Interview with Brian T. Stevenson on Voice Acting

These guys at the GCRN would make great Green

Lantern Corps members. Seriously. Where are these

guys? This is Bryan T. Stevenson and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Hello and welcome

to GeekCast Radio. I am one of your hosts, TFJ

and Mike, and joining me is Steve Megatron. Hello.

Hello. How are you? Good. How are you? Good,

good. Today we welcome a monkey in a barrel of

voice acting laughs who is spying on the entire

world, Mr. Brian T. Stevenson. Hello, Brian.

How are you? That's clever. I like that. I try.

I'm good. I'm doing good. Happy Monday. It's

Monday. It is Monday. I Got part of it, right?

Yeah, there we go. Yes Brian is the Co -owner

right? I am one half of spy monkey creations.

Yes. Yes. He's one half of spy monkey creations

He just recently got his very first voiceover

gig. So congratulations on that. Thank you. Thank

you very much He is one of the guest stars on

Veo Buzz Weekly. He has been on talk and tunes

with his good personal friend Rob Paulson. What

else have you been doing? What was that first

gig you got? I can't really talk about it right

now. That's the bummer about a lot of it that

I'm doing right now because I've been working

the voiceover thing for probably about three

or four years now. And it's a tough road to hoe.

and I'm just now starting to work, and I'm starting

to work pretty regularly. Unfortunately, I can't

start talking about a lot of the stuff yet because

I'm under NDAs. They're all games, aren't they?

Yeah, so far, most everything's been games. I

have done a little bit of animation stuff, but

I will say that it is a sequel to a... pretty

hot franchise, so it should be a lot of fun.

One actor told me, he was like, hey, what'd you

work on? And I told him, he goes, everybody's

been working on that. And I'm like, yeah, but

you know what? This is my first paying gig, dude,

so. Yeah, yeah, you know, I mean, the check cleared,

so all I can say is I'm just waiting for it.

I actually went to GameStop today to see if it

was available for pre -order. And they're like,

oh, no, not yet. I'm like, okay. Nice. I'll wait,

because I know I'm not going to get a copy. I'm

actually going to have to go buy it. Yeah, yeah.

All right, so let's start at the beginning. Where

did you grow up? I grew up a poor black child.

Oh, wait, no, that's the jerk. Never mind. Nice.

When did Michael Richardson show up? I grew up

in a very small town in southern Arizona. I was

born, I was born in a border town. I was born

in Douglas, Arizona in the year of 19 and 74.

And let's see, I grew up in a farming community.

One grandfather owned a farm, one grandfather

owned a ranch in southern Arizona. Lived there

most of my life. I did a couple of stints in

Oklahoma City with my mom. I lived with my grandparents

most of my life. And I've always been, you know,

we were latchkey kids when we lived with our

mom in Oklahoma. And it was in the 80s, you know,

it was from 1982 until probably 87. So it was,

you know, I was a latchkey kid during the height

of G .I. Joe and He -Man and Transformers and

all of the Jason the Wheeled Warriors, Mask,

you know, all of those 80s Centurion, G .I. Go

on and on and on. But during that time, you know,

we were come home, locked the door. We had codes

for the phone to ring when my mom would call.

Don't answer the phone unless it was the code

ring. I think it was something like the phone

rings twice, then she would hang up and call

back, and then that's when we would answer the

phone and she would check in on us. Had a series

of stepfathers. I think mom's been married seven

times now. So we never really had a solid male

figure in my life. So I picked He -Man and Optimus

Prime and Superman and all of those 80s icons

that we're all so nostalgic about now, those

guys raised me. They were my surrogate fathers

and uncles and I kind of always found refuge

in those worlds. That's kind of kind of what

yeah and We lived in Oklahoma from I believe

we moved out there when I was in the third grade

and we moved back to I Moved back in with moved

back to my grandparents house when I was in the

seventh grade so and then I lived in Arizona

until I graduated high school and went to college

and Went back to Oklahoma and lived there for

about four years before I finally moved out to

Los Angeles in 1999 Interesting. So what made

you want to be a toy designer? How did that come

about? The toy designing thing I kind of fell

into both times I got into it. Back when I was

in college, my major in college was graphic design,

advertising and graphic design. Well, that wasn't

my major. That was my fallback job. My major

was theater and dramatic arts. Theater and cinematic

arts. So I was a drama major, which pretty much

meant I could stand on the side of the road with

a cardboard sign or get a job as a teacher. I

don't know, that cardboard sign stuff worked

out for that one guy for a while. Yeah, it's

pretty lucrative for some people. But yeah, I

started way, way, way back in the day. It was

probably about 90, let's see, I graduated high

school in the summer of 92 and in the spring

of 93, I started working freelance, doing a lot

of package art and control art and turnarounds

and stuff for Kenner. And I worked on I worked

on a few things I worked on like the Superman

line That man of steel line that they had the

five point of articulation man of steel man that

they had I worked on some of that I worked on

some of the stuff for for Batman which was this

which one was the Let's see The third one? Yeah,

yeah, Batman forever. I did a lot of a lot of

the work on that. A lot of the card art for the

for the the characters for those action figures.

I did a lot of that, but I worked. I did that

for quite a while. And then after Tonka had acquired

Kenner and then Hasbro acquired Tonka and switched

everything back to Switched everything except

Tonka all the Kenner stuff was brought underneath

the the Hasbro banner They kind of cut a swath

through all the freelancers and quit using us

and at that point I had moved I'd moved away

from Arizona back to Oklahoma and I found a full

-time job working as a graphic designer for a

t -shirt screen printing company So that kind

of that was kind of my first stint in the in

the toy world And then when I moved to Los Angeles

in 99 I had kind of been You know that was when

the internet first started kind of Coming about

and there were a lot of toy boards and stuff

like that I mean there weren't a lot of toy boards

there were actually quite quite a few I think

like raving toy maniac and a couple others had

sprouted up And I was a member on one of those

Started you know chatting with different and

I was I was always a customizer because you know

when you're when you work in the toy industry

actually that's that's or how a lot of people

start out as they start out as customizers and

I was a toy customizer action figure customizer

and I would take pictures of my stuff and post

them on some of the forums now and again and

that's how I met Jeremy Jeremy song who's the

other half of spy monkey and his handle is spy

magician and him and I met through through another

mutual friend. And, you know, we got to know

each other online for a good year or two until

we finally met at Comic Con, probably about seven

or eight years ago. And that's kind of once we

met, we would all hang out and we'd have custom

days where we'd all get together at somebody's

house with our big bins of custom figures and,

you know, paints and Sculpey and everything.

We'd sit and bash together action figures and

stuff like that. And then it just kind of evolved

into us doing our own thing, making our own stuff.

