're going like that, it's like, well, we're really going
Speaker 3: to hire you know, Miley Cyrus.
Speaker 1: But oh yeah, right, but we wanted to give you
Speaker 1: a shot at you know, you get that too, Miley little.
Speaker 3: Well, well, actually there was one where it was well,
Speaker 3: well not quite close it was. It was Germel del
Speaker 3: Toro's Pinocchio.
Speaker 2: Well that is it gets no closer.
Speaker 3: I got to read. I got to read for the
Speaker 3: monkey in that and we and we did a read
Speaker 3: through of it that was recorded and then we might
Speaker 3: use it. We might not, but we're going to record
Speaker 3: it because he and and so I thought it's a monkey.
Speaker 3: I do a lot of monkeys. I got a good
Speaker 3: monkey in me. I thought I did really great on
Speaker 3: your back and the movie came out and it's Kate
Speaker 3: Blanchett is the monkey. And she didn't do a bad job.
Speaker 3: She actually did a pretty good monkey.
Speaker 1: I thought you're kidding and and she and this is
Speaker 1: the one from a couple of years ago.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's Kate Blanchette is the monkey. So I mean,
Speaker 3: even there, it's like, we gotta get a we gotta
Speaker 3: get a name, We got to get a face for
Speaker 3: the monkey. Even I'm not even I'm not even I'm
Speaker 3: not bulletproof here anymore.
Speaker 2: But uh uh well, samahayak. It's tough. It's tough. It's tough.
Speaker 3: Crimea river, crimea river.
Speaker 2: Oh man, that is painful.
Speaker 1: How old were you when you knew that you were
Speaker 1: you've been struck or was there a big boying moment?
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 3: No, I mean I I acted when I started doing
Speaker 3: plays in musicals and such in second grade. And I
Speaker 3: really liked doing plays and musicals, but I never thought
Speaker 3: I was an actor. There were those who would you know,
Speaker 3: they get up on their stage and Petruchio and and
Speaker 3: uh Taming of the Shrew. At my high school, it's
Speaker 3: like that guy is an actor.
Speaker 2: Cool ways to meet girls.
Speaker 3: Too, Absolutely, that's that's yes. That's one of the fridge benefits.
Speaker 3: But I I never looked at it as a I
Speaker 3: first of all didn't think that's really what I was.
Speaker 3: I didn't know what I was. And plus it's like
Speaker 3: I don't think you can earn a living doing that.
Speaker 3: There's nothing. I mean you might.
Speaker 1: Now you're talking like my dad, God rest is soul.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's that's I felt that way all through college.
Speaker 3: I didn't study acting. I did a lot of performing.
Speaker 3: I did choirs and musicals and plays, stand up. I mean,
Speaker 3: it was my version of it. But I never even
Speaker 3: when I graduated college, there's there's no way that I
Speaker 3: said to myself, now I'm going to be an actor,
Speaker 3: let alone a voice actor. But I kept doing those
Speaker 3: kinds of performing things that I thought were fun and
Speaker 3: whether they whether they paid or not, which usually they didn't.
Speaker 3: I just did it because I liked it, and I
Speaker 3: kept doing it until it's like, oh I can make
Speaker 3: a little bit over here, this one pays. But actually this,
Speaker 3: you know, singing telegrams not a life I want to
Speaker 3: really commit to. But I made a little money there.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: I did that for two days, a day and a
Speaker 1: half maybe, and it was the worst. It was over
Speaker 1: a easter, and so I had to be the Easter Bunny. Yes,
Speaker 1: and I'll tell you this, God, I'll make this brief.
Speaker 1: But I had to wear the stinking helmet, the big
Speaker 1: goofy you know where you and it's this big with
Speaker 1: the ears and everything.
Speaker 2: And so the little one comes to.
Speaker 1: The door and I go, hey, it's me the Easter Bunny,
Speaker 1: and I come home, my baby, you know.
Speaker 2: And I'm saying, I can't remember what it was. And
Speaker 2: I realized that I'm.
Speaker 1: Breathing the same air for and over again, and I'm
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pass out because I didn't have any fresh oxygen.
Speaker 2: And so.
Speaker 1: Then I pulled the thing off of my head and
Speaker 1: I'm soaking in sweat and the little fib real, you know,
Speaker 1: the Easter Bunny just ripped off his head.
Speaker 3: Some guy's head is in it, the Easter bunny. Hay
Speaker 3: that guy.
