Interview with E.G. Daily on Voice Acting, Rugrats, Powerpuff Girls, and The Voice

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 never

been this swept away Is the beat of 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? 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 team would make more sense,

but on paper's ass, what about on this 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 his

manager, but I still call him. Let me ask you

a question. You look familiar. Do you act at

all? Did you see Pee Wee's Big Adventure? Yes!

Dottie! Yes! You're Dottie! You're Dottie! That's

awesome. That's the coolest thing ever. I cannot

believe it. But is it cooler than this? A baby's

gotta do what a baby's gotta do. Oh, my God.

From Rugrats? Rugrats, yes. 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 Mars? I think you're a great vote Go with

CeeLo done deal He knows you Today I'm here for

the voice that I'm singing with And and I'm going

with Blake. She's a little bitty. This is going

to be a lot of fun, sweetie. Hello and welcome

to the first ever crossover interview between

Talking About My Generation and the Geekcast

Radio Network. I'm one of your hosts, Doug Abel,

and joining me today is TFG1 Mike. Today, we

welcome the voice of Tommy Pickles, Buttercup,

various classic Disney characters, everything

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

a second here, and I'm going to be Kermit the

Frog. Welcome, Miss E .G. Daly! Yay! Hi, E .G.,

how are you? I'm doing well. That was good. I'm

doing pretty well. How about you? I'm great.

You're good. What's happening, guys? 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 Friday. Yeah, yeah, awesome. That's

awesome. 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. 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? 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 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 download,

so 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 download. So

if 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's

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

um all kinds of dancing music plus power ballads

the pop ballads it's really fantastic and um

otherwise i'm just being super busy like with

all that i can imagine super busy all right so

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 an actor or

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

profession? Not really, guys. 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, but as far as like... saying, oh, when

I grow up, I'm going to be a famous cartoon,

and I never thought. I never would even think

things like that, right? So I never thought that.

I just knew that 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,

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

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

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

since I was a kid, and guess whose voice that

ended up being? Tommy Pickles. Tommy Pickles

on Rugrats. 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? Well, let's see. You

guys probably know why I just mentioned it, but

Tommy Pickles, he was sort of a baby guy. You

know what a baby guy looks like? Sounds like

that. And then we've got Buttercup from the Powerpuff

Girls, and she sort of talks like this. Says

things like, listen, Mojo Jojo, I'm going to

whoop your head. And then we've got Julius Jr.,

and he's just sort of like a little kid and he

sort of talks like this. I mean, the list goes

on. Happy Feet was Baby Mumble, and he just sort

of says, I'm Happy Puck. He's real sweet and

tiny. And then I did Babe 2, 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, Mockingbird.

Yeah, there's a whole bunch of different characters.

It's kind of endless. Julius Jr. I do the voice

of Julius in Julius Jr., which is for Nick Jr.

Awesome. 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 with

what? My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. No,

that's Tara. A lot of people think me and Tara

are the same person because we look so similar.

No, I know the difference. I've talked to Tara

before, but I just wanted to make sure because

someone told me recently, oh, she was on this,

and I'm like, probably not. I don't think I did

that. Unless I don't remember, but I doubt that.

I don't think I've done Little Pony. That must

be Tara's gig. Yeah. What, since I'm looking

at your IMDb and stuff really quickly, What additional

voices did you do in Wreck -It Ralph? Oh, Wreck

-It Ralph was more of like an ensemble of different

kinds of voices. I did a lot of group looping

with a lot of the best voiceover people. We were

like kids and lollipops. Okay. We were like,

you know, it was more general. I think I was

a little kid at one point. 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 generalized, just a lot of

different voices. Absolutely. Well, I have another

one, another good question for you here. 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 of me 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 a scratchier kind of kid. So that

was one of the harder voices, or the voice in

Lorenzo's Oil that I had to re -dub 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, I've got

to say, I really loved all the Pee Wee Herman

moments. It was really awesome getting to be

Dotty, getting to be Pee Wee's Dotty. So I'd

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 laughed 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. Awesome.

Yeah, it's pretty badass. Have you ever had a

moment where a fan didn't believe you were a

particular voice? Yeah, all the time. It's usually

boys. There's like little, young, bratty, cynical

teenager boys, and then they try to act all cool.

And they're like, yeah, you don't really do it.

And I'm like, yes, I do. Hold on, let me talk

to you like this for a minute. And then they

start cracking a smile and soften and become

these cute little kids that they really are.