And that's kind of how Spy Monkey was born, was

just a bunch of customizers getting together

and making stuff that we liked. and we would

post it on the internet and as soon as we posted

it on the internet people would start wanting

it so we learned how to produce it and make more,

you know, casting. Jeremy learned how to cast

and we just started casting and cleaning resin

parts and making weapons for, you know, six and

seven inch action figures and we were making

stuff for He -Man and Transformers, you know,

just whatever they would work with. And that's

kind of the genesis of Spy Monkey. When you say

you make weapons for the characters, you mean

that you all have a deal with Hasbro or Mattel?

Oh, no, no. We're pretty much just like a third

party. We would make... They were all customized,

you know. Stuff we wanted to see the characters

have and we would okay We never actually advertise

like if this is a this is a sword for he man

or this is a shield for Right, but you can tell

by the look of it. I've seen a lot of the stuff

I'm actually on the site now and I've seen a

lot of the weapons stuff I've seen pixel Dan

that jerk review a lot of the good stuff that

you guys do That's for his Facebook comment You

know, I mean you y 'all do some amazing amazing

work, thank you I'm looking at the, before Steve

takes over for voiceover stuff, I'm looking at

the Weapons of Munkah set. Are those six and

seven inches or are those five inch figures?

Because they look pretty small. The Weaponiers

of Munkah, yes. They are about four inches tall.

They're not six and seven inches. Mainly that

was because of... tooling costs are not cheap

anymore. They've never been cheap, but here in

recent years, the US dollar has just taken a

nosedive in the foreign market. You know, this

is the real boring business kind of stuff but

in order for us to make them we had to make them

pretty small and we used the glio system which

is a system of Pegs and holes that that kind

of hold hold together and they all snap apart

and we're all reconfigurable and we've been we

use that on all of our product now after we graduated

from doing hand cast resin and went into production

we exclusively use the The glio system on everything

and you can only get so big with that before

it doesn't really work anymore. And three and

three quarter to four inch is about as tall as

you want to go with that stuff. And we kind of

saw a lot of the collecting trends going that

way. Everything's shrinking down. I mean, even

transformers are starting to shrink down. The

new deluxe transformers are half the size of

what a deluxe used to be. I got my hands on the

new trail cutter the other day, and I was just

kind of like, aw. It seems like the quality has

gone down on them too. on the transformers. Yeah,

I think it's I think it's the they're they're

really pushing the tolerances of what they can

get away with with wall thickness on the plastics

now. Just because of how in order to keep in

order to stay competitive, you know, and keep

competitive prices, they've got to because of

the way that the factories and the materials

and everything just keeps rising in labor, you

know, labor costs, material costs, everything

like that. It's really kind of sad. It's it's

it's kind of. It's kind of hard to be a toy maker

right now, unless you're just loaded. And even

the larger corporations, they're really cutting

back on what they're willing to spend on new

toy lines. And even existing ones that are proven.

I'm really surprised that the Star Wars Black

Series that they're doing even had any kind of

legs whatsoever. It's crazy. I'm looking at this,

the Monka set, and the only thing I can think

of with the leader and the villain is the leader

is, he's got an Optimus Prime looking head. Yeah.

And the villain, the gray and red villain, Paladar,

he's got... Oh, he's not a villain. He's not

no no Paladar's Paladar is I'm sorry. That's

okay. That's okay Yeah, Paladar is the he's the

commander of the gyro forces. We have good guys

and bad guys We have the gyro and the vilhaine

in that first wave of figures, which is probably

what you're looking at on this on the site The

gyro who are the good guys are comprised of imperious

Rex and he usually just goes by imperious And

he's the red guy that looks like you know looks

a little bit And his ears do yeah, he's got a

little bit of a of Optimus Prime hot rod kind

of You know, there's there's there's several

several little homages thrown into these guys

one of my favorite Toys as a kid and one of my

favorite cartoons was go -bots. And so Paladar's

got a real kind of copter look to him and If

you look at Umbrias, who's the leader of the

bad guys? He's got a real kind of Skeletor's

face with Megatron's helmet kind of thing going.

It's really cool though. Kind of what we did

was we got to thinking, you know, you go on any

of these fan sites, you go on any of the G .I.

Joe or He -Man or Transformers fan sites, and

it's really hard for new content to be created

with these characters that people have so much

nostalgia for. Because one misstep in the fandom

just goes insane. You've you're ruining the cannon,

you know, I mean they just go nuts So we were

like well rather than try to license You know

some other toy line or something that people

have a lot of nostalgia for You know, we realized

that the reason why a lot of us, you know guys

in our mid to late 30s That are all pushing 40

are still buying these action figures and these

toys is because of the nostalgia we have for

them from our youth and we really are kind of

the nostalgia generation. So we decided that

if we were going to design an action figure line,

we wanted to design something that would take

elements and bits of that nostalgia and really

kind of hodgepodge them together. You know, when

we debuted at PowerCon last year in September.

people would walk by the table and look at the

figures and there'd be, you know, oh that reminds

me of go -bots, or that reminds me of Transformers,

or that reminds me of Voltron, or that reminds

me of He -Man, or that reminds me, you know,

they would, you know, Thundercats, I mean, there

were people, the mighty Orbots, the Bionic Six,

you know, it's like people, there was something

that reminded people. of, you know, Battle Beasts,

you know, there's all kinds of stuff. We heard

everything. And that's kind of what when we knew,

it's like, OK, well, everybody gets what we tried

to do here. And with that, since they're all

brand new characters, we get to write the story

and we get to come up with the world and it's

fresh and it's new. And it's kind of exciting

for people. We get stuff all the time and little

kids love our stuff. Little kids just go nuts

over it. We hear stuff all the time from parents

that are like, oh yeah, we love the stories.

We read them to our kid as bedtime stories and

can't wait for the next one. When are the next

figures coming out? And we just had our very

first booth at Comic -Con in San Diego. that

we shared with October Toys last month and Did

amazing, you know, we debuted a couple of fun

fun Homage figures to some to some other 80s

properties just taking our existing figures and

just repainting them and You know putting them

in dip, you know casting them in different plastic

and repainting we cast them like a flesh plastic

Flesh colored plastic and we did one that was

kind of like the the muscle figures He was all

just this big pink plastic flesh, you know, looking

dude. And then the other one we paid tribute

to Mike Grell's warlord figure from the DC comics.

And it's been so much fun. You know, it's like

we absolutely love this product and the response

to it's been more than what we could have imagined.

Yeah, it's just absolutely amazing what you all

are creating out there And that's that's great

that you guys had a good showing at comic -con

because once you go comic -con you can't go back

No, well now was the thing too It's you know

comic -con has gotten so expensive too that you

don't really You can't really go to comic -con

and expect to make the amount of money that you

spend on the booth back really It's it's more

for the exposure and we got some we got some

pretty good exposure and some pretty neat things

are Some pretty neat things are starting to happen.

