Richard Horvitz (Invader Zim, Angry Beavers, Power Rangers)

<v Speaker 1>How you doing out there? It's me Tigger. I am
<v Speaker 1>Duc Wayne Duck. It's me Bunkers keep bobcat. All right, y'all?
<v Speaker 1>Is it great?
<v Speaker 2>Your favorite firefly you desire?
<v Speaker 1>Holdo old knock Gud. My name is Jim Cummings and
<v Speaker 1>welcome to tuned In. Hey, everybody, Jim Commings here. I
<v Speaker 1>will be your host. We've got the world famous producer
<v Speaker 1>Chris here, and today we have a special host, a
<v Speaker 1>special guest on tuned In with Jim Cummings, none other
<v Speaker 1>than you know them. You love them, you can't live
<v Speaker 1>without him, Richard Horwitz.
<v Speaker 2>Let's hear it. Hey, thank you, thank you. It's great
<v Speaker 2>to be here, Jim. You know, you know, Jim, it's
<v Speaker 2>great to be here.
<v Speaker 1>It's no, No, it's great to be here. I'm great
<v Speaker 1>to be here.
<v Speaker 2>Why don't we do it like a PBS show?
<v Speaker 1>Oh Jim, Yes, are you sleeping yet? Good?
<v Speaker 2>Yes?
<v Speaker 1>Wake up because it won't last. Okay, thanks for being here, pal.
<v Speaker 2>It's great to be here. Thank you for inviting me.
<v Speaker 1>Hey, it's is good stuff. Well, we have a great
<v Speaker 1>view here in Dallas, Texas. That's beautiful at world famous
<v Speaker 1>comic con. In fact, if you're watching this live and
<v Speaker 1>you're not come on down.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, we'll standing our until our ears are turning red.
<v Speaker 2>Go see go seek.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. But so do you do a lot of these
<v Speaker 1>these comic cons.
<v Speaker 2>I do. Recently I've done more than usual. It goes
<v Speaker 2>kind of in waves. So for a while, I did
<v Speaker 2>like twelve or thirteen a year, and that was you know,
<v Speaker 2>that was probably ten twelve years ago. But recently since
<v Speaker 2>I've had a couple of new shows come out. I'm
<v Speaker 2>doing like twenty. We've done tweeted twenty last year. I
<v Speaker 2>think we're scheduled for another twenty this year.
<v Speaker 1>Why perhaps we should talk about your new shows, my
<v Speaker 1>new shows. See that that was a segue.
<v Speaker 2>That was a good segue. I used to ride on
<v Speaker 2>a segue.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I know this.
<v Speaker 2>Is They keep coming, folks, don't. They're all right here?
<v Speaker 1>You're strapping in.
<v Speaker 2>Yes. So I'm currently involve a creator by the name
<v Speaker 2>of vis Vivsey Pop Vivian Madrana, who created this thing
<v Speaker 2>called the hell a Verse. And my show that I'm
<v Speaker 2>on is Hell of a Boss. But the other show
<v Speaker 2>that's on Amazon is called Has Been Hotel, and I
<v Speaker 2>star in Hell of a Boss. But I also voice
<v Speaker 2>direct both the shows.
<v Speaker 1>Wow, that's cool. Branching out.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's where that's where old voiceovers actors go to
<v Speaker 2>die directing. I'm directed there. What was I just saying?
<v Speaker 1>I tried it, but it was a mind troop. It's
<v Speaker 1>not the same.
<v Speaker 2>It's not because everything is like depending upon you and
<v Speaker 2>your schedule, and you know, and schedules change. But while
<v Speaker 2>you're maintaining your own voiceover career and trying to wrangle
<v Speaker 2>all the actors because the days when we used to
<v Speaker 2>record in radio play fashion don't exist anymore. Everyone it's
<v Speaker 2>it's everyone comes in individually, and so it takes a
<v Speaker 2>lot longer to get an episode done.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and I don't like it that way, just for
<v Speaker 1>the record. Yeah, you know, flying solo, I mean because
<v Speaker 1>oftentimes you'll, you'll, Lord knows you at leb I had
<v Speaker 1>lib and then all of a sudden, the next line
<v Speaker 1>before or after it does a matchup. It doesn't work anymore,
<v Speaker 1>And so it's either good or bad. So I'm a
<v Speaker 1>big fan of.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, the in person thing, I think a lot changed
<v Speaker 2>even before even before COVID. It changed when we started
<v Speaker 2>all building our own home booths and stuff.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's true.
<v Speaker 2>And one of the things that I think really helped us,
<v Speaker 2>and especially with bookings and stuff, is when we would
<v Speaker 2>get to see each other at auditions and stuff. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>you and I saw each other a million times.
<v Speaker 1>Over the years.
<v Speaker 2>But you're up and you're laughing and you're joking, and
<v Speaker 2>so by the time you go into that booth, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>you're ready to play.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you're kind of tune. You're in tune. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>that's so true. Gosh, I missed the interaction, you know,
<v Speaker 1>the interplace so absolutely.
