There are some who argue (quite strenuously, in fact), that I hear voices in my head. C’mon, we’ve all got them. One that sends us into the waiting arms of an “I-don’t-care-how-much-they-cost-they’re-the-f*cking-EAGLES-man” concert ticket buying fit all the way down to a simpler, “So it’s the last Candy Corn Oreo…what’s it to you?”
I’ve always been a fan of cartoons. I’ve also felt that people of my generation (and older) fell into the camp of either Warner Brothers or Disney. During my four years at Northwestern, every Memorial Day weekend there would be a Warner Brothers Film Festival in Tech Auditorium. It was all your favorite classic Warner Bros. cartoons, What’s Opera, Doc, Ali Babba Bunny, The Rabbit of Seville…you get the picture.
After graduating in 19(CLASSIFIED), I discovered and started collecting the art of the Animaniacs, this loveable collection of three, I really don’t know what they were, critters who were not only animated beautifully but also given some much life and pizzaz by voice actors Rob Paulsen, Tress McNeil and Jess Harnell. Yakko, Wakko and Dot. Need a primer? Here.
Well, each of those voice actors is brilliantly talented in their own right, and Rob Paulsen now does a weekly podcast on iTunes where he speaks with the greats of the voiceover industry, including recently June Foray, whose fame includes Rocky, the Flying Squirrel (from Bullwinkle & Rocky).
Earlier this year, Rob Paulsen, and a host of other brilliant voice actors got together at a comic convention in Seattle and were doing script readings from Star Wars (the original, non Jar-Jar Binks version) in the different characters that they voice. I admit, it’s a tremendous waste of time, but if you appreciate voices like I do, it’s worth opening a beverage, sitting back and enjoying. Watch HERE.