Hank Azaria (The Simpsons, Friends, Mystery Men, The Birdcage)

<v Speaker 1>Worst podcast ever. That was the guy who lived next
<v Speaker 1>door to me. Fresh from your.
<v Speaker 2>Card, by the way, F four something.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, how you doing out there? It's me Tiger.
<v Speaker 3>I am Duc Wayne Duck. It's me Bunkers Deep Bobcat.
<v Speaker 3>All right, y'all, did agree your favorite firefly you desire?
<v Speaker 3>Hold on old no good. My name is Jim Cummings
<v Speaker 3>and welcome to tuned In.
<v Speaker 2>Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Tuned In with
<v Speaker 2>Jim Cummings. I am Brendan Dane, of course, joined by
<v Speaker 2>the man himself, mister producer Chris. How are you doing, Chris?
<v Speaker 4>Do agree?
<v Speaker 2>Good to see you guys, the legend himself, mister Jim Cummings,
<v Speaker 2>How are you, sir?
<v Speaker 3>Hello, it's another Dan paradise.
<v Speaker 2>It is, indeed, of course, because we are incredibly lucky
<v Speaker 2>to be joined by another icon, not just Jim Cummings,
<v Speaker 2>drawn by another one. You may know him as Brockmeyer,
<v Speaker 2>you may know him as David the scientist guy, or
<v Speaker 2>perhaps you know him as half the cast of the Simpsons.
<v Speaker 2>He is the one, the legendary Hank Azaria, Hank. It's
<v Speaker 2>a pleasure to speak to you. How you doing, sir,
<v Speaker 2>I'm good.
<v Speaker 1>I'm good. All of us are good. All of us
<v Speaker 1>in here are good.
<v Speaker 3>That's cool, that's right. And it's crowded in there sometimes,
<v Speaker 3>that's for sure.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Well, thank you very much, very very much for being here.
<v Speaker 2>Man.
<v Speaker 3>This is really cool because I know you're a busy
<v Speaker 3>guy and you're where are you?
<v Speaker 2>Now?
<v Speaker 1>Give us back to New York the exact address, Yeah, sure,
<v Speaker 1>apartment thirteen CD. I'm I'm Upper West Side in New
<v Speaker 1>York and move back here eleven eleven years ago.
<v Speaker 3>Ah, yeah, very cool.
<v Speaker 2>And how does that make for work with the Simpsons?
<v Speaker 2>It was all done remotely now for the show in
<v Speaker 2>the Pandemic.
<v Speaker 1>They sent us all very nice microphones and they sent
<v Speaker 1>us dedicated laptops and it seems to work just fine.
<v Speaker 1>And now they'll never get us back in the studio.
<v Speaker 1>That's too easy. So yeah, that's what that's what we do.
<v Speaker 2>You must miss that though. Jim always talks about how
<v Speaker 2>he misses being with the with the crew doing the shows.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah do you do? You have that feeling too? No?
<v Speaker 1>I love everybody, but I see them on zoom and
<v Speaker 1>a table reads and oh yeah, I'll take the convenience, uh,
<v Speaker 1>you know over the over the nostalgia pretty much every time.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, well that makes sense. Yeah, no, no problem there understood.
<v Speaker 2>Well, that's of seeing their faces, right, Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>That's the thing. I you know, maybe by in year,
<v Speaker 1>like you know, nineteen, we still really liked seeing each other,
<v Speaker 1>but there was seventeen years ago, so now that I
<v Speaker 1>don't like seeing them. But it's just it. You know,
<v Speaker 1>it's so great to be able to record from home. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I mean I really can't. I'm very grateful for it
<v Speaker 1>in fact.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah you can't. Well you can't complain about that. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>O got this elaborate studio here.
<v Speaker 4>Jim.
<v Speaker 2>You bring up just before we went on the show,
<v Speaker 2>how you're the go to guy essentially for Disney and Hank?
<v Speaker 2>Is that for the Simpsons and many other things? Like
<v Speaker 2>I swear you guys are very similar in that role.
<v Speaker 2>What does it like to be the guy we need
<v Speaker 2>a voice, just get Hank, we need a voice, just
<v Speaker 2>get Jim.
<v Speaker 1>I don't well, I don't know that that's so true
<v Speaker 1>of me. It's true on the Simpsons, you know, for
<v Speaker 1>a variety of things. And I've done, you know, definitely
<v Speaker 1>vocal performances here and there over the years. But I
<v Speaker 1>guess there may be were moments, write jim where like,
<v Speaker 1>this business goes very sicnically cyclically. So there's times when
<v Speaker 1>that's true, and then there's times when nobody thinks of you,
<v Speaker 1>and then that whe all turns back around, and if
<v Speaker 1>you're lucky enough to have longevity, you see the wheel
<v Speaker 1>go around and around, and you don't pay attention to it
<v Speaker 1>too much anymore, right, because you know that it's with you,
<v Speaker 1>it's going to go away. When it's not with you,
<v Speaker 1>it's going to come back.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's so true. No matter what's happening, it's going
<v Speaker 3>to change. Yeah, that's for sure. And you know, knock
<v Speaker 3>Wood exactly or whatever this is. We move forward with
<v Speaker 3>the times.
<v Speaker 2>Can you guys recall the first time you watched together, Jimmy.
<v Speaker 2>You may have mentioned it might have been at a
<v Speaker 2>station in the nineties, right.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, Well it wasn't very often. I really only recall
<v Speaker 3>seeing you in the studio eight time one time, and
<v Speaker 3>I cannot think of what the show would be, God forbid.
<v Speaker 3>I used the interwebs. But and then I when I
<v Speaker 3>did The Simpsons, I was a horse, so I went
<v Speaker 3>in and and I think I.
<v Speaker 2>Was called wonder you were dunk in the dunk in
<v Speaker 2>the horse dunk was it?
<v Speaker 3>That's what I meant to say, Duncan. Yeah, where the
<v Speaker 3>hell did I get wonder?
<v Speaker 4>Oh?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, but yeah, that was my big Simpson debut.
<v Speaker 1>Well, we've definitely underused you there, that's sure, that's right.
<v Speaker 1>So what what did we did? We overlap.
<v Speaker 2>In Spider Man Venom and he is I think.
<v Speaker 3>Oh that's that sounds about right. Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>because I believe it was at Scream Music down on
<v Speaker 3>Ventura Boulevard or maybe B and B on Magnolia. Hard
<v Speaker 3>to say anymore.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, And I remember Ed Asner was j Jonah Jamison
<v Speaker 1>was a really good cast in that.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and he was and Ed was pissed. I don't
<v Speaker 3>even know why, but he was. I can't take Chris.
<v Speaker 3>He was just always a curmudgeon. He was a professional curmudgeon.
<v Speaker 3>I love the guy.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I remember, I don't I don't recall that. I
<v Speaker 1>know that I was internally getting annoyed because I felt
<v Speaker 1>like we were being way overdirected, but I was way
<v Speaker 1>too early in my career to express anything like that.
<v Speaker 1>Not that I'm a you know, bully now or anything,
<v Speaker 1>but I probably would say something diplomatic like let me
<v Speaker 1>try a few and then you tell me what you
<v Speaker 1>think of them, or something like that, you know what
<v Speaker 1>I mean? As opposed to I felt like the guy
<v Speaker 1>was really up our in our business.
<v Speaker 3>Yes a lot, Yeah, but seriously yeah, yeah, no, I
<v Speaker 3>remember who that was, I think, and I agree.
<v Speaker 1>I don't recall the guy. I just remember being.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, just I recall his two recall his demeanor. There
<v Speaker 3>you go.
<v Speaker 2>Well, what does define a good director?
<v Speaker 4>Then?
<v Speaker 1>God, it's a good question, isn't it. Jim. It's kind
<v Speaker 1>of different for voice work than it is for on camera.
<v Speaker 3>Well, that's for sure. Well for me, you know, I
<v Speaker 3>believe it or not. Gordon Hunt, God, yeah, bless him.
<v Speaker 3>You know, someone that we both know, and I thought
<v Speaker 3>that he was really really a class act period and
<v Speaker 3>he was a hell of a director. He could get
<v Speaker 3>things out of you without hitting you over the head,
<v Speaker 3>and you know, he'd make you think a little bit
<v Speaker 3>and then caujoel and then boom, pull the string and
<v Speaker 3>off we go.
<v Speaker 1>You knowon Gunhunt is my ex father in law. Of course,
<v Speaker 1>a very dear man, and I was I loved him
<v Speaker 1>very much. He's always very good to me and I
<v Speaker 1>worked with him. He directed me on camera once, he
<v Speaker 1>directed a mat About You episode or two. Oh really, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>he did that very well. I don't think I ever
<v Speaker 1>was directed by him. For voiceover. I know he did
<v Speaker 1>a ton of that. Oh yeah, you know. I would
<v Speaker 1>say for voice voiceover, I would consider a good director
<v Speaker 1>anybody who actually gives me a good idea that I
<v Speaker 1>hadn't thought of. I would say I would define as
<v Speaker 1>a good director anyone who encourages me to give a
<v Speaker 1>choice that I hadn't already given. That's good. And then
<v Speaker 1>somebody who kind of seems to get what I'm going
<v Speaker 1>for and jumps on board with that, I would say
<v Speaker 1>it's good too.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, yeah, that's always good when they agree with you. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>that's how you know. That's how you know they're right exactly.
<v Speaker 1>Well, I know, like a lot of times in the Simpsons,
<v Speaker 1>theis direct us, you know, some whoever wrote the episode,
<v Speaker 1>and I always do want to give them what their
<v Speaker 1>intent was, Like, I don't, Jim, do you mind the
<v Speaker 1>line readings? Because I don't, do you mind them?
<v Speaker 3>Well, if I give it a run and they go,
<v Speaker 3>well I was thinking of something different, then you know,
<v Speaker 3>I like getting in my first DIBs.