<v Speaker 2>And this is where we get to do it these days. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>the convention and here on this world famous podcast. Yes
<v Speaker 2>about that. That's wonderful. Dallas is a ninety two degrees.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, yeah, ball me one hundred and twelve degrees. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>here higher top the luxurious underground warehouse. Yes, yeah, it's.
<v Speaker 2>Very hard to be a top an underground. Do you
<v Speaker 2>guys remember the first time you met? I remember the
<v Speaker 2>first time.
<v Speaker 1>I remember the song you were singing, you do Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I was singing a song. His milkshake apparently brings all
<v Speaker 1>the boys to the yard.
<v Speaker 2>And all the boys in the yard and they're black.
<v Speaker 2>It's better than yours, damn right, tastes better than yours.
<v Speaker 2>I can teach you, but would.
<v Speaker 1>You have to charge?
<v Speaker 2>I would have to charge, you would have to charge
<v Speaker 2>to charge. I remember we we were.
<v Speaker 1>Send those cards.
<v Speaker 2>Let please, let's send them. Send them to Tom Kenny Carro.
<v Speaker 2>I know that, dude, and I know that dude. The
<v Speaker 2>first time I met you, we were at the same agency,
<v Speaker 2>we were the same voiceover agency, and it was wow,
<v Speaker 2>probably close to thirty years ago now, the Flintstone Age,
<v Speaker 2>Flintstone Ages, and I remember going, that's Jim Cummings. Oh
<v Speaker 2>my gosh. I was like, I was like this new
<v Speaker 2>kid that had just fallen off the truck. Although I
<v Speaker 2>was born and raised in Los Angeles, I don't know
<v Speaker 2>why I was on the back of a truck.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's true. Huh.
<v Speaker 2>But that was the first time we met.
<v Speaker 1>You're staking across the border and you were already there.
<v Speaker 1>You're right a wrong way.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we've done yeah session together. I remember, do you
<v Speaker 2>still bring your drumsticks.
<v Speaker 1>To your I do? They're in my Backpacke. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>One of my favorite things is like in between takes,
<v Speaker 2>Jim's always working on people. No, not at all, not
<v Speaker 2>at all. I prefer that to people on their phones
<v Speaker 2>while we're trying.
<v Speaker 1>To I'm sorry, I have to take this call. Oh
<v Speaker 1>h oh wait, yeah, I know. I know that bugs me.
<v Speaker 1>I don't even know why, because it should not. It's
<v Speaker 1>not like I wanted to go over and talk to them,
<v Speaker 1>but they're sitting there. They're ignoring me, and I'm ignoring you,
<v Speaker 1>damn it.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, yeah, I'm the one drumming. I'm the one that
<v Speaker 2>brought something distracting.
<v Speaker 1>Not you. Now look over here so I can look away.
<v Speaker 2>I think that the reason it bothers us is because
<v Speaker 2>at least when you're drumming, you're in a creative place.
<v Speaker 2>You're playing like like like playing like playing make believe
<v Speaker 2>and also playing the drums, Whereas when people aren't engaged.
<v Speaker 2>When we used to do the radio records, we used
<v Speaker 2>to interact. We would actually look at each other and
<v Speaker 2>play oh, and we would see each other and that
<v Speaker 2>led to like amazing improv. But the thought of like
<v Speaker 2>this and they're like, okay, rolling blah blah blah blah blah.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah drives me crazy. Yeah I want playtime.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I agree. Yeah, that's so true. Yeah, and you
<v Speaker 1>missed that interaction. So yeah, and I don't know that
<v Speaker 1>it will ever go back.
<v Speaker 2>I don't think it will. I think that we live
<v Speaker 2>in a world of convenience, and what is ever convenient
<v Speaker 2>unless expensive. It's easier for us to all, you know,
<v Speaker 2>be on zoom and at our home with.
<v Speaker 1>Other and I don't think that is convenient. I have
<v Speaker 1>I've often said I have a blue collar attitude toward
<v Speaker 1>a no callar career.
<v Speaker 2>That's a very good saying, you.
<v Speaker 1>Know, I just want to get up and go to.
<v Speaker 2>Work, absolutely, and that's what we did, even when we
<v Speaker 2>were going to the auditions, we were going to work.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, even then, that's right.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I miss that.
<v Speaker 1>And there's no more of that either. No, No, there's
<v Speaker 1>used to be the voicecaster and Lane Craig.
<v Speaker 2>All those places, Lane Craig, the voicecaster, voice tracks all
<v Speaker 2>of them.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and everybody's going, what the hell are they crag? Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>but it was good. It was good times, and they
<v Speaker 1>won't be coming back.
