Interview with E.G. Daily on Voice Acting, Animation, and Her Career

Thank you. I can feel the magic flowing in the

air Being with you gets me that way I watch the

sunlight dance across your face And I've ever

been this swept away It's the beat! from Hollywood,

California. Yeah. Whoa. That's awesome that she's

not from anywhere near where you live, Blake.

I live here now. What are you talking about?

No, no. Not by choice. I'm from Hollywood, too.

Not by choice. Wow. You know, it's not that often

a singer comes along, no matter what genre they're

in, they can have that much rasp in their voice.

But also be able to hit all of the notes that

you hit. You even did a falsetto with rasp in

it. Don't you think that sounds like a Team Blake

thing? I don't think so. When you hear that,

Christina, I didn't say Adam. I said Christina

when I said, don't you think that? Woo. You know,

I love both these guys. Oh, here we go. Either

way you go is going to be great. I think maybe

on paper, Blake's seem to make more sense. But

on paper's ass? What about on the stage right

now? I seem like a natural fit. You know what?

I like it when rasp is someone's reality, not

just them struggling to go someplace higher.

It's just a quality in your voice. It's natural.

I love it. It's right down my alley. You know,

you reminded me of Rod Stewart. Love him. Me

too. I'm proud to say that he's a friend of mine.

Like, I can call him maybe. I have to call this

manager, but I still call him. You look familiar,

do you do you at all did you see peewees big

adventure? Baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta

do Now I'm definitely saying CeeLo man, come

on What the hell's that got to do with what's

happening right now? Where's large Marge? I think

you're a great vocalist Go with CeeLo. Done deal.

He knows you Today I'm here for the voice that

I'm singing with And um and I'm going with Blake

Hello and welcome to the first ever crossover

interview between talking about my generation

and the geek cast radio network I'm one of your

hosts Doug Abel and joining me today is TFG one

Mike Today we welcome the voice of Tommy Pickles

Buttercup various classic Disney characters Everything

else she's done. I'm gonna nerd out for just

a second here, and I'm gonna be Kermit the Frog

Welcome miss EG daily Hi EG. How are you? I'm

great I'm in Louisville, Kentucky. He's out there

in Hollywood land. Yeah, I'm in San Diego I met

you I was the one who was bald and met you with

my wife and the Ewok costume on So we wanted

to go ahead and ask you a couple questions here

Mike wants to start off. He's got some questions

for you Alright, before we get started, is there

anything that you have coming up that you're

allowed to without the gods descending on you

and saying, no, no, no, you can't tell them that?

Is there anything coming up for you that you

can talk about? Um, yeah, there's so much good

stuff, actually. It's just so vast. There's the

new Rob Zombie movie called 31 that I'm in, and

my character's name is Beckhead, and that's coming

out sometime in the new year, January, February.

It's going to be awesome. It was Rob's who wrote

it and directed it. It's going to be super awesome.

And my character is really badass, so that's

going to be a blast. I just released on my website

on EasyDaily .com a one -woman autobiographical

musical that I had filmed that's really powerful

and talks a lot about the journey that I've had.

And that just got uploaded onto Amazon for digital

downloads. You can get that from the website.

And then I have a voiceover acting seminar that

I did that's going to be uploaded on Amazon in

a couple more weeks. It's going to be up on the

website. And again, available for digital downloads.

So people are interested in voiceover. It's going

to have all the tips, tools, and how -tos of

voiceover. It's going to have tips from the top

agents. It's going to have Bill Farmer, who is

one of the original goofy voices, among others.

So it's a really powerful little seminar for

people that are interested in this. in voiceover

or even in just the entertainment business. Pretty

cool. So and then also I'm doing an album, working

on an album with a guy named Michael J and it's

all kinds of dance music plus power ballads,

the pop ballads. It's really fantastic and otherwise

I'm just being super busy like with all that.

I can imagine. Super busy. Alright, so. And then,

yeah, and being a mom. Yeah, that would take

up most of the time. Yeah. So where did you grow

up? And did you always want to be a actor or

voice act? Did you want to always be in the acting

profession? Not really, guys. When I grew up

in Hollywood and when I was little, I was more

of a dancer. I was more comfortable with dancing.

