Interview with Loren Lester on Playing Robin and Nightwing

This episode of Legends of the Dark Knight features

Steve, Mike, and Tara. sorry robin but on this

team i call the shots but i've waited half my

life batman out oh no he's not gonna ace me out

please master dick you must do as he says not

this time alfred maybe not ever again so is that

right mike it's the 20th anniversary this year

it is yep 1992 to 2012 wow yep Doesn't seem like

it's been that long. Aren't they going to do

anything special or anything like that? They

should. Don't think so. They released that limited

edition complete series set DVD in 2008. I think

they're done with it. I wish that they would

do something special for the 20th anniversary.

But like at Comic -Con or something? They should

do something. I doubt it. They should. I doubt

it. They should, but it probably won't happen.

Wow. 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, TF2

and Mike, and joining me is Tara the Rising Star.

Hello. Hey, it's awesome to be here. Yes, and

Steve Megatron. Hello. Hello. In the very first

Legends of the Dark Knight interview, we welcome

the boy wonder himself, Loren Lester. Hi, Loren.

How are you? Hey, great. Great to be here. Thanks

for asking me. Oh, man. Yeah, we... I guess I

could tell this story. I've been trying and trying

and trying to get Hamill to no avail. And then

I was like, okay, well, who else can I get? Not

really that it's a backup plan, but it was more

of like, I want interviews for this podcast because

we are going through... This podcast is actually

Steve's baby, but I do better with the interviews,

he says. We are going through every single episode

of Batman the Animated Series. We are going through

four of the movies. We are going through the

entire run of Batman in the DC animated universe.

Wow. Yeah. It's a labor of love. So before we

get started, can you give us the scoop on what

is going on in the world of Lauren Lester? Any

upcoming projects that you can reveal? Oh, let's

see. I've had a couple of really terrific animation

roles in the past couple of years that are ongoing.

The role of Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern, which

is kind of fun. And also the Iron Fist. which

is on the Avengers series. Oh, cool. And did

two different seasons of the Avengers. And then

on camera, my life is actually primarily on camera

these days. I'm in a wonderful new series called

Final Witness that's coming out on ABC where

I play a famous murderer and they reenact all

of the... all of the trial and all of the incidents

leading up to the actual murder and what happened

afterward. And it's all shot in the actual locations.

We went to St. Petersburg, Russia, where the

whole story started and shot in the actual locations

where this real story took place. And they mix

it with documentary footage. And it's going to

be a very wonderful series, really interesting

series. Awesome. Cool. Sounds like very interesting.

Yeah, it's going to be very, very interesting.

It's a it's a it melds two different formats,

you know, the documentary format along with the

dramatic format. So it's going to be very good.

What was it like working on it? Well, I had never

been to Russia, so that was really interesting.

We shot in the actual locations. We shot in the

Hermitage and in front of these famous cathedrals

and on the streets of St. Petersburg. It was

really, I don't know if it's once in a lifetime,

but leading up to now, it was the greatest experience

I ever had as an actor. So it's really nice to

be able to say that, to say that your most recent

experience was your greatest experience, which

isn't always the case. So it was definitely a

memorable experience for you. Oh, definitely,

definitely. And I'm hoping that the results,

you know, you never know as an actor what the

editing is going to be like or anything like

that, but I'm hoping that the end result is going

to be as wonderful as the experience of shooting

it. And I believe it will because they already

did one episode and I saw it, and that first

episode was quite excellent. Well, good luck,

and we look forward to seeing it. Well, thank

you. Jumping gears a little bit, I'm going to

start out with the first questions, digging more

into who is Loren Lester. Where did you grow

up? I grew up in Los Angeles. I'm one of the

few people who, you know, born and bred in Los

Angeles, not from somewhere else. And I grew

up in more specifically Glendale. And that was

quite an experience because at the time, Glendale

was really a small town. It's kind of burgeoned

into this, you know, it's really quite a big

metropolis now. But at the time, it was really

a small town, very small town. So this is probably

the question you probably get asked a lot. You've

been a voice actor, you've been an actor. So

did you always want to be an actor or a voice

actor? Or is it kind of something that just happened?

I think from the time I was 11, probably, that's

what I wanted to do. Before that, you know, I

flirted with all the things that all kids flirt

with, you know, astronaut, baseball player, you

know, all those things. But when I was 11, I

went on stage and I said, okay, yeah, okay, this

is what I want to do. And never considered anything

else after that. And actually, how I got involved

in acting was I was kind of bullied into the

business because I... I was bullied a lot in

gym class because I was not great at competitive

sports. I've always been, you know, I like to

run. I go to the gym and all that. But competitive

sports, I'm just not very good at it. And the

other guys would really bully me terribly. So

in high school, my mom found out that I could

take what was called adaptive PE, which was the

class for... Well, you know, little people and,

you know, kids with autism and handicapped kids,

all this, you know, however they could get out

of regular gym, but still take gym and meet the

law. I took that class and the coach of that

class had a son who was in commercials and said,

hey, you have a great look for commercials. Would

you like to meet my son's agent? And he introduced

me to his son's agent. And I started working

professionally at the age of 16 in Glendale.

