Interviews – Imari Williams

Imari Williams here, and you're listening to

Geekcast Radio Network. This is Boulder, and

this is the most amazing human show that I've

ever seen in the whole wide universe. And I've

been to a lot of the universe. Hello and welcome

to All Things Transformers, which is now rolling

over to Roll to the Rescue Bots. I am one of

your hosts, Steve, Joe, and Mike, and joining

me is Pecan Court Michael. Hello. Hey, how's

it going? It's going, and joining us here on

the GeekCast Radio Network is the one and the

only Amari Williams. Hi, Amari. How are you?

What's up, fellas? How you guys doing? Pretty

good, pretty good. So we're going to start this

party off right. Oh, yeah. The only thing that's

missing is a Kevin Michael Richardson dirty joke.

Oh, dude, I would love that. That man is a master

of the F -bomb. Kevin, Kevin, Kevin. Oh, my God.

I love that man. He's just like. but i've seen

them we were doing uh we're at a karaoke spot

one time we were doing a rescue bots um it was

like a rescue boss i think it was one of the

one of the cast parties whatever and we're doing

karaoke's and stuff and i had no idea that man

can sing that man can sing like a sparrow you

know kevin it's amazing man Before we get started,

can you give us the scoop on what's going on

in the world of Amari Williams? Any upcoming

projects that you're allowed to talk about? Well,

you know, of course I got big news with Rescue

Bots Season 2. Right now, man, all I'm doing

is just hitting the pavement, trying to get my

next role. I mean, I'm constantly auditioning

for new stuff, and while I'm in Rescue Bots and

I've done video games, there's, you know... There's

far more established people right now, which

is fine because they've been working, they've

put forth so much work, and they've been in there

for years. And that's exactly what I have to

do. But soon, I hope to have something to put

on the table. But I auditioned for some really

cool roles for some video games that I can't

say because there was this big disclosure on

them. And some animation films and some movies

and stuff. So hopefully someone comes knocking

on the door. If you've got someone who has connections,

put them to work, man. I'll give them 15%, whatever

I take in. Next time we talk to Sue Blue, we'll

have her call you. Do it. I will send her flowers.

I'll take her out to dinner. There you go. Well,

that's surprising because you have Maurice LaMarche

right there. I'm sure he knows tons of people.

You know, you never, like, the thing is that,

like, everyone in the room, everyone in the room

with Rescue Bots are so established. I mean,

in our own way, you know what I'm saying? Like,

I started off doing announcing for commercials.

That's basically what I did. And I know that's

probably going to come up. You guys are going

to ask me about that soon. And I'll elaborate

on that when you ask me the question again. But

so many people in the room. are so established

that i just sit back i listen to what they do

and i just learn i just soak in all that goodness

you know what i'm saying just to just kind of

like learn from what they have to offer i never

ask people for anything like unless it's ultimately

emergency you know what i'm saying like i just

i don't want to be you know i don't want to like

impose unless i really really really have something

urgent i want to ask them you know what i'm saying

right right like i want to i want to you know

get that for myself But if I were to ask them

for something, they would drop anything they

were doing, and they would help me out because

that's the kind of love we have for the cast,

quite honestly. Yeah, well, you couldn't ask

for better on -the -job role models. Oh, my God,

dude. It's like school. You know what I'm saying?

You go in there, and you listen to what everyone's

doing, and you kind of hear what they have going

on in their lives. And, you know, and we all

get together for like, you know, a few hours

to record this show. And then, you know, maybe

we'll all go out for like a little, you know,

quick, you know, quick coffee or whatever and

shoot it. And then it's off to whatever they

have to do. And then you look on IMDb because

I always love keeping tabs and, you know, and

see what they're doing. And you just, you know,

you're like, OK, that's cool. You know, another

12 roles that got added in about a week. That's

lovely. That's right. Oh, Steve's got another

15 video games. Good job, Steve. Book of World

Records for the most of the video game. You guys

hear about that? Oh, yeah. Yeah. We were talking

about that with him not too long ago. Oh, my

God. I was like so proud of him. So proud of

him. That's amazing. Well, that and Maurice LaMarche

got his what he got his Emmy. An Emmy. How amazing

is that? I don't you know, it's amazing, but

I expected of him. You know, it sounds so harsh

on me. I expect him to because he's freaking

fabulous. That man. He is amazing. I mean, he's

like the Abbott. I had no idea he was Toucan

Sam. Did you know that? Yeah. Well, Mike had

a whole conversation with him about that. And

Toucan Sam and Inspector Gadget and all that.

Yeah. I had no idea. Like, I was in the room

with the man. For at least half of the taping.

And one day he busts out, you know, that's all

your nose. And I was like, what the hell, man?

I so want someone to put Toucan Sam. You know,

there's a way to separate audio tracks where

one comes out of the left speaker and the other

one comes out of the right speaker. I so want

someone to put Toucan Sam in the left speaker

and the Lexus guy in the right speaker. Totally

different voices. Oh my God. I mean, but that's

like, but isn't that like, isn't that the, isn't

that the ambition is to get to the point where

you don't even know who's behind the microphone.

You can walk, you know what I'm saying? Like

that is, that's when you know that you have mastered

your craft. I mean, you've never stopped mastering

it, but you know, but that's when you really

feel like, okay, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm in my

own. I don't even know who the hell I am. And

I'm, I just, I can't even recognize who I am.

That's, that's, that's, that's the goal right

there. You know? Nice. Okay, hey, let's start

back from square one. Sorry, I had a little ADD,

so I hop around. I know, we totally went off

on tangent, but it was an awesome tangent. So

tell us, we'll start from the very beginning.

Tell us where you're from and how you grew up.

All right, well, I was raised in Los Angeles,

California. And I grew up just, you know, honestly,

I grew up in a place called Mount Washington,

which is in Highland Park, which is by Pasadena,

if that makes sense. Yeah. And just, you know,

I have great parents. My parents are divorced.

So I've always was, you know, I have a great

stepfather, a great mother. My father remarried.

I have an awesome stepmom and I have two sisters.

I have one sister from each remarriage and kind

of just like, you know, was kind of just grew

up just into comic books. and video games and

you know just all the good lovely geeky stuff

that you can imagine you you know i i loved it

and uh yeah and i always wanted to be like an

illustrator like just growing up i always want

to draw on stuff but i you know i bounced around

a lot from school i didn't really you know i

i like school to hang out and uh but i just you

know i kind of bounced around a little bit and

and um i landed up at this great great great

probably a god -given gift to me i landed this

high school called la high school for the arts

it's on the uh um the cal state la campus and

i i took um i took uh visual arts which you know

had like animation and and drawing and painting

all that good stuff but i always wanted to do

acting like i always like before i went to the

school i always did like plays and and um and

just you know always like to do voices you know

to myself or or just for fun or to make people

laugh and um i went to the school i graduated

and then after i graduated um then i got into

acting which is kind of crazy and uh which was

weird so yeah so like for three years i did like

acting and kind of acting classes and i did some

pilots and and uh that never really took off

and then i just kind of faded into uh to like

what the hell do i want to do obscurity you know

just uh i um I did lots of, like, telephone sales

because people liked the deep voice, which I,

you know, didn't mind. And then I got into, I

had a friend who was like, dude, you should really

try voiceovers. And I was like, what the hell

is that? And he was like, well, you know, commercials

on TV, you know, you could voice the commercials

on TV. And I was like, oh, cool. I did like some

VO classes. I never, I mean, it didn't click

for me. I was like 20, I was like, I was 24,

23. And it just never really clicked for me.

And I was like, whatever, you know, this is kind

of weird. I don't even see this happening. And

then it wasn't until my 30s. So I really started

getting the voiceovers. And basically like, you

know, it's basically like a life of me kind of

like figuring out what I want to do. But when

I started doing VO, that is when I felt like

I had, you know, really found what I was supposed

to do. Nice. Nice. Was that too much of a rant?

