Interview with Phil LaMarr on Voice Acting, Comics, and

This is Phil Lamar, and you are listening to

the Untitled Mike and Laura Project. Phil, this

is Laura and her other half, Mike. Oh, she could

stop billing now. Because I don't think it's

just between two Mikes. That's why I went with

her first. They're the ones that are going to

be conducting the slash interview slash conversation

with you. I'm just producing it on my end. And

I mainly wanted to get this for them because

I had heard you on Rob's podcast and you kept

gushing about Walking Dead and they are huge

Walking Dead fans. Ah, yes. Who's not? Yeah,

at this point, really. Yeah. I mean, with the

show and now the video game, which has gotten

really good reviews and all the books. When's

that coming out? The game? It actually just hit.

It's on PlayStation, and I believe it's on PC

and Xbox as well. Came out last week, the first

episode. It's like episodic. It's Telltale that

did, right? Yeah. So the people who made like

the Back to the Future and Jurassic Park games

that just came out recently. So every every month

or so there's going to be a new episode to the

game. So how much does it cost? It's it's 25

bucks on PC for the season. It's 20 dollars on

playstation for the season and i don't know how

much it is on xbox oh interesting so so they

get you 20 bucks a month instead of 60 bucks

at once yeah uh no it's 20 bucks for everything

really yeah so you get like 20 bucks and then

next month you get a free episode and then a

free episode in the next month after it's pretty

awesome it's essentially like buying an itunes

season pass for a tv show you pay one price up

front and then you get everything as it comes

out Interesting. But is it a self -contained

game, or is it a World of Warcraft type of big

world? The way that it's done is it's kind of

like it's in continuity of the comic, not of

the show. And it takes place at the same time

that Rick's in the coma. So it's somewhat of

a prequel. And some of the characters, it follows

a different main character. His name's Lee Everett.

And he's got this little girl named Clementine.

It's not his daughter or anything. He just happens

to stumble upon her. And he's protecting her.

And Glenn shows up. And Herschel shows up. And

from what I've seen, the way that the game is

played is every person who plays it, your choices

react differently. By the end, everyone who plays

it, their ending will be not the same as your

ending. So essentially, you have to choose your

own adventure. Yeah, every decision. Every decision

you make actually lasts. And you'll say something

and a character will remember that and then bring

it up later, depending on what you said. And

unlike other games where it's like it's just

sitting there and you're like, well, what do

I say? And you have you can just sit there and

choose like just stare at it for a while and

maybe like go to a computer and look up the walkthrough

and be like, well, I got a better choice if I

say this. It's timed. You got like 10 seconds

to answer. Oh, it's got to be on the fly. Yeah.

So they really make you stick to your choices.

That's incredible. Yeah, and it's got some pretty

good reviews, and I played the demo and it's

awesome, and I'm just waiting to pick it up,

but I will pick it up soon. Then there's always

the board game. Yes. Walking Dead Monopoly? No,

there's an actual board game. It's by Kryptozoic.

Like, I don't know if Blanchard told you, but

I manage a comic book store. That's what I do

for my nine to five. It's more like nine to nine,

but whatever. But yeah, there's a Walking Dead

board game. And for yesterday, for free comic

book day, we had like 25 of them and they all

sold. They're all gone Hey everybody welcome

back to another fun -filled episode of the Untitled

Mike and Laura project We got more fun filled

for this episode than usual. Holy crap. I am

Mike the Fist of Justice Lady, and I'm not alone.

I am joined with Laura Cartoon Fan 289 Thomas.

289? I don't know. I'm just making up. Is that

like some terrible email handle? Yeah, at Hotmail.

I see. I see. Well, it's not just us today. As

a matter of fact, all the fun that will fill

this episode. See what I did there? Fill that.

You're hilarious. I'm lame. We actually owe somebody

for that. And we want to bring him on to thank

him right off the bat. And then we're going to

bring on Well, who is it? God I don't even remember

my own damn name. Oh You and Mike from the geek

cast radio network you're a little sick this

morning there Mike Yeah, don't remind me. Well,

once again, thank you for setting this up. This

is really cool It's a first guest guest that

we've ever had on the show and it's not like

it's a little guest It's like an awesome guest.

So thank you. Let me just say this that The reason

why, outside of mine and Mike's love for Metal

Gear, the reason why I wanted to do this for

you guys was because I had heard this person

on Rob Paulson's Talkin' Toons podcast and he

was talking about how much he loves comics and

how much he's a huge Walking Dead fan. And I

know you guys, well, with Laura working at a

comic shop, and Mike draws comics, I know you

guys love comics, and I know you guys are also

fans of The Walking Dead. So my thought process

here was, once we get this person on the line,

we'll ask him, hey, you want to pimp out any

of your upcoming projects? Or what can you tell

us that you're working on? So that way, that

kind of gets that out of the way. And then you

guys can just have a discussion with him. on

different geeky stuff, and that person is none

other than Mr. Phil Lamar. Yay! You sounded really

unexcited, considering how you've been bouncing

around in the apartment the last few days. That's

kind of... I just killed a fruit fly on your

transformer. Oh. Is that why you're - is that

why you're alive? I'm a little distracted. It's

kind of gross. Well, what else is new? I mean,

if, you know, maybe it should be called the Distracted

Mike and Laura Project. Oh, yeah, yeah, it's

kind of ground into the wheel there. In the treads

of the wheel. Well, I'll have to watch that.

I needed to die. I'll have to watch that after

the show. That's why I was distracted. Killing

insects with Transformers. Now, it would have

been ironic if Laura killed it with an Insecticon.

That - yeah. That's true. I don't own any insecticons.

I killed the insecticon with optimus prime. I

have black arachnia. No, not black arachnia tarantulas,

which is not an insect, but it's close. Oh, he's

a spider. It's closest I got. Spiders aren't

insects, though. Yeah, they're arachnids. They're

bugs, though. That's the one. Oh, man, I went

for a walk yesterday or Thursday because the

weather was so nice. A lovely little walk. Forgot

the one downside of summer. There were bugs in

my hair, buzzing around. I was like, fucking

bugs. One downside. I see. I mean, now that we've

got an air conditioner, that's the one downside.

Of, is bugs? Bugs. I see. I want to go swimming.

Right. Did we lose you, Mike? No, I'm still here.

You just got really quiet. Yeah, you just probably

lost it. No, I'm still here. I'm just waiting

for the conversation to move away from bugs,

because I hate bugs and insects and snakes and

all that. Are you afraid of them? I'm not afraid

of them. Oh, yeah, I'm deathly afraid of snakes.

Really? I want a pet snake, but I'm afraid it

will get out and eat my cat. I nearly killed

all three of my cousins, Rachel, Robbie, and

Cassie, because one year, years and years ago,

I don't know, I was like 16, 17, god, long ass

time ago, they started teasing me with, at the

time I didn't know this, but at the time it was

a rubber snake. And they just frighten the hell

out of me. Now, what is it about snakes that

scare you? Everything. Hey, you want to hear

a funny story? When I was probably about 18,

the computer wasn't working quite right. So I'm

like, what's going on? Crack open the computer,

and it wasn't even dead. It was just curled up

around some stuff getting warm. There was a garbage

snake inside the computer. My computer in the

computer it got into the basement where the office

was and Climbing to the computer because it was

nice and warm because snakes like the warmth

and It was awesome like I picked it up, but I

took it out and I put it outside. Oh My god,

I like snakes though I got a picture of me with

a 20 foot long albino like Python. That's pretty

good Yeah, if you like snakes, I love snakes.