So I was in dance and but as far as like saying,

well, when I grew up, I'm going to be a famous

cartoon. I never thought I never would even think

things like that. Right. So I never, I never

thought that I just did it when I was really

young. I used to do voices. So there was a little

key there when I was young, which is that I used

to walk around the playground in elementary school,

holding pinkies with my best friend, Michelle,

and we would do baby voices. So that was kind

of the little beginnings of my voiceover career

was back then. And then you cut to. Years later

and I get my first audition for cartoon and I'm

like, hey, I've been doing that voice since I

was a kid I've pulled the voice. It's been doing

since I was a kid and guess whose voice that

ended up being Well with pretty cool Well, I

would ask then you kind of just told us here

basically how you broke into the business Basically

just kind of going through and doing it Would

you mind giving us a little taste of some of

the characters you've done VO work for? Mean

the list goes on happy feet was baby mumble,

and he just sort of says Sweet and tiny and then

I did Dave too and the list kind of goes on I

can't even Remember some of them actually, but

I do some voices in Starship troopers. I do mockingbird

and I do moonbeam Walking bird. Yeah, there's

a whole bunch of different characters. It's kind

of endless Well, it's jr. I do the voice of Julius

and Julius jr. Which is for Nick jr. Awesome

Mm -hmm Did you have anything to do with my little

pony friendship is magic? I swear someone told

me that recently, but I could be wrong Wait,

what was that? I have anything to do my little

pony friendship is magic No, that's far a lot

of people think me and Tara the same person because

you look so small No, I know the difference I've

talked to Tara before but I just wanted to make

sure cuz someone told me recently. Oh She was

on this and I'm like, you probably not Unless

I don't remember but I doubt that I don't think

I've done a little pony that's mostly target

Yeah, what? Since I'm looking at your IMDb and

stuff really quickly What additional voices did

you do in Wreck -It Ralph? Wreck -It Ralph was

more of like an ensemble of different kinds of

voices. I was in a lot of group looping with

a lot of the best voiceover people. We were like

kids and lollipops. It was more general. I think

I was a little kid at one point. It's just I'd

have to go back and honestly watch it because

I did so much in a day That it's hard to say

specifically, but that was more of a generalize.

Just a lot of different voices Absolutely Well,

yeah, I have another one another good question

for you here You know, we know that voiceover

actors have a lot of characters that they cover

and we know that there's a huge range I've heard

many people talk about how they have one that's

very hard for them to do and one that's very

easy for them to do Typically, what do you think

is your easiest character to perform and the

hardest one on your voice? And please, don't

kill your voice for us if you can't do it. The

easiest character to do? Yeah. They're all pretty

easy. I mean, they all just kind of come out.

I mean, just like my own voice would if they're

different people. So I would say, I mean, there

really isn't a... They're all pretty easy. I

would say the harder ones are... Like Froggy

in The Little Rascals was a little harder because

he was more like, you know, he's a little scratchier.

He was just scratchier kind of kid. So that was

one of the harder voices or the voice in Lorenzo's

Oil that I had to read up the lead voice for.

But the rest are all pretty easy and pretty fun.

I mean, it's pretty effortless. I mean, I could

lie and say, I must prepare. It's very difficult

work here, but that would be a lie. So for the

most part, it's all pretty fun. Awesome. Do you

have a favorite scene from your movies, whether

animated or on camera, that stands out to you?

A specific scene from on camera? From on camera.