Speaker 1: And the lady looks at me, she goes, are you
Speaker 1: all right?
Speaker 2: Why did you do that?
Speaker 1: I go, I just oh, I'm so much better now,
Speaker 1: I can breathe.
Speaker 2: Now, Oh, come back a little. Why is she crying?
Speaker 2: You know? And so.
Speaker 3: And then you got to collect money for that yeah,
Speaker 3: it's yeah, it's.
Speaker 2: Yeah, give me twenty bucks. I don't even think I
Speaker 2: got paid. I said, you know what.
Speaker 1: I should go.
Speaker 3: It was part of an actor's education.
Speaker 2: I've traumatized your child. My work here is done.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but there are a lot of versions like that,
Speaker 3: like I said, where you know, I tried it for
Speaker 3: a little bit for a while, and it's like I've
Speaker 3: learned from this. I just don't think I want to
Speaker 3: keep going. I want to move and just kind of
Speaker 3: keep trying other stuff. And then it would be like
Speaker 3: my mid late twenties where it's like, oh, I'm actually
Speaker 3: earn a living performing, you know, whether it's kind of
Speaker 3: a health oriented musical for children for schools in Denver,
Speaker 3: and then theme parks health and then but all this
Speaker 3: other kind of performing where I always looked at performing.
Speaker 3: It's just something I do because I like it, and
Speaker 3: if it can pay me, then great. But the main
Speaker 3: thing is I've got to like it. I've got to
Speaker 3: like whatever this version of it is. And I kept
Speaker 3: trying different versions of it until it finally just kind
Speaker 3: of narrowed into voice acting. But it wasn't. It really
Speaker 3: wasn't until my late twenties that I started kind of considering.
Speaker 3: It's like, oh, that's actually a career, and that is
Speaker 3: actually fun, and I think I've got some of the
Speaker 3: skill set to make that. I might. I might. I
Speaker 3: don't know. I might be able to make it work.
Speaker 3: But maybe LA is too big, or the gates are
Speaker 3: all up and no one's gonna let me in. It's like,
Speaker 3: I don't know, but who knows. I'll give it a try.
Speaker 3: You just have to kind of jump out there and
Speaker 3: give it a try.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well I've said before, you know. I read and
Speaker 1: I was already into business for about five years. I
Speaker 1: won't be labored this too much. But the great Gordon
Speaker 1: Hunt and Barbara. He was the guy who did all
Speaker 1: the Scooby Dooes and Flintstone, on and on and on
Speaker 1: over the years, the voice director. He wrote a book,
Speaker 1: how to Break into show Business. In the fifth one
Speaker 1: is how to break into voiceover. And I read this
Speaker 1: when I was already into business by five years, and
Speaker 1: it said, how to break into.
Speaker 2: Voiceover, don't even try.
Speaker 1: You're not going to be able to.
Speaker 2: There are four or maybe five people who do this.
Speaker 2: You're not one of them.
Speaker 1: They all live in Hollywood, California, where you don't, so
Speaker 1: don't And here's chapter six and I went, well, I'm
Speaker 1: glad I didn't read that sucker, you know, like five
Speaker 1: years ago. It's like, so don't even try. And you figure, well,
Speaker 1: this guy knows if anybody knows, it's Gordon Hunt.
Speaker 3: So well, in a way, it's and I've.
Speaker 1: Told him, God rest, So I said, by the way,
Speaker 1: you gave me the worst advice anyone ever gave. Anybody goes,
Speaker 1: what the hell? When did I do that?
Speaker 2: And I go, we hadn't even met yet. I read
Speaker 2: your book. He goes voiceover.
Speaker 1: I go, yeah, yeah, duh, you know so.
Speaker 3: Well, I think it's useful. That's it. That's it. That's
Speaker 3: an interesting story because I think in the end, to
Speaker 3: to do this kind of stuff, you not only do
Speaker 3: it because you have the talent for it and the
Speaker 3: persistence and all that, but you've really got to want
Speaker 3: to do it despite the negative, despite the door slammed
Speaker 3: in your face. That you've not only got to kind
Speaker 3: of believe in yourself, but you've you've got to have
Speaker 3: this tenacity to to set it through because you really
Speaker 3: believe that you have this and and you're seeing and
Speaker 3: then you start to see confirmation and that you take uh,
Speaker 3: take criticism where it's where it's useful, and and and
Speaker 3: and it fits. But but in a way it's it's
Speaker 3: like you need to hear that that the odds are terrible.
