Interview with Loren Lester on Batman the Animated Series and Recent Projects

hi this is lauren lester and you're listening

to the geek cast radio network what you should

be sidewalk stroganoff i changed the menu no

right hello and welcome to legends of the dark

knight which is the gcrn's dcau batman review

podcast i am one of your host tf2 and mike joining

me is steve megatron hello hello how are you

good how are you good We are nearly done with

Batman the Animated Series. Episode 22 will be

the final episodes of BTS. Then we will move

into the movies. But we are here because Lauren

Lester has returned. Hello. Hello, sir. How are

you? I'm great, thank you. Nice to be back. Thanks

for asking me. Oh, awesome. I said this in the

last interview we did, but it's so strange to

me seeing where you pop up on TV. Oh, really?

Let's hear about that. Well, last time you had

mentioned that you were going to be on Good Luck

Charlie, and I watched that show. Steve watches

that show, and we know what kind of show it is

over there on Disney Channel. Right. And I'm

thinking, what kind of character are they going

to have? Oh, that's what they did. The crazy

dad. Which I'm sure is probably not too far off

from real life, is it? Well, what it's not too

far off from is the very first sitcom that I

ever did was The Facts of Life. And I played

the exact same kind of character, only now, instead

of being the teenager in love with the other

teenager, now I'm the dad who's trying to protect

my teenage child. Times have changed and life

has moved on. Let's just put it that way. But

it's the same character. All those lines that

Randy had, all the rhymes and the names and everything

else, was that something you improvised or was

that something they already had in the script?

No, this was completely scripted. Those shows,

the Nickelodeon and the Disney shows, and for

the most part, the network sitcoms, they're very,

very tightly scripted. And you have to kind of

keep very, very tight to the script. But other

shows I've done, like Curb Your Enthusiasm and

that, that's where you really get to improvise.

But those shows that I mentioned, Disney, et

cetera, that's very tightly scripted. Yeah. Hmm.

Because I don't think anyone else could have

pulled that off. No, seriously. I wonder if they

knew they were going to ask you to be a guest

and they wrote that specifically for your style.

Because I don't think anyone else could have

pulled that off without everyone watching feeling

like, oh, here's the annoying dad. Great. Because

Randy was a little extreme. Yes. It was hilarious,

though. It was. It was kind of like, Loren Lester

in a jack -in -the -box because he popped up

every single second you weren't expecting him

to. Well, you know, that's really what an actor's

job is. I guess there's a perception out there

that... Because I think the really big stars

do it a lot, you know, Dustin Hoffman and those

really big stars, they come in and they change

the script and they change the scenario and,

you know, do their thing. But those of us in

the trenches, you know, we working actors in

the lower echelon under Dustin Hoffman, et cetera,

we have to, you know, make what they give us

work. And we can say sometimes, you know, this

just isn't working. I have a suggestion. But

for the most part, they don't want to hear that.

They want you to make work what they give you.

And that's what we do. You know, that's our job.

Yeah, yeah. So San Diego Comic -Con just passed

this year. Did it really? Yes. Yeah. You were

a surprise guest. Indeed I was. Yes, you are.

I love it when they do stuff like that. It has

so much more of an effect than it does, hey,

here's this person, this person, this person,

this person. And sure, you're excited to see

those people, but something for me, because I've

never gone and I don't know if I ever will go.

Really? You've never gone? Really? No. Wow. I

unfortunately have not either. Well, if it makes...

the two of you feel any better. This was my first

one, but I, but I, but I had assumed since you

guys were such big fans that you had been there

before, just as other people assume that I've

been there before, but this was my very first

one because it was the first time that I was

an invited guest. So I was like, well, yeah,

that's I'm honored. So I went, but you know,

the backstory of that is that last year was the

20th, believe it or not. And this is before either

of you was born, but this was the last. I know.

I'm kidding around. He's painting a picture.

Last year was the 20th anniversary of the first

episode of Batman the Animated Series. And I

thought for sure there was going to be some sort

of celebration at Comic -Con. And they really,

they dropped the ball. And I think they felt

bad because this year they said, oh, my God,

we didn't do anything last year. It's now the

21st anniversary. of Batman the Animated Series.