<v Speaker 1>I agree.
<v Speaker 3>You know, let me take a swing at it, and
<v Speaker 3>if I hit a strike, if I come up no airball,
<v Speaker 3>well then yeah, throw something at me, so you know. Otherwise,
<v Speaker 3>you know, you don't want to feel like you're a puppet.
<v Speaker 1>It's true, but I don't like if they're trying to
<v Speaker 1>describe the way they want a line read or trying
<v Speaker 1>to direct it. And I'm happy to say, just give
<v Speaker 1>me a line reading because I'm not sure exactly what
<v Speaker 1>you want. And over the years I've gotten this way,
<v Speaker 1>like it's so much easier just to to do, like
<v Speaker 1>I could do seven takes of variations in the time
<v Speaker 1>it takes, like discuss what options might be that I
<v Speaker 1>always just found like, sure, anything more you want me
<v Speaker 1>to do, I'll try it that way. Yeah, yeah, iigure
<v Speaker 1>more precious about that.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. Well, you know we're not curing cancer as they
<v Speaker 3>used to say. Yeah, yeah, amen.
<v Speaker 1>Although laughter is a wonderful medicine.
<v Speaker 3>Is that is? Yes, I'm feeling better already.
<v Speaker 2>How long did it take you, guys to develop a
<v Speaker 2>trust and relationship with your directors when you first want
<v Speaker 2>to show is it a teething period? How long is
<v Speaker 2>it to take where you go I connect with this person.
<v Speaker 1>I mean some like I say, I mostly know the Simpsons,
<v Speaker 1>and that really rotates because it'll be a different Whoever
<v Speaker 1>really wrote the episode will tends to direct, and certainly
<v Speaker 1>over the years of a lot of different guys. Some
<v Speaker 1>might just have more sympatico than others. Some we have
<v Speaker 1>just more of a similar sense of humor and we
<v Speaker 1>sort of get each other more, riff on each other more. Otherwise,
<v Speaker 1>in other projects I've done, like from movies or other shows,
<v Speaker 1>it really is more of a relationship because the director's
<v Speaker 1>gonna work with you much more, and you're sort of
<v Speaker 1>starting the project from scratch. You don't know what the
<v Speaker 1>tone is yet, you don't know where you're headed yet.
<v Speaker 1>I think it's communication. I think it's somebody who's gonna
<v Speaker 1>let me try a bunch of things and also make
<v Speaker 1>it really clear to me what they want in whatever
<v Speaker 1>way they want to do that. So mm hm, and
<v Speaker 1>then I'm happy just to try it a lot of
<v Speaker 1>different ways.
<v Speaker 5>You know.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it doesn't bother me either. That's that's that's a
<v Speaker 3>good approach. I think throw everything against a wall hoppen.
<v Speaker 2>Do the Simpsons take your improv is a regular thing
<v Speaker 2>or is it something they just I can see a writer,
<v Speaker 2>they write a line and if you came up something better,
<v Speaker 2>are they opened to go you know what? That was
<v Speaker 2>much better? Or is that sort of hit them a
<v Speaker 2>little bit hard going? He's better at this than me.
<v Speaker 1>After thirty six years. It's sort of character bit like
<v Speaker 1>as Mo as mode. I'll rely on me to sort
<v Speaker 1>of make it more New Yorky and where to throwing
<v Speaker 1>a ah Jaez? What do you guy? What do you
<v Speaker 1>what does use guys? Don't you know? It's like they'll
<v Speaker 1>rely on me more to colloquialize it in the way
<v Speaker 1>that it is colloquialized. And for Frank it's you know
<v Speaker 1>a little why the noises are impossible to anticipate, so
<v Speaker 1>they'll just get Frank noise and then I'll do whatever
<v Speaker 1>occurs and the character like that. For Frank, with each take,
<v Speaker 1>I'll sort of get more a lab. I'll start without
<v Speaker 1>exactly as written, and then it gets longer and weirder
<v Speaker 1>and stranger as I go along. I think half just
<v Speaker 1>to entertain myself, whereas other characters I'll stick to more
<v Speaker 1>exactly what they wrote. I usually like to give them
<v Speaker 1>at least two or three of exactly what they wrote,
<v Speaker 1>and then start playing around a little bit and they'll
<v Speaker 1>they'll use what they feel, uh works best, right now?
<v Speaker 3>Whatever works, that's right, Yeah, that's good. Can you remember
<v Speaker 3>your your first Was it an audition even? Did they
<v Speaker 3>just say no, let's get Hank.
<v Speaker 1>Oh? No. I auditioned for. It was for It came
<v Speaker 1>to my theatrical agent. It wasn't even a voiceover audition.
<v Speaker 1>And I had done a pilot for Fox. This is
<v Speaker 1>way back. I'm talking nineteen eighty seven, nineteen eighty eight,
<v Speaker 1>oh wow. Yeah, And that was around when Roger Rabbit
<v Speaker 1>came out. So Fox did a pilot called Hollywood Dog
<v Speaker 1>where the dog was animated and everybody else was live action.
<v Speaker 3>I did the voice of the dog.
<v Speaker 2>It's on YouTube. I really enjoy it.
<v Speaker 1>Is it really? I don't think I've ever seen it
<v Speaker 1>since it was a failed pilot that never made the air.
<v Speaker 1>I did something like this, kind of a voice like.
<v Speaker 3>This, whatever it was.
<v Speaker 1>And they knew me at Fox from that, and they
<v Speaker 1>were having auditions from Moe the Bartender and I was
<v Speaker 1>still want to play at the time, where I was
<v Speaker 1>imitating young al Pacino. I was playing a drug dealer
<v Speaker 1>in a small black box theater in Hollywood, and I
<v Speaker 1>autitioned him with this voice, kind of young Al and
<v Speaker 1>they said, they want the voice to be gravelly, so
<v Speaker 1>if you make young al Pacino gravelly, you get motor
<v Speaker 1>Ba tended. That's what came out, and they just had
<v Speaker 1>me record it right there. They said, oh, that's it.
<v Speaker 1>Will you recorded? And I was like, now. We walked
<v Speaker 1>over to the at the time, it was the Marilyn
<v Speaker 1>Monroe stage, it's now the Marge Simpson stage right and
<v Speaker 1>recorded it. And I didn't think i'd ever you know,
<v Speaker 1>with hindsight, they probably recorded a bunch of guys that
<v Speaker 1>day and just put in what they liked the best.
<v Speaker 1>And it was just that week, and then the next
<v Speaker 1>week I did Chief Wigham, and the next week they
<v Speaker 1>added another character. And it wasn't until halfway through the
<v Speaker 1>second season that they offered me a regular gig. I
<v Speaker 1>had done about five or six characters at that point,
<v Speaker 1>but it was the first time I'd ever done anything
<v Speaker 1>like that except for that pilot.
<v Speaker 3>Pretty good score, not bad.
<v Speaker 1>I literally leave attery and it took a year just
<v Speaker 1>for it to pan out that way, but really, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>but yeah, it was. It was I landed in a
<v Speaker 1>pot of jam.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah that's that is wonderful. Now you've got all the
<v Speaker 3>toff beer you can get your hands on.
<v Speaker 1>Oh, the tough beer I can drink jam.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I know that is too good.
<v Speaker 2>Thirty years ago. Similar for you, Jim, you landed in
<v Speaker 2>the jar of honey with Winnie the Pooh, like you've
<v Speaker 2>been doing the same character so long. Do you feel
<v Speaker 2>that there's a sense of ownership with these characters?
<v Speaker 3>I kind of do, how about you? I really do.
<v Speaker 1>If I can fanboy Jim for a second. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>I really really loved Winnie the Pooh growing up. Oh good,
<v Speaker 1>the books and the and the courts, and loved the voices,
<v Speaker 1>and as an aspiring voice guy. I didn't know when
<v Speaker 1>I was ten that I was an aspiring voice guy,
<v Speaker 1>but I did know that I loved animated voices and
<v Speaker 1>I loved Paul Winchell. So when I you know, and
<v Speaker 1>then I have my son's fifteen and so we rediscovered
<v Speaker 1>the newer Winnie the poohs when he was little, and
<v Speaker 1>I was so delighted. At that point, I was a
<v Speaker 1>professional voice guy by the voices in the movies and
<v Speaker 1>the show, and I was astounded by how close how
<v Speaker 1>much Winny and Tigger sounded like their old selves, And
<v Speaker 1>then when I found out they were both you, my
<v Speaker 1>head exploded. No, honestly, it really is apart from you know,
<v Speaker 1>my hero mel blank right, I have kind of you
<v Speaker 1>and Mel in my hall of fame just like that
<v Speaker 1>is just to me because they're beloved characters that mean
<v Speaker 1>so much to me. And I still can't believe. I
<v Speaker 1>couldn't believe any two people could match that vocal performance
<v Speaker 1>so exactly, let alone one person doing both. It really
<v Speaker 1>is to me a vocal feet that is I'm not
<v Speaker 1>really I'm not blowing smoke. I mean it.
<v Speaker 3>Wow. Thanks incredible to me that is coming from you.
<v Speaker 3>That's that's like a gold coin. I'll take it. Thanks.
<v Speaker 1>It's really it's wonderful. It's amazing.
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<v Speaker 1>By the way, By the way that well staying, I
<v Speaker 1>know you don't do ere, but we really did love
<v Speaker 1>those cartoons and so my son was little. There's one
<v Speaker 1>of them where or says We're all gonna die over
<v Speaker 1>and over again. And my son was about three or four,
<v Speaker 1>and we got on we were in Paris, and we
<v Speaker 1>got on this elevator with a lot of people and
<v Speaker 1>it was very fancy. People were we were in a
<v Speaker 1>very fancy place, don't remember we were. We were very
<v Speaker 1>dressed up, and for some reason my son announced the
<v Speaker 1>crowded elevator we're all gonna die and perfect yeah, And
<v Speaker 1>we had to try to explain in French that he
<v Speaker 1>just was quoting Winnie the Pooh. He didn't have any
<v Speaker 1>kind of premonition.