Yeah, do you have a specific moment in any of

your work that you just absolutely love that

stands out to you? I just gotta say I really

loved all the Pee Wee Airman moments. It was

really awesome. Getting to be Doddy. Getting

to be Pee Wee's Doddy. I would say a lot of the

movies in Pee Wee's Big Adventure. And then I'm

a big fan of the Rob Zombie movies. I'm like,

I loved my candy roll in that movie. I had a

lot of fun with Bill Moseley. Just had a blast

with him and laughing my buns off if I could

say that. And then I'd have to say, I'd have

to say honestly, the new Rob Zombie movie that

hasn't come out yet, but will be coming out in

January is probably one of my favorite characters

I've ever done in my whole life. Have you ever

had a moment where a fan didn't believe you were

a particular voice? and then they start cracking

a smile and soften and become these cute little

kids that they really are. Alright, let me add

to that. Do you have any Toys -R -Us stories

where you've gone into Toys -R -Us and talked

as Buttercup? Oh god, Mike, you're gonna drag

that out, aren't you? Well, Mike, I think my

kids are a little bigger now, so I haven't really

had to do much Toys -R -Us shopping, but um,

maybe sometimes where we've been in stores and

like at Target and we're trying to pickle stalls

or some kind of doll where you press the little

hand and the voice comes out and then I might

do the voice right next to the doll and people

kind of look over you like kind of confused not

quite getting it. I rather keep it kind of like

that kind of a mystery. I think that's really

fun but sometimes I'll be in a group of kids

and then I'll just start talking as Tommy and

then you just slowly watch their eyes get bigger

and bigger and then their valves drop wide open

and then you tell them and then they freak out.

Pretty cute. Yeah, I always have to ask that

question now ever since I interviewed Larry Kenny

for the first time and he told us that he had

a Toys R Us story where he was in Toys R Us and

went up to this mother and son and said to the

son, I'm the voice of Lionel. And the kid's like,

no, I don't believe you. Prove it. And he talks

in the voice, that sounds nothing like him. That's

pretty funny. So I have to always ask that question.

I'm going to ask now, Rugrats and Powerpuff Girls,

did you have any other roles that you auditioned

for besides Tommy and Buttercup? That I auditioned

for? Are we in those shows? Yes. Is that what

you're saying? Yeah. Well, there was a period

of time where the character Susie in Rugrats,

Cree Summer, I think she was on tour. or she

was making her album and she wasn't available

for a few of the Rugrats episodes for a small

period of time. And I remember them saying, oh

no, we have to get a voice match replacement

for Cree's Susie in the Rugrats. And I was like,

oh, wow, bummer. And then I said, well, I think

I could probably do that voice. And then the

next thing you know was, because when you work

so close to people, you kind of capture their

quality. The next thing, I was actually doing

Susie's voice for a little while until she came

back, which was really fun. Awesome. And of course,

pop -up girls, yeah, we do some other little

roles sometimes. But I couldn't tell you what

those are, because that's so on and off throughout

the years. Right. So let me ask here, because

we know that you've done some fairly large roles

with major actors. I hate saying that because

I really think that all you voice actors are

some of the greatest actors out there because

you guys do so much work that is unsung. But

what was it like working with Jason Alexander

on Duckman and then John Candy on Camp Candy?

Wow, you're going way back. Yeah. John Candy

was awesome. And the thing about Camp Candy was

that was one of my very first kind of real big

jobs. I mean, I've been doing others, but the

thing about Camp Candy is I was doing four voices

on that show. Four main voices. So I was going

from... That was the thing I remember the most.

I mean, John was... It was really cool to get

to work with him because he was, like, kind of

legendary. But for me, the focus was on the fact

that I had to kind of keep these four people

all separated, all line to line, back to back,

which was kind of crazy. Who was the other person?

Oh, Jason Alexander's doll. And I had a really

good time with him. And I also got to work with

Liesl Zappa and Dana Hill and a really cool group

of people during Deckman. That was an awesome

gig. Awesome. All right. Are there any crazy

off the wall, behind the scenes moments from

the voice booth that you can tell us about from

either Rugrats or Powerpuff Girls or any kind

of... antics or shenanigans you guys pulled off

when you were in those sessions? Half of those

sessions were always racy and crazy. You could

put a camera, you could put a GoPro camera or

a GoPro, whatever it was called, in our sessions.

It was hilarious when we were not rolling. The

B -roll was so funny and so naughty sometimes.

And we all knew each other so well that we would

just have a ball. He's super goofy. I mean, someday

somebody's gonna pull those tapes out. You know,

and they're pretty racy and pretty funny, but

that's the fun of voiceover, you know. You keep

it PG and PC, and then when you're in the studio,

all kinds of crazy stuff goes down because you're

buddies and you grow to know each other so well.