If you don't like snakes, then that's like fucking

oh shit Have you ever held one they they feel

so weird like kind of just like I've never I've

never held one, but I've touched a snake no you

when they they're actually moving around you

and because they they can totally they contract

and Relax their muscles to move right because

they don't have legs. It feels really neat Okay,

I think I'm freaking out blanchard you can hear

like cold chills running down my spine Now, now,

I got a question for you here, Blanchard. Do

the big ones scare you more because they're big

and they can eat you, or the little ones scare

you more because they're little and they can

climb inside you? All of the above. No, no, this

is a more, which one? You have to pick. No, all

of the above. It doesn't matter. If it's to do

with snakes or insects or everything about that

stuff just freaks me the hell out. What about

like a lizard? Yeah, that too. What if it was

a cartoon snake? What if it was a solid snake?

If it's a cartoon or video game, it's not like,

you know, that's that's different. I mean, obviously,

I don't sit here and watch Anaconda. But I was

actually going to ask you. I found the comic

book adaptation of Arachnophobia in the basement

when I was putting comics down. What? That exists?

Yeah. That's what I said. I'm like, this is a

thing. I want to watch that movie again. I haven't

watched that in forever. I only remember the

part where the people are eating popcorn and

the spiders are in the popcorn and then it like

cuts back to them and they're dead and the spiders

are like coming out of their mouths and eyes

and stuff. Oh my god. John Goodman's in that

movie. He's like the comic relief in that movie.

What's his name? The actor who's in it. The actor

who's in it. The actor who's in it is the actor

who's in it. wasn't it jeff goldblum i don't

even know it's like jeff daniels jeff daniels

jeff daniels was the main character is he that

was a great movie yeah this was the cover of

the yeah who else is jeff daniels in jeff daniels

he's in dumb and dumber he was george washington

anyway that was a great movie i think we should

watch it Okay, it's probably on it. Yeah, yeah,

you guys should watch it and do a commentary

on it. I remember when the giant spider falls

in love with the little spider and they make

all the spider babies. I don't remember that

movie outside of the pub. Where's, where's Wilbur

when you really need him? I get it. It's a Charlotte

Webb joke. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Hey, that's a

Dumb and Dumber sequel. I did hear that. Yeah,

Untitled Dumb and Dumber sequel. We're stealing

our name. We're stealing our name. Well considering

I stole it off of like that kind of a thing so

Remember our show is entirely ripped off of the

untitled 3d shark project That's what our name

came from That's for shut up what Okay shark

3dd piranha 3dd. Oh god. It's all there. It's

all there for everybody Yes That was kind of

gross actually. Are you okay? So I think without

any further ado we will jump over to the discussion

with Mr. Phil Lamar. Hooray! Yay! I'm excited.

That kind of vibe tells me I should be sitting

in on this scene for a while. Hello Phil! Hello

Mike, how are you? I'm awesome. Joining me is

my lovely co -host Laura Thomas and you had a

weird name for this episode. What was it again?

Oh, I don't even remember. Oh, my nickname. Yes,

your nickname. It was like Cartoon Fan 289. Cartoon

Fan 289. Yes. Well, were we here with my name?

Yeah, new handle that I've come up with. That's

right. It represents the things I love. Well,

we... We're so glad to be talking to you, Phil.

We want to talk to you about tons of stuff. I

mean, we could talk to you about anything on

your IMDB list, which I'm pretty sure if we printed

it out, it would be taller than our apartment

building, and we live in the tallest building

in the city. You can't ask me about anything,

because honestly, there's some things I don't

remember. We actually, we have a question that

we wanted to ask you, but we might as well ask

it right now, because you're so... You're in

everything. I mean, we just established that.

Do people come up to you all the time and go,

I really loved you as this character. And you're

like, that wasn't me. You know for a fact exactly

who that was. And you're like, nah, that wasn't

me. Not so much that I don't remember being that

guy, but you know the fact. Well, it's funny

because I get more confused recognition from

on -camera stuff. than voiceover stuff. Really?

Yes. And I think it's because the people who

follow voiceover stuff just pay more attention

to detail. But like people will come up and ask

me and say, oh, yeah, hey, you're that you're

on In Living Color, right? Oh, I loved you on

this. No, no. Very close. Very close. Off by

about seven years and three hours. Or they'll

confuse me with one of the other black guys from

mad TV. You're doing a seven up course. No, no,

no. He's about a foot taller than me. But I'm

trying to think if there's ever any voiceover

stuff that people get confused. Usually not,

although there have been times where people knew

something that I didn't remember. Or like, I

don't think I did. And then I go back and look

at my calendar and be like, oh, right, yes. Like

somebody the other day posted, it's great to

see Phyllis Jarvis in Ultimate Spider -Man. I'm

like, no, I was Jarvis in Avengers, Earth's Mightiest

Heroes. And then I went and looked and I'm like,

oh, right. I did one episode of Ultimate Spider

-Man where they had an Iron Man guest star. It's

like, oops, right, sorry. Now, would that be

something maybe you recorded at the same time?

Because you were just kind of like, hey, do you

want to just record that while we're at it, working

on Earth's Mightiest Heroes? Is that maybe like

months difference? Well, one thing is there's

usually nine months to a year. between when you

record something and when anybody ever sees it.

And that was a thing where I didn't audition

for it, and it wasn't a show that I worked on

at any other time. I think I went in for one

day because they said, oh, we're doing Iron Man.

Let's use the same people that did the voices

from Avengers. So you didn't have the, here's

an audition. Because usually, you get an audition.

You give them a voice. They send it back. Then

they say, oh, we liked it. Come in and record.

So there's at least two points to form a line.

That one, there was just one. Hey, you want to

go in and do this? OK. And it was probably two

scenes or something. And it was a show that wasn't

my show. So it sort of blew through my brain

pan. Well, is there anything on the topic of

Jarvis and the Avengers? Anything about that

show? Thoughts on that? Or maybe have you seen

the new movie yet? Is it amazing? We're going

to see it this afternoon. No, I haven't had a

chance. I haven't had a chance to see it yet.

Although I'm very... I mean, I'm excited for

any number of reasons. A buddy of mine, Jesse

Garcia, that I did the Pee Wee Herman show, is

in it as one of the SHIELD agents. And of course,

I remember when he got it, because he called

me, he's like, hey, I'm doing this thing. What

should I look at? OK, here's what you need to

read. Look at this, look at this, look at this.

I'm going to send you, you don't need to read

the strength on Nick Fury stuff, but you need

to see the images. So I'm going to send you those.

Now, for anyone on that topic, we've heard you're

a big comic fan. Is there any books for our listeners?

If you're going to watch The Avengers, make sure

you read blank. Oh gosh, um I Don't know my the

the thing I would say well, I don't know if anybody

can find it but the Avengers annual With Archon

drawn by George Perez's to me One of the like

quintessential Avengers stories, but I'm I'm

a big DC guy I don't have like a huge huge Avengers

library. You know, I pick it up every once in

a while when there's a storyline or an artist

or something that I that I really dig. But I'm

trying to think. Yeah, I wouldn't be able to

recommend that the way I'd be able to recommend

like, you know, Batman or Justice League stuff.

As are you excited in that vein? Dark Knight

coming? Yes. Yeah. Now, for that one, is there?

Batman books that you would be like because I've

heard like you know working where I do like it's

like people are a nightfall We can't keep it

on our shelves because of the Bane stuff, right?

Oh See, that's funny because that was my my big

eras were the Neil Adams run in the late 70s,

although I think I had that stuff in collections

like the you know, the the mini collections The

thing that I would get people to read is Gene

Colen's run on Detective in like, what is that,

the late 80s? Because that to me captures the

Dark Knight feel like decades before Dark Knight.

