Interview with Matt Hill on His Voice Acting Career

Hey, this is Captain N, and you are listening

to Pixels in the animation. Welcome to Videoland!

Wake up, Kid Icarus! Welcome to Castle D! Yahoo!

Yahoo! It's Klongo land! I thought I told you

to clean up your room This is Matt Hill, the

voice of Captain N, the Game Master, and you

are listening to the Geekcast Radio Network.

Hooray for holidays! Let's see, yesterday was

St. Cubic's Day and tomorrow is All Squares Day,

but today is open! Splendid! Then let's declare

today Her Royal Roundness Day! Hooray! Hey, couldn't

hurt to hang out for a while. I knew you'd square

around. My father used to tell me stories about

Tetris when I was a little girl. It's so far

from the palace that it never joined the fight

against Mother Brain. But aren't you afraid of

Mother Brainicus? Who's Mother Brainicus? He

doesn't know Mother Brain? Hello and welcome

to Pixels in the Animation. I am one of your

hosts, TFJ and Mike, and joining me is TV's Mr.

Neil. I love the Power Glove. It's so bad. Gives

a whole new meaning to dirty Nintendo jokes of

the 80s and 90s. Yeah. Okay, so this is the second

Pixels in the Animation interview. The first

one we did was with King Hippo, aka Gary Chuck,

and this time we have the captain himself. Captain

and the game master, Mr. Matt Hill. Hello, Matt.

How are you? Hey gentlemen, it's good to be here.

Thanks for thanks for having me on your most

auspicious radio program Yes, this is very very

awesome. Absolutely Well, I did it like, you

know, I always do a backflip when you know People

want to talk to me about what I get to do for

a living and you know Actually, well, maybe you

can help me then because Captain N. Well, that

was my first relay that I ever did And I believe

that was what we recorded that in like 1989.

We started the first episode Yeah, but it is

Aerosmith was recording an album just to you

know in the studio next door to where we were

so, you know Wow, David Lee Roth still had hair

and he was kind of cool, you know The funny thing

is you say Aerosmith was in the next room recording

an album. Yeah my My mom's ex used to be his

dry cleaner in Marshfield, Massachusetts He used

to do the dry cleaning for Joe Perry That's brilliant

Was it in the toxic twins years or was it like

post toxic twins? I wouldn't know. I wasn't into

Aerosmith at that age. Oh, that's so funny. Oh

my god. Well, yeah, I mean, you know, like when

we, you know, well, that's for, you know, rock

and roll. And so, yeah, man, there was many times

like that, you know, ACD would be like, you know,

like, you know, the intro to Thunderstruck? Yeah.

They recorded that in the loading bay, literally

right next door to where we recorded Captain

Nintendo. So we, you know, through that whole

summer, we'd always have to take long extended

breaks while they did more, you know, more drumming.

So before we get started, can you give us the

scoop on what is going on in the world of Matt

Hill? Any upcoming projects you can reveal? Yeah,

actually, right now, I'm very stoked. We just

finished the, well, I guess it's... It's about

the two -and -a -half seasons of the new Pac

-Man series. And that's on the hub. And I play

the school bully named Skeebo. So, you know,

anybody who's Pac -Man is out there. Just, you

know, tune in and hope you enjoy what we're doing.

And then, yeah, I got another show that's just

wrapped. And it's actually a preschool show called

Kate and Mim -Mim. I play a young little scientist

named Jack who has a secret crush on Kate. And

then I'm doing a couple more series that are

like literally just starting once, and it's called

Supernoobs. And we start that actually, we're

doing, I guess what, the first of 26. We start

that this week, actually. And then I just finished

another pilot that's going to series, but I'm

not allowed to talk about that one. Cause you

know, they get us to sign like 2000 NDAs and

all that sort of stuff. But um, but just think,

um, what's the word do you, what happens when

you go to sleep at night? What do you usually

do in your sleep? Oh geez. I bet it's, I bet

it's, I bet it's Captain N in a, in a really,

really weird cartoon version of, um, I don't

have to sign the NDAs anymore. It's been really

cool, man. I'm quite excited. I know I'm still

doing the right job to contribute to the world.

Cause I still do a backflip every time I get

a part. And, you know, I mean, I'm literally

just as thrilled now as I was, you know, when

I found out that I got Captain N. Um, it's just

a, it's a cool world to be able to play in, you

know? Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So let's,

um, not Bugs Bunny style, but let's start from

the beginning. Where did you grow up? Well, my

mom met my dad. No, no, we don't need any Bruce

Willis look who's talking moments. Thank you

Okay Yeah, well where I grew up is a it's a town

just outside of Vancouver much actually North

Vancouver and But I spent my formative years

in a place called Pawson and that's about maybe

I don't know half an hour You know away from

the big city as they say But, yeah, me and my

fiance Kate have been living in Kitsilano here

for quite a few years and, you know, just enjoying,

like, well, the summer's in full swing here now.

I just started about a week or so ago. So, you

know, been in and around. I've lived in different

places in Canada and also the States because

I also have my work visa. So I also work with

an agency out of LA and actually a convention

agent out of Texas. So, yeah, so I get invited

to go to animation conventions and go meet the

folks. In fact, actually, one of the ones I was

in in Dallas last year, there was a huge Captain

N fan. I mean, this guy came out of nowhere and

he... You know, he had all these like old blasters

and, you know, a bunch of gear and, you know,

cards and all sorts of stuff. It was it was quite

wild. Oh, awesome. Yeah. Now, did you always

want to be an actor? Yeah, you know, since I

was like probably maybe maybe five or six or

seven, I remember like the light bulb really

did hit early. And if you can believe it, I used

to watch the show. It was called The Partridge

Family. When I was a kid and it was this family

right that you know they they were a band and

they you know drove around in this multicolored

bus and I just I don't know there was something

about it that you know me and the me and the

girls that you know um lived at the end of my

cul -de -sac you know and and my buddies we would

always do these you know sort of they would call

them my parents call it monkey hour because you

know we'd always go and do all these big performances

underneath the streetlight at the end of our

cul -de -sac you know and and so yeah it was

it was kind of born quite early you know that

that sort of desire to perform and But then when

I was in the eighth grade, that's when I remember

actually making that decision one day and I heard

a radio commercial saying that this particular

agency was looking for actors. And I just remember

making that cathartic decision going, okay, today's

D -Day, I'm doing it. I skipped school, took

the bus downtown and signed myself up and it

turned out to be Michael J. Fox's agent as well.

