Actor, Voice Artist & Comedian Phil LaMarr Tribute

[00:00:00] This podcast is a production of Unfiltered Studios. If you would like to know more about joining Unfiltered Studios, please visit our website at unfpod.com for more information. You had an interview with, I believe, Desert Sun. He said, the truth of the matter is I'm a middle-class working actor. I don't select my projects so much as I get selected for a project. 99% of an actor's job is looking for work. We audition. We basically cast our line out there and hope someone bites.

[00:00:27] I've been fortunate enough to work on a good number of projects where they're really good quality, nice people. You don't really hear people, especially in the acting world, admit to being middle-class. Like most people, from the outside you assume like, okay this guy has, he's on TV all the time, he must be a billionaire.

[00:00:48] No, it's so funny. Yeah, and I think maybe that's starting to change because in the old days people assumed if they saw you on TV, you had a million dollars. But now, half the people don't watch TV at all and everybody's on camera all the time. So I think people are now starting to understand that being on camera doesn't necessarily mean wealth.

[00:01:11] But there's also that thing that, especially nowadays, there used to be three channels that everybody in America was watching. And we got, if you showed up on there, you got paid sort of according to that level. Now, there's a cable channel that ain't got but like 400,000 people who watch it every day. Yeah. You know? That, if you're on that show, you're making that percentage of the wealth you used to make in the old days.

[00:01:40] Right. Like when I interviewed John Witherspoon, he said that he made $5,000 for doing Friday. We got paid $5,000 a piece to do that movie. Right. And I guess Ice Cube was gonna put up the money himself. Right. But New Line Cinema talked him out of it. They said, look, ain't no sense you losing $2 million. The movie bomb, we did take the hit. The movie grow $300 million. He could have gotten all that. And they're not gonna come back and say, we made a, look, we made a lot of money, gonna give you all the bonus. That ain't no bullshit. That don't happen in Hollywood.

[00:02:09] Okay. So you made $5,000. Five grand. Everybody else wanna show it. They gonna say they made more money. Ain't nobody made no money on that movie. No, no. The, buddy of mine was in, what you call it? The Steve Carell movie, 40-Year-Old Virgin. Yeah. They got paid $300 a day. Yeah. Because it was a low budget contract. Yeah. You know, and the thing is, I mean, I had a friend who flew from LA to Vancouver to work one day for scale. And scale is $800. So he may be broke even.

[00:02:39] Right. You know, but the thing is, you gotta work. You gotta work. You gotta work to get work. Yeah. And you talk about 400,000 on these networks, like to put it in perspective, the VladTV YouTube channel gets 1.5 million views a day. Right. Yeah. Every day. Right. Right. So, like, things are shifting. Yeah. If there was a TV series on cable that got consistently 1.5 million, you'd run for eight years. Hmm. Nowadays. Yeah. You know? Yeah.

[00:03:10] Cause that's, that's a hit. This is why- In the old days, that would have been canceled halfway through the first episode. Yeah. You know? Didn't you get 30 million? Screw it! Yeah. Well, you know, people have cut the cord. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't have cable anymore. Really? I just have net, well, I have Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Showtime, and Amazon Prime.

[00:03:38] And you pay for their, their standalone things? I pay for all the standalones. Cause I think- And it doesn't even come close to the $220 direct TV bill that I used to get. Whoa! And you know, and as, and for example, if there's a show that I like, that I don't have a standalone for, like for example, Atlanta is a show that I really like. Right, on FX. I just buy the series for 25 bucks. How? On FX? Well, no, you could actually go on Amazon Prime. And buy the, right.

[00:04:06] You could buy the, you could buy the, you could buy an episode for like $3. Right, right, right. Or you could buy the whole season for like 25. Got it. Right. So yeah. And that's still less than you pay for that channel for a month. Right. Yeah. Or it might be two months, but it's like this thing that will run for three or four months. Right. So the 25 bucks is worth it. You know, I do the same thing with, uh, Walking Dead and a bunch of the other series I like to watch. Yeah. You know, Unsolved, Biggie and Tupac. I just buy the series. And to me, it's just a more economical way of doing it. Mm-hmm.

[00:04:35] And, you know, I have a place in LA and New York. So when I go to New York, I don't need a cable bill over there. Right. I just use my same account and it's just- Oh, nice. I could use it all, all the different TVs in my house. Yeah. And so forth. It's just a better model. Yeah. Well, it's funny cause I've been talking about doing that math and figuring it out. But honestly, the one thing that's keeping me tied to the core- What's the sports? Rose Bowl. Rose Bowl. There you go, sports. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

[00:05:00] Like those old things that I'm used to and I want my kids to be able to experience like, Hey everybody, shh, we're watching the thing that's on right now. And it's on every year. You know, although not being able to watch the Dodgers has been killing me. Cause I don't have Time Warner or whatever it's called now. Yeah. Well, I think sports is the one thing that's kind of keeping cable alive. Yeah. These days.

