Interview with Jason Marsden on Voice Acting and His Major Roles

This is Jason Marsden, voice of Duke from G .I.

Joe Renegades. You're listening to the GeekCast

Radio Network. Yo, Joe. Hello, and welcome to

the special ToonCast interview of Jason Marsden.

I am Mike T .F. Joan Blanchard, and joining me

is Tara the Rising Star. Hello. Hey. Yes, today

we have a really, really awesome privilege to

talk with Jason Marsden. You may know him from

such video games as Killzone 3. A bunch of other

stuff. I know he was in a couple of the burnouts.

Also from voice acting, you know him as Duke

in G .I. Joe Renegades recently. Firefly from

the Batman, Max Goof from House of Mouse as Goofy's

son. I know him specifically as Snapper Carr

from Justice League and Static. From Static Shock,

he was Richie Foley slash Gear. I had messaged

Jason, oh, I don't know, a few months ago, and

it just never lined up. I kept – every other

month I would like send him a message saying,

hey, Jason, do you have – if you have time, great.

If not, cool. He just messaged me out of the

blue. We're recording this on a Monday night.

He just messaged me like 24 hours ago like on

a Sunday night saying, hey, I have this time

to this time available. I was like, oh, OK. It's

like – and I understand. I mean Jason is an awesome,

awesome guy and – It's going to be a pleasure

to talk to him. So do you have anything you want

to say before we get to the interview? Yeah,

well, just I'm excited to speak with him, and

I'm a huge fan of Static Shock. When it was on,

I watched it religiously, and it's an honor to

speak with him. Very, very cool. So that is coming

up next, the interview with Jason Marsden. Circuit

board. Opticon scalometer. Optical blabber? Nah,

just clowning you. We're all done. Done with

what? Jet blades. Woohoo! Let's see what they

can really do. You're right. The rear boosters

must be overpowered. No, man, not the skates.

You! What do you mean? The robot, the zap caps,

all this stuff. I mean, all of a sudden, you're

Brainiac the Maniac. So I'm a little smarter

than most people. What's the big deal? A little?

The Department of Defense couldn't think up most

of this stuff. Well, they don't have to. I already

thought it up for them. Focus, Richie. Remember

when you said your head felt like it was on fire?

Well, maybe you were right. Because something's

really cooking up there. I do feel different

lately. I think faster. A lot faster. Sometimes

I can't stop thinking. Sometimes it's like my

thoughts are thinking thoughts. See, I just thought

that. It's like ideas are exploding in my head.

Does it look bigger? It does, doesn't it? Cranial

perimeter is definitely expanding. Oh, no. You

look fine. Fine? I'm having some kind of strain

on the brain breakdown. I could be going crazy.

I... Rich. Know what I think? I think maybe you're

becoming a bang -bang. Hello, everyone. This

is Mike, TFG1 Blanchard from the Geekcast Radio

Network, and I'm joined with Tara, the rising

star. Hello. Hey. This is Tara's very first voice

actor interview, and we have the super awesome

privilege to interview Jason Marsden. Yes, that's

right. Gear from Static Shock, Snapper Carr from

Justice League, Max Goof from House of Mouse.

Duke from the new G .I. Joe Renegades cartoons

is on the line with us. Hello, Jason. How are

you? Hello, Mike. Hello, Tara. How's it going,

man? It's going good, thank you. And how are

you? I'm doing awesome. It's a beautiful semi

-rainy day here in Southern California. Perfect

day to stay indoors, do an interview, maybe watch

a movie later. Movies are good. That works. That

works. So what – can you, like, tease us with

any, like, current projects you're doing right

now? I know that you're doing G .I. Joe Renegades

as Duke, but what else you got going on? Right

now I am on The Garfield Show, which is on Cartoon

Network, and I do the voice of Nermal on there.

Nermal is Garfield's, you know, the thorn in

his side, as well as various other voices on

that show. Let's see. I usually work on Fairly

Oddparents. I think they wrapped their final

season already. And I'm working on a bunch of

video games. And some of them I signed a non

-disclosure agreement, so I can't tell you what

they are. But they'll be hitting the shelves

probably sometime next year. Awesome. Sweet.