No, no, no. That makes sense. So the one thing

I wanted to bring up there, my cousin's wife

was in your sixth grade class. I read that on

the list of questions you have. I was going to

ask you about that. I told my wife. She's like,

huh? When I friended you on Facebook, I noticed

that we had a mutual friend. It's Jocelyn Roberts.

Oh, you know Jocelyn? Yeah. Oh, my God. Well,

now it's Jocelyn Eichelberger, I think, but she

married my cousin. Didn't she just have a baby?

The second one, yeah. Second one, right? Yeah.

Oh, my God. That is freaking crazy. I thought

it was so strange. And I messaged her and I said,

well, how do you know Amari Williams? And she

goes, oh, I went to school with him in sixth

grade. Oh, my God. That's crazy. How is she doing?

Fine. Yeah. Yeah. Doing really good. She's trying

to send. pictures to my aunt and they were having

weird computer issues like i don't know how to

do this and so they called me everybody calls

me when they have computer issues you're like

the doctor of computers man you know i'm saying

like and people calling for all kinds of crazy

stuff and he's just like you know leave me alone

that's right you know i told her you know just

fly me out there i'll take care of it plus you're

like it's nice and sunny out here dude you'll

totally love it Well, yeah, I've been out there

a couple of times. Well, I was out there for

their wedding, actually, the last time I was

out there. But, yeah, really nice. I would love

to move to California, but my wife wouldn't have

it. She's like, uh -uh. Yeah. Well, no, we're

pretty well set. We're right out here by Chicago,

so, I mean. Well, Chicago is not, you know, if

you're going to have a great city to be in, I

mean, Chicago is it. I mean, everyone who goes

to Chicago, some people don't even want to come

back. I'm like, okay. I'm like, dang. It's a

nice place. Yeah, we dig it. I don't blame her

for not wanting to move. So IMDB doesn't have

a whole lot of roles for you listed. Did you

just recently start in voice acting? It's weird.

I know. It was funny because when I was doing

promo for Rescue Bots and we're setting up our

Twitter page and all this stuff for it, I looked

on IMDB and I was like, my God, I felt so naked.

I felt so IMDB naked because, you know, it's

an ongoing building process. Honestly, I've been

doing VO for like about four years, man. And

I think like around possibly two of those years,

I've been doing like video games and then I got

Rescue Bots. So basically I landed. I was going

out for, like, I was landing, like, these announcer

roles on TV, you know, on some commercials and

stuff. In fact, I have this new one for GE. If

you guys have seen it, I don't know if you've

seen the one with these guys going across country

with this refrigerator on the back of the truck.

Oh, yeah, I've seen that. That's the guy who's

like, you know, these guys are going to take

them across town to the blah, blah, blah. That's

me doing that. Oh, that's sweet. Yeah, so I started

off doing, like, just doing commercials. And

then I get these auditions for these video games.

And, of course, I mean, come on, man. I've been

playing video games for so long. I was like,

hell, yes. Those freaking crazy noises. My wife

was, you know, I drive my wife crazy trying to

do all these impersonations or, you know, trying

to do little voices. And, you know, she's like,

you know, what are you doing? I'm like, you know,

whatever. Just talking to myself. That's a different

animal, though. It is. It's a totally different

beast. And I am in love with these different

beasts. Like, I got my first video game. Actually,

I don't know if you know O 'Brien. If you know

Liam, Liam O 'Brien. Liam does one of the voices

for Naruto. And Sam, Sam Riegel, they're also

big voiceover actors. And they... They were directing

me for Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City.

Oh, cool. Which didn't do that good. So I was

kind of depressed when I found that out. But

I loved the whole experience. And they had a

motion camera on me. I played this guy named

Shona, which is like this African emetic. And

that was my first jump onto straight up anything

revolving around video games was that spot. And

then I did... some voices for um for darkness

2 that came out but it's some additional voice

for that oh yeah yeah that one came out i uh

then i did some voices for what else like some

one -liners for video games i had no idea they

all have these secret titles on them you know

and you're like what the hell game is that you're

trying to find out um that didn't pop up by mdb

but i did one line for that and i did another

another uh what's another character for oh yeah

um for uh uh As for his wrath, I did Asakuma

for that one. So that was like, you know, those

are like my big meaty ones. And in the process,

I'm also doing like auditions, right? So I'm

getting all these auditions and really trying

to fine tune what I'm doing. And then all of

a sudden I get this like this role, right? It

comes in. Do you want me to start talking about

how I got older now? Or do you want to roll into

that a little bit later? You know, that's a good

transition point. Let's roll into Rescue Bots

then. You want to do that? Yeah, sure. How did

you fall into that Transformers role of Boulder?

So in the midst of like getting all these auditions

and just kind of like, you know, I mean, you

have to understand like voiceover actors, and

I'm sure you've heard this from everybody. I

mean, you really have to go through tons of auditions,

man. There's so many different voices out there.

And a lot of times people don't know what the

hell they want. So like, you know, there's a

certain point where, you know, you get all these

auditions, you have to kind of like do them and

then just kind of like go on to the next one.

So I'm getting all these like auditions and video

game stuff. And then I get this one for for this

this robot. Right. I'm for Transformers. And

immediately I was like, you know what? For real.

Come on. I mean, I grew up on Transformers. You

know what I'm saying? Like, I mean, I never missed

a show. And so I get this audition for this guy

named Boulder. And I'm like, OK, you know, he's

a big green bulldozer. I'm like, OK, well, you

always read the description of what they want.

So I was like, okay, what's the description?

You know, a guy who's sympathetic or just loves

nature and loves people and who just has a profound

love for nature. And I'm like, I'm always, I'm

a pacifist. I love people. I've grown up with

everybody. You know, I love everybody. And so

I kind of was like, huh. And then they were like,

you know, he's kind of like, he's kind of like.

it has like a deep voice and like, but it's innocent.

And I was like, damn, I think I can do this.

I think I can really nail this. And then all

of a sudden I started like, I started doing an

audition. I started getting his voice in, you

know, we started to kind of go through the lines

of how you're going to do it. And they wanted

an honest approach. They didn't want someone

who sounded like, Hey, I'm the big green robot

guy. You know, they wanted to, it was actually

like, you know, really, you know, really, you

know, down to earth, but yet very scientific.

So I, I started going like, I was like, okay,

so, um, let me do that. So I handed him my audition.

I didn't hear anything back at all. Um, and,

uh, and so when I heard, well, it's like, you

know, but you get used to it because you don't,

I mean, you can't, if you're like, if you're

like, Oh God, when am I going to hear back from

you? You'll just ruin yourself. You can't, you

just can't do that, man. It's one thing to get

the rejection, but to not hear anything at all.

That's yeah. it's like but that's like i mean

if you see in my folder with all the auditions

i've done i do i keep a list of all the auditions

i do so i can remind myself how hard it really

is you know i'm saying like a bunch of people

um they uh you know they kind of think that voice

acting is just like you know doing all these

voices and stuff but you gotta these people who

are behind the microphone man we put forth like

major effort to try to get these roles and then

you have that nervous feeling trying to keep

it you know so you're like yeah you know you're

trying to keep that role but um But when I turned

in the audition, I didn't hear anything for months,

man. I didn't hear anything for, I don't think

like for like three months. And I forgot about

it. But deep in my cerebellum, I was like, what

happened to that role, man? I really felt like

I nailed that role. I felt like I really related

to the character. He felt like he was a piece

of me. I was like, oh, well, you know what I'm

saying? And then all of a sudden, I get a call

at work. I get a call at work. And I'm sorry,

I was reading your question here, actually, because

I don't want to go off the script too much. Oh,

no, that's fine. Go ahead. I get a call at work

and I still have a day job right now because,

you know, I have one show going on right now.

So my day job, I'm in the I'm in like the I go

to the stockroom to listen to my agent. My agent's

like, hey, so I have a quick question for you.

And I was like, yeah, what's what's going on?

And she was like, so how would you feel about

being a transformer? It was just like, I was

like, dude, I thought I was going to pass out,

man. I thought I was going to just be totally

crapping my pants right there on the spot. Like

I cried, crapped my pants and yelled like a little

lady all at the same time. It was disgusting.