Speaker 3: It's there's there is a deep bench of people who
Speaker 3: are very established and very very good that you're going
Speaker 3: to have to compete again, didn't be as good or
Speaker 3: better than. And then there's a lot of luck. You're
Speaker 3: going to need luck as well everything you need, and
Speaker 3: there's all of these things that seem to be in
Speaker 3: your way. But if this is what you've got to do,
Speaker 3: and this is what you've got to try, then you've
Speaker 3: got to do it. Just don't be don't be naive,
Speaker 3: don't be don't be an idiot. Lord knows, there's all
Speaker 3: kinds of of of resources that you can avail yourself of,
Speaker 3: not just the one book from Gordon Hunt. When I
Speaker 3: was coming into it, I think it was Sue Blues book.
Speaker 3: Sure she had one, and other than that that was
Speaker 3: about it as far as I could find.
Speaker 1: But now workshops that was it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, But but now you can really get the
Speaker 3: inside scoop and and get a lot of good details
Speaker 3: I've got my own website, I want to be a
Speaker 3: voice actor dot com that has a lot of it
Speaker 3: has my my opinion on a lot of things about
Speaker 3: becoming a voice actor, and it's free, but that information
Speaker 3: is out there, but it's you still got to be
Speaker 3: a person I think you has to do this and
Speaker 3: who loves it and who has the talent for it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, I completely agree. It's like I said,
Speaker 1: I knew I was going to do this when I
Speaker 1: was five, And I still remember my dad say, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was five and I was sitting there. I don't
Speaker 1: want to drag this out of total before, but I
Speaker 1: was watching Jack Benny Show and mel Blank was on there.
Speaker 2: My dad goes, well, they see this master.
Speaker 1: He does dog Bonnie and Daffredug and all that blah blah.
Speaker 1: And I thought, well, he's not getting in trouble and
Speaker 1: having to stand in the corner.
Speaker 2: But well I'll do that.
Speaker 1: And because whatever he whatever, he's doing, people like him
Speaker 1: and he's obviously making money, so okay, I'll do that.
Speaker 3: So you saw the goalposts at five?
Speaker 2: You saw it?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, the end zone was open absolutely okay, And
Speaker 1: I never and I had a million other jobs. You
Speaker 1: know on my way. But but yeah, it's so that
Speaker 1: was your.
Speaker 3: North star, that you were always kind of going towards that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well I knew i'd never work in the steel mail,
Speaker 1: which I did, but I didn't wasn't going to retire
Speaker 1: from it, you know, that type of thing, and so
Speaker 1: I just, you know, it was obvious. I moved into Orleans.
Speaker 1: I was a decade on a riverboat. It's what you
Speaker 1: would do to break into voiceover. Then I designed Marty
Speaker 1: Ruffilo It's obviously another easy entry. And then I moved
Speaker 1: to California, made a demo tape, and I just I
Speaker 1: was very, very fortunate. I got a job from that,
Speaker 1: and it was for Disney Dumbo Circus and that lasted
Speaker 1: a year and a half. So it gave me a
Speaker 1: chance to get an agent and everything, and now I
Speaker 1: get to hang out with you.
Speaker 3: Well, I think having a life experience of things that
Speaker 3: are not actor related really is a It's a good
Speaker 3: thing to have. I think someone who's who's only trained
Speaker 3: as an actor can have a really narrow connection to
Speaker 3: the world and to themselves, and they can also be
Speaker 3: too refined, and there's an improvisational connection to life that
Speaker 3: having different kind of jobs and different kinds of experiences.
Speaker 3: I think, can you know, to have that available with
Speaker 3: you as a performer is really a good thing. It's
Speaker 3: a really it's a really good thing to be open
Speaker 3: to that and not just a narrow training although for some,
Speaker 3: I mean summers like yep, I always wanted to be
Speaker 3: an actor. I went to acting school.
Speaker 2: I trained to be an actor.
Speaker 3: And now it's like, well, there are those, there is
Speaker 3: that sure, but there's some who just kind of kicked
Speaker 3: around and found their way in on a on a
Speaker 3: lark and others. It's kind of a mix of things
Speaker 3: that they come from music, or they come from stand
Speaker 3: up or or from animation or all kinds of different
Speaker 3: angles as artists. But they're storytellers and they apply that
Speaker 3: storytelling sensibility now to voice acting and they're ready to
Speaker 3: do that. But they can do other kinds of creative
Speaker 3: collaborative creation as well. It's uh, yeah, everybody finds a
Speaker 3: different path to it. There's no one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's for sure. I mean you hear different stories.