The other thing was we all kind of had babies

around. We all had kids. We all grew up watching

each other get married and have kids. And there

was a lot of history behind and underneath the

behind the scenes of all those shows. Same thing

with Rugrats. I mean, I was doing a Rugrats session

and I was doing my lines and I'd be like, oh,

Trekkie, I don't know, what would it be? And

I'd be like, oh, please. And then I'd be like,

ah, I'm having contractions. And throughout the

session, they have me in labor. And then later

that night, I had a baby. So I literally was

in labor during a Rugrats session. That's pretty

cool. You are the second voice actress that I've

interviewed that has a pregnant while being in

an agent's office or in a voice session the first

one was Simile Montano who did the voice of RC

over on transformers No, you're the second person

that has told a pregnant while being in the booth

story that I've talked to So let me ask who are

some of the other voice actors or actresses that

have inspired you EG What's that who the other

voices that have been what inspired you I Think

trash There's so many great challenges once I

mean I gotta say like all my friends inspire

me the ones I work with every day I mean the

Rob Paulson's been that and And Jez Harnell and

Tara is amazing. Tara is strong. And all my buddies

and my peers inspire me every time I do a session.

You know what I mean? Every time I work with

voiceover people, I'm blown away. And you'll

hear that coming from each other. We're always

like, wow, that's amazing. We'll all sit around

with each other, just kind of being blown away

by each other. Because it's a real art. Absolutely.

Has there any... In your entire voice over her

is there ever been anything in a script that

you refused to say? No, I wouldn't know kidding

if any newer things that I'd have to try to not

say That I wanted to say In that same vein are

there any roles that you would never take? Have

there has there been been anything where you're

like, yeah, I just don't want to do that in my

acting roles or in my voiceover? Never. In voiceover,

no, never. Because I've even done some race or

animation things that I just find it all to be

fun and artistic. And as far as on camera, when

I was young, I think there were weird roles that

I got offered where I felt uncomfortable. But

now that I'm older, I mean, I do what I love.

I do with art and I don't really have like rules

unless I feel uncomfortable in my skin. If it's

art and I love it and I love the piece and I

love the writing and I love the character, I

do whatever. I do whatever because I look at

myself as an instrument and then I decorate it

however. Clothing, no clothing, whatever it is,

whatever it calls for. Right, right. Now I was

really surprised and very happy to see you on

one of these seasons of The Voice. What was that

experience like? That was pretty magical really.

I mean it was sort of a one of the big milestones

in my career because it gave people a chance

to hear the voice that I've been singing with

my whole life some people didn't know I was capable

of. It gave people a chance to know oh that's

the woman who does Tommy Pickles and oh that's

the same woman who does Dottie and all those

things came together on that stage in front of

30, 40, 50 million people on that episode. It

all kind of came together for me as the singer

voice, the voice over voice, the woman voice,

the mother voice, the person voice, the voice,

you know, E .G. Dailey, the voice, the person

with that voice. So it was pretty pivotal. It

was pretty incredible. And I have to say one

of the most powerful moments of my career, that

having children, my one -woman show, Tansy, my

one -woman show, sorry, my one -woman autobiographical

Listen Closely show, and then now my seminar

i think there's been some pivotal milestones

in all the music i'd say rock rat powerpuff girls

there's very significant things in my career

absolutely yeah he we valley girls you know friends

two and a half men theme song wait what you guys

know i sing the theme song with two and a half

men Oh my god. I had no idea. I'm sorry. That's

awesome. Hey man, you didn't do your homework.

No. I was boating up on all the cartoon voices.

I'm sorry. When I saw you on the fifth season

of The Voice, I'm like, hey, that's kind of cool.

And I'm like, wow, we're going to see a whole

different side of her. And you did some dang

good songs on that show. Oh, thank you. That

was a blast. It was really fun. It was really

fun. You guys have to check out my... I'm gonna

post a Megadeth song that I sang at a friend's

bar mitzvah that was such a blast and the fans

went nuts because they didn't know I could sing

like that but it's this crazy metal rock Megadeth

song. I'm gonna post it probably this week. Awesome.

Oh man. Yeah, make sure you let everybody know.

Go to EasyDaily .com and... By me on Twitter

really daily Facebook Instagram really daily

buying all that stuff on definitely definitely

absolutely So now we know obviously you've been

to fan conventions. I saw you comic -con I What

yeah, what are your thoughts on those conventions

all the different conventions that you've gone

to? My thoughts on dimensions, I think you're

awesome. They're an awesome opportunity to get

to run into people in person. You see how your

real fans are. They come and they're lined up

and they're waiting for you and it's so awesome.