So Glendale, it's very important that I grew

up in Glendale. Otherwise, I don't know that

I actually would have gotten into the business

quite so early. So it just happened by chance.

It happened by chance that I was in this strange

PE class. So now that you're 16 and you're just

breaking into the business. did you want to break

into on -camera or did you want to do more voiceover?

How did that transition from age 16 to later

on at, you know, finding roles in different voices

and stuff like that? Well, that agent at that

time, the way the agencies worked at that time,

now it's more specialized. If you're a voiceover

actor, you have a voiceover agent. At the time,

the agents, they covered everything. So the agent

I was with at that time had a... voiceover department

and on -camera department for movies and TV and

on -camera department for commercials. He had

a department for everything. So when he signed

me, all of those agents who were working in those

departments started taking care of me in all

those areas. So I immediately started doing all

those things. I immediately started doing commercials

and TV and movie and immediately started doing

voiceovers. And one of the first jobs I ever

got was for Hanna -Barbera for a special, an

after -school special. So one of my first jobs

I ever got was a voiceover job. Awesome. Very

cool. All right, so... As far as your on -camera

work, now, doing research on you, I was amazed

at just how many shows you've just shown up in.

Not just as a series regular or just, I mean,

you're just there. I mean, it's like, hey, kids,

look, it's Lauren Lester. You know, I mean, it

was just amazing to me. Just, you know, Suite

Life on Deck, West Wing, Cold Case. Desperate

Housewives. Most recently, even though I had

to actually go back and re -watch the episode,

you were the lawyer in Ringer. And I absolutely

love that series. That's right. I was like, wow.

Because I was looking at your IMD and I'm like,

wait a second, he was in Ringer? And I had to

actually go back and watch that. So your on -camera

stuff, do you prefer it to be those one -off...

run -through type of roles where you just come

on for an episode or would you rather have that

ongoing multi -year multi -deal series oh i think

you know the the ongoing multi -year uh series

is is the dream of every actor uh you know you

you kind of when you're in my position even though

i have as many credits as i have you you kind

of have to take whatever work is offered you

And if they want me to come in for just one episode,

I don't really have a say in it and say, you

know, no, I won't come in unless you give me

more than one episode. It's sort of, you know,

I'm at the mercy of the business and what they

want and what they need. And, you know, I mean,

there are certain things that I certainly turn

down, but, you know, if they want me, I usually

take the job. And recently I had a great experience

because, There was a series called Hung, which

unfortunately just got canceled on HBO, where

I had a recurring role for three seasons. And

so that was the first time that had ever happened

to me, where I had actually... Well, actually,

that's not true. The first TV show I ever did,

The Facts of Life, I had a multi -year recurring

role. But it's been a long time since that happened.

And here with Hung, I had a multi -year recurring

role. And I think they were going to do... wonderful

things with the character in the fourth season

but the fourth season didn't happen so yeah it's

definitely the dream to be the series regular

and and right now i'm i'm it's pilot season and

i'm reading for pilots to be just that the the

regular on the series who's there every single

week yeah you know the other thing about your

live action stuff besides now i'm gonna have

to go buy all the facts of life dvds to see in

that um but um The other thing about your live

action stuff is that you've done, as I said,

stuff like The Practice and all that. Yeah. I

don't know. It's just so weird because normally

when we talk to actors and voice actors, we mainly

do interviews with voice actors. Right. We do

cartoon reviews. We do video game reviews, stuff

like that. And it's so weird to have someone

so diverse where you're not just... Frank Welker,

he's the man of a million voices at this point,

and that's what he's known for, is being a voice.

You don't ever really hear anything about Frank

Welker starring in a run -through on Zack and

Cody. You know what I mean? It's so weird that

you're one of those people that have one foot

in voice and then one foot in on -camera. It's

so awesome. Well, it was interesting because

when Batman ended, I thought my career was over.

I didn't know what was coming up. There was no

offers on the table for anything. And I did an

occasional voiceover job here and there. I did

Sylvester and Tweety and Men in Black and these

occasional guest star parts on animated series

at the time. But there was really nothing at

the table. And then suddenly, I started working

on camera. I had never worked before on camera.

I had been working all along on camera. But suddenly,

when that ended, this whole on -camera thing

opened up. And I've never looked back. I mean,

for at least 10 years now, I've had this fantastic

run on camera doing voiceovers, too. But that's

really been where my career has taken me, is

into episodic television and movies. Not only

episodic television, but you're a soap star.

General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful.

And The Young and the Restless. I just did an

arc on The Young and the Restless, too. And that's

really fun work because I got to tell you, the

actors who work in soaps are so fantastically

dedicated to their craft and the emotions that

they have to summon up on the spot. I have such

admiration for soap actors. soap actors and and

so when i do the soaps i i really enjoy the experience

yeah that's that's so awesome yeah uh switching

gears into uh some animation questions um first

one i'm going to ask is uh do you remember lending

your voice to the character of barbecue or working

on gi joe at all oh i sure do boy that was a

that was um I think that was my first break.