Yeah. Um, so just to kind of get us started into

your background, tell us like where you grew

up, how you like wanted to get into acting or

voice acting and stuff like that. I grew up in

Warwick, Rhode Island, and my parents and I moved.

We drove cross country to Los Angeles for my

my stepfather is a ballet teacher. So he got

a gig at Fullerton College teaching ballet. So.

We drove cross -country, and I was 11 years old.

I was cute, so people told me. And they said,

oh, you should get your son into acting. Get

your son into acting. So my mother found a workshop

that did about six weeks theatrical, six weeks

commercial. And then they sent me to an agent,

and they signed me that day and just started

saturating me. and everything, movies, TV, commercials,

voiceover, animation. And animation was just

one of the things that I gravitated towards,

that I was good at, because I was always a big

fan of cartoons growing up. And I like to think

it's because I'm an only child and I had a lot

of time to talk to myself and play with myself

in that respect. And all the action figures I

played with had to talk and sound just like...

I heard them on the cartoons, so that was kind

of like my training ground, in a way. And then,

you know, lo and behold, I was fortunate enough

to get into the small community voice of artists.

Very cool. If you could be working on any one

show that you have worked on in the past, if

you could still be working on it, what show would

it be? Animated show? You know, I would love

to do some more Max. I think he's... a character

that Disney could still utilize. I was talking

about getting the teen boy demographic, and Max

is a lot of fun, and I like working with Bill

Farmer, who's goofy, and I like the relationship

that they have. I think there should be more

Max and Goofy stuff in the future. This is kind

of like a side question. How long did it take

you to learn Goofy's little yodel thing to fit

into the character of Max? It's something I always

kind of knew how to do. You know what? Here's

a funny story. When I was – I guess I was 13.

Muppet Babies was really big and Disney – would

you mind shutting that for me? Disney was going

to do the Disney Babies. So I auditioned for

Baby Donald, Baby Mickey and Baby Goofy and I

had booked Baby Goofy. So I – During the audition,

they wanted me to work on the goofy -isms. So

that show actually never – they never even recorded

a pilot. It never went forward. But from there,

I guess it was my training ground of sounding

like Goofy. Very, very, very cool. I have to

say Max is one of my favorite characters. Right

on, right on. I love how you portrayed him. He's

hilarious, and he's a great character. You didn't

think he was a little dick? No, I didn't think

he was a little dick, no. I always thought he

was way too mean to Goofy. Goofy was just, you

know, I mean, I can understand teen angst, but

he was just so unforgiving sometimes, I thought.

He's a very interesting character. Right on.

Yeah. So, you know, out of all the characters

that you've played, what would you say are your

favorites? Oh, you know, Max, Duke, G .I. Joe,

he's a fun character. Again, just being a G .I.

Joe fan. I did a show called Lunatics where I

got to do kind of my best Daffy Duck impression.

And Fairly Oddparents is fun too because it's

just a lot of frenetic energy and crazy comedy.

Nice. So do you like playing the good guys, the

bad guys, serious guys? Which ones do you like?

Funny guys? Which ones do you like better? Oh,

I definitely like the bad guys. They get the

most monologuing and the most interesting dialogue.

That's true. Everyone we've asked that question

always picks the villains because of that exact

same answer. Hey, if I was a voice actor, I'd

do that. Yeah. Like doing G .I. Joe, I mean,

I loved... But most of it was barking out orders

and the heroic stuff was written in the action.

