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Fred. and use code at large

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and you're watching Oh, with

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Jim Cummings. see you there. I'm

0:39

why they call me to... to...

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to... One Ted to... take two...

0:44

That's why they call me

0:46

Old One a one-tank! One-tank prank!

0:48

right. prank! Frank. doing out there? It's me,

0:51

out there? I It's me,

0:53

Tigger I. It's me, Bonkers,

0:55

It's me, Bobcat. All right,

0:58

right, y 'all. Rick. Your your

1:00

favorite You desire hold

1:02

to old My name

1:04

is Jim Cummings, and welcome

1:06

to welcome to Tune-In. Welcome

1:08

back everybody to another episode of tuned

1:10

in with in with Jim Today we are

1:12

joined by Fred by Fred Thank you

1:14

so much for being you so much for Thank

1:17

you. Thank you very much. we get

1:19

into this discussion get I have some

1:21

announcements to make. though, I Here we go.

1:23

Get a cameo from Jim. we go. Get

1:25

you want to see from person? if

1:27

Then we have these dates coming up.

1:29

then we have these dates right now. up. This is where you

1:31

can at Pasadena Comic 26 at Pasadena the

1:33

last solidified one is April 25th to

1:35

27th nostalgia con Denver. Denver. So if you want

1:37

to see Jim. see Jim, that's where to find

1:39

him in the upcoming dates dates are

1:41

being added and of course And that all

1:43

done all get back into our discussion with our

1:45

Thank you so much for being here.

1:48

I mean, thank you you so much for being here. I mean,

1:50

to be much. to be here. You know

1:52

be to have you glad to have a hero My

1:54

hero, is is so wonderful. And it's it's so rare

1:56

that I ever get to on anything that

1:58

lets me me how my real voice voice. Which is

2:00

weird. Everyone's off. I was like,

2:02

no, it's really nice just to

2:04

be, let it loose. I'm trying

2:06

to think. There's a little Jason

2:08

Marston in there, I think. Yeah,

2:10

yeah. How you doing, man? Yeah,

2:12

yeah. Big scipes, man. No, no,

2:14

no. Richard, Richard. Oh yeah, Richard,

2:16

who orbits? Oh my God. Oh

2:18

gosh, we're going through our weird

2:20

friends in case you haven't figured

2:22

that out. Are partners in crime?

2:24

Truly partners in crime, yeah, it

2:26

really is. Speaking of crimes. Yes

2:28

sir. Once for the money, I

2:30

don't know why we have to

2:32

bring that up. What's that? I

2:34

did it once for the money.

2:37

I don't know why. Everybody, oh,

2:39

you do one thing? No. You

2:41

knock over one bank. Everybody has

2:43

a judgment. crimes, you were saying.

2:45

No, but, and what are your,

2:47

what is the last thing you

2:49

worked on, Dick, that we can

2:51

talk about? This way it won't

2:53

be something coming up that you're

2:55

not allowed to talk about. I'm

2:57

afraid, because there's like, yeah, I

2:59

got this great Star Wars thing.

3:01

Yeah, see? No, but George Rook

3:03

the suit on a good talk.

3:05

Well, let's see. He's got a

3:07

vocal. There's a button on the

3:09

side of his head. Well, it's

3:11

a show called Max in the

3:13

Midnight's that is just coming out

3:15

now. It's a Nickelodeon show. Very

3:17

excited about that. I used to

3:19

play with them. You did Maxine

3:21

in the midnights. It sounds like

3:23

you were driving. It sounds like

3:25

a band. It does. Maxine in

3:27

the midnights. I'm kidding. I know

3:29

it's great. Star Trek Lower Decks.

3:31

We're finishing up our last season.

3:33

And that was last thing I

3:35

did work on. I believe Lieutenant

3:37

Shacks, head of security. I feel

3:39

secure. You should. by the profits.

3:41

No, it was as a Trek

3:43

fan, as a Trek, I just

3:45

pinched myself. You ever do, I

3:47

mean, I'm sure you do this.

3:49

Oh, yeah. I can't believe I

3:51

get to be part of that

3:53

world. It was was

3:55

such show. fun show.

3:57

see it go, I'm

3:59

sorry to see

4:01

it go, but

4:03

I understand. You know, you all

4:05

things, seasons and you know, seasons

4:08

goes. know, that's how that goes. Girl and And

4:10

that was good. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur,

4:12

that's finishing out. I'm talking about all the

4:14

shows that are done, but we just worked

4:16

on them and we finished out. on Moon Girl

4:18

and Devil Dinosaur, and I play Moon Girl Girl.

4:21

I know, I play Devil Dinosaur. Okay, yeah. Okay,

4:24

yeah. know, one of the the many. Jobs

4:26

we have I play a a

4:28

creature exactly. don't have a

4:30

language, but we use our

4:32

broken broken trombone and make a

4:34

sound make make some sort

4:36

of language out of

4:39

it. That was a That was

4:41

a tremendous show. the art, the

4:43

art, the animation. It

4:45

all worked together, check you check that out, that's

4:47

Disney. And there's And there's

4:49

Star Wars Skeleton Crew. I

4:51

play a very awful pirate.

4:54

pirate Coming up up. Coming up, yeah, it's coming

4:56

up in December. Skeleton crew, not on

4:58

yet yet. December, it It is, oh okay, because

5:00

was thinking thinking, exciting. that's so yeah

5:02

So yeah, Max and Midnight, So those are

5:04

the new ones and the

5:06

old ones. So and the old ones, so yeah.

5:08

been quite a ride. man. Still going, still,

5:10

happy they keep They keep me around.

5:12

You hit it, the it the truth for

5:15

you. Speaking for you a ride, you've ride.

5:17

You've been a part of

5:19

so many iconic franchises I mean

5:21

the Transformers, Star Trek Star Wars, guy.

5:23

I mean list on and on and

5:25

on. on and on. Spongebob square mean, I mean, it's it's crazy. mean,

5:27

what does it feel like to be involved?

5:29

mean, Jim, you can attest to this as

5:31

well. You know, you've been a part of

5:34

so many franchises. know, For both of you,

5:36

I've voiced this question, how does it feel

5:38

to be a part of so many? How's

5:40

it feel to be a part you're literally

5:43

ingrained in the fabric of

5:45

our culture, literally crazy. It's fabric

5:47

of our a crazy right now. It's crazy.

5:49

It's a crazy up grew up a fan. You

5:51

You know, going to loony watching Tunes

5:53

growing up, up. get to play

5:55

these characters on Looney Tunes.

5:57

And it's odd and it's odd to

5:59

to voice Darth Vader or to voice things

6:02

that I grew up with. And it's an

6:04

honor playing, let's say, Hulk, for example, and

6:06

you bring your own energy to it. But

6:08

it's just to know that like, my childhood's

6:10

revisited, not only I'm living it again, it's

6:12

also interesting to know these characters intimately. You

6:14

know them as an audience as a kid,

6:17

but then you really start to get into

6:19

like, what's the psychology of the character and

6:21

how do you play them and what notes

6:23

they play? Cliched to say a dream come

6:25

true, because I didn't know I could dream

6:27

this. And I love when I get to...

6:29

Well, it's too late. You're stuck now. I

6:31

know, I'm stuck there, happily stuck. It's so

6:34

funny to play these iconic characters that like

6:36

Mel Blanc would have brought. And then it's

6:38

fun to be able to create something new.

6:40

on top of that. So it's really crazy.

6:42

How about you? How's it been? Well, who's

6:44

your favorite though? I mean, do top three

6:46

characters? Oh my gosh. Because people ask me,

6:49

what's your favorite character to voice? And I

6:51

like, I can't do it. I can't either.

6:53

It's too hard. I like three or four.

6:55

Yeah, well, how about you? Who are your

6:57

favorites? Well, poo, tigger, dark wing, tas is

6:59

kind of in there somewhere. And yeah, that's

7:01

true. And, uh, and, uh, and, uh, and,

7:04

uh, Hondo, Onaka, and Ray from Princess and

7:06

From, yes, those are my, those are my,

7:08

my son loves that too, by the way.

7:10

Yeah, it's great. You were very kind. I

7:12

remember when that came out. Oh my god,

7:14

I'm just, wow, you've funny things you remember.

7:16

I was a Davis click and I was

7:19

walking out and you and Steve Bloom were

7:21

walking in and you go, oh hey guys,

7:23

hey, and you both turned around. Oh, oh,

7:25

oh, love, I really love Ray man. I

7:27

love Ray, I love Ray, I love Ray,

7:29

I love, you don't make me like my

7:31

butt. You know, and so, uh. We're so

7:33

proud of you. I mean, it was just

7:36

so good. It was a crack up. Because

7:38

I was really doing your thing. You know,

7:40

it was really you getting to lean into

7:42

it. Oh, yeah. And I love that. Yeah.

7:44

Gosh. Well, I love, I'm sentimental about. because

7:46

I him for so

7:48

long so I've got to

7:51

be him at many

7:53

different phases of Hulk.

7:55

They've let me change

7:57

with him a little

7:59

bit. him a little bit. Like Savage

8:01

Hulk? Ever? of, of, yeah. Remember

8:03

him? him? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've

8:06

I've done the gamut Savage

8:08

Hulk like the Really Hulk.

8:10

You know Yes. It's like really,

8:12

that was enjoyable. that I

8:14

like that it it

8:16

sounds like a record being

8:18

played know, a 45 know,

8:21

a being played at 33. If you ever

8:23

you ever want to

8:25

see your shirt again,

8:27

you will call. call. Yeah,

8:29

yeah, right. I really, I really love, let's see. As

8:31

the story let's see, was fun. I the

8:33

to play, I was fun, I got

8:35

to play, I love playing kid

8:38

kid shows, that was really

8:40

fun. You know, Sam and and I

8:42

gotta say, that's a huge, a huge.

8:44

that's a big deal for

8:46

me. for me. And Shaggin' Lieutenant Shacks on Lower Decks was

8:48

something I'm so proud of,

8:51

just because it was a new

8:53

character, a Star Trek character

8:55

that's now in that universe. a Star

8:57

Trek near and dear to my

8:59

heart. now in that universe. So you're in

9:01

a and anything. to my heart. Sure.

9:03

Well anytime right? You're in

9:05

a star, anything. Star, right? Your dad.

9:08

Exactly. Really. even that.

9:10

Why not? Why not? No, No, just,

9:12

like you you say, it's really

9:14

hard to kind of narrow it

9:16

down, even the enjoy even ones

9:18

that people might not even know

9:20

that well. know, like I know, on a

9:23

show on a show with you Sheen, I

9:25

think I worked I think I worked

9:27

on with you. don't know And I And

9:29

I the Emperor, which is kind of

9:31

a of a Paul Fries, of mansion meets Orson

9:33

You know, and that that a lot

9:35

of fun to do. to do. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, just

9:37

I forgot about that. And then being part

9:39

of a show may not be a

9:42

character. A lot of times I

9:44

play A utility. I play a utility. So like guy, guy,

9:46

you're Bono, Mark Mark Twain, a and a cop number

9:48

two. You know You know what I mean?

9:50

So it's like it's more like being part

9:52

of of a, parts of shows are fun too. of shows

9:54

are fun ask about not gonna ask

9:56

about the toilet, that Bono, Actually the the was

9:58

the was the most normal. Since we're on

10:01

the topic of family guy, I really wanted

10:03

to talk about this today. Did you get

10:05

to work with Seth McFarland? Oh yeah. So,

10:07

okay, so what was on my mind? All

10:10

the time. Was, to me, in the voice

10:12

acting community, Seth McFarland is never really considered

10:14

a voice actor, along with the Matt Stone

10:16

and Trey Parker from South Park. for some

10:19

reason I feel like they kind of get

10:21

left out of the conversation I would say

10:23

more so Seth McFarland than Matt Stone straight

10:25

Parker I would say second because he's way

10:28

more talented yeah but I feel like he

10:30

never really comes up in conversation of like

10:32

great voice actors and he can do so

10:34

many fabulous voices yeah that's actually surprises me

10:37

because I consider him that yeah I mean

10:39

he's a fabulous singer yeah a lot of

10:41

times I think when it's part of your

10:43

show a lot of like like like you

10:46

mentioned you know Parker and stone it's sort

10:48

of like A lot of animators are actors

10:50

at heart. In fact, I'm an animator too.

10:52

That's all about. And I just joke about

10:55

it because animation's the slowest acting you'll ever

10:57

do. Instead of saying like, hey Jim, it's.

10:59

Yeah, yeah. In frames. And it's their show,

11:01

right? So they know their rhythm. It's like,

11:04

that's Seth's show. He knows the rhythm. the

11:06

tempo what he wants and so you're kind

11:08

of like your own Jim Henson puppet company

11:10

and so I think people associate you with

11:13

a show yeah you know or this is

11:15

their jam this is what South Park does

11:17

and that's it and you don't see them

11:19

outside of that which surprises me because all

11:22

three of those people you've mentioned are incredibly

11:24

talented hopefully Seth is fantastic Seth truly makes

11:26

me laugh yeah yeah I mean he does

11:29

like in person I can't repeat half of

11:31

what he says But he does, he makes

11:33

me just like, he's done things that have

11:35

surprised me, you know, like in a session.