Yeah, that was really my first break as far as

doing a series. There was a guy named Wally Burr,

and he was the director of that series, and he

cast me as Barbecue. And it was during the run

of that series that he got another series called

Defenders of the Earth. And he automatically

thought of me to to audition for that. And then

I did that entire series, the Defenders of the

Earth. And and that, I think, gave me enough,

you know, credibility to be considered for Batman

when that audition came along for Robin. So,

yeah, G .I. Joe was a very important part of

my voiceover career. Yeah, that's very awesome.

You were a part of a Wally Burr session. Thank

God you weren't Peter Cullen because I've heard

stories. Well, you know, it's funny. I never

had anything but wonderful experience with Wally

Burr. I think what a lot of actors didn't like

was that the sessions took a really long time.

12, 15 -hour sessions, yeah. He was really meticulous,

really, really meticulous, and to the point where

I think great, wonderful people like Peter Cullen

were just, you know, I think I've given you enough

to work with now. Exactly. But my experience,

honestly, looking back on it, I can hardly think

of anybody that I didn't get along with. Right.

Now, what I've noticed about you before we kind

of move on to the next topic here is that you're

one of these voice actors like Barry Gordon,

like Jason Marsden, like Ian James Corlett, where

your voice is, I mean, you are Robin. I mean,

I don't mean to say that like, you know, normally,

you know, someone has a voice that is their own

and then they go do a different voice. And I

find that very interesting about some of the...

some of the actors and voice actors that just

use their own voice and can just do that. Was

Barbecue your own voice, or did you do anything

different with him? Well, it was my own voice,

but he was from New England. So I, of course,

had this New England accent when I was doing

his character. And, you know, that was the difference

between my normal life. There is no more parking

the car in Harvard Yard. In the Harvard Yard.

I'm originally from Boston. Yeah, I'm originally

from Boston. Oh, my God, that's hilarious. We're

going to get into some BTS questions before I

fangasm over here. So, Tara, take it away. Of

course. So, you know, we've been talking about

you having this fantastic career with all the

different TV roles that you've been involved

in, the soap operas. So going back to BTS. We

were just wondering, was it a normal audition

process or did they say, we want you, we know

we want you? Well, I auditioned. Normally when

you audition for something, you audition and

then you get a callback. And then for something

as important as a series regular, there'll be

an additional callback. And sometimes maybe it's

for the network people. In voiceover, it's a

little different. With on -camera, you know,

you see the people in front of you 90 % of the

time you're auditioning for. Voice -over, you

record and you don't know who you're auditioning

for. So I don't know who made the final decision,

but I definitely had an initial call, a callback,

and then another callback. And I came home and

there was a message on my answering machine from

my agent saying, I'd like to speak to the voice

of Robin. And I knew I had it. I was really,

I was just over the moon. And then... going from

this huge elation to this total devastation because

they made the decision after they had cast me

that they weren't going to include the character.

And I didn't know if I had been fired or if they'd

replaced my voice with somebody else. And then

I found out later that they simply had decided

they didn't want to have the character Robin

in the series. They wanted it to be a very loner,

dark kind of thing. And I was just... completely

and utterly devastated and uh then for whatever

reason and i don't know the full story and all

these years later it doesn't matter uh they decided

to start including the character in the in the

series and then i went on to do i don't know

40 50 episodes but i was i was devastated i thought

because you know originally in the pilot tim

the wonderful tim curry uh was uh was um Supposed

to be the Joker. It was the Joker. It was the

Joker, thank you. And Clive Revel, wonderful

Broadway actor Clive Revel, was Alfred. And I

had found out that they had been replaced, and

I thought, oh, I must have been replaced. But

then it turned out it was just that they didn't

want the character of Robin in the show, and

then changed their minds. And I think they were

happy they made the decision to include me, but

I don't know. Well, of course. I mean, you did

such a fantastic job as Dick Grayson and Robin.

Well, thank you. And then, of course, then I

got a call from the director of the series, Andrea

Romano, who's one of my absolute favorite people

in the world that I've ever worked with. And

she said, I just want to tell you, you're not

going to be Robin anymore. I was like, what?

She said, no, no, but it's good. It's good. Now

you're going to be Nightwing. Ah, Nightwing.

And then we started doing the Nightwing episodes,

and those are my favorite episodes. Oh, God.

They just wrote some wonderful stuff for the

character. I loved how Dick Grayson matured into

Nightwing. Oh, yeah. He's amazing. I like Robin,

and I love Nightwing equally. Well, thank you.

Thank you. I know I'm showing my hand here because

we still have, like, I don't know, 20, 30 episodes

to go before we finish the BTAS reviews, but

Old Wounds is by far my favorite episode out

of the entire series. Oh, interesting. That's

a good episode. I'll tell you, that's a very

good episode. My favorite episode is If You're

So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich? And I'll tell

you why. The reason is because up to that point,

Robin had been, you know, the proverbial sidekick.

You know, what are we going to do now, Batman?

What does this mean, Batman? You know, setting

up Batman to solve the mystery. And in this episode,

Robin, you know, in the maze, he solves the mystery.