I mean, it was so moody and but I mean, it was

a strong Batman. I mean, I thought that was the

best precursor to The original Dark Knight to

Frank Miller's Dark Knight that that to me set

the pattern for that because it was like a Solid

Batman instead of like the long thin Jim Apparo

Neil Adams like I'm like I'm lanky Batman. You

know this was like solid this guy looks like

he could kick down a door and did Now for you

said you're a big DC guy we're a couple months

into the new 52 Almost a year. Yeah. Yeah, I

know I was listening to you guys episode, you

know on the first week I was a I Was very much

of two minds when the new 52 came out because

I I can't say I'm anti continuity. Mm -hmm, but

I'm a big proponent of not being slave to continuity

You know, I don't think there's any reason somebody

writing a book today has to be married to the

mistake somebody made 13 years before. You know,

it makes perfect sense. Yeah, like what you're

just you're going to do something bad just because

somebody did it first. I mean, it doesn't make

any sense as far as being creative. Like you

change things. Now, I think that there is a skill

and a talent in changing a continuing storyline

in a organic. like really good way you can't

just go well Bobby woke up and it was a dream

that you know that's bad writing period there

was a rip in time you know he's traveling through

time that's how he came back to life because

that's happened twice in the past couple years

no no no you punched a hole in time that's the

best one yeah wait who wait what was that that

was uh Superboy Prime punched a hole in time

and that was how Jason Todd came back yeah I

mean That was that was to me the biggest argument

for the new 52 was crap like that Yeah, it's

like okay. Let's not make somebody have to punch

a hole in time or Superboy is evil now, you know

that Let's just be able to erase all of that

junk and start again I mean that was the best

thing about the ultimate series like okay. Let's

make these heroes cool without having to like

give Peter Parker a mohawk and you know now he

drives a motorcycle and you know actually I kind

of want to see that version but see that's the

thing now it's like okay well this is you know

faux faux hawk spider -man it's a whole other

line and you don't have to worry about all the

stuff that came before you don't have to justify

why this guy who was at Empire State University

25 years ago still can't get a job you know yeah

Books in the New 52, sorry, go ahead. Well, I

mean, to me, the best thing about the New 52

was, you know, getting rid of the bad stuff.

The worst thing about it was that there were

52 of them. The thing I kept telling people was,

you know, it's like, OK, Stan and Jack launched

maybe like two, three books at a time. Maybe.

And, you know, you were still going to get an

Ant -Man in the budge. So, you know, and they

were geniuses, you know, unqualified geniuses.

So if you're going to try to launch 52 books

at once, you're basically asking for two thirds

of them to fail. Yeah, and like so far six have

been cancelled and the new ones to replace them

just started coming out this week with like Dial

H, which I can't see going well. But at least

it's not Marvel who seems to release 52 new titles

every week. It's kind of ridiculous. I was actually

pleasantly surprised with how high the percentage

was. on the 52 on the on the new books that they

launched. You know, I it was much better than

I would have expected. You know, I mean, like,

wow, this one's good. This one's good. Wow, that

one's good, too. This one. I mean, there's a

lot of stuff that just you're not particularly

going to care about. You know, I mean, I say

all star Western. Sorry. Good. I was going to

say, are there any books that you found have

like stood out to you that you weren't expecting

to really get into? But you're like, man, this

is actually quite good. Well all -star Western

was one that I like somebody said oh you got

to read them like really Jonah Hicks really and

I But that that first storyline in Gotham. I

really really dug I have since stopped buying

it, but I mean cuz I'm just not a Western guy

You know and I never have been And I found that

I was responding more to that story than the

concept of the book overall What else I mean

There were a bunch of things that I bought for

sentimental reasons. Either I knew people working

on them or, you know, like static shock. Yeah,

I gotta buy it. What else? But I was really pleased

with Catwoman, Batwing. Oh, those are both the

Judd Winnick books. But yeah, and that's a buddy.

I don't know. I've been going back and forth

on the Superman titles. I love Scott Snyder's

Batman. I think that's fantastic. And I'm even

back on Batman and Robin, although I'm not a

huge Damian fan. But I'm still liking that book

a lot. Awesome. Yeah, I if I can recommend especially

now since the first trade came out this week

Buy it from her store, which are animal man by

Jeff Lemire and travel Foreman is fantastic and

it's actually crossing over with Scott Snyder

swamp thing and the two of them are like best

bros even though Jeff's in Toronto and Scott's

in like New York and they're like best friends

and they get drunk and talk on Twitter all the

time and it's hilarious But anyway, I highly

recommend them there quite good. Like, Jeff Lemire's

come to our shop a few times. I've had the pleasure

to talk to him. And like, I find with these guys

writing a lot of this new 52 stuff, they're all

really just nice guys who, you can tell, appreciate

that people are reading their books. Which is

nice to see. You're not getting the Frank Millers

who are like, screw Occupy Wall Street, screw

my fans. Yeah. That's, well, that's, yeah. Oh,

wait, that reminds me. What's up with the, Speaking

of, because you said Frank Miller, I actually

thought of J. Michael Straczynski, and basically

all the old arrogant guys. Beyond Watchmen, what's

the word on that? We have, because we have a

subscription service in the holds and everything

like that, and we're getting tons of people who,

it's so funny, you get the people who are coming

in and they're like, yeah, they shouldn't, you

know, bastardize Alan Moore's work. Let me add

every title to my list. Right at the same time.

It's like this like it's stupid and it's like

ripping them off. I want to buy them all Well,

we're making money I say whatever you want. That's

comic book people in a nutshell. Come on. Yeah

What was the joke I was making somewhere? It's

it's like junkies but much worse because junkies

at least wait till they're out of dope to go

by comic book junkies shop on the same day, every

week. Whether they've finished their heroine

or not. Well, I don't know if you heard it, one

of the main things that's happened this week,

because the first Batman hardcover is supposed

to be out this week, The Night of Owls, or Court

of Owls, was supposed to be out this week, and

it's actually coming out next week, because the

truck from the publisher was in a fatal collision,

and all the books on it were destroyed. And I

don't know if you go to your local shop and it's

like, oh, our supplier, because it's all the

same supplier, shorted us on that book you were

looking for, that came damaged. It happens all

the time because they have a monopoly and nobody

really tries that hard there. Anyway, it has

made, as much as it's kind of mean, it has made

the best excuse for things not showing up all

week. It's like, oh, we didn't get enough Avengers

versus X -Men number three. Destroy it in a truck

accident. Everything is just, no, it was destroyed.

It'll come later. Because someone died, it's

like, oh, someone died. You know what? I can

wait. I can wait. You know what? I feel so bad.

Never mind. I won't complain. We've had two complaints.

Only two people kept complaining. It's like someone

died. Considering the nature of certain people's

personalities, I'm shocked it's only two. Seriously.

I feel the same way. I'm like, really? Really?

All of these OCD guys out in their basement?

Really found the ability to care about another

person. I like that. I think I think your store

must have weeded out We're very We're we're not

the typical store like people walk in and they're

like, it's not a dungeon like we're very much

like a Family -friendly type shop. So our readers

are oh, yeah this big window most of our employees

like I'm the manager And then my assistant manager

is also a woman. And one of our other part -timers

is a woman. And the manager at her, because we

have three locations, the manager at one of our

other shops is a woman. We're very much not typical.

I'm surprised any of the real geek guys ever

come in the door. It's like, oh, she's still

in there. I'm going to wait till she leaves.

I'm just hovering outside the door. Like teens

outside of a convenience store. Can you buy me

a? Yeah. The boys? We do get the occasional,

uh, cause both the owners of the shop, they,

cause we're at the, the, the headquarters store.

That's where I'm at is the main one and both

the owners work there. And so you do get the

occasional guy who it's like, can I speak to

the manager? And I'm like, that's me. And they're

like, Oh, is there, you know, it's like, I'll

go get the owner. You just tell. Can I speak

to someone with a penis? Yeah Every once in a

while or they'll ask me a question. Don't like

my answer see my boss Ask him and he'll be like

and he'll be like Laura actually do you know

and he'll just directly ask me like my boss will

ask me and the guy is just kind of like oh never

mind The best ones are the guys that it call

you the girl. Yeah, I've gotten the girl before

it's like the girl told me it's like, oh my goodness

Yeah, but thankfully that's like 1 % of customers

at our shop Like it really is but like, you know

a few bad apples spoiled a bunch and everything.