Right, yeah. And it's fun when the villain characters

come in because they get to expound and really

captivate the audience. So as an actor, those

are the kind of roles that you really hunger

for. And you're one of those voice actors that

really – doesn't alter his voice. I mean, like,

when we first get on the line here, I'm like,

holy crap, it's Max. Because your voice, and

I think it's a... A testament to what you do

with your own voice. You don't have to use, you

know, you don't have to do mimicking. Not that

there's anything wrong with the mimic, but, you

know, it's one of those things kind of like with

Barry Gordon that did Donatello in the 1987 Turtles

cartoon. That's his own voice. That's his regular

voice. And I think that's great that there are

people out there that can use their own voice

to expound on a multitude of characters. Thank

you. Thank you. I really appreciate that because

I sit back and I'll work with guys like Dee Baker

and John DiMaggio and Frank Welker and these

guys who have this amazing amount of range. I'm

like, wow, I wish I could do that. I'm always

doing me. I'm not complaining. But that's a great

compliment. Thank you. What is it like sitting

next to Frank Welker during the Garfield show?

It's insane. It's insane. I mean, the dude has

been around. I think he's one of the longest

standing, still working voiceover actors and

who we've all heard growing up. And I used to

watch Scooby -Doo Mysteries before school and

actually got to do Scooby -Doo Mystery Inc. a

couple of weeks ago. So it was, you know, there

I am in the booth with him, you know, doing Fred

and Scooby and hearing him do those voices. It's

just it just makes it giddy. Yeah. Yeah. You

know what, Mike? Interesting thing I actually

learned this past weekend when I was at the convention

from a voice actor was that most of the time

producers are looking for people who have, who

can just do their normal voice. They're not always

looking for someone who can do, you know, who

can imitate like Darth Vader or Scar. Right.

I mean, yeah. I mean, but the thing of it is,

is like, like, oh, what's a really, really good

example? Like, like Townsend Coleman, his, his

voice. His regular speaking voice, because I

heard an interview with him a while ago, is nothing

like what Michelangelo sounds like in Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles, the 1987 cartoon. I'm not

saying that there's anything wrong with that

at all. Like I said, it's a testament to Jason

that he can do that. Speaking of G .I. Joe, when

prepping to do the voice of Duke, did you go

back and watch any of the old G .I. Joe stuff?

You know, I didn't. No, I didn't. How do you

feel that voice acting differs from being a child

voice actor, say, in Gummy Bears, to being a

character like Richie slash Gear in Static Shock?

What's the difference for you? You've grown up

in this business. One of your youngest roles,

as far as I know that I found out, was you played

a voice in Disney's Adventures of the Gummy Bears

in 1988, 1989? That's right. How is the progression

for you? What's the difference from doing it

as a kid and doing it as an adult now? Definitely

the work ethic. For example, in Gummy Bears,

I was fresh off the boat from acting class, and

we're always taught to look your fellow actor

in the eye when you speak to them. When we were

recording Gummy Bears, they had lined us all

up, one in front of the other, and I was... in

front of everybody so i would do my lines and

i would turn around to the person behind me and

my voice would get off mic and then have to constantly

make jason you have to you know speak in the

microphone when you're doing voiceover um as

to now i definitely know that uh yeah you have

to look you have to act perform into the microphone

if you know even if you're lucky if there's a

there's another actor You know, there's a lot

of stuff we do nowadays that it's just one actor

in the room as opposed to the group. Yeah. So,

Jason, every voice actor seems to have, you know,

a method for remembering which of their voices

go with which characters, especially if they're

on a show where they voice a lot of characters

like you did on Tiny Toons and Futurama and others.

How do you keep all your voices straight? They

have these talented engineers at work who have

a sample of everyone's voice, and if you need

a little refresher on Chester, they have it for

you right there. Nice. Very cool. In the thousands

of recordings you've done over your career, what

are some of the funniest things, whether it be

mistakes someone made, practical jokes someone

pulled, or... Anything that you've been a party

to or witnessed as far as, like, behind -the

-scenes stuff from any of your voiceover stuff?

Or any of your on -camera stuff as well. Well,

it might take me a few moments. Let me preface

by asking, is this a PG show? No, it's fine.

Nope. We're totally explicit. It's not in the

beginning. You know, voice actors, a lot of people

don't realize this, are a dirty, fun group of

people. Yeah. I would almost love to see like

a roast of Frank Welker on Comedy Central and

see what happens. Off the top of my head, recording

a Goofy movie, there's a scene where Max and

Goofy, you know, they check in this hotel and

there's a mermaid light switch and they light

up and her shells, her bra kind of lights up.