<v Speaker 2>I don't think they will either. And I think the
<v Speaker 2>other thing was was that by the point, by the
<v Speaker 2>time we got to those outside casting companies, which are
<v Speaker 2>also hurting because they don't need the casting companies as
<v Speaker 2>much as they used to, we didn't. We weren't even
<v Speaker 2>concerned with whether we booked those jobs or not. Right,
<v Speaker 2>It was just like at that point, it's a numbers
<v Speaker 2>game and we But the interaction that we were talking
<v Speaker 2>about here is what I really miss, the drinking, the
<v Speaker 2>joking around and laughing and singing.
<v Speaker 1>I agree.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, my milkshake brings other boys of the yard, and
<v Speaker 2>they're like, it's better than yours. Damnit, it's better than yours.
<v Speaker 2>I could teach you, but I have to charge.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, damn it. I had my sticks on the table anyway.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, well we finally got that out of it.
<v Speaker 2>We had to know everybody, get out everybody there.
<v Speaker 1>You that Wild?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, there's a there's a reference. There's a reference for
<v Speaker 2>the young kid.
<v Speaker 1>Oh that's right.
<v Speaker 2>Hey how about Dolores Wild?
<v Speaker 1>Wow? Yeah, I see I can't even do that.
<v Speaker 2>Hey how about pencils? Heyday something? They got these little
<v Speaker 2>things they call racers. Yeah, yeah, that's Bob Hope for
<v Speaker 2>out there. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I know, God, yeah, there's no there, There are no
<v Speaker 1>Bob Hopes. There are no eternal Yeah. I mean, I
<v Speaker 1>guess you could do some Eddie Murphy Chris Rock.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, but you know, I am When we did Angry
<v Speaker 2>Beavers back in the early nineties, and you were doing
<v Speaker 2>Catdog at the time.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, we were doing it. Was Beaver angry Beaver.
<v Speaker 2>True, that's true.
<v Speaker 1>And and you would it you were dead.
<v Speaker 2>I was dagging. Yeah, good memory. Yeah, we all the
<v Speaker 2>references I used to do on that show. Like my
<v Speaker 2>audition was like was basically Blue Costello, which is really
<v Speaker 2>just a knockoff of Time Daily. I am a New
<v Speaker 2>York City cop Christine, which is just a rip off
<v Speaker 2>of Nathan Lane. And that's what dag became. But I
<v Speaker 2>was so young and impressionable back in those days that
<v Speaker 2>anything that I became obsessed with, which like Bob Hope
<v Speaker 2>or Jack Lemon from you know, Glengary Glen Ross put
<v Speaker 2>my name, it would end up in the show because
<v Speaker 2>they just they love that stuff. And eventually one of
<v Speaker 2>the producers leaned over to Mitshower the crater and goes,
<v Speaker 2>is they ever gonna do dag It again? So I
<v Speaker 2>don't think we get away? Did you get away with that? Still?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah? I don't think.
<v Speaker 2>So, I don't. I don't again because we're by ourselves.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well they only yeah, they only I'm only doing
<v Speaker 1>well a couple of shows here and there, but the
<v Speaker 1>one that's still going is Mickey Mouse, and he's Pete,
<v Speaker 1>and I'm locked into Pete. Pete's not he robs and
<v Speaker 1>he does, you know, the most. Although I will say
<v Speaker 1>this is almost like a feather in my hat. If
<v Speaker 1>ever you hear anybody referred to Mickey Mouse as the
<v Speaker 1>Mickers or Mickey the Mouse.
<v Speaker 2>Me and you know, you even said it with the
<v Speaker 2>Pete accent, right.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Mickey Weill's my pal, Mickey de Mouse.
<v Speaker 2>How you doing there, buddy, you know.
<v Speaker 1>But they let me get away with that, and then
<v Speaker 1>next thing, you know, like three or four show later,
<v Speaker 1>Pete shows up and says, well, if it ain't Mickey
<v Speaker 1>the Mouse, And I said, damn, I'm altering you know,
<v Speaker 1>history history, Yes, because I think the mouse was pretty
<v Speaker 1>he's sacrisanct. He is, he's on, he's on the money. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>and the and the defense posts and everything over there. Yehsney,
<v Speaker 1>I'm so proud to have Sully done.
<v Speaker 2>Sully the good name, the good name.
<v Speaker 1>Well, Disney works so hard to preserve.
<v Speaker 2>You are the first person who has never gotten a
<v Speaker 2>seasoned desist more.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, I'm waiting. Don't
<v Speaker 1>give them any ideas do not know? Yeah, man on
<v Speaker 1>your preschool. Yeah, that's right, it's gone. But but you
<v Speaker 1>have a really cool new show going now.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I've got Heleva and has been but Heleva is
<v Speaker 2>my show, Hell of a Boss. Uh, and it's with
<v Speaker 2>young it's with young people. You say, young MC, Well,
<v Speaker 2>it's with young MC. No, it's like I would say that.