Speaker 1: I mean people like Corey Burton, he's like the the
Speaker 1: historian voice. I love the guy. He's amazing.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, you can't beat it.
Speaker 1: He knows, he knows the type of microphone that they
Speaker 1: used with Captain Hook used for and he's got three
Speaker 1: or four at his house.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: It's it's a beautiful thing. It's an interesting, interesting way
Speaker 1: to make a living.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I really missed being around him and seeing him
Speaker 3: do his thing, which I got to see a good
Speaker 3: amount of, oh in the Clone Wars, in particular, to
Speaker 3: see Soody who was he he played He played cad
Speaker 3: Bane and but.
Speaker 1: Also the big wizarded bad.
Speaker 2: Guy who was right right right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he played Count Count Dooku and Bain and and
Speaker 3: probably other stuff too. But it's just it's to be
Speaker 3: in a room and and see someone do that in
Speaker 3: a way that everything that's coming out of his mouth
Speaker 3: is like this this unexpected kind of almost frightening surprise,
Speaker 3: and it just doesn't stop that, and it's so effortless
Speaker 3: and and and it's it's just it's it's both intimidating
Speaker 3: and invigorating and and it's amazing and inspiring. And to
Speaker 3: be in the booth with that as you're telling a
Speaker 3: story together with that, it's such an education. It's such
Speaker 3: an actor's education to be.
Speaker 1: It's a bit of a booster shot too. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so so I could do that, this is possible, Okay, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: you can raise the the goal a little.
Speaker 3: Right, because then you sly it's like, look what he's
Speaker 3: pulled out of himself. I mean, he walks into the room,
Speaker 3: he's a chatty Cathy and then he gets going. It's like,
Speaker 3: look at that. He's not his default. That was a mask.
Speaker 3: He's got lots of different defaults. Maybe I've gotten more,
Speaker 3: Maybe there's more in me than just this thing that
Speaker 3: I've been doing that people liked. It's like, well, maybe
Speaker 3: I'll try some more of that, or some more of
Speaker 3: this or or you know, and then you start to see,
Speaker 3: oh I can I can branch this myself creatively in
Speaker 3: these different ways. And I wouldn't have known that if
Speaker 3: I couldn't see someone who can do that kind of
Speaker 3: switch up with such ease and such and such brilliance,
Speaker 3: like him or like Charlie or like you. It's really
Speaker 3: a wonderful education to see that and to be in
Speaker 3: the presence of that. I'm very, very lucky that you
Speaker 3: know that I came in. I feel like I kind
Speaker 3: of came in at the tail end of this era
Speaker 3: that has now shifted into a different gear that you know,
Speaker 3: every era I think has different technologies and different challenges
Speaker 3: to the space. But it's it's shifted away from from
Speaker 3: being collaborative theater. And in a way that's I think
Speaker 3: is like I said, it's it's it's much more difficult
Speaker 3: for those who are starting out, I think, so, yeah,
Speaker 3: to key into it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, nowadays it would be I don't know how. I mean,
Speaker 1: not to discourage anyone, but it's a it's a tough
Speaker 1: road to hoe, Yeah, tough road to hoe.
Speaker 3: But if you got to do it.
Speaker 4: Do you think there's realistically a future for aspirring voice
Speaker 4: actors in major motion pitches anymore?
Speaker 3: Look, I think there's always a place for talented, smart,
Speaker 3: problem solving creatives because just being a pretty face or
Speaker 3: being you know, an on camera star who's a very
Speaker 3: good actor, that's not enough. And we are we are
Speaker 3: session players who are brought into collaboratively solve problems, to
Speaker 3: pick apart puzzles and make them work beautifully. And that's
Speaker 3: a very useful skill to have a good opinion on
Speaker 3: how to problem solve something that's just coming together. We
Speaker 3: didn't know, we didn't know what we're gonna do. It
Speaker 3: was just rewritten last night. And to have somebody step
Speaker 3: in and say, I've got a really good idea with
Speaker 3: this and then kick that right out. How about a
Speaker 3: different one? Yep, that too, and then you make your
Speaker 3: choice and you move on. The power to be able
Speaker 3: to bring that to other people is a very valuable power.