That's hilarious But I was finding with things

like the the movies the the new 52 we're getting

a lot of people who are your you know average

person walking down the street checking out comics

for the first time I find it's been you know

and I hope it's the same for every other shop

because you know it's if the other shops fail

then we fail too right so I mean I hope everybody

you grow haven't you ever heard of Walmart you

grow off the bones and blood of your opponents

you eat them no no it sounds like your shop is

particularly positioned for crossover market

I mean and I think You know, when you're running

a shop, you make a choice. You know, is this

the shop that I'm going to sit here in or is

this a shop that I'm going to open up to? You

know, am I going to make it attractive? I mean,

because I think a lot of people who get into

comics aren't, you know, focused on other people.

It's like, well, we just have everything here

in a box because that's where I always kept everything

was in a box and and and everything in the box

is alphabetical. You know, it's just like that's

the way they think. Our store has been around

for about 15 years and it's definitely been like

I've been with the shop for five years and it's

just definitely been a growth like you get the

more people you kind of get ideas from like we've

had people in the shop like that work there and

everything it's just the more new people the

more new ideas and we definitely you know make

an active attempt to grow. And you can see the

shops that are thriving do the same thing and

the shops that are like, nope, I'm staying by

the old guard. They're failing. And that's not

good for the industry that some people just are

stuck in their ways. But I think, like I said,

with the movies, I mean, this year is a big year

for movies. I mean, with Avengers, Dark Knight.

Spider -Man. Spider -Man. It's nothing but going

up. the big event yesterday that we had more

people in the shop that we've ever had before

that have never been before that's correct did

you go to free call book day did you check that

out i did not i did not cause the i was uh...

with my family and we had tons and tons of stuff

to do but my kids are big comic book readers

when it's not free uh... so it's it's funny i

mean it's just because i read them it's just

part of our our life they're always around the

house uh... although we Can I ask you a question?

And Mike will get to you in a minute. Because

you were talking about the growth and everything.

And I'm sitting here looking at my iPad with

these. Are you threatened by digital comics?

You know what, I get asked this by a lot of people

all the time, and Marvel and DC now, like Marvel's

doing the, it's almost like that scratch off

lottery ticket style, you scratch off a little

panel in the back of the comic, and it'll give

you a digital code, and you can actually download

the digital copy of the comic when you buy it.

With DC, you can get the combo pack for a dollar

more, and that comes with the code for the digital

copy, so you can put it on your iPad, your e

-reader, whatever, on your internet. And people

are all the time, they're like, are you threatened

by it? Do you think, you know, your store's gonna

suffer? And it's like, stores that aren't growing

and stores that, you know, aren't looking ahead

definitely probably will suffer from it. But

we're, we don't sell just comics, A, and B, like...

A lot of people who go to the shops, they go

not just for the comics. They go to talk to people

about comics. So we've got our Wednesday regulars

and they're in and they like to stand at the

counter and chat for half an hour about, you

know, their favorite characters and what's going

on with this and how much they love the Avengers

movie. And like just that's part of the experience

is actually going to the shop. And we get told

this all the time is that a big part of what

People come back to us for isn't so much just

the books but the atmosphere of the shop and

I think that's one of the things that Shops where

people feel welcome have going for them because

it is you know when you go to a store once a

week every week for years You're gonna build

up a rapport with the people working there. They're

gonna get to know you by name and everybody is

really You get that going for you too. Everybody's

glad to be there and that's a big benefit to

the shop. Whereas maybe a big bookstore, I know

in the States a lot of them have had problems,

you don't have that same atmosphere that people

are drawn to. The other thing is most people

still at this point would prefer to pick up a

physical copy of the book rather than hold it

on their iPad. We get people who are like, yeah,

I'll... read them like that, you know, to sample

one issue and then I'll come in and I'll buy

the graphic novel. Cause they would still prefer

to hold it in their hands. So there's at this

point in the game, there's still a lot going

for us. And like I said, our store carries like

the toys, graphic novels, statues, like we try

to have a wide variety of stuff. And then you

get things like the big bank theory and that

just drives people into the shop like crazy.

So right. T -shirt sales. Oh my goodness. We

can't keep Bazinga shirts and that Sheldon kid

on our shelves. Like it's ridiculous. No, it's

funny, because I ask that not just as a generic

thing, but I mean, from my industry, it's a concern

as well. And I tend to be sort of the futurist

doomsayer in my circles, you know, because I

constantly go around to, you know, the actors

unions and stuff saying, OK, when I recorded

voiceover for Metal Gear 4, we were recording

our voices to footage. of the Japanese mocap

cast acting out the entire thing. And it's like,

OK, they're all in these mocap suits, motion

capture suits, and they're on these giant wooden

set pieces and all that. And then I go watch

the making of Avatar. And it's basically the

same thing. So to me, 10 years from now, the

video game technology and the moviemaking technology

will dovetail and What you know the all this

old media movies is going to become video game?

They're going to you know and that could be a

good thing in terms of entertainment certainly

or It could be a bad thing because I mean it

depends on how it goes forward I think with you

guys you guys are in a somewhat a slightly better

position because the digital market can actually

open up your industry to people who otherwise

would not be in it you know i mean there's a

there a whole generation of kids or or two that

are growing up not reading comic books because

they're not in you know the drug stores in the

mainstream you know places that they just come

across you know say hey here's ten cents by comic

on my way home the way they used to in the thirties

you know that doesn't happen i mean well most

these kids aren't reading anything you know in

particular but you know you this is a chance

for comic books to reach out and actually add

on to your pool of consumers in a way that for

us and other old media stuff, we're cannibalizing

ourselves. The people who are pirating movies

are the people who would have gone to the movies.

You're not adding anything to it. So it's just

something that's on my mind a lot, and I was

curious what your thought was. It's funny, because

you're talking about the mo -cap suits and stuff.

Maybe you're going to find yourself in a mo -cap

suit soon. That's where your industry is going.

Well, you know, what's funny is that I had a

chance to on Infamous 2. Oh, really? They asked

me if I wanted to do the... Because I did the

character John in Infamous, and I was doing the

voice again in Infamous 2, and they asked me

if I wanted to do the motion capture. I'm like,

yeah, no. I mean, I didn't really know much about

it. If I knew what I knew now, I would have said...

Yes. But at the time, I thought, you know, video

game voicing is so much harder than regular animation.

And I had this horrible image of motion capture

being the same thing, like being that much harder

than regular on -camera acting. It's like, oh

my God, it's like a six -hour movie and you're

doing everything alone in a, you know, in a suit

and like, oh hell no. But from people that I've

talked to who do it, like Crispin Freeman, it's

actually, it's not the same thing. It's not like

five times the amount of work for, you know,

two thirds or a fraction of the money. And I

will stop hijacking the podcast and I'm gonna

- No, it's fine. No, it's fine, you know. Again,

one of the reasons why I wanted to have you back

on - was because of the fact that I heard you

with Rob on talking tunes, and I'm like, I need

more Phil. One hour is not enough. But I think

that's kind of the way our show generally is.

We just generally have conversations. And I think

that's what people who listen to us are listening

for, is just that natural flow back and forth.

And it's much, I don't know, I like it a lot

better. You just talk about what interests you

and everything, and then, you know, Phil. What

do you think about this? Right, exactly. Well,

Jay Leno, let's see. I understand that you just...

No, I love the show. I think the show is really

good. Thank you. That's awesome. I'm going to

take that quote and I'm going to put it everywhere.

That is going to be everywhere. Because it was

so well written and poetic. I think the show

was very good of showing. We think the other

reason people tune into the show is listen to

us fight. That happens a lot too. I don't know

if you noticed that. You guys aren't fighting.

The show is being like not at all dirty or anything.