Let's have a panel and get as many people together

as we can. And so the four creators of the show,

the four big producers, immediately said yes

because they weren't asked last year. And then

they started going through the cast and nobody

was available. Nobody. They asked Kevin. That's

surprising. They asked Kevin. They asked Mark.

They went through the whole... full cast and

nobody was available and they got to me and i

was available and they and this wonderful guy

who's in charge of pr there uh gary mariano mariano

uh he he thought well wouldn't it be great if

we said none of the cast is available knowing

that one person was available and and let's do

a surprise not only for the audience but for

the panel So he invited me down there, and I

came down, and I sat in the audience in the back

row, and nobody in the audience knew I was there,

and the panel didn't know. And then it came to

the point in the panel when he started talking,

because Gary was also the emcee, and he started

talking about the different actors and how they

couldn't be there, et cetera. And then he said,

well, what about Lauren Lester? And then he said

some very nice things about me. Bruce Timm and

Paul Dini, etc. And then he said, well, it's

funny you should say that because Lauren Lester's

right here. And I stood up in the back row. And

I mean, there was a thousand people there who

came to this panel. And it was just fantastic.

The reception was just really amazing. And I'm

so glad they made it a surprise because they

were really surprised. The people there were

really surprised. Yeah, that was an awesome,

awesome panel having you guys relive that. And

I just can't believe that no one else was available.

I would have thought of at least, out of everybody,

Kevin and Mark would have been able to make some

time. And I know it's a busy schedule, and I

know it's, oh, well, we have to, especially in

Kevin's case, you've got to fly from New York

to L .A., and then you've got to fly from New

York to San Diego. And I understand that, but.

Wow, it just seems like that anniversary just

went by with a whimper. Like, it didn't even...

Sure, us, the fans, really knew about it and

celebrated it, but it seems like everybody else

was like, oh yeah, 20 years. That's a flash in

the pan. It's actually kind of a strictly financial

thing, I think, because they had already released

the box set of the show. So the studio had already,

you know, made its money off the show and wasn't

prepared to get behind some sort of big anniversary,

considering the fact that, you know, they already

released the show. So here we were, the 20th

anniversary, and the big fanfare had already

happened, even though now it was the 20th anniversary.

So, I mean, more power to Gary, you know, for

putting together this panel for the 21st. He

made the joke, he said, I'm doing it for the

21st anniversary because now the show is legal.

But it's cool that it actually happened and that

you got the big four there. You had Alan Burnett

and Eric Radomski and Paul Dini and Bruce Timm.

I mean, the big four were there and that just

thrilled the audience. They were thrilled about

that. That show is still... There are certain

episodes that don't stand up so well, but the

majority of it, that entire show stands up so

well even now. I agree. And you would think that

sometime in the future they would be able to,

I don't know, because it's probably not in the

technology at this point, but you would think

that they would be able to do a Blu -ray release

at some point for that, for some sort of anniversary

thing. I don't know. I tell you, I... You know,

Steve knows this. It's actually all Steve's fault.

In the comics, the Joker returned earlier last

year, late last year, and it got me into comics

full time. And I started reading the Nightwing

comic that Kyle Higgins is writing, and I'm like,

wow. It's like the animated series is still going

on. It just is. Well, you know, Kyle's a friend

of mine and we became friends because as he was

growing up, he grew up with that show. And so

it was his, the way it was my dream come true

to be in a Batman show because I was such a big

fan of the Batman series in the 60s growing up.

You know, it was such a thrill for him to be

in it. a show involved in anything involving

Batman since he had grown up with the show, you

know, the animated series. And he said to me

that he had always heard my voice whenever he

was writing the Nightwing comics. So when he

got the chance to actually write the Nightwing

comics, he contacted me and we became friends.

And he's taken the cue from Batman, the animated

series, and he's gone beyond that. He's taken

it to the next step. Oh, yeah, because his main

mantra is, you know, you think of Dick Grayson,

what do you think of? Oh, he was the first Robin,

then he became Nightwing. You know, you've got

to step him out of the shadow of Batman, and

he's got to become his own man and his own hero,

and that's what Kyle's doing with those stories,

and those stories are just amazing. They are,

absolutely. Right now... For those that might

not know right now, in the comic that he's writing,

Tony Zuko's alive. So Nightwing is currently

hunting his parents' killer. So that's just awesome.