And then I was like, and then like, and then

of course everyone else from the front room is

hearing me freak out. You know, I'm like, oh

my God, oh my God, oh my God, transformer, transformer.

And I was like. And then she was like, that's

it. And then she was like, well, hold on now.

First, you have to go in for a final audition.

I was like, whoa. I was like, come on, man. And

I was like, oh, come on. And then I go in there.

So we raise the final audition. I go into the

studio. And they have all the heads of Hasbro

and just everyone there just looking at me behind

a glass mirror. And I'm just like, oh, crap,

man. This is crazy. And I look on the list. And

I have all these guys that are also coming back

for Boulder. So I was like, man. Yeah. It was

kind of like, okay, well, forget about it then.

But then I was like, let's just give it the best

shot. I had my wife drove me, and I had my son

in the car. And if you're going to have good

luck pieces, you might as well have your family

with you. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely.

To give you good luck. So I go in there. And

Jenny, who's the voice supervisor, she was there.

And I just basically just did exactly what I

did. I was true to what I did before. And sure

enough, they called me back and said that they

cemented the role. And I was bolder. And it was

a dream come true. It was an honest dream come

true. I couldn't ask for a better gift than that.

That's cool. My children being born, of course,

and my wife. It was the best day of my life.

It wasn't my wedding. And when my kids were born.

But that was the best day of my life. That's

the story of Boulder, man. So besides Boulder,

did you initially read for any other characters?

No. They had me just go for Boulder, which is

awesome. When I met Kevin. Well, I met Kevin

Richardson. I had no idea who Kevin was. Isn't

that absurd? That's crazy. How does that happen?

I looked at him like, okay, dude, you're retarded.

You need to realize who... Because my whole thing

is when I go into... I don't want to know. I

don't want to know who's going out for what because

I don't want that to get into my head. You know

what I'm saying? Did Kevin Michael Richardson

go for the role? I have no idea, but I mean,

he's on Prime. Homeboy is a freaking... Oh, no,

I thought you meant he was in the room with you

waiting to try out for Boulder. No, no, no, no,

no, no. Okay. No, no. No, but like, you know,

when I met him and, you know, I'm like, and I

look at his, I look at his IMDb and I'm like,

holy shit. I was like, this dude is... He's amazing.

He really is. And the cool thing is that he's

also an awesome person as well. So I'm like,

you know, all these people who are just fantastic,

just fantastic people. And he gave me props.

He came into a recording one time we were in

the studio, and he was like, hey, man. I was

like, hey, what's going on? My name's Amari.

He goes, hey, I'm Kevin. And I was like, hey,

what's going on, man? Give him a big hug. We're

both big dudes, you know? And then he was like,

yeah, man, I've heard about you. You're doing

good stuff. I hear you're doing good stuff. And

I was like, oh, cool. Thanks, man. Didn't really

know who was complimenting me at the time. You

know what I'm saying? Who's this guy? And then

I asked the engineer, oh, so who's that nice

guy? He's a nice guy. He's like, oh, you don't

know who that man is? And I'm like, oh, yeah.

That was the Kevin Michael Richardson. And I'm

like. Don't see any stuff of him doing the Joker

and stuff. I'm like, oh, my God. I was so. It's

like, Kevin, you're really good at this. You

should think about doing this for a living. Like,

yeah. You know, keep doing what you're doing

tomorrow. Question then. When you read for Boulder

for the first time, and this is what little I

know about, you know, voice casting. When they

asked you to do the voice here, this is what

we think it would sound like, and you tried it

out, right? Then did you try something 180 degrees

off the wall just to throw it out there to see

what would happen? No, dude. This is like the

most crazy thing, man. They really liked what

I did with it. It was really strange. I guess,

one, I was trying to play it. They told me to

maybe play it a little bit more human. A little

bit less animated, maybe. Kind of be more like,

you know, a little more innocent and honest with

it. But it was a minor tweak that I did. And

he always was within the same vein. Boulder was

born in my living room when I laid down the microphone

in my house before I sent it off to my agent.

That was the day Boulder was born. And he really

hasn't changed through the process. If anything

has changed, it's been my ability to kind of...

fine tune him and kind of like, you know, see

what I didn't like with it and then try it out

and then getting acceptance from, you know, from,

from, from everyone over in the, in the, in the

recording sessions and stuff. Nice. And it comes

through too. It's, you nailed it. I mean, it's,

this is like, I mean, you don't understand me.

I'm like, I'm a fan boy. I'm the biggest comic

nerd, animation nerd. I love animation. I love

it. Which is why this is such a dream come true.

And to hear that I'm actually doing a really

good job with something that I've idolized for

so long is such a great compliment to get. It

really is. Well, that is amazing that one of

your first actual animation gigs is a Transformer.

I mean, can you believe that? I can't. It's like

winning the freaking lottery. It's just sort

of like, it's like, you know, it's like, you

know, you wait, you get, you get given a gift

and, you know, and ever since I've been given

this gift, all I want to do is care about it.

All I want to do is, is, is give the fans what

they want. You know what I'm saying? To give

an honest portrayal for him and to make sure

that he's a, he's a, you know, a great cast for,

for the series, you know? And so that, that,

that, that's been my goal ever since we started

season one. Nice. Aside from the estimatable

Maurice Lamarche and Steve Blum, aren't there

some of the other cast members that are, I don't

want to say first -timers, but new to animation?

Everyone, yeah. I mean, Parvesh, who does Blades,

he's new to animation. And my good buddy Shannon.

Shannon is also new to animation as well. I call

us the three musketeers, the three greenies.

Definitely green at the beginning, man. And the

kids, right? Oh, yeah. Well, the thing is, Diamond,

she's been on Broadway, man. She's been on The

Lion King. No way. Oh, yeah. Diamond's done.

She's on X Factor right now. I saw that. Yeah.

She is a singer. You know that thing I have,

Michael, a boulder, you know, hanging on my –

Yeah. She designed that. She's 13 years old.

She made that for me. That was very cool. Dude,

she is a genius. And Elon is – I mean, Elon does

so much VO stuff. They're both working actors,

and they both are so mature. that I can't even,

they make me feel like a dum -dum. I'm so in

awe of these kids that I just was like, I'm envious,

man. These kids are just so talented. It's unbelievable.

Nice. I thought it was strange because I didn't

realize they were kids. Other shows would use

Gray Delisle or Tara Strong to play the children,

but Rescue Bots uses actual children. And can't

you hear it? Can't you hear that? You can hear

it. I mean, that doesn't take away from, like,

who people can do, you know, children's voices

by any means, you know what I'm saying? But,

you know, you hear Alon, and Alon is like, you

know, he's a tall, tall man. He's a tall kid.

He's just entering into his, like, you know,

teenage years. I mean, I see the kid grow. And

I'm like, you know, and he still makes that voice.

It's not squeaky. You know what I'm saying? And

Diamond is just like – I've seen these kids grow

up within a year of knowing them. I've seen them

grow up significantly, and it's just like it's

amazing to see it. But they do such a good job,

and they're so attentive to what their characters

need to portray to the audience. It's just –

it's amazing. Wow. Yeah. They're truly, truly

phenomenal kids. Nice. So speaking of the cast,

we know that the Rescue Bots works with an ensemble.

cast so did you work with tim curry or peter

collin when they were in their episodes okay

dc who does chase actually i think dc might be

new to animation too i think he might be new

too yeah i think he did like commercials yeah

he's like me we both did like we did he used

to do geico and he's done so much stuff he does

live theater the dude's a beast um yeah um he

He flipped when Tim Curry, because he's met Tim

Curry before, but he is absolutely in love with

Tim Curry, man. So Tim Curry had come in before

any of us were able to see him. And DC came like

an hour, right? An hour after Tim Curry had left.

And he was like, oh, no, Tim Curry. Tim Curry's

not here. And they were like, no, sorry, D. So

we missed him in about. For like an hour. We

missed him. We missed him. It was an hour. We

came an hour before he, after he left. So I never

got to meet the man. Yeah. But he's phenomenal.