11:38

And a great guy, can't say, not only

11:40

enough good things about the guy. And he

11:42

could really sing like Sinatra. He's great. So

11:44

I'm. I'm surprised when you mention that to

11:47

me, I guess I see how that would

11:49

be, but I think he should rightfully be

11:51

within that. No, I totally agree. And watching

11:53

him change gears for his characters, it's just

11:56

incredible. You know what kills me is he

11:58

can have like three just regular guys. Yeah.

12:00

And that's like the kiss of death. The

12:02

way to have to sound like a who,

12:05

like a what? Like some guy talking? Let

12:07

me see, can he be from France or

12:09

you know, it's like, but he'll have three

12:11

guys from Pekoima. And they all sound different,

12:14

but that's actually really true. Yeah, and it's

12:16

like how do you wait what? Yeah, it's

12:18

yeah you find the right play and that's

12:20

that's really great utility plane Yeah, I mean

12:23

I get we get called by for those

12:25

out there wanting to do this It's it's

12:27

great to have a range. You don't have

12:29

to you could just be a fabulous actor

12:32

and avoid that one voice, but you can

12:34

also have the range which is great and

12:36

it's finding like a singer like a singer

12:38

where does it sit in your throat? So

12:41

you might have one guy who has got

12:43

this tempo and rhythm and up in here.

12:45

And then maybe somebody else, maybe a little

12:47

heavier or whatever, and maybe an older guy,

12:50

but you sort of find out where they

12:52

are pitched. Where the placement is, where it

12:54

is in your head too. And every character

12:57

has its own, like you say, you know,

12:59

tempo rhythm. And so I could see, yeah,

13:01

once you learn that, it really helps for

13:03

utility. And I think he's got that. Yeah,

13:06

unbelievable. Unbelievable. Truly which the idea of just

13:08

having three separate guys who are all from

13:10

it's just I for some reason that impresses

13:12

the hell out of me. Mm-hmm. It's impressive.

13:15

It is it really is. How do we

13:17

do it? Madam's. Madam's. And that's cool that

13:19

you've got to work with such talent, like

13:21

breaking into the industry, breaking into the voice

13:24

industry, because that was one of your first

13:26

rules. Was it not on family guys? Yeah,

13:28

I would say that was my first show.

13:30

I think it was John Madden. I had

13:33

to do, oh, and I get killed for

13:35

this. I was extra role, but let's not

13:37

get it. But yeah, I. I was just

13:39

saying it's he's an idiot,

13:42

her. but Sadly, she but

13:44

the thing is, And you know,

13:46

it wasn't like they wanted

13:48

her. fun she had passed

13:51

away, and you know,

13:53

it wasn't like making

13:55

fun of her at

13:57

all. like, what was the Getting

14:00

into, like, what I was

14:02

question again? saying I

14:04

was just saying it's

14:06

really cool that as

14:09

far as I know, I

14:11

know, Family Guy was

14:13

one of your of your first

14:15

voice That was my

14:18

first Yeah, I would say

14:20

my first also my first

14:22

series. Zim that's what

14:25

I think we my together.

14:27

Was also my first series. Oh yeah, he really

14:29

one he was really one of

14:31

my first pals. guy. He's a good guy.

14:34

me and brought me on and

14:36

he was fabulous. was fabulous. Yeah, yeah. So of

14:38

his shell would be out of his shell,

14:40

he'd be okay. quiet. He's very quiet. And what else?

14:42

Oh, and then was one of my

14:45

first movies to work on, which

14:47

is very fun. Oh, Oh wow. Yeah,

14:49

it's fun to watch that now here.

14:52

You'll be fighting fighting for Do not turn

14:54

your back on him. know, I did

14:56

a lot of those. your back on gate. many

14:58

times have I played a guy that

15:00

says, of the gate! a I

15:02

want to make a

15:04

whole bit about the

15:06

times that's true, that's

15:08

good. a guy gate! says, close the

15:11

the gate! to make a whole

15:13

Every movie, the gatekeeper. Oh,

15:15

yeah. that's good. Open a trying my

15:17

best, I'm movie. Have a sci.

15:19

Well, God. Yeah. Yeah. Every or, you

15:21

know, that's so you know, that's

15:23

so true. But yeah, so those were my,

15:26

those, yeah, or works. So that was my,

15:28

those those were my, my starter that

15:30

was my, yeah, those were

15:32

my got to stay with got to

15:34

stay with them doing the still

15:36

doing the family guy in American

15:39

dad. Yeah, I love much fun. fun.

15:41

Those Those guys my, in in fact,

15:43

a couple of the writers I writers

15:45

I did, uh, went to Pat and Steve Steve one

15:47

of my best friends, one of my best

15:49

friends, we did, uh, use the Club together. Club

15:51

So it's really crazy really back way. Did

15:54

you work with guys I did stand

15:56

up with up with? in the day.

15:58

day. Yeah. so they're, know, funny and fan. guy

16:00

has its own rhythm too. You know

16:02

what I mean? Like you just kind

16:04

of, it's one of the few comedy

16:06

shows I don't do a lot of

16:08

improv. You know what I mean? You

16:10

don't have to. It's well written. It's

16:12

well written and you got to know

16:14

when to hit the jokes. Yeah, no

16:16

doubt. Yeah. That's amazing. I just think

16:18

that's amazing. Oh it's so much fun.

16:21

Yeah. Yeah, Ralph Garmin, all a bunch

16:23

of people are on that show, yeah.

16:25

Yeah, just the idea, it's so creative.

16:27

It's almost like there's no off, there's

16:29

no out of bounds on there. No,

16:31

in fact, that's the scary part. I

16:33

mean, there are times where I would

16:35

say to Seth, how did you get

16:37

that on the air? Like, you're gonna

16:39

get letters. You know, like, this is

16:41

serious. He's like, I don't know. And

16:43

I think how they do it. How

16:45

they do it in South Park Park

16:47

Park, both those shows, both those shows,

16:50

both those shows, both those shows, both

16:52

those shows, It's not a... That's true.

16:54

It's not model behavior. You know what

16:56

I mean? Like, yes. Whereas I love

16:58

Simpsons because it wants that line. It's

17:00

still family. You know, it's like, it's

17:02

okay. You know, you're safe. Well, there

17:04

are some South parks that it's like,

17:06

okay. No. The kids, you cannot watch

17:08

this. In South Park's great. Because South

17:10

Park is... Because it makes fun of

17:12

the thing you don't normally make fun

17:14

of. You know. Perception, you know? Yeah,

17:17

it's true. Mm-hmm. Yeah. What was early

17:19

show for you? What was your early?

17:21

Early show? Yeah. Dumbo circus. First circus.

17:23

People in costumes. And I was I

17:25

was lying old to lion. And it

17:27

was kind of, it was kind of

17:29

Timothy the mouse, but it was people

17:31

in costumes. So they couldn't have like

17:33

even even a little person. They couldn't

17:35

have like a four foot. mouse. So

17:37

this is a big mouse. No, were

17:39

you in costume? No. Okay. You were

17:41

just no thank you. Okay. Yeah, but

17:43

you were talking. Yeah, and I've had

17:46

actual people. So we were at Disneyland

17:48

and we saw you and you but

17:50

you didn't. say anything. I'm

17:52

I'm sorry what are

17:54

you talking about?

17:56

know Winnie the Well,

17:58

then know, Winnie he can't

18:00

be Pooh and

18:02

then Tigger because Pooh

18:04

and Tigger were

18:06

together and I was

18:08

thinking be Pooh and then Tigger

18:10

because not in those.

18:12

So that's not

18:15

you. and not in

18:17

the costume. I thought you

18:19

were winning the pill. did, hey.

18:21

I am, but in those. So in

18:23

not don't work at Disneyland. in

18:25

the costume. I thought you were it's like I

18:27

let you down. Yeah. Well, I'm sorry. You

18:30

know, the trigger gets know, on. The

18:32

gets pounced on. I

18:34

remember they pull out the tail and

18:36

they pull out the tail play.

18:38

They think play. yeah. And They think

18:40

tiggers, in that Tigger outfit. if you're

18:42

in that tigger your ass kicked. You

18:44

more than I think others.

18:46

I I noticed that. noticed that.

18:48

have friends and people that

18:50

I know at Disney know at

18:52

and when Tarzan came out, when

18:54

they had a Tarzan. a

18:57

Tarzan walk around. and apparently,

18:59

you know, a know walk character,

19:01

walking around. he's wearing wearing

19:04

a loincloth. Uh-huh. know, know, and apparently all

19:06

the little old ladies and

19:08

some of the young ladies

19:10

and some of the young

19:12

men and very good at

19:15

pinching his butt, at pinching they

19:17

had to fire they had He

19:19

was no longer allowed to

19:21

walk around because he was

19:23

just getting walk around because he it

19:25

was just. He was too

19:27

sexy. Yeah, he was too Yeah,

19:29

it was just too sexy. Yeah. And apparently liked

19:31

it, But but no, but you know, we

19:33

can't, you know, I'm fissuring him just, sobbing.

19:36

Wow, right. pal, get

19:38

the hell out the

19:41

hell out of here.

19:43

diaper. It's hard to say that. Yeah.

19:45

Yes, yeah, it's hard to say anything

19:47

in, you to say

19:50

anything duck Gosh, yeah, those

19:52

guys guys who do

19:54

it, oh Oh my God,

19:56

Tony. Yeah. And my buddy David.

19:58

buddy David, is amazing. He's really

20:00

good. So good. You can understand

20:03

him. Yes, the articulation. That's the

20:05

thing of it. It's like, what

20:07

did you say? Oh, oh, well,

20:09

sure, well, sure, well, anyway, of

20:12

course that's what you said. Right.

20:14

Yeah, anyway, Disney Magic. It is,

20:16

it's true. Yeah, being able to

20:19

articulate with certain voices, it's tricky.

20:21

Yeah. Painfully. If you're a fan

20:23

of everything we do here at tuned-in

20:25

with Jim Cummings, you could support the

20:27

show on Patreon for bonus exclusive podcasts,

20:29

as well as early and ad-free access

20:31

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20:33

more, you'll feel the difference. So go

20:35

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20:37

at patreon.com/Jim Cummings Podcast. Do it now.

20:39

I'm at Disneyland, I am the voice

20:41

of Vader, which is really weird. You

20:43

know, to actually see, and bless James

20:45

Jones and David Proust. Yeah, yeah, it's

20:47

really cool, but it's so funny to

20:49

like, then meet Vader, because I'm my

20:51

own worst critic, so I'm hearing it

20:53

going, no, no, that's not, that's not

20:55

good. And then when you actually meet

20:57

up with him, I'm like, okay, that

20:59

sounds, it sounds all right. You know,

21:02

you know, like, like, like, like, like,

21:04

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

21:06

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

21:08

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

21:10

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

21:12

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

21:14

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

21:16

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

21:18

like, like Yeah, actually do you do

21:20

your own? Oh, I don't I brought

21:22

actually let me let me show you

21:24

this. Oh, I brought something here. It's

21:26

really funny. It doesn't work It doesn't

21:28

work. Oh good. I'm glad you brought

21:30

it No, no, no, no. It works

21:32

in person. Oh, I rarely do you

21:34

actually Oh, sure no, no, no, no,

21:36

no, it works in person. Oh, I

21:38

rarely do you know Can they you

21:40

know? Wow, that's a canvader. Yeah, that's

21:42

good. But you got a double whammy

21:44

going there. Yes, well, I would have

21:46

thought it would be just this. No,

21:48

but this contains the sound. So you

21:50

put the two together. I noticed one

21:52

time it worked really well. But you

21:54

know, how do you find something like

21:56

that out? That's just playing around, around,

21:58

experimentation. on Gladiator we had to do

22:00

voices sorry right drop and I used

22:02

we used pots and pans to get

22:04

yeah I make it sound like we're

22:06

speaking through a you know armor wow

22:08

yeah and helmets and stuff and so

22:10

that worked it makes you speak differently

22:12

but when you record they they want

22:14

it straight they don't want to yeah

22:16

they don't want to have any garbage

22:18

they want to do the can they

22:20

want to do the can they want

22:22

to do the can and it sounds

22:25

better It was a funny experience too

22:27

because we had a bunch of lines.

22:29

I'm amazed at the guys in the

22:31

suits who can actually trigger the responses,

22:33

you know, we could have a conversation

22:35

with them and they found it was

22:37

really great for adults and teenagers, you

22:39

know, working with, I think there's a

22:41

traitor amongst you. And, you know, he

22:43

goes and talks to groups of, you

22:45

know, people and it was horrible for

22:47

little kids because it's scary. And they

22:49

don't know the story. you know and

22:51

and what if the good guys don't

22:53

win today right so we had to

22:55

do a bunch of lines that were

22:57

all the good good like more positive

22:59

gentler Vader lines in like your sports

23:01

is strong with you when you'll complete

23:03

your training, I will find you. You

23:05

know, like, you know, you'll join me

23:07

rather than I'm just going. Yeah, you'll

23:09

come over to the dark side. Exactly.

23:11

Or I'll kill you till you're dead.