And so it was kind of cool. He and I have had

this sort of two degrees of separation for like

the last 20 years so um it's a you know it was

a neat it was a neat place to start and um i'm

actually probably one of a few actors um i think

actually gary gary chalk is probably about the

same we've been in in our same agency since we

started our careers so yeah so it's good and

they literally they just celebrated 25 years

um characters themselves but i was with them

even before that because we we were called uh

we were called uh Marie Morton agency before

that. So it's kind of cool to know I've been

with the same agent for 25, almost 30 years.

It's kind of cool. I can so see. You know how

they always have those rumors of, oh, or not

they weren't rumors, they were recasts, but I

can now see instead of. Eric, whatever his name

was, I can now see Matt Hill as Marty McFly.

That's been a nice paycheck, huh? For sure. You

know what's funny? It's interesting because I

literally had these almost always, I'd come in

the agency and my old agent, Marie or Dorothy,

they'd be like, oh, Mike was just here. You just

missed him. you know um so i still have never

actually met him um but uh you know and then

at one point i was gonna i was actually gonna

replace him when he was doing the voice for um

you know for all the for you know the mouse um

on that uh what was the name stuart little yeah

stuart little um because you know when his his

schedule got quite full and um they were going

to then do it you know a television version of

it and stuff so you know they needed a voice

match for it and so um you know my agent um down

in LA sent it to me and you know so before I

knew it I was like you know meeting the producers

like oh my god you sound just like them I'm like

I know I still want to meet them but we still

never did so maybe one day yes so then uh how

did you how did you get your first gig then uh

can you tell us that story Yeah, well I got um

we have here you guys have like what is an NPR,

right? Yes, and then up here we have what's called

CBC so Canadian Broadcasting Company or corporation

and They were still doing actually one of the

very last live radio shows you know those weekly

sort of like variety shows and things and It

was a it was a it was recorded out of Vancouver,

and you know like I say it was live every Friday

and for about a 12 minute script and I got thrown

into the mix when another brother of mine from

early in the day, you remember Jason Priestley

from 90210 fame? Yeah well when he took off to

actually go do that we were great friends because

we went to high school together and so he recommended

me to replace him in this show because you know

I was just starting and you know lo and behold

and I was on the set you know doing my first

radio show but And again, it was funny, it was

like how you guys say, Gwen, it's okay to swear,

you know, if you drop the left bomb or whatever,

that's okay, you know, kind of thing. And I remember

just before we went live across the country,

the producer came up to me and he goes, whatever

you do, if you swear, you're dead. Because we're

live. We have no, you know, we have no delay.

So do not swear. Do not, you know, and I was

like, okay, no swear. I even had to actually

write it on my hand. So, you know, I think it's

still imprinted. I was just so nervous that I'd

drop an f -bomb, you know, and my aunt in Toronto

would be going like, oh my God. So yeah, but

that was the start, man. And it was, I mean,

and it's amazing how to take sometimes things

like that. It's just this catalyst to kind of

like just jump you into this, you know, amazing,

you know, world. I mean, I knew I wanted to do

it. I mean, obviously I wouldn't have skipped

school and lied to my parents and, you know,

blah, blah, blah. Boy, what a phenomenal way

to start, you know? Honestly, I can't believe

when I'm looking at over 25 years now, it's like,

wow. It's pretty crazy. Absolutely. It's amazing

to me going back and looking at a lot of the

people that I grew up watching. Wow, that's a

huge career. The funny thing about you, and I

think I'm going to bring this up later, is I

didn't even know certain things about your career.

shells you might have been hiding in. I think

that's foreshadowing, folks. Speaking of game

mastering or mastering in the game, what was

it like voicing the character that all of us

80s kids, all of us 80s Nintendo fans wanted

to be? Because every kid I knew, including myself,

wanted to be captain of the game master. That

is so cool, man. Look, thanks for checking the

mail, guys. I really appreciate that. That's

excellent. Everybody wanted to hang out with

Venus, you know? But I did too, so that's okay.

I mean, come on, the animation model for Lana,

that's, you know, come on now. And you know what?

She's every bit more, she's actually even, she's

even more beautiful than, you know, than her

animated character. i tell you i think it's here

though is that just that angel and uh... yet

one of my favorite people on the whole planet

uh... but uh... yeah and you know it was just

so cool because uh... i'm i'm sure gary sort

of intimated dissimilar thing because for most

of us that was like the first big pre -relay

that we've ever done you know and so it was like

you know fly by the figure pattern they could

tell you make it but at the same time just you

know like run like hell and and you know make

sure your vocal cords could do what it was that

they were asking us to do you know and uh...

it was so exciting because in so much of it we

had no idea what the hell we were doing you know

what i mean? all we knew is that we were great

actors and actresses uh... and so that's that's

where i know quickly it's kind of a light bulb

went on for me going like ahhh It's actually,

it's a whole other different kind of acting.

You know, I mean, everything's got to come through

the vocal cords. It doesn't matter how you look

or, you know, you know what I mean? You may know,

unless obviously they're drawing the character

totally after you, then, you know, hey, look

at Kevin, man. I'm hot. So, you know, but, but

it was, it was, it was so magic, you know, and

for it, for that to be our first one. And, you

know, and to be quite honest, it was, it was

always kind of a dream. of mine to always work

on a you know a big american show you know early

on in my career i mean you know um... uh... you

know before i actually went down and got my agency

you know in vancouver i actually sent a letter

i still can't believe it my mom actually just

cleared out a whole all her house uh... and i

found this letter believe it or not that i and

that i hand wrote to a guy named brandon tartikoff

who was the head of casting at a bc Back in the

80s and yeah, I wrote him a letter and and he

wrote me back, you know saying well It's really

good that you have lots of you know enthusiasm

but that you know, the best thing I could probably

say is you know get lots of experience and you

know And I'm sure you'll do really well. So good

luck with your career kind of thing, right? And

you know, but but that's like I mean that meant

something to me man It was like because I knew

I was playing for keeps and it was so neat to

get a response back And you know, he could have

I mean who cares? Maybe it was his secretary,

but whatever you know what I mean? Just I just

don't think that was really cool to get up, you

know I hand read the letter back from this guy

that you know I said hey, you know, I'd love

to work with you You know, I'm gonna warn you

guys I go off on little rivulets sometimes so

you gotta pull me back everybody does We did

an interview with Dan Gilvazan, who was Bumblebee

from Transformers G1, and we asked him one question.