And then Peter Cole, I met him. Oh, my God. Nice

guy. Oh, Jesus. He's such a good, good, good

man. And you know what? He can still make girls

blush. He made Lacey blush. No way. Oh, yes.

He was like, what did he say? He was like, and

nice to meet you. You look like the girl next

door. And she was like, hee, hee, hee. I was

like, are you blushing, Lacey? He has the moves.

He has the moves. That's funny. You see this

little man with this voice, this voice of a celestial

being. Did he wear the cowboy hat? No. He was

wearing just like a tucked in polo and his slacks.

And he was extremely humble and gave me a huge

hug. And he was like, who are you? And I said,

I've only watched you since I was like seven

years old. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, man. The

man is – you just feel – you know when you meet

people and you just feel the electricity through

their – you just feel it. You feel it from him.

He's amazing. I've met him a couple of times,

and each time he looked like he came right off

a horse. He's got his jeans and his plaid shirt

and that big cowboy hat. just looks comfortable

and happy. That wouldn't surprise me in the least.

I, that dude must have, he must have, he may

even have a ranch somewhere. He might be, he

might, he's like taming Broncos for like, you

know, I wouldn't. Whatever he wants. Really nice

guy. Just really nice. If I ever get a chance

to meet Peter, the first thing I'm going to say

to him is, I cried at your funeral. And he's

probably going to look at me like, what the heck

are you talking about? Where's that about? Was

there like some rumor or something like that?

No, Optimus Prime in the 86 movie. They killed

him. Wasn't that? I remember seeing that and

I was so pissed. What are you doing, man? That's

Optimus Prime. There's no way that you can kill

off Optimus Prime. Yeah, I was like, I remember

that when I was a kid. You remember the song

for that movie? You got the touch. Stan Bush.

You got the power. I was like, oh, I love that.

I still get goosebumps when I hear about that.

And Blanchard's on a first -name basis with Stan

Bush. He just calls him funny. God, dude. I don't

know. He must have had like four or five interviews

with the guy. oh it's close to seven i think

now honestly it is i mean but it's so great because

it's it's one of those things where people don't

give and i know this is completely off the you

know the focus of what amari does but you know

it's like one of those things where people don't

give a lot of the transformers fans don't give

stan the recognition they'll just say oh well

I guess Stan needs a new check. So he'll just

remake the touch again. And it's like, seriously,

I mean, his, he, his music is so far beyond what

he's done for transformers. And it's just amazing.

It's like, it's hard when you like do something

that's been like solidified in the minds of people,

you know what I'm saying? Then you try to break

away from that. And then you're like, you know,

it's like people have to remember that. You know,

we're all just performers trying to, first of

all, trying to make it in this, like, great industry.

And we're also trying to, you know, just trying

to evolve from where we've started from. And

it's just really hard to do that. It's not an

easy thing. People kind of like, it's almost

like you're as good as your next role, which

is just ridiculous. But if I'm only as good as

Boulder, I'll take that. You know what I'm saying?

I'll take that. That's great. That's fine with

me. I love him. Sam is, I mean, if you appreciate

good art, you'll always have people there to

back you up from whatever you're doing. You know

what I'm saying? You'll have Boulder in the portfolio

for a long time to come. I hope so, man. I hope

we keep this rolling for a while. That would

be just a great blessing. We can only hope. My

boys love it. My boys love this show. I love

those YouTube stuff you guys are doing. It's

great. Oh, the Road to the Rescue Bots? Yeah.

Those are a lot of fun when we do them. It's

hard to schedule, and then it takes forever to

finish. You know, I got the day job, too. Hey,

but you know what? I tell people, like, I tell

them all about you. I tell them, like, you know,

look at this. Michael is just freaking hustling

for Rescue Bots, man. We should make you, like,

a freaking promoter, for God's sake. You know,

what's funny is when we got the Steve Blum interview,

it was because the Hub PR department contacted

us. Really? And said, hey, we saw a role in the

Rescue Bots. Would you like to have an interview

with Steve Blum? Oh, my God. That's awesome.

Yeah, it was great. Yeah. And it's like, I mean,

because I told him, I was like, dude, look at

this. This is great. And I showed people. I showed

my wife. My wife was like just tripping out.

She thought it was hilarious. And, of course,

I thought it was hilarious because, I mean, it's

like what I do with my sons, you know, like with

my son. I have to be very choice with what I

watch because I like a lot of violence in my

anime. I like me some Naruto. I love me some

Bleach. I like a lot of stuff where it's kind

of like, ooh, maybe he shouldn't be watching

that at four years old. But when it comes to,

for instance, Star Wars on Cartoon Network or

we're watching lots of Let's watch the ultimate

Spider -Man. And we, you know, we watched so

many things where I'm like, cool. And I try to

groom them on that because, you know, deep down

in my heart, I want them to be a nerd. Just like

me. Let's be honest. I want them to be, you know

what I'm saying? Like I read, what's that pop?

I'm like, you can't touch it just yet. That's

right. Give it a few years. Keep your grubby

fingers off my car. This is my wife off because

she can't understand. I am anal. I don't want

any creases on my comic books. He wants to rip

them up. So that way, when it's really ready,

then we can really just dive in. I was the same

way about my Transformers because I've got a

huge Transformers collection. I've seen that,

man. It's amazing. I saw the background of when

I think the first Rescue Bot Roll of the Rescue

review you did. I think you did it in your den

or something, and you see all your toys in the

back. I was like, Jesus, man. In my office. That's

– I don't want to get too far into it. But, yeah,

I got this huge oak cabinet that I built in my

office. Yeah. And it's like two feet deep, six

feet high, 12 feet across, glass doors that lock.

Because I built them just before we had kids

because I knew one day they were going to get

old enough to go, I want to play with that. No,

that's why they're locked. You can't get in there.

Yeah, exactly. But every kid wants to touch the

red button, Michael. They all want to touch the

red button. They will find out. That's the thing.

You have to teach them the ways of the force

now because you will know how to open that cabinet

up. And you want to make sure you keep those

little babies right. Well, that's what the Rescue

Bots are for, because they have a whole collection

of all the toys, right? Which is really great.

Yeah, and they're good with them. And if, you

know, I trust them with those, I'll let them

play with the Prime toys. You know, things like

the stuff that's new, that if it breaks, it's

okay, I can go to Target and buy another one.

Yeah. You know, that type of thing. Yeah, and

let's face it, some of those Prime toys aren't

that great a quality, sadly. Yeah, well, you

know, it's funny. It's like everyone's trying

to, like, it's like... It's like hit or miss.

With any kind of manufactured toy, you've got

to like, you know, there's always going to be

like a little something there. I don't even know

what boulder is like because I haven't been able

to even get boulder, dude. It pisses me off.

I'm just like, where is boulder? I got a boulder

right here on my desk. I don't even have boulder.

No, I have no boulder. I have no boulder. I have

bumblebee. I have no boulder. Oh, that doesn't

matter. You're boulder. You're not supposed to

have a bumblebee. That doesn't matter. No, I

want a boulder, man. I got to go on here. You

should send him your boulder, Michael. Yes, totally

should. The thing about Bumblebee, and I mentioned

it in the show, forever, he didn't show up. It

was episode 17 or so before he even showed up.

And when he did, he didn't sound like Dan Gilvezan,

which really made me upset. You know what's funny,

though? It's so cool to see the loyalists. The

loyalists for this show, it's amazing. You know

what I'm saying? And I'm like, it's just, it's

awesome because then, you know, then those who

become loyal to Rescue Bots will have the same

kind of like, you know, same kind of like love,

which is just, I think is awesome. And, you know,

they did do a different voice for Bumblebee,

but I don't think, I mean, it could be anything.

It could have been like a schedule issue. It

could have been like, maybe he just didn't want

to do it. Maybe, you know, it was conflicted.

There's always some kind of like, whatever, you

know what I'm saying? I know. With this, they

have more of a... Well, they did that with the

movie. They did that with Prime. It was just

such a huge disappointment when they did it on

Rescue Bots. Maybe they think the kids will like

that. I'm not sure. I understand. I know it's

a little frustrating when you want to hear something

that you're used to hearing. I totally understand.