<v Speaker 3>Oh god, oh that's that's fun. Oops. Well thank god
<v Speaker 3>it didn't come true. Yes, thank god, that's a beautiful thing.
<v Speaker 3>Now And when did you establish you really didn't kind
<v Speaker 3>of have to audition for them. They just kind of
<v Speaker 3>because that boggles my mind a little bit. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>I auditioned you did you okay?
<v Speaker 1>Yes, that was an audition, and then I walked over
<v Speaker 1>that day and recorded. But like I said, I think
<v Speaker 1>that they what do they call that when you like
<v Speaker 1>for commercials, when you do it, but they don't necessarily
<v Speaker 1>buy it, like they you know what I mean, Like
<v Speaker 1>you record it, but then they decide later who they're
<v Speaker 1>going to go with.
<v Speaker 3>Actually, oh yeah, I've had that.
<v Speaker 1>I think it was that kind of situation.
<v Speaker 3>So you were worried about, well that that didn't that
<v Speaker 3>worked out just fine? Then it did.
<v Speaker 1>But I didn't even I didn't even know enough to
<v Speaker 1>be worried about it. Like I just I didn't know
<v Speaker 1>what the heck was going on. Yeah, yeah, you know
<v Speaker 1>what they told me years later, this is gonna blow
<v Speaker 1>your mind. So, like twenty years later, I'm sitting there
<v Speaker 1>with Matt Groening and we're back. We were both judging
<v Speaker 1>some food show on some food networ' like guest judges
<v Speaker 1>of tasting food of Oh. Chefs were making perfect yes,
<v Speaker 1>and so we're chit chatting and that says this is
<v Speaker 1>after twenty he goes, you know, there was another mo originally,
<v Speaker 1>and I said there was, there was, and he said
<v Speaker 1>job and he mentioned the guy's name, and I said,
<v Speaker 1>oh my, And it just struck me how I already
<v Speaker 1>knew I was the luckiest person in the world, but
<v Speaker 1>how really lucky I was that they actually decided to
<v Speaker 1>go somebody else. And then years after that, I said, hey, Matt,
<v Speaker 1>why did you Why were you not happy with that
<v Speaker 1>mo originally? And he said, oh, we were perfectly happy
<v Speaker 1>with him. I'm like, well, then why did you fire him?
<v Speaker 1>He said, oh, because he was a jerk. I said, wait,
<v Speaker 1>so you liked his vocal performances, you just didn't like
<v Speaker 1>the way he was in studio and he said, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>he was just really a jerk. He had done a
<v Speaker 1>lot of voiceover work, and back in the early days
<v Speaker 1>of the show, they did a lot of takes because
<v Speaker 1>they were trying to find the tone of the show. Sure,
<v Speaker 1>and he was very I guess attitudinal about it, and
<v Speaker 1>they fired him because he was kind of angry about
<v Speaker 1>being kept there that long. And I always thought of
<v Speaker 1>that guy like that, what a pricking the wrong time
<v Speaker 1>to be that way?
<v Speaker 2>Is it somebody we would it's public knowledge who it is?
<v Speaker 2>Should we say the name or not.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I've mentioned his name in the past. I
<v Speaker 1>just feel bad about saying it. He's passed away, I believe.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, yeah, CEC, We'll just say CEC.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>But it seems like that seemed to be the theme
<v Speaker 2>at the time, because that episode you originally recorded for
<v Speaker 2>was someone Chanted Evening, which had to get pushed to
<v Speaker 2>the end of the season because they weren't happy with
<v Speaker 2>the animation. And oh I didn't even know that, and
<v Speaker 2>the animation director at the time, they weren't a fan.
<v Speaker 2>He apparently he had done Mighty Mouse and he made
<v Speaker 2>a very over cartoonish and Matt Groening and James L.
<v Speaker 2>Brooks just were not fans of it at all, and
<v Speaker 2>he was just not budging. So they eventually got rid
<v Speaker 2>of him, and David Silverman came to save the day,
<v Speaker 2>and of course they a silan stool had to this
<v Speaker 2>day the legend.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, he's amazing, And all I knew is it took
<v Speaker 1>a very long time for the show to come out
<v Speaker 1>to the point where I'd almost forgotten about it. And
<v Speaker 1>also back then animation was much slower process, you know,
<v Speaker 1>almost forty years ago.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, it's unbelievable, it's been that long.
<v Speaker 1>Can ask another question, Jimmy, follow up? What are the
<v Speaker 1>Pooh Tigger?
<v Speaker 3>Question?
<v Speaker 1>Hey?
<v Speaker 3>What's that? Now?
<v Speaker 1>Were those did you already did you have to work
<v Speaker 1>at getting those for the job where they already just
<v Speaker 1>in your wheelhouse and you kind of had them ready
<v Speaker 1>to go?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah? You know what? With actually with both of them.
<v Speaker 3>My little brother was a Winnie the Pooh fan, of
<v Speaker 3>the very very original ones, where I was like in
<v Speaker 3>I don't know, eighth grade or whatever in the in
<v Speaker 3>the mid sixties, and uh, and I used to do impressions,
<v Speaker 3>bad impressions of Pooh and Tigger to aggravate my younger
<v Speaker 3>brother Terry. And you know, you know, whitned the boo.
<v Speaker 3>You know what boo? Don't you you know what that is?
<v Speaker 3>It's crap? Okay, so you're going, we need au crap,
<v Speaker 3>we need up crap and he goes, no, no, no,
<v Speaker 3>And I left Tigger alone. I hadn't you know, I didn't.
<v Speaker 3>But then we've joked about it over the years. I said,
<v Speaker 3>did you ever think that you would grow up and
<v Speaker 3>become Winni the crap? And I can't believe I'm saying that.
<v Speaker 3>Nobody out there, please disregard those words.
<v Speaker 1>It's well, I mean, was it always? I mean, obviously
<v Speaker 1>you were. When did you discover People always ask me this,
<v Speaker 1>When did you discover you were vocally gifted? Like when
<v Speaker 1>did you realize, oh, I can do things that people
<v Speaker 1>can't do?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah? Well that for me it was five. I was
<v Speaker 3>about five years old, and like I said, I was
<v Speaker 3>just a horribly annoying child and would be playing Monopoly
<v Speaker 3>and I would say, I believe I will buy Park please,
<v Speaker 3>and I'm gonna.
<v Speaker 6>Bounce over there to the renting railroad and I'm gonna
<v Speaker 6>buy all the railroads and kick you all off.
<v Speaker 3>And uh, you know, Pooh and Tigger were playing Monopoly
<v Speaker 3>with my family, and I'm sure I was a joyous child.
<v Speaker 1>You around, no listen that same story? Yeah, and I
<v Speaker 1>I could. I always tried to get because I loved it.
<v Speaker 1>I tried to get Poo. I could never really get
<v Speaker 1>it good And they go right, did okay? Because Paul
<v Speaker 1>Winschell did a lot of other He did a lot
<v Speaker 1>of Oh.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah child, Knucklehead Smith and Paul or Jerry Mahoney, Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>two dolls, And he did.
<v Speaker 1>A lot of other cartoons, didn't.
<v Speaker 3>He Oh yeah, he was gargamel for.
<v Speaker 1>The site, which I ended up being.
<v Speaker 3>And how about that and the live action? What are
<v Speaker 3>those odds, right we have?
<v Speaker 1>Oh so we both were sort of we're kind of
<v Speaker 1>step brothers via Paul Minschall, aren't we. Yeah, local step brothers.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, it's it's pretty incredible, you know. And Paul
<v Speaker 3>was a great guy. He was cantankerous as he could be,
<v Speaker 3>and he was a good old buddy of mine.
<v Speaker 1>Oh well you knew him, boy, I really kind of
<v Speaker 1>idolized him growing up.
<v Speaker 3>Oh me too. But I I have to admit that
<v Speaker 3>I did have a couple of nightmares when I was
<v Speaker 3>very young, maybe four or five years old, going into
<v Speaker 3>my room and I was just worried that Jerry Mahoney
<v Speaker 3>was sitting in my under the coffee table, under the
<v Speaker 3>end table on my bed, and because there was something
<v Speaker 3>about when he would do the thing from from the
<v Speaker 3>side and then he would go yeah, and he had
<v Speaker 3>that face on, and I was going a well, stop.
<v Speaker 1>There's a reason why a lot of horror has been
<v Speaker 1>created around the ventral concept. It is a bit of
<v Speaker 1>a spooky thing, you know, making things come to life
<v Speaker 1>like that so believably. Yeah, it was very believably magic.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yes, I remember it well, yeah, who knew he
<v Speaker 3>was so gifted? But yeah, and and you know we
<v Speaker 3>have another thing in common, uh from Anastasia.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, you were you were bar talk, yes.
<v Speaker 3>And I was nobody in the movie per se. But
<v Speaker 3>I sang the song in the Dark of the Night
<v Speaker 3>for Christopher Lloyd. So that right, Yeah, so that was me.
<v Speaker 1>I washed a little bat there. This was an impression
<v Speaker 1>of a cousin of mine, a female cousin of mine.
<v Speaker 1>Do you do that? Do you base some voices on relatives?
<v Speaker 3>And absolutely I There is a a character in Chippendale
<v Speaker 3>Rescue Rangers called Lieutenant Spinelli, and he sort of sounds
<v Speaker 3>like this, Well, let me tell you something there, old buddy,
<v Speaker 3>old pal you you your whole thing with you? Is
<v Speaker 3>that you gotta do?