Not anything I can really talk about, but some

really neat things are starting to happen. We

caught the eye of some pretty important people.

Well, that's good. That's really cool. Yeah.

Very awesome. So what made you want to get into

or what even sparked you to get into the voiceover

business? Um, you know, it's kind of the same

thing that got me into the toys, you know, I

grew up as a I grew up as a child of the 80s,

you know, I grew up, you know, like I said, we

were latchkey kids and I, I became more familiar

with these characters than I did some of my own

family members, you know, it's like I was always

in, in front of the TV. And it didn't take me

long to realize that, you know, hey, Cobra Commander

and Starscream are the same dude. And there were

other things, too. There were a lot of them that

I started picking up on them. And eventually,

and I actually, I think the first person I ever

really picked up on was Rob, Rob Paulson. I think

he's the first person I picked out as being,

okay, that's the same guy. That's the same guy

that's doing that voice, that's doing that voice,

that's doing that voice. And I realized there

are people doing this. There are actually, it's

like these aren't little dudes living in the

box. These are guys just, Going to a job every

day and and not everybody is Mel blank, you know

back back when I was you know little it was either

Mel blank or Dawes Butler those guys were the

voice guys and if there was a girl it was usually

June 4 a you know the cartoons that I you know

in my in my early youth that I grew up watching

there were three people doing all those voices

and So it's like okay. Well, that's their job.

No one else can do that And then when I when

the 80s rolled around and there was this big

huge animation boom You know with filmation and

Sunbow and all these other, you know companies

putting stuff out it dawned on me at a pretty

early age that wow, there's guys doing this for

for a living and I Had done some stuff. I was

in a lot of plays and stuff like that when I

was a kid And but never really had any kind of

direction or guidance in it and then when I got

into high school I went to a play and I think

it was the Diary of Anne Frank of all plays,

you know, not the most cheerful thing to watch.

No, not at all. No, no, no. But the girl that

played Anne Frank, I got a huge crush on her.

And I was like, you know what? I'm going to join

drama because I want to meet that girl. I was

a freshman. She was a senior. So you know what

shot that I have? But what the heck, you know,

I was a cocky little bastard. So I The next semester

rolled around and I joined the drama department

I joined I took the drama class and I got and

the first time I got on stage I think we were

doing we did the Christmas Carol and I played

Bob Cratchit and I got up on stage and I can't

I don't even remember how it happened, but I

Got people in the audience just rolling And I

don't know if, like I said, I can't remember

what it was I was doing. But you hear that first

guffaw out in the audience, and I was just, okay,

I'm hooked. What girl? That was just kind of,

and I was hooked. And my entire high school career,

I mean, I... We had we wound up having one of

the one of the most competitive theater departments

in any, you know Small town high school in Arizona.

We were constantly by the time I was a senior

we were all winning national awards and and getting

scholarships and and I wound up getting a scholarship

went to college majored in theater and You know,

I did a stint with with some improv troops, with

some professional theater companies. A couple

in Arizona, one in Oklahoma. And in 99, I was

just kind of like, okay, it's time for me to

move out to Los Angeles. The guy at the local

comic book store said, hey, I know this other

guy who's local that's about to move to LA. Why

don't you get in touch with him? And so, you

know, we exchanged, he exchanged phone numbers

and I called him and he's like, yeah, I'm moving

out. Why don't you come crash on my couch till

you can find a place? So I, you know, drove out

here, crashed on the dude's couch, looked for

an apartment, looked for a job, you know, found

both, moved out to LA. Full -time I've been out

here ever since and I actually pursued on camera

live at because again You're you kind of were

always given this thing It's like well There's

a very small handful of people that do voiceover

and it's the hardest thing in the world to break

into The only way to get in is if somebody dies

and you can do what they did But likely likely

when that person dies, there's ten other people

already doing it that can just step up and do

what he's doing And and so that was kind of a

you know, it was kind of off -putting You didn't

really have any kind of there was nothing to

build your confidence into getting into and there

was no internet You know, there really was nothing

to where they were, you know, it's like everything

was in complete anonymity and I Tried out the

the live at the on -camera acting for a while

and I was I was working I was working as a PA

in a lot of animation So I started getting to

know all of the animation actors as a matter

of fact that the first time I ever ran into Rob

Paulson I scared the crap out of him because

he thought he was getting mugged. He was walking

out. You got to tell that story. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

I was like, and it's one of those things, you

know, it's like, and I told him the day I met

him, I said, you won't ever remember this, but

I'll never forget it, you know, because he was

so cool to me. He was so nice. And he was, I

mean, the guy that you hear, that's the real

dude, man. He's not put on. He is not put on.

He's not. You know, he is the most genuine and

one of the most beautiful human beings I've ever

I've ever met in my entire life and You know,

it's like I had I had kind of you know I'd gone

to all of the voiceover panels at comic -con

and I'd sat in the back of the room and I'd watched

them all and you know, and Mark Avenir comes

in and and and Mediates all of them and he's

you know, he's a nice guy and I adore him But

he's also got this kind of thing where he tells

the audience. Yeah, don't even bother you know,

these guys are top of their game, these guys

are the elite, you'll never be this. So unless

you've got, you know, 10 years to, and the drive

and the desire, you won't get here. So it's kind

of discouraging when you hear people say that

all the time. So I never really pursued it. Well,

Rob's walking out of the Academy building, the

Academy of Television Arts and Sciences building,

and I'm walking in because I was working, the

animation show that I was working on was officing

there. And I'm walking in and this is before,

like I said, this was, you know, they had all,

they had complete anonymity at this point. Nobody

knew who they were. And he walks out of the building

and I'm like, Oh my God, you're Rob Paulson.

And he's like, uh, yeah. You're Jaco, you're

Pinky, you're, you're Raphael. You know, it's

like, and I'm just like, I was like, you're snow

job. You know, it's like, I'm losing my mind.

And he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh -huh. And

I'm like, I told him, I said, you know, you are,

you're my favorite actor. You are one of my absolute,

I was like, you have, you raised me. I said,

you have been in my life since, you know, since

the Smurfs, you know, since as long as I can

remember, you know, and it just, and he was,

he was touched and we sat there and we talked

for about 20 minutes. And I said, you know, how

do I get into? And he says, he says act, he says,

have you, have you ever done any acting? And

I said, yeah, I, you know, that's why I'm here

is I'm an actor. And he's like, well, keep it

up, keep it up, buddy. And that was it, except

for seeing him at Comic -Con and passing like

once a year, you know, I kind of, you know, I

was always interested in it but never really

pursued it. And then in my day job and what I

do, you know, to actually pay the rent, I got

to know a lot of the voice actors and I got to

know, you know, I got to know guys like Tom Kenny

and I got to know guys like Billy West and Jess

Harnell and all those guys. And so much so that,

you know, go hang out and have a beer and go

bowling with Tom Kenny now and again. Nice. He

was bowling with Spongebob. Yeah, yeah, you know.