I do. I'm not going to be like, you're wrong,

Michael, for feeling that way. Well, you know,

if not Dan, they could have got Bumper Robinson

in there. He pulled off a good Bumblebee back

in 2007. Yeah, that's true. Not to get too far

off topic. Let me look at that. Okay, so would

you be up for more Transformers roles if they

came along? Like anything with Transformers Prime

or... Well, hell yes. Yeah, well, Steve Floop

jumps back and forth, so you could too. I mean,

but Stevie's been in a game for, like, what,

15 years? Yeah. I mean, the man has put forth

sweat and blood, man. There was a time he was

telling me, I was telling him, like, what I was

doing in my day job, you know. The best person

you can ever, like, you know, bitch about, like,

when you're in the kind of in a rut between,

like, gigs and stuff. There's a fellow voiceover

actor because they know. And Stevie's been in

it for so long that, listen, man, he goes, dude,

you're doing commercials? I didn't get a commercial

for like five years. And I'm like, really? I'm

like, yeah. He's like, yeah. So, I mean, you

know, the grass is greener, my friend. I'm like,

you know, that's true. Well, he was in the same

boat, too. I mean, he wore a tie in the whole

nine yards back in the day. But he told me all

the stuff he did. And I was like, you know, that

felt good. I was like. I've been doing this for

like four years, five years. And I am blessed,

my friend. I am extremely blessed to be where

I am. You are ahead of the curve. I didn't realize.

I have a friend named Orion. He's also a fellow

voiceover actor. You'll be hearing a lot of Orion

soon. He's in a lot of video games and stuff.

He's a great, great, great VO actor. And I was

like, I was complaining about like, God, man,

you know, I just, you know, I want, I want another,

I want another animated series. I just, you know,

I don't want to be pigeonholed into one series.

You know, I want, you know, I want to prove that

it wasn't a fluke that I got this spot. And he

was like, basically mentally slapping with his

eyes. He's like, are you crazy, man? You know,

like, what's wrong with you? He goes, listen,

you tasted that sweet, sweet fruit. And you're

in there with all these people who've been in

the game for years, man, like years, who've put

in sweat and, you know, sweat and work. And,

you know, you happen to have the right role come

at you at the right time. And now is your time.

But you've been doing this for like five years,

man. Some of these people, I mean, like, you

know, Maurice has been in there since I've been

a kid, for God's sake. And Steve was Spike. I

had no idea Steve was Spike. Yeah. Bang. Yeah.

Spike was obsessed with Cowboy Bebop. Yeah. And

then he's like, I remember he has a tattoo of

the last thing that Spike says on the last episode

of Cowboy Bebop. He has a sound wave on his arm

of it. He had it tattooed on there, which I think

is awesome. No way. It's great. If you ever see

him at a convention, ask him about the sound

wave tattoo on his arm. And he was like, that's

the last word I uttered on Cowboy Bebop. I had

it tattooed on me. Nice. I'm like, dude, that

is awesome. And I was like, what do you mean

Cowboy Bebop? I was like, wait a second. I saw

the tattoo first. I was like, how did you get

that? And he was like, oh, I used to do this

thing from Cowboy Bebop. And I was like, excuse

me? Excuse me? Yeah, yeah. I used to play Splat.

I was like, are you serious? No way. You know,

what's funny, though, is once you realize who

he is, you start placing his voice and say, oh,

my God, that was Cowboy Bebop. And oh, my God,

that was the guy. Oh, I'm ashamed now. The Toonami

robot. Dude. Tom. It's Toonami. Yeah, I know.

It's like, you know, he was the voice. And it's

funny because it's like. Oh, my God, that was

him. And I hadn't heard the voice in, what, like

four years? But I remembered, and I remembered

it was him. Dude, Toonami came back and was like,

okay, faithful Toonami fans, now we're back.

And thanks for all of you guys who stuck through

with us. And I was like, wait a second, that's

Stevie. That's him. I emailed him. I was like,

Steve, are you Toonami? He was like, yes, I am,

my friend. He single -handedly brought it back.

You look at the legion of Twitterers, you know

what I mean? I had no idea a Twitter campaign

was going on. I would have been leading the charge,

man, aside from Steve and all the other people.

I would have been in there like, yeah, yeah,

bring it back, man, come on. You said a second

ago about being pigeonholed as Boulder. I don't

necessarily think of it as being pigeonholed

in one role or typecast because look at... Look

at Cullen. I mean, between Optimus and Eeyore,

I mean, that's what Cullen is known for. You

could be worse than to be pigeonholed as a Transformer.

That's what I'm talking about. Exactly. There

will always be Transformers. If someone's snide,

because there's always snide people who got something

to say or whatever. You know what I'm saying?

That's just human nature. If someone's like,

well, what's Amari done besides boulder? I'm

like, cool. Put boulder on my chest. That's fine

with me. You know what I'm saying? I go to bed

with boulder. I give him kisses. I rub his belly.

I say, thank you, man. You've been a good friend.

You know what I'm saying? So if I would ever

be pigeonholed as anything, not to say I think

I am. But let's say if I ever am, if I happen

to be pigeonholed and I'm pigeonholed as Boulder,

then that's fine with me. I'll do that till the

sun comes up because I love this man. You know

what I'm saying? There you go. So I just saw

on Facebook not too long ago, and I think it

was DC Douglas that posted it, but it was actually

a photo of the ensemble taping for the first

season. I'm sorry, the first episode of the second

season. Second season's on, baby. Just started.

What can you tell us about that, if anything?

I can tell you this. I can't say a lot. I can't

say about what's going on in the script. But

I can say this. Where do we leave off with season

one? We left off with Dr. Morocco escaping on

the boat, right? So we have Dr. Morocco bounced.

And we now know that the professor knows about

the bots. So and then, you know, so that kind

of secrets out. So the mobile headquarters now

at the mobile headquarters, which is freaking

awesome. I thought that was so cool. I thought

that was so awesome. I didn't because, you know,

you're reading the script. You're like, OK, you

know, you don't know. I mean, you could you have

your vision of what you think is going to be

in your head. Right. Like, you know, like when

we did, I was so you understand when I've been

DVR in every single episode of Rescue Boss, not

because I'm in it. because I want to see what

the hell they do with the story, man. I've been

reading all this stuff and trying to visualize

it in my head. I want to see what it looked like

on Gloria's screen. So when I saw the last part

of Dr. Morocco with Tim Curry and Optimus Prime

and Bumblebee, I was like, me and my son were

freaking like, yeah, yeah. It was great. That's

exciting. It was fabulous, man. And then I was

also disappointed because it was the last episode.

I was like, oh, my God, please. Please, I want

to come back and play some more. And so, you

know, at the end, but then at the end, we're

seeing this mobile headquarters. You got this

whole, like, apocalyptic land that the mobile

headquarters came from. So there's just so many

different possibilities that they can do with

the second season. I can't wait to see how it

unfolds. But, like, now we got huge headquarters,

which I'm sure is going to, you know, might play

into. I don't know yet. It should. So, you know,

we have we have this, you know, we have the professor

relationship, which I'm sure is going to build.

And, you know, we have, you know, just just a

wealth of stuff that we can actually build on

from season one. And I'm so excited to see what

happens. I mean, we have fantastic writers, fantastic

people who care about this show. who just really

want the best, who are smart. If you're just

an adult watching this with your kid, if you've

never seen it before, you'll start off with,

oh, what's this Transformers Rescue Bots? Whatever.

My son will probably like it. What the hell is

a Flopster? There's no Decepticons? Oh, this

is all crap. Then you start listening to the

innuendos and the jokes that come into that.

It grows on you. It really is good entertainment.

I genuinely laughed, especially the one with

the alien invasion. We had all these references

to all these classic movies that I grew up on.

