Interview with Kevin Conroy on Voicing Batman

Hi, this is Kevin Conroy, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Surprised to see

me? A little. I'm more surprised that I lived

so long. Batman, Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne, Batman.

Or have you met? Not now. Great. What did they

used to call it? Stereo? 2012 marks the 20th

anniversary of Batman the Animated Series. Hello

and welcome to Legends of the Dark Knight. I

am one of your hosts, TFG and Mike, and joining

me is Steve Megatron. Hello. Hello. In this Legends

of the Dark Knight interview, we welcome the

man who has voiced Bruce Wayne and Batman 21

times in the last 20 years, Mr. Kevin Conroy.

Hello, Kevin. How are you? Hey, how are you doing?

Pretty good, pretty good. Before we get started,

give us the scoop on what's going on in the world

of Kevin Conroy. Any upcoming projects you care

to reveal or any upcoming projects that you actually

can reveal? Well, that's the problem. Until they're

ready to advertise them, I'm not really supposed

to say anything. But, yeah, I've done another

direct -to -video movie and another game. But

I let it slip in one interview about the direct

-to -video movie, and I got really in trouble.

So I'm not allowed to say anything until they

come out. But there's more product about to be

released, yeah. Oh, sweet. Awesome. So getting

into general information, where did you grow

up? I was born on Long Island and grew up in

Connecticut, in Westport. I moved into New York

City when I was 17 and got a scholarship to go

to Juilliard and stayed in New York from then

on. Got an apartment and started supporting myself,

working in restaurants and doing theater work.

and have been working in the theater and television

ever since. So I've been on my own since I was

about 17. And I consider myself a New Yorker,

even though I grew up in Connecticut. Have you

always known that you wanted to be an actor or

voice actor? I knew I wanted to be an actor.

The voice acting I literally stumbled into, because

when you work in a theater in New York, you know,

theater is great, I love it, but there's not

a lot of money involved. So everyone who works

at night on the stage either is doing television

work during the day or films in between plays,

that kind of thing. You always have to supplement

it. And I got exposed to the fact that a good

way of doing it in New York was commercial voiceovers.

And I stumbled into that just by luck and started

making money doing voiceovers in New York. So

when I moved to L .A. to do a series, my voiceover

agent said, oh, well, while you're out there,

you know, they're putting together this new animated

series, Batman. Why don't you go over and, you

know, give it a shot? I'd never done any animated

voices before. And so I went to Warner Brothers

and met them. And my experience had only been

the Adam West Batman sort of campy TV show from

the 70s. And they said, no, no, no, no, no, no,

that's not the way this is going to be at all.

And they described Bruce Timm, they described

to me the Dark Knight legend and the series,

the sort of canon, you know, the book. And so

I just put myself in my imagination in the booth.

A kid who'd lost both his parents, was one of

the richest men in the world. had devised this

alternate reality and was living to avenge their

deaths. What kind of person would that sound

like? And I gradually got into a sort of a huskier

and raspier and a more secretive voice, voice,

a place, and that sound came out. So it was just

a very lucky situation that I happened to be.

called in to audition for it, and I happened

to make the right choice. Did you audition for

any other roles in the series, or did they just

want you for that role? That's what they wanted

me for, but they were looking at literally hundreds

and hundreds, if not a thousand people for the

voice of Batman. They looked at a lot of people

for a long time. And it was a big search, and

luckily I didn't know that. I was really naive

about what was going on. If I'd known that, I

probably would have been way too nervous and

have blown it. But I actually went in because,

you know, actors always want to be stretched

and want to do things outside the box and that

are, you know, a little unusual. So I actually

asked if I could read for Bullock and some of

the other character voices. And they let me read

for them, but, you know. There was no way they

were going to use me for those voices. But they

said, no, we're interested in Batman. He'll be

in every episode. It'll be all about him. Wouldn't

you rather do that character? So yeah, I did

audition for other things for the role. And periodically

they will use me for other voices in episodes

because there's a union regulation in the business

where... They can use a book actor for up to

three voices in one episode without paying him

any more money. You're paid by the booking session.