And in joking back and forth and riffing off

of one another and everything, probably about

four years ago, he was like, man, why aren't

you getting paid to do this? He said, you really

need to get, he said, you ought to, you know,

try it out. I'm like, well, how do I go about

it? And he goes, man, I don't know, because my,

my Intuit was so weird, you know, because he

started as a stand up and. and doing all kinds

of stuff. So his intuit was a little unorthodox

from what the actual point A to point B was.

But what I've learned is that point A to point

B in this business is a very squiggly line and

no one's is the same. And so Comic -Con rolled

around again and I had gotten my demo together,

put all that together. I had started taking a

few classes and my wife actually had a huge deal,

a huge... You know holds holds most of the responsibility

for getting me into this because she was just

she said well for Christmas She says I'm gonna

get you your first voiceover class. So she got

me my first voiceover class She had me do the

research find one that I that I Thought I could

learn from and I went and did it and my first

time in the booth the the teacher was like Are

you sure you've never done this before? And so

that was kind of like, oh, well, yeah, you know,

I'm an actor. It's it's not you know, this is

just acting to me It's like the funny voices

and and not all kind of stuff, you know that

comes later But you know, it's like this is all

just acting and so then I hit I hit I hit up

Rob again at Comic -Con that year And he had

just started doing his podcast and just started

doing his private coaching. And I said, I would

love to do some private coaching with you. I'm

about a year in and would really like to get

together with you sometime. And he said, oh yeah,

sure. Well, schedules being what they are. We

couldn't get together until almost December and

you know, it's like this was a comic -con that

we spoke first So in December we finally got

together and in in in our talking and everything

He said would you would you come and be a guest

on my podcast? He said because you're you're

doing what a lot of people are always asking

me about he says I don't know How to get into

it today. It's a different beast than it was

when he did it 30 years ago He's like, I you

know, he's like I don't know how and he's like,

so would you kind of be? You know, he said would

you kind of come on and help some people out

and in all of that? I've become this strange

Unofficial ambassador to the up -and -coming

voice actor where you know I mean I've been on

Rob's podcast I've been on VO buzz weekly and

you know there's there's a few other podcasts

that I've that I've done talking about the voiceover

and stuff and the voice acting and breaking in

to animation and video games and stuff and I

Just I've just kind of become this this this

Ambassador you know is about the only only word

I can think of for it, you know, but The my reasoning

for doing it is I just I can't think of doing

anything else, you know, it's like whenever I

get inside the booth You know and I've had it,

you know, I've always had day jobs I've always

worked one or two jobs, you know It's like I

do the toy stuff and and that's fun and I'm passionate

about that and it's really important to me But

when I get into the voice booth, that's where

the universe is telling me I need to be you know

It's like I get in that booth and it's just like

when I propose to my wife, you know It's like

I get the same feeling, you know, it's like I'm

supposed to be here and and and that's you know

I just and I grew up and I'm working now with

the people that I grew up admiring, you know,

it's and it's it's it's a constant like pinch

myself kind of scenario every time you know every

time I walk into a room and I'm just like Wow,

I'm working with these dudes today. You know,

it's like these are the guys that these are the

guys that I used to sit, you know, after school

every day. And, you know, and that taught me

they taught me all my lessons. They taught me

how to grow up and they taught me how to, you

know, how to do this and how to do that. And,

you know, they taught me morals and they taught

me, you know, you know, just all kinds of stuff.

You know, so it's it's it's. It's a surreal blessing,

you know, but it's but it's a lot of fun. I enjoy

doing it. We know you're you're not going to

or you can't reveal any of the current stuff

But like can you reveal anyone that you've worked

with like in like actually in a session? I've

worked with let's see here most recently. I've

worked with Mick Wingert who is the voice of

Poe in Kung Fu Panda Legends of Awesomeness He's

he's a dead -on voice match for Jack Black and

him and I became really fast friends but most

recently I've worked with him let's see I'm trying

to think I wasn't in the booth with them but

I kind of was in passing with with Yuri Lowenthal

and Steve Bloom And, uh, let's see, Stacy Oswood

from, um, from VO Buzz Weekly. Um, let's see,

I'm trying to think who all else was working

on that game that we were all kind of, um, we

were all kind of passing each other in the lobby

as, you know, it's like, cause they, cause they

did, uh, had us all come in singly and do records

because it was all NPC stuff. Um, and let's see,

gosh, I, I just, uh, let's see, Bob Joles, I

think was working on that one. Um, you know,

Matt Mercer probably did a little bit of work

on it And I've known Matt Matt who was Tigra

in the in the latest Thundercats. Oh, yeah Yeah,

I've known Matt Mercer for oh my gosh Probably

probably about ten years. So it's like him and

I kind of come up together a little bit he obviously

struck a lot quicker than I did but But yeah,

you know and it's and it's it's weird for me

because I'm 38 years old So, you know, it's like

and I'm just now starting to break in but then

I talked to guys like I talked to guys like Tom

Kenny and I talked to guys like Steve Bloom and

they're like, oh, yeah, man I was almost 40 before

I booked my first real big thing, you know, so

it's it's It's interesting that I'm kind of I'm

kind of just right now at that nice right age

That they they just all of a sudden the work

just starts coming in. So Yeah, not everyone

can be a 28 -year -old and go out to California

in three years and become Raphael. No, no, no,

not at all. But almost, no. Yeah, almost. I auditioned

for that role. Oh, did you really? I auditioned

for Raphael and I got so close. But you know,

I mean it happens, you know, it's like and and

and Sean Astin is Phenomenal I think he's just

killing it. I think he's doing such a great job

in that role Yeah, yeah, it's you know, it's

like I watch I watch everything I watch you know

every new cartoon that comes out, you know If

for anything I watch at least one episode Very

rarely do I get wrapped up in something where

I watch every episode, but like Green Lantern

and Young Justice and, you know, Ninja Turtles

and, you know, some of the more grown up cartoon

stuff, you know, it's like, and that's the thing

is like Ninja Turtles is awesome because it grabs

it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's enough in it for

all of us, us, us guys that grew up just loving

the original stuff. And, and it's, and it just,

it's, I mean, you can't walk into at least around

here. You can't walk into a Toys R Us or a Target

that the pegs just aren't wiped clean of all

the Ninja Turtles stuff. Oh yeah, just like back

in the day. Yeah, yeah, and good luck any of

those other cartoons that, you know, I mean,

mainly because of Mattel that has, you know,

that has any of these on the shelf. You know,

I hate to, you know, I hate to flick a booger,

but, you know, I mean, it's the truth, you know,

I mean, they, you know, I mean, Green Lantern,

you know, that show was so awesome. Just and

none of the retailers because of the movie none

of the retailers one of the toys and Without

the toys they can't without the toys. They can't

support the cartoon, you know That's that's one

thing about the animation business that I wish

was not true Yeah, it's tied into everything

else in Hollywood and if this doesn't succeed

well if that isn't succeeding let's take away

this perfectly successful cartoon series that

everyone like I just got a couple months ago

I got the both volumes of the Green Lantern animated

series score from La La Land Records. The music

of that show is just amazing. Yeah, mind -blowing.