23:13

None of that. That was kind of

23:15

an interesting, kind of a fascinating thing

23:17

to see. Yeah. The nice lines of

23:19

Vader. Yeah. Isn't that weird? Yeah, that

23:21

was the truth. It is. Well, he

23:23

doesn't have many, I wouldn't have many,

23:25

I wouldn't think. Not usually, I, I.

23:27

Right? Is that... I think that was

23:29

a line? It was. Yeah. But told

23:31

you, I am your father. Yeah. No!

23:33

No! You had to work on it,

23:35

right? Yeah. Not yet, we're working on

23:37

it. We're working on it. He's another

23:39

one who's just a fabulous voice actor.

23:41

Yeah. You know, and I joke with

23:43

him. I say you're this brilliant, if

23:45

he never was famous, he would have

23:47

been just this. incredible voice out there.

23:50

you just I to

23:52

you be just happen to be

23:54

like Skywalker. He's the god,

23:56

I love his Joker.

23:58

Oh my it's so

24:00

good. And Yeah. It's so good

24:02

and so Yeah. Yeah,

24:04

I Yeah. know if

24:06

I told you about

24:08

the first time

24:10

I ever met you about

24:12

They were we

24:14

were doing I ever met him,

24:16

they were, we were doing Tasmania

24:18

over in Glendale and

24:20

everybody's going, well, you know, chimp, right. Mark

24:22

Hamill's here. What? Yeah, Yeah, he's the

24:25

new joker. He replaced replaced Tim Curry. And oddly

24:27

enough, I enough, I was in

24:29

the very first one with Tim.

24:31

And I don't know if

24:33

I with it with or not. I

24:35

can't remember, but he was And

24:37

I said, said, hi. Jim hi. I'm

24:40

Cummings, I'm working over here

24:42

on Tasmania. I congratulations. This This is

24:44

the coolest hell. I I hear you're

24:46

the Joker. mean, I you're the

24:48

time of your life. going to have

24:50

the me some your life. What? Give me

24:53

some me some doc. Well, I am the

24:55

I am the the flat. so

24:57

that's not that's in the

24:59

mask the mask. Huh? Yeah, Yeah,

25:01

that's in the mask. give me some

25:03

me some poo. Well, sure, but well,

25:05

sure, but only for a

25:08

smacker. Oh, see, interesting. Is

25:10

that a a falsetto? Is that that

25:12

a false, that's a bit of a

25:14

false set oh, isn't it? Give me Give

25:16

me some ticker. Okay. there. on. hold on. First

25:18

of all, you're not meeting me.

25:20

I'm meeting you. you You I don't think don't

25:23

think you understand. No, I I appreciate it.

25:25

However, to see good to see you,

25:27

buddy. Here's my phone my phone number. know, You

25:29

know, let's hang up You know, I

25:31

was like, like, I'm you. You're not

25:33

meeting me, you know. me, you funny? He's

25:35

such a great guy. He is. such

25:38

a that impression. is, he just, you earth. in

25:40

what you're doing. He just is

25:42

so normal wonderful actor, you know,

25:44

he's just doing. And, it on and a

25:46

happens to be An actor, you know, he's

25:48

just like, taking it on. And the world. Wait,

25:50

I want to go back to

25:52

this prop because I'm so fascinated

25:54

by that to go back to talked on

25:56

another episode about a voice actor

25:58

who used like an old candle lantern

26:01

and he turned it one way

26:03

and then turned another way. Jimmy,

26:05

oh God. Let us know in

26:07

the comments, but I wanted to

26:09

ask you if you've ever used,

26:11

if you've ever used a prop

26:13

to create a voice. No, I've

26:15

pinched my nose a couple of

26:17

times. Yeah. That, that. Yeah, I

26:19

do that little bit. I saw

26:22

we were talking about the droopy.

26:24

And then the, the droopy thing.

26:26

Yes. Yeah, Gordon Hunt, he used

26:28

to direct the letter droopy. Yeah,

26:30

I used to do that and

26:32

I can't even remember what character

26:34

it was for. Send us a

26:36

card or letter, won't you folks?

26:38

Tell us what character I did

26:40

that for. Wait a second. Well,

26:42

well, we just both talked like

26:45

this for a while. We're so

26:47

happy to be here. Yeah. I

26:49

think for, in the crewman, tongue

26:51

sometimes for the lower verses, for

26:53

Vindicele, I had to pull my

26:55

neck a little bit. You're not

26:57

afraid of the talk are you?

26:59

Yeah, I don't know. We've all

27:01

got our little tricks. Now I

27:03

will tell you, here's my slow

27:06

motion, my slow motion voice. The

27:08

way I've faked it, because it's

27:10

only just so deep because you

27:12

try to get that, you know,

27:14

but you stick your tongue on

27:16

the top of your mouth and

27:18

don't move it. And then, when

27:20

you speak, it just comes out.

27:22

So that's really good. I think

27:24

that's what I'm doing. What I'm

27:27

doing is, it sounds like it.

27:29

This is, what I'm doing is

27:31

I'm paralyzing the tongue. Oh, surely.

27:33

Yeah, this, paralyzing is very still

27:35

and I leave this open cavity

27:37

down here. Yes. But then we

27:39

have to change the batteries. Oh,

27:41

about riffing up. Riffing up. What

27:43

is it? Riffing up. Raffing up.

27:45

Raffing up. You know, Jim. We're

27:48

asking you, you know, you're red,

27:50

you're red. You're red. You're, we're,

27:52

we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're,

27:54

we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're,

27:56

we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're,

27:58

we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're,

28:00

we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we.

28:02

Oh, God, yeah. Oh, that's good.

28:04

We'll do it for you. That's

28:06

good. Ladies and gentlemen, we go

28:09

home now, shit, I love that.

28:11

I love that. I love that.

28:13

I've heard you talking and other

28:15

interviews and podcasts, how you just,

28:17

you know, you treat your voice

28:19

as an instrument. And people ask

28:21

you how you've, you come up

28:23

with all these voices and you

28:25

pretty much just answer, you know,

28:27

it's my instrument, I play around.

28:29

is we're so lucky that we

28:32

get to be things we wouldn't

28:34

normally be. Oh yeah. In person

28:36

like the four foot mouse or

28:38

there you go. And yeah so

28:40

and a lot of I know

28:42

this is true for you too

28:44

a lot of my job is

28:46

so many characters. Don't speak a

28:48

language per se that is you

28:50

know, it's more sounds and sound

28:53

oriented So you start to it's

28:55

like a guitar effect or a

28:57

spice rack you start matching up

28:59

certain sounds together What works like

29:01

we're talking about the slow thing?

29:03

Yes, that's right things back are

29:05

going faster or slower, or you

29:07

know higher and lower in and

29:09

in and it is basically Yeah,

29:11

you're I talked to deep about

29:14

this too. Yeah, you did a

29:16

great interview with him It is

29:18

an instrument. We're the larynx people.

29:20

The band called the glottal stops.

29:22

Yeah, and it is. And you

29:24

do have to play around and

29:26

you try to be careful not

29:28

to blow it out and all

29:30

that. You start to have little

29:32

like, okay, things like this sound

29:35

I can use for certain things

29:37

and you know, and yeah. Incorporated

29:39

with other things and you know

29:41

you combine it a little bit.

29:43

I love it. I mean I

29:45

love I mean I think of

29:47

us as like session players you

29:49

know oh yeah they may not

29:51

know us out there but we

29:53

play on everyone's album you know

29:56

hopefully and it's it's it's as

29:58

much an acting job as it

30:00

is a voice artist job. It's

30:02

an art job too. Oh yeah.

30:04

So it's kind of the two,

30:06

but it is acting primarily. For

30:08

sure. Yeah, well if you're not

30:10

a good actor, you're not going

30:12

to be a good, you know.

30:14

Right, but it is the lyric,

30:16

it is finding things, and I

30:19

love that though, like I love

30:21

recording and finding out new sounds

30:23

and you know, doing beat boxes.

30:25

Yeah, I know you do, I

30:27

know, that's a, yeah, maybe, they,

30:29

they blew me away. Oh, I

30:31

can't remember. You were so, gosh,

30:33

you were insane. You were like

30:35

the most insane, funny Santa. I

30:37

think it was like, you know,

30:40

you work, but I'd never worked

30:42

with you directly. Yeah, that brings

30:44

a bell. But it went back

30:46

to have this sort of sound.

30:48

Like, for Santa, it was just

30:50

like this frustrated little. Yeah, pissed

30:52

our story. Yeah. Have you guys

30:54

ever surprised yourself with a voice?

30:56

I remember my dad was telling

30:58

me a story who was working

31:01

on a reboot of wacky races

31:03

with Billy West and Tom Kenny

31:05

and being in that environment, you

31:07

know, he wasn't really a heavy

31:09

voice actor, he's done some voices,

31:11

and being in that environment, you

31:13

know, he wasn't really a heavy

31:15

voice actor, he's done some voices

31:17

in his life, but it's more

31:19

just his voice that I've never

31:22

tried before, and he surprised himself.

31:24

I didn't even really know that

31:26

could come out. Yeah, that happens

31:28

every now and then. I'm wondering

31:30

if you guys have had that

31:32

same experience. Yeah, kind of. You

31:34

know, I, it was a long,

31:36

long time ago, it got to

31:38

be at least 20 years, but

31:40

they were, they did a, a

31:43

Wizard of Oz. cartoon show. I

31:45

think Tress ended up being the

31:47

witch and Charlie Edda was the

31:49

lion. I forget, man, I think

31:51

Jeff Bennett was in it, Tin

31:53

Man and everything. And I auditioned

31:55

for one or two of them

31:57

and I was joking around and

31:59

you can do what you want

32:01

but the little dog, but I

32:04

want the girl alive. And they

32:06

go, oh that's not bad. And

32:08

I go. Yes it is. It's

32:10

bad. And they go, and they

32:12

go, no, no, no, let's lay

32:14

it down. Anyway, I got a

32:16

callback for the freaking wicked witch

32:18

of the West. Are you sure?

32:20

Well, what about the lion? No,

32:22

no, no, we're getting Charlie Adler

32:24

for that. And I go, oh.

32:27

All right, so the wicked witch

32:29

is you got to what you

32:31

want, you know, and it's well,

32:33

I that is hilarious Yeah, I

32:35

didn't get it. Oh, you know,

32:37

I didn't get it It surprised

32:39

you but the fact that they

32:41

thought it was worth listening to

32:43

again Okay, sure Yeah, that was

32:45

I think that's the only time

32:48

I've crossed the gender line Yeah,

32:50

generally that was that was the

32:52

other was yes to roll for

32:54

me. I was surprised because I

32:56

kind of just sounded good I

32:58

just don't know anymore, you know,

33:00

like just talking, you know, and

33:02

I and I and I didn't

33:04

really try I didn't think about

33:06

it. I was just doing it

33:09

for like I was in good

33:11

times, or was it? Yeah, good

33:13

times. Yeah, and for those who

33:15

you don't know. No, she was,

33:17

oh, she's a, she was a

33:19

theater. I mean, she was an

33:21

actress. She came from a, she

33:23

was the best actor ever, like,

33:25

she was incredible. So I wasn't

33:27

even like, making, I wasn't trying

33:30

to do an impression or like

33:32

make fun. I was just trying

33:34

to get the voice, oh, James,

33:36

he's an idiot. It's not, you

33:38

know, it was great. I mean,

33:40

fortunately it wasn't disrespectful. Like it

33:42

wasn't anything like horrible, you know,

33:44

nowadays, you know. But, yeah, dialects,

33:46

sometimes it's wonderful when you actually

33:48

get a dialogue. I to

33:51

do this guy

33:53

for arcane. this sort

33:55

of a sort

33:57

of surprise that

33:59

I got to

34:01

be you know, know, do

34:03

what I do.

34:05

and I don't what I don't, like of

34:07

a Guy Guy movie. You know, that would

34:09

say, it for me how far that

34:11

went. know, was like, know, I was like,

34:13

I'm comfortable talking like this. this. Excellent,

34:16

I think I'd like to stay

34:18

like this. to stay like this. like, it's like,

34:20

more natural to me. to me. That's

34:22

funny. Yeah, that's funny. it's fun you get

34:24

to surprise yourself surprise yourself though, and For

34:26

me, For work in the I work in the

34:28

much, so much, so every now and then

34:30

I get to do do something high up there. And

34:32

that surprises I always love when

34:34

I get to do that.

34:36

I get to do know Yeah. Or more subdued

34:38

character. Do do you get to

34:40

play your own voice much? much?

34:43

Not much. Yeah, every now and

34:45

then I do not Not much, The closest

34:47

I did it for a long long for a

34:49

long, long time, Yeah, and that was

34:51

that was was was just me Coming

34:53

up next on on WB. Yeah, it's

34:56

like, happy me. trailer trailer promo.

34:58

had a lot of that happy me you, you.

35:00

yeah, on Disney. Disney. Look, it's it's

35:02

Kids WB. and then Disney too right right? But uh,

35:04

a happy version version. Yeah, I had yeah. do

35:06

had to do, yeah, five star cinema

35:09

you about things that happen in the

35:11

movie, that know, so it was very in the

35:13

know It's like the serious me is

35:15

rare. very straight. You know, it was like the me

35:18

seriously in this shirt. Yeah,

35:20

a lot yeah. is happening everywhere.