<v Speaker 1>Well?
<v Speaker 3>That was my aunt Grace, God rest her soul. And
<v Speaker 3>yes it was a woman, and and my cousins you
<v Speaker 3>know subsequently that many years ago now at this point,
<v Speaker 3>but that's a yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, I could see it. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>a little a little deeper, but yeah, sure. So May
<v Speaker 3>Grace was Lieutenant's Fanlt. White And then uh, the first
<v Speaker 3>because I lived in New Orleans For a long time.
<v Speaker 3>I was a decande on a riverboat and I used
<v Speaker 3>to design Marty gruffloats and and uh, the first, the
<v Speaker 3>first riverboat I was ever on, it was it was
<v Speaker 3>the There was a guy on there. His name was
<v Speaker 3>Leon LeBlanc. He was from Napollon, Louisiana, and he he
<v Speaker 3>spoke English as his second language, even though he was
<v Speaker 3>born in Louisiana. And he ended up being Leatherhead, the
<v Speaker 3>Cajun Alligator for teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Oh nice, you know?
<v Speaker 3>And and I figure, you know, if you do a
<v Speaker 3>perfect depression of somebody that nobody knows, it's a new character, right, totally. Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>And if you do a terrible impression of somebody everybody knows,
<v Speaker 3>they can't even tell who you're doing, that's a new
<v Speaker 3>character exactly.
<v Speaker 1>I tell that to young folks all the time, like
<v Speaker 1>bad impressions are good original character voices.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, that's right, Yeah, that's well said. Yeah, well I
<v Speaker 3>do too. I can't believe you do that, dude? Do
<v Speaker 3>you do you do less seminars? Do people approach you? Do?
<v Speaker 3>They say? Can you do my podcast? I know one
<v Speaker 3>person did, but.
<v Speaker 1>I don't I talk to young fe I taught acting
<v Speaker 1>for a while, Yeah, but not so much for say,
<v Speaker 1>like voiceover and character creation and things like that, more
<v Speaker 1>on camera acting, because I found that so difficult and
<v Speaker 1>nerve wracking and self conscience making that in order to
<v Speaker 1>overcome that. Over the years, I felt that I had
<v Speaker 1>a lot to you know, impart to young actors about
<v Speaker 1>kind of hacks cheats on how to be less nervous
<v Speaker 1>on camera. But anytime I have talked to aspiring voiceover
<v Speaker 1>artists or character actors, I say that that, you know,
<v Speaker 1>bad celebrity impressions are good original character voices and relatives friends,
<v Speaker 1>anyone is good fodder. A bunch of my characters are
<v Speaker 1>not so good. Uh, celebrity impressions M yeah, yeah, and
<v Speaker 1>you know a lot of relatives the character I'm mad
<v Speaker 1>about you as a kid, I grew up with talk
<v Speaker 1>Haiti or how are you doing here? There's a guy
<v Speaker 1>that grew up in my building here and in the
<v Speaker 1>birdcage with my grandmother, with my mat donald grandmother.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, yeah, that was that was a pretty pretty
<v Speaker 3>interesting movie, you know, seeing you there and you're in
<v Speaker 3>your your little speedos and just doing your thing. And
<v Speaker 3>oh boy, well you work out. I mean, that's a
<v Speaker 3>beautiful thing. Good for you.
<v Speaker 1>When they tell you you're going to wear a g
<v Speaker 1>string or be nude, it scares you into the gym.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, right now, I would imagine.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, there's no rolling out of bed in sweatpants at
<v Speaker 1>the mic.
<v Speaker 3>Right.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's a different thing.
<v Speaker 2>It's also lovely that you can pay tribute to your
<v Speaker 2>grandma in doing so as well.
<v Speaker 1>You know, it actually was because I did work on
<v Speaker 1>a Guatemala Remember, I'm sure you knew him, Robert Easton.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, Robert Easton.
<v Speaker 3>I didn't know him personally. I met him once, That's
<v Speaker 3>about it.
<v Speaker 1>I worked with him on that. He called each spoke like, yes, hey,
<v Speaker 1>Roberty Easton. Yes, the Henry Higgins of Hollywood. He called
<v Speaker 1>himself yes, And so he was recommended, and I worked
<v Speaker 1>with him on a Guatemalan accent, and we kind of
<v Speaker 1>worked it down to two different choices. One was the
<v Speaker 1>one I used in the movie, which was like my
<v Speaker 1>grandmother not It was a little tough for one of
<v Speaker 1>the Puerto Ricans I listened to growing up on the
<v Speaker 1>street in New York, and I heard that voice in
<v Speaker 1>my head.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, sure.
<v Speaker 1>And I realized after we worked it up that this
<v Speaker 1>sounds exactly like my grandmother. I could have saved myself
<v Speaker 1>a lot of time just imitated my grandma. But it
<v Speaker 1>was great for that character because she was very feminine
<v Speaker 1>and mothering and loving and nurturing. So it was physicality
<v Speaker 1>was good for the for the part. Do you find
<v Speaker 1>that too, Jim, that like once you hook into a voice,
<v Speaker 1>the body completely follows and even the mentality changes.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, absolutely, And I would have never pegged it alone
<v Speaker 3>in a million years. But when we very very first
<v Speaker 3>started doing the New Adventures of Winnie the Poo Entertainment Tonight,
<v Speaker 3>they came out to, uh it was TeV guy Entertainment tonight, somebody.
<v Speaker 3>They came to the studio going on, well, it's been
<v Speaker 3>twenty years since anybody saw the silly old baron blah blah.
<v Speaker 3>Now it's being done by this guy named Jim Cummings
<v Speaker 3>and blah blah blah. And they were, let's sneak into
<v Speaker 3>the studio and see you know one of those. And
<v Speaker 3>I was standing there and I was doing pooh, and
<v Speaker 3>I was standing and standing at the mic, and my
<v Speaker 3>shoulders were slumped and I was leaning back a little
<v Speaker 3>bit and my stomach was jutting out, and I went,
<v Speaker 3>oh god, I'm doing pooh. And then I started talking
<v Speaker 3>and it was pooh. And then when when they said,
<v Speaker 3>and oh wait, let's see if Tigger's going to be
<v Speaker 3>here today, because they're so funny and cute, great writing,
<v Speaker 3>and I'm standing there and I was standing there like
<v Speaker 3>just like, you know, I'm getting ready to bounce on
<v Speaker 3>somebody and I'm looking around, you know, and I said, damn,
<v Speaker 3>I you don't realize you're doing it, but you get
<v Speaker 3>into a character in a physical sense to do a voice,
<v Speaker 3>so yeah.
<v Speaker 1>You do I which I didn't know. And you know,
<v Speaker 1>I had the the privilege of watching Dan Caslenette and
<v Speaker 1>Harry Shearer right when I was young, and their whole
<v Speaker 1>bodies are into it almost too, like an embarrassing degree.
<v Speaker 1>I was like, you know, guys, you're kind of going
<v Speaker 1>nut that there's only a microphone there, you know. But
<v Speaker 1>and it took me like a while to work up
<v Speaker 1>the courage to do that too, because you know, it's
<v Speaker 1>so you know, I guess improvisation classes help with that
<v Speaker 1>kind of thing, right, Oh yeah, But I was so young,
<v Speaker 1>I didn't you know, I wasn't that far along, and
<v Speaker 1>so I really learned by watching them and how their
<v Speaker 1>whole bodies create the voice you know.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, well it's all part of the character.
<v Speaker 1>Right, Yeah, And it's been fun to see. I'm sure
<v Speaker 1>you have seen this too, right. Great actors will come
<v Speaker 1>in who are not used to doing voiceover, and they don't
<v Speaker 1>and they think it's just a neck up thing, because
<v Speaker 1>that's what it would seem to be. You just have
<v Speaker 1>a mic there, no one's watching you. But then you
<v Speaker 1>see they catch on within it within a few minutes
<v Speaker 1>that they have to just fully commit as if it
<v Speaker 1>were a full performance, and then yeah, they get the
<v Speaker 1>hang of it.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. I h not to name drop here, but I
<v Speaker 3>did a couple of shows with readA Moreno. One hundred
<v Speaker 3>years ago, and she came in and I thought, how
<v Speaker 3>can you just have read a Moreno come in for
<v Speaker 3>like eight lines? But I guess her her daughter was
<v Speaker 3>a big fan of animation, so it was kind of
<v Speaker 3>like and she brought her and so I guess it
<v Speaker 3>was kind of like her little gift to her daughter.
<v Speaker 3>And she was sitting there, and she was sitting next
<v Speaker 3>to me, and I'm sitting there going I'm sitting next
<v Speaker 3>to reading moreno and she said, you know. Halfway through that,
<v Speaker 3>she goes, Okay, I just have to say something. This
<v Speaker 3>is the most fun I've ever had. I can't believe
<v Speaker 3>you're paying me not much, but I'm getting paid, you know.
<v Speaker 3>And I said, I can't believe I'm getting paid to
<v Speaker 3>sit next to you either. She goes, this is the
<v Speaker 3>most freeing thing I've ever done. You can't make a mistake,
<v Speaker 3>you can't look all, you can't be standing wrong, you
<v Speaker 3>can't be doing that, you can't be making the wrong face.
<v Speaker 3>And if you screw up, they'll just rewind the tape
<v Speaker 3>and go over it again. Is that how it works?
<v Speaker 3>And I go, yeah, pretty sort of yeah. And she goes, oh,
<v Speaker 3>well the hell, I'll do this till the cows come home.