It's mind -blowing. It's just amazing. Hearing

it in the show is great, but hearing it by itself

is just amazing. I don't like how Hollywood is

treating animation these days on any show, not

just specifically Green Lantern or Young Justice,

but it's just one of those things where, sadly,

if the toys don't sell, or if a movie bombs,

and then the toy company's like, yeah, we can't

even, you know, take a dump truck up to this

retailer and just give them the toy. You know

what I mean? It's so bad. And on the flip side

of that, you get a successful movie, and they

decide to make an animated series based on the

movie. And the only guys that are working are

the guys that can do voice matching, because

they have all these celebrities in the movie

that won't do the animated series. So then the

trickle down, it's like all of us get a chance,

but if we don't sound like and can't do an impression,

then we're not gonna get the work. So it's weird

being on this side of it after being on the fanboy

side of it for so long, because I understand

the frustration on that side, but then I have

to kind of look at the business on this side

and go, oh, yeah, well, that's... that makes

sense you know it's like that so it's it's it's

hard it's hard to be in a position that i'm in

because there's there's there there are a few

especially the newer talent um that are uh that

are grown up geeks you know that are grown up

fanboys uh but most of them aren't so they don't

really understand that side of the of the of

the whole thing but being being that i was a

fanboy first and grew into it. It is, it's rough

to see. We were at Emerald City Comic Con. We

had a booth and we were right around the corner

from the local comic book shop in Burbank. They

had a booth there too. This was up in Seattle.

And Bruce Timm is friends of the owners of that

store. And he came and did kind of a ninja...

Sketch bomb thing there where he just he just

kind of slinked in and sat down at the table

Unannounced and was doing sketches and signing

stuff for people And so then he wasn't getting

mobbed but people would walk by and go oh, it's

Bruce Tim, you know and scrambling Scramble and

for whatever it is. They brought with them to

sign And you know, we were sitting there and

you know hearing him talk about the whole Green

Lantern and Young Justice thing and how the animation

you know it's really was just because the toy

that you know it's like the toys came either

too late or because the movie didn't do well

and all of those Green Lantern toys rotted on

the pegs the retailers were afraid to commit

to any of the animated stuff and you know and

it just because you know Mattel will swear up

and down they never made toys and they never

had anything planned but I've seen them Well,

they had the Young Justice line. They canceled

the line before they even canceled the show.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and a lot of that too.

I mean, unfortunately, those were some pretty

lousy toys. You know, I mean, they were great

little, you know, stack standalone figures if

you just wanted to display them. But as actual

toys, they were lousy toys. They were great action

figures. They were great looking figures. They

were beautiful. But they were they were loud.

They were loud They were lousy toys and that's

the thing if if you're gonna, you know It's like

you really have to make toys. You can't you can't

make some little like, you know art piece That's

why I'm surprised GLU lasted as long as it did

but GLU was really kind of that was That had

a fan following and that that was that was kept

alive by that was kept alive by all of us grown

-ups That wasn't kept alive by the kids No, and

they basically marketed the JLU toy line to collectors.

Anything that's on mattycollector .com, it's

marketed towards collectors. I will say that

one thing that, yes, Hasbro does market sometimes

towards collectors, but... ninety percent of

the time it's it's for a what can we do if it

is like you already said the deluxes are downsized

the point where and they even said this year

about conan and and and sdcc that the reason

is is they want to make that apparently they

they listen to some of the youtube reviewers

they want to make the transformation simpler

for kids and when i was a kid I could transform

Megatron, gun form, no problem. Soundwave was

the easiest. Soundwave and Blaster, the two easiest

transformers to ever come along with the G1 line.

And Optimus Prime, too. Optimus Prime was the

optimist. I think they used the transformation

thing as a gimmick anyway, just to lay as a cop

out for they're trying to cut costs. Well, yeah.

Yeah. I mean, well, and honestly, I think that

out of all of the toy companies, Hasbro's really

kind of got They kind of figured it out. They've

got their their high -end collector lines that

they're doing but then they've they've they've

dialed back all of the mass retail stuff to five

points of articulation, you know simpler sculpt

simpler decos and everything like that because

honestly kids and they When I was a kid and the

reason and this is why our toys are the kind

of toys They are and they're not you know these

high -end spindly little you know I mean pretty

pretty shelf pieces because when a kid picks

up my toy I want him to be able to huck that

sucker across the street Let it get hit by the

bus have him pick it up and you know it's no

worse for the wear it might have a couple of

paint scratches on it or whatever because when

I was a kid that's what I that that was he man

you know he man was like that GI Joe was like

that you know I think the most careful I had

to be with toys were transformers but any other

toys I had man I beat the holy living crap out

of those toys playing with them and and I and

I think Hasbro is doing a smart thing by going

into their more simplified stuff for retail because

they're being able to bring that price point

down you know but still offering stuff that's

a little higher end for the collectors you know

it's like and they've learned that the collectors

don't mind paying a little bit of a premium if

they get you know exactly what they're asking

for so that's you know and and but but transformers

is that one line that they haven't really um

except for their masterpiece stuff you know um

they haven't really uh They haven't really started

to do that with Transformers yet. But with all

of the other lines, they're really starting to

figure that out. For all of their facepalm foibles

that these big toy companies do, it's neat to

see them evolve that way based on the demands

of the marketplace. Yeah, it's just crazy. Like

I know a lot of the anime I know a lot of these

cartoons cost money, you know, you look at Transformers

Prime Yes, that had between Optimus and bumblebee

It did have slight movie designs, but that cartoon

has nothing to do with the Michael Bay movies

whatsoever and I know it cost the hub an exuberance

amount of money, but That show still could have

lasted one more season. Yeah. Yeah, and I mean

in the hub is owned by Hasbro. So it's That's

Hasbro's channel, so Hasbro paid for all that.

I also think that Transformers is this interesting

thing where now that they do have movies, where

they do have to kind of, they're a slave to that

a little bit with the way they do the toys. It's

interesting to see how much you know that look

for the first little bit seeps over into any

animation that they do and you know and and just

because the beast hunters is ending i don't think

that that means that transformers animation is

ending i it's like it's oh no oh it's not it

just to me the way the way i heard about it was

they've got 65 episodes for syndication And they've

ended the they're going to finalize the story

in the TV movie Predacons rising But then next

year they're going to start up a new cartoon

that might Somewhat be a continuation of this

one We don't know yet what it's going to be but

when I first heard about it is they're gonna

cancel prime They're gonna start a new cartoon

and then my thought is Oh, wait, the next movie

is coming up. So let's see that new cartoon.