35:22

Yeah, that's in this shirt. Yeah, well,

35:24

with a chance of meatballs. happening

35:26

more like it. Yeah, that's right. Cloudy

35:28

with a chance of meatballs. other other

35:30

ones that like surprises. Yeah, that's

35:32

good question question though. I love that

35:34

we, I love, I always want to

35:36

come up with a new

35:38

voice voice the time. time. It's always

35:40

the one we haven't done yet. done yet.

35:42

Yeah, you know, always a thing always a around

35:44

with, or a new character. I

35:46

love that work, I love that doing that. that.

35:48

Yeah. Well, that's, that's what was fun about

35:50

doing a lot of those of those 65

35:52

episode series. You series. your doing your character, had

35:54

or maybe you had one or

35:57

two characters. And then then you get to

35:59

be the the mailman. Then you get to

36:01

be the Italian icy vendor. It's great.

36:03

Then you get to be, you know,

36:05

the... You know Eskimo right? I don't

36:07

know it whatever you know totally no

36:09

it's like it's kind of cool And

36:12

if it's as if there's a franchise

36:14

you love like we're doing Star Trek

36:16

It'll they really honored the original series.

36:18

So I would go back and watch

36:20

the 60s I'd watch the old Oh,

36:22

yeah, the stentorian aliens like you will

36:25

now You know you will not resist

36:27

this and and they wanted to keep

36:29

it consistent. Yeah. You know with that

36:31

so I played my character. Yeah. But

36:33

like all of these Things you've seen

36:35

throughout all the movies and the shows

36:38

and even the animated show aliens they

36:40

never really Did much with they brought

36:42

back, you know, so that was kind

36:44

of fun to do a little research

36:46

on it and try to do like

36:48

you say like the random You know,

36:51

yeah, yeah, yeah, you know So other

36:53

than like we know Klingons and we

36:55

know that but like there'd be some

36:57

crazy thing we never yeah, like thought

36:59

about that's right. No Michael Doran, is

37:01

he, I forget, is he, is he

37:04

a cling on? Yeah, he's a cling

37:06

on. Yeah, he's, he's, he's the chief

37:08

security. Because there were clingons and then

37:10

the, who were the other bad guys?

37:12

Romulans. Romulans, that's the one. And the,

37:14

it has language. So you can speak

37:17

Romulan, you can speak Ferengi, and Vulcan.

37:19

I've had to do all of those

37:21

at one time or other and it

37:23

was really funny. Yeah, I had to

37:25

work with the guy who created Fering.

37:27

So what do you like? Oh my

37:30

god. Quintile language, right? Oh yes. It's

37:32

wonderful. Yeah, I mean, Star Wars has

37:34

had, they have languages, but they're a

37:36

little looser about it, whereas like you

37:38

have to, if you're doing cling on,

37:40

you have to, you know, and it's

37:43

kind of cool. Yeah. I liked, I

37:45

liked, I liked, Vulcan. The Vulcan sounded

37:47

like Hebrew and Greek. Like it's not

37:49

spaca. Spoh. You know, it was very

37:51

soft. The Romulans were Vulcan when they

37:53

split. So yeah, so it's very interesting.

37:56

Fun facts to know and tell. I

37:58

tell you, history. Learn your history, kids.

38:00

That's right. That's going to be a

38:02

test on this. We had Hagasario on

38:04

a couple weeks ago and he's so

38:06

great. I remember he had his one

38:09

character, the comic book guy. Yes, Simpsons.

38:11

Yeah. I happen to be very fluent

38:13

in Vulcan. Right. Because you didn't know.

38:15

If you could find yourself in such

38:17

a situation as to which you would

38:19

need some translation. Right. Yeah, you know,

38:22

and it's so spot-on. It's so... That

38:24

character is so perfect. Yeah. And I

38:26

think it was meant to be a

38:28

one-off. That was like one of those

38:30

characters that you just had to keep.

38:32

He's like, it's so... Well, he was

38:35

saying that a lot of his characters

38:37

that ended up recurring were just... They

38:39

were popular they came out. They did

38:41

a little walk on did his three

38:43

or four lines boom boom Then three

38:45

shows later. He's got to come back

38:48

again because he was pretty cool. We

38:50

everybody liked him. Oh, he's great You

38:52

know and so that's yeah, you know,

38:54

I honestly knock on wood I'll tell

38:56

you that's what Honda Onaka was for

38:58

me Star Wars. He was yeah, he

39:01

was in two or three episode arc

39:03

in Rebels And then he, yeah, a

39:05

couple shows later, they go, well, okay,

39:07

everybody kind of like that Honda, can

39:09

we crash land on his planet again

39:11

or something? And so that happened. Yes,

39:14

you can. You know it's funny, because

39:16

I tell my old friend Skywalker, don't

39:18

worry. I'll tell you what I'm going

39:20

to do. I'm going to invest your

39:22

money. That way you won't lose a

39:24

time. I will take care of you.

39:27

Just put it right here. Give me

39:29

all your gold. I love that. That's

39:31

great. And he's just a constant con

39:33

man. Yeah, it's nice when that happens.

39:35

And he grew. And he grew and

39:37

he grew and now he's got the

39:40

big rides at Disney World and Disney.

39:42

That's awesome. on the star and the

39:44

forces of evil. And it was really,

39:46

he was just supposed to be a

39:48

list of henchmen. I think they had

39:50

planned though, I didn't know, but he

39:53

was just this henchmen. who was very,

39:55

you know, secretive, Russian, but the big

39:57

frog, who is, who is like, yeah,

39:59

undercover, like doing very special ops work,

40:01

you know, he's like KGB type guy,

40:03

who ends up siding with her at

40:06

the end, like he ends up being

40:08

a hero, I never would have expected,

40:10

you know, I mean, it ends up,

40:12

you know, going against his boss, taking

40:14

care of all his tadpoles. These were

40:16

my babies, I look after them, you

40:19

know, it was like this all weird,

40:21

all weird. character arc that came out

40:23

of the show. Right, right, right. I

40:25

was so happy though. He kept him

40:27

going, you know. And at cons, I

40:29

get tadpoles. People give me tadpoles. No.

40:32

Stuffed animal tadpoles. Oh, oh, okay. I

40:34

was going to say. Not real ones.

40:36

Okay. Yet. Then I were. Yeah. Yeah.

40:38

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, a lot of

40:40

tadpoles as a kid. And it's a

40:42

fun thing. And Salamanders too. Salamanders. Very

40:45

very cool. Salamanders were a lot of

40:47

fun. Yeah, they're very cool looking. Yeah,

40:49

yeah, I agree. But it's really wild.

40:51

Kids love that to see like, you

40:53

know, wow, the things forming and like,

40:55

oh, Caterpillar. A little evolution in front

40:58

of you. Yes, I was fascinated with

41:00

Caterpillar. Yeah. I used to get those

41:02

a lot. And then I'll remember my

41:04

mom's apartment. I got one, and I

41:06

put it in this jar. There's the

41:08

cocoon. Yeah, which felt like forever. I

41:11

just forgot about it. And we forgot

41:13

we just assumed. Oh, it's dead or

41:15

yeah, something happened and morning. Yeah, it's

41:17

black butterfly. Yeah, and we said it

41:19

free. It was the coolest. One of

41:21

my cool happy memories, you know, yeah.

41:24

I remember I made a moth by

41:26

accident. I thought it was gonna be

41:28

a butterfly. The monster kind of cool

41:30

too. Yeah, I've seen those little caterpilllers

41:32

that are. I like the big giant

41:34

ones that look like eyes that look

41:37

like those are incredible those are awesome.

41:39

Yeah If you're a fan of everything

41:41

we do here at tuned-in with Jim

41:43

Cummings, you could support the show on

41:45

Patreon for bonus exclusive podcasts, as well

41:47

as early and ad-free access to the

41:50

show itself, prize drawings, and more, you'll

41:52

feel the difference. So go ahead and

41:54

join the tuned-in family today at patreon.com/Jim

41:56

Cummings Podcast. Do it now. Well, I

41:58

have another question, topic for both of

42:00

you. So you guys both took an

42:03

unconventional way to end up where in

42:05

the career path that you did, if

42:07

there is a conventional way in show

42:09

business, you know, if there is. But

42:11

I'm wondering, I was thinking about on

42:13

the drive over here this morning, has

42:16

there ever been a time in your

42:18

life where just in the position, whether

42:20

it be walking into a studio, whether

42:22

it be a premier, whether it be

42:24

a job, a franchise that you worked

42:26

for, or whatever, where you just were

42:29

like. I can't believe this is real

42:31

life. I cannot believe this is really

42:33

happening, like this is real, this is

42:35

where I'm at. And I had one

42:37

moment, well I had a few moments

42:39

like that in my life so far,

42:42

but one that really stands out to

42:44

me is I played college football. I

42:46

was at the Air Force Academy and

42:48

running out of the tunnel to 100,000

42:50

people at Oklahoma in their stadium. It

42:52

was like, this is what I dreamed

42:55

for. I'm here, I'm physically doing whatever

42:57

I manifested. at what point in your

42:59

life so you had a similar moment

43:01

where it was like wow I really

43:03

dreamt this because I know you wanted

43:05

to do this since you were five

43:08

years old yeah I've heard that you

43:10

knew about you know what you wanted

43:12

to do this in some way yeah

43:14

oh gosh yeah I mean I'm constantly

43:16

amazed I know it sounds so hokey

43:18

and pandering to say like even being

43:21

able to count on the show I

43:23

know it sounds silly but I'm like,

43:25

yeah I did, well that's an issue

43:27

bad on the show. And I'm like,

43:29

you want me to talk to you

43:31

about stuff? You know, and it's strange

43:34

to me. I never feel like I've

43:36

made it. You know, I never feel

43:38

like, oh, I'm resting on my laurels.

43:40

I just sort of feel like, what's

43:42

on to the next, I want to

43:44

jam. Yeah, yeah, next one. But I

43:47

am amazed, because we don't get, like

43:49

when we did, and I did stand

43:51

up comedy or music or theater, you

43:53

have an immediate response. You know, you're

43:55

in there, you're like, you're saying you

43:57

did stand up, I think that's brave.

44:00

I think that's brave. Sure. You know,

44:02

and character driven rather than like, here's

44:04

a joke or here's, I wish I

44:06

could do that. It was more like

44:08

performance already. You know, I mean, that

44:10

kind of stuff using audio samples and

44:13

stuff I want to get back into

44:15

actually, but I know Dee did that

44:17

too. He was, he did some wild

44:19

stuff. So getting into animation, let's say

44:21

you do a video game, you know,

44:23

Soldier 76, you know, or whatever. I

44:26

don't realize the worldwide impact that has.

44:28

So when I go to a Comic-Con,

44:30

for example, and there's lots, people want

44:32

to talk about this, you know, and

44:34

there's audience. It boggles me, it boggles

44:36

my mind. Yeah, when I'm sitting in,

44:39

again, reading a Star Trek script, for

44:41

example, or, you know, working on Star

44:43

Wars movie, you think, dang. This is,

44:45

this is actually. This is how this

44:47

is done. Yeah, that's how it's happening.

44:49

Yeah. And it's intimidating because then you

44:52

work with people, your heroes, and but

44:54

they don't want you to be, like

44:56

if I'm working with you, you don't,

44:58

you just want me to play. You're

45:00

not interested in, you know, like, sure,

45:02

being, having, that's what we're doing anyway,

45:05

being intimidated or, you know, so, I

45:07

always say it's a stuff that used

45:09

to get me kicked out of class.

45:11

Sure, you know, you know, you know,

45:13

you know, you know, so. Yeah, isn't

45:15

that funny? The stuff that would... I

45:18

see this was my son because he's

45:20

a clown, you know, and he's funny.

45:22

He's six years old and he does

45:24

crazy things and makes all the kids

45:26

laugh. And I get teacher calls from

45:28

the teacher and there's part of me

45:31

that's like hard for me to discipline

45:33

him because... Right, because... You know, yeah,

45:35

don't stifle. You know, any time, you

45:37

know, because the, the, none's got, bless

45:39

them. Please, just not while you're in

45:41

school. So I'm like, not worried about

45:44

his life. I'm worried about him in

45:46

school. Just getting through the school. I

45:48

know he's gonna be good later, you

45:50

know, like I realize, you see the

45:52

other side of it. I agree. Oh,

45:54

God, I agree. You know, yeah, don't

45:57

stifle. I mean, I was told flat

45:59

out this one teacher said, what the

46:01

hell do you think you're never going

46:03

to do anything with this ridiculous crap?

46:05

What are you, you know, blah, blah,

46:08

blah, blah. With your voices? Oh, yeah.

46:10

Both, everything. You know, and you and

46:12

your drums and your me. You know,

46:14

you're not going to go, I mean,

46:16

what are you going to do? You

46:18

can end up, and I had a,

46:21

I don't want to bore everybody with

46:23

this again. But I got to slam

46:25

me up against a lot, I guess

46:27

slam me up against the lock me

46:29

up against the locker up against the

46:31

locker. You're going. You're going. You're going.