And Batman is sort of dependent on Robin figuring

things out. And it was really interesting. That

was a pretty good episode. It was, and the guy

playing the Riddler was wonderful. He was terrific.

Yeah, that is probably one of my most favorite

and memorable episodes out of the first half

of the series. Oh, I'm glad you liked that one,

too. It was just so well done. Wasn't Riddler

David Hyde Pierce? No. It was John... Oh, that's

right. Oh, now I'm blanking. And he's such a

great actor. I'll come up with it in a second.

John Glover from... John Glover, John Glover,

John Glover. I remember that now. I think why

I said David Hyde Pierce is because when it was

originally announced for Dark Knight, when the

rumors were going around for Dark Knight Rises,

David Hyde Pierce is the one that I want to play

a live -action Riddler. Oh, that's interesting.

That would be good casting. Yeah. All right.

So again, going back to Batman, did you audition

for any other roles besides Dick Grayson and

Robin? Or was it just Robin? No, just in that

series was just Robin. Okay. All right. What

were the recording sessions like with being surrounded

by so many great voice actors in the Batman animated

series? Well, what was really great about those

sessions was that For the most part, everybody

was there. That's really kind of rare because

usually you come in by yourself or maybe with

one other person. But in those sessions, just

about everybody was there. You mentioned Frank

Welker earlier. It's so funny because I've done

a ton of cartoons with Frank Welker, but have

maybe only really worked with him a couple of

times because he's so busy. He's always off in

another session, and they say, well, Frank Welker's

going to come in and record this voice later,

because he's off doing another cartoon. But in

those sessions, everybody was there. When Ed

Asner was in the episode, I was right there with

Ed Asner. Michael and Sarah, I was right there

with him. They were all there. yeah andrea has

always just from what i've seen her talk about

it on on dvd special feature she's always all

about the ensemble cast versus you know you recording

in a booth talking to yourself uh it it really

the result is so so much better and really makes

a difference it's just unfortunate you know you

Especially actors who are stars, they're busy.

So if you can't get them, you can't get them,

and you record around them. But in that series,

from my memory, it was almost always that they

were there. Yeah. And they all seemed to have

a really great experience. They all enjoyed it.

So, I mean, maybe the word got out that... hey,

make the time to come to this session because

it's really rewarding to actually be there with

everybody else. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Before you

were involved in the Batman animated series,

had you watched the 66 Batman TV series or read

any of the comics? Oh, you just have no idea

how obsessed I was with that series. I was obsessed

with that series. I had next to my bed, my nightstand,

was covered with Batman merchandise. It was called

my Batman stand. And I remember my parents were

house hunting when I was little, and I used to

look at the houses to see if they had a basement

so maybe I could turn it into a bat cave. That's

awesome. So when I got the role of Robin years

later, I mean, this wasn't just like, oh, what

a fantastic part, or it's so great to be a series

regular, or, you know, all those wonderful feelings

I had, but there was that extra layer of, wow,

I mean, I'm Robin, you know, because I grew up

with Batman and Robin on that show, and I was

obsessed with that series. There's an image,

everybody knows this, but there's an image in

that intro of the 66 show where Batman and Robin

are shaking hands. And I don't know if they did

this on purpose or if they did it as an homage,

but in Old Wounds, there is an image of young

Robin, not the character you voiced, but the

younger version, the kid Robin. when his parents

first get killed, where he's meeting Bruce, you

see them in that same similar of facing each

other, shaking each other's hands. And I thought

that was so awesome. I wouldn't be surprised

if that was deliberate, you know, because the

people who made that show were so in tune with

the Batman universe. I wouldn't be surprised

if they did that on purpose. But it's interesting.

I've never heard anybody point that one out before.

That's interesting. Now, you've mentioned a couple

of your favorite episodes. Do you go back and

watch the old cartoons at all? Well, you were

talking about earlier, I think before the interview

started, about the 2008 DVD set that came out.

And so, of course, when that came out, I watched

it all over again. I had not seen it for many

years. And it was like watching something brand

new. I was like, wow, did I really do that episode?

Yeah, so that was fun. Now, this is just a fan

question for me because I'm just curious about

this. I don't think this would ever happen, but

do you think that a cartoon series solely based

on Nightwing's adventures would ever work? And

if so, would you return to voice the character?

Oh, wow. Boy, you've really gone straight to

my heart with that one. My understanding at the

time and... Again, when I talk about these things,

I'm really not on the other side of the table,

so I don't really know what's going on. But at

the time, the people who were producing the show

were telling me that they really wanted to make

a Nightwing series. And I just was thrilled.

Again, there's the... The elation and then the

devastation. The elation of, oh, yeah. And then

it never happened. And I think that they moved

to possibly doing a Catwoman series and they

put all their energy into that. And I think that

never happened. I don't know what happened on

the other side of the table. But I know they

were seriously talking about for a long time

a Nightwing series. I think a Nightwing series.

is just about the most fantastic thing that could

happen, I mean, to the Batman universe, certainly.

And certainly to me. I mean, I would love to

return to that role. I absolutely love that role.