Is that going to get canceled in favor of another

movie thing? It's kind of like what you mentioned

earlier about Green Lantern, you know, the movie

versus the animated series. It's like because

one thing did something and the other thing gets

affected. And it's like, wow. Yeah, yeah. You

know, and that's it's it's sad and it's hard.

It's sad and it's hard to watch. But, you know,

I mean, unfortunately, it's a. yeah it's a you

know it is a it is a it is a truth and kind of

the way the wheels work out here yeah it's all

holly weird that's exactly what it is holy weird

yeah oh boy uh so what else is coming up for

you i mean is there anything you can tell us

about anything that you're you're working on

whether it's spy monkey or the voiceover stuff

i mean i know i know you said you've signed nda's

and you can't reveal too much but uh for spy

monkey um we have another drop coming up in the

middle of this month uh it'll be a glow in the

dark uh colorway so the the plastic that we ran

we ran the figures in a glow in the dark plastic

uh we sold a few of them at uh San Diego Comic

-Con just to kind of tease it a little bit. And

then we've got probably about two or three more

drops, two or three more waves throughout the

end of the year that are one or two figures a

piece. And then we have a special figure for

Power -Con, kind of like we did for Comic -Con,

and then we have a special figure for Designer

-Con. which is another convention here in Los

Angeles, in Pasadena, I think, in November. And

then there's some other stuff going on for Spy

Monkey, I can't really talk about right now,

but some pretty awesome stuff. Like I said, Comic

-Con was pretty cool for us as far as exposure

and some new things coming down the pipe. But

then as far as voice acting goes, I've recently

auditioned. You never know with this stuff until

you hear about it. I've been getting invited

to audition for a lot of stuff, which is... Is

usually they want to hear what I they want to

hear my take on certain things Whether or not

I actually you know wind up as the character.

I'm auditioning for is something else I don't

really know but a lot of the times when you get

invited to audition for something They want to

hear you just so they can be like okay well when

we're ready we'll call on this guy. That's how

I've been booking the video games actually is

a guy that I met Chris Borders who was the director

of games like Gears of War and Mass Effect and

you know a lot of those really big You know,

some Final Fantasy games and stuff like that.

He's the one who called me in. And it was off

a relationship I started building back at Comic

Con. And he called me and he said, man, I've

been wanting to get you in on something. I'm

glad I had this opportunity to call you in and

it's really great to have you here and we'll

get you in on more stuff. And then I auditioned

for stuff for Disney all the time. I actually

got an audition today. That I'm going in for

tomorrow where I'm playing I'm playing three

characters In the audition, you know, who knows

if I'll book it or not But it's basically three

characters all with the same accent, but they

want a different voice for all three guys Yeah,

I wish But yeah, it's basically it's all it's

a you know, it's it's it's having to change and

affect my voice for different stuff And then

let's see. What else have I recently done? I

worked on the Bible did some background ADR for

an audiobook narration kind of dramatization

of the Bible. So that was interesting. A lot

of screaming and yelling and background kind

of stuff. I was going to say, you must be really

old if you worked on that thing. Yeah. Jesus

signed my yearbook. Why is Chris Rock popping

into my head? Let's see. What else have I been

working on? Just did a pilot for Fox. I don't

know if it's a... It's probably a primetime pilot,

just did that. But then, being that it's a pilot,

unless the network picks it up, it may never

air, no one may ever see it. But that's something

I've worked on recently. But yeah, it's starting

to come in. There's some pretty regular stuff

coming in. So it's just a matter of... You know

and I've had a lot of close calls, you know,

like I said with you know, there was there was

the there was Ninja Turtles and And I actually

got called back into audition for another character.

I think they've already they've already revealed

who he is I think at comic -con they revealed

did they reveal who's playing Casey Jones at

comic -con They revealed that Casey's coming.

I don't know if they've revealed who's playing

him. Okay The voice is that well, I know the

voice is out there because I've seen video. I've

heard the voice. I just don't know. Yeah. I don't

know who it is. I do. I do, but I can't find

out. Let's see. Yeah, I was I was actually in

on the on a record session that he was in on.

Rob invited me to come be a guest and that was

that was a lot of fun. I was there the day that

Corey Feldman was there recording his stuff and

I don't know if they've revealed who he is yet

or not. I think they have. I don't want to spill

the beans, though, because, like I said, I'm.

Oh, come on. Give us a giraffe viral future giraffe.

Well, Raphael has a pet. Oh, no. Do not tell

me that Cory is the voice of the pet. No, it's

true. Yeah. Josh Peck is Casey. There we go.

Okay. Okay. So they have, they have, they have

revealed. Yeah. Josh Peck from a Drake and Josh,

I think is the show that he used. Yeah. Um, funny

thing is Wikipedia says Casey Jones voiced by

Josh Peck role not yet revealed. Oh, nice. Nice.

Good for, good for Wikipedia. But yeah, you know,

I mean, it's it's it's it's really cool, you

know, because that's the Casey Jones is a role

that I auditioned for, you know, and it's kind

of a it's kind of a thing, too. And it's like

you've auditioned for something and then you

walk into the recording session to see the guy

that actually has the part that you audition

for. And it's a weird thing in voice acting,

because, you know, it's like in any other thing,

it gets competitive and you're like, you know.

But it's not that way in voice acting, you know,

it's like all I could do is congratulate the

dude, man, because I was just like, wow, man,

you're because he's killing it. He was doing

a great job. And, you know, it's like it's it's,

you know, I just wasn't right for it. Yeah. And

so you just have to sit around and wait for the

one that you are right for. You know, it's like

and be ready to bring it when it comes across

your, you know, when they fire the script across

your bow, you know, be ready to be ready to do

it, you know, at the drop of a hat if they call

you and say, OK, you're the one we want. So.

Yeah Cuz there's times it like what like I'll

get I'll get a call I'll get a call on a Monday.

They'll be like yep. You're working tomorrow.

You know and it'd be like what is it? Well, it's

a video game. You'll know when you get there

You know, I'll walk in and literally not have

the script nothing, you know They'll hand it

to me when I walk in and like, okay, we got two

three hours Let's knock this out and I'll have

you know, all these lines You know, I mean, animation

is a little different because it's like you kind

of know the character. Like I said, this thing

that I'm auditioning for tomorrow is pretty established.