Speaker 3: And I think if you've got the creative goods, if
Speaker 3: you've got the self possession and the experience and the
Speaker 3: confidence to be able to bring that, then you will
Speaker 3: find work because actually the work will find you. It's
Speaker 3: not you won't have to find the work. The work
Speaker 3: comes to you. Because people remember someone who does a
Speaker 3: good job, who's great to work with, who solved it
Speaker 3: and just moved on and it was effortless, it was fun,
Speaker 3: and it was it was unexpected. It was better than
Speaker 3: you thought it was going to be. You never forget
Speaker 3: a person who brings that to you because the stories
Speaker 3: that we create are grand collaborations of you know, a
Speaker 3: few hundred people, and there's great uncertainty involved in the
Speaker 3: process of making something, and that part of what we
Speaker 3: do and what we bring as a session player is
Speaker 3: to bring confidence and reassurance to extinguish doubt, to make
Speaker 3: the path to the golden finish line even more clear
Speaker 3: and even more well illuminated. That's what we bring. If
Speaker 3: you're someone who can bring that kind of magicianry to
Speaker 3: that's not a word, that's not a word. If you
Speaker 3: can bring that kind of stuff, the work will find you.
Speaker 3: It may be different kind of work, it may be
Speaker 3: work that changes or is of different consistency, but the
Speaker 3: work will find you if you can bring that. I
Speaker 3: think so.
Speaker 2: You're another failed mind too.
Speaker 3: Huh, another failed mind my tower?
Speaker 4: Do you think with that? With that mindset, there would
Speaker 4: be a fee to improvise because you're trying to create
Speaker 4: what they've already created. You want to give them what
Speaker 4: they've already created, as opposed to give what you think
Speaker 4: they should have created.
Speaker 3: Well, you're whatever you're bringing is always in service of
Speaker 3: the story, and hopefully your antenna are are educated enough
Speaker 3: that you can bring something that's appropriate. That's that's always
Speaker 3: I mean, improv is all about making the others look good,
Speaker 3: not you. That's the key. If you're not there trying
Speaker 3: to be a show off or trying to get attention
Speaker 3: for you, you want to make them look good. You
Speaker 3: want to make the story look good. And then if
Speaker 3: you fall off the stage or fall on your face,
Speaker 3: that's actually a bonus. Then it gets a laugh because
Speaker 3: that's a genuine it's a genuine face plant. But you're
Speaker 3: helping the story and you're helping the others. That's the attitude.
Speaker 3: I think you start out as an actor a lot
Speaker 3: of actors where you want yourself to look good. You
Speaker 3: want to do a good job. You want to be praised,
Speaker 3: you want your applause, you want to stand out, you
Speaker 3: want all these things. Me me, me, me me. But when
Speaker 3: you're a session player, when you're an improviser, really when
Speaker 3: you're a voice actor, you have to angle your whole
Speaker 3: attitude to make everything else look good. That's your job.
Speaker 1: That's a great that's great advice, that's words to live by.
Speaker 3: There, I'm going to look like an idiot doing what
Speaker 3: I do. It looks it's ugly, it's it's grotesque, it's humiliating,
Speaker 3: it looks awful, and that doesn't matter because I'm doing
Speaker 3: my job of making something that they want that's useful.
Speaker 3: And if it's a you know, it's.
Speaker 1: Like, well, I kind of like the one where you
Speaker 1: grab your where you grab your your nose there and
Speaker 1: pinch it and you know, I don't even know what
Speaker 1: you're doing there, but.
Speaker 3: It's it's modifying the column of air by by closing
Speaker 3: off my nose. You can it's just you know, yeah,
Speaker 3: it's playing the art.
Speaker 1: I was just going to say that.
Speaker 2: Everybody saying along, join it.
Speaker 1: Won't you kids try this at all?
Speaker 2: Do do try it?
Speaker 3: Try it do That's that's the problem. Start when you
Speaker 3: stop trying, you got to you gotta keep doing that
Speaker 3: weird stuff. Follow your weirdness. Yeah, do it at school,
Speaker 3: follow your weirdness.
Speaker 2: Do it in history class. Do it in church. You
Speaker 2: get the idea.
Speaker 1: Especially there, especially, you'll get noticed.