And you get to have a conversation with people

that really respect what you do and you can feel

it and it's so awesome. You know, rather than

just somebody from afar appreciating your work,

you get to see their faces light up when they

see you and it's just a magical experience. I

love it. Know I felt kind of bad when I walked

up and I saw you sitting there and Nancy sitting

over on the right side and all I could think

was Folks everybody who's waiting over here for

Nancy you need to go instead of listening to

Chucky go over here and listen to Tommy Nancy

was only there for like a couple hours, so the

fans kind of coagulated at one time zone Whereas

I've been there for hours, so we had constant

traffic of fans And so it was just because Nancy

had just popped in for a minute that people were

trying to get a chance to see her and she's so

talented. She's so awesome. And our, you know,

good friend and amazing talented woman. Absolutely.

I'm trying to think if there's anything else.

All right. So you gave out your website and your

Twitter information, all that good stuff. Besides

the Rob Zombie movie and all that stuff coming

next year, do you have any cartoons that you're

currently doing this year? Yeah, I'm working

on something called Max and Wrigley, which is

a new series, and I'm also on Nick Jr.'s Julius

Jr. and I do the character Julius. And then,

like I said, I do Moonbeam in Starship Troopers

and Mockingbird. I've already been in Starship

Troopers, but Moonbeam is more current. I just

did records on some of those for Starship Troopers.

I mean, sorry, for the non -Starship Troopers

for Avengers. Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah, Avengers.

There's constant work. It's super fun. Voice

-over is super fun. And like I said, the music,

I've just been super involved in doing a lot

of this writing and producing. Yeah. Yeah, you

kind of remind me of Samantha Newark who did

the original voice of Jim where that's what she's

focusing on now is her music career. That's awesome.

I like doing it all. I think it's all fun. So

I'm gonna ask EG since I know that you've done

some older songs earlier in your career. I actually

went on YouTube after I saw the voice. There

was a bunch of links for you and I happened to

come across Mind over matter that you did for

summer school Are you thinking about going back

and trying to redo any of these songs that you've

done before or putting them together on some

of your albums? It's funny that you say that

because The producers and I'm doing all my new

record with happens to be the guy that wrote

mind over matter Michael J So we reconnected

and we're doing this amazing batch of music together

and He's super talented. So we've been composing

and tracking and recording Constantly me and

Michael J. The guy who wrote mind over matter,

which is super cool. Awesome Glad to hear that.

Yeah Can I ask when you expect that to be coming

out? I mean that just like a ballpark I'm probably

the new year. Okay, I'm gonna get it all lined

up and then I'm just gonna release a batch of

stuff I'm gonna release I'll have the Rob Zombie

movie come out, I'll release some of the music

simultaneously. Like I said, right now you can

get my one -woman autobiographical musical online

on my website, there's a link to it. And then

in two weeks, the voiceover seminar, which is

a really fun tool and it's also about the life

journey, and it's pretty informative. So those

things are the things we're talking about a lot

right now that are out, except for the seminars

in two weeks, it'll be up on the site. In the

meantime, yeah, I'll just be in the studio. I'll

be doing more voice work. And I think I've got

a Rhode Island con coming up. If you go to my

website, egdaily .com, you'll see what's going

on there as far as where exactly I'll be at Rhode

Island and what con that is. So if you live anywhere

near there, come see me. Awesome. Yeah. Well,

this has been a blast. We would like to thank

Ms. Daily for taking the time to chat with us

in this Talking About My Generation GeekCast

Radio Network crossover interview. We'll ask

you to hold the line and we'll be back after

this, folks. Alright folks, there you go. EG

Daily here on Talking About My Generation and

the GeekCast Radio Network's Tooncast Beyond.

That was a blast. As she said, her website is

EG Daily dot com. We'll have all the links to

that and her Twitter and all that stuff in the

post on both our websites. Who knows, maybe next

time we'll do a crossover interview that everyone

can constantly be angry at. Because that's the

secret, folks. You always gotta stay angry so

you don't hulk out. Alright, well that's going

to do it for talking about my generation in TombCast

Beyond from the GeekCast Radio Network. We will

catch you next time, folks.