It's too early. It's really too early. It's too

early. It is, yeah. Yeah, we had somebody say

that last week's episode was the most obscene

episode they'd ever heard. But it was like as

a compliment. Of course. Okay, now I gotta bring

this up because you brought up yourself and you've

opened Pandora's Box because you brought up Vamp

in Metal Gear Solid 4 and I am like the biggest

Metal Gear fan there is. His handle is like solid

mic. Yeah. That's my gamertag, and I, oh god,

I love Metal Gear so much. And I remember when

I was first playing Metal Gear Solid 2, and have

you played the games as well? Oh, I just recalled

it in Gernish Glee. The very first time I was

playing 2. And Vamp shows up on screen, because

Vamp had been in the trailers. And I remember,

like, oh man, that looks really cool, that looks

really cool. But in the games, they actually

have the voice actor's name pop up next to the

character when they first appear. And when your

name showed up, I was like, wait, wait, what?

And I did a double take at that. And just from

that point on, I was like, no way, no way, that's

Phil Lamar. And I just, I spent probably my first

playthrough, not so much. enjoying the vamp scenes

as just going, that's Phil Lamar, like just listening

for the Phil Lamar -ness in the vamp lines. There's

not much there. It's funny because I played the

Metal Gear, I mean there's so many versions,

but I played the version before that and loved

it. It was such a great game. And I was at a

studio and the woman who was doing the voice

casting for it was a woman I had worked for,

Chris Zimmerman. And I begged her for an audition.

It's like, I want to be part of this game. Well,

I don't know. What do you have? Anything? And

I think I auditioned for the DARPA chief. Oh,

really? And then she said, wait a minute. Why

don't you try this one? And it was this, you

know, and you know, those those drawings are

like very almost abstract. It's like, oh, OK.

And she described this guy. He's very creepy.

And he's not he's called vamp. He's not really

a vampire, but maybe we don't know, you know.

like it was it was kind of vague so all of a

sudden i think he was like okay well here how

does someone sound dead and i just like pulled

as much breath as i could out of the voice and

just made him sound creepy and dead and horny

and like my queen you won't believe who i found

And it's just like, is he happy? Is he got his

pants? Every time he talks, it's just like, ew.

And that's what we were shooting for. And that's

actually what Chris said after I did this. He's

like, OK, ew. That's perfect. Thank you. Yeah,

like every line comes out and it like is just

getting under your skin like every line even

like this is water underneath me You know like

that line even still gets under you It's it's

it's like a throwaway like here's water, but

still it's creepy in the vamp voice like everything's

creepy in the man voice Yeah, and the thing is

you know it was the bar was set pretty high because

you're you know up there with hater You know

and he's doing I mean he's doing like the quintessential.

I mean he basically created that video game voiced

archetype. Since Snake, every lead in every video

game sounds like this. Everyone is gritty and

groundy. They all sound like that. And I'm pretty

sure he was the first real hero in that vein.

Because I feel like before Snake, you had a lot

more of this. Heroes of games. And also that

game. added the real cinematic quality to video

games. People said, oh, okay, now we can actually

play this. You know, we don't have to, it's not

just getting through the cut scenes, you know?

The people creating the games actually were making

them to be seen, you know? Yeah, well when the

very first Metal Gear Solid came and it was just

like... jump straight from gameplay straight

into the cutscene there's no because it was the

first game there was really no difference because

you if you watch if you played like say Resident

Evil 2 you play that game and it would jump from

pre -rendered cutscene where the character models

are really nice and shiny and smooth and then

it cuts to like a box that walks Right immediately

after that and you know it sort of took you out

of the moment a little bit when it when it made

that jump But in metal you're solid because it

was the same model in the game as it was in the

cutscenes It there was that flow like it you

immediately just jumped right into it. It was

awesome. Oh, yeah. Yeah now another question

that I When they when you did to basically vamp

is like Oh damp dies but doesn't die van keeps

coming back where you did you have hopes like

yeah coming back come back for three i mean even

stuck that scene in at the end where he's staring

at them like in the background well i mean you

you always hope but i mean when you're when you're

playing basically a boss you that's not where

you put your bet it's like well i'm here to die

you know if i don't die they never get to the

end of the game and really then no one will buy

the next one But yes, I was very excited when

it came back for four. But yeah, I wasn't expecting

it. Okay, well before we move off the Metal Gear

topic, now correct me if I'm wrong here, but

there's a trailer for Metal Gear Rising, and

I'm fairly certain I heard your voice in that

trailer. You may have. Really? I'm... not at

liberty to say yet whether or not i'm in anything

really that may or may not have been something

you know what though that's a that's a lot better

answer than the last time i asked someone that

question it was uh no no i'm not in it And I

would see now if I said, no, I'm not in it, that

would be disclosure. I would be saying, oh, I

get it. I'm learning very many things. It's a

non -disclosure agreement. I cannot disclose

anything. Excellent. Excellent. All right. Well,

but let me let me temper that by also saying

that generally speaking, I don't know much. Half

the time, as I told you, I don't know if I'm

in the game or not, but. Yes. That is all I'm

at liberty to say. I remember hearing even David

Hayter say that one time. They were like, Metal

Gear Solid 4 is on the way. Here's the first

trailer. And it was in Japanese. And he's like,

I have no idea. They haven't called me. That's

funny. He was lying. Now for games are there

any game series that you like are a fan of or

you've seen that you would? Like to kind of get

on board with like I know you said you for Metal

Gear you're like I need a part in this is there

any games coming out now? You're like, I would

love to be a part of this Arkham the I'm but

that goes back to you know, my comic book roots

Generally speaking that's I mean these days I'm

I'm either playing a superhero battle game or

MLB the show. That's pretty much all I do. Because,

unfortunately, I don't have the time to play

through a world anymore. And it's a shame, because

there's some really amazing stuff. I still buy

games. I just never play them. Because Nolan

North is a friend, so I picked up Uncharted and

I'm like, oh my god, this is so amazing. I'm

still in the first, you know, first part of the

first adventure. It's like, I suppose if I ever

got into this building, this would be really

amazing, you know? Yeah, I'm a big fan of those

games. So if you ever do get a chance, check

those out because those are awesome games. And

you're talking about, yeah, I play Skyrim. I've

got a good 200 hours into that one. I highly

recommend not jumping on it if you have a life.

Well, see, that's it. I mean, Skyrim, Mass Effect,

you know. All of these games, I mean, the stuff

they're doing is amazing, you know, but it really

does require a commitment, you know, as the worlds

get bigger and fuller, you know. I mean, the

other thing I would really, really want to do

is The Old Republic. Oh yeah, okay. But I mean,

I don't know, I've always got a weird thing about

online games, you know. I don't know, chat rooms,

all this stuff. A buddy of mine was saying, oh,

you've got to go on Reddit and do an AMA. And

I'm like, OK. I don't know, just the anonymity

of the internet freaks me out. Talk about the

Reddit forum. Oh, my God. Have you seen that

thing going around about the Reddit forum? People

may throw away accounts and confess their greatest

secrets. And these aren't like, you know, I love

My Little Pony. It's, you know, all about like

if people found out about the felonies, murder,

suicide, incest. I murdered my daughter's rapist

and made it look like a suicide. Yeah. Like stuff

like that. Yeah. After like, and it's 30 ,000

comments about this kind of stuff. And I was

like, man, my life is so normal. See, you've

proven my point. That's, I mean, and for me,

it was just like, okay, the 14 -year -old soccer

-playing girl from La Habra may actually be a

50 -year -old serial rapist from, you know, Kansas.

That freaks me out enough. But now the idea that

like, well, now there's, you know, tens of thousands

of people who are all insane freaks. And you're

talking to them. Go ahead. Yeah, yeah. Some of

them aren't that crazy. Like, there's one, probably

the least crazy one, although entertaining. It

sounds almost like it's a romantic comedy movie

plot. There was a guy, and a girl asked him to

house -sit their cat while her family went away

on vacation. And while they were gone, he read

her diary and used everything in it to marry

her. Kind of what Mike did with me with our face.

Oh Not to that degree oh damn Romantic it definitely

did Wow, there are a lot of things that work

I put a little bit of chloroform in her meal

every day until eventually she just did whatever

I said. Now I don't have to put it in anymore.