Fifteen to twenty minutes later, we asked him

another question! So don't worry about it, it's

fine. So what were the you know I usually ask

this question a lot because I'm curious I don't

know not all voice sessions are the same, but

what were the voice sessions like for Captain

and did you guys I? Mean was it all individual

or was it all? We were we were all a big massive

posse of of cast members. I mean there was God

how many of those? What is like me? Gary, um,

Andrew Cavadas, um, Mike Donovan, Doug Parker,

um, Venus, uh, Gisiano. Yeah, my god, there was

probably like six or, there's probably seven

or eight of us. And, and pretty much everybody

had at least one line, you know, in every episode

kind of thing, right? Um, and so, you know, it

was all, like I said, we never, it was literally

like hanging out with your best friends for,

you know, four hours, you know, every, every

time that we recorded and... It was craziness,

you know, and you know, and obviously it's like,

could be a pligatory, somebody obviously at some

point passes gas, and so it's kind of funny,

people making funny noises, you know. I mean,

Gary, to this day still, I've never heard somebody,

actually, if you ever talk to him again, ask

him about this incident. He drank a whole can

of Coke, because he had to do a big burp after

one of his lines. and you literally you have

you hear him chugging chugging chugging chugging

and then you hear him going like you know to

get the air going and he does the biggest burp

i've ever heard in my life i said he spewed because

it turned into a barf so you know we got it on

tape so it's beautiful so when everybody wanted

to laugh with like hey go pull up the carry pull

it you know and uh it's brilliant Really really

brilliant So yeah, I mean we know we got our

we got our cartoon on you know every week that

we got to do it and And then like you know second

season like when we we started getting directed

by Greg Morton funny He was you know Greg Morton

I think I've heard of him. Yeah, okay. Well,

it's just a really, really, really cool guy and

a great director. Comic, you know, as well. But,

you know, again, we were making Saturday morning

cartoons, but, man, this guy was from the world

of stand -up comedy. So, like, I mean, you know,

the lines were ripping back and forth. And, I

mean, you know, it was, it truly was one of the

best ways to sort of like cut our teeth, you

know, so to speak. You know to get this thing

going because I mean we totally got us in our

zany place all the time, right? You know Yeah,

it was cool, man. It was it was a great way to

start in this wonderful business Now were there

any characters in the show that you in particular

enjoyed having scenes with Being it I was afraid

that you'd already answered the question. Sorry.

Technically, you would think if Captain N was

a Mac Daddy, he would have said Venus and Cynthia.

That's true. I'm a Mac Mommy. Nah. Yeah. Nah,

I did. Yeah, I was scared. I mean, I just like

back then with everybody, you know? I'm, you

know, I'm a lover, man. I'm not a fighter. I

just, like, I just, I work with everybody. I

love it. Although I really I must say I really

I now that we're talking about it hearing Gary

and Mike Donovan who played Eggplant Wizard and

You know so him and hippo. I mean god I mean

you can remember like some of their diatribes

you should have heard some of the outtakes I

mean it was I mean they go on for like five or

ten minutes You know and we'd be busting our

gut cuz they'd be just oh my god You know there's

always be the obligatory little I didn't do it.

You know afterwards it was like Oh man, does

any of that stuff still exist? Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

But what do you mean some of the outtakes? You

mean, Oh God, I know, wouldn't that be amazing

if it did? I have no idea. Probably not. This

was like seriously, tape was still, we were still

doing tape to tape, but like it was just changing.

So I mean, this was like, you know, man, things

were transitioning. Yeah, but there are thundercats

outtakes and that was 1985. Yeah, but it depends

on The studio. I mean some say that's true. Some

studios don't care. They'll just tape over their

old stuff I mean there's there are shows that

were that were done in Chicago where they just

taped over the previous season and there's no

archive Yeah, exactly cuz you know at that point.

They're just like hey, whatever it seemed to

tape You know, it's yeah, you know, so yeah,

I mean, you know, I bet you they probably They

probably saved it for a while, but you know I

have no idea who knows maybe one of your listeners

has some you know Captain and stuff and sometimes

the stuff that gets rescued it has to it requires

like someone in the studio like having the The

courage to or not the courage, but you know just

recording it on their own time and like making

sure it's preserved You know yeah, somebody wants

to take it home and play it for their friends

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So here's something

I've always wondered. While you're doing a show

about video games, are you guys playing the games

while you're doing the show? Not once. I was

up for honesty. I gotta go to the chiropractor,

man, when I play video game. I'm so bad at them.

Like I'm brutal. Like yeah, my hand I coordination

I whacked myself and I had all the time. I was

crazy, you know So, you know, you remember what

was that one video game was called guy. I think

it was called Gallagher Gallagher Yeah, you know

what you do would really get going you'd have

to be just going like, you know If I could use

my feet I would have been good but my fingers

just don't work like that So, you know, I was

pretty much kind of at my limit when pong got

set to like the third level put it that way Okay,

so it was like, you know So, you know, I probably

could have just stuck to that and been a champion.

But I sure got to play a superhero in TV though.

I've been saying for years they should get Captain

N and put him in Smash Brothers. They'll never

do that. No, no, no, it'd be bad. It'd be bad.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Um, let's, uh, switch gears

here a little bit. Sure. I was really surprised,

and I didn't know this because I didn't recognize

your voice, but I didn't know, I didn't realize

you were Carlos in Transformers Armada. Oh, yeah,

man! Yeah! I got to play Carlos for, you know,

I don't know how many seasons. I think I can

remember how many we did. But yeah, so that's

one of the ones you were thinking of, just like,

yeah, I was kind of hiding behind the accent,

huh? What is your relationship with the Transformer?