46:34

You're going. You're going to work. You're

46:36

going. You're going. You're going. You're going.

46:38

You're going. You're going. You're going. You're

46:40

going. You're going. You're going. You're going.

46:42

You're going. You're going. You're going. You're

46:44

going. You're Just like your cousins, you're

46:47

going to lose money on the browns.

46:49

You're going to maybe make a couple

46:51

bucks on the Steelers here and there.

46:53

You're going to, you know, and you're

46:55

going to drink a lot of Budweiser.

46:57

Okay, and so I don't drink Budweiser.

47:00

I don't lose money on the browns

47:02

or the steel. I don't win any

47:04

money on them either, but I don't.

47:06

I showed him, I drink Corona, so

47:08

jokes on him. Gotcha. Take that table

47:10

and yeah. Yeah, that's hilarious. I know

47:13

they really narrowed you in. Billy West

47:15

has a few stories like that too.

47:17

I was very lucky in, I mean,

47:19

I had a lot of good encouragement.

47:21

Oh yeah? I was very lucky. I

47:23

mean, I got a lot of the

47:26

other. So I'm glad I didn't because

47:28

I think it helps. Because people say,

47:30

no, you'll never ever be able to

47:32

do that. It's like, oh, I'll show

47:34

you. Oh, now it's coming. See, thank

47:36

you for ensuring that I will make

47:39

you gargle those words. Yes. Yes. Yeah.

47:41

No, adversity can really help. Yeah, that's

47:43

true. Yeah, you know, yeah, and negative

47:45

reinforcement. Negative reinforcement, as long as it

47:47

doesn't sour you, yeah, or make you,

47:49

you know, make your soul turn, you

47:52

know, or discourage you. See, that's what

47:54

drives me crazy about the stuff you're

47:56

saying is like, when teachers or parents

47:58

are like putting you down here, this

48:00

box. And I tell people, you're an

48:02

artist now. You know, when I tell

48:05

a lot of actors or music, whoever,

48:07

you know, whatever they're into, you're not,

48:09

you know, human becoming, you're not an

48:11

artist tomorrow, you're an artist now. How

48:13

do you, how do you, anything you

48:15

can do today, practice your drums, draw

48:18

something, make a recording, or just learn

48:20

something every day. That's really, I find

48:22

that gets me through, as opposed to

48:24

like, oh, when I do this. When

48:26

I make my first million, no, when

48:28

I make my first whatever, you know,

48:31

or when I get through this, then

48:33

I'll be something. I used to do

48:35

that all the time. And it's like,

48:37

oh, because you're just gonna, you are

48:39

it now. But I'm working at a

48:41

gas station. Yeah, you're an artist working

48:44

at a gas station. Yeah, that's right.

48:46

That's a good job. You know, like,

48:48

whatever, you're just making money. You know,

48:50

you're just making money. Shame in any

48:52

of that, you know, and I always

48:54

feel like too often we we get

48:57

we limit ourselves or tell you know

48:59

people out here Yeah, I mean, you

49:01

know if you can imagine it That's

49:03

the old corny thing, but if you

49:05

can imagine I couldn't imagine not doing

49:07

this. Oh, no me neither so that

49:10

it's like I didn't really have a

49:12

choice. Me neither. I really agree Yeah.

49:14

This was not like a thing I

49:16

just sort of fell into. This is

49:18

something I strangely went to school for.

49:20

I mean, I studied this stuff, you

49:23

know, I mean, it's like I did.

49:25

I went to, you know, theater, you

49:27

know, and animation. Oh, yeah, I went

49:29

to film school, theater, UCLA, you know,

49:31

you know, did all that, and I

49:33

did study it, but you don't have

49:36

to. You don't have to. Did you

49:38

go to speech tournaments as well? Did

49:40

you guys have those? Speech tournaments? Speech,

49:42

like we had, uh, yeah, forensic, national

49:44

friends. I went for instance, I didn't

49:46

do that. No, I just did plays.

49:49

Did I? It was classical, classically, you

49:51

know, trained, that kind of thing. And

49:53

then I got really into animation. And

49:55

then doing voices for friends movies. Because

49:57

when you do, I tell people, do

49:59

student movies, student films, because- Sure. No

50:02

money or anybody. The thing is, is,

50:04

it's so pure creativity. They have not

50:06

worried about demographics or, you know, like,

50:08

oh, the studio can't do this, or

50:10

we have to change the character. It's

50:12

like, no, this is completely, someone's vision.

50:15

Just go in and play, and it

50:17

gets you a nice real, you know,

50:19

and it's, and it's, and it's, and

50:21

it's fun. It's a really cool place

50:23

to discover creativity. Did you do any

50:25

theater when you were in school? Yeah,

50:28

I only had time. So I did

50:30

a bunch of like one acts. One

50:32

acts, but since I was playing football

50:34

in college, it kind of took up

50:36

like my practice time. I couldn't really

50:38

rehearse for like a full play. It's

50:41

bad to do. So I only got

50:43

to do one in college. the spring

50:45

semester of my senior year because football

50:47

was over for me at that point.

50:49

And I really enjoyed it. But other

50:51

than that, you know, like doing the

50:54

one acts and you know, like I

50:56

was a theater major too, you know,

50:58

and like going through that whole circuit

51:00

and everything. I wish I could have

51:02

had the opportunity to do more and

51:04

actually I've been wanting to get back

51:07

on stage because right now, you know,

51:09

all I do is film and television,

51:11

you know, like. My first man my

51:13

first couple rolls on TV I couldn't

51:15

believe how boring it was it was

51:17

like oh really you're like you're there

51:20

for a lot of 14 hour day

51:22

the making the process of it a

51:24

14 hour day and like I get

51:26

a maybe act for like Maybe an

51:28

hour in that 14 hours like actually

51:30

acting you know not counting time between

51:33

it, you know, rolling, not counting any

51:35

of that time, like actually acting, and

51:37

it comes with a whole, sorry, I'm

51:39

going on my own little tan. No,

51:41

no, no. It comes with like a

51:43

whole another discipline, and that's what I

51:46

really noticed, like the professionals on set

51:48

is they're not afraid to be a

51:50

weirdo, because the younger actors, I was,

51:52

you know, one of the biggest shows

51:54

I was on was the 100, and

51:56

it's a bunch of young actors, you

51:59

know, you know, We're so excited, you

52:01

know, and like we want to talk

52:03

to each other and you know, like,

52:05

oh, it's so fun and we're all

52:07

doing this and you know, like, and

52:09

then like the really serious actors, they'll

52:12

be sitting in the green room, they

52:14

won't be talking to anybody and they'll

52:16

just be getting dialed into their character

52:18

and focused, you know, I've even seen

52:20

people, you know, you try and spark

52:22

a... I'm sorry, you know, don't talk

52:25

to me right now. You know, because

52:27

they got to stay in that moment

52:29

for sure. And that's a skill in

52:31

itself. That's a huge skill. Huge skill

52:33

because it's not easy. Even for trained

52:35

actors, it's not easy to flip that

52:38

switch on and off. You know, it's

52:40

not. You know, if I'm about to

52:42

be tortured and crying and having the

52:44

most emotional scene, I can't be in

52:46

this energy that I'm in right now,

52:48

you know, you know, like I've got

52:51

to like I've got to like I've

52:53

got to. Like you can't yeah, it's

52:55

hard to just all of a sudden.

52:57

Okay. That's the Merrill Street. I heard

52:59

she does that Yeah, she would be

53:01

like and it was my son Cut,

53:04

are we going to Thai food or

53:06

what? It's just some people have a

53:08

quick, and there's no right way. Yeah,

53:10

for sure. And some people are really

53:12

great at the film, you know, or

53:14

the microphone. Yeah, I heard that George

53:17

C. Scott was like that. Oh, really?

53:19

He would sit around and play poker

53:21

with the crew and everything. Yeah, George,

53:23

we're ready for it. Okay, relevant. And

53:25

then now I'm patent. in two seconds

53:27

he was pat and that was one

53:30

take right when he got speech yeah

53:32

i believe in the patent i could

53:34

be wrong but i think that was

53:36

his first only take wow we're gonna

53:38

go for the enemy like you know

53:40

yeah that was no goose you got

53:43

it yeah he was He would know

53:45

the story about Marlon

53:47

Brando, too, right?

53:49

I mean, this guy

53:51

refused to learn

53:53

lines to the point

53:56

where they would

53:58

tape cue cards to

54:00

his they would tape literally

54:02

would to his co-stars. They literally

54:04

would, cards and they

54:06

would take them

54:09

to his cards That's

54:11

great. I'd be sitting

54:13

there his co-star. That's reading

54:15

be sitting there It'd be

54:17

line there was an

54:19

script or on. Oh,

54:21

there you go. Yeah. And it's funny you

54:23

bring it back to yeah. And he

54:25

won the Oscar for Yeah. Yeah. He's

54:28

fabulous. won the memorized anything. Best Actor. He's

54:30

fabulous. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. His great. Oh

54:32

yeah. We would bring Yeah. Oh. not

54:34

trying to take anything away

54:36

from him. just crazy. Crazy, the

54:38

process. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh funny, you

54:40

bring it back to it back It's

54:42

so funny because we have

54:44

to be such quick studies. In

54:46

animation, we have to be such quick in

54:49

the series, you're going to

54:51

get... Yeah. read ahead, right? I mean, I would say,

54:53

I I get the script ahead of time

54:55

time can read and maybe work out out

54:57

some things in my head and

54:59

all that. Video games never. I mean, mean, rarely

55:01

do I get a script ahead of

55:04

time. And if I do, I understand it.

55:06

I don't understand it, you know, because

55:08

it's all, it, you know, because it's And so

55:10

it's not linear. Yeah. Yeah, and so it's,

55:12

I'm not crazy about that aspect of

55:14

it. Yeah. I different kind of thing.

55:16

not crazy it's, it's, other words, you're of

55:18

it. Yeah, it's a different kind of in four dimensions

55:21

in video it's, it's, in scene has to

55:23

hook up with something over there, bricks. Right, it's, it's,

55:25

it fleshed out of how you got

55:27

to say it four how does it

55:29

all match up. in video To me, it's

55:31

all the same all the terms of. of.

55:34

Let's say I play a a wizard,

55:36

you know, I, but I'll have maybe

55:38

five different endings, as opposed

55:40

to a film show. a TV

55:42

show, we have one linear thing,

55:44

whereas you're playing fights in you're playing This

55:46

ways You know, go down. And

55:48

that's interesting process for an actor itself.

55:50

But the one thing but the one thing

55:52

I really learned with animation acting, in theater

55:54

you have the you have the it's it's

55:57

not really a luxury, but getting off

55:59

getting off book. Yeah. So. By the time, unless

56:01

we're doing improv, by the time I've,

56:03

I've made these words my own. If

56:05

we're doing Shakespeare, I've memorized this to

56:07

the point where I'm not memorizing, I'm

56:09

responding off of you and we're having

56:12

a full out scene and these words,

56:14

I've worked out so much that they're

56:16

naturally occurring to me almost. That's what

56:18

you want. Whereas animation, you don't really

56:20

get that. No. And so I have

56:23

to make, unless I'm doing narration, unless

56:25

I'm doing narration. make it sound like

56:27

I'm actually in the scene spontaneously talking

56:29

as opposed to like... Well, let's take

56:31

a look at what we gotta do.

56:34

Like, you know, like, you know, like,

56:36

I hear like, I'm reading, I'm reading,

56:38

you'll know, you know, and there are

56:40

people, like, you know, Johnny DiMaggio and

56:42

stuff like that, where I would see,

56:44

like, oh, he's taking this off the

56:47

page. Yeah, you know, you know, and

56:49

I mean, totally, by definition. And like,

56:51

I, and that was the big lesson

56:53

I had to learn as the opposite

56:55

of theater the opposite of theater, I

56:58

don't think people really understand how hard

57:00

that is. Like it's so hard. One

57:02

of the craziest notes I ever got

57:04

from one of my acting teachers. Well,

57:06

crazy for me at the time in

57:08

my youth, you know, I was a

57:11

19 year old. I was in an

57:13

acting class and she was like, you

57:15

know, improv and scripted should look the

57:17

exact same in her performance. You shouldn't

57:19

be able to tell whether something scripted

57:22

or improv. That's great. That's good. And

57:24

I was like. That is so hard

57:26

like you at the time, you know,

57:28

that's that's not crazy to me. Like

57:30

it's fabulous. How do you take something

57:32

scripted and make it look like improv

57:35

or vice versa? Like what? And it

57:37

should just always be how we're talking

57:39

right now. You wouldn't know if it's

57:41

scripted or improv. You gotta be a

57:43

quick study. You gotta find that. And

57:46

we were just talking the other day

57:48

about your talent. voice actors talent as

57:50

cold readers you know I mean cold

57:52

reading is just such a talent you

57:54

know to be able to pick something

57:57

up and that's essentially what you've just

57:59

been describing for anybody who doesn't know

58:01

cold reading is when you get a

58:03

script and you have no time to

58:05

prepare literally somebody hands you piece of

58:07

paper and you act out right then

58:10

and there. And you got to do

58:12

a kind of a, and generally for

58:14

animation you will get a storyboard or

58:16

you've got something the night before or

58:18

a week, you know, hopefully earlier, but

58:21

it's then you have a checklist in

58:23

your mind. It's like what's this character,

58:25

how does he sound, what does he,

58:27

how intelligent is he, what does he

58:29

want, all the actory questions? Yeah. What

58:31

do you want? You know, where did

58:34

you come from? Where you're going? You

58:36

know, and where is your... And all

58:38

those things have to kind of be

58:40

quick. Except our world, it's funny. It's

58:42

like, what's the tone? Is it a

58:45

comedy? Is it cinema? For me, is

58:47

it a vampire? What was he before

58:49

he became a vampire? Is he a

58:51

ghost? Is he a demon? Yeah. Oh

58:53

yeah. Yeah. Of like how to make

58:56

this guy real. Sure. And you have

58:58

these wonderful actors and directors and directors

59:00

who will guide you. Sometimes you can

59:02

ask enough questions that the writer say,

59:04

I never thought about that. What was

59:06

he? You know, and you kind of,

59:09

one character is many artists. You know

59:11

what I mean? Yeah, that's for sure.