[00:05:28] The people that I know that haven't switched over are sports people. It's because they're like basketball fans. You can't watch the NBA Finals, you know, on Netflix. At least not yet. At least not yet. At least not yet. That'll be, oh God, that'll be funny. The first streaming service to buy like an athletic company's rights. Well, Disney is launching its own standalone series and they actually just launched their ESPN standalone app. But it doesn't have any good sports, right?

[00:05:57] Well, it doesn't have the shit that people really want. Yeah. It's got like what, what curling and shit? Yeah, exactly. Watch live curling on the ESPN app. WNBA. Yeah, WNBA and a bunch of other stuff people don't really watch like that. But it is the future. Yeah. It is the future. So you're seeing in your industry how the money's changing? Oh yeah. No, I mean, like we were talking about not doing commercials. I decided not to do commercials back before I was making a living as an actor.

[00:06:27] And it was a costly decision. Because back then, I had buddies who got one national commercial and bought a house. That doesn't exist anymore. You know, the level of standard pay. And plus, like nowadays, if you get a job on a series, like that used to be a lottery win. You got a series. You could go, okay, 26 weeks of work and I'm gonna get paid this much. Nowadays, a series could be six. Six episodes.

[00:06:57] You know, ten. Ooh, you got a whole ten? You're lucky. You know? But just the amount of stuff that you, you know, opportunities that you get offered are smaller. They're coming in smaller chunks. Yeah. You know? Things are changing. Yeah. Yeah. Which, you know, for us actors, we've always lived in an unstable, you know, landscape. Like, you know, you wake up in the morning, you don't know if you're gonna work.

[00:07:25] As an actor, every job is a temp job. Even if it's the biggest movie in the world. It's like, you were in Titanic? Yeah. A year and a half ago. What a, I gotta find something today. Oh yeah, no. I mean, I got my boondocks check last month. I think it was $2. Right. You know? Which is amazing, because that's, how long ago did you do that? A few years ago. Right? Yeah. That's like manna from heaven, you know? Yeah.

[00:07:52] But the problem is, these new business models you're talking about, they wanna get rid of that. We missed. We loaded it. We edited it. Sometimes we get so deep into conversation that we have separate segments worthy of their own place in the sun.

[00:08:19] Here is a reshuffled mini-episode. We kept saying, hey, let's look at some other cult movie guys. Some people who've been in everything. And I was like, I got just the gun.

[00:08:48] It's like, a man of a thousand voices. It's like, yeah. He's really made a career out of voice acting. Yeah. He really has. So he starts with Mad TV. He plays Marvin in Pulp Fiction. He has bit parts and real still Spider-Man 2 and even Biodome. He's had recurring roles on many TV shows, including the George Carlin Show, The PJs,

[00:09:16] Yes Dear, NYPD Blue, Eve, Reno 911. He played the craps guy. Castle and. And has guest starred in various stuff, including Living Single, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Raising Hope, Comedy Bang Bang and Black various times on the Black Lady sketch show. If you haven't seen the Get Shorty show, that was for epics. Oh, he's hysterical as the producer on that.

[00:09:45] But his voice acting includes movies such as Shark Tale, Animatrix, Hellboy Sword of. I can't speak today. Sword of Storms. Also the animated movie. Yeah. Battle for Terra. Various Tom and Jerry movies where he plays Spike the Bulldog. Various Scooby Doo and DC Lego movies. He has first voiced over role was as Woody Daniels in the Mr. T cartoon show.

[00:10:14] I think we all remember that one. He's been various times on Family Guy and King of the Hill, The Weekenders. You might also know him as the title character himself, Static Shock. And the Jon Stewart Green Lantern. Yep. That's what's so funny. It's like Jon Stewart appears on Static Shock a few times. I'm like, hey, he's playing against himself in the voice booth. You're missing one very important role. Oh, I'm sure.

[00:10:43] One that is he played Black Vulcan in Harvey Birdman, Attorney of Law. Yes, he did. With a line that I still quote to this day. In my pants. In my pants. And don't worry. I'm already in the doghouse for not naming the title role Samurai Jack. Oh, man. And he has an infectious smile like you want to just smile when he smiles. Sorry, go ahead.

[00:11:13] I was going to say he was the founding member of the Groundlings. I didn't know that. That's awesome. That's what I read somewhere here. That's awesome. I knew he was part of it. I didn't know he was one of the founding. That's that's awesome. And then, of course, Mad TV. Yeah, he was dynamite on there. All of the different personas he would put on.