What were you into when you were doing all these

roles? Were you a fan of any of this stuff? Do

you want my honesty or do you want my honesty?

There's really no option there, is there? Well,

you know, I could lie honestly. No, I'm just

kidding. No, you know, okay, I look at it like

this. I think this will probably explain it.

Like I said, I prefaced the whole thing with

I'm deplorably horrible at technology. Like literally,

my fiance just before we got on the call here,

I was like, um, babe, how do I find these guys

on Skype? Because you'd send me a request and

I was like, I couldn't find it. You're like,

it's right here. And it was like, you know, an

infirmity kind of thing. So I prefaced it with

that because it doesn't lend itself to you sort

of like wanting to do you know uh... hangout

playing strategy games and things like that i

appreciate them and they've also given me an

incredible life as you know uh... but i'd much

prefer uh... you know honest to god i mean i've

been a runner my whole life you know iron man

and uh... actually i i took a i took about a

year and a half off a few years ago actually

ran around north america uh... yeah i i i i founded

a or co -founded a a tour called Run for One

Planet and we literally ran across Canada and

around the perimeter of your fine country and

talked to school kids mainly about how they could

make healthy choices for themselves and for the

planet. And it was kind of cool because little

did I know the gift of doing cartoons for so

many years would literally be such a connection

point and a way into instantly feeling these

kids felt like they already knew me. uh... because

you know they really don't like are you clear

that i don't have many years you know you were

rafael and do you like it and i'm not for the

big picture like you're captain nintendo you

know there is some it's such a great way to be

able to connect with people you know uh... so

you know uh... like i said i don't like pileables

black guy on the on the planet pressure to take

it to you know go to work and you know make a

great living and and at the same time, you know,

be part of a great community. And then, you know,

it was interesting. It wasn't until I went out

on the Run for One planet tour that I really

got the light bulb that what I did actually did

affect lives. You know, because like I said,

I mean, I was so grateful for the life that I

already had. I mean, like I said, I, you know,

I mean, God, I get to play cartoons. I get to

go to work and laugh and have fun. And, you know,

um, and, you know, it's like the greatest job

in our respect. But honestly, until I went on

the tour, I thought that's kind of like where

it stopped. You know what I mean? Like I knew

there was fans that watched the shows, but I

really didn't allow myself to think that maybe

a project that I'd been part of, you know, would

maybe really impact a kid's life. You know what

I mean? Um, and so it was, it was such a gift,

you know, for not only for us to be sharing our

message on the tour, but then to be able to be

spending these intimate moments with these kids

going like, oh man, dude, seriously, like, you

know, um, your, you know, your character on,

you know, like whether it was Raphael or like

I said, Ed, Edd and Eddie or Captain Nintendo,

you know, it, it would help a kid get through

a tough day or, you know, it would help kids

feel like they belong to something, you know?

So yeah, I mean, so is it really it's amazing

Hey how this life that we get to live because

you know, it's the one thing in 46 years I've

never ceased this to blow my mind in terms of

like what's around the corner and you know, that's

sort of that my that magic like oh my god Wow,

you know what I mean? Yeah, so you mentioned

Raphael. Yep. I alluded to that earlier with

my shell joke. Yo, yo, yo, sorry I think I think

the connection was lost up that point Oh yeah,

that's true. The funny thing is you've been Raph

twice. You were the suit actor in the third movie

and you were the voice of Raph in Ninja Turtles

The Next Mutation. Yes, I was. As someone who

worked on the project for Next Mutation, how

do you feel about the fan reaction about that

show? Because a lot of fans don't... Yeah, it's

not it's not your performance. Yes the show in

general Well, no exactly I mean it'd be you know

um it's funny because originally they they asked

if I would get back in the suit again And you

know and reprise my you know my buddy Rafael

um and at that point I was like you know I've

been in the suit once was I mean and it was brilliant

I mean we could talk about that in a little bit

if you want you know being on the film in the

suit was was seriously, it was amazing. But I

knew that the TV series was not even going to

be close to sort of like the quality in terms

of the standards, say like even the costumes

or you know. And at that point too, I was just

really digging being able to go to the studio

and do the voice for him instead. Because it

was another way to be able to uh... you know

that reprise my role without having that jump

into an eighty -pound suit you know and you don't

have to basically have a liquid diet for you

know for eight months kind of thing uh... so

for me it was it was kind of cool you know to

be able to to to do it in the second in second

you know i'm sort of formation as you are uh...

but you know in terms of the series it's like

okay you know by i really have to start a opinion

on it because honest to god i mean it was also

forty four episodes for me That also, you know,

obviously, you know, put food on my table and,

you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But,

you know, in terms of, yeah, I can see why that,

you know, why the real hardcore fans would be

going like, WTF? Are you kidding me? You know,

like, yeah, I mean, it's, you know, I got to

say there was a project that came around the

pipe about 10 years ago. And it was actually,

it was ABC that were going to be the, um, you

know, the producers of it. And if you could believe

it guys, it was a Ninja Turtles, um, mini series

that it was going to be the Ninja Turtles 15

years later. So they all were living in New York,

but they were all living like under, not undercover

anymore. Like, you know, Mikey had a, you know,

like a pizza shop, you know, Raphael, you know,

I had this babe on his arm and, you know, and

they were like ingrained into like New York life.

Right. And, uh, That script for that was freaking

brilliant in my eyes. I was so excited and actually

I decided at that point I was going to jump back

into the suit and do it again because it was

literally they were going to shoot it over like

four months because it was like a four hour mini

-series. And I was going to get to hang out with

some of my heroes. I was going to get to go over

to the Jim Henson creature shop in London. Because

we didn't go to the creature shop for Ninja Turtles

3. We ended up going to All Affects in Los Angeles.

But then for the mini -series, they were going

to go back and do that. So, you know, there were

many things I was like, oh my god, yes! Okay,

I'm back for something like that. And then a

week before I was supposed to fly out and do

the costume fitting, the ABC pulled the plug

on it. And it was never seen again. Yeah, so

that was a bit of a bummer, because like you

say, I was excited to jump back in the suit for

that sort of like size of quality, if you know

what I mean. Oh, absolutely, yeah. Because they

were definitely going to spend, I mean, you know,

in ABC they were going to spend a lot more money.