<v Speaker 3>This is great. And her daughter's sitting there, you know,
<v Speaker 3>having a great time. But it was very cute. You know,
<v Speaker 3>this incredible actress. She's got an Oscar, an Emmy, a
<v Speaker 3>Tony what a Grammy, you know, and she's sitting there going,
<v Speaker 3>you know, you know, basically doing arm parts with Bonker's
<v Speaker 3>Teve Bobcat on a Disney cartoon. So I was like,
<v Speaker 3>this is great. I'm never leaving this business. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's really fun to see, you know, legends come
<v Speaker 1>in and discover the joy if they haven't already messing
<v Speaker 1>around at the microphone.
<v Speaker 3>M m.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. We used to say tape is cheap. Now there's
<v Speaker 1>no tape anymore, but it's really cheap. Yeah, super cheap,
<v Speaker 1>doesn't even exist. But yeah, it's fun, right, just to
<v Speaker 1>me years to really get comfortable with that. Like I
<v Speaker 1>I was even perfectionistic about vocal recording, and like, dah,
<v Speaker 1>you can just just do it again, just try a
<v Speaker 1>different thing. I was so worried about is this good?
<v Speaker 1>Is it right? Did they get it right? You know?
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah yeah drives nuts. Yeah it did me anyway,
<v Speaker 3>you know, I didn't know. And then they just some
<v Speaker 3>people just let the tape role and then they add it.
<v Speaker 3>So okay, it works for me.
<v Speaker 1>Sure, right.
<v Speaker 2>If you're a fan of everything we do here at
<v Speaker 2>tuned In with Jim Cummings, you could support the show
<v Speaker 2>for as little as just two dollars per month on Patreon,
<v Speaker 2>where supporters not only get early and add free access
<v Speaker 2>to the show, but you'll also get bonus podcasts, including
<v Speaker 2>audio commentaries of classic Disney shows hosted by Jim and
<v Speaker 2>his various characters. So go ahead and support the show
<v Speaker 2>today at Patreon dot com. Slash Gym Cummings podcast link
<v Speaker 2>is in the description of this show. Can you pinpoint
<v Speaker 2>the moment you became confident with your voice work?
<v Speaker 1>Hank about twenty minutes ago. I think it was when
<v Speaker 1>I discovered that as part of what I teach in
<v Speaker 1>acting is I was like real self critical. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>all actors go are obscured to some extent, and you know,
<v Speaker 1>it's it's hard for us look at own performances sometimes
<v Speaker 1>or hear our own performances sometimes. But I had that
<v Speaker 1>very bad, I think more than most. And for example,
<v Speaker 1>like at the premiere of The Birdcage, Jim and I
<v Speaker 1>was told, oh, you're wonderfulness, it's great. I really I
<v Speaker 1>walked out of that theater like I, well, I ruined
<v Speaker 1>the movie. I just I ruined the movie. Are up
<v Speaker 1>there doing such wonderful work. I was so, you know,
<v Speaker 1>to get too deep, but I think I had this
<v Speaker 1>such this such innate low self esteem and belief that
<v Speaker 1>if I were doing it couldn't be any good. You
<v Speaker 1>know that even what presented with evidence that I had
<v Speaker 1>done a nice.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I think I think all evidence to the contrary,
<v Speaker 3>I think you're doing fine.
<v Speaker 1>All I saw was the mistake. So I all I
<v Speaker 1>saw was what I was trying to do that maybe
<v Speaker 1>I didn't quite achieve, you know, all the crazy actor
<v Speaker 1>things that will drive us crazy. And so after a while,
<v Speaker 1>after many years of suffering that way, I realized, kind
<v Speaker 1>of what we just said is tape is cheap, and
<v Speaker 1>I don't need to be perfect. I just need to
<v Speaker 1>offer some usable stuff on each take and enjoy it
<v Speaker 1>as much as possible and offer choices. You know, when
<v Speaker 1>I really got over it actually when I became a producer,
<v Speaker 1>and about twenty years ago, I did a show called
<v Speaker 1>Huff for a showtime I played a psychiatrist, and because
<v Speaker 1>we were so there were three of us producing that,
<v Speaker 1>and we were so stretched that I ended up having
<v Speaker 1>to be in the editing room more than anyone else,
<v Speaker 1>which was a wonderful experience. And once I was on
<v Speaker 1>that side of it, and I saw how much performance
<v Speaker 1>for film and for animation and recording really just comes
<v Speaker 1>down to offering choices in editing. You know that I
<v Speaker 1>don't need perfect takes. I don't need Broadway level performances.
<v Speaker 1>I just need usable moments. That really freed me up
<v Speaker 1>to just offer choices. I was aware of myself as producer,
<v Speaker 1>editor and just was kind of acting to that instead
<v Speaker 1>of what somebody else might think of my finished product.
<v Speaker 1>And that really freed me up to just kind of
<v Speaker 1>try different ways and not worry about it.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. Yeah, well, I think that's what the reader was
<v Speaker 3>touching on. You know, it's just the freedom to you know,
<v Speaker 3>to fall down and screw up and this and that
<v Speaker 3>is tape as cheap as they say, and if you
<v Speaker 3>don't like it, you just do it till you do
<v Speaker 3>like it. And you know what's interesting is I don't
<v Speaker 3>know about I'm sure you the same way, you're going
<v Speaker 3>to be your worst critic. Yeah, you know, there's no
<v Speaker 3>doubt about it, you know, I can I've heard. I
<v Speaker 3>remember when the first Pooh series was out and I
<v Speaker 3>had well, I don't know, it's probably about four or
<v Speaker 3>five shows in and I would watch them all religiously.
<v Speaker 3>I was like, oh, this is there. I think that
<v Speaker 3>was me, you know, And and you just get so
<v Speaker 3>self critical and then you realize that if it was
<v Speaker 3>all that bad, somebody would have thumped you in the
<v Speaker 3>forehead and you know, said not do it right? You know,
<v Speaker 3>so you did you have that too?
<v Speaker 1>Or do you have my insecurity around your work? Sometimes?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah? Oh yeah, you know. I got to a point
<v Speaker 3>where I said, oh god, it just sounds like me talking.
<v Speaker 3>It's just a stupid thing. You know. No, it doesn't,
<v Speaker 3>you know, but but it it's just creeps in. I
<v Speaker 3>think it's a I think it's just part of the
<v Speaker 3>makeup of as an actor. You're always going to be
<v Speaker 3>your biggest critic. I don't know, to.
<v Speaker 1>Stay acutely really bad, like worse I think than most.
<v Speaker 1>I really suffered with it.
<v Speaker 3>Oh man, yeah, see, I can't even think that.
<v Speaker 2>I find it interesting that you would pursue a career
<v Speaker 2>with that self doubt as well. Where does that self
<v Speaker 2>doubt stem from? Do you think I want this career
<v Speaker 2>but also I'm not good enough for that career.
<v Speaker 1>It's a great question, you know. I mean, I loved
<v Speaker 1>all of it so much and admired it, and then
<v Speaker 1>I think, you know, do you think this is true
<v Speaker 1>Jim at all? Like again, young actors always ask me,
<v Speaker 1>you know, what do you do? How do you make it?
<v Speaker 1>How do you go about it? And I always tell
<v Speaker 1>them a couple of things that definitely try it if
<v Speaker 1>you have a passion for it, because the one thing
<v Speaker 1>I knew was I would regret it if I didn't
<v Speaker 1>trust it. At least I had a plan. B. I
<v Speaker 1>figured i'd be back at grad school by the time
<v Speaker 1>I was twenty eight, but I figured until then, I'm
<v Speaker 1>gonna give it a whack. And honestly, looking back on it, Jim,
<v Speaker 1>I think show business picked me. I didn't pick meaning
<v Speaker 1>you put out there what you do. You have no
<v Speaker 1>idea how good or not good you really are. I
<v Speaker 1>didn anyway, and I was kind of surprised when I
<v Speaker 1>started getting work. I was sort of as surprised as anyone.
<v Speaker 1>And I think that I was really you know, we're
<v Speaker 1>really fortunate. A lot of folks have a passion for
<v Speaker 1>it and maybe aren't don't have the talent or persistence
<v Speaker 1>or ability to work hard enough to get it. You know,
<v Speaker 1>you and I were fortunate enough to have that. But
<v Speaker 1>it almost came as a surprise to me. And there
<v Speaker 1>were times, honestly, to answer your question, where I had
<v Speaker 1>reached a certain I was so uptight. I swear I
<v Speaker 1>kind of wished I wasn't talented enough to have the
<v Speaker 1>job I just got because I was a nervous wreck.
<v Speaker 1>I was just like, oh, I don't know if I
<v Speaker 1>can do this. I really the pressure was like it
<v Speaker 1>felt like too much, you know, really. Yeah, the night
<v Speaker 1>before I was starting a movie thing like, oh, do
<v Speaker 1>you remember the old Honeymooner's series? Are Carnee and Jackie Glease?
<v Speaker 3>For sure? Yes?
<v Speaker 1>Remember the episode where Ed's playing the piano and Ralph's
<v Speaker 1>trying to get ready for the you know, the I
<v Speaker 1>think it was the ninety the answer the musical questions
<v Speaker 1>on the ninety nine thousand dollars answer, and he got
<v Speaker 1>playing all the all the piano tunes for him so
<v Speaker 1>we can practice and rehearse, memorize and you know, and
<v Speaker 1>Carney was so brilliant. He's playing the piano is sort
<v Speaker 1>of badly, you know, to do the songs, and Ralph
<v Speaker 1>and Alice start arguing over whether he should stop playing
<v Speaker 1>or not play Yeah, don't play, play, don't play, And
<v Speaker 1>Carney just looks up to heaven and finally goes, why
<v Speaker 1>why was I blissed with this musical talent? Sometimes? I
<v Speaker 1>had that line in my mind sometimes because that's how
<v Speaker 1>I felt sometimes like I wish I wasn't good enough
<v Speaker 1>to get this job because I don't feel like I
<v Speaker 1>can do it. I feel like i'd rather not out
<v Speaker 1>of the pressure trying to do this.
