Interview with Josh Keaton on Voice Acting and Animation Roles

Hey, this is Josh Keaton and you are listening

to the GeekCast Radio Network. Hey, it's your

friendly neighborhood Spider -Man here, and I'm

swinging by the Geekcast Radio Network. Welcome

to Tooncast Beyond, a interview with Josh Keaton.

I am your host, Steve Joe and Mike, and joining

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

it going? It's going, it's going. Yeah, we're

going to be talking to Josh Keaton, voice of

Spyro, Young Revolver Ocelot. Green Lantern,

Spider -Man, and many, many, many things. Jack

Darby from Transformers Prime, Green Lantern,

and a bunch of other stuff just to let everybody

know. I'm not sure what was wrong with Josh's

Skype connection. It was kind of wonky. I'm going

to try to clean up the audio as best I can, but

he kept cutting in and out. We tried everything

we could. It just didn't really work. So let's

go ahead and get to the interview. These guys

at the GCRN would make great Green Lantern Corps

members. Seriously, who are these guys? Hello

and welcome to Tooncast Beyond. I'm one of your

hosts, Steve -Joe and Mike, and joining me for

the first time here in Tooncast Beyond is Pecan

Court Michael. Hello. Hey, how's it going? It's

gone. And in the latest Toon Beyond interview,

we welcome the voice of Jack Darby, Spider -Man

from many, many, many different things. The New

Goblin, Green Lantern, and all the other voices

that are in his head. Mr. Josh Keaton. Hey, Josh.

How are you? What's up, man? How's it going?

Oh, pretty good, pretty good. Yeah, I don't know.

I just had the... The need to do an interview.

I guess it's not really that oh, well, let's

see what Josh is up to But it was just one of

those things where I wanted to pick your brain

and all the stuff that that you've done is as

well as get some inside scoop on some stuff maybe

so Before we get started Can you tell it you'll

it give us the scoop on on what's going on with

you? If you can reveal anything I know you know

we live in a world where voice actors and actors

in general have tons of NDAs But what's going

on with you? Basically, let's see. It's a key

project that is soon to be released that I can't

really talk about, can't really deny what it

is, but you should know probably in the next

few weeks. Um, and uh, and really aside from

that, that's, that's the new stuff that's going

on right now is we're kind of in the, a little

bit of a slow time, you know, we're in between,

uh, airings of seasons and, um, you know, aside

from, and that's still like interesting stuff.

There's the, what I, a job voiceover stuff, which

is, uh, you know, promo work, you know, on, on

network show here, you know, coming up next on

blah, blah, blah. What, um, What networks are

you doing voiceover for? I do announcements for

the hub. And I'm also the sleazy promo guy for

Extra with the salacious gossip of the day. Oh,

that's great. That's great. All right. Now I

read online that you are a California boy. Where

exactly did you grow up and did you always want

to get into acting or Hollywood and all that

good stuff? It's called BFE. It's just outside

of Los Angeles. It's a little suburb in the San

Gabriel Valley. Yeah, that's where I was born

and raised. I have three sisters. she was doing

like beauty pageants and stuff like that. Not

quite, I mean this is the craziest, all the toddler

things and all that. Sorry. Because my aunt is

an incredible singer. And so she would go and

she would compete in that and she would win a

bunch of them. And I would just kind of tag along.

And I would really just go to these things. And

before I would bring my Nintendo, once that was

like, a thing. But before that, I would bring

my snorkel and fins and that was like my vacation.

You know, we would go to these patches. I didn't

care that there were cute girls there because

I was too young for all of that. I would just

bring my snorkel and fins and go pretend I was

diving in the pool. And Nintendo became a thing.

I would bring my Nintendo to the hotel and I'd

set it up and I'd just stay in the room all day

while she was doing her thing. And I'd play video

games. And by the time I realized, hey, there's

really, really cute girls here that I should

be going to talk to. She was already Those but

yes to do that and she got to the business Through

those she she got spotted by an agent at a talent

one of the talent competitions and and she started

going out and auditioning for commercials and

whatnot and The way I got into it I tag along

on a commercial audition with her, you know My

dad worked all the time. So my mom was left auditions

and I had to be somewhere. So I would I was at

this audition And I ended up getting called in

to audition and I ended up getting the commercial.

She's never let me hear the end of that. What

was the commercial? Something some some some

like kids clothing thing and because I was always

a precocious kid I would never shut up. I would

always be talking and You know, I thought I was

a little adult my dad's an English teacher and

I always would make like pronunciation my thing

so I would always be over pronouncing all the

consonants and and and doing all that and Yeah,

my my geekdom started really really early but

yeah, so it's just kind of tag along on my sister's

audition and and and then that led to you know,

the child thing and that for a while and and

Mike has taken me a bunch of different places

for like in my teens I was I was in a boy band

when that was when that was a thing they're making

But got to travel the world with that and It's

easy with on -camera work here and there And

when the writer's strike happened, I had like

this perfect storm, but in a negative way, I

guess. A lot of work slowed down because of the

writer's strike. And at the same time, my on

-camera agent, or the guy that represented me

at this agency, kind of out of nowhere quit the

business. He got married and he moved out of

state. And so I was like here at this agency

where I didn't really have a champion and there

was not a lot of work on camera to go around

anyway. And at the same time, The voice of history

was not at all affected by this rider strike.