Speaker 4: If you're a fan of everything we do here at
Speaker 4: tuned In with Jim Cummings, you can support the show
Speaker 4: for as little as just two dollars per month on Patreon,
Speaker 4: where supporters not only get early and add free access
Speaker 4: to the show, but you'll also get bonus podcasts, including
Speaker 4: audio commentaries of classic Disney shows, hosted by Jim and
Speaker 4: his various characters. So go ahead and support the show
Speaker 4: today at patreon dot com. Slash Gym Cummings podcast link
Speaker 4: is in the description of this show.
Speaker 1: Were you like I was the worst kid in the world.
Speaker 2: I was the worst kid in the world. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean I was terrible.
Speaker 1: I would be you know, you know, we don't have
Speaker 1: dolphins and say, climb up, mister Cummings.
Speaker 2: You do, now, you know? And I would you know,
Speaker 2: and my friend Bill pay for that. We would do.
Speaker 1: And everybody's just sitting there and nobody looks around. Then
Speaker 1: eventually everybody looks around.
Speaker 2: And then the sister.
Speaker 1: Knows who and uh, And I said, no, you don't
Speaker 1: understand that this is talent they got. Okay, well, well
Speaker 1: you're so talented, you're going to be right. I will
Speaker 1: not be a wail in class anymore. Like fifty times, I'm.
Speaker 3: Oh, I don't think I had that kind of uh appreciation. Well,
Speaker 3: I mean I wanted to do weir encouragement. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: but I was.
Speaker 4: I was.
Speaker 3: I only gradually found a place for just being a
Speaker 3: weird person on a stage doing weird stuff. But I
Speaker 3: but gradually it's just like, man, I like, I like
Speaker 3: doing weird stuff. I like doing odd It's it's acting,
Speaker 3: but it's also this other weird stuff of sounds and
Speaker 3: characters and and just odd stuff. Like that. I like it.
Speaker 3: It likes me, people like me doing it.
Speaker 1: I like it.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna keep doing that.
Speaker 1: On I'm outopia, right, Yeah, awful, glad to see you.
Speaker 1: I think there was a song about that. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, and it's well.
Speaker 1: I've often said that the stuff that used to get
Speaker 1: me kicked out of class I make a living with.
Speaker 3: So yeah, so it worked, right, Yeah. I mean, especially
Speaker 3: as a creative, obedience only gets you so far.
Speaker 2: That's that's a pretty good good line.
Speaker 3: It really, it does. I mean you start out kind
Speaker 3: of wanting to learn the rules of the road and
Speaker 3: see how others do it, and you know, you you
Speaker 3: want to stay on the track and learn what the
Speaker 3: track is and then then learn how to stay on
Speaker 3: the track and all that. But ultimately, when you're auditioning
Speaker 3: and and when you're when you're working, your job is
Speaker 3: not to be obedient. It's not to ingratiate yourself. It's
Speaker 3: not to make people like you. Your job is to
Speaker 3: make something awesome that fits, that works. That's the only
Speaker 3: job and so and and if your mindset is just
Speaker 3: set on being obedient and pleasing people, it's like, do
Speaker 3: you like this?
Speaker 1: It's it's okay.
Speaker 3: Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. It's like, no,
Speaker 3: you you bring a confidence of good ideas. That is power.
Speaker 3: That's power, and it's a it's a wonderful thing that
Speaker 3: you should be proud of and not be ashamed of
Speaker 3: and and you should embrace that about yourself and not
Speaker 3: be apologetic about it and just offer that and then
Speaker 3: that's your job.
Speaker 1: Well, nobody scales the giddying heights of adequacy, right right.
Speaker 3: It's yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Captain Kirk was right. You have to boldly go yeah.
Speaker 3: You don't go through the session and every take it's like, yeah,
Speaker 3: that was good enough, and then we move on. It's
Speaker 3: like yeah, perfect, love it, or yes, you.
Speaker 1: Know it wasn't expecting that. Yeah, that's that's my favorite.
Speaker 3: But not that'll do I guess, yeah, that's that's not
Speaker 3: what you're aiming for.
Speaker 2: No, it is not.
Speaker 1: No, it is not. Man oh man, So is there
Speaker 1: anything shaken that we should be uh thinking about for
Speaker 1: the future?
Speaker 3: Besides besides everything, Halloween, I'm gonna start putting together my
Speaker 3: Halloween I am. I have a problem.