I saved so much money on chlorophyll. Oh, goodness.

Laura, you should check your meals. Actually,

I'm not a very good cook, so she doesn't have

to worry about that because I don't usually end

up cooking. Whenever he cooks, all he makes me

are these shakes. It's weird. Anyway. We've gotten

my phangasm out of the way. And I know that Laura,

you had one. As soon as I first gave the inkling

that we were going to be talking to Phil, you

blew up and you're like, oh, we're going to talk

to this guy. And I had no idea who you were talking

about. I am like and a lot of people who know

me know that I'm a big fan of and I still watch

them all the time because of things like the

internet I can watch some on and I wish there

was DVDs because I'd buy them in a heartbeat.

I watch a lot of kids cartoons like a big SpongeBob

fan. Hey Arnold, but I grew up watching one Saturday

morning on ABC and I love love and my sister

and I would watch the Weekenders. All the time

like I'll still go on YouTube. There's like 20

episodes on YouTube and I rewatch them all the

time Because they're not out on DVD are they

no and I like Disney it's like here take my money

No, no, thank you. No. Thank you. Just leave

it on that table over there For that like I like

Carver The whole cast is hilarious. Like, I absolutely

love both. Oh, you know you were a Tino lover.

To admit it, you're just saying that because

I'm here right now. But you loved Tino, didn't

you? Or perhaps Lor. I don't know. Oh, the whole

cast in general. The characters I found were

just so well, like, flushed out. Like, they were,

like... And I find you're getting more of that

now with shows like, and I think that's why the

My Little Pony fan base is so large, is because

the characters aren't just these one -dimensional,

like, you know, it wasn't like, Lor like sports.

Carver wants to be cool, you know, Tish's smart,

you know, Tino's neurotic. They were, they were

more than that. And I think that's what really

made that show stand out to me, is that the characters

weren't so one dimensional. And I just, you know,

I wanted to say I was a big fan. And if you had

any thoughts. Yeah, you did have to ask that.

Hello? Hello? Are you there? Yeah. Yeah, no,

I love that show. That was... When it was that

my first show that I was Like one of the leads

in I think it might have been And it was also

just a great group of people, you know, Doug

Langdale who wrote it, you know And he had a

concept he had like a thing that you know to

sell to the network But he also had his own concept,

you know, because like you were saying like the

character types They all had types that you could

put on paper But that's not what he was. That's

not the story he was telling. He was telling

a story about these kids, you know, and like

I think his idea was that they were all like

kids of single parents. And like this was the

weekend. They were at this parents house or no,

actually, that's not true. That's not true. Some

of them. No, Tino Tino have have a dad. No, Tino's

dad lived on the East Coast. See, I know. Yeah,

no carver had both parents. That's what it was.

Yeah, who are working professionals. Right, right.

Was that Carver? I think I was, I can't remember

if I was Carver's dad or not. But yeah, yeah,

the idea was that these were, you know, it was

a reflection of Doug's childhood, you know, and

the people, so he was writing people, not types,

you know, and it was a fantastic cast. I mean,

Kath Susie, Greta Lyle, and Jason Marsden, they're

all not only incredibly talented, but so nice.

It was just always such a joy. No, that was that

was a fantastic show Weekenders was so much fun.

And yeah, you know, it was it's not you know

heavy -duty comedy or hardcore, you know Anything

but it to me it was like fosters Is it different

working on like a like a kids show like a younger

show than it is working on a more more mature

show? Yes, it's dirtier Because when you work

on a kids show, everything you're saying tends

to be very light. And then in between, people

just get insane. And I always wondered about

working on Drawn Together. Do you remember that

cartoon? Yeah, we've got that on DVD. I've always

imagined that during the recording sessions,

they would have nothing to say in between takes.

Because they had said all of the crazy, filthy

stuff that you would normally say in between

takes while it was recording. I always imagine

them just sort of sitting there. I've heard rumors

of like amazing gag reels that will never see

the light of day of like famous cartoon character

voice actors in character saying the dirtiest

things. Like the Thundercats one? Yeah, the Thundercats

one. Oh, is that something that got out? Yeah,

years ago from the original 80s Thundercats show.

And it's like, Lion -O, and he's trying to say

one of the techno babble lines, and he screws

it up, and he's like, what the fuck am I talking

about? Like, halfway through. The guy who does

pan throw in one is obviously drunk. Well, the

one with pan throw with Earl Hyman, he's like,

Sam O 'Fland, what the fuck is a Sam O 'Fland?

Oh, yeah, you get a lot of that. And Mumrah,

and he's like, show me your tits, and stuff like

that. I imagine there's so much gold that will

never come out. But I'm sure there's engineers

who have that stuff just hidden away. They're

like, you've got to hear this gag reel that Phil

Lamar left on Justice League. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

And they have it all. So yes, we have to keep

our eyes open for when engineers retire, because

that's when these things tend to leak out. When

somebody's getting ready to head to Arizona,

it's like, all right, I don't have to worry about

losing my job. Here you go. Now you said you

had kids. Do your kids watch your shows? Not

a lot of them, because my kids are young. So

many of them aren't quite appropriate. And some

of the ones, I mean, what are the ones that they

watched? I've done a few Phineas and Ferbs. They

love that. That's a great show. Great performer

for the win! Thank you for that, Mike. They watched

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends when it was

on. And that was Lauren Faust who rebooted My

Little Pony. What else did they watch? Star Wars

and Clone Wars. Although some of them are a little

intense for my younger one. I mean, that show

gets dark. Are you guys Star Wars heads at all?

I like Star Wars, but I don't have a channel

that shows the Clone Wars. We like Netflix and

Hulu and all that stuff, everything. Yeah. Yeah.

It's some really, really good stuff. I saw when

they did the movie, but other than that, I haven't

seen too much. The movie was actually... Although

the movie I thought the acting in the movie was

better than the the prequel trilogy It was that

was the Where it began it's just gone up from

there in terms of that's what I've heard. Yeah,

it's like visuals writing characters everything,

you know, yeah Dave Filoni's done like a really

amazing job with it Okay, well we did have we

put up the call to our listeners, and we asked

them if they had any questions that they wanted

to ask you. So we're gonna throw a couple fan

questions at you real quick. Ken Lutz from Jersey

wanted to say, what small or one -shot role have

you done that's your favorite? A one -shot. There

was an episode of Scooby -Doo where Oh, God,

what was the storyline? I think it might have

been a camp or something, a haunted camp. Yeah,

of course. It's always a haunted camp. But the

thing about that one that was so great is that

I got to say the meddling kids line. Oh. Sweet.

And I mean, yeah, I don't even remember what

the character was. I just remember that I got

to say, if it hadn't been for those meddling

kids. And that was just, you know, a joy. That

would be pretty awesome. I'm kind of jealous

of that, because I grew up watching Scooby -Doo.

That's like ingrained in my childhood right there.

It's funny, because some of the small roles that

you've ended up having, some of them just kind

of fly by, and I'm like, really? You're in Spider

-Man 2, and you don't say anything. You're just

there. Yes. What's the story behind that? I had

auditioned for an actual part, the part that

Hal Sparks got of the guy in the elevator when

Peter loses his powers. Nice suit. Again, not

a big part, but I auditioned for it, didn't get

it, and then a few months later, got a call saying,

we've got a part for Phil on... Was it on Wednesday?

Can he come in? It's two days, Wednesday to Friday.

Okay, what's the part? We can't say. Well, what's

this? Can you send us the scene? No. What will

he be doing? We're not at liberty to tell you.

Wow. So it was like, you know, and they were

in the middle of shooting. And this thing came

up and they're like. And they were like, well,

do you want to go work on Spider -Man 2? I'm

like, what? All right, ask them this one question.

Will I be working, will I definitely be working

with Sam Raimi? They called, got back, said,

yes, you'll definitely be working with Sam Raimi.