And, you know, and obviously nothing, no offense

against the, you know, the producers of The Next

Mutation. You know, but I mean, you know, come

on, let's face it, they were, you know, it was

Saban, and they, you know, they made tons of

television and made a billion dollars. how did

they make a billion dollars because they did

it on a you know on a really what's the word

can you say that on can you say cheap budget

shoestring budget would be the pc word yeah um

yeah and i mean in terms of he would just like

i'm the one thing i was really grateful was that

i trusted my gut on that one and said no because

i also because i know a lot of the guys that

ended up being on that show and there were injuries

like all over the place because again they weren't

paying people properly they weren't they didn't

have the right safety things set up i mean you

know i mean it was a freaking ninja turtle suit

man you're deaf dumb and blind in that thing

you know um but we had handlers all over the

place that you know it on the on the movie that

you know i mean and you know and obviously still

the accident still happened Um, you know, I mean

guys got, I got thrown off the back of a, it

was, well, it was a horse, but I got thrown off

the back of the chair so that they could catch

it looking like we got saying. And we, and we,

you know, when, remember when we went off the

back of the horse and we ended up going into

the, uh, into the mud pit thing or whatever,

um, or not the mud pit, but the, um, yeah, like,

you know what I'm talking about. Yeah. Yeah,

I mean that was scary man because that literally

was like full -on like that was deep water and

they built a Little bit of a platform that you

know, they they said we should be able to find

well if you couldn't find it So the matter because

you're going down right so So, you know, we're

flying through the air and actually you can hear

us screaming man, that's us We're we were screaming

and you're so scared So You know, sorry, I jumped

to film, sir. I went, you know. Oh, no. No, you

know, a lot of people give the third film a lot

of people that don't like... A lot of flack.

Yeah, a lot of flack. I honestly don't know.

I honestly don't know. I like the third film.

You know, I didn't like it when I was younger,

but I think my opinion of the second and the

third film kind of flipped. Wow. Now I see the

second one as being the bad one and the third

one's okay. Well, yeah, in my humble opinion,

I mean, I thought, you know, obviously the first

one, I mean, come on, that was genius. Yeah.

You know, and I, you know, with all due respect

to the second one, I did think, yeah, I thought

they kind of came around in the third one and

sort of like gave it a little bit more edge,

like the first one. But again, the second one

for me, I don't know, personally, I just thought

it was, I'm sorry, vanilla ice, come on. uh...

you know he's probably doing okay i mean you

know he's a good guy so you know it's good for

him but you know it was just a sort of uh...

yeah i mean for me even you know i'm not even

really yeah i mean i'm uh... i can't dance okay

alright okay did i did i said i can't dance i

can't dance i was just jealous uh... so with

the third film what was the production like with

that as far as the suits outs i mean Like you

said, you're deaf dumb and blind in one of those

suits, but do they... Do they allow you guys

to have any, like I... We weren't allowed to

go to the bathroom for four months. Seriously?

Yeah. It's crazy. I know. I know. I know. I had

to do a lot of training, man. It was, yeah, we

did what was called Hold It training. Yeah, no

way. Well, no, I mean, in all honesty, like they

could say that our version of the suits... Were

with full gack on it was about 75 to 80 pounds

But they put it on in pieces, right? So we'd

have kind of like the sort of like the bubble

suit that was sort of that we put on You know

and then in their arms and our feet and their

legs and but then the main body part but once

they put the once they put the you know the shell

on and and in the computer and the head on and

all that all that stuff, um, you know, for about

the first month, we just literally, we would

just be hanging out in there. And then as soon

as we'd finished a scene, we'd, you know, we

either sit down or we'd already have passed out

because it was also a heat wave for the first

three weeks of shooting, um, in beautiful Oregon.

And, um, then they figured out that if they took

the heating filament out of the, um, you know,

the hairdryers, that would actually blow some,

you know, some, some air at least, right. to

us. So there's lots of pictures actually of us,

you know, of like the mouth wide open and you

know, we got an air dryer, what do you call it,

a hair dryer being blown right in our face. So

that kept us alive. And then, you know, they

tried a few different contraptions. One guy brought

in, they called it a cool suit. And it was kind

of like what the astronauts use, you know, it's

got those, it's like, it's got like veins in

it and it's like a vest that you put on. And

then you have, when you're, not shooting you

sit down and you plug it in and it's kind of

got its own like sort of like air conditioning

unit so it cycles cold water through you so that

was a nice relief but you know but the only bummer

about that is you know is you go from like bacon

bacon hot to then super super cold and then it

would get like really just kind of it just felt

odd it was like really kind of just you know

liquidy and kind of kind of gross so I didn't

end up using it I just I just drank a crap load

of water and Gatorade and, you know, sweat. I

mean, God, I still ended up losing about 25 pounds

shooting that because, I mean, geez, we were

shooting and we'd be in the suits for, you know,

sort of, I don't know, probably the shortest

day for me might have been maybe three hours,

maybe four hours if you just hit one scene. You

know, because it was pretty much from start to

finish to get, like, from just being regular

street clothes to being in full turtles. load

would take about maybe hour and three quarters.

Most of the time, I think they gave us about

two hours to kind of get it together. But then

they finally figured out that they could take

our shell off and at least take the computer

pack, right? Because in that version, our computer

pack was right in our shell. And those suckers,

man, those are the things that were heavy. And

if your head didn't fit properly, man, I just,

you'd get it. I had two working heads and one

of them fit like butter and it was beautiful.