And Goofy's line says something like, oh, Max,

you know, seeing you in this room, you know,

reminds me of my childhood. And he ad -libbed,

oh, Max, you know, seeing you in this room and

look at that light switch, it gives me a blue

steel woody. Hearing Goofy say something like

that is, you know, a lot of fun. Wow. Nice. So

what has been your favorite live -action role

and appearance, and what is your favorite sci

-fi series? Favorite live -action role? I've

appeared in Eerie Indiana when I was 17. That

was one of my all -time faves. And I also got

to play Burt Ward in a movie of the week about

Burt and Adam while they were shooting the 60s

Batman. And favorite sci -fi series? Man, right

now, as far as sci -fi, I guess Battlestar Galactica,

the recent one, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I got to meet,

oh my gosh, I forgot her name, who played Starbuck.

Oh, yeah, I'm looking for it right now. All right,

guys, help me out. Yeah. I have never watched

Battlestar Galactica. I wish I watched that show.

Really? Yeah, I never caught on to it. If I don't

catch something from the beginning, I don't end

up watching it. Well, that's what DVDs are for,

and you can rent the whole series. What are you

guys watching now? What's hot? What am I missing

out on? I'm watching Transformers Prime. I've

got to catch up with Renegades, and that's kind

of a pimping out your own show. I'm watching

reality shows. Yeah. Yeah. And slash going on

YouTube and watching Static Shock. Right on,

right on. Oh, yeah, this episode is supposed

to be about Static Shock, is it not? Yeah, we're

basically focusing on, this is just like a special

interview thing, we're basically focusing on

you specifically and your different roles. I

mean, since you mentioned Static Shock, how did

you feel when you were approached to do that

and you saw each of the scripts? Because that

cartoon was a very social commentary type of

cartoon that dealt with a lot of hard -hitting

issues. Yeah, you know, I'm extremely proud to

be part of something like that. And it's a rarity.

So, of course, you know, I ate it up. I was not

familiar with the character beforehand. So it

was great to be introduced to that whole lore

and get to work with Phil Lamarr again. That

was, I think, the second cartoon that we had

worked on together. Yeah, that was a blast. And

the late, great Dwayne McDuffie even talked about

he was going to do a Richie Aguirre spinoff,

which I don't know if it would have been a great

idea, but I was flattered nonetheless. That would

have been so awesome. Yeah, you guys would have

liked that? Oh, yeah. Actually, I've been trying

to nail down Mr. Lamar to get him on an interview.

The least I could do is... is let him know that

I did one of you guys and to pay attention if

you ask him. That would be awesome. Thank you.

Sure, sure. Yeah, he's a great guy. I'm sure

he'd be down. Yeah. Let's see. Do you ever go

back and watch shows you worked on in the past,

whether they've been just to complete what you

maybe sounded like or to see how it all came

together either right away or years later? Yeah,

sometimes. When I was in my teens and 20s, I

definitely camped out in front of the TV when

stuff came on and then just kind of got casual

about it. But every so often, I'll go back and

see how horrendous was I in this project or what

could I have done differently or just never saw

it in its completion, how it came out. Like I

worked on Generator Rex, I'd never seen it before

and we're in our second season. I was like, I

should probably watch the show and see what I

did and see what the show is all about. And lo

and behold, it's a show that I definitely – it

reminded me of Transformers in a way from the

80s when I grew up. It reminded me of something

that I would have watched growing up. Yeah, very,

very cool. So which voice actors did you most

look up to when you were first starting out and

which voice actors do you still look up to that

are around today? Oh, man. Frank is up at the

top there. You know, Gummy Bears, I got to work

with June Foray, who she's one of the first.