It was really just on camera So I land a couple

of really really awesome parts at that point

and things just started snowballing and flash

forward Seven years and and and I've been I've

been quite a bit of voiceover So that that in

a nutshell and I oh it went from beginning till

now Speaking of your television career, I mean,

you know, I didn't even know this until I looked

at your IMDB, but according to them, and they

are known to be wrong sometimes, you have been

in such shows as The Secret World of Alex Mack.

What is it with almost every voice actor that

we've talked to here at GeekCasterDude .com in

the last, like, I don't know, two and a half

months? Everybody starts out in soaps. You've

been on General Hospital and Young and the Restless.

Those are all like little things here and there.

Really, when you're an actor, it's the kind of

work you can get. A lot of it is timing. A lot

of it is just luck. In all those situations,

you always got to be prepared and do your best

work when that opportunity comes along, if it

does. Really, you can't be picky because there's

a... Right. There's a very limited amount of

work and there are tons of people that want that

work and so you kind of just got to take it where

it comes. And if that means doing something that's

not really exactly what you would want to be

doing, you still got to look at this practice.

And so everything has something to offer. Soaps

are great training because you're really just

thinking on your feet. They film an episode of

them a day. I mean you're getting you're getting

writing changes as you're doing the scene essentially

and uh and and there's like no time for rehearsal

and you kind of have to It's uh, it's a grind

But I mean it it really if you if you take it

seriously definitely can can get a lot out of

it Um, you know, whatever people want to say

about soaps or whatever, but uh, yeah, you just

you got to take the work when it's there Well,

what kind of what kind of acting do you prefer

to do do you prefer on camera? Do you prefer

like animation voice acting or video games? I

mean, is there one that you think that you like

the best? Because I like Realizing a character

whether that be happy is a cap whether that be

Just what it is a big part and and and having

us having having all of that in person to enter

all of that is is It's a lot of fun. I still

approach things like voice acting in the same

way that I would approach it. I still do this

character, working out the character's backstory,

working out the character's motivations, all

of that. It's the same type of process. You just

don't have the stuff that you actually interact

with. Yeah Let's uh, let's sling some webs because

you've been in a multitude of spider -man franchises

both animation and video game I think the first

time I heard you as Spidey wasn't spectacular

spider -man. How did that come about? Well, I

Like a long story with spider -man before that

I was originally cast to play spider -man in

the first movie game and happening after I had

record that day of getting clearance to use Toby

for the video game mm -hmm they I guess waste

all the art though that they had done with me

so they put in this hidden well it wasn't really

hidden like you beat the game and you get to

play it again through as as you me in the in

the goblets that so I'm assuming and do pickups

here and there, but I'm assuming for the most

part it was the same game. Really just like a

reskin. And so after that, I kind of became the

de facto Harry Osborn. I was Harry Osborn in

the second movie game and I wanna, I can't remember

if I was even in the third game or not. I think

I might have done additional just incidental

voices here and there. And in Friend or Foe,

I was New Goblin and James R. Taylor played Spider

-Man in that game. and he ended up playing Harry

Osborn in the show. But I'd done a lot of Spider

-Man stuff and then it just came along as an

audition. It was no different than any other

audition that I would get from my voiceover where

they'll call you in. The process varies. Sometimes

if you have a studio at home, which I didn't

at that time, you can record the audition from

your house if you want or you go into your agent's

office and you read the stuff. And, uh, and that's

what I did. I, uh, I sent in my audition or didn't

send in my audition. I went into my agents, they

recorded it and, uh, and, and they sent it back

to, uh, like I made the first round of cuts.

So then they would call it. They called me in

and I went into the studio and I recorded fallback

audition there. Excited about that because I

was like, Oh man, it's a new Spider -Man show.

And Spider -Man has always been my favorite comic

book character. And so I, Super super excited

about it and really hoping that I would get it

and and finally when they went through all the

cuts I was the the last guy standing Awesome.

Well, what was it like? Doing shattered dimensions

because that wasn't just you that was like almost

every every major spidey voice that was has ever

been Tell us about shattered dimensions was a

lot of fun the products, the finished product.

Because as a Spider -Man fan, there was stuff

all over the place that was really cool. And

I got to, I'm friends with Dan Gilvizan, so it

was cool to kind of reconnect with him when we

did some of the promotion for the game. But to

be honest, the process itself was not much different

than any other video game. And by that I mean,

I went in, there would be, you would do... four

hour sessions. I can't remember exactly how many

I did, but you know, you go in and you record

four hours worth of stuff and then they put it

in the game. So you really, you're not reading

opposite anybody. You're not, it's really just

you in the booth in front of a mic with the voice

director and the engineer. And the thing that

was cool about that though, is that I got to

work with Jamie Thomason who was the voice director

for Spectacular Spider -Man. So it was really

just like, A little reunion. At that point, I

don't believe that I got to meet Chris Barnes

at that time. I think it was Edge of Time. I

think Spider -Man, Edge of Time was the first

time I met Chris Barnes. That's departure from

the usual video game recording norm. and act

opposite each other and all of that. And that

was fun. I wish more video games were done that

way because it gives so much more life to the

performance because I mean you could go in there

with all of your choices and really have everything

worked out but it's just your work as opposed

to being able to play off of somebody because

they might completely have a different take.