But if that one, when that one would inadvertently,

you know, freeze up and you'd know it would freeze

up because in mid take like his, you know, raft

eyes would just be like stuck wide open or, you

know, and it was pretty funny because it would

happen to all the turtles, right? So, sorry,

we got a little musical interlude here in the

background. It's my fiance's phone. Sorry. Do

you prefer the on or the off camera work? The

on or off camera work? Yeah. You know, you're

both so different and both so awesome that I

actually, I really enjoy both, you know. Um,

you know, and again, at the same time, what I,

what I have more love consistently about voiceover

is you just get to go there and just go to work

right away. You know, you, you don't have to

go into hair and makeup. You don't have to worry

about sort of like, you know, if you feel like

dressing up in a suit, you can, if you feel like

dressing up. and just putting your hat on backwards

and you can you know i mean my my work clothes

are basically my same clothes i go running in

right because i'm you know like i say i run everywhere

so you know um they that's probably one of my

favorite parts of of it um and it doesn't seem

the voiceover community doesn't seem to be sort

of it's not as tied up in well exactly that's

like how you look or you know it's just they're

literally tied up and going like okay close your

eyes okay i want to see does that okay does that

bring this character alive you know and uh you

know i mean obviously i'd probably if if i've

if you know if i had had you know had i don't

know let's say i had a few television series

under my belts or you know a couple academy awards

in my belt i probably going gentlemen hey phenomenal

you know uh... but you know it's for the stuff

that i've gotten to do in film it's been absolutely

brilliant you know uh... you know for me to be

able to uh... to work with jackie channing shanghai

nights i mean not that still for me is one of

the top experiences of my life you know cause

you know even though i only work for them for

four days but it was just brilliant because it

was like man this guy is a given legend you know

and such an incredible human being you know and

and uh... So I felt really honored to be in the

same set, you know, and he and I dialoguing together,

you know, it was pretty cool. Yeah, you say that

and it's so funny you bring that up because like

a week before we did this interview, I just got

that movie on cable and I'm like, holy crap,

what is Captain N doing with Jackie Chan? Yeah,

totally. Yeah, well, you know, thinking about

it too, you know, I found out that like, you

know, Jackie's kids liked, you know, the Ninja

Turtles. So, you know, I'm like, how long did

he's like, oh, very funny. You know, so yeah,

it's like I said, it's a crazy cool world that

I get to play in. So, you know. In that respect,

man, if I hadn't have chosen this path, I would

have never got to do all the great things that

I've been able to be part of. So, yeah, it's

a cool thing. Like I said at the top of the show,

I just feel very honored to be able to get to

do what I do. Because on so many levels, I realize

what it's given to me. And then especially to

like I said on the tour, meeting all those kids.

But then now coming back, and now I also get

invited to go speak at leadership conferences.

And so I get to use it again, you know, all the

characters and, you know, the journey that I've

been on and, you know, and then as I say, it's

like 25 plus years. Now, I'm still doing back

flips, you know, when I get the call from my

agent, you know, I'm like, yes, right, you know.

So, you know, I think that's the way it should

be, to be quite honest with you. You know? Oh,

absolutely. You know what I mean? I mean, it

would kind of suck, eh, if you're in year 25

going like, oh man, this almost kind of blows,

you know? Wow, great, I got another show. No,

okay. It would be like, okay! Maybe I'd go buy

a donut shop or something, you know? I don't

know. That'd be good. I'd sell really healthy

donuts though. Oh, so the ones that have no taste.

Probably wouldn't do so well, huh? Ours are fat

-free, gluten -free, pretty much. I don't know

what they have in them. Take the dough out of

the doughnuts. Exactly. I'm a nut. Do you have

any influences in the business? This could be

radio, cartoons, whatever. Like like any part

of the business any influences like say radio

or cartoons anyone who inspired you. Oh Oh, I

see. Okay influences. Sorry. I thought you were

saying if I was a if I influenced people I'm

like is this one of those shadow things you were

talking about before you know my mafia days,

right? Okay Okay, I own your radio station by

the way Influences. Oh, yeah, I mean God Well,

it's funny, you know, I'm a huge, like a massive,

massive Jimmy Stewart fan in terms of, you know,

the celluloid world and, you know, he, I definitely

can say in terms of, you know, being a catalyst

for wanting to be an actor. Seeing him in, and

it's weird that I saw it, you know, because I

know he did so many other films, but the very

first Jimmy Stewart film I ever saw was It's

a Wonderful Life. And it absolutely blew my mind.

I mean, one, because Christmas is my favorite

holiday, but just the character that he played

and the humanity that he brought to it, it just

really catalyzed for me the decision to say,

hey, I'd like to contribute in a similar type

of way if I'm meant to go in that direction.

You know what I mean? So it was cool, man. And

then, you know, I mean, for me, you guys wouldn't

know these guys, but they were like Canadian,

what do you call it, radio DJs back when I was

a kid, you know, on the local radio station here

in Vancouver. You know, they just totally, you

know, maybe it was our version of, you know,

Howard Stern, I don't know, but it was, they

were just, they were awesome, man. They were

funny. You know, they talk to people. They, you

know, they cared about what they were doing.

uh... and and they were crazy shit you know what

i mean like the you know people pranks on people

take you know uh... it was just pretty cool you

know it's kind of a combination of that i think

it would be they're going to be you know a career

in you know in film and tv and rate and and say

voiceover uh... or i think it's good you know

honestly if that if the queen had flipped on

the other side and for whatever reason they I

didn't go to that audition that day and got Captain

N and instead I got offered to go, you know,

read to be like a DJ. Then, you know, I probably

could have gone that route too. You know? Because

I love, I mean, I love music. I mean, I'm, you

know, what do they call me? The, well, when I

was in a band in high school, I mean, I, you

know, I must admit, I know I did a David Lee

Roth crack, but, you know, I definitely was a

David Lee Roth wannabe when I was young. Yeah.

I wasn't very tall, but I'm not Jewish. What?

I said you're in good company. I love David Lee

Ross. Oh yeah, it was great. I remember seeing

Danny Allen when I was in the seventh grade.