<v Speaker 3>Oh no, yeah, well we're all really, I'm glad you
<v Speaker 3>got over that.
<v Speaker 1>I did. It took me like twenty years, but I
<v Speaker 1>eventually settled down.
<v Speaker 3>Oh man, I can't imagine that. That's insane as good
<v Speaker 3>as you are. That is knocking thuts. Yeah, sure, it.
<v Speaker 1>Was not fun.
<v Speaker 4>Do you feel the same way when you do voiceover
<v Speaker 4>as well?
<v Speaker 1>I did. I don't anymore. I probably got more comfortable
<v Speaker 1>with that earlier than on camera stuff. I also was
<v Speaker 1>a voice Scott. I don't know if you feel this way, Jim.
<v Speaker 1>I felt weird if I wasn't doing a voice you know,
<v Speaker 1>I felt very strange just talking as myself or acting
<v Speaker 1>like myself on camera. I felt I wasn't interesting if
<v Speaker 1>I wasn't creating.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, I remember. I did a couple of one
<v Speaker 3>or two little things and they go, oh, well, just
<v Speaker 3>use your own voice, And I go, what's that supposed
<v Speaker 3>to mean? What kind of how's the matter with you?
<v Speaker 3>What do you mean to use my own voice? How
<v Speaker 3>am I going to talk. They go like that, exactly kidding.
<v Speaker 3>Nobody hires this guy, you know. It's like, yeah, you
<v Speaker 3>just paint yourself into that weird little mental corner and
<v Speaker 3>it's like, are you sure, well, okay, I think I
<v Speaker 3>was like a doorman or two elevator operator in a
<v Speaker 3>few episodes of The Mask or who knows what, you know,
<v Speaker 3>But it's it's an odd thing. You get it. We
<v Speaker 3>can get in our own way, that's for sure. You know,
<v Speaker 3>I'm really good at it, I'm sorry to say.
<v Speaker 1>As I said me too. Yeah, you know, I found
<v Speaker 1>a lot of ways. And it also takes the joy
<v Speaker 1>out of it, you know. That's what the saddest part was.
<v Speaker 1>I still now I'm like, I suddenly like I obviously
<v Speaker 1>managed to do good work and have some fun doing it,
<v Speaker 1>but it was also much more fraud and I think
<v Speaker 1>less good than it could have been if I were
<v Speaker 1>just able to relax more and enjoy it more.
<v Speaker 3>Well, so far, so good. Huh.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, maybe it's changed since you said Frank Grohm's was
<v Speaker 2>the hottest, most emotional performance You've ever had to give
<v Speaker 2>on The Simpsons. What elements of the character in the
<v Speaker 2>performance made it so challenging.
<v Speaker 1>Well, it was very real. The guy had a genuine
<v Speaker 1>nervous breakdown, and it was the straight man of the show.
<v Speaker 1>So it wasn't really what was ever going to be
<v Speaker 1>funny about It would have to be its real emotionality,
<v Speaker 1>you know. And they had actually offered it to William H.
<v Speaker 1>Macy who was going to do it but then couldn't.
<v Speaker 1>So in my mind, Jim, that was another example of
<v Speaker 1>a bad celebrity impression. I'm doing a very poor William H. Macy.
<v Speaker 1>It sounds nothing like him, but I sort of had
<v Speaker 1>him as like the motor you know, I kind of
<v Speaker 1>had him. I think he's brilliant. I got to work
<v Speaker 1>with him. Oh yeah, And so imagining his take on it,
<v Speaker 1>and I feel like, you know, he's such a he's
<v Speaker 1>a better actor than I am. I feel like he's
<v Speaker 1>such a wonderful actor that in trying to get the
<v Speaker 1>depth that he would maybe have brought to it. Uh,
<v Speaker 1>that was what was in my mind, and and that
<v Speaker 1>was also made it hard to I was kind of
<v Speaker 1>holding it to the standard of what if William H.
<v Speaker 1>Macy really performed this, and so that made it difficult.
<v Speaker 3>Wow. Yeah, and you know, I have to I don't
<v Speaker 3>think I told you this ship, but i'd loved you
<v Speaker 3>and mystery Man, that's yes, that's when you worked with it,
<v Speaker 3>I would think, right, yes, exactly. And he was the shoveler,
<v Speaker 3>that's right. And I love the fact that you were
<v Speaker 3>the blue Rajah dressed in green.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, he didn't really wear blue. And he spoke in
<v Speaker 1>a sort of flowery British way. Yes, he did his
<v Speaker 1>home with his mother, and he just sounded like a
<v Speaker 1>normal guy.
<v Speaker 3>Yes. I always thought that was great because he was
<v Speaker 3>such a pompous character. And and uh and and who
<v Speaker 3>was it that west Study? I think played west Study
<v Speaker 3>was the mystery the mysterious man or.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I forget this character's name.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and Ben still is asking you what what wait
<v Speaker 3>what what what do you mean? His power is that
<v Speaker 3>he's mysterious, And your line was, oh no, no, he's
<v Speaker 3>very mysteridious, like oh oh, I'm sorry.
<v Speaker 1>That was a movie that should have been fun, but
<v Speaker 1>I was so fraught with some nurses and that, and
<v Speaker 1>also that was a very tough shoot just objectively, Oh,
<v Speaker 1>we all, we all had different ideas of what it
<v Speaker 1>should be. That didn't mesh all the time. Let's just
<v Speaker 1>put that way, and the director was a very talented
<v Speaker 1>guy in Kinka Usher, who I liked very much, but
<v Speaker 1>who had done a lot of commercials and was visually
<v Speaker 1>very gifted. But really it was his first time directing
<v Speaker 1>actors really, let alone a bunch of you know, twelve yeah,
<v Speaker 1>egoic comedians who will have their own idea of how
<v Speaker 1>it should be. So he wasn't. He didn't really know
<v Speaker 1>how to wrangle all of us, and it was sort
<v Speaker 1>of chaos. And it was the early days of computer
<v Speaker 1>generated imagery, so that was a very tedious process of
<v Speaker 1>shooting those effects and sort of very hard to do
<v Speaker 1>comedy while you're you know. It got like years later,
<v Speaker 1>even doing the Smurfs or doing Godzilla, the technology had
<v Speaker 1>caught up to where it could be much more instinctive
<v Speaker 1>how you could play something when nothing was there. But
<v Speaker 1>then it was like super tedious and very you know,
<v Speaker 1>by the numbers, which was hard to act. So it
<v Speaker 1>was kind of a miserable shoot.
<v Speaker 2>It resulted into final very negative today.
<v Speaker 5>I'm sorry, give me another thing you love and I'll
<v Speaker 5>shoot see here, And it's made me very negative in
<v Speaker 5>my life.
<v Speaker 1>It's really colored.
<v Speaker 4>Look what you're thinking of how the movie came out though, Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it came out. Okay, it was a definite classic.
<v Speaker 1>I was nuts watching that one.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, yeah, that that I mean, jeez, that's that's unbelievable.
<v Speaker 2>What was the result that you envisioned filming Mystery Men?
<v Speaker 1>I'm the one person asked because I'm I'm so. I was,
<v Speaker 1>especially then so negative, like it could have been great
<v Speaker 1>and I would have walked out of like, well, another
<v Speaker 1>film I ruined, you know what I mean. It's like
<v Speaker 1>it was really completely you know what. I don't know
<v Speaker 1>if you feel this way, Jim too. Like a lot
<v Speaker 1>of times, I just had this with the movie. I
<v Speaker 1>didn't really call great expectations that directed Ethan Hawk and
<v Speaker 1>Gwyneth Paltrow, and at the time I did my number
<v Speaker 1>on it. Oh well, there I ruined another vela terrible
<v Speaker 1>They're wonderful. And then I just I just watched it again,
<v Speaker 1>maybe a few months ago. It's like, oh yeah, I
<v Speaker 1>remember that film, and I was like, I did lovely
<v Speaker 1>work in this movie. There's nothing wrong with that performance.
<v Speaker 1>It was very good. It's really I find that anything
<v Speaker 1>within a year or two of when I've shot it,
<v Speaker 1>what's in my head is what I was trying for,
<v Speaker 1>which I can't get out of my head, and then
<v Speaker 1>the end result I can. I'm incapable of being objective
<v Speaker 1>about or seeing anything positive. I just kind of like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>that's not what I was trying to do.
<v Speaker 3>Well yeah, well I'm the same way. And I don't
<v Speaker 3>even do on camera. I can't imagine if I did
<v Speaker 3>on camera, go oh my god, why did I go
<v Speaker 3>left foot first? You know, stupid shit. I would drive
<v Speaker 3>myself insane exactly.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, now, you know what the best I can
<v Speaker 1>say now is I know better than to really look
<v Speaker 1>at too much stuff to really honest or I watched it.
<v Speaker 1>The second time I watch, I'm much more calm, like, oh,
<v Speaker 1>that wasn't so bad. That that was that was that
<v Speaker 1>was okay. Yeah, but my first reaction is always horribly negative.
<v Speaker 3>Well, I have to tell you what my first reaction
<v Speaker 3>when I saw uh oh wait, I wrote down the
<v Speaker 3>name because calm Moon from raw he was, I was,
<v Speaker 3>I was ready. I don't know what I was expecting.
<v Speaker 3>I go, okay, here's he's gonna hears something, And all
<v Speaker 3>of a sudden out came a sort of was Boris
<v Speaker 3>Karloff or it carl I mean, it's like, how what that.
<v Speaker 1>Was a lark? You know we originally that's crazy. I
<v Speaker 1>was doing sort of something similar to Mystery Men, a
<v Speaker 1>bit more bored and you know, aristocratic and.
<v Speaker 3>Little George Sanders sneaking in there hud.
<v Speaker 1>Yes. And we did the table reading. Actually the head
<v Speaker 1>of the studio, Tom who's ahead of Fox at the time.