[00:11:35] But I didn't realize, you know, I knew he had done, especially listening to him various times on Galaxy Con podcast, all the Star Wars voiceovers he's proud of. But I personally loved him in the Lucas Arts video game series as Chris Jacobs. He played in Mercenaries, Playground of Destruction. And then he finds himself acting in similar stuff. But yeah, I didn't realize he had some recurring roles in the Metal Gear Solid and Jack and Daxter games.

[00:12:02] And I think he even he did the Grand Theft Auto, I think, too. Definitely. I'm seeing a lot of true crime streets of L.A. And then the Star Wars animated stuff. He's been involved with that. Yeah, totally. X-Men video games. But yeah, I just and I think by the time I saw him playing Cowboy Curtis in the Pee Wee Herman live on Broadway stuff that was broadcast on HBO, I was like, see, he never stops staying relevant. He is he is always on.

[00:12:30] Everybody knows his face, even if they don't know every voice he's done or every role he has been in. Yeah, he's. And he's one of those guys because he's a voice actor, he's the one in the background. You know him. You just don't know you know him. There is a bit of that. Sometimes there'll be the lead voice, but it's also not uncommon for him to much like the Crypt Keeper voice actor John Casir to sometimes just be multiple voices. And I thought it was funny, though, I looked at how he had been.

[00:12:59] He had won so many behind the voice actors and streaming awards various times, mainly for his work on the new Ninja Turtles, as well as the Injustice video game and Futurama saga. So I was like, yeah, he was Hermes Conrad and Futurama and plus assorted other voices throughout the series. You got to keep up sometimes. It's like, yeah, he's. I didn't really he won a supporting performance for Middle Earth Shadow Mordor game. I'm like, holy shit. That's right.

[00:13:29] He wasn't that. He just is good. He can do all those different royal voices as well as just all the different just in your face and other just wacky stuff.

[00:13:41] But I loved how he's on record as the people he can do impressions of include Tom's favorite, Morgan Freeman, as well as Sammy Davis Jr., Michael Jackson, Rick James, LeBron James, Eddie Murphy, Tiger Woods, Kevin Hart, Stevie Wonder and even Ice-T and Barack Obama. So, you know, I think there was a fan push for it. They wanted him to do the live action version of Green Lantern. I think I did vaguely recall.

[00:14:11] I can't see it, though. He doesn't have the physicality, I think, that we want for Green Lantern. He doesn't. But I think I would have been OK if he did a TV show and they just gave him CGI armor on a low budget. I would have been OK with that. Or maybe. Doesn't Green Lantern technically change form a few different times? Technically, maybe he could have been a minute. Doesn't really change form. OK, so.

[00:14:37] But there's some guy Gardner in the comics use the green use the green to enhance his muscles. Maybe he could. Maybe he could be one of the other lanterns, maybe. Maybe a mentor is kind of a fun Easter egg, I guess. Maybe that there's that one that's got the like a bird. I can't think of his character name. Tomar or something, maybe. But Tomar Ray. Tomar Ray. Yeah. He's got the beak and then he's got like a fin thing on his head. And he's like a kind of a purplish color almost.

[00:15:07] Purplish or red or something. I'd find an orange. It's kind of a little bit. It depends on the way. Well, I might be confusing with someone else. But I saw I forgot that he did voice Lucious Fox and a few different times. So maybe he could be that in the DC verse. That would be fun to see him be a gadget man. Well, yeah, he's definitely been a huge part of the DC. Verse in both video game and cartoon form.

[00:15:36] But yeah, I mean, I think when I saw around the 2010s, when he posted that behind the scenes photograph of him on set with Travolta and Sam Jackson on Pulp Fiction, I was like that. That's where I just kind of I reminded myself he is a cool team player. He is a very well, you know, and his screen time on that movie wasn't very long, but it's probably the most thing that gets most remembered. It's one of many. It's it's people list the top 10 moments.

[00:16:06] It's going to be on there because it's just such a oh, shit. Everything is hit the fan moment. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that and Bruce Willis holding a boxing glove and a sword, you know, where else are you going to see that? Oh, yeah. I wish he had kind of more prominent movie roles. I think if I were to bring them up to my brother, he would remember him from stepbrothers. It's like a brief scene he's in with Will Ferrell.

[00:16:34] Well, what I've seen with him live is mostly the mad TV stuff and, you know, Pulp Fiction. But definitely. So, I mean, that's it. Like he kind of made a name for himself already, and then he just kept busy and just still popping up once in a while. And because he does so much, you do kind of have to just decide what part of his resume you're going to watch on by going through IMDb if you're a fan.