<v Speaker 2>Vivian Madrana, who's the creator Vivsey Pops. She was like
<v Speaker 2>twenty six when she started, and she like got a
<v Speaker 2>huge online following practically a fetus, yes exactly. She got
<v Speaker 2>a huge online following, which led to her funding her
<v Speaker 2>own production and which led to her creating her own company,
<v Speaker 2>Spindle Horse, which led to her and a twenty four
<v Speaker 2>teaming up to produce Has Been Hotel, which is on
<v Speaker 2>Amazon now because Amazon bought a fully produced first season.
<v Speaker 2>And so she is in in the really good catbird
<v Speaker 2>seat right now because she's just her vision like envy
<v Speaker 2>that I'm I've kind of slowed down. Yeah, And she
<v Speaker 2>came to me to do Hell of a Boss because
<v Speaker 2>she didn't think I would do it, because a it's
<v Speaker 2>an adult.
<v Speaker 1>She came to you because she didn't think you would
<v Speaker 1>do it.
<v Speaker 2>She's came to me because she didn't. She came to me.
<v Speaker 2>You showed her, I showed her, right, she can take that, Missy. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>she goes, you know, And I always knew this would happen.
<v Speaker 2>I always knew this. I always knew the back of
<v Speaker 2>my mind that there would be kids that grew up
<v Speaker 2>on our show that someday would be in a position
<v Speaker 2>of power and creativity of their in their own right,
<v Speaker 2>that would want to work with us. And that was
<v Speaker 2>the case with Vivian. She grew up watching Invader Zim
<v Speaker 2>and Billy and Mandy and a bunch of my other shows.
<v Speaker 2>And she didn't think that I would do the show
<v Speaker 2>because it was adult themed and it was on YouTube.
<v Speaker 2>And to be honest with you, I I wasn't, you know,
<v Speaker 2>prone to want to do the show on YouTube.
<v Speaker 1>Well, there was a lot of nudity in this.
<v Speaker 2>Cartoons, and but in all fairness, I'm I'm usually nude
<v Speaker 2>under my clothes, so.
<v Speaker 1>I know that about you. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. But the thing is is that when I met
<v Speaker 2>her and I heard, I heard and saw and felt
<v Speaker 2>her vision went, her vision, her creative vision. I wanted
<v Speaker 2>to hitch my card to that. You know, because I thought,
<v Speaker 2>this is the this is the generation, you know, influencers
<v Speaker 2>and these people that have created their own independent animation.
<v Speaker 2>And most of my career always been in you know,
<v Speaker 2>the cable and the network stuff. Sure, but you know,
<v Speaker 2>she had this vision. I wanted to be on board,
<v Speaker 2>and I said, I want to do it. Can I
<v Speaker 2>voice direct? Because I didn't know what to expect, you know,
<v Speaker 2>And she said, absolutely, I would love for you to
<v Speaker 2>voice direct.
<v Speaker 1>That's so cool.
<v Speaker 2>And and now I'm like her voice director on her shows,
<v Speaker 2>which is nice, which is fun.
<v Speaker 1>That is nice.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, she's really talented, and she's with She teamed up
<v Speaker 2>with a guy named Brandon Rodgers, who you've met, I
<v Speaker 2>think here at the convention. He also has a huge,
<v Speaker 2>huge following on YouTube. He's been an influencer and he
<v Speaker 2>hates the word influencer, but he's been a creative mind
<v Speaker 2>for some years now. I mean he's young also, but
<v Speaker 2>his fan base plus her fan base equaled a huge
<v Speaker 2>like we'll put out an episode, so it just built in.
<v Speaker 2>It's just built in. We'll put in, We'll put out
<v Speaker 2>an episode of like Hell of a Boss. Our last
<v Speaker 2>one just dropped last Friday, and that's what the kids
<v Speaker 2>say dropped? I was thinking that, yeah, was he would
<v Speaker 2>I did you catch me on that name? Dropped?
<v Speaker 1>That is so cool?
<v Speaker 2>And words words. It just dropped last Friday and overnight
<v Speaker 2>it had seven million views overnight.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>I think one of our shows within several weeks had
<v Speaker 2>fifty million views. And we're getting views. Wow, And and
<v Speaker 2>like it's just it's been a it's been a great rude.
<v Speaker 1>It's been wonderful. Yeah. And how so you get like
<v Speaker 1>what a buck each?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah? We get a bug each. Actually that was the
<v Speaker 2>other deal. I said, I said, we have to do
<v Speaker 2>the show union and she said absolutely, and she went
<v Speaker 2>to SAG she became uh you know, she became a
<v Speaker 2>signatory signatory thank you and her company Spindle Horse. And
<v Speaker 2>as a result, we've gotten amazing name, amazing names on
<v Speaker 2>our shows. We have Bryce Pinkham, who's a Broadway legend,
<v Speaker 2>as is Alex Brightman who was Beetle Jews. We've got
<v Speaker 2>James Eigelheart, James Monroe Iglehart, and the list goes on
<v Speaker 2>and on. And because I'm a musical theater kid, I
<v Speaker 2>started a musical theater. This is the other reason I
<v Speaker 2>wanted on board. This is because it's musical and so
<v Speaker 2>I get to sing, but I sing the original songs.