I thought that was pretty funny. Kids won't get

it, but their parents are going to get it. He

says, I hope it's not the one that hugs your

face and puts babies in your tummy. I thought

I was going to die. And he says, oh, it's an

alien. He says, well, I hope it's the small,

squishy one that wants to phone home. I mean,

that's just awesome. The way that they write

the show is just so phenomenal. So I'm just excited.

I'm just excited that, number one, we have a

season two coming on. And I'm just excited that

we have a great fan base. And that we have just

support for the show. I mean, it's one of the

highest rated shows on the hub right now. So,

I mean, I can't, you know, you can't ask for

anything better. Yeah, it's a great show. Okay,

well, I think that covers it for our Rescue Bots

questions. Let's get into some random stuff before

we wrap it up. Okay. What types of characters

would you like to get into in the future? Oh,

God. Oh, dude, I want I love I'd love to play

like a beast, like a beast character, a bad guy,

a villain. I would love to play a villain. I'd

love to play like a heroic. I went out for Captain

Fury for for the Avengers. I think I think Shy

McBride got that one or he has the one for. No,

he I think he does. He has the one for Ultimate

Spider -Man. And I auditioned for that one as

well. But I would love to do like kind of like

a stoic – I would love to do a father figure

role. You know what I'm saying? Like where I

could be the voice of wisdom. I'd love to do

an evil villain role because I just would love

to tap into that kind of like skill it would

take to get it. Who doesn't want to be a good

guy? You know what I'm saying? And revert back

to your good boy form when you're done. Right.

So you have to accentuate this with samples.

Exactly. Dance. Dance for me. I'd like to be

one of those guys who are the dark and mysterious

hero. You don't want anyone to mess with him,

but he can kick some righteous ass if you ask

him to. I'd like to do one of those kind of voices.

I'd like to do one of those You know, where those

deep and dark and mysterious voices were. You

know, I could be the gremlin that's behind the

bed. Like one of those voices. And then perhaps

I'd like to do a voice of wisdom. I'd like to

be maybe a wizard or maybe a sage. Or possibly,

you know, a grand old wise man who gives advice

to all the youngsters. You know, one of those

roles. You'd have to fight George Takei for that

wise old man. There's so many different – there's

so many people. Dude, Mark Hamill does all kinds

of stuff. I mean, dude, we have – there's so

many people in there. So whatever you can – whatever

you can think of, you know, there's always going

to be like someone who has this cemented. So

it's just basically like, you know, just what

you're blessed with or what you're given. You

know what I'm saying? Exactly. I don't think

there's a role out there. No, I'm pretty sure

there's not a role out there that if I were to

land it, I'd be probably ecstatic to get it.

You know what I'm saying? Just the fact that

you become creative and you can build a different

character and you can just play make -believe.

I've always played make -believe growing up,

and just to do that as an adult, I mean, come

on. It's awesome. Right. Well, in the future,

too. Let's say Jenny McSwain has another show

coming up. She's going to think of you. Another

actor who is up for a role, and they say, you

know what we need? We need someone who can be

deep and thoughtful, and they're going to say,

oh, you know what? That might not be me, but

I bet Amari Williams could do it. You know, I

mean, that would be great. That would be great.

One of the things I've learned to do in the industry

is to, like, It's a never like I don't I don't

ever expect anything. You know what I'm saying?

Like, I don't I've always lived like this. I

don't expect anything because I'm not owed anything.

You know what I'm saying? Like, but if someone

were to be like if someone were to like and I've

gotten jobs from people recommending me or just

appreciating what I do, if someone like with

commercials and stuff like that, like I've had

agencies call me up and say. uh say like okay

well you know this would sound great on a track

you know and i've gotten gigs that way if for

animation someone says hey you know we can uh

go ahead and and amari would be great for that

that would be a blessing you know i'm saying

uh and i and i would i would be so grateful for

that um and if it when when it happens you know

cool awesome something to look forward to uh

you know what i was just thinking Just for fun.

How deep can you go? Dude, I totally blew my

voice. I just did this audition for an ogre.

Let me see if I can get real low. Riding low.

Immortal. Is that you who looks at me with such

disdain in your eye? I will feast on your bones!

I would say that's pretty much like... Wow. Shrek

5, the deep throat. Do that for four hours. That's

a throat ripper. No one can do it like Stevie,

man. Oh my god. You guys have to. Oh, the dude

has pure barbecue sauce vocals, man. It's like

amazing. The dude does his growl. It's as if

he speaks in a nasty growl. Like, those pipes

are so, so like, so attuned. But yeah, dude,

I, yeah, it's, he's awesome. Nice. See now, if

you had done that for a boulder. And they said,

okay, could you do that for another eight hours

and another five seasons? Ah, man, I don't know.

My wife would probably divorce me because I'd

be doing it in the shower. I'd be warming up.

I'd probably be busting on her and scare the

crap out of her. The kids would be crying all

the time. My son wouldn't come up to me anymore.

It would be a disaster. Why does daddy sound

like that? I don't know. Why does Pop make me

so scared before I go to bed? It's like, I can

read you a bedtime story, but I'm going to do

it in this voice. You're like, no! I'm surprised

they didn't cast you in Monsters University.

Oh, dude, that would be awesome. I would love

that. That would be so fun. That's what you do.

You get yourself a Disney gig. Oh, well, we all

know that ain't going to happen. It could happen.

I got to have some online credit, some on -screen

credit. You know what I'm saying? Like, I got

to be the next Denzel. I'll be like, yo, you

know. That would be the next voice. Nice. Okay.

Well, I think that about covers it. How long

was this interview, dude? This is crazy. We've

been on here for like. About an hour. About an

hour. Sweet. Am I the longest interviewer? What's

the longest interview you guys have done? The

longest interview we did was Robert N. Skier,

who was actually – he writes on Transformers

Prime, but he also show ran Beast Machines. Originally,

it was two hours and 12 minutes. Yeah. We got

him behind the eight ball, really. Yeah. No,

we asked him some pointed questions, and he came

through like a trooper. We have a lifelong friend

in Bob Skier. Yes, we do. Yeah, he would just

– answered everything straightforward and gave

us 110 i was just so impressed with the man i

think i think the other one michael and i did

that was one of the longer ones was our gary

chalk interview because by the end of it he's

like guys i gotta go my dog's gonna pee on the

carpet i know i didn't realize that that yeah

that we were keeping him that long because yeah

i actually did the interview at work I closed

the door. Yeah, you did. I closed my office door

and just did the interview like on my lunch hour.

For real? Yeah. That's pretty awesome. It was

awesome. That's what I call guerrilla interviewing,

dude. That is love. You don't do that. If you're

really, really serious about it, dude, you'll

do it like in the closet. It's like an audition.

If you're really serious, you'll do the audition

on your iPhone. Like here, here. That's funny.

Before we let you go, remind the listeners on

what you have coming up and what's going on with

you right now. Right now, just doing more auditions.

Hopefully some more callbacks for some video

games. I have some stuff on TV. I've got the

GD thing running. uh possibly some more of that

coming up and uh just just basically just pushing

it forward of course you have more and more boulder

coming up right now as well but whatever i land

i will be the first to uh to chime in to you

guys and i'll be like listen but i am right there

in your face awesome i am the next optimus prime

No, whatever, dude. Don't even say that. I never

want another Ultima Optimus Prime. I want Peter

forever. I want him chirogenically frozen. You

know what I'm saying? That's the running joke

of the fandom. That is funny. You guys are going

to freeze his head and put him in a freezer.

That's right. I want that Futurama frozen. I

want him like, you know. Every 10 years, they'll

bring him back out to say, one must stand and

one must fall again. I want a hologram on a concert,

you know what I'm saying, of Peter coming up.

Optimus Prime, you know what I'm saying? I want

all that. There is not even anyone who can touch

that man for Optimus Prime, and everyone knows

it. Well, for years, though, they had Gary Chalk

doing... Optimus Prime, and it was like, you

know. For Beast Wars, yeah. Well, no, not Beast

Wars. I mean for Armada years. Armada, yeah.