Speaker 2: I used to be.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've got my Halloween problem. I've got yea. Yeah,
Speaker 3: just just.
Speaker 1: I'll be giving out his address later, so don't worry.
Speaker 3: Well, I'll post everyone. I post it on my website
Speaker 3: creepyard dot com. I show pictures of my of my
Speaker 3: Halloween yard on my on my Halloween website. But yeah,
Speaker 3: there's nothing to other, nothing else that I can think
Speaker 3: of in particular that is worthy of note.
Speaker 2: Well makes up?
Speaker 4: Well, what's your Halloween costume this year?
Speaker 3: Actually I don't. I don't do a Halloween costume because
Speaker 3: the way I feel is that every day I go
Speaker 3: to other planets and I become other creatures and other
Speaker 3: beings and other characters. I'm I'm doing that every.
Speaker 2: Day, So you get that out of your system.
Speaker 3: Right, I'm in service of other people's worlds. But for Halloween,
Speaker 3: I get to make my own world. So my yard
Speaker 3: for Halloween is the world that I make that's mine.
Speaker 3: So that's all I'm focused on, is my yard, not
Speaker 3: not what I'm doing to myself.
Speaker 4: Do you have a sit in the decorations and just
Speaker 4: make animal sounds just to scare the kids who are
Speaker 4: coming to the door.
Speaker 3: Uh? Well, I do make some sounds, but generally speaking,
Speaker 3: my version of Halloween is more creepy and less of
Speaker 3: the assault. Version of Halloween. There's all kinds of there's like,
Speaker 3: you know, Winnie the Putin in a bee costume Halloween,
Speaker 3: and then there's you know, Art the clown from Terrifier.
Speaker 3: It's just the spectrum of whatever you want the holiday
Speaker 3: to be, and mine is just kind of creepy and
Speaker 3: odd and maybe a little bit menacing, but not something
Speaker 3: that's that's coming to attack.
Speaker 1: You, right, the ax murderer, the area, Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: The people who have to walk around with their heads
Speaker 1: in their hands.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't, no body parts, I don't, I don't
Speaker 3: off already.
Speaker 2: That's not really Halloween. That's just you know shock Yeah yeah, Saw.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're not my style, not for me.
Speaker 2: Would you like to play a game?
Speaker 5: Speaking of Saw?
Speaker 3: I've actually never seen Saw because it scares me a
Speaker 3: little bit.
Speaker 2: That was such a good transition.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, we'll see. Let's try to take two, would
Speaker 1: you like? And then you say sure, sure, Okay.
Speaker 2: There you go.
Speaker 5: This is the voice swap game.
Speaker 2: Here we go.
Speaker 5: So we're gonna do if you're if you're willing, if
Speaker 5: you're willing, we do this little game every every time
Speaker 5: we have a guest on where Jim will do a voice,
Speaker 5: a voice line of one of his iconic characters, say
Speaker 5: Winnie the Pooh, and then we'll transfer to you and
Speaker 5: you'll do that same line, but in one of your
Speaker 5: characters voices, and then we'll switch and do vice versa.
Speaker 3: Okay, I'll try to remember, Okay, voices.
Speaker 1: Okay, come up with one of your characters, and you know,
Speaker 1: since we're in a Star Wars groove, I'll throw out
Speaker 1: some hondo.
Speaker 2: Do you think?
Speaker 3: Okay, great hondo?
Speaker 2: Oh, okay, here we go.
Speaker 1: I remember once when he was highly inebriated. Actually I
Speaker 1: remember like ten times when he was highly inebriated. But
Speaker 1: this one time he said, well, you know, I may
Speaker 1: not to be as young as I once was, but
Speaker 1: i'm older.
Speaker 3: Well you know, I may not be as young as
Speaker 3: I once was, but I am older. That is the
Speaker 3: very daffy dog one. What did he say? Small? Right?
Speaker 5: That was the quickest response we've ever had. Was that
Speaker 5: was the fastest by far. Most people sit there and
Speaker 5: they kind of think about it. That was so fast. Yeah,
Speaker 5: that was good. That was good.
Speaker 4: You know what's fascinating about your daffy voice, too, is
Speaker 4: the fact that yours wasn't tweeked where Mels was.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, mine was not pitched. My daffy was that
Speaker 3: that was my voice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's true. I think yeah, Mel's was a
Speaker 1: little bit was.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, more and more so. I think the older too, probably.