All right, 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 going to drag that out, aren't you? Honestly,

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

really had to do much Toys R Us shopping. But

there have been times where we've been in stores,

like at Target, and there were Tommy Pickles

dolls. 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

the 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. Or 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 mouths

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? Oh,

in those shows? Yes. Well, there was a period

of time where the character Susie in Rugrats,

I think she was on tour. 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, you know,

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, Top 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.

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'd 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 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. And then... 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 Weasel Zappa and Dana Hill

and a really cool group of people during, 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?

House of Sessions were always racy and crazy.

We could put a camera, we could put a GoPro camera

or 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, be super goofy. I mean, someday

somebody's going to 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,

behind the scenes of all those shows, Rugrats.

Same thing with Rugrats. I mean, I was doing

a Rugrats session, and I was doing my lines,

and I'd be like, oh, Chucky, I don't know what

would make you. And I'd be like, hold, please.

And then I'd be like, oh, I'm having a contraction.

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 at an agent's office or in a voice

session. The first one was Simile Montano, who

did the voice of RC over on Transformers Prime.

What's that? No, you're the second person that

has told a pregnant while being in the booth

story that I've talked to. Oh, that's funny,

yeah. So let me ask, who are some of the other

voice actors or actresses that have inspired

you, E .G.? What's that? Who are the other voices

that have been what? Inspired you. I think Tress.

There's so many great, talented ones. I mean,

I got to say, like, all my friends inspire me.

The ones I work with every day. I mean, the Rob

Paulsons and the... And Jez Harnell and Tar is

amazing, Tar 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 all sit around with each other

just kind of being blown away by each other.

It's a real art. Absolutely. Has there any...

In your entire voiceover career, has there ever

been anything in a script that you refused to

say? No. I wouldn't. No. Are you kidding? If

any, there were 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?

Has there been anything where you're like, yeah,

I just don't want to do that? In my acting roles

or in my... In your voice, either. In voiceover,

no, never, because I've even done some racy 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 the seasons of The Voice. What was that

experience like? That was pretty magical, really.

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

in my career because it gave people a chance

to hear the voice that I'd been singing with

my whole life that 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 voiceover voice, the

woman voice, the mother voice, the person voice,

the voice, you know, E .G. Daly, 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,

this is mostly show, and then... now my seminar,

I think there's been some pivotal milestones

in all the music, I'd say. Rugrats, Powerpuff

Girls, there's very significant themes in my

career. Absolutely. Kiwi, Valley Girls, you know,

Friends, Two and a Half Men theme song. Wait,

what? You guys know I sing the theme song of

Two and a Half Men, right? Men, men, men, men,

men, 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 boning up on all the cartoon

voices. I'm sorry. Yeah, no, 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.

I actually... You guys have to check out my...

I'm going to 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 going to post it probably

this week. Awesome. Oh, man. Yeah, make sure

you let everybody know. Go to EGDaily .com and...

Find me on Twitter, RealEachDaily, Facebook,

Instagram, RealEachDaily, Vine, all that stuff.

Definitely. Absolutely. So now we know obviously

you've been to fan conventions. I saw you at

Comic -Con. What are your thoughts on those conventions,

all the different conventions that you've gone

to? My thoughts on conventions? I think they're

awesome. They're an awesome opportunity to get

to run into people. in person. You see who 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. I 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.

I felt so bad. It was cool. Nancy was only there

for like a couple hours, so the fans kind of

coagulated at one time zone, whereas I had 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 a good friend and an amazing,

talented woman. Absolutely. Yeah. All right.

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 the 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. 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 going to ask you, G, 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 producer that I'm doing all

my new record with happens to be the guy that

wrote Mind Over Matter, Michael Jay. Oh, awesome.

So we reconnected and we're doing this amazing

batch of music together. He's super talented,

so we've been composing and tracking and recording

constantly, me and Michael Jay, the guy who wrote

Mind Over Matter, which is super cool. Awesome.

Glad to hear that. Can I ask, when do you expect

that to be coming out? I mean, just like a ballpark?

Probably the new year. I'm probably going to

get it all lined up, and then I'm just going

to release a batch of stuff. I'm going to release...

You know, I'll have the Rob Zombie movie come

out. I'll release some of the music simultaneously.

And then, like I said, right now, though, 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. Daly 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. All right, folks, there

you go. E .G. Daly here on Talking About My Generation

and the Geekcast Radio Network's Tooncast Beyond.

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

egdaly .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 got to stay angry so

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

to do it for talking about my generation and

Tooncast Beyond from the Geekcast Radio Network.

We will catch you next time, folks.