It's like, all right, fine, I'm in. And I had

no idea what I was doing. And basically what

he was doing was he had that, he knew he had

this big subway car scene. With tons and tons

of extras But he hired eight people eight actors

that he was gonna intersperse throughout the

extras So that he would have people to really

give real reactions because he you know The way

he was putting is like this scene is the emotional

heart of the movie. It really needs to work I

can't just have People just making faces as I

pan by I need to be able to cut to people for

real acting reactions now We may have lines we

may not have lines, you know, this is we're gonna

be changing this on the fly as it goes So, you

know, and he's explaining all this to us the

first day. So you guys are gonna be my My soldiers

in here to help carry this scene through like

alright sure and you know, it was a it was a

you know some Character actors some people that

Sam Raimi and knew from his, you know high school

days You know all interspersed throughout there

and it was funny because he kept trying to move

us down the train You know, it was like okay

Phil you stand up here in the front It's like,

oh, that's great And and maybe Phil you carry

Peter back to the other and and when you lay

him down so that we can see you there and The

scripts were I was like no He can't be in the

front of the train and at the back of the train.

Because you're right up there at the window,

right at the front. Exactly, that's what you

said. It's like, no, no, you can't cut to him

there and there. Yes, I did have some lines,

but they were cut out. And yeah, it was one of

those things where, you know, as a comic book

fan, how do you pass it up, you know? And I it

was it was it was amazing. It's the two days

turned into two weeks, you know house Talking

to Tobey Maguire, you know, I've met John Dykstra

you know It's like and of course I made it a

complete ass of myself Because this you know

the scene on the subway car they had a big subway

car in the middle of this gigantic soundstage

But there were guys, you know Pushing a big wooden

like log type thing to rock it back and forth.

It was very very old school It was not, you know,

it didn't look digital in any way And that's

you know, they were actually breaking windows

and stuff. So And they had a puppet dococ arm.

So like everything seemed Like it was real world.

And so, you know, I passed John Dykstra Oscar

-winning special effects guru and I'm like well

this sort of a easy scene for you huh no real

effects here he's like well except i have to

create all of new york and i look up and the

entire the soundstage was probably the size of

a of a city block but i realized the entire thing

was a green screen and he had to create the city

of New York moving at 120 miles an hour digitally.

Oh, jeez, yeah. I'm like, oh right, yeah, I'm

gonna go sit down now. Good times. Daniel Clark.

from Baltimore wants to know, is the process

between creating a character, there's a few questions

that are like sketch comedy related, I guess

going back to the mad TV days. Does the difference

between creating a character for sketch, how

is it different than creating a character for

a voice, like for a cartoon or a game? Well,

the big difference is when you create a character

for sketch, you're usually the one writing it.

So it's it's your concept But after that they

kind of dovetail it's you're usually looking

for either some Aspect of yourself or some Reference

like you know because usually characters are

based on Someone you know or some how you feel

and it's the same with voices, you know It's

either a celebrity voice, you know Sometimes

it'll take Humphrey Bogart impression and dial

it up a little bit so that it sounds a little

higher, but you still maintain the way he speaks

or something and this becomes a character. You

take something you know and add it with what

the writer is trying to create and mix and mash

them. Or sometimes you just sort of do yourself.

You know, it's like, wow, when I, you know, this

character's really sad, when I feel really sad,

I, you know, I go down here and then you usually

tend to exaggerate it a little bit, both for

a sketch and a voiceover. Oh, God. Steve E, though,

from - Hello. I always screw up his name. It's

like a recurring segment on the show is how will

Mike screw up Steve's last name on the show?

We remember how to say it by saying hello. Yeah,

we sing his last name to the Rihanna song. Instead

of umbrella. Anyway, his question, but we continue

to make fun of him by accident. I owe him so

much. I'm sorry, Steve. Can you describe what

led you to move away from sketch comedy and towards

voice acting? Actually, I didn't. I was doing

both at the same time. We did voices on MAD -TV,

because Corky Quakenbush did a bunch of claymation

pieces. And we did the voices for all of the

animated pieces on MAD. And so I started doing

voiceover again there. I'd done it when I was

in high school as well. On the Mr. T Show? Yeah.

I did research. Oh, good. I mean, the thing is,

as an actor, you never really move away from

any... Well, that's not true. I did move away

from sketch consciously, just because looking

at the people who made successful careers out

of sketch comedy, I didn't feel like the way

I did it was the way you needed to do it. I...

You know, like I see the Adam Sandler's and people

like that like where you're basically Doing a

character variations on any character you know

and So that way they can say oh, okay Let's write

a movie around that character or let's put that

character in this movie, you know and I I liked

doing different characters every time I didn't

you know the the UPS guy I think was really the

only character that I did over and over again.

So I realized, OK, this is no one's going to

buy. You know, I'm not I'm not branding myself

here in the way I need to. And I don't like to

do that. I want to I want to, you know, be an

actor so I can do different things. So I'm like,

OK. And also, I wasn't having a fun time at Mad

TV. So. I decided to leave that show. I wasn't

leaving Sketch in general. It was just that show

in particular. You know what? I'm asking the

question. Why don't you ask the last two? Okay.

Steve had a follow -up question here for you.

He says you've worked a lot with voice director

Andrea Romano. She's done as much voice directing

as you've done voice acting. How would you describe

the dynamic of working with her? Andrea Romano

is probably is definitely one of the best possibly

the well She's the top five voice directors in

the world And because she had all the skills

she can cast She can get a performance out of

you. She knows what's funny and she can also

make everything easy for the producers, the actors,

and the technical people. She understands all

of it in a way that very, very few people do.

Yeah, working with her is always a joy. I actually

am sad that I don't get to do it more often.

Has it been a while since the last time you worked

with her? Yeah, the last thing I worked with

her on was Red Hood. Oh, okay. Nice. Which was

fun. Well, if they ever did a John Stewart Hot

Girl animated movie, there you go. You hope,

unless they try to replace me with somebody else.

When have they ever cast a character? Ever? You're

being facetious, right? All right, and... Yeah,

well, it's good. We're gonna do John Stewart

Hot Girl, but they're teens now, so we really

want to skew younger. A skew younger? I mean,

you're static for crap's sake. You can go younger.

You can go as young as you want. I know that.

And you know that. But neither one of us runs

a studio, do we? Not yet. It's all in the works.

All in the works. We've got one last question

from Steve Saylor from Toronto, who's part of

the Twig crew here. Snowball. He wants to know,

what was your favorite story from a recording

session with a full cast? My favorite story that

doesn't get anybody in any trouble. Spicy. I

want to hear those stories. What is my favorite

story? You know, it's funny, the only one that

comes to mind is actually the most painful story

from a group record. There was one time we were

doing an episode of Justice League, and one of

the people who was doing a guest voice on it

had a line where it was, yes, yes, I know, and

then something, something else, and couldn't

get the yes, yes. And it turned into, I think,

50 -something takes. Wow. They got the line in

the first couple, except for, yes, yes. And when

I talk about how good a director Andrea Romano

is, this was all of her talents on display. I've

never seen anybody work harder to get another

person to say two words. And they... You know

she went through everything she tried method.

She tried backstory. She tried I'm gonna say

it. We're gonna start recording and then you

just say it right back Wow And it was it was

just gut -wrenching especially because all of

us have been Guests on a show when you're a guest

on a show. There's a certain amount of pressure

You know, especially a show like that. That's

so good. And you know because this was several

seasons in and And you feel bad for the guy.

I would have felt bad if it was me. And I was

securing my job on that show. Like, they're not

going to replace me. But that's the thing. You

go, you're like, yes, yes. Sorry. Yes, yes. All

right, let me just do three in a row. Yes, yes.