Right. And in that session, they can actually

use you for three different voices. After that,

they have to pay you as an extra actor, you know,

for more. Right. So they always try and get people

to do more than one voice because it saves them

money on bodies. You know what I mean? Yeah.

So I've periodically done cops or, you know,

delivery men or, you know, smaller characters

that have just a few lines because my voice has

become so identifiable with Batman that it's

harder to mask from the audience. And they don't

want to confuse people by thinking, hey, wait

a minute, you know, why does Batman have the

voice of the delivery guy now? They don't choose

me a lot. Well, that's what a lot of people never

really realized. You are, your voice, your regular

voice, is the first thing people ever hear in

the very first episode on Leather Wings. You

played the helicopter police pilot. That's right,

exactly. And a lot of people never, they just

kind of gloss over that, and they never really

notice that until, so we actually hear you before

we ever see Batman. Exactly. And there have been

other little roles that they'll just, you know,

because it saves them a whole salary for another

actor. Yeah. And that's what I always tell people

when they say, you know, how do you get into

the business? I've been told I have a good voice.

What should I do about it? Right. And my advice

is always, you know, look, having good voices

is half the battle. You've got to have a variety

of voices because they don't want to book someone

just for one voice. They want to book someone

who can do a lot of different sounds, a lot of

different voices because... That's where they

save their money. That's where they make their

money. And some of these guys who work in the

voiceover business are unbelievable, the variety

of voices that they can come out with. Oh, yeah,

people like Billy West. Exactly, exactly. Rob

Paulson and Maurice LaMarche and all that stuff.

You know, Tara Strong, it's so weird with her

because she can do both girl and boy voices,

and that's just kind of so wrong if you really

think about it. I know. so wrong. I know. I know.

She's amazing. And Phil Lamar. He's got a really

wide range of voices. A lot of these people just...

It's really impressive. It is. Jumping into some

of the... Since we're already on the Batman subject,

what were the recording sessions like with all

the great voice actors that were in the series?

That was the fact that the recording sessions

were going to be so much fun and so interesting

was kind of gravy. I had no idea that none of

us had any idea that the show was going to take

off the way it did. And because of that, and

because of the fact that Warner Brothers and

Andrea Romano. really like to get everybody in

the booth together. They like an ensemble read

because you get a good interaction with people.

You just get a different performance. Some other

studios like to get individual voices in the

booths alone because then you get a very clean

take technically and post -production is a lot

easier. But you don't get the kind of performances

you get when it's an ensemble read. So Andrea

and Warner Brothers really like to get everybody

in the booth together. These cast that she was

putting together were so interesting. There were

some really wonderful actors, and the scripts

were good, and the bookings got to be... Word

got out that it was a lot of fun to do Batman,

and that we were having great sessions. So the

booking sessions got to be a blast. I felt a

sense of responsibility since I was the one voice

that linked all the shows together. I was the

one constant. That whenever they bring in guests,

often the people they bring in, actors from television

or film, had never done voiceovers before. And

so you want to... I felt an obligation to sort

of put them at ease and make them feel welcome.

maybe show them a couple of tricks about turning

the page without making any noise on the microphone,

little technical, you know, studio. I'm sure

there were tons of pranks as well. Tons. But,

but Andrea, they appreciated that, that I could,

I would do that. So they, I found that an important

feature of putting people at ease was, was humor

and just keeping the atmosphere fun and light.

So I kind of, did a lot of pranks and a lot of

goofy stuff that they let me get away with. Because

they knew what I was doing. I was doing it intentionally

to keep people loose. You know what I mean? Like,

there was one thing where I... There's a lot

of grunts and groans in Batman. I mean, half

of my lines are battle lines and fight lines.

I'm like... And one day I was doing a whole series

of those. I was like... Oh, Andrea. I said the

name of the director at the end of it. And the

booth went crazy. And Andrea said it was hysterical.

She said, that's the best sex I've ever had.