Something than you imagined and if you roll with

that then then what you're gonna end up with

is gonna be much more organic and much more realistic

and That you just came up with so it allows for

a lot of accidents and and and and so that's

And that's how just animation is and most animation

Like a like a radio drama where everybody's at

their own mic and and you just go through the

script and and play it out with the appropriate

pacing and everything. And that, to a certain

extent, is how a lot of the cinema scenes in

Shattered Dimensions are not Shattered Dimensions.

Edge of Time were done. There was once she was.

Myself as I also did the voice for the CEO, which

was also Peter. But when he's much older, he

seems like in his fifties or he appears to be

in his fifties or sixties, but it's like a significant

amount of time after that. um, so he's like an

older guy and That uh Getting to actually have

this Play opposite myself was was odd but really

a lot of fun That's kind of cool Yeah, we had

a talk to dan gilvazan about his part in a shattered

dimensions and he was telling us about how different

uh the uh Spider -man 2099 character was compared

to his original spider -man. Yeah And it's the

one I watching amazing friends and and and I

and I I I think that Dan is is the the best kind

of cheeseball and and definitely when I was reading

spider -man comics and You know and definitely

a lot from from what he did took a lot of the

spirit from what he did But yeah, he's a great

guy. Yeah, no, he's the Spider -Man that I grew

up with. And when I read Spider -Man comics,

I hear his voice. It goes way back. I think for

me, it was so... We'll really quickly move on.

The thing for me on Shattered Dimensions was

when you hear him, it is so different. It's same

voice, but it's such a different inflection because

of... A little darker. Yeah, it's a lot. No,

it's not just a little this a lot darker compare

amazing friends to Shattered Dimensions amazing

friends is like lollipops and candy and Shattered

Dimensions is like black kryptonite or something.

Yeah, yeah, definitely To be honest, I would

have loved to hear Dan Gilviz and a spider -man

noir I would have loved it because he his has

a lot of that old time I don't even know what

the word would be to describe it like it would

I would love to hear him as Spider -Man Noir,

because I could hear him in like this old gumshoe

noir detective drama. I could hear his voice

in that all day long, and I would have been really,

really curious to see what he would have sounded

like as Spider -Man Noir. Huh. It's too bad they

didn't just have... you know, each voice actor

record all the lines and then you get, you know,

you finish the game and then you get the Easter

egg. You can swap them all around at will. It

would be like a thousand hours of video game

voiceover. That would not work. It might get

a little expensive, but the fans would dig it.

That's almost like a Wally Burr session for crap's

sake. So switching gears, let's talk about Green

Lantern. Yes. My boys I got a six -year -old

Aidan and a four -year -old Gavin they love this

show. Oh Glad to hear honestly. I didn't know

this was you until I checked IMDB But it's awesome

Yeah, that's great So how did the Green Lantern

animated series project come up for you just

a regular audition? It was a regular audition,

but the casting process for that was so much

faster than it was for Spider -Man. With Spectacular

Spider -Man, there were months between hearing

that I got a callback or that I was going to

come in again for it or that I got the job. I

was waiting, and man, that was tough. Whereas

Green Lantern, and this just shows you how insecure

actors are, I... I didn't believe I got it. Like,

the whole time that I was recording the first

couple episodes, I mean, it was one audition.

I went in for one audition, I read it, I had

time to research the character, and I wasn't

really that familiar with Green Lantern, so I

was really just kind of flying by the seat of

my pants. I looked at a character sketch of him,

and just kind of made some real quick choices

right there about how I thought he should sound.