And I've become friends with Kyle Higgins. who

is a wonderful filmmaker, but also a terrific

comic book writer. And he has written a whole

new Nightwing comic book series that would be

fantastic if that was turned into an animated

series. And I would, of course, love that. As

you can hear, I still have the same voice. So

it would be kind of cool to return to that part.

Oh, yeah, that definitely would be awesome to

hear. And I get, you know, I get... I get fan

mail all the time because of Twitter now and

Facebook and all these wonderful things. Practically

every day I get some sort of message from somebody

who says how much they love. Dick Grayson arc

from Robin to Nightwing and how it was an important

part of their growing up and how it meant so

much to them. Those letters and those emails

really mean a lot to me. It's terrific. After

all these years, as you said, it's now the 20th

anniversary of the beginning of the show that

it has really held up and people are still such

fans of it. I think that also, just as much as

Kevin Conroy is the definitive Batman and Mark

Hamill is the definitive Joker, I believe your

interpretation of Robin and Nightwing are pretty

much the definitive voice for that as well. It's

pretty much held the test of time over the last

20 years. For the Dick Grayson character specifically,

yes. That's a very, very nice thing to say. Thank

you. Appreciate that. And by the way, speaking

of... I'm sorry, did I interrupt you? No, go

ahead, Rob. I just called you Robin. Holy crap.

You can call me Robin. That's fine. Speaking

of Twitter, anybody who hears this, I'm happy

to speak to anybody through Twitter. My Twitter

sign is actorll. So anybody who wants to contact

me through Twitter, I'm happy to talk to them.

awesome uh jumping again into uh another category

uh are you uh are there any crazy off the wall

behind the scenes moments you can tell us about

uh the batman animated series like any kind of

pranks from sound booth yeah hmm pranks anything

any kind of behind the scenes moments that you

know any kind of outtakes or anything like that

Well, let me think. Well, I always knew that

when I came in and I knew Mark Hamill was going

to be in the episode, I always knew I was going

to get some fantastic stories. And I knew that

the session was going to be particularly long

because I knew he was going to tell us some fantastic

stories. And he told us some great stories. But

I knew I said, oh, OK, well, you know, I better

be ready because Mark Hamill is going to have

some great stories to tell us. So and he he always

recorded standing up. We all sat down, but he

liked to record standing up. So when I came in

and I would see the microphone, one microphone

stand up and everyone else down, I said, oh,

Mark's here. OK, let's get ready for some stories.

And we would get some great, you know, because

what a life he had, you know, the Star Wars stories

and, you know, everything being on Broadway and.

Oh, yeah. All the fantastic things that he lived.

Well, you know, I'm going to call him and I'm

going to tell him that you're looking for him

to interview him. Oh, thank you so much. That

would be awesome. Maybe he'll, you know, be on

your show and tell you some of those great stories,

too. Oh, that'd be amazing. But some of these

people who had been around, like people I mentioned

before, Ed Asner and Michael and Sarah and all

these people who had been around for decades

and decades in the business, talking to them

during the downtime was just fantastic. So as

far as anything off the wall or really funny

or bizarre happening, that I don't remember if

it happened. How often do you and Kevin talk

to each other? We talk on social media, but I

don't think I've talked to him in person for

a number of years. I did an autograph show with

him, and I can't even remember how many years

ago that was. It was in Las Vegas, and it was

great. It was so great to see him again. We had

a great reunion. But no, I know he's very busy,

but I do talk to him on Twitter and Facebook

and those things. Yeah, because I just imagine

that, you know, Batman calls you and it's like,

you know, it's just like one of those recurring

things. And I know that's not, you know, I know

Kevin has his whole other, you know, career.

He's a stage actor. He's a, you know, all that

stuff. But, I mean, I just find it funny if he

ever called you up and you guys are just, you

know, talking as Batman and Robin to each other.

Well, it's funny, you know, often I get, you

know, postcards or... or pictures or, or, uh,

even cells. Sometimes people mail to, uh, to

my agent and, and they asked me to sign them.

And so I signed them and, and then, uh, one guy

sent me a, a cell and said, could you please

get this signed by the other members of the cast?

I, you know, I, I had explained, wrote a little

with these people, although it seems like it.

It seems like in the show, we just all hang out

together in Gotham City. But but, you know, life

takes you in different directions. So we don't

we don't actually do that. But I would I would

love to hang out with all those people again.

Ephraim Zimbalist and and Bob Hastings. And just

what a wonderful the regular cast was just terrific.

You know. So you've worked with so many fantastic

actors. You know, you worked with Mark and you

worked with Kevin. Can you maybe tell us who

are some of the other voice actors that maybe

influenced you through your career? Voice actors

or actors? Voice actors specifically. Well, you

know, I grew up with Mel Blanc. I regret that

I never got a chance to work with Mel Blanc because

he was the pinnacle. If you were going to be

a voiceover actor, if you could aspire to the

heights of Mel Blanc, that's as high as you can

possibly get in this business. I never worked

with him, but when I was in Batman, When in G

.I. Joe, excuse me, and I was first starting

out and I was just a kid, I worked with some

really top notch professional voiceover actors

like Michael Bell, who, you know, is a consummate

pro voiceover actor and working with him to be

able to be in a show with somebody like that

in your first series. That was really terrific.