I mean, she was in like a lot of classic Looney

Tunes shorts. You know, she was the granny. She

was Rocky, Rocky and Bullwinkle. Right now, you

know, Phil, Dee Bradley Baker, John DiMaggio,

Tara Strong. Rob Paulson is one of my absolute

faves because I totally dug Animaniacs. You're

naming off half the people we've interviewed.

We talked to Tara and we talked to Rob as well.

Right on, right on. I knew Tara before she was

Tara Strong. I knew her when she first got here.

She's Canadian. Ironically, she's from Toronto.

That's right. And I broke with her on – it was

Extreme Ghostbusters. That was the first thing

we'd ever worked on together and seeing her just

grow and dominate in this industry and booking

stuff that I auditioned for. That's the thing

about – you probably already know this, Tara,

but women get twice as many opportunities in

voiceover, especially if you can do voices for

– Young boys. Yeah, young boys. Yeah, she is

definitely one of the people I look up to. Yeah,

honestly, I've heard that, so very interesting.

Work on your little boy voices, Tara. Pardon?

Work on your little boy voices. I will. Definitely,

I'll do that. And, you know, out of all the many

people that you've worked with over the years,

which one would you say that you enjoyed working

with the most? Which ones are your closest friends

in real life? Kevin Michael Richardson. Let me

throw him back on the list of people I admire

as well. But every time I walk into a booth and

I see that he's there, I know we're down for

a good time. Have you guys gotten to talk to

him yet? Not yet. We would love to. Kevin is

just – he's like a giant. child and and he loves

toys and and he and he he loves to disrupt kevin

yeah and uh um he he said something to me that

was just so profound he's like oh man if i were

if we were like 10 years old i'd be you know

calling your house all the time going hey could

jason come out and play i mean that's just that's

just the kind of kind of guy he is and he's just

insanely talented and and so down to earth uh

Yeah, and you see him, you just want to hug him.

He's just that kind of guy. Have you been to

any of the various Comic -Cons or any of the

fan conventions at all? I've been to Comic -Con

in San Diego. I guess this is not really animation.

I went to Gen Con. That's more like a gamers

thing. I did a Star Trek convention once. What

are your opinions of fan conventions? Oh, man,

they're a blast. Are you kidding? I go as a fan.

As long as I've been in this industry, I still

get starstruck. So I get a kick out of going

and seeing the people who I watch on shows and

TV and movie and getting to connect with my peers

and getting to hear the latest scoop of what's

coming up next. I love it. Obviously, there are

a lot of different types of voice work and on

-camera work and stuff like that. Which do you

prefer the most out of cartoons, commercials,

movies, video games, or anything else in the

voiceover, or even the live action, like the

on -camera stuff? What do you prefer? You know,

I used to be able to pinpoint it a few years

ago, but now it really comes down to, honestly,

I just love to act. I love what I do. I get a

thrill when I'm on camera. There are benefits

to that. You can be seen. You get to be on sometimes

an exotic location. You get to be really physical.

At the same time, I get to do that with animation.

I'm just using my voice, but I can still emote

like that. And I'm working with a lot of close

friends. I'm working with a lot of people that

I listened to and admired growing up. I'm being

part of things that... I am proud of. Commercials

are fun. It's like doing little mini -movies.

I just love it all. I'm a performer. I love to

perform, and getting to do that in any aspect

is a treat. The one thing about voice acting

in general, it seems like it's one of the easiest

jobs ever. I know it's difficult because you

have to train your voice and stuff like that,

but it's one of those jobs, and people have told

us this before. where you can just show up, do

it, and go home. You don't have to worry about,

oh, what am I going to have to wear for this

audition and that audition and whatever else.

I know. It's funny. I thought about that. I don't

think I've seen any one of us show up to work

in our pajamas. It's like, I think I'm going

to do that one day. We can't. You just can't

do that. No one says you can't, but I haven't,

you know, everyone kind of gets dressed. Sometimes

I like to put on a suit and tie, you know, just

for fun. But no one's ever thought about just

showing up in your PJs. It's like, you're not,

you know, you're not being, you're not on camera.

Of course, that would be the day that, you know,

a certain show decides to have, you know, the

publicist there with the electronic press pit

crew. Now, I'm going to do that. Mark my words.