Yeah, and it was like, oh, I'm torn. It's not

Peter Cullen, but it is Optimus Primal. See,

but that's cool. I mean, like, you know, Pete,

I grew up with the man. It's like saying, which

Bond do you like better? Well, I mean, Roger

Moore was the Bond. But then, you know what I'm

saying, you have Sean Connery who will always

be the first Bond. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah. You know, you have – I love me some Daniel

Craig. I think he's a phenomenal Bond. I have

huge issues with that. I know. He's blonde. Well,

he's blonde. No, no. It's not even that, okay?

Okay. Yes, I agree. Connery is the best, the

ultimate. I think my first Bond film I saw as

a kid was License to Kill with Dalton. We have

opened a can of arms. And then when it came back

around in 1995 with Goldeneye and Brosnan, Brosnan

is my, outside of Connery, Brosnan is my number

one. And when he wasn't going to come back and

they were going to go in this new direction of

telling the stories of Bond before he got his

double O status, I was like, oh, God, give me

a break. Come on. But you have to understand

you cannot. have magical phone shoes forever

you know what I'm saying like you gotta like

get it gritty you can't have you know missed

it by that much all the different you know different

Bond films like I'm telling you like right now

like you you like the reason I like Daniel right

yeah I can appreciate him is because he gets

down and dirty like of course like you know um

um The Bond before him, I totally did a bronze.

He was a quintessential Bond. Why? Because he's

good looking. He has this dashing thing that

he does. A little wink in the eye. Chinny chin

chin. Homeboy is classy Bond. He's very classy.

But in this day and age, with so many freaking

like... video games that get down and dirty.

And so many people used to just like, you know,

machine gun fires and fights, up close fights

and physicality of it all. If you look at how

Daniel Craig gets down, there's not another Bond

that gets down the way Daniel Craig does. I'm

talking about like... He's nitty gritty. He gets

nitty and gritty and dirty. You know, I like

the fact that he's not perfectly good looking,

but he's good looking. And, you know... I can

accept that my wife has a little minor crush

on him. That's fine. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, but she likes Sean Connery, too. So, hey.

But if you ever looked at the classic bronze

and you see the fight scenes, you're like, oh,

man. You're like, yeah. No, it's like watching

Captain Kirk. In the background, you've got...

It's really just hokey. Michael knows about this.

There's a YouTube video out there. I grabbed

the audio from it once and I used it in a podcast

one time. I forget. I think it was one of our

Star Wars podcasts, but one of our Star Wars

episodes that we did coverage on the Star Wars

films. But there's a YouTube video out there

of Chewbacca and Harrison Ford coming in and

basically saying, I'm done with you. I'm through

with you. Daniel Craig is my Wookiee bitch now.

It was right before or right after. Harrison

Ford did that right after. He did it as a promo.

He was on, was it The Tonight Show or Conan O

'Brien? It was probably Conan. Yeah. And it was

one of those funny skit things, but he was backstage

in his dressing room and in walks Chewbacca.

And he's like, get the hell out of here, Chewbacca.

You slept with my wife. I hate you. Oh, it's

so funny. He says she was coughing up hairballs

for a week. And all he's saying is like. Exactly.

You know, that's that's what I like the voice.

I'd love to voice me some Chewbacca. I would

I would dig that. But let me let me like, you

know, who I really wanted for Bond to come back

to the bottom for. I know before we break in

another tangent. I wanted to freaking I wanted

I wanted. Oh, my God. I just totally blanked

on him right now. How can I blank on him? Clive

Owen. I wanted Clive Owen for Bond so bad. Oh.

Yeah, you know, he's kind of like the action

hero, but he's also very vulnerable. Exactly.

Like, he can get rough, but he also has that

little Pierce Brosnan kind of like, you know.

That swag to him, yeah. That swag. Yeah. So,

I mean, when Daniel Craig was pronounced as Bond,

I was like, boo, boo. I was like, no. No. You

know what Clive Owen did? He played a fake Bond

in a movie and pissed me off because I was like,

dude, stop messing with my emotions, man. You

know what I'm saying? Just get on and do it.

But now that Craig's in there, I'm a total Craig

fan. I love the man. I think he's awesome. I'm

optimistic about Skyfall, but I don't. Like,

after The Quantum of Boredom, I don't have the

absolute need to go to the theater to see. No,

don't forsake. Don't forsake the franchise because

one director. No, no, no, no, no. What I'm saying

is I will see the film, but, like, when I was,

you know. you know 95 i was 15 and i was you

know growing up with bras and everything else

i went to see every single one of those films

in theaters even die another day even though

that movie kind of sucks a little bit um sadly

but like i saw casino royale in theaters and

then i saw quantum of solace trailers and and

everything else and i just couldn't pull the

trigger to see it in the theater i did eventually

see the movie i've seen it several times but

i just had no need, no desire to go in November

to a theater to see that Bond film. Quantum of

Solace was kind of poo -poo. I don't blame you,

dude. It was a revenge film. That's what it was.

Between Casino Royale and Quantum of Boredom,

they were set up to be a two -part film, and

Quantum was set up to be a revenge film. Look

at the directors who did Casino Royale. Quantum.

You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't think

Mark Forrester was really the right. He does.

There was a lot of shaky stuff going on. It was

kind of like he was like Braun was broody and

freaking like, you know, like he had been late

and like freaking forever. Maybe, you know, even

though he was like never truly got that piece.

He really wanted his grouchy. He's real grouchy.

Like, well, really kind of like. was that horrible,

you know, the base in the middle of the desert,

you know what I'm saying? Like, well, I'm a base

in the middle of the desert, and, you know, now

I'm burning down, and this isn't a soundstage,

you know what I'm saying? Like, oh, here comes

a staircase burning down, and now you're stuck

in a room, you're about to die from fire. It

was just, I was like, ah. It was just kind of,

I agree with you, it was boring. But Sam Mendes

has a flair for the dramatic. Right. Oh, no,

I'm really intrigued for Skyfall, just the way

that the trailers are showing it when they're

interrogating him and they're asking him these

questions or they just say these words. And then

they say Skyfall and he says done or whatever

it was. It intrigues me. I just don't know if

I can. I don't know if it's a movie I can pull

the trigger to actually see in the theater. You

have to go see it, Mike. You've got to go see

the movie. You will see it, I promise. Because

I think, I mean, it can either be... Listen to

what Sam Mendes has in store for the movie. I

believe in the man. Plus, he's an Englishman,

you know what I'm saying? So he knows the surroundings,

and he knows the mystique. So I was like, feel

good about that. He has a great player for...

for framing certain scenes and for being that

emotional response. Now let's see if he can do

some action. This is his first action film, I

believe, that he's doing. So let's see if we

can get that action in there. But you know what

really kind of sold me on the whole thing? You

know that train scene that they filmed in India?

When the whole train comes apart and Bond does

this kind of floundering... leap into the cabin,

and he lands on his feet like a cat and straightens

out his freaking cuff link, and he does a little

tug of his bow tie and his business as usual.

I mean, how odd. That gave me instant cinematic

orgasm myself. Gyrated in my pants. I was like,

listen. Oh, boy. You know, I just can't get that

kind of physical response from James Bond. Maybe

I'm just not such a big fan. Well, OK, I thought

it was super cool in in World's Not Enough when

when Pierce has to use the use the boat and he

dives down in the sub and you see the water scene

and you see him just straighten his tie underwater.

I thought that was really cool. So, you know,

you're absolutely right. Those little touches.

Yeah. Goosebumps, dude. I love that stuff. But.

I have to say, like, the best cinematic orgasm

I ever had, I will say, happily, was The Avengers.

That movie, I didn't pass down, dog. I was like,

oh, my God, dude. It was phenomenal. I want Joss

Whedon to do every superhero movie that comes

out. He is. They put him in charge of the whole

thing, didn't they? And they were smart to do

it. But he has a new show coming up with his

wife. And I think his brother -in -law is going

to, they're, they're like doing the whole thing

for shield for the TV. Yeah. They're doing a

Marvel show. Yeah. Marvel show. And I think.