So it must have been a very interesting experience.

Oh, yeah. And you learn by example. You see how

professional people are and how they behave and

how they've had long careers. And you say to

yourself, well, if I behave that way and I'm

professional, maybe I'll have a long career too.

And fortunately, I have. It's a long, long career

now I've had. And that's from learning from the

people who had long careers before me. For sure,

and I'm sure it will continue in the future.

Well, thank you. But I'll tell you, one of the

most wonderful experiences I ever had was, and

this is an on -camera story, but it's an important

story for anybody who wants to have a long career.

I worked with Heather Locklear. I don't remember

how long ago it was. It was on a series she had

called LAX. She was one of the most wonderful

people I've ever worked with and worked long,

long, long hours and was a consummate pro the

whole time. And you could see that everybody

from the messenger boys to the top echelon of

executive producers, everybody. loved her, and

she treated all of them with total respect. And

after I had that experience with her, I understood

why she never stopped working. She went from

show to show to show, and she never stopped working.

And that's because she had this attitude like,

yeah, let's do it. Let's go. Let's film. And

whatever you need, I'll do it. Whatever it takes,

I'll deliver. And let's just get this done and

do a great show together. And so that was a great

experience that somebody who had been a star

like that in so many TV series was so beloved.

And that's what I think I aspired to do. So that

was a great experience. Oh, yeah, amazing. And

I guess this is just a really quick question,

but what's your opinion on the Batman Arkham

City and Batman Arkham Asylum games? I'm a huge

fan of the games, and I was just wondering, since

we have the opportunity to speak with you, what

you think about them. Well, I first wonder why

I'm not in them, but that's a whole other story.

Yeah, when I heard Robin in Arkham City, I was

like, wait, that's not Robin. I know, exactly.

That was exactly what I thought. I'm like, where

is Robin? I get all these letters and emails

like, why aren't you in Arkham Asylum? And I

have to write back and say. I wasn't asked to

be an Arkham Asylum. That's why I'm not an Arkham

Asylum. Or maybe I'm not insane enough to be

an Arkham Asylum. I don't know. Petition time.

I think they're doing a great job. They're doing

a great job with continuing the Batman franchise

and all of the things that they've done since

Batman. Look, Batman the Animated Series. was

really a once -in -a -lifetime show. I think

the animation, the writing, the music, the acting,

everything that went into that show, it's really

hard to top that and surpass that. And they've

done other good shows since then. But to me,

and I'm speaking, I'm prejudiced, I guess, but

to me that was... What's that? It's understandable.

But to me, and looking back on it and seeing

it again and comparing it to whatever you have

now, I mean, I guess technologically things,

you know, they've gone further technologically.

But just the whole look and the whole feel of

that show, I just, I don't think they've ever

done anything better than that. Yeah. Now, really

quickly. Since we don't just want to talk about

BTAS, even though that's what the podcast is

all about, how was it transitioning going from

Dick Grayson Robin to someone like Hal Jordan

in Brave and the Bold? I mean, how was that transition

for you? I mean, I know they're two completely

different characters, but did you do anything

different with your voice on Hal? Well, definitely,

because I would say Nightwing and Hal Jordan

are similar. I don't think Hal Jordan and Robin

are similar, but Hal Jordan and Nightwing are

similar because there's a certainty and a confidence

and a cockiness that comes with being your own

superhero as opposed to being the sidekick of

another superhero. So I think there's a lot.

of Green Lantern that's similar with Nightwing,

definitely. But what's very different, and I

hope you get a chance to hear it, is Iron Fist,

because that whole voice that I created for that

is very different from Nightwing and Green Lantern.

Awesome. He grew up in the Far East, you know,

and so he's very, very influenced by the very

sort of cool and calm, meditative... uh, character

of that whole region, you know, the religion

and the philosophy and all of that. So the, the

voice I created for that, that role I think is,

is different from the other two. Yeah. Funny.

You should mention that I was actually on, uh,

one of our friends sites, uh, behind the voice

actors .com, which, uh, they kind of catalog

every voice acting role. Yeah. I've been on that

site. Yeah. I know what you're talking about.

Um, Yeah, and I was on your page on there and

actually was listening to the voices on there

so I could kind of get a comparison of them.

So, yeah, that voice is really cool. Oh, they

have Iron Fist on there now? Yep. Oh, that's

great. I've got to listen to that. Great. Jumping

gears a little bit, you mentioned some fan conventions

earlier. What are your basic thoughts on them?

As far as some that you've gone to? Well, okay.

I've got to reveal a shocking thing right now.

I hope you're sitting down. I've never been to

Comic -Con. What? I've never been to Comic -Con.