I wanted a voice that really made his jaw and

his chest sound massive. He's just a man. Yeah,

and so everything was just real spur -of -the

-moment choices. I think I had to read the oath

and and then I heard back like a week later that

that I booked it and I was and and I the whole

time I was like I Went on a one audition. It's

like a week later and I'm going into record Like

there's no there's no whole time the first three

episodes I was like I was like checking the lobby

and seeing like if my replacement was gonna be

Walter But yeah, that was That was crazy. I didn't

read I didn't have time to research anything

until until right before I started going going

into record and so I had all one of my friends

who who is a huge huge Green Lantern buff and

in a roundabout way asked What I should start

reading if I was curious about you know, like

hey, you know, I've been Stuff about Green Lantern

and I wanted to check out some some of the the

house stuff What do you think I should check

out? You know because I couldn't tell hey, I'm

doing this. I'd signed my life away already He

gave me some some places to start and and I read

a bunch as much as I could before I started recording

and I think the thing that I drew most of my

most of my inspiration in terms of the how character

from was It was it was secret origins. There's

a there's a in there where he shows up to list

on his 18th day in his light jacket, knowing

full well that his family is pretty much gonna

disown him and still does it. And that pretty

much summed up how for me. That is what I drew

my inspiration for his character from and really

just went from there and started reading more

and more about him and all of that. Yeah, I mean,

that one was one that I wasn't as familiar with,

and I went in flying pretty blind. Oh, wow. The

chemistry with the rest of the cast was pretty

instant. I mean, I've worked with Gray on so

many other things. I've worked with Kevin Michael

Richardson on a ton of things. So it's like,

we're already pretty buddy -buddy. And so the

Hal and the Killawog dynamic was pretty effortless.

And then this was the first time I worked with

Jason Zack, who played Caesar, and he's fantastic.

Great guy. And yeah, I mean, even the guest cast

on that show is the guest and the supporting

cast. They're all phenomenal. And a lot of them

are people that I've worked with before. And

a lot of them are people that I've just seen

a lot of actors. Seinfeld and I've had like this

weird renaissance with Seinfeld where when it

was out, I never really watched it. I think I

was too young to really appreciate a lot of the

humor. Right. And once I got a few years older,

I sort of watched it. and so many great little

characters on there and a lot of those characters

have turned around and they're in tons and tons

of EO now. So I work with them all the time and

I was like, Ian Abercrombie was Mr. Pitt and

he passed while we were actually in the process

of recording the show and he's our Gantlet. And

yeah man, I'm so glad that I got the chance to

actually work with him. for the short amount

of time that I did. Wow. Sounds exciting. Wow.

So it's been a really, really fun ride. And it's

fun to work with Bruce Timm in a larger capacity

because I worked with him on Crisis on Two Earths.

I worked with him. I did a Batman the Animated

Series episode when I was really, really young.

Yes, you did. Back in 92. Yeah. What that make

me like 12 13 and I was 19 Yeah, Michael is the

oldest out of the three of us here Young Michael

if I Yes It was You played young young young

Michael strong strong. Well, yes, that's right.

Yes. Yeah, so the most I've worked with with

Bruce and And then I've gotten to work with a

bunch of other great people, like Giancarlo Volpe,

who's one of our producers, and Jim Krieg I worked

with on a movie for Cartoon Network called Fire

Breather. And so, yeah, it's been good. I've

gotten some people that I've worked with before,

and some completely new people, and Bruce, and

that's always great. Yeah, that is cool. Bruce

Timm is very neat. Yes, he is awesome. We will

get him at some point. That would be awesome

Can you give us any and say teasers as to the

second season? What do you know? It's gonna see

the man hunters. You're gonna see the anti -monitor

Stuff with with Aya and razor gets gets pretty

crazy Well, she does look like his dead wife

so See you'll see Get my ass kicked by Chip the

squirrel Greenland Can't wait for that. Yeah

Well season one wrapped up so nicely Yeah, it

was like wow, you know, it was so well written.

I You know, I just really hope that Season two

is as good. It definitely is it definitely is

there's a there's new characters You're gonna

see Guy Gardner who is voiced by Diedrich Bader

and he is perfect as best kind of douchebag you

will ever see. Nice. How that affects Hal. Let's

see, what else, what else? What else can I talk

about? I think that's probably all I can say.

That's about it? You're already pushing the boundaries

of the non -disclosure agreement. So have you

been... Oh, we'll put it this way. From what

I can tell, looking at your ID, IMDB record,

you do a lot of superheroes. Yes. Did you ever

want to be a villain? Well, yeah, absolutely.

I've gotten to do a little bit of that. I play

Valtor, who's like this evil wizard on the Nickelodeon

dub of this Italian show called Winx Club. And

there's been some other stuff. Got to be the

bad guy in Shattered Dimension. No. no uh edge

of time um and then you know there's been some

other stuff i've been uh like ocelot on metal

gear and uh was now that was middle gear three

that was um oh mike laden is going to kill me

i forget the title the the subtitle um snake

eater um was that young ocelot yes that was uh

okay yeah yeah Revolvers kick ass. Yes, yes This

cool you think the see now what we need is like

a shattered glass evil Jack Yeah, yeah, absolutely

right there you go. That would sound cool. I

could see that I Definitely would like to do

more more villain work What cuz I mean, I've

done I've done a good amount of it, but it's

been smaller smaller roles I'd like to really

be able to develop a more villainous character

more fully over the course of several episodes

or whatever. Yeah, yeah. Awesome. All right,

now we're gonna transition into what is probably

our favorite topic of this, which is Transformers

Prime. God, I love this show. Happy. I think

that you've said somewhere that you were a fan

as a kid of the original, right? You grew up

watching G1, right? We didn't have a lot of money,

so I didn't really get anything. I wanted Optimus

Prime really, really bad, but those were really,

really pricey at the time. My dad was already

working three jobs. And I had a sound, and I

took that toy everywhere. that would go in his

chest and all that. Like that was my favorite

toy. And well, Optimus Prime would have been

my favorite, but I didn't have one. So it's that

toy. And yeah, man, I was a huge fan of it, a

huge fan of the show. And yeah, it was great

to actually to come in and be able to be a part

of the new one. And especially when I saw how

much more they were going to kind of delve into

the lore. And and and really flesh it out like

that. That was that was super super cool to me

Yeah, I have enjoyed the third season a lot more.