[00:16:56] I have not to this day checked out Samurai Jack, but I've been keep I keep looking at it on Fandango and thinking I got to purchase this and watch it. Oh, man. Yeah, that was classic. Janine Tartowski. That was my introduction to him. Yeah, I'm telling you, those killer Beatles and who really frightened me. This is a young one. But again, so you're saying it's worth checking out. Yes, but I haven't seen every episode, but it is pretty awesome.

[00:17:22] Like I would even ask my martial arts buddy and they were like, when we get a live action version of that show, that's awesome. You know? And I would actually voice the Samurai Jack, right? Yeah. And I would actually be cool with that. If hell, if Sam Jackson doesn't do it, he did a voice for this. But if he wants to be the actual Afro Samurai, that would be awesome. I was going to say Samurai Jack, he was an Asian character, wasn't he? Correct. He is Japanese. Yes.

[00:17:52] But it was very well animated. It was just it was so wild to everyone's like, it's pretty intense. Not gonna be for every kid. But the young is the bad. It was kind of where all the TV Y7 stuff still was pretty mature. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely where Cartoon Network started allowing a lot of creativity on their network. Well, and like Thomas said, the Harvey Birdman as Black Falcon. That is so wild. Yeah.

[00:18:22] That role. At Super Bowl. Did you see how we talked about it, but I totally forgot. Yeah. He's on the Clerks TV show being the movie within the movie segment where he plays Eddie Murphy's character, Axel Foley. Oh, yes. And it's in what? In the Clerks TV show. The animated thing? Yes. Yeah. It's the recorded episode with Judge Reinhold. Right. Playing a judge.

[00:18:51] Funny, but. Good example of. I mean, there's a reason he was on Mad TV. He can not only play the celebrity, but also play their famous role. So it's like, yeah, he. But he fortunately. He's got. He's gotten out that oyster of I'm just going to voice that popular character in other media format is like he. He also has done. I mean, the fact that he has originated so many of those other roles and they allowed him to keep playing it, I think it's still a testament to his talent.

[00:19:22] Well, I'm trying to think. I know that he's there's a movie animated movie that came out that also was made into a TV series. I can't think of what it was. It was a different actor playing doing the voice in the movie. Are you thinking is it that evolution, maybe? Oh, you're saying animated. Yeah. I know there was a live action movie and there was also a cartoon based on it. Well, no, this was an animated cartoon movie, but it was made into a TV series. I can't remember for the life of me what it was.

[00:19:52] Orlando Jones was an evolution, but they're similar. So. Well, do you know the timeline like when it kind of came out? Maybe early 2000s, maybe. But yeah, I'm trying to see if I can locate the information here, but I'm. Oh, this Jones. That was that might have been it was. Did he do a voice on that? I thought. Yeah, I thought he voiced Chris Rock's character. Osmosis. Yeah, that was the Ozzie and Dricks.

[00:20:20] Yeah, I would see that on occasion. It was like interesting. I had no idea they're going to make that into a cartoon show. Even did Friday, the animated series. And like many of these actors, he's done a guest spot on just about anything from Supergirl to Jimmy Neutron to even freaking Billy and Mandy. And, you know, there's no way he's not going to be on something like the Boondocks. There's no way. Well, yeah, especially considering it was largely black actors. Yes.

[00:20:51] But they also they always gave him some juicy roles, though, too. I think that's his long lasting power and why I view him as one of the best voice actors. I think also, again, the fact that he is just as comfortable doing a live action role. You know, like like get shorty role was just so funny. He's being a producer just begging for his life while being interrogated by other mobsters and other. Was that the movie or the TV show? The TV show. The TV show. Yes. Yeah. TV show.

[00:21:20] And it's a good cast. Really a lot of fun, but ran for free seasons. But yeah, some other stuff that I didn't realize he was on was other stuff like the Lion Guard and Transformers animated. Proud Family. You check any of those out, Tom? Yeah. I did check out the Proud Family when it was was first on and I actually wasn't half bad. Yeah.

[00:21:50] It was just kind of an easy going kind of show. Yeah. It's indicative of the Disney culture of that time period. Mm hmm. And you mentioned. Did you mention the PJs? Yes. Yep. Because I was at Eddie Murphy driven animated show and he was doing voices in that. Yep. And much like the coincidentally named Phil Morris, who was actually standing in for Eddie on credit. He was doing some recurring voices on there.

[00:22:20] Yeah. And if you much like any voice actor, you can always go to behind the voice actors and see which what their character looks like with the research they do. And it's always a lot of fun. And it was never uncommon for me to see him alongside other fellow voice actors like Tara Strong, Ray DeLeslie, Jeff Bennett and what have you. The who's who of the voice acting world. Yeah.