You live three hours away from it and you've

never been. I've never been to Comic -Con. I've

been invited to go to the one in Anaheim, which

is in March. It's the Anaheim Comic -Con. But

I don't know. I had always thought that there

would be some sort of panel or retrospective

on Batman the Animated Series and that eventually

someone would call and say, come down and be

on this panel. That never happened. And so as

a result, I never thought about, well, if I'm

going to go, what am I going to do there? You

know, am I going to walk around? I didn't know

what exactly I was supposed to do there. Does

that sound strange? No, it doesn't sound strange.

It's understandable, I mean. Yeah. Because they

haven't done anything like that, but maybe perhaps

because the 20th anniversary is coming up, they

might surprise you and do something like that.

I just, I can't imagine, you know, 20th anniversary

and they're not going to have some sort of...

panel or, or, or retrospective on the show, but

you know, I don't know, stranger things have

happened, but no, no one, no one from Comic -Con

has ever called and said, uh, come, come down

and, and talk about, uh, being, being Nightwing

or Robin. I, I, I would probably do it, but,

uh, I've not been asked. Yeah. Very awesome.

Yes. Uh, so. You mentioned earlier about Twitter

and Facebook. How has the fan interaction been

on those? You mentioned about getting letters

and everything else, but have you ever had a

really, really strange fan interaction story?

Has some fan just absolutely grossed you out

or anything like that? No. I've been just really

lucky, and now that we've done this podcast,

that'll be the end of that, I'm sure. They'll

hear this and they'll say, you know, the crazy

people out there will say, oh, well, I better

start contacting him. But no, I have had nothing

but really pleasurable, friendly, you know, it's

all been just terrific. You know, sometimes fans

will ask specific questions because they're so

obsessed with the show, things that I just simply,

I just don't know and I can't answer or don't

remember, you know, and I wish I could, you know,

I wish I did know. But, uh, other than that,

you know, uh, like, why did you say this particular

line in this particular show when you, you know,

I can't answer that stuff like that. And it's

like, I don't know, but, but, but, you know,

nothing, absolutely nothing that I would call

weird or, or, or out of the, out of the box or

something. Just people just what they basically

say 99 % of the time is, uh, this show was such

an important part of my life, which is great.

That's very gratifying to know that, you know,

you've done something that has held up for so

many years and still means something to somebody

to the point where they want to contact you,

you know, and with Twitter and Facebook, it's

so much easier, you know, now to contact people.

Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, Batman really was

a part of a lot of people's childhoods because

I mean, speaking from experience, Saturday morning

cartoon, Batman, the animated series, Friday

night, Batman, the animated series. Absolutely.

And and, you know, for me, growing up with the

TV series of Batman, you know, the the live action.

Yeah, I know exactly where you're coming from.

You know, if I I had. I did not have the opportunity

to work with the original cast from that show,

although they had done Batman and the Animated

Series, but not on any episodes that I did. But

I knew that if I met them in person, I would

have to say to them, wow, you were such an important

part of my childhood. Oh, come on. You confess

up. You snuck into the booth when Adam West came

in for the Grey Ghost episode. No, I didn't because

you know what? I don't think I was on the show

at the time. I was in limbo at the time. Oh,

man. I think that was one of the earlier episodes.

Am I wrong about that? I believe there were two

episodes. Yeah, there was like one or two. There

was one where it was Beware the Grey Ghost and

it was the whole story of finding out who's copying

the Grey Ghost and everything else. But I think

it was earlier. They did something like 20 episodes

or something like that where they were not going

to use Robin. Robin was not going to be in the

show. And then... And then I did like 40 or 50

episodes after that. So during that first 20,

I wasn't in the booth and listening to anything

because I wasn't part of the show. Yeah. It's

so weird with Batman the Animated Series because

the air date order and the production order are

all different. I mean, they did that show so

strangely versus production order versus air

date order. All right, so you mentioned that

you're on Twitter and you're on Facebook as well.

Before we let you go, can you remind the listeners

what you have coming up? Oh, yeah. You mean just

the shows I told you about already? Yeah, and

I'm noticing it says you're in post -production

on something called Saving Santa. Over the last,

I'd say, two or three years, there's been this

explosion. I mean, explosion in indie film. And

some of it meant directly for internet, I think.

But I'd say most of them, I think the people

who make these movies are hoping they'll get

into the film festival circuit and get a distributor

and be shown in the theaters. So I have done

a ton of these indie movies. And that's one of

them, Saving Santa, which is, I think, going

to be a very fun film. I play a newscaster in

that. But, yeah, there's a number of indie films.

I can't even begin to tell you how many there

are, because over the last three years I've done

so many of them, and a lot of them are just now

finding distribution or onto the Internet. But

the things that have definite air dates, or actually

not definite day air dates, but time period air

dates, is March and April, two things are coming

out. I'm in an episode of Awake. which is a new

series on NBC, which really looks fantastic.

I cannot wait for that show. It's a really interesting

premise in the show. And I play a character who

appears in two different realities. So it's interesting.

You've got to play it two different ways. And

then the show that I mentioned earlier, Final

Witness, which, as I said, I think is the best

role I've ever had. I got to do everything in

the part. I got to have romantic scenes and then

scenes where I murder and bury the body in the

forest and then go to jail and then go to trial.

It was just like the whole gamut of emotion that

you can imagine that an actor can go through,

I went through in this episode of this series.