Speaker 3: But Bob Bergen would know.
Speaker 1: Bob Bergen wouldn't know. He will know a D and
Speaker 1: he's got that. But a D but a D down
Speaker 1: to a science. Well, well we'll get him dragon out of.
Speaker 3: The whole workshop. It's like a four week workshop on
Speaker 3: how to do but a D but a D y.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great workshop. Yeah, and when you get
Speaker 1: out of it, you can do it and uh yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: that's poorky. Okay, So give us one now, one of
Speaker 1: one of your uh favorite characters buzz line or catch phrase,
Speaker 1: and I will have I'll have pooh.
Speaker 2: Do it poo, we need the poo.
Speaker 3: Okay. In my book, experience out ranks everything.
Speaker 1: Well, doesn't have a book, all right, Well we'll see,
Speaker 1: we'll see what's in my book. Honey, out ranks everything.
Speaker 1: He would have he would have, Yeah, he would have
Speaker 1: definitely had a little thrown a little curve.
Speaker 5: And then we have to do tazz and tats because
Speaker 5: I think you're the first person who's voiced one of
Speaker 5: the same characters.
Speaker 2: That's true, that's true.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I did. I did Taz the Space Jam that's right,
Speaker 3: not since I think actually I did an audition for it.
Speaker 3: I think Ivan Ryman just kind of threw it to me.
Speaker 3: It says, uh, here you do it.
Speaker 1: I remember something we need to And he only had
Speaker 1: a and that was it.
Speaker 3: Just a couple of lines like lemony fresh.
Speaker 4: Yeah, lemony fresh, that's the one.
Speaker 1: Oh, he would know? All right, Now, do I guess
Speaker 1: I have to say it? Do I have to say
Speaker 1: lemony fresh? Yeah? Did you accidentally just do they fresh?
Speaker 1: Lemony fresh? That I always epunctuated with him.
Speaker 2: Because you never know. Awesome?
Speaker 4: Can we get an omec from saying Legends of the
Speaker 4: Hidden Temple? Because I love that show as a.
Speaker 3: Kid, Legends off the Hidden Temple with your guide Cook Fog.
Speaker 4: Come on, Jim, what are you gonna give us? You're
Speaker 4: gonna have to say that?
Speaker 1: Okay, Legends of the Hidden Temple with your host Kurt Fog.
Speaker 2: Did I say the right word?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 2: Okay? Good?
Speaker 5: I have I have a combo. I have a combo suggestion.
Speaker 5: I have another suggestion. Here we go Bonkers and Klaus.
Speaker 1: Okay, well you know I am the first two detective
Speaker 1: in the Hollywood Tune Division.
Speaker 3: Well you know I am the first true detective in
Speaker 3: the Hollywood Division Division. Thanks, I turned into you.
Speaker 1: That was terrible division. No wait, sorry, anyway, division.
Speaker 2: There we go.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can fix that post wherever that is. Oh man,
Speaker 1: Well very cool. Well, thanks brother, Thank you for coming
Speaker 1: out today.
Speaker 3: Yeah it was. It was a real pleasure. Pontificating endlessly.
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely there.
Speaker 1: Well, there were there were some nuggets in there for
Speaker 1: our budding young friends out there.
Speaker 3: I hope there are there are nuggets, right, definitely good,
Speaker 3: I hope so a lot of one. A real pleasure.
Speaker 1: Thanks buddy.
Speaker 3: Happy Halloween ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 5: De Bradley Baker come once again, everybody, Thank you for
Speaker 5: watching another episode of Tuned In with Jim Cummings and
Speaker 5: today we had d Bradley Baker.
Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 3: You're welcome.
Speaker 5: Don't forget to like and subscribe. We're almost at one
Speaker 5: hundred thousand. I'm not going to bother you anymore, so
Speaker 5: do it. Eighty two percent of you watching are not subscribed,
Speaker 5: so you need to subscribe to get us there. And
Speaker 5: thank you of course to our patrons. If you don't know,
Speaker 5: you can find bonus content on patreon dot com. You
Speaker 5: can look for Jim Commings podcast over there and get
Speaker 5: a whole bunch of bonus goodies. As always, I'm producer,
Speaker 5: Chris Comings, Dee, Bradley Baker, Brendan Dando. We will see
Speaker 5: you in the next one.
Speaker 3: And bravo, there it is. We did it.