So they recorded it and they kept it on Andrea's

Outreel. And that got to be a thing that I got

to do periodically. Whenever I would do a big

long fight sequence at the end of it, there'd

be a pause and you'd hear Andrea Romano come

over the boom and say, and now you say, and I'd

say, oh, Andrea. That's so funny. Now, you already

mentioned that you grew up with the 66 Batman

and all that stuff. That series was campy, but

it's still great because if it's your first introduction

to the character, that's always great to come

up with something like that. Have you ever gone

back and watched the old Batman or Justice League

episodes from the cartoons? You know, I haven't

in years. But when I have... It's amazing how

they're like little stage plays. It's so bizarre.

I mean, there's no special effects of any kind.

They're like little stage plays, each one. But

they get these great actors. There are some really

good stage actors in those things. You know,

Jose Ferrer. Julie Newmar, remember her? I mean,

there were these wild performances in that thing.

The thing of the cartoons is like, they were,

you know, really, honestly, you got Lois, you

know, Batman got Lois Lane before Superman ever

had her in BTS because you worked with Dana Delaney

in Mask of the Phantasm. Mask of the Phantasm,

yeah. And Dana, that was fun because Dana, I

had first met Dana. Oh, man, we were both in

our 20s. So this is like 30 years ago. And she

was just starting out in New York. I was doing

a play for Joseph Papp at the Public Theater

downtown. And I was working with a wonderful

actress named Deborah Rush. And Deborah was a

good friend of Treat Williams, the actor. And

Treat, at that time, was dating Dana Delaney.

And we all went to the theater one night, and

he was bringing along this girl that he was dating.

It was a young actress just starting out. It

was Dana Delaney. So, you know, it's so much

fun when your careers cross paths again decades

later, you know. She's a terrific actress, and

she's a lot of fun to work with. I just love

how Bruce Timm was able to tap into stuff that

people wouldn't normally know about you. your

amazing singing voice in you know because because

that moment for me in justice league unlimited

it was like when cersei said i want something

from you that no one you know that you can never

get back and and of course the entire audience

is like what is she talking about and then all

of a sudden you go into i am i blue and it was

like oh my god I know, it's so funny. When I

saw that in the script, I said to Andrea, I said,

are we really doing this? She said, well, there's

a lot of debate in Warner Brothers right now

whether we should. Would Batman sing? Will this

be really cool and the fans will love it, or

will this completely blow the image? And they

decided to go with it. I think by that point...

It was fun. Oh, the fans loved it. Are you kidding?

It worked great. But, you know, you always wonder

when you're going to do something as outside

the box as that is, whether it's going to work

or not. And luckily it did. Oh, people mention

it all the time. When I go to the Comic -Cons

and stuff, I was just in Dallas a couple of weeks

ago at a Comic -Con, and people were saying,

oh, would you sing Am I Blue? Wow. That's funny.

What were you going to say, Steve? Well, I was

going to say, being that the show was that established

by that point with all of the characters and

the voices, the fans are always looking for something

else that pushes the envelope into some new territory

to kind of keep it fresh. And that's actually,

I think that's actually why Bruce and Paul stopped

doing the show, ultimately. It's not because

the audience didn't want it or the studio didn't

want it or... the actors didn't want, everyone

wanted more of Batman the Animated Series. They

just ran out of ideas. They ran out of, they

needed to recharge their batteries on something

else. They needed to think about something else

for a while. So it really wasn't because the

plug was pulled on that show. It was really that

the creators just kind of, they got burned out.

You think about all the ideas they have to come

up with. Well, it's 108 episodes. I mean, that's

a lot to accomplish. Exactly. It's 108, 109 episodes.

Yeah, it's over 100. Yeah. I would have to say,

when you guys got to the revamp episodes, the

new adventures episodes, my two favorites out

of that is Over the Edge and Old Wounds. just

because I thought they were such great stories

that just wrote themselves. Because Over the

Edge was the one where Barbara had the dream

where she died because of a scarecrow, and you

and Robin and Commissioner Gordon was hunting

you guys down and everything. It was just such

a great, great episode. I don't know how they

come up with some of these ideas, to tell you

the truth. But they do. They're very bright guys.

One of the funniest things that happened was

when the L .A. riots happened. The fires started

overnight. And I called my agents that morning.

I said, well, the booking is obviously not going

to happen today. So the city's in chaos. And

they said, no, we think you still have a booking.