<v Speaker 1>That's so great.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. So and Sam Halft and Andrew Underbird, the writers
<v Speaker 2>of the music, they're amazing. They they just got a
<v Speaker 2>Billboard platinum because our first season of has Been just
<v Speaker 2>went platinum on streaming on Spotify and Apple Music and
<v Speaker 2>everything's wonderful. It's amazing.
<v Speaker 1>Platinum even platinum with.
<v Speaker 2>A big gold with a big platinum record, you know,
<v Speaker 2>over some million downloads. Yeah, that's they do. Now down
<v Speaker 2>you heard of downloads.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's like opposite of upload I have you know, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>no button button Yeah. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>We decided to worry about play and pushing play and record.
<v Speaker 1>It's at the same time. Yeah, right, that's right, that's right.
<v Speaker 1>Oh my gosh, that's amazing.
<v Speaker 2>You remember this back in like our Hanna Barbara days,
<v Speaker 2>we were on tape. We were not on digital, so
<v Speaker 2>if we messed up, we felt bad because that's an edit.
<v Speaker 2>That was a tape edit.
<v Speaker 1>Now that's right.
<v Speaker 2>Well, now for the last summer digital it's all digital,
<v Speaker 2>so we can screw around, we what.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, and that's good because they can edit out
<v Speaker 1>all the flubs and all the curse words that we
<v Speaker 1>always I always have to do it.
<v Speaker 2>Oh heck, yeah we allowed to say that car and
<v Speaker 2>sont car sonet farking corksucker mother father.
<v Speaker 1>Oh oh, come up my ears, my little shell like
<v Speaker 1>precious ears. That's great. But and you, when you first started,
<v Speaker 1>you were you were but a lad. I was a
<v Speaker 1>little business.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. I used to have a joke when I was
<v Speaker 2>very young. I would go, I'm currently celebrating fifty years
<v Speaker 2>in show business. Well I've hit that mark. Oh wow,
<v Speaker 2>I started as a kid out.
<v Speaker 1>No, it's no longer a joke.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's a joke I did. I started out as
<v Speaker 2>an on camera actor, start right, And I started in commercials.
<v Speaker 2>I was a hand model first, so like when you
<v Speaker 2>would play like the close up of all those old
<v Speaker 2>commercials where the kid would be playing with the toy,
<v Speaker 2>it was usually my hands. And eventually I longed to
<v Speaker 2>be respected for more than just my hands.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Sure, so I wanted my whole body appreciated.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, I would think, yeah, and what was the next
<v Speaker 1>body part, Richard?
<v Speaker 2>The next body part was I'm thinking my feet easy
<v Speaker 2>out there all you people that are in defeat. Yes,
<v Speaker 2>but no, but then I started doing on camera commercials
<v Speaker 2>and then just sitcoms.
<v Speaker 1>Goalore, I know, and some of those sitcoms were.
<v Speaker 2>Wow, different strokes, head of the class, you can't take
<v Speaker 2>it with you, rags to riches. By the eighties, I
<v Speaker 2>was in a string of like teen films. I was
<v Speaker 2>in the movie Summer School with Mark Harmon and CHRISTIALI.
<v Speaker 1>That was fun.
<v Speaker 2>And then and then the weirdest thing happened. I was like, like,
<v Speaker 2>was always.
<v Speaker 1>You hit puberty.
<v Speaker 2>I hit puberty, but you can't tell. So the weirdest
<v Speaker 2>thing that happened was I was like, in like everything
<v Speaker 2>I was being cast in, I was always the nerd,
<v Speaker 2>the nerd, the nerd. And then I wanted to do
<v Speaker 2>more than the nerd. So I made this grand eatict
<v Speaker 2>that you know I wanted to be. I wanted to
<v Speaker 2>be the offbeat friend, not the nerd.
<v Speaker 1>That's good and well, I think that's a step up.
<v Speaker 2>Gets a step up. And then what happened was I
<v Speaker 2>would get it would come down to me and another
<v Speaker 2>person over and over again, and the same the same
<v Speaker 2>reply kept coming back. He doesn't look he doesn't sound
<v Speaker 2>like he looks. He doesn't sound like he looks, which
<v Speaker 2>was just a weird which was just a kind way
<v Speaker 2>of saying his voice is weird, it's funny, it doesn't match.
<v Speaker 2>It was kind of like in Singing in the Rain
<v Speaker 2>when you know when she was like that Ray in
<v Speaker 2>Spain falls mainly on the plane, you know what I well,
<v Speaker 2>my fair lady, or or remember when they were going
<v Speaker 2>to go to the Talking Pictures and Singing in the
<v Speaker 2>Rain and they had they had to have Debbie Reynolds dancing,
<v Speaker 2>and so another great reference for you kids out there
<v Speaker 2>singing in the rain. Why would in the rain? Yeah exactly,
<v Speaker 2>let's say, who goes out in the rain?