I'm sorry the second season a lot more than I

did the first season I was a Vocal critic, let's

say he's an old fuddy -duddy that doesn't like

it. He's like, oh, it's Jim. It's not g1. I don't

care It's funny because David wise wrote an episode

Yeah, we're an episode for prime and I hadn't

actually seen it yet, but you know, I'm a big

fan of David wise so I Replied to him on Facebook

and said, you know I hope your episode turns

out better than some of these episodes from the

first season because you know, those are kind

of crap and the writer Apparently follows David

wise and and called me out on it and said hey

One of the writers from prime I don't remember

his name by hand but He's like, hey, what the

hell, man? And I said, well, OK, let's just hope

that season two turns out better. And I'm happy

to say it has. I'm really enjoying the storyline

so far. Awesome. Glad to hear it. So what did

you like about season one? Just out of curiosity.

You know, I had a problem with the way they were

jumping around. I mean, you start off with robot

zombies. And okay, I dig zombies, I dig Transformers.

I can see them putting the two together. And

they did that for a couple episodes. And then

they said, oh, you know, no, we need to bring

back Unicron. And then you've got Unicron in

the worst possible way. You know, oh, he's actually

at the center of the Earth. And that just made

me cringe. And I'm like, you know, first of all,

we don't need Unicron. It seems like every time

they bring up a new iteration of Transformers,

oh, we need Unicron in there somewhere. See I

disagree with him on this point because this

is probably the the most unique way of ever Introducing

Unicron in any of the series I mean the fact

that Unicron is now these the core of the earth

so essentially they're saying that All of humanity

is coming out of Unicron's bad blood And I think

that is so unique. I think that's a unique way

to bring him in versus Oh me big planet me going

to destroy everything Loves seeing, you know

things introduced in a way that they tie into

our even our reason for existence like I I love

the ambiguous but kind of clear ish way that

Battlestar ended And where you could kind of

jump off from that and think oh, well, maybe

it's how we're here or you know, like Okay, all

right, let's all forget oh they were angels the

whole time No, I just I wasn't I loved that show

and by the time they got done they just Yeah,

I don't know what they did. They dropped the

ball on that one but I mean I'm happy to say

that they've picked up the ball on Transformers

Prime and I really I I was kind of iffy on the

you know, the whole Orion Pax thing You know,

I think that they I'd almost felt as if they

did the whole unicorn you know, sidestep off

in order to come back and do Orion Pax. Oh, that

gives us the perfect example of a reason to have

him be Orion Pax. Right, but would you rather

have just a straight -up flashback scene saying,

oh, hey, I'm Orion Pax. I'm shaking Megatron's

hand before he rips it off my arm. But the nice

thing about the Orion Pax is that led us to the

Iacon Records, which gives us the relic search,

which gives us all this Really meaty backstory

and a chance to you know, to see characters who

don't normally interact start interacting You've

got ratchet and wheeljack together, you know

You've got all sorts of really interesting things

happening now that wouldn't have happened Right

if it hadn't have been for the you know for the

relic hunt and I really kind of self was really

interesting because he Ended up with all these

different locales. I mean they went to New York

City. Yeah Josh I want to get a wheeljack toy

really really bad. I think that his character

design is so badass and I love his fighting style.

Take that next question, Michael. I'm sorry,

I was just getting so sidetracked. Where was

I? Did you audition for any other roles besides

Jack? No, I didn't actually. That was what I

went in auditioning for. didn't get really called

in for anything else. That was what I auditioned

for. With him, I pretty much just... He's kind

of like Peter Parker. Peter Parker didn't have

any powers. He doesn't have that release that

Peter has when he's in form. He doesn't have

that escape. He's kind of just living in his

teenage awkwardness and now he's got to keep

the secret about... What about this hot chick

motorcycle? That's really what it is. Well now

they got his mom involved. What happened to his

mom? She came in, she was hitting on Fowler,

and then she disappears. You'll see more of the

mom. I love that they've put June in there and

really made her important. And I mean, you'll

definitely see more June. But yeah, it definitely

grounds Jack more. of what he is, who he is,

and where he gets a lot of his inner strength.

And according to Ratchet, he's the human version

of Optimus Prime. It shows that there's greatness

in all of us, and that even the strongest person

didn't necessarily always start out that way.

Or strongest anything didn't always start out

that way. Really, that strength kind of comes

from within. And that somebody as small as Jack

could still affect such great change. I think

that's a great point to make. And he got to go

to Cybertron. Yes, he did. Tell us what the room

is like for a fan of Transformers getting to

work with The Peter Collin and the Frank Walker.