So that's going to be starting in March, and

I'm in episode six of that, which is the season

finale. And there's no specific day because it's

actually going to replace something that gets

canceled. So we'll see. So it's interesting.

You went from a man who was fighting crime with

Robin to a man who's committing crimes. That

is what you call the life of the character actor.

Come to the dark side. We have cookies. Exactly.

Well, I often say to people, I say, because I've

also played. Well, not recently, but in the last

few years, I've also played the father of crime

fighters in the Spider -Man video games. Oh,

yeah. And also in a series called Witch, which

was on, which was a very interesting animated

series. That was a very interesting series. I

remember that very well. So I say to people I've

gone from being a superhero to being the superhero's

dad. Nice. But I still have the voice to be the

superhero because, you know, I still have that

voice. Before we let you go, again, I'm just

looking over your IMDb. You directed Let's Do

Lunch. What was that all about? Oh, my God. That

was one of my favorite projects. My wife, who's

just a wonderful actress and singer, is also

this brilliant entrepreneur, just like, you know,

whatever she touches. It turns to gold. And she

created this lunchbox business, this fantastic

lunch. It's called Easy Lunchboxes. And easylunchboxes

.com, if you want to see on the web what it is.

And it's a wonderful lunchbox that serves a lot

of purpose for a lot of different people who

need to take their lunch, whether it's kids or

people going to work. But she got so heavily

involved in this business, she said to me one

day, what I really want to do is I've stopped

singing and I want to sing and perform again.

So we came up with this idea of doing a musical

web series where she would promote her lunchboxes

but also sing and dance in it. And I created

this whole... series where she's like in a 1960s

or 70s talk show. And we had Barry Williams from

Brady Bunch on one episode and the brilliant,

brilliant Sam Harris, the wonderful singer Sam

Harris on another episode. And if you go on easylunchboxes

.com, you can get a link to those episodes and

see it. But we recreated the talk shows, the

variety talk shows of my childhood from the 70s.

And it was so great to get Barry and Sam to be

in those shows. And we had singing and dancing

and eating lunch. Very awesome. Nice. We would

like to thank Mr. Lester for taking the time

to chat with us here in this special Legends

of the Dark Knight interview. We will ask you

to hold the line and we'll be back after this.

Been a pleasure. Just a minute. What's wrong?

I didn't know where else to go. I've had it.

I can't do this anymore. Do what? I've gotta

get away. Away from him. I don't understand.

How could you? How could anybody? Well, sit down

and tell me about it. I... I can't. You can tell

me. It's not that. It's just... Oh, forget it!

I shouldn't have come here. I'm sorry. I've got

to work this out on my own. I'll call you later.

Hi, this is Loren Lester, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. What? You should

be Sidewalk Stroganoff! I changed the menu. Batgirl.

I still can't believe it. How could you keep

something like this from me? You weren't exactly

honest with me, either. But you told him. He

knew. It wasn't my place to tell you. But it

was your place to put her in danger. It wasn't

like that. I volunteered. You think you did.

You don't know him like I do. He manipulates,

pulls strings, anything to get what he wants.

I thought we had the same goals. Things change.

I changed. The game's over, Batman. I quit. Robin,

wait. That was just fantastic. Oh, my God. Yeah,

there you have it, folks. Loren Lester here on

Legends of the Dark Knight. Yes, awesome. What

a great interview. Just a wonderful, wonderful

person to speak to. Learned so much, and just

what a fantastic career he's had so far, and

I'm sure he'll continue to have. Oh, yes, very

much so. And as I said in the interview, it just

surprised me as to how much live action. this

guy has actually done because when I was doing

research and I, I actually went back on Netflix

and I had to watch the episode of Zach and co

of sweet life on sweet, sweet life is that and

Cody to see which episode he was in. He was a,

uh, bicycle salesman. Nice. Oh God. It was, it

was so great. Thank you so much, Lauren. We appreciate

it. Yeah. Thank you so much. Just great. Great

to hear from you. taking the time to speak to

us. That was definitely fun, and I had a massive

brain fart before the recording. I think we all

fangasm, guys, don't you? I was like, I don't

know what to say. We're going to actually record

Steve's brain fart, or his afterthought of the

brain fart, and we're actually going to email

that to Lauren when it's done. So, Steve, you

want to close it out? Thank you for joining us

for Legends of the Dark Knight. If you'd like

to leave feedback on the show, there are many

ways to do so. First, you can visit the website,

geekcastradio .com, where you can comment on

the episode and all of our different podcasts.

Second, you can rate our show on iTunes. Be sure

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Twitter. at L -O -T Dark Knight. My Twitter name

is at SCP -21. What are your Twitter names? TFG

and Mike. At Tara Blair. Join us next time when

we'll be getting into the next five episodes.

So for now, I'm Steve Megatron Phillips with...

TFG and Mike. Tara, a .k .a. Batgirl. Saying

in the immortal words of Batman... Or should

I say Robin? Yes. Whatever. I am Vengeance. I

am the Knight. I am Batman. Thank you for listening.

Until next time. 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.