[00:22:49] You got me thinking about other things now. Like, uh, I didn't see the card. Well, I saw one cartoon, but like dumb and dumb rose made into a cartoon. Oh, my God. Ventura vet pet detective was made into a cartoon. And it's so was. Yep. So was the mask. Yeah. In both cases, you know, you know, of course, it was Jim Carrey doing the voices on the movies. Yeah. He was the character in the movies. But like, I think it was Matt Frewer that did his character and dumb and dumber on the animated series. Something like that.

[00:23:18] And for a while, that's kind of how it was. Like you would get certain. Uh, actors is like, I'm the go to and I'm going to play all these different roles played by this actress. Uh, but I had the joy of speaking to Holly Fields and she was the same way is like I kind of became the backup. I'm going to voice a character originally played by Cameron Diaz or Drew Barrymore in a video game or cartoon, you know?

[00:23:47] So if it's a spinoff like cartoon of Shrek, that's not Cam Diaz. That's Holly Fields, you know, or so. And in addition to that, she's doing some background voices. So I think this is it. Like these are the best kind of voice actors because they are all, you know, like they really do have a lot of range. And, uh, of the other interviews I've seen Phil Lamar in, you know, he, he was talking about how when he got asked various times to play Bill Organa and all the different Star Wars

[00:24:15] media is like, okay, I'm going to start watching some TV shows with Jimmy Smith just so I can imitate his voice. And he did a really good job in the recent animated Babylon five movie. Like he, that was even I seen that movie. I didn't even know he did the voices of that. He was Dr. Franklin. Because the original actor is long. Yeah. He long since passed away. Yeah. And I like, but like, he was like one of the first ones like announced when like that came out.

[00:24:42] And I like, I geeked the F out. I was like, perfect. That no one else could give the same amount of meaning to that doctor role as he could. And that doc and the guy who played that doctor had a certain cadence to his voice. Phil Lamar. Yeah. Phil is just very calculated. He can kind of give it a lot of dramatic beats. You know, he's not going to ham it up or force it in.

[00:25:07] And I had, I won the Blu-ray real early on eBay by someone selling it and not going for the special features. There's like a lot of those interviews conducted over zoom stated how I was like, yeah, we're everyone signed up for this because they're all fans of all these different space operas. And it's like the guy standing in for the act for Jakar, since that, that actor has long left us same deal. He's like, I, I want to sound just like him.

[00:25:34] So I don't, you know, I want to make you the fan happy. I want to make me happy because I love this character. You know, it's, it was a very big, very blessed. Yeah. Babylon five was the one, if they did that, I made a movie. They had to replace a lot of actor voices. Well, and that, it was a good use of animation really. I mean, cause they, they had the whole same unit that was doing a lot of the DC animated stuff for a while. And so it's just like, yeah, this is the best way to continue this for now.

[00:26:02] Cause everybody's getting up there in age and everyone else has left us and everyone else is busy. So let's just, uh, five hours in the voice booth is just going to have to do. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, the guy who played Jerobaldi, Anthony Hanson, he was good. And yeah, it's just everyone gave it their all. And they, it was just awesome. Seeing that extra special features is like, yeah, that was a labor of love. Say what you want about whether you liked the movie or didn't see.

[00:26:32] I mean, if you think about it, like, okay, Babylon five, they had to, they did the animated movie, but what if they did the star Trek thing where they tried to recast all the original characters with different actors, it might be interesting. It might give it a side, uh, source of fans, you know? Well, it'll, it'll definitely raise some flags for some fans, but, um, uh, you know, would you, would you see Phil Lamar as that doctor in live action?

[00:26:59] I can see him doing that more so than I could see him as green lantern. Yeah, I can see that. I mean, and if you wanted to be a star Trek character, that'd be great. I could totally see him be a Vulcan or counselor or captain of another ship, but yeah, I'd have to, Tim Russ isn't available. Yeah. He'd be playing the younger Tim Russ. No, no, no. Phil, it feels too awesome. He's got to be like a new exclusive character.

[00:27:28] He's got to be like the evil voice of a computer controlled spaceship or something. Two Vicks from another universe. No, no, maybe, but I don't want to replace Tim Russ. He's awesome. Uh, yeah, he's had a blessed career and I, I just geek out whenever I see that name. It was like, I know he did his homework. I know they didn't just let him run wild and he gave it his all.