I mean essentially you're living all of us 80s

kids dream right now Think you can imagine and

more You know, I don't want to I don't want to

make everybody jealous, but it's it really don't

lie. Okay fine. I do I'm jealous already Think

that they were processing on Peter Collins what

no when he opens his mouth That's the sound that

freaking comes out like that's what he's but

he does that voice. It sounds it sounds like

he is a robot Frank Frank is Amazing he he he

does I mean the the Megatron the Megatron voice

still gives chills after all these years and

I love how with age It's become so much more

menacing and There's just more of a weight to

it than there was in G1, which he's not always

turned up to 11 or 12. I mean, there's times

where he's just down at the bottom and he doesn't

even have to say it loudly. He'll say one word

and the inflection is so potent, it just kind

of makes you shake, man. He's he's always they're

all jokesters. He's always he's always messing

around. He's always just doing voices here and

there. And and they're always perfect. And yeah,

I mean, it's it's great. And then and then a

lot of the newcomers as well. I think that that

Steve Steve Bloom has really, in my opinion,

redefined Starscream. I can't really hear any

other version of Starscream now other than. When

we talk to Steve. He told us, because we specifically

brought up his, when he goes into Lata mode,

like when he gets that excitement in it, and

he's like, yeah, whenever they want me to do

that, they just throw up jazz hands. And I'm

like, oh my god. That this has made me now see

Starscream in a different way. Like if it was

a total different universe, I could totally see

Starscream as like hosting a talk show, like

hosting a gossip show. Channeling Chris Lata

as he channels Moripovich. And somebody has started

a Tumblr blog called The Daily Scream and it's

just dedicated to Starscream. But yeah, like

I totally that that's that's how I see him. He's

he's he's that grandiose and that stuff on himself.

He just he wants to be important. And it doesn't

matter what he has to do to do. And and and that's

that's really where a lot of his crazy and stuff

comes from, like and people that are that crazy.

It's like I'd be just as scared of Honey Boo

Boo's mom. Oh, that's terrible. What all costs.

I know. Didn't even know what that was until

a couple of days ago and my my my family made

me watch an episode of it And I it made me hurt

inside. Yeah, it right man It's terrible DLC

is not learning. It's the laughing channel Laughing

at other people at their expense. It's awful

is what it is. I Can't even think about that.

I'm gonna have to move on How is it working with

Kevin Michael Richardson on two different shows

concurrently? It's great. It's great. Sometimes

we'll kind of get stuck in the other mode and

then have to be like, oh, wait, I have to be

younger in this one. But yeah, I mean, it's Kevin.

I don't even know how to describe it. We're old

friends, man. We joke around, it's surprising

that we get any work done at all. And if John

DiMaggio's in the room, with myself and Kevin,

it's really a wonder that any work gets done

at all. Just look at, oh tell us, tell us the

story. Bouncing back and forth of just a filth

is crazy. And then, DeLisle will say something

that makes everybody in the room, including all

of us filthy dudes, blush and we're like, oh

my God, she can shut a room up immediately by

out -filthing. the filth meisters um it's crazy

man i'm sorry who is that i miss it gray delisle

oh great yeah okay i'll hear that yeah okay i

see that that's funny the stuff that that she

says sometimes and and and and yet she never

loses her class it's the weirdest thing she's

such a dichotomy it's crazy that's funny that's

that's awesome so do you have a funny kevin story

that you could Tell us. No one knows at this

point. Ah, let's see. Probably nothing that's

even PG rated that I can... Well, we're explicit,

so it doesn't matter. Yeah, but I don't... You

can't ruin that superhero image, huh, Spidey?

I can hear you blush from here. Okay, well, we

can move on then. Who are some of the other voice

actors that influenced you? Aside from the obvious,

you know, Peter Cullen and Frank Welker. Clear

idols aside. Complete, complete idols. Honestly,

I get inspired by just about everybody I work

with. I mean, Kevin has been almost like a mentor

to me. But I love watching people... and there's

always something that you can gather from everybody

that you work with. I'm trying to think of who

else would be a really, really good, somebody

that I've really, oh, Tom Kenny, Tom Kenny, I,

Tom Kenny has such a rich knowledge of like,

of past cinema and of like character, archetypes

and all of that, that it's really awesome to

watch him work because, He'll do this character

and he'll be able to tell you what inspired that

and then he'll tell you the movie and then you

gotta go to Netflix or you gotta go to wherever

and now what? You gotta look it up. Yeah, he

just turns you on to a whole new actor or this

or that. Tom's great with that. And then Dimash,

yeah, I mean, everybody, everybody. I can't really

put my finger on just one actor. And then I get

a lot of inspiration from on -camera actors and

personalities. I grew up watching shows like

Family Ties, and so a lot of my awkward teen

-ish kind of stuff comes straight from people

like Michael J. Fox or... throw some Michael

Cera in there or there's been you know stuff

like You know just just actors and oh a lot of

Matthew Perry like friends era Matthew Perry

yeah, just that kind of silliness and in Even

seeing people in life like there's a lot of people

that that I just meet randomly day to day and

there'll be something that is a little off or

a little on about them or whatever that's interesting.