It's a kids show. And so I get to have a little

bit more fun with my voice. I get to be a little

bit more cartoony, which is a lot of fun. Because

everything's so serious and dour now, you know,

it's like there's there's hardly like like fun

anymore You know, it's like everything's just

very you know, just dark and dreary So it's nice

to it's nice to get one where it's like, you

know You just get a kind of going go in the booth

and make a jackass out of yourself You know for

four hours and then they write you a check That's

the best kind of pay it is it is What are some

shows or properties of games or any of that kind

of voiceover stuff that you'd like to be able

to try and get into or love to put your chops

to? Well, Turtles. I would love to work on Turtles.

And like I said, I've been fired at that thing

at least three times. Law of Averages, eventually

I'll wind up being in there and being somebody.

I'd love to play Ace Duck. if they ever get around

to putting Ace Duck in that show. He was one

of my favorite figures as a kid, so I'd love

to play that character. Let's see, game -wise,

I love big epic RPGs when I'm playing video games,

so I'd love to get into a series like that, like

a Mass Effect or... Or an elder scrolls or something

like that dragon age, you know, one of those

big sweeping, you know epic kind of things You

know Lord of the Rings type stuff Fantasy sci

-fi, you know, I'm not real big into military

games and stuff like that. I don't play a lot

of those I auditioned for a ton of them But to

me, that's just a job. It's like going in and

doing the journeyman kind of actor thing. I would

love to work on a Transformers cartoon at some

point. I would love to work on one of the DC

movies. Even if it's just a little bit voice,

I would love to work on something like that.

I would love... nothing more in the world than

to have Weapon Ears of Monkah become an animated

series. That's a dream of mine to see my own

toys made into an 80s -style cartoon. When they

teased with the Thundercats that they were like

the Silver Hawks and... Tiger Sharks and all

those others that were kind of in the background

in one of those episodes. It was the hugest tease

in the world. Wasn't it? Yeah, yeah, and it never

got paid off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean

that that that that was a two way. That's the

other thing, too, is like it's it's it's. The

toy company, the network, the production company,

you know, it's like there's so many variables

into those things, but I would love to play,

if a Silverhawks cartoon ever got made, I'd love

to play Bluegrass. You know, that would be one

character that I'd really lobby for to get in

on. And then Skylanders. I'd love to work on

Skylanders. I play the heck out of those games

and I missed the latest one, the auditions for

that. I don't know what happened. I didn't get

my agent, either for some reason, either didn't

get any of the sides for that. It was kind of

a kept in the family kind of thing. I don't know

what happened with that one, but the newest Skylanders.

Or anything or any iteration after that one.

I'd love to work on that game Nice So tell everybody

how tell everybody your secrets of kicking in

the voice acting door Kicking in the voice acting

door Like what's your advice for Pete because

Steve is I am very enthusiastic Yes, I am very

enthusiastic and studying up and trying to work

my way that direction I know I'm nowhere ready

yet, but The world of voiceover and and that

kind of stuff is always intrigued me even as

a kid. Yeah Well, um act you know, community

theater, you know, any, if you've got a local

radio station or anything, I mean, doing a podcast

is, you know. That's a step in the right direction

too, because we're doing any kind of anything

where you use your voice on a regular basis,

because you learn how it works with the microphone,

you learn how it sounds when it's recorded. A

lot of people, they'll record their voice and

be like, that doesn't sound anything like me.

I don't sound like that. They're not real comfortable.

It's getting comfortable with your instrument

and getting comfortable with your abilities.

That's the main thing. Being cool or being good

gets you in the door, being cool keeps you in

the room. So having a career at it, you know,

I think Tom Kane was just on Rob's podcast last

week. And one of the things he said was like,

you know, it's like these are, you know, most

of the guys that do it for a living and do it

on a regular basis are the guys that show up

on time, are fun to work with, are easygoing.

They're not, you know, a -holes. They're good

fun people. And that's what it really boils down

to. One of the things Rob says, it's luck meeting

opportunity. And when that luck meets that opportunity,

if you're ready to bring it, if you've got the

talent and you've got the goods, when those two

things collide and you get your foot in the door,

then it starts to roll. And one of my things

is I'm always in the public eye. You know, if

I can't, you know, in one way or the other, whether

it's through Spy Monkey or whether it's through

my voice acting stuff, social media, I'm always

on the social media. And now it's like, you know,

I've got people that I'll have agents and casting

directors that follow me on Facebook or Twitter

or things like that. They'll walk up to me at

an event and be like, oh, I saw what you posted

the other day. Ha ha ha. That was so funny. We'll

need to get you in one of these days to work

on such and such show. You know, and it's based

on a tweet that I did four months ago. You know,

and so so it is it's it's you know, I mean, there's

there's so many factors so many factors into

it But as far as you know when getting yourself

ready and getting your instrument ready It's

you know, I mean if you're doing a podcast doing

any kind of local radio or TV spots If you can,

you know, if you can find, you know where those

are done Yeah, you know Local commercials, you

know, it's like Rob said before, you know when

he when he was in Detroit and coming up You know,

it's like he'd do He'd do commercials for the

local sporting goods shop, you know, and stuff

like that just to kind of, you know, build his

reel and his resume and everything, you know.

And I did the same thing. When I was in high

school, I was a DJ at the local radio station.

And I worked two different stations. I worked

like a rock. Top 40 station at night and I worked

the the a .m. Country station on the weekends

And that's kind of you know, one of the things

where I got where I got started, you know learning

how them how my voice now sounds on a microphone

and how you know How to you know when you get

up closer to the mic and when you back away from

the mic You know, I mean just how it how it affects

your voice doing different things. So, you know

And there's plenty of classes where you were

you located? Actually, I'm in the Grand Blank,

Michigan area. Oh, Rob. Wow. Wow. Wow. Yeah.

So you're right in his neck of the woods, his

stomping grounds. You know, there's a. you know

any kind of anything where you can perform or

if there's an improv group or you know like a

community theater anything like that that you

can get involved in you know and even local agents

you know it's like you could if you have a reel

together or something you can send that to a

local agent you know or a regional agent especially

you know the internet day and age where everybody's

got you know setups you know it's so easy to

set up a home studio now. You know where you

can record stuff from home and commercials and

promos and stuff like that. I'm you know Unless

it's a video game or animation. I rarely record

in the studio Nice So, you know, I mean, I hope

that was a decent answer. I hope that helps you

It's you know, I mean there's there's plenty,

you know, like I said locally when I lived in

Oklahoma, you know, it's like I I did Anywhere

that I worked I always did you know if they did

any kind of advertising, you know, I got I got

the owners to let me be the be the voice of the

company You know to do that kind of stuff, you

know to do their commercials and their radio

spots and stuff like that. So Very awesome. There's

lots of stuff And when you do that when you come

out here, you know when you do make your way

to Los Angeles finally you've got a little bit

of a You've got a little bit of a little bit

of a background that you can use because you're

gonna get asked You know, it's like what have

you done? Where have you been? You know, who

do you know that kind of stuff? It's like those

are the those are like the first three questions

an agent asks you before the you know before

they sit down to have a meeting so You know,

it's always good to kind of already have a bunch

of stuff in your hip pocket. Very good to know.