I'm going to show up at work in my pajamas one

day. Just because I can. All work and no play.

Right. It's all play, baby. In your opinion,

how hard would you say it is to make it in the

voice acting business? And do you have any advice

for people who are just starting out? Yes, I

do. First, it's definitely a challenge to get

into this industry. It is a small group. And,

you know, how do I put this? I can do funny voices

or I can do a great imitation of Bugs Bunny or

the Family Guy characters. Everyone says, I'm

so good. All my friends at work say I'm good.

I should be in a voiceover. It's not necessarily

mean that you are good enough to do it. I always

say Mel Blanc would not have been the success

that he was if he could not breathe life into

the characters that he voiced. He didn't just

give. Bugs and Daffy and Elmer – excuse me, not

Elmer. Bugs and Daffy and Yosemite Sam, all those

characters, distinct voices. He gave them distinct

personalities because the man knew how to act.

He knew how to do that. Dee Baker, Kevin Richardson,

Rob Paulson, all these guys are extremely talented

performers. And they're selfless and they're

unabashed and they're willing to make fools of

themselves. And that's what a lot of people underestimate.

I guess teach a voiceover class once a year in

Irvine. And I'm amazed and they kind of bring

me in to kind of like give everyone a reality

check. And it's amazing. Yeah, there are a lot

of great people who do great voices, but a lot

of them just can't act. And I always say if you

really want to do voiceover, work on your impressions,

work on – You know, impressions of celebrities,

cartoons, you know, your family, whatever. But

most importantly, you got to take acting classes.

You got to take some scene study, some improv

because it's, you know, OK, as long as I can

get blue on the show, as Michael Bell says, Michael

Bell, one of our top video guys says, it's no

use having a six foot dick unless you can get

it up. I actually agree with everything you just

said there because I took drama throughout high

school. I did acting classes. I did workshops

and stuff, and it's really helped out in terms

of getting used to doing acting for animation

and stuff because, I mean, I haven't done it

professionally. But I've been doing it, you know,

fan dubbing and stuff like that, and it helps.

It does help, doesn't it? You know, it gets you

out of your head and into your heart. I mean,

that's where every performer that you see, that

every performance that you see that really connects

with you, it's because that person is, the performer

is giving it to you from a certain place that's

sincere, you know? A lot of voice actors in training...

kind of worry about how it's sounding you know

or how it should sound and they they they lock

on to the performance in their brain and and

it affects it affects the outcome so yeah you

just got to uh get to the point where you're

really comfortable in in performing and then

and then throw in your funny voices and then

you you know if you can act with the funny voices

then you're on to something it's true i noticed

when i was doing research on you um that You

had played yourself on Boy Meets World? Well,

kind of. I'd worked with that production company

before on a series called Almost Home. And Boy

Meets World went into production, and they had

a part for the best friend. They wrote for me,

and they wrote the character's name was Jason.

Long story short, I was unavailable, but then

became available. They gave me the role, and

then a few episodes down the line, they had to

say, they had to refer to me, my character's

last name, and they said, would you mind if I

used your last name? I said, no, I think that'd

be funny. So that's how I got to play Jason Marsden,

Jason Marsden getting to play Jason Marsden in

Boy Meets World. Okay, now, my follow -up question

to that is, did you ever have any scenes or lines

with Kit, William Daniels? I did. In fact, he's

the one that says, Mr. Marsden, here's your grade,

sir. Oh, that's so hilarious. Oh, man. If I could

have any interview at this point, I would love

to absolutely talk to William Daniels. I'm a

huge Knight Rider fan. And I loved Mr. Feeny

as well in Boy Meets World, and that would be

a holy grail of interviews for me outside of

Frank Welker or Peter Cullen, since I'm also

a Transformers fan. Right on, right on. Well,

I hope that you get to talk with Mr. Feeny. Oh,

Boy Meets World was the shit. Oh, yeah. I miss

that show. So you're probably, what, like 24,

25? She's just turning 20 this week, actually.