[00:27:54] Well, I have, you'd have to remind me of this, but, and I think I heard Thomas mention the movie. It was evolution. Yeah. He was live action in that. That was Orlando Jones. Oh, I'm sorry. I just said, nevermind. He's awesome, but different kind of comedian. He was also on mad TV. If that makes it even more confusing. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:28:26] Similar. Did you watch a lot of bad TV, Tom? Oh, I loved it. It's I, I, at the time. And even today, I figured it was a lot better than F and L during that time period. Yeah. I kind of wish it had gone on longer than it did. Even when it wasn't funny. I didn't regret my time. I was just like, yeah, well, at least one of his funny characters from that was a UPS guy. I think there was stuff like that.

[00:28:53] And again, their voice impressions were always pretty good and on the money. But like, I got to the point where it's like, it was kind of to me, even kind of like when a Southport gag didn't quite land, I still admired that they went there and had the nerd to come up with a gag like that, you know, it's like, hey, that beats it over anything. You tried the concept versus you forced it, like some of the lesser SNL stuff. But I can't speak for everybody because alas, I have had some people on the show who is like,

[00:29:22] they can't stand mad TV and they like SNL. And I was like, well, let's just agree to disagree. I just remembered during the time it was on, I was enjoying that TV more than SNL. In fact, I haven't watched SNL in probably 20 years. Yeah, I can't do it. I was watching some of it during 2017 because they had some funny guests on. But when it got to the main show, I was tuning out. It's like this is way too many commercials for me to suffer for this many unfunny bits.

[00:29:51] Again, I love the comedians. I just don't like what they're spoofing or doing. And then like his character on Futurama, his main character, which was Hermes Conrad. Yeah. And he even voiced his his rival for his wife's affection in that. I remember his name, but the dude is almost 60. He's like, he doesn't look it. No, he really doesn't.

[00:30:22] Well, so am I. I'm almost 60. Oh, in fact, I saw what his the he was born the same year I was. Oh, I might even be a little bit older than he is. Because I was born in April. Oh, how about that? What did you guys think of the recent animated Watchmen movies that he was in? He was in those. Yes. Chapter one and two. I enjoyed them. Yeah.

[00:30:49] He played very specific. He portrayed. He wasn't Rorschach, was he? I just meant just meant. And so, yeah, Ty's well over was Rorschach. Katie Sackhoff was so expector the second. Matthew rise was in there. He played the comic book narrator, Bernie. Oh, OK. The guy who was reading the comic books. There you go. So the break the fourth wall.

[00:31:18] But also in chapter one, he plays. He plays the security guard. So again, he's doing his trick. I was like, I'm going to sneak in there. And then he plays a male citizen number one in chapter two. So there he does. He he gets to play different roles and have some fun and make each part stand out. So and I always applauded, you know, say what you want about drag the video is like it's always a welcome base for a lot of these animated movies that.

[00:31:46] Aaron Cartoon Network and I was always just blown away as like they got so and so to voice that famous role. How about that? Well, I'm trying to think, you know, like, you know, like adaptations of comic books like the Dark Knight Returns. That was a two parter as well. Yes, it was. That was that was a pretty good take. And I did like the Watchmen movie.

[00:32:10] Did you like the fact that the the comic book or the cartoon series thing had more of the book in it? I'll let Tom. I'll let Tom go first. I was cool with whatever. Yeah. I mean, you're dealing with something that is as it's difficult to to really follow completely as a whether it be a movie format or a cartoon or whatever.

[00:32:40] The fact that they tried does it is just amazing. So you found it a little too confusing? No, it was like I'm looking at the story as a whole. There are so many moving parts to it that. That's true. They had so many segues, including the the comic book that was being read. Yeah. And even and I I own the.

[00:33:09] The ultimate edition of Watchmen because I'm one of those people. I actually love the movie and I still do no matter how many times I watch it. I do, too. Nice. And and they includes the. The motion comic they had with the kids, the black freighter, I think something like that. Yep. I've got all that. Yep. Yeah. And to me, though. When you've got a.

[00:33:36] An original property like that, you're never going to be able to get 100 percent right for the purists or the or the people who actually want to have a good story. So you. You kind of have to. Be smart about how you do what you do. Do you prefer the ending in the movie? To I kind of do. I have to agree with you on it because it tied they tied it more into.

[00:34:05] Dr. Manhattan's powers. You know, for that movie, and it made more sense as to why he would leave at the end. Yeah. Well, and at the end of the day. I do wonder how many movies would be more beloved had most people not read the comic versus you read the comic, then you saw the adaptation, you know, there's always so much to conjure up. There's plenty of movies where it's like I had fun with it, but I consider it like kind

[00:34:34] of like a mirror universe kind of of that character. That's not the main version I want of the character. But was it acceptable? Sure. You know, like you have to kind of play a game of being you mean you might most sometimes like, hey, this is the one essential for the Watchmen is it's not your typical superhero movie. It's more like a murder mystery. Yeah, it's it's a pulp tell. And yeah, look at the other voice actors.