We haven't heard anything from Kansas. We'll

call over at Warner Brothers. Often, you don't

necessarily record on the lots because there's

so much going on on the lots. Our show usually

recorded off -lot at a place called the Rowena

Studio, which is in Hollywood. It's actually

on the eastern edge of Hollywood, so it was very

near. It was much closer to where the fires were

and where the looting was going on. I'm driving

to the booking that morning. And all the traffic

is going the other way. Everyone is leaving that

part of the city. And as I'm driving, it's getting

sootier and sootier. And, you know, smokier and

smokier. I'm thinking, this is ridiculous. This

can't be happening. But this was, I think it

was in 93, wasn't that? Or 90, I think it was

93 was the early ride. So, you know, no one had

cell phones yet. And I had no way to call my

agents. And I'm thinking, well, I've been told

I have to go. So I felt like an idiot driving

into the smoke. I get to the studio, and everybody

was there. And he said, Andrea, is this crazy?

And she said, no, no, no, we'll be fine. The

studio's safe, and we'll be fine in here. And

every time the door opened, we tried to start

recording the show, every time the door opened

with another actor arriving, a new waft of smoke

would come into the studio. And it would help

to turn on the air conditioners to clear it all

out again. As the morning went on, we were saying,

this is really getting dangerous in here. It

was getting smokier and smokier. So finally they

let us all go home. I said, guys, this is going

to go down in the history books. This is the

craziest booking I've ever come to. So we never

got the show recorded. We all left. And of course,

you know, all that day, that part of L .A. burnt.

Yeah. It was crazy. It was great. And then after,

you had gone to do some cooking duties after

the 9 -11 tragedy to help out in New York. You

want to tell that story? You want me to tell

that story? Sure. It's got a lot of foul language

in it. Should I clean it up? No, no, that's fine.

Oh, we are so, so explicit here at the Geekcast

Radio Network. Oh, really? Yes. Okay. Well, you

know, I live in New York. I live in New York,

and after the attack, Everyone wanted to help.

I mean, the thing that was amazing, you always

see those pictures of everyone running away from

the buildings as they were coming down with the

cupboard with soot. But what you don't see any

pictures of is everyone running back. As soon

as the dust cleared, people started running back

to try and, you know, help people. And so I called.

There was a number set up. Everyone was being...

told to go to the Javits Convention Center. That's

where they were coordinating the volunteers.

So I went to the Javits Center, and they already

had everybody they needed. They had such a huge

turnout. They said, look, we've got everyone

we need. We have all the tunnelers. We have all

the diggers. We have overwhelmed with volunteers.

We don't need anybody. So I was feeling so dejected.

I was on my way home thinking, what am I going

to do? I want to help. And I stopped off at a

coffee shop, and there was a guy there covered

with dust who had just come from Ground Zero

and said, He was talking to the waitress about

how he was working in a kitchen there. And I

said to him, this is a total stranger, I said,

you know, I just came from the volunteer place.

They told me they didn't need anybody anymore.

He said, do you really want to volunteer? I said,

yeah. So he wrote down this phone number. He

said, call this number. They need people. This

is the kitchen at Ground Zero. So I called them

up, and they said that they did need people.

And they said, do you have any restaurant experience?

I said, I'm an actor. Of course I have restaurant

experience. What do you need? You know, actors

can do anything in a restaurant. I said, so we

really need cooks. I said, well, I worked in

a short order cook when I was going through Juilliard.

They said, are you free now? And I said, yeah,

between jobs. They said, no, we mean right now,

like tonight. We need someone tonight. I said,

yeah, I'll be right there. So I ended up doing

the night shift. So it was like from 6 p .m.

to about 6 a .m. And it was a few blocks away

from the actual pit. But it was a big, big, like,

cafeteria that they had commandeered. It was

a restaurant I think called Nino's. It was a

big old restaurant. And they had taken it over,

and all the work crews would come in covered

with dust and soot, just exhausted. And it was

a very hot September. So it was really, it was

a very depressing atmosphere. There were these

huge work lights set up all over lower Manhattan,

setting it up. It looked like a moonscape. because

it was a big search site. And people would come

in, and there was just a sort of rumbling kind

of melancholy mumble going on because everyone

was so overwhelmed by what had happened. And

I was working this night shift, and this guy

who was next to me one night goes, so I'm an

architect during my day job. What's your day

job? I said, well, I'm an actor. He said, yeah,

but do you do some special kind of acting? He

said, I thought I knew your name. I said, well,

I really work in animation. I do voices. He said,

I knew it. You're Batman. How did you know that?