Yes. Alright, anything else you want to ask him,

Steve? What is the recent fascination with people

making memes of you? I've seen a few of them

already. You know, I don't know, it's been kind

of funny. I've lived, well I mean just from sitting

here talking to you guys, just telling you things

that I've done in my life. I don't know any different.

Those are the things I've done in my life. Here

recently, I've had a few friends and acquaintances

come out of the woodwork and be like, well we

don't believe any of that stuff. Most of them

have witnessed the things that have happened.

You know, so it's just like I've gotten to this

I've got this real weird kind of and a couple

of my friends that You know kind of called BS

on the friends that were calling BS on me We're

just kind of like look man. You got you were

there when it happened, you know, it's like How

can you sit there and say he's that? Did not

happen to him when you were right there and you

witnessed it, you know So this whole thing of

me being, you know being the young version of

the most interesting man in the world has started

to float around because it's like the voice actors

they'll you know they'll be like you know everybody

you know it's like a new voice actor will come

up and they'll be like my gosh you know everybody

it's like i'm just i'm just a dude you know it's

like i i i've lived my life and these people

have come in or out of my life one way or the

other you know um it's it's it's kind of weird

when i when i was a kid in high school you know

nicolas cage came through our hometown and they

were shooting a movie. And he found out that

I had a pretty extensive Superman comic book

collection. Nicolas Cage would come over to my

house and sit down on my bedroom floor with me

and look at my Superman comics with me. You know,

I mean, I was a senior in high school and Nicolas

Cage is hanging out of my house, you know. And

we've been we've been friends ever since, you

know, it's like I've sold him some comics. I've

bought some comics from him. And, you know, just

some just all kinds of weird stuff. You know,

it's like I've led a very Very strange and surreal

and interesting life and the memes I think kind

of evolved out of people trying to call me out

as being full of crap and So that's how them

how the at least the last one that I saw Started

out as I think it was the most interesting and

man in the world and he's on top He's the photo

on top going I don't always and it's me down

at the bottom going bitch, please Yeah, yeah,

so I think that's the lady. Is that the one you're

talking about? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's another

one further down says give that man a cookie

oh yeah yeah yeah i saw that one i saw that one

too someone else made that one like right off

the right on the heels of that one but there's

been a few others uh there's been a few like

weapon ears of monkah um memes pop up uh that

i've noticed and those are those are cracking

me up you know it's like like the the dude that

does the alien thing uh on the history channel

he's got the big freaking uh babalon 5 haircut

with the oh yeah And there's a picture of him

where he's just kind of like, hey, he's got this

look on his face. And he goes, I don't want to

say it was Munkarians, but it was Munkarians.

You know, it's like the weaponers of Munkah.

So, you know, it's like Cybertronians, Thundarians,

you know, Eternians, Munkarians. So. So anyway,

it's like I've noticed quite a few memes popping

up lately, you know, it's like and again It's

like I'm I keep telling everybody's man. I'm

just some dude who's just trying to pay his rent

You know, I can make my car payments. Yeah, it's

just I you know, I but I'm also a very Approachable

person, you know, I and I I don't know a stranger

You know, I'll talk to anybody and I'll you know,

people were walking by our table at comic -con

just kind of like You know looking at our toys

flipping stuff over and everybody that walked

by And I've had a dollar for every time I said

this during comic -con We could have paid for

our booth just on this but everybody that walked

by I said happy comic -con you know just And

everyone, everybody that was looking at their

feet had their bottom lip dragging, their head

came up and they smiled and they were like, yeah,

happy Comic Con, you know? I mean, and that's,

you know, and then they would stop and I'd wind

up talking to them for 10 or 15 minutes, you

know? And it's just, and they, you know, they

didn't know what I was selling, what I had there,

you know? I just, I don't know a stranger. I

kind of, you know, I engage everybody that I

come into contact with. So, and I think that

kind of, I think that kind of bugs a few people,

a few people that I know that, you know, aren't

like that. I think it's a cool trait. Yeah. I

think it's cool as well. It just, I have this

whole thing now where I've lived in Louisville,

Kentucky for God's sake. He's a recluse. Yeah.

I've become a recluse because I hate dealing

with people in the real world. Mike's like digital

or go home Yeah, well we live out in the sticks

because of that I'm kind of I'm kind of an isolationist

too in In the fact that when when it's time for

me to be on I'm on But when it's when I when

it's time for me that when it's when I need a

breather I go as far away from people as I can

I guess I grew up I grew up southern Arizona

You know just outside of an Indian reservation

an Apache Indian reservation, and I'm a quarter

patching myself, so You know, it's, I'm, you

know, my wife gets terrified on my birthday when

I'm literally out in the back hills running around

with all the coyotes, you know, and she's just

like, you're going to get rabies. You know, and

I'm like, no, I need, you know, it's, it's kind

of how I etch a sketch. You know, it's, it's

my new year, you know, it's like, I go out and

sit, you know, I go out and sit on a hillside

for, you know, for a day and a half and just,

you know, stay away from people, you know, and

it just, you know, and then I'm, I'm ready to

attack my year. That's coming up, actually. I

got about. What is it the fifth? Yeah, 23rd.

So I'll be uh, I'll be running up the hillside

up the back of the hillside and You know rolling

around in the dirt with the coyotes here in about

a half a month Oh my god an old Mowgli, holy

crap. Yeah. Yeah an old fat Mowgli Jungle book

three story of how Mowgli got fat. I don't know.

Like who is that? Who is that? It's like See,

I used to joke with people too that old picture

of Bigfoot Yeah, that's not Bigfoot. That's my

dad on a camping trip. They got caught. He got

caught skinny -dipping Well, it's been fun chatting

with Brian We're gonna chat with him some more

stuff who people won't be able to hear cuz we're

gonna try to bribe him For now for geek cast

radio. I have been tf2 and Mike with Steve Megatron

Phillips And of course our guest, what the hell

is a guest? Our guest has been Mr. Brian T. Stevenson.

Give the people a voice to close the show out

on. Hey, thank you very much for listening. And

hey, don't park next to my car. I'll key your

stuff. You know what I'm saying? Wow, you know

the New York accent. We will catch you next time.

Unleash the geek in you. Epic fail. Oh, no, wait

a minute. Wait a minute. This is where it gets

really good If you want to hear the rest of that

story tune into Transformers prime time coming

soon from the geek cast radio network We have

no idea when but in the future Transformers prime

time We decepticons now Face our darkest hour.