<v Speaker 1>I can't remember his last name, but he kind of
<v Speaker 1>gave a note and a studio executive note went, you
<v Speaker 1>know it was.
<v Speaker 3>A little a little boring, oh boy.
<v Speaker 1>And so at the camera test, at the makeup and
<v Speaker 1>wardrobe test, we threw a mic on there to just
<v Speaker 1>try out different voices, and as a joke at the
<v Speaker 1>end of that, I had like five or six other
<v Speaker 1>voices ready and I just went, you know, Borith call
<v Speaker 1>off with the original Mommy, perhaps we should do that.
<v Speaker 1>And Ben Stiller and Chung Levy laughed and said, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>do that. And I'm like, no, we can't do that.
<v Speaker 1>I can't imitate Borif call ol or they're out to
<v Speaker 1>tie a movie like it makes his laugh, let's do it.
<v Speaker 1>And so I was like, Okay, I guess going to
<v Speaker 1>do that. And I'm really glad we did because I
<v Speaker 1>loved him.
<v Speaker 3>And especially Grinch, a mean one, mister Grinch.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, so I was glad to pay homage to Boris Carlo.
<v Speaker 3>Oh that is so cool. Well, not many of us
<v Speaker 3>can say that. You're in a very small club.
<v Speaker 1>The guy who sang the Monstermage and me I called it.
<v Speaker 3>They did the Yeah, so that is so true. I
<v Speaker 3>forgot about that one.
<v Speaker 2>Did you make people aware at the time that you
<v Speaker 2>were disappointed with the performance or did you keep it
<v Speaker 2>all within yourself?
<v Speaker 1>Oh, tell my shrink for sure, I'm not crying to him,
<v Speaker 1>and uh, yes, people close to me knew. It was
<v Speaker 1>very hard to keep in. It really was problem Like honestly,
<v Speaker 1>it was almost a mental health issue. You know, a
<v Speaker 1>lot of young athletes today have come forward with a
<v Speaker 1>similar story. You know, I think a lot driven by
<v Speaker 1>social media and the criticism that they get, which you know,
<v Speaker 1>like Nailmi a sock off, famously had to take a
<v Speaker 1>mental health break for a long time because she just
<v Speaker 1>couldn't handle the pressure. It was something akin to that
<v Speaker 1>that I really went to. It was like, I can
<v Speaker 1>only imagine if social media were around then I probably
<v Speaker 1>would just have stopped. Yeah, but yeah, people knew. Oh
<v Speaker 1>I couldn't keep it to myself. I didn't publicly say it, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>but I certainly said it to my friends and family.
<v Speaker 1>Mm hmm.
<v Speaker 3>Well pulled out of that, No, Steve, I think you
<v Speaker 3>navigated that work, so I mean, navigator.
<v Speaker 1>I think my crazy assessment of it was not quite reality.
<v Speaker 1>Otherwise I would just write like you said, somebody would
<v Speaker 1>knock me in the forehead and not giving me the job.
<v Speaker 1>I'm sure.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, do you have any is there any aspect? I mean,
<v Speaker 3>you're you're all over your musical. I mean I've seen
<v Speaker 3>the Bruce Springsteen thing.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's my latest fun thing, doing the spring shitt man.
<v Speaker 3>I mean that's crazy, and you're unbelievably good. I was like, whoa,
<v Speaker 3>give me a who is this guy? You know, you're like, mister,
<v Speaker 3>you are the true renaissance man. You're you're not a
<v Speaker 3>jack of all trades, You're a master of all trades
<v Speaker 3>and jack of none.
<v Speaker 1>Well, well, I've been imitating the way Bruce talked since
<v Speaker 1>I was a teenager, like, like, you know, I'm sure
<v Speaker 1>you know, like a lot of the impressions came by
<v Speaker 1>of hero worship right as we're.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, oh yeah, And.
<v Speaker 1>Bruce was at and then I turned sixty last year
<v Speaker 1>and had mixed feelings about that and just kind of
<v Speaker 1>felt like what would give me joy and what could
<v Speaker 1>I work on that would be fun? And I said,
<v Speaker 1>let me try to sing like Bruce, which I really
<v Speaker 1>had to, and because I think, to me, I've had
<v Speaker 1>to sing all through my career, but always in character
<v Speaker 1>and kind of in a joking right, yeah, And but
<v Speaker 1>to try to sing like Bruce had to really kind
<v Speaker 1>of learn to sing. I how to take it seriously,
<v Speaker 1>especially trying to sing through that rasp of his yes
<v Speaker 1>so to me. Instead of learning to sing, which I
<v Speaker 1>always found tedious and overwhelming, I felt like I was
<v Speaker 1>just unlocking an impression. It just this one happens to
<v Speaker 1>be singing so and that kept me with it, and
<v Speaker 1>I Jim I worked harder at that vocal impression than
<v Speaker 1>any other vocal thing I've ever worked on, and nobody
<v Speaker 1>was hiring me to do it. I just wanted to
<v Speaker 1>just want to do it, and I wasn't even intending
<v Speaker 1>it to be a tribute band. I just wanted to
<v Speaker 1>surprise people at my birthday. And I put together a
<v Speaker 1>band and I did that and it went so well.
<v Speaker 1>And because I said, no gifts, but donate to my
<v Speaker 1>foundation if you want to get We raised a lot
<v Speaker 1>of money that night and I for two two together
<v Speaker 1>and went, well, that went, well, let's do this for
<v Speaker 1>charity once twice a month. And that's what we're doing.
<v Speaker 3>Wow, that's great.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that good for you.
<v Speaker 3>You well, you know it's I've said that before. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>it's the stuff you used to get me kicked out
<v Speaker 3>of classes. How I make my living now exactly, And
<v Speaker 3>it's and it's you know, you holding onto that screen
<v Speaker 3>door slams. Honey, that's what I'm here for, right or what?
<v Speaker 3>It's just He's amazing.
<v Speaker 1>What a little thunder road there, Jim.
<v Speaker 3>That's yeah, man, good stuff. Yeah. Well he's he's he's uh,
<v Speaker 3>he's not got to be like one of my all
<v Speaker 3>time favorite guys.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I mean he actually his music meant a lot
<v Speaker 1>to me, not just as entertainment, but his message and
<v Speaker 1>his music really got me through a lot of difficult
<v Speaker 1>times as a teenager, which I got to tell him,
<v Speaker 1>I got the fanboy on him real hard level. That
<v Speaker 1>was embarrassing, not almost actually way over the line embarrassing.
<v Speaker 1>Actually tell the story is part of the because I
<v Speaker 1>tell stories kind of as Bruce on the night as well.
<v Speaker 1>It's kind of a theatrical piece. Yes, and yeah, I'm
<v Speaker 1>loving it. I'm kind of all about it now. It's
<v Speaker 1>my favorite thing to do.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, well, we're going to have to publish your show dates.
<v Speaker 2>All the dates have been the description of this show
<v Speaker 2>for sure.
<v Speaker 1>November eighth, Brooklyn Bowl, November fifteenth, The Stone Pony, Asbury Park.
<v Speaker 1>There I said it, And we'll have more dates for
<v Speaker 1>next year.
<v Speaker 3>Go Asbury Park. That's got to be a blast.
<v Speaker 1>Oh, I can't wait.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>How fun is the singing for The Simpsons or any
<v Speaker 2>other show you work on? Do you do you enjoy
<v Speaker 2>the singing aspect of it?
<v Speaker 1>You know, I never totally did. I actually examined, because
<v Speaker 1>I've been getting so much joy out of singing, like Bruce,
<v Speaker 1>because I finally stayed with the singing long enough to
<v Speaker 1>start to get some traction with it. You know what
<v Speaker 1>I realized, Jim that I think I always felt that
<v Speaker 1>I can never be anywhere near as good as singer
<v Speaker 1>as I am a mimic, So I felt like, sort
<v Speaker 1>of why try in a way that plus, whenever I
<v Speaker 1>am in a professional situation with singers, they're so incredible,
<v Speaker 1>you know what I mean. Like when I did Spamalot
<v Speaker 1>on Broadway, I was there to imitate Clease and Palin
<v Speaker 1>and Eric Idol vocally, not sing. I sang a bit,
<v Speaker 1>and those Broadway voices are so otherworldly, oh that you know,
<v Speaker 1>you don't even want to try, you know what I mean.
<v Speaker 1>It's just like you sing it, I'll moud it, you know. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>And so I always kind of felt that way. And
<v Speaker 1>that's another kind of joy I've been getting out of
<v Speaker 1>the Springsteen project is discovering my own singing voice, which
<v Speaker 1>I never really stayed with before.
<v Speaker 3>Wow, that's so cool. Yeah, well, there's always something new.
<v Speaker 3>It's a beautiful thing.
<v Speaker 1>Apparently there is a turn in sixty. That's another joys
<v Speaker 1>like finding another because you know, right like, we live
<v Speaker 1>for these vocal challenges and there are less and less
<v Speaker 1>of them as you get older. Yeah, and I kind
<v Speaker 1>of made myself a new one.
<v Speaker 3>That's that's wonderful. You know. For me, it was a
<v Speaker 3>when I started. You know, Pooh and Tigger were the
<v Speaker 3>first things I got. And and then it was pointed
<v Speaker 3>out to me by by somebody a long time ago.
<v Speaker 3>He says, well, you know, all the Disney voices, with
<v Speaker 3>the exception of like Mickey Mouse. They sound like little
<v Speaker 3>old men all sitting around. You know.
<v Speaker 6>Well, Winnie, the pool is very you know, past the honey,
<v Speaker 6>and you know, and and Tigger, you know, he's he
<v Speaker 6>likes to bound and the.