He said, everybody knows who's Batman. I said,

no, everyone does not know who's Batman. He said,

oh, my God, the guys are going to go crazy if

I tell them that. I said, no one's going to care.

He said, are you crazy? He said, watch. So he

goes out in the dining room and he goes, guys,

guys, you're not going to believe who's been

cooking your dinners. It's Batman! And there

was this long pause, and you hear it from the

back of the auditorium. Bullshit! And then someone

else says, someone else says, make him prove

it! So I'm back in the kitchen, right, in this

big, echoey kitchen, and I do, I am vengeance!

I am the night! I am Batman! And there's this

long, long silence. You hear it from the back

of the auditorium. Holy fuck! That is Batman!

We all started pouring back into the kitchen,

and suddenly you hear this laughter. And this

guy's like, hey, you know that episode where

you and the Joker, you know, I watch that show

all the time with my kids. And, you know, hey,

man, what's that dated lady like? And everyone

wanted to know everything about the show. And

then the guy who had recognized me, the architect,

says, what's it like to be Santa Claus? Because

that's what happens. Santa Claus just got here.

And it was true. It was like suddenly. people

had something else to think about, you know?

And so I emailed Andrea the next morning at Warner

Brothers and I told her what had happened that

night. I wrote it all as a story. And I said,

at the end of it, you know, what we do is not

insignificant. We're already contributing. And

she said, she circulated that all around Warner

Brothers. She said, everybody at Warner Brothers

loved that story. Yeah. It's just an amazing

story because, you know, a lot of, you know,

and that goes to like, you know, You know, sometimes

we'll ask a question of, you know, do you get

recognized, you know, on this? Because a lot

of times voice actors, you know, in person don't

get recognized unless, you know, you're at a

convention and a big sign says, hey, this is

Kevin Conroy voice, you know, I mean. I assumed,

I assumed this would be a completely anonymous

job. And for many years it was. You know, in

the early 90s, no one knew what I was doing.

It was when the internet. And you could just

Google someone's name and then get the picture,

and suddenly everyone knew who was Batman. It's

really since the Internet that people know who's

doing what. And for many, many years, it was

completely anonymous. And I was used to it that

way. I kind of liked it that way, actually. So

it's interesting, though, now, with everyone

knowing who's doing what. Yeah, it's very, very

awesome. Anything else I can tell you? What are

some of the voice actors that influenced you

while you were kind of going through school and

going through into different sessions? Boy, that's

a hard one because I've really been exposed to

everybody. The real pros like Ron Paulson the

really incredibly young, talented people like

Phil Lamar, and people who are amazingly flexible

like Tara Strong. The most important thing I

think I learned was keeping it real. Because

the trend has been away from quote -unquote cartoony

sounds. And Batman really set that trend. So

for me, the thing to learn was to keep it very

real, but you only have your voice to tell the

story. So you've got to goose it a little. So

there's this fine line you walk between goosing

it, because you only do have your voice to tell

it, but not becoming quote -unquote cartoony.

And that's just something I have to feel on my

own. But it's so interesting, too, because, you

know, over the last 10, 15 years, there's something

called stunt casting in Hollywood where they...

Stunt casting is where they book a movie star

or, you know, some kind of celebrity into a role

just because of the name recognition. It has

nothing to do with whether they're any good at

the role or not. They're usually not very good

at the role, but, you know, they... It's a stunt.

It's a way of promoting the show, usually. And

you've had a lot more of that going on in the

last 10 or 15 years. So we've had a lot of people

come onto the show who had never done any kind

of voice work before. And it's so interesting.