59:13

Anime, it's a designer, it's, I mean,

59:15

we're just, we're a part of that.

59:17

We bring in the soul of this

59:20

thing and the voice, but you know,

59:22

a lot of things we prescribe, they

59:24

define to us, right? Right. Right. Yeah,

59:26

I agree. You know, it's you know,

59:28

they have a vision and you have

59:30

to serve it You know, and then

59:33

you do it right right exactly Not

59:35

your way I always give one as

59:37

written, but like with dark wing I

59:39

would never a lot of times they

59:41

would want to do a read-through and

59:44

that's worthy and and I get it

59:46

and everything but I didn't like it

59:48

I I didn't care for a read-throughs.

59:50

I mean, you'd have to do them

59:52

if you have to do them. But

59:54

a lot of times, Darkwing Duck is

59:57

the one that really sticks out, is

59:59

the first time I was recording it

1:00:01

the first time I read it. The

1:00:03

very first, I didn't look at it

1:00:05

in rehearsal, I didn't look at, I

1:00:08

didn't look ahead, I would go through

1:00:10

and put. circles around dark, deep, dark

1:00:12

wing, dark, you know, so I'd know

1:00:14

where the line was. And then I'd

1:00:16

read that, I would read by Q

1:00:19

Line, you know, because, okay, now I

1:00:21

say that, you know, and you get

1:00:23

that, that sort of rhythm in your

1:00:25

head, and whatever came out, came out,

1:00:27

and a lot of times they would

1:00:29

keep it, so, and you know, and

1:00:32

what we do, it's okay to just

1:00:34

rewind the tape, go over it, or

1:00:36

not even tape, or not even tape

1:00:38

anymore. But, but, but, like, like, like,

1:00:40

like, like, like, like, like, like, instincts

1:00:43

are the mistakes are the best snakes,

1:00:45

That's good. And they also trust you

1:00:47

on that. I mean, correct me if

1:00:49

I'm wrong, but like, you've been with

1:00:51

this character for a bit. And so

1:00:53

there have been times where, like, I

1:00:56

would never dare correct a writer. Like,

1:00:58

you know, I would always do as

1:01:00

written as you say. And then I'll

1:01:02

say, can I do a pass? I

1:01:04

have an idea. And then oftentimes they'll

1:01:07

ask you, like, well, would he say

1:01:09

this? with this, you know, and I'll

1:01:11

say, yeah, we don't usually say, let's

1:01:13

say, for example, there's a period where

1:01:15

we stopped, Hulk started, stop talking about

1:01:17

himself in Hulk, you know, Hulk like

1:01:20

this, you know, that changed. It just

1:01:22

depends on what genre of Hulk you

1:01:24

wanted, you know, as a silly example,

1:01:26

but that's kind of, you know, and

1:01:28

you do become somewhat of authority on

1:01:31

your character, but you're not. the ultimate

1:01:33

you know you could also you know

1:01:35

where especially if it's character you've had

1:01:37

a hand in creating it's a little

1:01:39

different than like you know I'll I'll

1:01:42

be I'll be a little more careful

1:01:44

when I'm covering I'd imagine you know

1:01:46

certain characters like you know Master Shifoo

1:01:48

who's Dustin Hoffman but in the series

1:01:50

Master Cifoo so I am starting with

1:01:52

Dustin Hoffman you know yes the Dragon

1:01:55

Warrior you've always been the Dragon Warrior

1:01:57

you've always been the Dragon Warrior but

1:01:59

I'm not gonna go Vera mine is

1:02:01

a little different than his. So I'm

1:02:03

going to hear a little bit outside

1:02:06

but not too much you know but

1:02:08

like Spongebob or a Bender those guys

1:02:10

had let themselves into that those characters

1:02:12

so much I can't see anyone else

1:02:14

doing those characters. Right right yeah you

1:02:16

know it's like some some of the

1:02:19

security what's yeah. Well, some characters are

1:02:21

iconic. Like, there were many, for example,

1:02:23

hulks before me, and there'll be many

1:02:25

after me. You know, like, that's kind

1:02:27

of happens. You know, and I share

1:02:30

character. Oh, yeah, yeah. Good old Tas.

1:02:32

We gotta do a little Tas. Little

1:02:34

Shakespeare. Oh, for a muse of fire.

1:02:36

All the world's a stage. Yes. All

1:02:38

the men and women. Pf-pah-pah-pah-pah. Players. What

1:02:41

a piece of work is man. Oh.

1:02:43

That's deep. I love that. That should

1:02:45

be in there. What a piece of

1:02:47

work. But yeah, so we share those

1:02:49

characters for a variety of reasons. Sometimes

1:02:51

we just don't want to do the

1:02:54

character anymore, you know, tells your voice

1:02:56

or whatever. Or unable to. Yeah, it

1:02:58

happens, you know. Yeah, that's very very

1:03:00

true. So we kind of are like,

1:03:02

we preserve the, you know, you know,

1:03:05

the, the tunes, you know, the loony

1:03:07

tune characters and all, but then there's

1:03:09

somewhere we get to really go and,

1:03:11

you know, you know, well, God willing

1:03:13

to. That's one thing about cartoon characters

1:03:15

is they don't really die. You know,

1:03:18

they're just, we'll get somebody else doing

1:03:20

it now. You know, that's okay. Yeah.

1:03:22

Yeah. I mean, Steamboat Willie was, what

1:03:24

year was that? Oh my gosh, 19,

1:03:26

early, 1900s. Oh no, wait, 23. 23.

1:03:29

23. Yeah, D23. Yeah, what he said.

1:03:31

You heard it, I don't think. See,

1:03:33

mind you don't understand that. Yeah, that's

1:03:35

what's fun about that. Same with me.

1:03:37

If you're a fan of everything we

1:03:39

do here at tuned-in with Jim Cummings,

1:03:42

you could support the show on Patreon

1:03:44

for bonus exclusive podcasts, as well as

1:03:46

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1:03:48

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1:03:53

the tuned-in family today at patreon.com/Jim Cummings

1:03:55

Podcast. Do it now. Here's another question

1:03:57

for both of you. You both got

1:03:59

your voice acting career started in your

1:04:01

what early mid 30s if I'm not

1:04:04

mistaken. Yeah, if I'm not mistaken. So

1:04:06

my question as somebody that age for

1:04:08

you was how did you keep the

1:04:10

dream and the and the strive alive

1:04:12

in your 20s for the for the

1:04:14

decade decade and a half that that

1:04:17

career wasn't happening for you yet? How

1:04:19

did you stay? Uplifted motivated how do

1:04:21

you stay driven that you knew that

1:04:23

that still was going to be the

1:04:25

thing because as you get older you

1:04:28

know those dreams start to fade you

1:04:30

know the pressures of society coming yeah

1:04:32

you're 55 and you haven't got your

1:04:34

first gig yet right right so I'm

1:04:36

curious you know because you know in

1:04:38

your 30s you're starting to get you

1:04:41

know along with life you're not in

1:04:43

your 20s anymore you're not a teenager

1:04:45

anymore so I'm curious what you did

1:04:47

mentally to keep that focus to keep

1:04:49

that drive Yeah, that's a good one.

1:04:52

Well, I never thought I wouldn't do

1:04:54

anything else. Yeah, I and fortunately I

1:04:56

can't do anything else. There we are.

1:04:58

That's right. So I mean, you know,

1:05:00

I was selling. Yeah, yeah, it's not

1:05:02

going to happen. I, um. You know,

1:05:05

I was pretty good at sales. I

1:05:07

think really yeah, and and then I

1:05:09

didn't want to sell anything Did you

1:05:11

have to consciously motivate yourself for all

1:05:13

but where it was just like it's

1:05:16

going to happen when it's going to

1:05:18

happen? Yeah, well, I definitely consciously you

1:05:20

know I I Was always On the

1:05:22

lookout to, how do I get here?

1:05:24

How do I do this? How do

1:05:27

I do that? Oh, we have to

1:05:29

make a demo tape. Oh, then you

1:05:31

moved to California. Oh, oh, okay, so

1:05:33

a demo tape. Okay, let's see. Like

1:05:35

for me, my buddy Chris Potter, God

1:05:37

bless him. He was an audio engineer

1:05:40

and he worked at the Video Depot

1:05:42

and he was my assistant manager. I

1:05:44

was the manager. Wow. And oh yeah.

1:05:46

That's that easy. That's easy. That easy.

1:05:48

That easy. That easy. That easy. That

1:05:51

easy. That easy. And I said, well,

1:05:53

I always, you know, I wanted to

1:05:55

do this and make a tape. He

1:05:57

goes, oh, we can make a tape.

1:05:59

Oh, yeah, you think so? And he

1:06:01

goes, yeah, we. do it right here.

1:06:04

So we had some microphones and we

1:06:06

and I made it in the video

1:06:08

depot in Anaheim Hills my first demo

1:06:10

tape. Wow. And I wrote it out

1:06:12

and it was a guy from India

1:06:15

and a guy from Ireland were sitting

1:06:17

there watching television together just just two

1:06:19

buddies and and I was them and

1:06:21

then I was everybody everything that they

1:06:23

flipped through the channels. I had the

1:06:26

old... You know and it was commercial

1:06:28

one commercial after another and Some of

1:06:30

the characters made it on to Into

1:06:32

dumbo circus and that's and it got

1:06:34

me my first job and and and

1:06:36

I sent it around and I you

1:06:39

know I hesitate to sell to tell

1:06:41

this to people because it sounds like

1:06:43

well. Well. Well. Yeah. Well then you

1:06:45

just you know you're right place right

1:06:47

time but I mean you still have

1:06:50

to produce when you get there I

1:06:52

sent around my my videotape and to

1:06:54

Don Bluth, who I've come to know,

1:06:56

and he called me back and he

1:06:58

says, wow, you're pretty good. I'm not

1:07:00

doing anything right now. I'm doing video

1:07:03

games. He was doing dragon's lair, stand

1:07:05

up video games. And he said, but

1:07:07

I'll pass it along. And I said,

1:07:09

oh. Okay, you know that sounds like

1:07:11

well, don't call me because I ain't

1:07:14

calling you and then about a week

1:07:16

later I got a call Any guys

1:07:18

is this the guy who did a

1:07:20

blah blah blah and this is all

1:07:22

you on this tape and I go

1:07:24

yeah, I goes well you want to

1:07:27

come up an audition and I go

1:07:29

Yes, I do. Can you come up

1:07:31

what today or tomorrow and I go?

1:07:33

Well, I'm off on Tuesday. Oh, you

1:07:35

have a job? And I go, yeah.

1:07:38

He goes, OK, well, you may have

1:07:40

another one. Why don't you come up

1:07:42

and audition for this? And I audition

1:07:44

for it. And I got the job.

1:07:46

Dumbo Circus. And we were doing two

1:07:49

shows a week, which came to about

1:07:51

back then, I think, $850 bucks. $900.