And then after about six times, it just becomes

noise. You're like, I no longer recognize these

as English words. And I don't know, I can only

imagine how much he was sweating, but I was sweating

for him. You know, like you start feeling like,

oh God, oh God, that poor guy. And then it went

so long, you got to Jesus Christ. Poor us, you

know. And eventually I think they, I don't think

they ever got it. I think somebody had to come

in and ... voice it for him. Like they got somebody

to come in. And just say, yes, yes. I think they

said, all right, okay, we got it. We got it.

Got it. And then afterwards, Bruce, Tim went

into the booth and said, yes, yes. All right.

So Mike, you said you wanted to pop in real quick.

Yeah. I know a lot of people don't like this

line, but I absolutely found it hilarious. Would

you do the kiss my ax line from Justice League?

Oh, I don't even remember that one is what is

that for me? It's in it's in star -crossed when

you're fighting. Oh great The Victor got the

action. Yeah, okay Yeah, no, yeah, you know,

they can't all be winners Kiss my axe What was

so great about that line was in the animation

John Stewart actually made an axe after he said

the line and attacked the guy I think that was

Dwayne getting a gag in there. It's funny though

sometimes the lines that people latch on to like

for Futurama. There was the my man which When

we recorded it nobody even really like paid that

much attention to it. Like, oh, yeah, it's funny.

It's not like, you know, great lion of Zion or

anything, but yeah. And then coming up to me

at conventions, can you say my man? I'm like,

why would I say that? I can't even remember.

There's like, oh, right, right. And now it's

become like a thing. When we were actually talking

last week show that we were having you on the

show, I yelled out my man, which is one of those

things like because I I might have told a few

people that I was very excited and, you know,

they're like, oh my God, can you ask if he eats

manwiches? It was like one of the first things.

And it was kind of, and then one person wanted

to ask about being shot in the face on Pulp Fiction,

but most of it was manwiches. That's bizarre.

Do they even still make them? Like, are they

still marketed? I mean, obviously you can make

a manwich. It's pretty easy. I have no idea.

I don't think they even carry those like ever

carried that It's one of those products that

like we'd have to go to the states to get it.

You should definitely get some money in advertising

though. Yeah Exactly, that's right. It's product

placement. We're getting five cents per each

episode That's so funny Oh my gosh, all right,

I should get going because and you guys Because

you guys are three hours ahead We just wanted

to know if there was anything you had coming

up that you wanted to talk about real quick,

and then we can let you go if you'd like. Oh,

well, I mean, what's going on? We're doing a

new show called Kaijudo. It's on the hub network,

and it's a kids' show based on a Pokemon -type

card game from the 90s. Henry Gilroy who worked

on Clone Wars and Andrew Robinson have like created

a whole world around the idea of kids Fighting

through monsters, but now instead of cards They

have these gauntlets and it's tied to this, you

know this whole other dimension where these monsters

live It's a really amazing, you know Story they

had a premiere of it like a sneak preview yesterday

And then I think the regular series starts up

in June. And yeah, it's, who is it? Me, Carl

Walgren, Scott Wolf play the main three kids.

There's a lot of good people on it. What else

is going on? Oh, I'm doing a web series called

Inside the Legend. that should be on at the end

of May or early June. It's me and Vanessa Ragland

from My Culture Podcast. That should be a lot

of fun. You're also the announcer on Space Guys

in Space. Right, that's where it came about.

I worked on Space Guys with Jason. And the producer

said, well, would you be interested in doing

a show? And we wound up making Inside the Legend.

So it's the same producers. And also they produced

Bite Me. Have you seen that? The Zombie Gamer

web series? No, I haven't. Oh my god, you should.

It's really funny. And amazing production values.

It's on the Machinima channel on YouTube. OK.

And actually, I think they've also just ported

it to TV on HD net or fear net. No, fear net.

That's what it was. You know, there are all these

channels and like half the time you don't even

have them. It's like, oh, I don't like clicking

down. It's like, do I have that? But yeah, Bite

Me is hilarious. It's it's a zombie show. And

the idea is the three guys who are best equipped.

in a zombie attack, are the guys who have spent

the most time playing zombie video games. Makes

sense. It does, really, when you think about

it. Well, think of all the valuable skills you

would learn from that. Exactly, and the strength

of your thumbs. So yes, I did a guest part on

Bite Me, and a guest part on Space Guys in Space,

and that led to our silly little thing. or Inside

the Legend. It's an interview show with characters

from mythology, fiction, literature, and history.

So it's like some real people, some imaginary

people, some dead people. And it's really goofy.

It's really funny. Cool. Well, we'll have to

definitely check that out. And thank you very

much for joining us this morning. Thank you so

much. We had a great time. I hope you did, too.

Oh, yes. Yes. No, I love you. I love your show.

And yeah, so if you guys... You should see Laura

right now. I'm doing the Jonah Hill, like, oh

my goodness. When I was talking to Mike the other

day, Mike asked me, because I had told him that

I sent you the two part two and part four of

their Metal Gear episodes. And he asked me, well,

what episode did he listen to? I was like, I

don't know. I just sent him those two. Oh, that's

funny. No, I don't pay attention. I listen to

the first one. I listen to the new 52. Basically,

I went I went scrolling down like, OK, which

ones are they talking about the things that I

like? Oh, OK. How about that? Awesome. Well,

thank you very much. Thank you so much. Yeah.

And oh, just I don't know if you guys are I mean,

I'm at Phil Lamar on Twitter. And I don't know

when the actual dates for Kaijudo and Inside

the Legend are, but I'll be posting there or

on the Facebook fan page. OK. And hopefully,

my website will still be up after MobileMe ends.

Well, we do have your Twitter. So anytime you

post that, because we both follow you. Anytime

you want to post about that, then we'll just

retweet you. Let everybody know. And that's,

well, that's where I'll be. I'm always on there.

Okay. Thank you guys so much. Thank you. Thank

you. So once again, thank you, Phil, for joining

us. But no, thank you, Mike, for setting that

up because that was awesome. When he was doing,

when he was doing vamp, I could barely hear it.

I know vamp has that low quality to his voice,

but I could, when he did the voice, I was like...

Oh, I could hear it fine. See, that's the thing.

Like, I'd heard in a previous interview he'd

done, because like I said, I did some research,

that he was talking about Vamp, and he said Vamp

is one of those characters that, like, you need

a microphone for, because they'll boost it for

you. Like, the way he does Vamp, it's not like

he's like, yelling into the microphone! He's...

Right very quietly. So like they use the levels

and such to boost them up So so I wasn't surprised

at all when he came in and sounded like that

It was awesome. And and when I go back and edit

this I'll boost them up We wait till after he

leaves for the dirty stuff he said he wanted

to hear that We'll have to have him back. Well,

he said he'd like to chat again and chat about

all the dirty stuff. So that'd be awesome if

he comes back. I would definitely talk to Phil

again. As long as Phil wants to talk to us, we

will make time for him. So like I said, once

again, thank you, Mike. Now, I believe that you're

going to edit a version of the show as well.

So there's going to be... two versions of this

show. You can listen to our version over at This

Week in Geek, and you can also listen to Mike's

version of the show over at the GeekCast Radio

Network. So wherever you're listening to this

right now, if you go to the other site, you can

hear an almost identical but different version

of the show. So it's like two shows in one. Exactly.

So for the Untitled Mike and Laura project, and

for GeekCast Radio Network, I have been Mike

the Fist of Justice Lehmann. Laura, over the

moon right now, Thomas. And TF2 and Mike. We'll

talk to you guys next time. Oh my goodness! Stop

fucking cracking your knuckles, you're fucking

gross! Jeez, Hermes, you seem awfully calm about

this. Don't worry, I have a plan. I'm going to

jump! Do a flip! Well, kids, that's all you get!

That's it! Wait a fuck! Only the cat noise. The

cat noise? The one that Kratos makes? Yeah. I

don't think that's what it sounds like. But I...

Serious! You just ran by. Like a teeny ninja.

Shit! Oh, I'm drunk, babe. The Untitled Mike

and Laura Project presented in association with

ThisWeekInGeek .net. Check out ThisWeekInGeek

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