Some of them take to it and do great, and others

really, really can't do it. It's interesting

to watch someone not get it. Because it looks

like it would be easy. It's not as easy as it

looks. It's interesting. I mean, I've had bookings

where they've worked with someone and worked

with someone and worked with someone and worked

with someone. And Andrea is great at working

with people without having them get embarrassed.

Because it's terrible. You don't want to humiliate

someone. And she's worked and worked and worked.

And at the end of the session, she'll say to

me, Kevin, Are you free this afternoon? Can you

stay with us for a couple more hours? And I realized

that they've had to book another actor to bring

them in to re -record what that person couldn't

do. Right, yeah. That's the danger when you bring

in people who don't usually do it, is that they

may not get it. They may not be able to pull

it off. The other danger is those people who

think they get a million dollars for just doing

their own voice. Switching over to some, because

I know that you've done some on -camera work

as well, you know, guesting in Murphy Brown,

Cheers, Matlock. You know, you were in Dynasty,

and you were also on Another World. It was Another

World, wasn't it? Search for Tomorrow and Another

World. Yeah. I did Another World when it was

an hour and a half long. Oh, wow. It was the

only hour and a half soap. That was back in 1980.

I was just finishing the Broadway tour of Death

Trap, and it was a national tour, and we were

performing in Boston. And I got hired to do Another

World, which was recording in New York. So I

would record the show and then take the shuttle

from New York and shoot up to Boston and make

the curtain for the show that night. and then

um after the show get the last shuttle back yeah

um so i could go to the studio the next morning

i did that for a couple of months because it

was the end of that tour and i didn't want to

lose this this daytime job that was that was

opened up right so um that was a crazy period

but it was uh unusual for an actor to feel that

wanted you know yeah commuting between two cities

do two jobs do you Want to, you know, in the

future, do you want to do more on -camera stuff?

Or are you content being, you know, the voice

actor, the one that does animated series, video

games, and also your play work as well? Are you

still doing plays? I haven't actually done one

in a while. The last one I did was for Arthur

Miller, and that was a number of years ago. No,

I've really been enjoying just doing the voiceover

work. You know, or I just want to stretch and

do different things. Right. I haven't been on

camera now in so many years. It would be very

hard to get back into that again, just because

you go off people's radar. What I find absolutely

hilarious is that you say that, and yet your

young ward, Mr. Loren Lester there, pops up in

almost every single... I mean, I've seen that

guy in more TV shows in the last, I don't know,

six months. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, that's great.

He'll pop up in, you know, he popped up in an

episode of Awake as some one -off character.

He's going to be popping up in an episode of

a Disney Channel series called Good Luck, Charlie.

But I see him pop up everywhere. And as soon

as I hear his voice, I'm like, oh, yeah, that's

right. That's funny. Good for him. I'm glad for

him. That's great. Yeah, there was a trivia bit

on IMDb that you had auditioned for the part

of Joe Hacken on the NBC sitcom Wings. The producers

spent about two weeks deciding between you and

Tim Daly. And of course, obviously, you know,

it's Batman versus Superman yet again. It was

before you guys actually worked together. on

world's finest for the superman series i find

that i read that and i just laughed because i

find that so hilarious that i know it's funny

we we did it down but they made it both of us

test and you know when you test for a network

for the executives usually you just go in and

you do a reading for a group of executives and

they make up their mind and that's it they usually

bring in three or four different actors you do

this very nerve -wracking audition in the corporate

offices. And then you're either hired or you're

not. Well, we all went in and did these auditions

for the executives. I think it was CBS. I think

it was CBS. No, it was NBC. It was NBC. And they

couldn't make up their minds. So they brought

Tim and I back. And we did all that again. They

still couldn't make up their minds. So they asked

us if we would do screencasts, which is very

unusual for sitcoms. So they brought us both

to the studio and had us acting on the Cheers

set, because it was only set up at that studio,

doing screencasts with Jim Burroughs, who was

directing the pilot for Wings. And they had actually

brought me on to Cheers for a couple of episodes.

to work with me to make sure that they wanted

to work with me on wings so it was really a coin

toss between the two of us it could have gone

obviously could have gone either way and um uh

he got it what can you say um and he did well

with it but uh but when they booked that episode

andrea booked that episode for tim and i to work

together a couple years later on world's finest

He said, Kevin, you can't have me work with Kevin

Conley. That guy hates my guts. She said, look,

I know Kevin. He doesn't hate anyone's guts.