And that's what you gotta roll with because that's

where you get your characters from. You get them

from real life. And that's when they really resonate

because everybody will be able to see that and

say, I know something. And that's the best place

that I would really say. pull my inspiration

from. It's just the people I meet. I'm gonna

have to listen for that Matthew Perry next time

I hear one of your voices, too. Have you ever

seen something in a script that you refuse to

say? Uh, no, well. Whoa, hey, I'm not, nah, that's

not right, you know, that type of thing. Well,

no, because if the writer has put it there, it's

probably there for a reason, so you just kind

of, you have to go through the script and make

that work. I mean, that's our job as an actor

is to not question what the writer did, but really

figure out what the motivation for the writer

writing that was. Why does this character say

that? If this resonates, if this makes me feel

ill to say, Well, it doesn't it obviously doesn't

make this character feel ill to say it or does

it? We got it. We got as actors really figure

out what that motivation is and make it resent

Make it make it ring true make it make it something

that would be believable for somebody else to

hear and consistent with that character that

you're playing I mean if there's something that's

really really off the wall Then then that's more

of a challenge to me where I'm like, oh shit

and I gotta figure out this work Alright, so

so you took the job. You're the character. You

got to say the line but If we back up a little

bit are there any roles that you wouldn't take?

because you know, I don't know maybe it was a

not so much a bad role, but a bad character that

you didn't agree with or No, not so much. That's

that it would just be another challenge I mean,

that's that usually the ones that are that are

the toughest ones to play or the ones that I

really want to do Well, we were that's funny

We were talking with steve bloom not too long

ago and we asked him the same question. He said

well there was to one time When they ask me to

do tentacle porn. Okay. I will link you on your

Facebook, Josh, for that interview so you can

listen to it for yourself. That was a good answer.

I was like, oh, okay. All right. Draw the line

at tentacle porn. All right. I get that. But

I think he does a lot more anime. Oh, yes. He

does. A lot of anime. I don't think the, you

know, the Marvel or DC or any Hasbro properties

are gonna end up saying anything like that on

television. Absolutely. Yeah Because I make a

lot of my money doing mainly kid like a lot programming

Over there Nice so let's uh, let's get away from

that topic because it's a little toxic. Let's

talk about conventions Yes, have you been to

any of the fan conventions? I'm just starting

to do a little bit more of that now. I just got

a convention agent and and so I'm gonna start

doing more of that I mean I've done Comicon and

wonder con and the really really big ones and

then last year I did a convention called the

Yoma con out in Detroit and And I really had

a great time there because it was a much smaller

convention It was all limited to one hotel and

a couple of you know, pretty rooms in there but

Like if you look at the ratio of people that

actually went and dressed up and cosplayed and

all of that come on I'd say it's probably a good

85 % of people if I had to make up a number that

were in costume and The environment so friendly

it it didn't really feel corporate at all It

was just people that really enjoyed this stuff

that wanted to get together and hang out and

that was awesome like I love see So I really

I had a good time there. And I actually think

that I'm going, yeah, I got invited back. I guess

I didn't piss him off too much. I got invited

back. So that's a no vent. Wow, I think that's

a six hour drive from me. I don't think I'd be

able to make that. You should come to Chicago.

Well, now that I have a convention agent, then

I'll probably be at more places. But yeah, I

would love to start doing more conventions. It's

always a lot of fun to meet people that that

share because I mean I share the same interests

I I Shows but I love to love watching cartoons.

I love playing video games I love talking about

all this stuff and and and so this is really

it I mean that's hanging out with my crowd. So

I definitely want to get out and do Awesome.

All right before we go, would you like to inform

the fans of where they can interact with you

online? You can find me on Twitter at Josh Keaton.

I have a tumblr blog as well And Facebook fan

page. It's Facebook slash Josh Keaton's page

Or Josh Keaton comm I think has links to everything

But yeah, I I try to answer as quickly as possible

And yeah, I'm always down to chat. So Awesome

Also before we go Remind everybody as far as

what's coming up for you that the stuff that

you can tell people to look out for that's That

is in the public knowledge. What's what do you

got going on? I know I know prime is still going

on. But what else? Of Green Lantern the DVD if

you haven't already Based what ended up happening

with Greenland is that everything is really kind

of hinging on ratings for season 2 as well as

the DVD sales because we don't have a toy line

and the way that all came about is a lot of toys

were still stuck in stores from the movie and

toy stores really want to order new toys because

they still had all the movies and it didn't really

it kind of deaf ears that hey this is a totally

different Green Lantern they're like well we

still have all these Green Lantern toys so right

and so we're really just stuck relying on on

ratings and DVDs so definitely pick that up if

you want to see more Green Lantern Transformers

Prime is out right now and new episodes are airing,

so check that out. Oh, and I think somebody sent

me something about like a spectacular Spider

-Man awareness day where they want to kind of

mobilize people to write to get the second season

put out on DVD and to pick up... Spectacular

on on iTunes and whatnot to show that there is

a demand for it people still want to see it And

alternatively you can find that I think it's

on sale at Costco right now somebody pointed

it point sent me a link to something and But

yeah, you can pick those up and keep that alive

And then in the next few weeks, though I'll be

able to talk a little bit more about a big video

game thing that I'm that I've been doing so That'll

that'll definitely be fun. Very cool. Yeah I'd

like to thank Mr. Keaton for taking the time

to chat with us in this Tooncast Beyond interview.