<v Speaker 1>What about your hair?
<v Speaker 2>But I so I started, you know, doing like the
<v Speaker 2>Voiceless Lessons with Robert Easton. Remember Robert east Oh yeah,
<v Speaker 2>he came over one day and he said, can I
<v Speaker 2>have a cup of tea? So I made him a
<v Speaker 2>cup of tea and he goes, okay, just lower your
<v Speaker 2>voice like that and that's it. Yeah, okay, so.
<v Speaker 1>Camera, okay, that'll be five.
<v Speaker 2>I started like talking like you know, Johnny Cash, or
<v Speaker 2>in my head it sounds like Johnny Cash, but it's
<v Speaker 2>really share. But it's like, so I'm like walking around
<v Speaker 2>talking like this and going on auditions talking like this,
<v Speaker 2>pushing my voice down, and I could not play because
<v Speaker 2>all I could think about was my voice, and it
<v Speaker 2>was all became my voice, and I said, this is
<v Speaker 2>not me. And I was thinking about giving up altogether.
<v Speaker 2>But it was my mom rest her soul, who said,
<v Speaker 2>maybe you should do voiceover. And I knew nothing about voiceover.
<v Speaker 2>I knew nothing about cloud and I went over to
<v Speaker 2>Susan Nathan Yes.
<v Speaker 1>In the background.
<v Speaker 2>I went over to Susan Nathy CPC and Associates. It
<v Speaker 2>was my commercial agent at the time, who shared an
<v Speaker 2>office with Sandy Schnar, and I walked over to Sandy
<v Speaker 2>and I said I want to do voiceover and.
<v Speaker 1>She said she said no.
<v Speaker 2>She said, well, cutie, you need to get a demo reel.
<v Speaker 2>Back then it was our demo reels, our demo reels.
<v Speaker 2>And I went and I made a demo reel and
<v Speaker 2>I gave it to her because that's great. We don't
<v Speaker 2>have anybody in your age range, so I'm going to
<v Speaker 2>sign you. In that first first month, I booked three
<v Speaker 2>radio spots. Okay, And this is how naive I was,
<v Speaker 2>because I had cars to pay for, in a house
<v Speaker 2>and everything, and I wasn't making it on camera and
<v Speaker 2>I said, well voiceover, we had three jobs. At the time.
<v Speaker 2>We made one hundred and seventy five bucks per spot
<v Speaker 2>per cycle. Yeah, you always had to write in there yes,
<v Speaker 2>pycle yes, which is thirteen weeks right, And so I'm like, wow,
<v Speaker 2>this is how naive I was. The very first went wow,
<v Speaker 2>if I do five of these a day, five days
<v Speaker 2>a week, sure I can, because I'm not good with math.
<v Speaker 2>I had myself at like five or ten grand a
<v Speaker 2>week at the you know, back in the yeah eighties,
<v Speaker 2>it was not going to math. But I could. I
<v Speaker 2>could live off this. This is great. Yeah, those three
<v Speaker 2>commercials were the last time I worked that year in point.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, it's hopefully it was late December.
<v Speaker 2>Late December back in therth so.
<v Speaker 1>Was it early January?
<v Speaker 2>That was good. Yeah, what a vary especial time for me.
<v Speaker 1>But what we were talking about.
<v Speaker 2>We were talking about how five years, five years to
<v Speaker 2>break into animation, and I'll never forget this.
<v Speaker 1>That's hard to believe.
<v Speaker 2>Actually, you know what, I just know you well, thank you.
<v Speaker 2>I couldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't break couldn't break through.
<v Speaker 2>But then I was cast in my first guest spot
<v Speaker 2>and it was on Prince The Adventures of Prince Valiant
<v Speaker 2>with Robbie Benson and Rob Paulson and Charlie Adler and
<v Speaker 2>everybody and whether we all guessed it on it right,
<v Speaker 2>and I was. It was my first animated thing, and
<v Speaker 2>I kid you not. Everyone was standing at the micing.
<v Speaker 2>I remember one moving and I'm like, the heck are
<v Speaker 2>you doing? Why are you? But from that day on
<v Speaker 2>I never sat down to record. You've been in the
<v Speaker 2>booth with me. I'm always standing.
<v Speaker 1>Because I always did. Back in the day, I didn't.
<v Speaker 2>I didn't get it until I did it. But this
<v Speaker 2>is what happened. So I was a ship's mate. That
<v Speaker 2>was my role on the thing.
<v Speaker 1>And it was.