My buddy, you know, he got us tickets and he's

like, yeah, it's this band from California. And

I'm like, okay, cool. We went there and I was,

it was, you know, those moments, you know, it's

like, you'll never forget. The lights went down,

the flash bomb just went. I think they broke

into like, you know, I think it was like Unchained

or something that they opened with and you know

this Unbelievable guitar player there's the bank

come out and then this you know this this dude

You know with long hair comes and does this big

huge split jump and you know They all and then

show started. I was just like, oh my god. I want

to be like that guy So, you know I did for a

bit and I was meant to do voiceover It's all

good I love that you went right for the classics,

Jimmy Stewart. When we had Gary on, he brought

up Ed Wynn, and I was like, oh, I love this guy

already. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's so true. Well,

it's interesting. The very first time that I

went to LA for pilot season, I was, god, 21 and

just young and absolutely so naive. You know,

I drove my 1970 Volkswagen van. It was like one

of those windowless ones. Had two big honking

holes in the floorboards. You know, we froze

our butts off, you know, until we got to the

middle of California because, you know, I drove

down in January. And it was cool because I decided

that I was going to go and try and find Jimmy

Stewart's house because I really wanted to go

pay homage to the guy who... had inspired me

but no you got to understand this is like literally

the summer after we started Captain Nintendo

so by that point I had my full on 90s rocker

hair so I mean I had hair down to my you know

kind of like midway down my back and when I had

a mullet dude it was like curly and badass right

so it was you know picture the guy I had cut

off you know a cut off shirt on my Volkswagen

van that was beat up as all hell and i'm driving

through uh... every hill today when you do you

buy those map to the stars how does because you

know get the night you've got to know i'm like

uh... okay why did you give me steward houses

on their right i think uh... so i'm driving around

every hills and you know for the other problem

around you know i'm looking very very there's

a there's a copy copy copy copy copy copy copy

copy copy copy copy copy copy And, you know,

he gives me one look and he's like, where are

you from? And I was like, Oh, I'm from, I'm from

Canada. He goes, you know, driver's license,

registration, blah, blah, blah. Right. I gave

it to him. And, and he's like, do you realize

where you are son? And I was like, yeah, I'm

an actor. And I, it's my first time in LA and

you know, um, and I really was hoping I could

go and try and find Jimmy Stewart's house, you

know, and he gives me this look like, you know,

WTF kind of like, you know, Should I call, you

know, back up and take this guy down? Um, but

then I think he realized that I was absolutely

talking the truth, right? And he goes, he's like,

why do you want to talk to you? Why do you want

to speak to each other? And I was like, well,

because he's the, he's my inspiration. Why I'm

down here, you know, down here from my first

pile season, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And me, I told him about, you know, it's a wonderful

life and this and that. And he's like, I mean,

God bless him. He's, as it was the Beverly Hills

police force, I guess it's a private police force

or something. And he's like, you know, I'm sure

Jimmy would be very appreciative of that. But

you know, I'm sure he's not home today. The very

busy guy. You know, why don't we just escort

you out of here so that we make sure that, you

know, you get on to where you need to go. Basically,

you know, wait, wait, nudge, nudge. Let's go.

Right. Kind of thing. But it was brilliant because,

you know, it was probably from the most honest

part of my heart. I truly wanted to just. you

know, knock on his door and be like, you know,

Merry! Merry! You know? Merry Christmas, y 'all!

Building alone! You know? Yeah! That's cool.

Did I just go off on a diatribe today? That's

fine. Hey, that's where the greatness of interviews

comes from. Are you still doing your... You're

speaking in your Turing and stuff and all that

stuff or how? I am actually I'm doing them. In

fact tomorrow I'm taking off. I have a I'm doing

a keynote at a Leadership conference About four

hours away from here. So I'm speaking to another

group of 500 people and You know sure my I mean

it's interesting these I talked a lot about the

cartoons And then I talk obviously a lot about

the run for one planet tour as well. So I kind

of meld the both together and hopefully they

take something away from it as well. Now all

I can see in my head is you showing up in the

raft suit. Hey kids, I want to talk to you about

this today. It's time to set some Ninja Turtle

goals, people. You know when we finish Ninja

Turtles, like the movie? uh... you know the variety

club telephone break okay well they call me on

the local you know the vancouver version of it

and the the lady was so over the moon that you

know she was talking rafael and you know would

i come down and and be part of the celebrity

panel you know answering phones unity pledges

no matured no problem we got to be i'm totally

honored thank you so much for asking me and you

know so boom boom boom to tell the details i

don't know about a week later you're ready to

do my my time she could rush out she's all gushing

it all great great great so nice to meet you

she's like okay the uh... the testers over there

how long do you need to get ready and i'm like

what do you mean i'm i'm totally ready i mean

i'm you know i did some by me right she like

we don't have the turtle suit and i'm like oh

no I had to give that back and she literally

was like, I was the parasite from All Parasite.

She was like, you don't have the turtle suit.

And I was like, no, they didn't give it to me.

And she was totally disappointed and basically

said, well, we only wanted you because you were

going to be in the turtle suit. And I mean, I

get it now, but you know, because at the time

it's kind of silly to be on TV and you're like,

hi, here's the guy that was in Ninja Turtles

and it looks like me. You know, and all the kids

are like, he doesn't look like Raphael. You know,

so, um, yeah. So she said I could still stick

around and answer phones, but, you know, I'd

be in the back. So, yeah. You should have pulled

the Captain N card with her. No kidding. Would

have been great if you pulled out the Letterman

jacket. Do you have one of those? Yeah. Actually,

I did have a Letterman's jacket for a while.

Oh, man. I did. It was badass actually. It was

pretty cool. I actually just gave it away a few

years ago to a charity auction. All my Ninja

Turtle jackets are gone. They went to auction

for charity. Actually, the last set jacket went

about a year and a half ago. My Letterman jacket

did as well, but that was actually longer ago.

Is that a word? Yes. Wow, if you still had that,

not that they're planning on doing this anytime

soon, if you still had that, you could be the

old man Captain N, kind of like the old man Logan.

Did you imagine? Wow, then I knew that I had...

The crazy thing is, is you don't sound any older

than you do on the DVDs as Captain N. Seriously.

You don't, at all. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, I

know we're all, um, it's like, it's pretty wild,

man. Everybody's, it's funny because like when

I went away on the run tour, you know, I was

away for, you know, over a year and it was quite

amazing to see the changes in people, um, you

know, just say physically over, you know, over

a period of time. But, you know, in terms of

voiceover, as soon as we all get back in the

same room together and, you know, if you just

close your eyes and you're like, oh yeah, everybody

just totally sounds the same. You know? Yeah,

I guess that's the beautiful thing about the

voice, man, is that, you know, it gets a little

more classic as we get a little older, but it

doesn't actually change that much, does it? I

mean, I'm still playing, you know, it's funny,

I'm actually, so now what, 46, and three of the

characters I'm playing right now are either 12

or 14, and one is 16. I'm not even playing any

kids in their, like, 20s. Wow. Yeah, but some

you know and that probably like my agent tries

to sort of stretch me and say like you know to

try and read for things that are like maybe 25

to 30 and I never get hired for it because it's

just they're like dude you don't sound like you're

30 or 40 you know. I'm like what are you talking

about? So hey use what you got right? Yeah, exactly.