[00:35:01] In the two part animated movie like I'm looking at so many other guys here is like, yeah, there's they had a huge cast. They had genre actors like Kelly who Dwight solds and Jeffrey Combs and, you know, Murdoch and regional Barkley himself, Dwight solds and who do a lot of voice acting when they're not doing sci fi shows.

[00:35:24] And then they had more of the usual suspects who like Corey Burden and Troy Baker, who again, you know, you you've heard and Yuri Lowenthal who you've heard in everything from Uncharted and Bioshock to Saints Row and God of War. You know, it's just so I'm not surprised to see them there because much like Phil, they seem to have a lot of the same casting agents. It's like, yeah, we need you to get up in this in on this bad boy project.

[00:35:55] Well, yeah, you see, I never heard of Aquabats. But he did Aquabats Family Guy, Star Wars The Clone Wars, Young Justice Metal Gear Solid 2. Yep. Injustice, Mortal Kombat and hundreds more, it says. Mm hmm. He's always stayed busy, but I just always feel like his voices have stood out. I'm not terribly familiar with any of the Nickelodeon shows like I've heard of them like Big Time Rush, but never seen them.

[00:36:22] So, I mean, I mean, I can always make out who he is if I know that he's in it. But if I'm not paying attention, you know, it could he does do some blink and miss it cameos. And then there's other movies where it's like, oh, that's right. He was in that. Like, I forgot he was in Scooby Doo and the Loch Ness monster. But the one he will be forever most known for is getting shot by Travolta accidentally. Maybe on maybe for on screen roles.

[00:36:52] But what would you say is his biggest voice acting role? I got to go. I'm more familiar with with Hermes Conrad in Futurama. Cool. I'm going to guess the Green Lantern, you know, I definitely. OK, cool. I'm going to go with Samurai Jack and Static Shock. I just kind of a little more. Maybe nostalgia is blinding me on that, but I just like, yeah, he's totally voicing that role. Have you ever read the comic book for Static Shock?

[00:37:22] I haven't. OK, well, I hadn't. I have not read the comic or watch the cartoon. So but did you like you like the cartoon a lot? Oh, I watched a bunch. It was awesome. And he got to be in that with so many other TV actors like Danica McKellar, as well as other fellow voice actors like Kevin Michael Richardson and Kevin Conroy would show up every once in a while as Batman.

[00:37:48] He appeared in an episode of Seinfeld, the face painter episode. That's early in his career for sure. Oh, awesome. As did as did Phil Morris. As who? As what? Yeah, Phil Morris was on Seinfeld. Yep. He was Jackie. Jackie, the lawyer. Oh, and Phil's always a delight when you hear him in interviews.

[00:38:14] He will talk about the crazy business and how he got certain roles by whatever crazy casting auditions. Well, I got to wonder, you know, what led to Tarantino choosing him for the part that he played? Good question. I'll see if he has discussed it. I've actually never really seen him talk about it, but. Okay. Okay.

[00:38:40] So he claimed in an interview from Monday Morning Critic that Tarantino remembered him from an improv show they did together at the Groundlings Theater in L.A. a few months prior to filming. Tarantino's buddy, who's also in the movie, Julia Sweeney was part of the Groundlings and by Tarantino perform at the theater after the improv show. The casting director, Ronnie Yeskel recommended Lamar to Tarantino for the role. There you go. Hey, it's all about who you know.

[00:39:07] I can't imagine Tarantino doing improv, but yeah, the casting director themselves also knew Lamar from doing a guest spot in L.A. Law and then she suggested him. Yeah, he went in read the famous Jules Brad scene. Well, I didn't see that he preferred the voice acting because, you know, he wasn't limited in his voice acting by his body, you know, and his body type and all that kind of thing.

[00:39:37] Mm hmm. So I can see that. Oh, and so that just shows you, though, is like, yeah, all your onscreen roles, people have seen you, people have heard you more. So then I can only imagine that he sends out a voice demo reel once in a while. Has to keep updating it. I'm not in just stuff from the 90s. I'm also just wrapped up your your friend or son's favorite game.

[00:40:07] Yeah, at this point, I think he's just one of those actors like you said, Tara Strong and Phil Lamar or what's his name? Is it Phil LaMarche? Yes, definitely. Marisa LaMarche. Marisa LaMarche. Yeah, definitely. I don't know. That caliber. Yeah. One of those guys that just that's that's who you go to. So he's like associated with so many different genres and venues for cartoons. You're just as likely to call him by the character name as you are by oh, yeah, that guy.