Mark Miller, actually, writer for Miller World

and Kick -Ass and all that other stuff, he is

going to be doing some television development

for Marvel as well. So they're smart about who

they're getting. They're staying faithful, dude.

I'm very excited. The only problem I have with

Jocelyn, it's not really a problem I have with

him because I'm used to it by now. The only problem

with him doing more... Marvel stuff to me is

at least one person has to die. Everything he's

ever done, he's killed one person. You look at

Angel, he killed Fred. You look at Avengers,

he killed Coulson. That's the thing. I was hoping

that they were going to bring him back at the

end of the film. I was waiting for him to be

reanimated or put in a stasis. Why would you

ever kill Coulson off? That's one thing I was

pissed off about. Clark Gregg is awesome. The

rumor is now that in Avengers 2, they're going

to introduce the Vision. Oh, my God. Oh, are

you serious? And the Vision is going to be Coulson,

except as an android. Oh, my God. They couldn't

waste talent like that in the S .H .I .E .L .D.

organization, so they used his body as a template

or as a base for the Vision. That is simply delicious.

That would be awesome. That would be a great

introduction. It's just a rumor, but that's the

rumor I heard. Where did you hear that from,

my man? Where did you hear that from? Somewhere

on Twitter. I don't know. Oh, my God. That would

be excellent, dude. There's a bunch of weird

geek sites that I frequent. I forget exactly

where I heard it. There's a podcast that I listen

to called For Better or Worse. They essentially

do their take on what a remake or an updating

of a film would be. Their first episode was Breakfast

Club, and one of their suggestions for a director

was Joss Whedon. I emailed them and I said, the

only problem with that is one of the characters

would have to die. You can't kill off the Breakfast

Club characters. Anthony Michael Hall must die

tragically. Oh, stop it. It's like if you look

at like how, I don't know if you guys read comic

books or not, but if you look at like, you know,

Mark Miller, Homeboy's just, he freaking like

tears up these characters, man. He tears them

and spits them out. I'm like, what are you doing,

man? No, no. You know what I'm saying? Like,

no, you can't do that. But then, you know, this

visceral emotional response, I mean, you know,

you just get all pissed off. And you realize

that sometimes they're doing their job. Now,

it becomes formulaic where you're like, dude,

just stop it already. It's fine if they live

for once. You know what I'm saying? So I get

what you're saying. You know what I'm saying?

I get that. I totally do. All right. Well, remind

everyone where they can get in contact with you

online if you want to share that. If you log

on, I'm available through Twitter. Imari Speaks

on Twitter. Hit me up, dude. I would love to

chat with everybody. Come on, let's have an old

-fashioned chat. I'm going to have probably another

page on Facebook soon for a fan page so I can

interact more with people. Hopefully, I'll be

going down to Comic -Con. If there's any Comic

-Con people out there, I don't have a booth just

yet. Are you going to New York Comic -Con? No,

but maybe like after another. Oh, so you're talking

about San Diego next year. Oh, yeah. San Diego.

OK. OK. Oh, God. New York Comic Con would just

be a freaking that'd be an explosion. That'd

be awesome. You know, but maybe after another

season, you know, they'll be like, hey, so how

would you like to fly down to New York for the

Comic Con? I'd be like, yes, I would. Thank you.

You know, so. Either way, they see a big old

brother man, 6 '3", you know what I'm saying,

walking, hit me up. Make sure he's the right

one. That's right. It's like, how are you doing?

He's like, no, actually, I'm Kevin Michael Richardson.

The guy you once over there. Oh, yeah, sorry.

If you guys talk to Kevin, tell him I said what's

up. Give him a big hug for me. We haven't talked

to Kevin yet. Not yet. We will eventually, hopefully.

That would be awesome, yeah. God, dude, okay.

So we will ask you to hold the line, and we'll

be back after this. All right. Yes! Juice bars!

Nothing better on a summer day. Seasons. Another

fascinating human concept. How do they work exactly?

Well, there are four of them, and... And you

can just pick whichever one you want? No. Because,

well, you can't. There's a natural cycle and...

Snow! May we see some? In person? You will, when

winter comes. But that's still a ways off. That

doesn't make any sense. Shouldn't we have snow

now? Would it be more appreciated? But if it

snowed in the summer, then it would be winter

and... Help me out here. Don't look at me. Nothing

on this planet makes sense. Hot dog. But it's

not a pet. You know what, Boulder? You're right.

It would be great to have a snowfall right now,

but... Hmm. Well, there you have it, folks. There's

the Amari Williams interview. I kind of tried

to just be the facilitator of this. Um, since

this was, you know, Michael actually got this

interview for us. It was his idea since he does

his video show with his son, Aiden rolled at

rescue bots. And we talked for an hour and 20

something minutes with Amari Williams, voice

of Boulder. Uh, I think the last 25 minutes of

that is all rambling. We got off on some good

tangents. Yeah. It was a healthy discussion.

Yeah, it was. I mean, it flowed very, very well.

And Amari was just... What I'm finding with a

lot of these voice actors, I found out when we

talked to Josh Keaton, they just want to talk

geek like the rest of us. Yeah. Josh even told

us that, you know, hey, anytime you guys want

to have me back, I'd be more than happy to come

back. That would be just awesome to have Josh

Keaton on a regular podcast episode, not necessarily

an interview, but just to have him as a guest

and be like, hey, Josh Keaton is here. We've

got Amari Williams. Let's talk about James Bond.

Just for the hell of it. We'll talk comic books.

We'll talk video games. All sorts of geek stuff.

Amari just loves all that stuff. It was just

such a nice conversation. It was so cool talking

to him. Very, very, very awesome. So I think

we're going to close it out. And you can find

Roll to the Rescue Bots over on Michael's YouTube

channel. You can also find it at geekcastradio

.com. When's episode five coming out? Oh, you

know, I'm not sure. We haven't recorded it yet.

And it's been like a month since the last one.

And the last one took two months to make. I was

looking at our... And our YouTube stats. And

sadly, the last one hasn't gotten a lot of traffic.

And even the first one that's got like a bazillion

YouTube hits, right? When you look at the detailed

statistics, you know, people stick around for

the first five minutes. Yeah. 80 % of the people

bail after five minutes. And it's like, man,

it's a little disheartening. But, you know, the

show must go on. As long as you and Nadin are

having fun with it. We're having fun. And he

asked me, when are we going to do that? And it's

like, well, you know, we have to time it right.

Like, is your brother gone? Well, it's getting

to the point now where if we're going to have

another show, it's probably going to have to

have Gavin in it because he is really interested.

But on the other hand, he's also really hard

to nail down. You know, like Aiden will sit there

and smile and go with the flow. Gavin won't.

Yeah. It's hard. You know, Gavin can be the forklift

of randomness. Seriously, you know, you just

have a random kid running back and forth behind

the couch. Yeah, well, like when we saw the flobster,

it's like, look, it's a flobster. And here's

Gavin peeking his head out from underneath the

table like, am I supposed to run now? Amari was

just amazing to listen to. You know, just because,

like I said, this interview was really Michael's

thing. I cut in a couple of times, but it was

mainly, you know, as far as the questions go,

that was his deal. And, you know, I just couldn't

help myself breaking in a couple of times with

Stan Bush and Peter Cullen stuff and everything

else. And because it was flowing so well, I felt

I could do that. And it was just very, very awesome.

How cool is that? I mean, not too many conversations

include. you know, Stan Bush and Peter Cohen.

Wow. Only the good ones, right? That's true.

Good times. Um, all right. So that's it for this,

this, uh, all things transformers rolled at rescue

bots interview. Uh, we will catch you next time.

Oh, they're all so cute. How are we supposed

to choose just one? Look, it's a Mr. Petty Paws

in our size. He doesn't look as cuddly. I bet

he's strong. Look at his horizontal jump. He's

the perfect pet for our rescue team. Huh, my

scanner isn't working. You turn off the main

power. I'll open the cage. Welcome, newest member

of the Rescue Bot team. Blades, what should we

name him? Maybe Whiskers. I don't think he likes

that name. Hurry! We have to find him before

someone else adopts him.