Okay, so yeah, you were young enough to be at

home, not going out on a Friday night watching

Boy Meets World, yeah. Yeah, well, there used

to be, I think on ABC, a show called, you know,

Thank God It's Friday. on Friday nights, and

it used to be on with Sabrina and Two of a Kind,

and I used to watch it religiously, and you just

don't get that experience anymore now, and it's

kind of sad. Was that how they referred to it

in Canada, the Thank God It's Friday lineup?

Yeah, that was how it was promoted here in Canada

on ABC. That's funny. I guess we're so lazy in

the U .S. that we just call it TGIF. Yes. Well,

no, they did call it TGIF. That's why I couldn't

remember the acronym for it. So I just called,

thank God it's Friday. Right on, right on. And,

you know, just again, going through your IMDb,

it's just, it's so funny where you pop up because,

you know, like I said earlier, Snapper Carr in

Justice League, and then you were Firefly in

The Batman in 2004. And as I said before, because

you basically use your own voice for everything,

it's like, I immediately know when I hear any

character that has that voice, I'm like, oh,

that's Jason Marston. Wow, he's in that too.

That's awesome, Mike. That means a lot because

I – again, going back to like growing up with

these guys, like again, like you, I'm a huge

Transformers fan. So when I heard Optimus Prime

and I heard – I was like, that sounds like Peter

Cullen. He would pop up. That distinct voice

or Lorenzo music. Garfield, he was also Tummy

Gummy. I was like, that's that Lorenzo music.

I could recognize voices growing up. So you saying

that realizes I'm making that kind of impression.

That feels pretty damn good. Another one of Cullen's

that I just – I actually did a double take as

a kid. The Voltron intro outros and the bumpers

for Voltron, I was like, what's Optimus Prime

doing on Voltron? That's right, that's right.

You know, what did you play on Will & Grace?

I played one of Will's blind dates, affectionately

called the Pocket Gay because I'm only 5 '1".

And they were looking for a super tiny blind

date for him. So that was me. Uh -huh. Very interesting.

They still show it here in Canada on the W Network.

I know. I still get – I get, I think, residual

checks from that more than anything. So they're

– out of all hundreds of episodes, they're running

that one the most. Nice. And, you know, we may

– I don't know yet. I know we've got like a –

Coming up on GeekCast Radio Network probably

later this year, we've got a podcast that's called

Legends of the Dark Knight, which is dedicated

to Batman the Animated Series and Batman Beyond.

After that, I may do a Superman the Animated

Series podcast as well. Well, when I went back

and I watched The Last Son of Krypton, the first

three part of that series, I'm like, wait, what's...

What's Gear doing as young teenage Clark Kent?

What the heck? Hopefully I sound a little bit

more heroic than Gear. Well, Gear is a hero in

his own right. Gear's cool, man. He's cool. He's

cool, but he's up here. He's kind of the young,

the brainy guy, and Clark is supposed to be a

little bit more romantic, more somber, more down

-to -earth. Oh, man. I love it when I can talk

to a voice actor like this that I can just sit

here and just go down their IMDb and just bring

shows up and they tell us stories. I've been

listening about the good old days. Yeah, Secret

World of Alex Mack. Yeah. What about it? Carlton

Hendy, what character was that? That was, I played

like a, oh man, was it so, Alex's. The series,

for those people who don't know, is about a girl

who gets radioactive powers and she can control

things and morph into liquids and whatnot. And

her sister enters a science project, a science

contest, and I'm one of the competitors and I

play like the villain, if you will, in that one.

Very awesome. I wasn't going to ask this question,

but I think we've put the going blue out the

window. What was it like being a 17 -year -old

boy on the set of Baywatch? I don't get why that's

blue. Well, you know, teenagers, hormones, Baywatch.