What else have you been up to since last we talked

to you? We talked to you last year, and normally

we don't do interviews too closely together,

but how could I not contact you after that surprise

guest appearance? You know, as I think I told

you in the last interview, I really don't, and

it's not by choice, it's just a matter of where

my career is now. I don't really do that much

voiceover work, animation work, although I have

auditioned for some really wonderful stuff recently,

but it hasn't panned out. Main focus, and it's

not a matter of choice saying I'm going to do

this instead of that. My main focus has been

on camera, so I've been doing TV and film since

I last talked to you. A lot of independent films

and some TV shows, and that's where life has

taken me at this point. Yeah, very, very awesome.

Steve, you got anything for Lauren? Going back

to the Comic -Con thing, with this being your

first trip to Comic -Con, how did that feel,

just kind of the whole experience of getting

to go and experience the fans and their element?

Oh, it was really a fantastic experience because,

I mean, standing from the outside looking in,

you can't really get... any impression other

than oh my god look at all the crowds you know

it's so crowded it's you know uh how does anybody

do anything or get anything done but but once

you're there and especially i was very privileged

to be an invited guest i mean it's a different

different story i guess if you're you're in the

mob scene because it is a big mob scene it really

is if you don't like crowds don't go to comic

-con but but i was thrilled really to see how

much fun and pleasure The fans were getting out

of that show. I mean, there was just like nonstop

pleasure from from people dressing up in their

favorite character and attending the panels and

going to the different booths where they could

get memorabilia and all that. It was just you

get you get a high from their high. It was really.

And I mean that in an honest way. I mean, they

just really honestly. were just high on the whole

enjoyment of the convention. And so I really

enjoyed that. And after the panel I was on, there

was 1 ,000 people there, I got to meet so many

fans and signed a bunch of autographs. And there

was one great fan, because I was surprised, she

didn't know I was there, she was wearing her

Robin outfit. and she also had a Nightwing outfit,

and she was disappointed because she didn't bring

her Nightwing outfit because she didn't know

I was there, but she brought her Robin outfit,

and I was able to sign that one. So that was

really very sweet that she said, oh, I wish I'd

brought my Nightwing outfit too. That's very

cool. That is so, so cool. You guys should definitely

go. Yeah, one of these days. That is definitely

in the cards for me eventually. Getting the money

to travel. I thought for a second you guys were

there because I saw this big banner that said

geek and I got closer and it was not geek cast.

It was something like geek nation or something

like that. But I thought, oh my god, they're

there! We wish. Someday. Because we would have

done everything to find out who was actually

going to be at that panel. We would have found

out before anyone else knew. You wouldn't have

known about me? It was a huge surprise. It was

totally undercover. You wouldn't have known about

that. Sneaky, sneaky. Only Gary and I knew about

it. We're the only ones. So what else have you

got going on? Let's go behind the man. What interests

you when you're not doing acting? Do you read

the comics at all or no? Well, you know, it's

interesting. I have never been a big comic guy.

even when I was doing the show. But since my

friendship with Kyle started, I really became

a big comic fan and went back and I said, wow,

I've really missed a lot. I really did. I missed

that whole thing, you know, because I was never,

and it wasn't like I looked down on comics or

anything. It just wasn't my thing, you know.

But now I've... I'm following the current comics,

and I've gone back to the classic comics, and

it's really great. I love reading that stuff.

I absolutely love reading that stuff. My interest

is primarily, as far as reading is concerned,

because I'm in my car probably, you know, well,

I drive 20 ,000 miles a year to just going from

audition to audition. It's crazy. And so I really

depend on audiobooks, and so I love listening

to audiobooks. And when it comes to reading,

that's my big passion. You can't really do that

with comics because you get into an accident.

Yeah, no. No. Well, I don't know. If DC ever

wanted to do audio comics, I'm sure they could

get you and Kevin and everybody together. I actually

have done a couple of jobs like that, which they

actually did the audio. of, uh, comic books.