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

back after that. Adam from Connecticut and Mandy

from Oklahoma exchange lives. I was not expecting

it to be a girl. Adam gets the XYZ on being a

lady. When they told me I was going to the cosmetology

school I didn't know what to think. But being

a lady also means being in good company. I did

think she was a cutie actually. She was Miss

Teen Oklahoma. Here's the XYZ. 69 % of teens

think flowers are romantic. Switched, Monday

at 430 -330 Central on the XYZ on ABC Family.

Ready for what's coming up? Next on Hangtime,

Antonio's moving from Texas just to be close

to Christie. Here's the XYZ. According to our

online poll, 28 % like the idea of a long -distance

relationship. Wait till you get the phone bill.

Next on 7th Heaven, Matt finds out he got a job

because of his grandfather. Here's the XYZ. According

to our online poll, 40 % think the key to success

is networking. Kissing up works, too. The Brendan

Leonard Show. Weekdays at 530, 430 Central on

the XYZ on ABC Family. Boy, am I glad to meet

you. I'm Hercules. And this is Pegasus. I need

your help. I want to become a hero, a true hero.

I like the way you think, Your Highness. OK,

we're going to need two of these. Ooh, one of

these. A half dozen. What are those? How well

you keep these flesh creatures in their place,

Loki. Are you not the greatest of all titans?

Last thing I remember is getting stuck in that...

Wandermold sinkhole and... Whoa! Where are my

clothes? Nuts! Nuts! Get your nuts! We got all

kinds of nuts! Brazil nuts! Walnuts! Get your

hands off my nuts! This is all my fault! I was

weak! I passed out the V -Buddies and then my

Kung Fu moves wound up... Kung Fu -ey! You want

me to trust a gnome to lead the way to Estella?

Forget it! This is my fiancee we're talking about.

Zeus turned him into a giant demon man -wolf.

Scary! Sorry. What's he gonna do, bore us to

death with another lecture on the joy of the

Paleozoic Era? Oh my god, that was so awesome

talking to Josh Keaton. It was just great. There's

a few times where I wanted to ask him if he was

Michael Keaton's son. I know he's not, but...

Weird. I think Michael Keaton is actually a pseudonym.

No, I think Josh Keaton. The Keaton part on Josh

is the pseudonym. I've seen his real last name

before. Ah, okay. So, yeah, that was pretty cool.

He's a very nice guy to talk to. Yes, yes he

is. It's a very good conversation. Awesome, awesome.

So we will catch you next time here on Tooncast

Beyond. See you later. The key card. So what's

it do? It grants access to Vector Sigma, the

repository of the wisdom of the Primes. Is that

some sort of supercomputer? So we can just download

Optimus' memories back into him? Great! Which

one's the big V? Over here? Somewhere in back?

Vector Sigma is more than a supercomputer, Jack.

Why send a boy to do a bot's job? Because only

a Prime can access Vector Sigma. Or one chosen

by a Prime. Optimus gave the keycard to Jack.

It is now imprinted with his unique biosignature.

So you mean Jack's like some kind of honorary

Prime? Let's just say Jack is the only one who

can return Optimus to the Autobot we knew. But

why would Optimus willfully endanger a human?

A child? I'm not a child, Mom. Maybe Optimus

believes there's more to Jack than meets the

eye. Two body slam burger specials. Enjoy. Hey,

Jack. Sierra. How come I never see you around?

What are you talking about? We have chemistry

together. Class. Chemistry class. I mean, outside

of school. I never see you at any parties or

the mall. Well, mostly I'm here. wearing the

hat. And you never can study too hard for the

old SATs, you know. And there's some other stuff.

Don't go anywhere. Welcome to KO Drive -In. May

I take your - 5 PM, Jack. Your shift is over.

Let's go. Oh, that kind of stuff. Ciara, wait!

She's my mother. Your mom looks good in leather.

On your bike. Didn't mean to decimate your social

life. Not the first time. Any sign of Optimus?

Not today. Not yet. We don't actually know what

Optimus would have done because he's not here.

You're pretty good at stating the obvious, Bulk.

Anything else you'd like to mention that we already

know? Nothing I can say in front of the children.

Hey, aren't we overlooking one positive? Nobody's

talking about what the cons just got their claws

on. Yes, we managed to allow them to finally

acquire a power source for their space bridge.

And how exactly would that be a positive? We

let them finish building their space bridge.

Why? So they can bring more zombies back from

Cybertron? No. So we can commandeer it. And use

it to send me to Cybertron.