Well, then I'll tell you, it was fucking frustrating

because I didn't get to work with any of the

girls. Are you serious? No, I had scenes. Well,

Nicole Legger was in like one scene, but it was

mostly me. And I forget the dude's name who played

Hobie. Oh, yeah. That's Jeremy – Jeremy something

who's now like – I've seen pictures of him. He's

like a music pop star and he's like ripped and

always oiled up in his pictures. But that's who

I worked with the most. And you were a – I did

not know this and I watched a lot of Murphy Brown.

You were a young Miles Silverberg. Yeah, that

was one of the first bigger things that I did.

I think I was 12 or 13 at the time. Yes. And

according to this, now you can correct this or

not because we all know IMDB is not that accurate,

but according to this, your very first role was

on General Hospital as Alan, A .J. Quartermain

Jr. Yeah. Yeah, that was one of my first, the

first thing I ever did was a McDonald's commercial.

The first, it was like my first big recurring

role was on General Hospital. I was like the

second Alan Quatermain Jr. There have been like,

I think, seven others since. Yeah, very, very,

very cool. Yeah, I also noticed that you worked

on Spirited Away. Yeah, that's right. I was Haku,

the boy who helps Chihiro. navigate her way through

the bathhouse. Nice. Now, was that live action

or was that dubbing? That was dubbing. How do

you feel about, like, just general voice acting,

like reading off the page versus having to go

back and do dubbing? I like dubbing because I'm

kind of like, I like challenges and it's definitely

a challenge. And, you know, I'm also good at

it, so I really strive for that challenge. I

mean, the challenge comes from being able to

perform my rhythm to someone else's rhythm. It's

a limited spot. The animation is already done.

I have a limited amount of time to put in my

performance. And you have to match the lip flap

correctly. It gets more intense, especially when

you're dealing with feature films. But I dig

it. Where can people interact with you online

if they wanted to? Do you have Twitter? Do you

have a website? Any of that, like a Facebook

fan page or something like that? I do, I do.

All right, everyone get your pens. I am on Twitter,

Jason Marsden on Twitter. And on Facebook, I

have two pages, but I prefer everyone go to facebook

.com slash itsjasonmarsden. That's I -T -S, Jason

Marsden. Um, uh, and I do, you know, interact

with people. I do write back when I can. Um,

uh, sometimes several months later, right, Mike?

Yeah, it's okay. Um, and, uh, yeah, I have a

website, jasonmarsden .com where you can, uh,

I have a blog that I update periodically dealing

exclusively, exclusively with what I'm working

on and what's coming up next. And, uh, yeah,

man, that's it. Awesome. We would like to thank

Mr. Muzran for taking the time to chat with us.

We'll ask you to hold the line, and we will be

back after this. Thank you guys for having me.

Yep. What are you doing? Stay away from him!

I'm taking your friend Static. You're wrong!

He's not Static! He's not Static! So that's it.

That's the interview with Jason Marsden. Wow.

That was, oh my gosh, that was amazing. Yes.

It was just such an honor to talk to him, and

he's such a cool guy. Yeah, he is such a cool

guy. And this being your first interview, you

did very well. It was one of those interviews

where we kind of, like, we had preset questions

to ask him, but it was one of those interviews

that I really like where it just kind of free

flows. And it just kind of, you know, you go

into, and I liked how he asked us what we're

watching, you know. You know, it's one of those

things where I love talking to anyone that is

like that. I mean, we recorded, I mean, that

interview clip is like, I don't know, 35, 40

minutes long. Very, very gracious of him to give

us all that time and just an awesome, awesome

guy. Yeah, he was great to talk to. I really

enjoyed listening to hear what he had to say

about his career and his history and all the

shows he got to work on and even some of the

behind -the -scenes stuff with what goes on while

they're recording. It was pretty interesting,

and as many of our listeners know, I'm interested

in going into voice acting, and it was a great

insight and definitely was a pleasure to get

to speak to him. Yes, very much so. So for now,

we have been... Tara the Rising Star. And I am

TFG1 Mike, and this has been the special ToonCast

interview of Jason Marsden. We will see you next

time. Come on, Virgil. If you got your shock

box on you, I can track you down. Yes! Now what?

Desperate times call for desperate measures.