1:07:53

And that was about 300 bucks a

1:07:55

week more than I was making for

1:07:57

50 hours. And I'd. did it in

1:07:59

eight. And I said, oh, okay, well,

1:08:02

I'll do this. And then one job

1:08:04

led to another and it was nice

1:08:06

because it was 65 episodes. It stretched

1:08:08

out to about a year's worth of

1:08:10

income. And by then I had an

1:08:13

agent. That's so great. You know, because

1:08:15

you got to have an agent. You

1:08:17

do. Yeah, that's one of the hardest

1:08:19

things to do. By the way, you're

1:08:21

talking about being in your 30s or

1:08:23

being in your 20s, 30s. Yeah, for

1:08:26

me, it was kind of a different

1:08:28

way. For me, I just kept trying

1:08:30

to be creative. I just was in

1:08:32

school and I was doing plays and

1:08:34

stand up and really interested in producing

1:08:37

my own work. I always thought I

1:08:39

would do like something like a. Mix

1:08:41

of stand-up comedy with a rock and

1:08:43

roll band or something. You know, I

1:08:45

was always trying to do that. It's

1:08:47

funny that Jim mentions that radio because

1:08:50

you have a little big where you

1:08:52

do something. Oh big one I would

1:08:54

do like radio same thing. going out

1:08:56

there and taking it to the street,

1:08:58

not making any money. I got to

1:09:01

work on some projects, you know, I

1:09:03

worked in production as a PA, I

1:09:05

worked on a lot of things with

1:09:07

my dad, he was in production, I

1:09:09

worked with, I worked on a film

1:09:12

that never got made, but I was

1:09:14

archiving and cleaning up artwork for the

1:09:16

artists, you know, and I was in

1:09:18

film school and I was doing all

1:09:20

their scratch. So I was doing the

1:09:22

scratch records and that just started to

1:09:25

become, and the Penguins of Madagascar guys

1:09:27

came out of that. They actually, yeah,

1:09:29

they're amazing. Really funny dudes, really great

1:09:31

guys. And so, but I was just,

1:09:33

so I kept the dream alive because

1:09:36

I felt like I couldn't do anything

1:09:38

else. I didn't. know it

1:09:40

was gonna take this

1:09:42

path. Like I Like,

1:09:44

I didn't say, I'm

1:09:46

gonna be a to be

1:09:49

a I I that

1:09:51

that was something I

1:09:53

wanted to do,

1:09:55

but I did not

1:09:57

know that that

1:10:00

was know to be was

1:10:02

that's the main

1:10:04

thing you're doing. Like,

1:10:06

I didn't know you're

1:10:08

doing. Like I in the

1:10:10

fire. Well, you had I

1:10:13

didn't know it

1:10:15

was possible. fire. Yeah, well, know,

1:10:17

and I thought, it this is great. You

1:10:19

know, So it was a very slow,

1:10:21

was a I mean, slow. by the time

1:10:23

I hit the scene, there were

1:10:25

already people who were superstars, you know?

1:10:28

who were And if you have You Richardson

1:10:30

if you have Kevin do you need a

1:10:32

friend, you need another one? know, do

1:10:34

someone in? It's like, it was

1:10:36

already saturated. need a You know what I

1:10:38

mean? And so need basically yelled my

1:10:40

way in. I was someone in? It's Because

1:10:42

I went in doing comedy and

1:10:45

music. my way in. I did. You know

1:10:47

I puffed and I blew

1:10:49

the I killed myself on yelled my

1:10:51

way in. I was. You know, and I, Your suffering

1:10:53

will be legendary. No! You know, I mean, that was

1:10:55

suffering will be legendary. and I'm

1:10:57

you know, mean like scrapes on my

1:10:59

and I'm getting and like, get polyps.

1:11:01

you know, I was doing ups

1:11:03

because I was doing stuff

1:11:05

that nobody wanted to do know,

1:11:08

like, or could do, or could do, or did.

1:11:10

Wow. Thank you. cried, I was

1:11:12

was it was odd for

1:11:14

me because I got known I

1:11:16

got known. for this tough rumble guy

1:11:18

thing that's That's not how i

1:11:20

start. That's not how

1:11:23

I. how i Hollywood tells

1:11:25

you what you're you what you're mean? going

1:11:27

only be. to have one dream what I mean?

1:11:29

You know, if I come in to

1:11:31

my book of poetry, they're like,

1:11:33

all right, no, You know, I think, you raw,

1:11:35

just raw, we're good. No, you're not

1:11:37

very bright, just raw. yeah, right. No, just

1:11:40

yeah, right, something heavy. just, yeah. what they, raw.

1:11:42

Just raw. Just, right. Yeah, their credit, here's the

1:11:44

good news about that. You're happy

1:11:46

to be typecast because you're being cast.

1:11:48

just go and do all those things.

1:11:50

be of being typecast is being cast.

1:11:53

Exactly, and you like it, You know, know,

1:11:55

and you explore that world. But But then after

1:11:57

a while they go, oh, wait a minute, you

1:11:59

do you do. do like regular acting. Oh

1:12:01

yeah, no, for years. I've been

1:12:03

doing, you know, like I do

1:12:05

spoken word. I actually do this,

1:12:07

you know, like what I'm saying,

1:12:09

you do, like they don't know

1:12:11

that because they've only, and so

1:12:13

for years that was my, my

1:12:15

jam, and then I got to

1:12:17

play some really neat video game

1:12:19

characters that I still play, you

1:12:21

know, and I'm grateful for that,

1:12:23

because that got me to do

1:12:25

some acting, you know, whole thing.

1:12:27

I mean, it's all acting, even

1:12:29

if you're a boy, you're, you're,

1:12:31

you're, you know, you know, you

1:12:33

know, you know, you know, you

1:12:35

know, you know, you know, you

1:12:37

know, you know, you know, you

1:12:39

know, you know, you know, you

1:12:41

know, you know, you know, you

1:12:43

know, you know, you know, you

1:12:45

know, you know, you know, you

1:12:47

know, you know, you know, you

1:12:49

know, you know, you know, you

1:12:51

know, you know, you know, you

1:12:54

You know, they discovered me once

1:12:56

I was in, you know, but

1:12:58

I was being everyone's creature, which

1:13:00

I still love doing. Sure, sure.

1:13:02

Yeah. Wow, that's, that's so cool.

1:13:04

Yeah, it's cool. I never talk

1:13:06

about it like that. Yeah, it

1:13:08

never, it doesn't matter which door

1:13:10

you got in through, you know,

1:13:12

or window. No, truly, revenge. Yeah.

1:13:14

But for the, for me, it

1:13:16

feels sometimes like the floor cracks,

1:13:18

you know, like, you know, like,

1:13:20

because, you know, you're facing, when

1:13:22

you do this work, you're not

1:13:24

only facing these wonderful performers who

1:13:26

are already established, but every celebrity

1:13:28

and everybody's making a movie and

1:13:30

now every influencer and everybody. So

1:13:32

you've got against, you know, a

1:13:34

basketball player, a rock star and

1:13:36

you going up for, you know,

1:13:38

you know, you know, all these

1:13:40

parts, you know. And it's like,

1:13:42

you're. You're constantly, you know, I

1:13:44

felt like I was just constantly

1:13:46

trying to... I like, yell my

1:13:48

way in. Yeah, yeah. And then,

1:13:50

and now, then it started to

1:13:52

become like, oh, he, oh, comedy,

1:13:54

or oh, we do this, or,

1:13:56

or drama even now. Now I'm

1:13:58

getting to do like, Blood of

1:14:00

Zeus, I'm playing Hades, and it's

1:14:02

the most dramatic. Like I love

1:14:04

this show, but it's a new

1:14:06

one. Blood of Zeus, check it

1:14:08

out on Netflix, yeah. No kidding.

1:14:10

Yeah, and they're taking Greek mythology

1:14:12

mythology very seriously. You know, and

1:14:14

Hades is like one of my

1:14:16

favorite, like I got to, I

1:14:18

told him, I said, this reminds

1:14:20

me of my theater days. Oh,

1:14:22

wow. Because it's a love affair

1:14:24

with precipity. And you didn't, you

1:14:26

didn't watch. Hercules I hope because

1:14:28

then James Woods was Hades. Oh,

1:14:30

well that's great though, but he

1:14:32

was perfect for that. Yeah, it's

1:14:34

a different Hades. Yeah, it really

1:14:36

is. It's interesting. Yeah, sure is.

1:14:38

No, what they're what they're playing

1:14:40

at for this guy. He's not

1:14:42

necessarily the villain. You know, I

1:14:44

know because it's always the underworld

1:14:46

and you actually get his perspective,

1:14:48

which is he doesn't like being

1:14:50

in Hades. Oh, that's cool. He

1:14:52

doesn't like suffering. But he is,

1:14:54

that is his lot, his result.

1:14:56

And Zeus drew the slot and

1:14:58

his lot is to stay there.

1:15:00

And he's in love with, of

1:15:02

course, the goddess of spring and

1:15:04

flowers, of course, right? Yes, yes.

1:15:06

And that's the forbidden love. You

1:15:08

know, so it's things like that.

1:15:10

Going back, going back to it

1:15:12

though, like I would have loved

1:15:14

to have played that. I would

1:15:16

never dreamt I would get the

1:15:18

chance to do that. I would

1:15:20

get the chance to do that.

1:15:22

Sure. You know, like that, but

1:15:24

I just, you know, it's a

1:15:26

crazy business. Sure. Like you say,

1:15:28

you don't know how you're going

1:15:30

to work your way in. I

1:15:32

would not have guessed that. And

1:15:34

I was, once I became the

1:15:37

creature, I loved it. You know

1:15:39

what I mean? And then that

1:15:41

became its own universe. And that's

1:15:43

when it became about vocal stylings

1:15:45

and sounds, you know, and discovering

1:15:47

new, you know, like whatever that

1:15:49

is, you know, crazy vocalizations for

1:15:51

I'm Willy Mammoth or a dog.

1:15:53

I've played so many dogs. We've

1:15:55

played a lot of dogs. Yeah,

1:15:57

that's wolf. I mean wolf. Wolf.

1:15:59

Wolf. Wolf. Yeah, wolf. Wolf. Yeah,

1:16:01

my son's, my studio right now

1:16:03

is in my, is is so

1:16:05

funny, is in my son's room,

1:16:07

you have to go through my

1:16:09

son's room to get to a

1:16:11

closet. And we live in this

1:16:13

apartment down at the beach, I

1:16:15

love, but it's tiny. And my

1:16:17

studio is in his, you know,

1:16:19

in his closet, basically have to

1:16:21

go from his room to get

1:16:23

to my studio. I look like

1:16:25

a closet. dinosaurs and it's cute

1:16:27

and you open those like computers

1:16:29

and like you know that's just

1:16:31

a tech light and you know

1:16:33

and it's like all this teacher

1:16:35

my dad what's your dad do

1:16:37

he's my dad's a werewolf in

1:16:39

my closet okay it's a lot

1:16:41

done perfect yeah and they kind

1:16:43

of knew they laughed they said

1:16:45

you're a werewolf in his closet

1:16:47

and like he's right I closed

1:16:49

the door and he hears I

1:16:51

like, you know, and it comes

1:16:53

in daddy, it's time for dinner,

1:16:55

you know, but it's like, it's

1:16:57

so funny, that's his perception. That's

1:16:59

your job? You don't know who's

1:17:01

afraid of the big bad. Well,

1:17:03

yes. Well, do you want to,

1:17:05

we have a little game that

1:17:07

we play on this podcast. It's

1:17:09

a voice swap game, if you're

1:17:11

familiar. It's I'll give it a

1:17:13

brief rundown. Jim will start and

1:17:15

he'll do one of his iconic

1:17:17

characters will give a line Let's

1:17:19

say stay as sweet as honey,

1:17:21

and then you'll take one of

1:17:23

your iconic characters and repeat that

1:17:25

same line But in that character

1:17:27

voice and then we'll go vice

1:17:29

versa. Oh, I love it Okay,

1:17:31

so let me let me conjure

1:17:33

one up. Are you thinking of

1:17:35

a character? I'll think of a

1:17:37

character. I'll think of a character.

1:17:39

I'll think of who I was

1:17:41

thinking of who we haven't done

1:17:43

a long time who we haven't

1:17:45

done a long time time who

1:17:47

we haven't done a long time

1:17:49

Okay, Lucky Pekyll from Bonkers. Yeah,

1:17:51

well, he's a, yeah, well, he's

1:17:53

a, yeah, well, he's a, yeah,

1:17:55

well, he's a normal human being

1:17:57

and he's stuck with bonkers, deep

1:17:59

bobcat. Right. All right, I got

1:18:01

a line in my head that

1:18:03

I can, I can give to

1:18:05

you. Okay, and, okay. So, Lucky

1:18:07

Pekyll, here we go. Look, bonkers.

1:18:09

Do me a favor. Don't say

1:18:11

anything for 20 minutes and I'll

1:18:13

give you $10,000. Okay. I'll make

1:18:15

you a deal. You don't say

1:18:18

anything for 10 minutes and I'll

1:18:20

give you a million dollars. That's

1:18:22

okay. I can't afford the line.

1:18:24

Yeah, well, that's okay. I can't

1:18:26

afford the million though. But I

1:18:28

know, right. That was fun. Okay,

1:18:30

so now you now you conjure

1:18:32

one of your characters with an

1:18:34

iconic line and I'll throw back

1:18:36

some Because it'll be the ante

1:18:38

I know I want to have

1:18:40

a good one for poo. Okay.

1:18:42

Hmm. Let's see what about Shau

1:18:44

Khan? Yeah, I think she okay

1:18:46

Yeah Prepare

1:18:48

for endless suffering. Wow, bother. That's

1:18:50

why that's even more terrifying. Yeah,

1:18:53

that's way more terrifying. Like, that's

1:18:55

really great. I would love to,

1:18:57

I wouldn't want you to do

1:18:59

that because I want you to

1:19:02

keep your job, but like, but.

1:19:04

I joked with Bill Farmer before.

1:19:06

I said, like, you know, you're,

1:19:09

oh, God. I told him, I

1:19:11

said, you know, you got such

1:19:13

a great voice that you got

1:19:15

to play a scary guy. You

1:19:18

met your Bill Farmer. Well, you

1:19:20

know, the kids, I get, you

1:19:22

know, well, you know, I get

1:19:25

everybody in the van. People have

1:19:27

asked me to do it. I

1:19:29

won't. Yeah, yeah. Because he's like,

1:19:31

he and I, and you too,

1:19:34

being scary is. wonderful. Oh, Bob.