And I thought it was very cool. Uh, I don't think

that's as a medium has taken off yet. It might,

but definitely not for people who are driving.

Yeah, no. Oh man, that's so funny. Um, yeah,

no, like I said, every, every time I read Nightwing,

I hear your voice in the back of my head. It

was like, thank you. It just. And again, it goes

back to the way that Kyle writes it, because

Kyle was a fan of yours as well. Well, not was,

but is. It's just the way that he writes it is

exactly as if you were there voicing the character

again. He said specifically that he's doing that,

which is really an honor. I mean, I'm very honored.

And he even recently named one of the characters

Lester after me, which I thought was kind of...

That's... It's actually really sick and twisted

on Kyle's part because Billy Lester is Tony Zucco's

alias. Isn't that funny? It's so great. It's

sick, twisted irony that is just hilarious. Well,

I asked him about that. I said, was that about

me? And he said, yeah, it was. I said, okay,

that's pretty funny. Oh, man. Oh, wow. All right.

Is there anything else you want to tell us about?

Anything else going on with you? Well, I've got

a few movies coming out. So there's a movie called

Damn Foreigners, which I'm very proud of, where

I play a hard -boiled detective. It's my first

hard -boiled detective. And some friends have

pointed out that I guess there's no such thing

as a soft -boiled detective. Truly, if you're

a detective, you're probably a hard -boiled detective.

So it's redundant. But I play a detective, and

I really enjoyed that. And I have an episode

of Bones coming out and also several other films,

a film called The Leading Man where I play a

smarmy agent. What else? A Family of Clowns,

where I play a guy who's frightened of clowns,

which is very, very, which is very fun. And so

it's a comedic and dramatic movie because my

my wife in the film, who's played by my wife,

Kelly Lester, actually becomes a clown. So it's

really frightening. It's really, really. Oh,

my God. That would scare my wife. She is deathly

afraid of clowns. Now think about how scared

she would be if you became a clown. So that's

the plot of that movie. Wow. And then there's

a film that used to be called Saving Santa that's

now called A Country Christmas, but it's called

Saving Santa. It's coming out around Christmas

time where I play a Matt Couric kind of Today

Show host, which was fun. I didn't know Matt

Lauer married Katie Couric. That's a funny mashup.

My character's name is Matt Couric, and it's

a combination of Matt Lauer and Katie Couric.

Oh, the funny thing, now that you mention about

Family of Clowns, it actually reminds me of...

The recent DC animated movie Justice League Flashpoint

Paradox because in the alternate universe that

Flash created because of an event Flash went

back in time to fix, the alternate universe it

creates becomes Thomas Wayne is Batman and Bruce

was the one. Wow. So his parents are left alive,

but he died. And it drives Thomas to become a

very, very violent Batman that uses guns. And

Martha goes so insane, she becomes the Joker.

That's really funny. It's funny considering you

just told us the plot of A Family of Clowns that,

you know, your wife becomes a clown. And I think,

don't you think that the whole Joker character

is really, comes out of people's, some people's,

I don't have it, but some people's fear of clowns,

don't you think? I would think so. Yeah. Yeah.

Very, very possibly. I love that tagline for

Family of Clowns. Sometimes becoming a clown

is the most serious thing you can do. So awesome.

When does that come out? Is that already out?

Well, it's working with a lot of films these

days because there is an explosion of movies

being made. So many films do the film festival

circuit first. So it's doing the film festival

circuit. It was in the New York City International

Film Festival, and it's working its way through

the film festivals. It's really a miracle, a

miracle when a movie actually gets accepted into

a film festival these days because there are

so many movies. You know, there's like 20 ,000

or something like that submissions to Sundance

alone. So how they come up with their programming

is really quite amazing. And there's hundreds

and hundreds of film festivals. So a lot of films,

they work their way through the film festival,

they find a distributor, and then they make it

to the theaters or to TV. That's how it works

these days. Very awesome. Very awesome. All right.

Well, Steve, anything else you want to ask Lauren?

Are there any type of roles in the future that

you're hoping that come your way? Like, say,

maybe Kyle Higgins' written Nightwing story?