<v Speaker 2>Said, okay, we're ready for the ship's mate now. And
<v Speaker 2>I got up there and everyone's in the room and
<v Speaker 2>I did my first line. It was like something like Captain,
<v Speaker 2>we've swabbed all the decks something like that, and everyone
<v Speaker 2>laughs and I'm like, wow, I'm good at this and
<v Speaker 2>Stu comes over the talk back and goes, I didn't
<v Speaker 2>realize we hired Woody Allen to be a ship's mate.
<v Speaker 2>So every insecurity over had just rushed in because it
<v Speaker 2>was the voice thing again and all that. But I've
<v Speaker 2>made it. I've made a promise to myself that day
<v Speaker 2>that I loved animation so much. I didn't like that,
<v Speaker 2>but I was going to make it an animation. And
<v Speaker 2>that's what my drive became. And within a short time,
<v Speaker 2>you know, I had angry beaver's and meters in building
<v Speaker 2>going all at once, and I was like, Okay, that's great.
<v Speaker 1>I found my home. I felt.
<v Speaker 2>I felt like an ugly douggling came coming home.
<v Speaker 1>Oh that's great. And now you're a swan.
<v Speaker 2>And now I'm a swan. Now I'm more of a
<v Speaker 2>gander okay, as in Taka take a gander at Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Take a And and that guy who said that he's
<v Speaker 1>more coffee, more coffee from mister Harvin, Chop chop chop come. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>that's right. We'll good for you. While revenge is the best.
<v Speaker 2>It's great to be here on that's right, TPP.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, indeed, Well that is so cool, man. I'm glad. Well,
<v Speaker 1>I I that one person. I won't get specific with it,
<v Speaker 1>but but I remember I'd had a few jobs in
<v Speaker 1>a row, and I was very fortunate early on, and uh,
<v Speaker 1>I showed up to audition for that one person whose
<v Speaker 1>name unnamed, and and he sat there and he smoked
<v Speaker 1>a cigarette in the studio, which I thought was bad, Yes,
<v Speaker 1>because I don't smoke. But and we're voice actors. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>you don't want to dry out. But he said, wow,
<v Speaker 1>you know what, I gotta tired bad, Sorry, hot shot.
<v Speaker 1>It's not your gig. You're not getting this one. You
<v Speaker 1>can go, you can go. I mean you're still I.
<v Speaker 2>Can still see you, you.
<v Speaker 1>Know, And I'm oh, I.
<v Speaker 2>Think we all have those stories. Yeah, I'll tell you
<v Speaker 2>a story someday off camera.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, because we don't want to put our hands over.
<v Speaker 2>The kid's ears exactly.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, but it's true. Yeah, they're they're they're out there,
<v Speaker 1>few and far between. I mean he was the only one.
<v Speaker 2>For me too, me too, and then he was probably everyone.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah for the most is getting coffee now exactly. It's
<v Speaker 2>hot hot.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>No, that was the only incident I had other than that.
<v Speaker 2>Every you know, I've been very fortunate with the creators
<v Speaker 2>of our shows and the voice directors.
<v Speaker 1>We worked with have been oh yeah, yeah, me too. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it's it's a it's a beautiful thing. And I don't
<v Speaker 1>and you know, it's we were talking about that and
<v Speaker 1>I don't like recording at home. I think we touched
<v Speaker 1>on that too, because you missed that.
<v Speaker 2>Yep, that interaction and even your callbacks now are on zoom, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>which is weird.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>I actually did a Star Wars, the last one video
<v Speaker 2>game I've heard of that the callback was all on zoom.
<v Speaker 2>I had my green screen. I had to move because
<v Speaker 2>it was mocap.
<v Speaker 1>Oh wow.
<v Speaker 2>And it was great. It was fun and I ended
<v Speaker 2>up doing the job. And but I'm just not used
<v Speaker 2>to that. You know. It was one thing when we
<v Speaker 2>had to learn and we became engineers at the same time,
<v Speaker 2>which you know, during COVID, that was a necessity. And
<v Speaker 2>you know, I think a lot of voiceover actors worked
<v Speaker 2>during COVID luckily because we could set up you.
<v Speaker 1>Know, our booths could work remotely.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Suddenly, when you have to I hate home. Like
<v Speaker 2>on camera auditions, I hate them with the passion. You
<v Speaker 2>got to set up your backdrop, and you got to
<v Speaker 2>set up your lights and all that stuff, and so
<v Speaker 2>it makes it really difficult to to focus on the
<v Speaker 2>play for ten.
<v Speaker 1>Now, Chris has got some experience with that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, the plane staff where you have to set up everything,
<v Speaker 2>and then I'm more of like an on the spot
<v Speaker 2>kind of person. I'm in a room. Oh yeah, I
<v Speaker 2>can sell myself and I'll book those jobs. But given
<v Speaker 2>like too much time and too many takes, I second
<v Speaker 2>guess everything that I do. Yeah, but not in voiceover.
<v Speaker 2>Only on camera voiceover, I record something ten minutes and
<v Speaker 2>send it off. I'm happy with it.