1:19:36

Oh, yeah. Well, I have a

1:19:38

friend whose name is well known,

1:19:41

and I won't tell you who

1:19:43

it is, but when he would

1:19:45

be meeting a girl or whatever,

1:19:47

he would, he would, he said,

1:19:50

you have to go over there

1:19:52

and give her some poo. And

1:19:54

I said, give her some poo.

1:19:56

And he would say, can you

1:19:59

say this? Can you say that?

1:20:01

And I go. No, no. What's

1:20:03

the word I'm looking for? Hell

1:20:06

no. You know, and can I

1:20:08

tell her to just be as

1:20:10

sweet as honey? All right, that'll

1:20:12

do. Yeah, I'll ask you to

1:20:15

say stuff. Yeah, really, this is

1:20:17

a thing. He said it on

1:20:19

the podcast. He said it on

1:20:22

the podcast. We can say who

1:20:24

it was. Yeah, it was Jess.

1:20:26

Oh, right. And speaking of Jess,

1:20:28

can you say this horrible thing?

1:20:31

No, no, no, it was a

1:20:33

sexy thing. Oh, I know, it

1:20:35

was a sexy thing. And then

1:20:37

I was like, Poo Hefner. Yeah,

1:20:40

Poo Hefner. Oh, I love it.

1:20:42

Poo Hefner is brilliant. Jess is

1:20:44

so damn funny. Oh, he really,

1:20:47

he knows me. And anytime I

1:20:49

hear journey, I hear him. Oh,

1:20:51

yeah, right? That man is, I

1:20:53

love that guy. This is Soldier

1:20:56

76, reporting for duty. We're all

1:20:58

soldiers now. This is Soldier 76,

1:21:00

reporting for duty. We're all soldiers

1:21:03

now. See? I'm telling you, I

1:21:05

think Phil really has it. I

1:21:07

see why people want him to

1:21:09

say stuff. Yeah. Because it's just

1:21:12

so, what's the word? You know

1:21:14

what it is, you're five years

1:21:16

old. Sorry, I'm going to show

1:21:19

you a cartoon character. That's completely

1:21:21

original. Yeah. So wrong and great.

1:21:23

Yes. Yeah, yes. I have one

1:21:25

more game. It's a newer one

1:21:28

that we started playing. We actually

1:21:30

did it for the first time

1:21:32

with Jess. And I'm fascinated by

1:21:34

how voice actors come up with

1:21:37

a voice when seeing an image.

1:21:39

Okay. So I'm going to show

1:21:41

you a cartoon character. Yeah, I

1:21:44

love this. That's completely original. And

1:21:46

then I'd like you would you

1:21:48

want to voice the same one?

1:21:50

have one, why don't we both

1:21:53

try two of the same? Okay,

1:21:55

does that make sense? Yeah, yeah.

1:21:57

Because I'll show people the variety,

1:22:00

although oftentimes you're gonna want to

1:22:02

do the same thing the other

1:22:04

guy did, but like we'll try

1:22:06

to make it different. Well I

1:22:09

planned on imitating you, so good.

1:22:11

Okay, so here's the character. Here

1:22:13

we go. We'll put this on

1:22:15

the scene. Okay. Here we go.

1:22:18

Okay. Yeah, you take a hide

1:22:20

it first so that Fred doesn't

1:22:22

see. So you know, he's not

1:22:25

allowed to see the voice. This

1:22:27

is a cool game. Well, I

1:22:29

was just wondering if maybe you

1:22:31

could pass me some of that

1:22:34

little little package of the mine

1:22:36

ass and get you some of

1:22:38

them mustets. And if they got

1:22:41

any ketchup over there, then give

1:22:43

it, you know, that's okay, because

1:22:45

I'm confident to give me some

1:22:47

fries. Oh, he's great. Oh, that's

1:22:50

so good. Yeah. That's the best

1:22:52

one and it's plant-based. Plant-based are

1:22:54

you creating a gut, a bacteria

1:22:57

in you that is more appropriate.

1:22:59

You don't want to poison yourself.

1:23:01

The problem these days is everybody

1:23:03

is poisoning you with the food

1:23:06

and the plastics. That's true. I

1:23:08

like her very much. I like

1:23:10

her very much. And did you

1:23:12

draw this? I did. I was

1:23:15

going to say drawings. I recognize

1:23:17

this character. I love she's very

1:23:19

smart. I could tell she knows

1:23:22

what's up. You know, like you're

1:23:24

very smart. That's beautiful. You get

1:23:26

another one? You want another one?

1:23:28

Yeah, there we go. Sure. But

1:23:31

it's funny how like you take

1:23:33

a different, you know, you know,

1:23:35

approach to it. Let's go back

1:23:38

to the man himself. I

1:23:40

was just going to tell you

1:23:42

that if you are not careful,

1:23:44

I may have to deal with

1:23:46

you in a way that will

1:23:48

cause you much pain. Not for

1:23:50

me. I will enjoy you. Not

1:23:52

so much. Oh, wow. Oh, I

1:23:54

love that. Yeah, I love to

1:23:56

take you doing that. Well, I

1:23:58

actually know his name. Should we

1:24:00

tell him his name? Oh, he's

1:24:02

just real. This is a guy.

1:24:04

I'm messing this microphone up. I'm

1:24:06

sorry. It's okay. It's coming back.

1:24:08

Oh, it's really. Yeah, I was

1:24:10

crackling up a little. Sorry about

1:24:12

that, everybody. Oh, is sorry about

1:24:14

that, everybody. Is this a real

1:24:16

guy? Okay, so he's kind of,

1:24:18

would you call him a bad

1:24:20

ass? He is a bad ass.

1:24:22

Oh yeah. He's a bad ass

1:24:24

with no self-confidence. Okay. So, um,

1:24:26

it's really the eyes and the

1:24:28

skin. I kind of like a,

1:24:30

I'm gonna go take it away

1:24:32

from the, what I know, please

1:24:34

do, but I just, maybe I'm

1:24:37

ready. I'm ready. I've done a

1:24:39

lot of kata work and I

1:24:41

am ready for some kungfoo. I

1:24:43

had the headband and I've studied

1:24:45

a lot. So you better back,

1:24:47

give me a favorite. Grab me

1:24:49

here. No, no, hold on. If

1:24:51

we're gonna fight, you gotta grab

1:24:53

me here and then I'll. Twist

1:24:55

you over here and flip you

1:24:57

on the side. No, hold on,

1:24:59

hold on, let me start again.

1:25:01

Okay. Pretty likely coming at me.

1:25:03

No, you know what, can we

1:25:05

just talk this out? Yeah. Yeah.

1:25:07

That's good. I love this guy.

1:25:09

Like, you're just kind of like

1:25:11

confident, but like, we're all white

1:25:13

belts. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

1:25:15

That always fascinates me. because it's

1:25:17

such a unique personable thing you

1:25:19

know like what memories or what

1:25:21

ignites when you see an image

1:25:23

you know it's everything because it's

1:25:25

almost like the you know it's

1:25:27

like the it factor that they

1:25:29

talk about it's like it's not

1:25:31

a measurable thing it's kind of

1:25:33

just like persons a person like

1:25:35

what's gonna come out it's true

1:25:37

and in and a lot of

1:25:39

times you really want like they'll

1:25:41

direct you I love when they

1:25:43

give you a picture yeah yeah

1:25:45

yeah Yeah. But then you might

1:25:47

have your take. They'll have a

1:25:49

take on it, but it's fun

1:25:51

when they let you just kind

1:25:53

of do what you just did.

1:25:55

Also if you're into animation, like

1:25:57

you are, or you're drawing a

1:25:59

picture, sometimes I'll just draw a

1:26:01

character and I say, what does

1:26:03

it want to say to me?

1:26:05

Like, what does he want to

1:26:07

say? I always joke about it.

1:26:09

I think puppets always win. In

1:26:11

other words, it's going to be

1:26:13

the puppets going to inform me.

1:26:15

I may have a story, but

1:26:17

have you noticed like more comedy

1:26:19

comes out of you just playing

1:26:21

a character? Like if I if

1:26:23

I say Jim just do a

1:26:25

guy you knew at the at

1:26:27

the video place you worked at,

1:26:29

you know, you'll start coming up

1:26:32

with stuff just as that guy.

1:26:34

Yeah, you didn't really that's right.

1:26:36

That's right. All of a sudden

1:26:38

I think Billy Bob Thornton did

1:26:40

that with sling blade. I think

1:26:42

he has a story about that

1:26:44

word that word that character. I

1:26:46

don't know, I'm just gonna be,

1:26:48

and he's working on it. So

1:26:50

I think, I don't know, it's

1:26:52

all Kilmer, somebody. He felt very

1:26:54

belittled on the, I don't know

1:26:56

what film it was, but he

1:26:58

felt very like, well, and he

1:27:00

kind of made a character to

1:27:02

get himself through it. It's his

1:27:04

story, but he's just like, well,

1:27:06

I'm not going anywhere, and Hollywood,

1:27:08

probably just gotta pack up, man.

1:27:10

And somebody said to him, you

1:27:12

know, there are people have conditions

1:27:14

that sound like that. My life

1:27:16

is over again. You know, like,

1:27:18

whatever. Yeah, we kind of have

1:27:20

all the Eor in us against

1:27:22

this in my life now. Yes.

1:27:24

And like, and then it will

1:27:26

inform you of what you're saying

1:27:28

next. So we say, you know,

1:27:30

and whenever I often think, and

1:27:32

you know, people ask me about

1:27:34

doing this character or that character.

1:27:36

You know bad guys are if

1:27:38

you think of it as music

1:27:40

bad guys are in the minor

1:27:42

key bad guys are minor keys

1:27:44

Good guy kept captain America is

1:27:46

a guy who goes like this

1:27:48

I mean I might as well

1:27:50

have been a trumpet. Yeah, yeah,

1:27:52

you know And, uh, and, and

1:27:54

Doctor Doom is not anybody's idea

1:27:56

of fun. Bo, po, po, po,

1:27:58

po, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo,

1:28:00

poo, poo, poo, poo. Yeah. And

1:28:02

that's not good news. No. You

1:28:04

know, you don't even know what

1:28:06

he has to say, what he's,

1:28:08

what he's saying. But it's, yeah,

1:28:10

it's in the, it's in the,

1:28:12

it's in a minor key. way

1:28:14

to look at it or every

1:28:16

now and then you get a

1:28:18

good seventh no you know guys

1:28:20

just losing even the bad guy

1:28:22

could be like well I guess

1:28:24

so yeah I always love that

1:28:26

in any you're talking bad guys

1:28:29

I love finding the humanity in

1:28:31

any character as bad as it

1:28:33

is as bad as he is

1:28:35

it's always like there's that little

1:28:37

bit a shred of that person

1:28:39

in there I think that makes

1:28:41

the best villains right I do

1:28:43

too you know because why you

1:28:45

know most villains I mean there

1:28:47

are a few Most of them

1:28:49

don't think of themselves as bad

1:28:51

guys. No, they're all trying to

1:28:53

do the right thing. What they

1:28:55

see is right. One of the

1:28:57

most, what's that? I was, I

1:28:59

just said, they're all trying to

1:29:01

do what they see as right.

1:29:03

They think is the right. I

1:29:05

mean, there are so a couple

1:29:07

of characters that say, no, I

1:29:09

know them bad. Yeah, yeah. There

1:29:11

are the Chuckies of the world.

1:29:13

You know, even he's a protagonist,

1:29:15

right? But, you know, like, you

1:29:17

know, like, you know, in his

1:29:19

own world, right? But like, it's,

1:29:21

but most, most of them think

1:29:23

they're doing, I love when I

1:29:25

get a character like that. in

1:29:27

his mind is the good guy,

1:29:29

but everyone always thinks of him

1:29:31

as the nemesis because he was.

1:29:33

Yeah. And I even don't know,

1:29:35

that blew my mind that video

1:29:37

games actually had that complexity of

1:29:39

character. I never. Thought about that.

1:29:41

Because I grew up with, you

1:29:43

know, Pac-Man and... Right. Sure. Oh,

1:29:45

yeah. You know. Where are we?

1:29:47

Pac-Man, come hither! You must eat

1:29:49

the fruit before the eyeballs go

1:29:51

to the center of the Navarins.

1:29:53

No, it's not that dramatic. Pac-Man.

1:29:55

Oh, wouldn't that be great? You

1:29:57

had Shakespeare Pac-Man. Oh, okay. I

1:29:59

think you just... I think we

1:30:01

got it. Shakespearean impact. Stay tuned,

1:30:03

folks. Stay tuned, Paul. If you're

1:30:06

a fan of everything we do

1:30:08

here at tuned-in with Jim Cummings,

1:30:10

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1:30:15

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1:30:17

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1:30:19

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1:30:22

So go ahead and join the

1:30:24

tuned-in family today at patron.com/Jim Cummings

1:30:26

podcast. Do it now. How do

1:30:29

you keep your voice good? Are

1:30:31

you, you just, well I never

1:30:33