Oh, yeah. My dream has been for many years to

play Nightwing again and to have the opportunity

to do that. And I get a lot of fan mail and people

always asking me, you know, when are you going

to play Nightwing again? Are you going to be

in the next Arkham Asylum game? I have no control

over that. I have absolutely no control over

that. It's up to the people who cast it and create

it. My dream is, again, one day to play Nightwing

and to play it with the scripts that Kyle has

written. That would be fantastic because those

are great scripts. Who knows if that will ever

happen? Yes, that would be my dream. My other

dream... is to be a series regular on a TV show

because I've spent 35 years guesting on TV shows

and doing a show for a day or a week or three

weeks or for months or like in Hong where I was

in many episodes. But to actually go to work

every single week on a TV show, that would be

a dream come true. I'd like to experience that.

That would be fun. I think you would be a good,

well, I don't know, since you don't, well, they

have people on that show that don't have Boston

accents. You'd be a good fit if you were a cop

or like some sort of series regular on Rizzoli

and Isles, I think. I love that show. I actually

have, they actually like me on that show. I've

auditioned a couple of times and they will continue

to bring me back until I get cast in the right

role there. But that's a good. That's a very

good example. I would love to be on a show like

that, but they've been very good about bringing

me in on that show. Yeah, that would be awesome.

All right, well, we will ask you to hold the

line, and we'll be back after this. Here, kid.

I think you lost this. I could have handled him.

Coulda, woulda, didn't. You sound just like Batman.

I'm nothing like him. Yeah, right. The mask,

the attitude, the long underwear. Drop it. I'd

love to know what happened between you two. Things

change. No kidding. Well, there you go, folks.

That's what's going on with Loren Lester. He's

just amazing to talk to. Oh, yeah. He's just

one of those guys that is... I know we were Batman

heavy, but let's face it. This is a Batman podcast.

And... He's just so awesome. He just really,

really is. And he has a lot of diverse, interesting

roles that he's played, too. I can't wait to

check out A Family of Clowns. I know. I'm so

enthused now to go seek that out and then kind

of freak out my wife, too. The sad thing is she

loves clowns. watching scary movies, even if

they have to do with clowns, but she's deathly

afraid of clowns. We go to parks and carnivals

and we're like, hey, come over here. It's horrible.

All I can think of is the clown from It. Kiss

me, fat boy! But yeah, definitely always a treat

talking to Lauren. I hope that someday we bump

into him at a con somewhere. Oh, yeah, most definitely.

Yeah, on my personal Facebook page, I actually

made a little teaser about this interview, and

I said he crashed the convention, which is not

the case. He was a surprise guest. It was planned,

but nobody knew about it except him and the moderator.

Which is hilarious. Yeah, that was so awesome.

And you can watch the entire 21 years of BTIS

panel in the post for this interview. Next time

we've got the final, what is it, five episodes

of BTIS in episode 22? I think it's five. Yeah,

it's the last five. That's definitely great.

I mean, I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean,

it's great that we're getting to... round out

the yeah we're getting to go to the movies and

and talk uh more btas and then uh getting into

beyond and to be honest this is one show that

i will be sad that ends uh i know i say that

for many of the shows i'm involved with but uh

i think for me uh the dcau batman animated series

and batman beyond uh and beast wars are like

my top three favorite cartoons of all time But

they'll always be online. You can always... I

mean, we've been going back now and listening

to Beast Unleashed and stuff. So, I mean, you

know, we can always go back and listen to Legends

again. So, all right. As always, I'm TFJ and

Mike with... Steve Megatron Phillips. Thank you

for listening. And we will catch you next time.

Now, I love s'mores as much as the next guy.

But I'm fresh out of marshmallows. What do you

say I never put on that costume again and you

still haven't forgiven him why should I he'll

never change Must be one of the wallets they

stole whose is it I don't believe it I think

this is yours, Connor. Oh, thanks. But you almost

gave me a heart attack. I thought you were the

Batman. No. I ran up against him once. It was

a real eye -opener. Forced me to get my life

together. Now I've got this great job. Even Mr.

Wayne knows me. Terrific guy. Never too busy

to stop and ask how my boy's doing. Mr. Wayne

is a good man. Guess Batman had a change of heart

who'd have thought he had one Speak of the devil

You coming I guess it's about time