Oh yeah for sure. Have you been to any of the

fan conventions? Oh yeah, yep. Yeah, I've been

to a bunch in Texas over the last year. I went

to a couple in Dallas, a couple in Austin. And

I went to Stan Lee's convention in LA over the

last three years, I've gone a bunch of times.

And then I'm set to do another one in, I think

it's Galveston. in September, I believe. Oh,

no, Waco. Yeah, Waco, Texas. And then, but I

haven't done any in sort of like, you know, like

the Midwest or, I mean, I did do, I was at one

in Chicago a few years ago. But I mean, this

is a few years ago, because this is when like

the Chicago Bulls dream team were still, you

know, the dream team. Yeah, yeah. So what do

you think of the conventions? Is anybody like

really like? Like when you go do you do you normally

go as you're you know just just to go or have

they booked you as? As an appearing guest oh,

yeah, no no no like I only go when I get invited

Because yeah, I mean dudes. I'd be a fish out

of water because you know like I said I'm blessed

to do the work But I yeah, I mean I yeah so for

me It's my opportunity to say, hey, you know,

it's really great to meet the fans of the work

that I get to do. So, you know, when I'm there,

man, I'm like fully present because it's a pretty

full -on experience, you know? But, you know,

it's, yeah, I don't know, because it works both

ways. You know, I really, I think it's a good

thing to be able to be part of because, like

you say, you get to meet the very people who

are watching your show, you know? Now have you

met or have you seen the Sega version of Captain

N? There's someone on the internet made a Captain

S. I could just see that being Kevin Keen's arch

nemesis. Oh really? Yeah, just hello Newman.

Hello Kevin. All right. I think that's going

to do it. Do you have anything you want to inform

anybody on as far as whether you're speaking

engagements or you're... Yeah. Like I said, I

just want to say to everybody a big yo -hey.

I don't want to sound cheesy, but literally reach

for your dreams and remember that you were put

here to do great things. It doesn't matter what

you do, just put your heart and your soul into

it. take everything one step at a time uh...

you know if you want to check out what i'm up

to you in the world uh... you know you could

you could be spoke to him request me uh... nor

go to my website that you did you did you got

that hiking hill dot com uh... and yeah i mean

i'm going to be over the next few months so i

can say we're starting up on these new cartoons

uh... and i've got a new website that some that's

going to be built in the fall so look out for

that maybe that's you know that's probably you

know, to be a neat way to be able to find out

where I'm at, because it's going to be a lot

more interactive, you know, in terms of some,

you know, where I'm at and what I'm doing and

all that sort of stuff. Very cool. Very cool.

Yeah. All right. We would like to thank Mr. Hill

for taking the time to chat with us here in the

latest Pixels the Animation interview. We'll

ask you to hold the line. You guys are great.

We'll be back after this. What kind of mega world

is this? From the looks of these outfits, I'd

say it's burner time! So there you go, folks.

Captain N, the not -so -game master. Ha! Ha!

Ironic. The ironic part is, ladies and gentlemen,

the voice. Matt Hill, the voice of Captain N

the Game Master. Has no hand -eye coordination

whatsoever. You know what I thought was even

funnier. We were talking about an older Kevin

I just I just see like old Captain N like, you

know trying to figure out the Wii remote like

kind of lost the old video game master lost his

touch Doesn't get the new generation. Oh my god

back in my day How come the Zapper doesn't work

with these new triangle TVs We got you know that

is one not not to take away from our closing

on the Mad Hill interview, but honestly that

is one game I'm really surprised Nintendo has

not tried to reinvent they have many many versions

of Mario They've done multiple zeldas over the

years. There's only one duck hunt and it's from

1985 I think it's just because it's the Japanese

company and duck hunt was not really anything

It was like a conversion of like an old actually

it started out as like a toy and they just converted

it into a video game and to Japan it's nothing

but to us it was the game that came with Mario.

Yep. And it's so weird because they did it in

three different versions, right? They did it

as the game that came with Mario and then they

did two separate cartridges for each of the games,

didn't they? Yeah, it started out as one of the

pack -ins because the original set had the stupid

robot, but it also had Duck Con. And then Super

Mario Bros. was released. See, the thing is Super

Mario Bros. wasn't a launch title. It came out

in either December or January of 85, 86. And

so when they got Mario, they were like, well,

let's pack it in. And they just teamed it up

with Duck Con. absolutely but no talking with

him and like I said in the interview I swear

to God I didn't expect it like I expected him

to have to put on the voice of Captain N like

take Frank Welker Okay, Frank Welker's regular

voice is Freddy Jones, for the most part, from

Scooby -Doo. So he has to put on his Megatron

voice. I so totally did not expect Matt's voice

to be Captain N. Like I said in the interview,

he does not sound like he's 46 years old. At

all. No. And he doesn't sound like he's Canadian

either because he sounds like that California

California, but I heard him slip into Canadian

a couple times. Yeah Don't you know? Yeah, don't

you know? So alright that's gonna do it for this

interview of Matt hill here on pixels the animation

coming up next uh... on the show we start the

adventures of super mario brothers three era

a sort of i'll give this of the three mario cartoons

it is the best well at least you're saying something

positive and i'll have more about that when we

actually do the show is exactly all right uh...

Help us find the pixels in the animation and

we will catch you next time. You too, Duke. And

as for you, you may have helped me win the battle,

but the war is far from over. You will stay and

help defend video land, won't you? Sorry, Your

Highness, but I've got to get back to my world.

Yes, well, it was very nice of you to drop by.

Do come back and visit us soon in, say, 20 years.

Gavin, you better not be playing that foolish

game. You have homework to do. And don't forget

to take out the trash. On second thought, I guess

I could stay just a little while longer. Let's

face it, I'm hooked.