<v Speaker 3>Whole bit, you know, And they were they were old
<v Speaker 3>craggy voices. So okay, okay, certainly no question and of
<v Speaker 3>course or thigs for no to sending me. And then
<v Speaker 3>then the old Balloon's going to teach you how to
<v Speaker 3>fight like a bear, you know, good old Phil Phil Harris.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, if you're a fan of everything we do here
<v Speaker 2>at tuning in with Jim Cummings, you could support the
<v Speaker 2>show for as little as just two dollars per month
<v Speaker 2>on Patreon. We're support not only get early and add
<v Speaker 2>free access to the show, but you'll also get bonus podcasts,
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<v Speaker 2>and He's various characters. So go ahead and support the
<v Speaker 2>show today at patreon dot com. Slash gym Comings podcast
<v Speaker 2>link is in the description of this show.
<v Speaker 3>And my other buddy who was Louis Prima my bah
<v Speaker 3>blah blaye, bye Baba de bam. Well, I'm knocking off
<v Speaker 3>the swingers. Whoa the jongle v I p you know,
<v Speaker 3>good old New Orleans guy And they were actually.
<v Speaker 1>Know the real Louis Prima.
<v Speaker 3>Uh No, but I I Sam butu Terra. I you know,
<v Speaker 3>I wish I went up and set a low to
<v Speaker 3>him once he was working in the corridor when I
<v Speaker 3>was a kid, French Quarter and he was standing out
<v Speaker 3>in front, and he had a big, gigantic carnation, big
<v Speaker 3>white carnation on a hot pink coat, and he was
<v Speaker 3>he was hawking his own stuff. Come on, everybody, come on,
<v Speaker 3>and we're gonna jam it. We're gonna cook it up.
<v Speaker 3>We're all stir it up, a serve it. Let's get
<v Speaker 3>on in here, you know, and all this perfect French
<v Speaker 3>quarter drive. And I was just riveted by the guy.
<v Speaker 3>And I wasn't old enough to get in, so I
<v Speaker 3>stood outside and listened to him play. And then I
<v Speaker 3>ended up subsequent to that years ago, I uh because
<v Speaker 3>I was so enamored of the guy. Period he had
<v Speaker 3>passed away, God rest his soul, but Sam Butterra, his
<v Speaker 3>sax player, was still going. And uh, you know all
<v Speaker 3>the guys from from Jungle book, and so I hired
<v Speaker 3>them for a private, private function and I and I
<v Speaker 3>was and I said, I do have a request or two. Okay,
<v Speaker 3>here we're going what is it? They go, can I
<v Speaker 3>can I sing a couple of songs? And they go, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>well you're paying us, so.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, you know, I know the feeling.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah right, And but I was very I was, I
<v Speaker 3>was knocked out. I at the end of the night.
<v Speaker 3>He came up to me, he goes, he said, well,
<v Speaker 3>you you know, kid, I got to tell you when
<v Speaker 3>you said you did it, I didn't think you did it?
<v Speaker 3>Did it? I just thought you were going to do it.
<v Speaker 3>So and he goes and then he goes, would you
<v Speaker 3>like to come on tour with us? And you could
<v Speaker 3>be you could sing as Louis? And I go, no,
<v Speaker 3>I can't remember. I just hired you for this event.
<v Speaker 3>Here I got to go and you know, move forward.
<v Speaker 3>But uh that I mean it just made my day,
<v Speaker 3>made my whole month year. Who knows.
<v Speaker 1>So, yeah, you could have done it, Jim.
<v Speaker 3>You know I could have done a Louis Prima thing.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, we could double bill.
<v Speaker 3>You know that's true. Huh, dude, jump some jump, jive
<v Speaker 3>and whale.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, he was amazing and that did that was a
<v Speaker 1>pretty amazing. Uh. Uh, Louis Prima, you just uh you
<v Speaker 1>just unleashed there. Oh I'm not surprised they wanted to
<v Speaker 1>sign you on.
<v Speaker 3>Well, you know what, I always thought that him, he
<v Speaker 3>and his band were the where the the link, if
<v Speaker 3>you will, the DNA, the connected, the big band era
<v Speaker 3>with rock and roll.
<v Speaker 1>I think you're right, you know.
<v Speaker 3>Because he had plenty of both. I mean, he was
<v Speaker 3>a big band, seven piece, you know, not too small.
<v Speaker 3>But uh but you know, baby baby, it looks like
<v Speaker 3>it is going to have bump bum But that's all.
<v Speaker 3>That's good.
<v Speaker 1>The reason why David Lee Roth covered.
<v Speaker 3>H oh, that's right. Yeah, just to jiggle lou back in.
<v Speaker 1>The eighties, I think. Yeah, Louis Prima, he really rocked,
<v Speaker 1>you know, absolutely.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, good stuff.
<v Speaker 2>Man, Jim, you've been singing forever, haven't. You're the Disney
<v Speaker 2>standing guy you with the California Raisins. You've been singing forever.
<v Speaker 3>Yep, yep. I was lead singer for the California Raisins
<v Speaker 3>and I did not know that. Yes, yes you are correct, sir.
<v Speaker 3>What to sit here and trade old references? Everybody goes
<v Speaker 3>who was that?
<v Speaker 1>Only you and I will get it.
<v Speaker 3>But that's fine, that's right, that'll be just.
<v Speaker 2>Christ would be playing voice swap.
<v Speaker 4>Then would you like to play a game? Hank?
<v Speaker 1>Sure?
<v Speaker 4>Ah, but yes, we do a little voice swap game
<v Speaker 4>on this podcast. And this is how it works. Jim
<v Speaker 4>will give a line reading of one of his characters,
<v Speaker 4>say Winnie the Pooh, and give one of his iconic
<v Speaker 4>voice lines, and then you'll take that same line and
<v Speaker 4>repeat it but in a character voice of yours, and
<v Speaker 4>then switch back and forth, and we'll do a couple
<v Speaker 4>of characters. Sound good?
<v Speaker 1>Awesome?
<v Speaker 3>So let's see. How about should we kick off with
<v Speaker 3>who have I done lately? Dark Wing? No? Or should I.
<v Speaker 2>Let's not with Winnie the Classic? Let's just do Winnie?
<v Speaker 4>Yeah?
<v Speaker 3>Okay, would you do me a favor please and pass
<v Speaker 3>the honey?
<v Speaker 1>Would you give me a favorite please and pass the honey?
<v Speaker 3>It sounds perfect.
<v Speaker 1>Closest to Winnie the Pooh, did I get?
<v Speaker 3>I have to don't want to break this up here,
<v Speaker 3>but I am a comic book guy too. I remember
<v Speaker 3>when he first did that ice peede myself. I go,
<v Speaker 3>that might as well be the guy down at Burbank
<v Speaker 3>in Central wherever the you know, my comic book shop
<v Speaker 3>will in case you didn't know, that particular character did
<v Speaker 3>not appear until Action Comics number fifty four, not forty four.
<v Speaker 3>Oh shoot me, it is right now.
<v Speaker 1>They will let you know you're room.
<v Speaker 3>They'd be very proud and very happy to Oh okay,
<v Speaker 3>so let's see. Give me a line then, right and
<v Speaker 3>from one of your guys, and I will attempt to
<v Speaker 3>slaughter it.
<v Speaker 1>All right, let's go with most Tavern, home of the
<v Speaker 1>world's most tavant, home of the world's smallest large screen.
<v Speaker 6>TV, most heaven, home of the world's largest smoke screen TV.
<v Speaker 6>And it's very bonesy.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's close enough there. I ticket.
<v Speaker 3>Thank you. Oh man, what can I say, Hank, I
<v Speaker 3>really appreciate you getting out here today.
<v Speaker 1>Man, Yeah, I've always wanted to chat with you. This
<v Speaker 1>is really an honor and a pleasure.
<v Speaker 3>I would like to see you one of these days.
<v Speaker 3>Are you doing any conventions or any such as that
<v Speaker 3>these days, We're going.
<v Speaker 1>To be a comic con the first TI I'm going
<v Speaker 1>to be there with the Simpsons actually when there's airing,
<v Speaker 1>but I'll be there October nineteenth. I'll be there soon
<v Speaker 1>in New York. And that's all I got so far.
<v Speaker 4>I've just been late in New York Comic Con.
<v Speaker 1>New York Comic Con.
<v Speaker 4>Jim will be there too, is that right?
<v Speaker 1>Well, let's meet up, Jim. I'll be there on the nineteenth, Okay,
<v Speaker 1>around noon, so good, let's connect.
<v Speaker 3>Let's do it. Let's do it. Wonderful And all the
<v Speaker 3>people out there listening, you're all invited too. This is
<v Speaker 3>Arizon time. Oh man, fantastic. Well, thank you very very much.
<v Speaker 3>Who's going to take us home today?
<v Speaker 2>Do you want to do it?
<v Speaker 4>Chris, I'll take us home.
<v Speaker 3>Well.
<v Speaker 4>Thank you all for watching another episode of Tuned In
<v Speaker 4>with Jim Cummings. Today we had hankas Area. Thank you
<v Speaker 4>for joining us. That was a pleasure. Don't forget to
<v Speaker 4>like and subscribe if you're watching on YouTube. We are
<v Speaker 4>so close to one hundred thousand subscribers. We love you all.
<v Speaker 4>Thank you so much for the support, and don't forget
<v Speaker 4>you can find bonus content on Patreon. Thank you to
<v Speaker 4>our Patroon subscribers and anything else I'm forgetting. Jim Brendan,
<v Speaker 4>thank you're good.
<v Speaker 2>Just thank you once again.
<v Speaker 3>Hike, Yes, that's right, thank you.
<v Speaker 1>Any chief William Sean.
<v Speaker 4>And we'll see you all in the next one.
<v Speaker 3>Thank you, oh Man, fantastic, God bless you.
<v Speaker 1>Take care, MH.