[00:40:37] He did that. Yeah. We bring those also back to Harvey Bourbon because Marisa LaMarche did some work in there and there. In one of the. In one of the seasons, they had a. They had a behind the scenes thing where Maurice was doing an impression of. Of Orson Welles and Gary Cole just stand there cracking up. I can only imagine. It was so good.

[00:41:07] Oh, man. I hope that's on YouTube. Yeah, I was just going to say you'll need to look at YouTube. That's what I miss about Cartoon Network, let alone Adult Swim from late 90s to early 2000s, because like like you say, they would have all kinds of bumpers in between is like keep watching. There's a fun five minute behind the scenes clip, you know, and that's kind of where I was with other actors on that show, like Tom Kenny and Billy West.

[00:41:32] I could remember them from wacky sitcom characters they played and sketch shows they did as well as their, you know, their five different famous voiceover characters. Yeah, everybody watch watch Harvey Birdman. Yes. Yes, please do. And Samurai Jack. Yes. And Venture Brothers because damn it, it's awesome. Yes. You know, did he do a voice on that? No, I just put throwing it out there because. Well, I love Venture Brothers. No, don't get me wrong. Let's see. Surely. Not even a voice.

[00:42:02] No, that's wild. I would have thought he would have been on there. Just get a Reddit that says he could totally play. So and so's brother in a flashback. Okay. And I did a chat GPT thing in it. And I told it I was going to be doing talk about Phil Lamar and Dennis Hopper. And so but it threw some stuff together. It says, imagine an alternative universe. Hopper as the voice of Samurai Jack. Oh, God. And Lamar as King Koopa and Super Mario Brothers.

[00:42:31] Oh, well, I think it's a fair question of what version of hell do you want to be in? And what music is playing there? I don't check. I don't check. I don't check. Well, I figured you'd want to try to do an impression of. Of Dennis Hopper there. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't.

[00:42:59] I might be able to cobble one together, but it would take this watching him and kind of getting his voice and the mannerisms down and. Oh, man. Not as easy as. What's his name? Pretty soon chat TVT is going to be craning voices. It's not as easy as doing Morgan Freeman. It's OK. Because Morgan Freeman is in a quiet taste.

[00:43:28] I really liked Phil Phil's voice of me, but it's not me. Or what's his name? I should remember from the dead zone. Chris walking. Christopher walking. Yeah. Not as easy as him. It'd be impossible for me, but it's easier for most other people. And the thing about it is that going off of that, it's so easy to do a walking voice. But you also have to understand there's a lot. There's a lot more to go with it along that.

[00:43:58] You've got those moments that. Yeah. That you hear him going, I'm going to go to the store. You got to stress it out. You got to take less of a beat than little chat. Yeah. Yeah. But then he does that. I am going to go to the store. It's really quiet. And he speaks really fast. I'm going to go to the store.

[00:44:24] Plus, if you're going to do a total, like, impersonation of him, now you got to be able to dance and run around like him. I'm a star. I'm going to the store. Oh, you know, being a voice actor, Thomas, you and JJ could probably do it. I certainly could not. I'm sure we could. You guys should totally be OK. That'd be quite OK. Peter Graves.

[00:44:49] And you guys should totally just have your services offered on Mandy to see if anyone wants to have you guys be voice actors. If you're looking for an authoritative voice, you've got me. I have a voice that makes leopards purr. Oh, God. Oh, that's great.

[00:45:19] We'll return after these messages. We got a 90 minute weekly shack stop growing all over the world. Find it at 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern time on Mondays, then 3 p.m. on Wednesdays, then 7 p.m. on Thursdays. You can catch it on many more radio stations. 99.9 KERB 1 p.m. Central Time, 2 p.m. Eastern on Mondays.

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[00:46:40] Do you ever find yourself thinking about who would win in a fight between Goku and Superman? Hi, I'm James Gavsey and on the Who Would Win Show, me and my co-host Ray ignore anything important happening in the outside world and debate fictional battles between characters from comics, movies, and video games. We got a new show every week and almost always am I the winner. Yeah, not true, Ray. In the past, we've discussed such matches as Captain America vs. Darth Vader, Solid Snake vs. The Iron Giant,

[00:47:07] classic matchups like RoboCop vs. Terminator, and even the Muppets vs. Sesame Street. That one was crazy. So if you're a fan of geek culture and love a spirited debate, check out the Who Would Win Show wherever you get your podcasts, or check us out at WhoWouldWinShow.com. We'll see you next time.

[00:47:37] We'll see you next time. Bye. Bye.