<v Speaker 1>You know, I would never be satisfied if I did
<v Speaker 1>on camera. It's it's like, oh man, oh jeez, look
<v Speaker 1>at that. Nobody wants to see that. Yeah you know,
<v Speaker 1>oh you know, only your mom. And that's about it exactly.
<v Speaker 2>And the living that we make as voice actors is
<v Speaker 2>equivalent to what what it's become on.
<v Speaker 1>Camera these days. Anyway, you know with me, thank you residuals.
<v Speaker 2>And yes, and thank you residuals. This is.
<v Speaker 1>From Higher Top the Underground Bunker.
<v Speaker 2>You're listening to Jim Cummings as he interviews Wait what
<v Speaker 2>was his.
<v Speaker 1>Name, good Old? What's his name?
<v Speaker 2>Good Old? What's his name?
<v Speaker 1>Ritchie?
<v Speaker 2>This show is sponsored by Water Try.
<v Speaker 1>It Richard hor.
<v Speaker 2>Sponsored by Air.
<v Speaker 1>Sucks Some It sucks air Air.
<v Speaker 2>It's what you breathe.
<v Speaker 1>It does a body good it does the body. All right,
<v Speaker 1>well stop us before I kill again. So you're off
<v Speaker 1>to a convention.
<v Speaker 2>Now, I'm off to a convention. Will be at our tables.
<v Speaker 2>Come on out. Oh wait that's that's yeh panels.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, come out to our tables. Last month, before we finish,
<v Speaker 1>we need to do a voice swap. That's right, that's true.
<v Speaker 2>So this is this is the this is Do you
<v Speaker 2>have a pooh? I have a great pooh. I have
<v Speaker 2>done it for a million times. Well we need to
<v Speaker 2>hear that.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, and then do I have to see yeah? You
<v Speaker 1>So you're gonna say, but I have to do Daggett's
<v Speaker 1>voice or how do I do zim.
<v Speaker 2>Or Daggett or Billy Billy's like, yeah, that's a human.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah yeah, yeah, I like pie Yeah, okay, okay, or
<v Speaker 2>destroy its all?
<v Speaker 1>You can do that. Okay, so you're gonna do I'm
<v Speaker 1>gonna do pooh first. Okay?
<v Speaker 2>Is that how it works?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, let's try this at home? Okay?
<v Speaker 2>Oh baba, may I have some honey.
<v Speaker 1>It's like I was in the room.
<v Speaker 2>Right, Figgers that's all I got because figers bounce, right,
<v Speaker 2>they figgers bounce a second? Now do I have to
<v Speaker 2>say do I want? Okay, so I'll do as pooh?
<v Speaker 2>Is that what it is? Okay?
<v Speaker 1>Okay?
<v Speaker 2>Oh bab destroy us all, destroy us all. I like
<v Speaker 2>pie and honey, oh boy, it just joy us ups
<v Speaker 2>up bye. That wast on that was that was on.
<v Speaker 1>It was as if you were.
<v Speaker 2>I was in the room harassing so much. I would
<v Speaker 2>come up on a plane. You'd be sitting here and oh, baba,
<v Speaker 2>can I have some honey? He's like, it's not honey.
<v Speaker 2>Why are you saying honey, I'm not a valley girl
<v Speaker 2>honey or some jont Can I have some honey? Honey?
<v Speaker 2>Has to be honey? Do you honey?
<v Speaker 1>Honey?
<v Speaker 2>Honey? He is so sweet?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, there's not.
<v Speaker 2>I have an hard time getting booked in like preschool
<v Speaker 2>things because they go. He just sounds evil. Even when
<v Speaker 2>he's trying to talk to a kid, he sounds evil.
<v Speaker 1>Not supposed to be trying to talk the child into
<v Speaker 1>your car?
<v Speaker 2>Then what am I doing with this ice cream vand
<v Speaker 2>it doesn't work? Why do I have an ice cream truck?
<v Speaker 1>Richard?
<v Speaker 2>Thank you everyone, Thank you, Jim.
<v Speaker 1>Are we there? It feels like we're there. We're not
<v Speaker 1>gonna top that? Well? Thanks for tuning in to everybody
<v Speaker 1>tuned in with Jim Cummings, producer Chris and they're great
<v Speaker 1>Richard Horwitz.
<v Speaker 2>Oh baba. And we would like to thank PBS for
<v Speaker 2>its donations to this podcast. If you'd like to donate,
<v Speaker 2>please send all money care of Jim Cummings.
<v Speaker 1>Just send money.
<v Speaker 2>Please go into your mother's purse, get the checkbook and
<v Speaker 2>the credit card and a Social Security number.
<v Speaker 1>For measure for.
<v Speaker 2>Good measure, and Jim will send you a picture.
<v Speaker 1>Something something.
<v Speaker 2>Thanks, thanks man, thank youank you fine, okay, thank you?
<v Speaker 1>That was fun. That was fun, was indeed