What's this about? So he told her that whole

story about wings. And she said, that is ancient

history. He could care less. Are you kidding?

So we get along great. He's a great guy. Yeah,

he's awesome. Out of the many animated and video

games that you've done Batman in over the years,

what has been your favorite out of all of them?

I always loved the episode... For a Chance to

Dream? Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. For a Chance to Dream,

yeah. That was always my favorite episode of

the shows. But then the game... Arkham Asylum

is pretty amazing. And then Arkham City, the

graphics are even more amazing. So those games

are pretty awesome. But in terms of dramatic

storyline and acting, I always loved Perchance

to Dream. But they've always taught themselves

with each episode or each new thing. I thought

Mask of the Phantasm was incredible. And then

Sub -Zero, the animation in Sub -Zero, that opening

sequence of the paws of the polar bears running

on the ice and looking at it from underneath

the ice, that's the opening visual from Sub -Zero.

It's so awesome. That artwork is so awesome.

So each thing they do, it's been such a creative

team. incarnation has had something phenomenal

about it yeah you know the thing of like when

i when it was airing i i just happened to turn

on kids wb at the time and there you know i saw

this title sequence of i knew it was i knew the

visual because he it was that spinning bruce

wayne head in Batman beyond. I knew the visual

was an old version of the Bruce Wayne character.

I'm like, wait, what is this show? And I started

watching Batman beyond. I'm like, Oh my God,

how did he age his voice like that? Just so awesome.

Um, and the funny thing, the funniest part was

later on when they got the justice league unlimited

and they did the episode, uh, once in future

thing, part two, when, when Will Friedle is like

Bruce Wayne, Batman. Or have you met? And you're

like, not now. But it's in stereo with your regular

Batman voice and the old Bruce voice. It's like,

how the hell? It was just so awesome. It's really

fun when you get to do stuff like that. Because

it stretches you, you know? Yeah. Yeah, those

episodes were fun. I loved working with Will

Friedle. He's a great guy. He's a great guy.

Hopefully here on the podcast one week, because

we're just now coming up to, I think the next

episode we're going to review the Demon's Quest

and a couple other episodes, whatever the next

episodes are in the order. So once we get to

Batman Beyond, we hope we can get Will on so

we can talk to him about Batman Beyond as well.

Great. Alright, well I gotta go. You gotta run?

Did you get enough? I think we got enough. Great.

Steve, did you have one other question you wanted

to ask him to kind of close it out? No, I think

we pretty well covered it. Great. All right,

so we would like to thank Mr. Conroy for taking

the time to chat with us in this special Legends

of the Dark Knight interview. It was such an

honor to talk to you. We'll ask you to hold the

line, and we'll be back after this. What about

the whole secret identity thing? I mean, I trust

you guys, but I'm not sure I'm ready to Wally

West. Clark Kent. Bruce Wayne. Show off. Red

hair. It suits you. You think? Change. Now. What's

this do? That's not helping. I am vengeance.

I am the night. I am... Batman. Batman. Batman.

There is a song the good folks sing. A song the

good folks sing. Batman. About a hero on the

wing. Hero on the wing. Batman. I am Gotham's

darkest night. The villain's darkest fright.

Turn on the signal light. For Batman. Lighten

up. It's your birthday. Don't remind me. Good

work, Caped Crusader. Once again, you saved our

fair city from those vile miscreants. They were

no problem, Commissioner. For as we all know,

criminals are... A superstitious, cowardly lot.

They plan and plot, but they always get caught.

Their evil schemes all come to naught. A superstitious,

cowardly lot. It took me weeks to get tickets

for this show. It's shway. It's shwarbage. Excuse

me. One side, please. Move! A superstitious cowardly

lot. They plan and plot but they always get caught.

Their evil schemes all come to naught. Gentlemen,

it's been an honor.