Interviews – Phil LaMarr

Jazz here, and I am so digging the Geekcast Radio

Network. This is Static. When Gear and I aren't

fighting bang babies, we like to listen to the

Geekcast Radio Network. Hello and welcome to

the Secret Origins Podcast Tooncast Crossover

Interview. I am your host, DFG1 Mike, and joining

me is Lupus Convoy. Hello, sir. Hello, sir. Yes.

Amazing, amazing things have happened. I never

thought this day would happen. I do wish it would

have happened when Secret Origins was still running,

when we were still going through our episodes.

But I'm super, super excited. I just finished

an interview with Jason Marsden, who voiced Gear

in Static Shock. He also voices Max Goof from

the Goofy cartoons and House of Mouse and a Goofy

movie and all that. And I mentioned to Jason

that, oh, hey, you know, since you were gear,

since you're statics pal, can you help us out

with getting to talk to who we're going to be

talking to today? And that is none other than

the great Phil Lamar. It's like the Holy grail.

Yeah. Uh, it, it, it's going to be so awesome

to talk to Phil. Uh, just, I, I, every time I

see he is one of those, I've learned that he

is. And it's more so with his live -action stuff,

his live -action television and stuff like that.

He is kind of like one of those quintessential

guys that will pop up in anything. I don't know

if you saw a few weeks ago. You don't watch The

Big Bang Theory, do you? I do not. I know, for

shame, for shame. I'll have to send you the clip,

but they were going to have a guest spot with

LeVar Burton. Oh, awesome. And to me, Phil is

that type of person that they'll just show up

at random in live action television, stuff like

that. When I was doing research for this, I had

no idea. No idea he was in an episode of Wings

as Gil the Mechanic. I remember you telling me

that, and I was like... wings like that was a

long time ago yeah i phil's just it's gonna be

so awesome so do you have any thoughts before

we get to the interview um i'm gonna be a little

starstruck but i i can't wait this is i think

this is going to be a really fun interview Oh

yeah, it's gonna be so, so fun. I got a vibe

tells me I should be sitting in on this scene

for a while. Hello and welcome to the Geekcast

Radio Network's interview. I am Mike Blanchard.

Joining me is Michael Caminiti. How are you,

sir? Doing good. Today we have the great privilege

of talking to Green Lantern from Justice League

and Jazz from Transformers Animated, as well

as like a million other things that he has done,

Mr. Phil Lamarr. Hello, sir. How are you? I'm

good, Mike. How are you? Very good, very good.

What current projects are you doing right now?

Can you fill us in on what's going on in the

world of Phil Lamarr? We're doing more Clone

Wars episodes. I play Bail Organa and Kit Fisto

on Star Wars The Clone Wars. We just finished

up the ADR on Futurama. But it looks like we

might have some more Futurama to do very soon.

Awesome. That's good news. Yeah, nothing on paper

for me yet, but there's talk. Talk is always

good. It's better than not talk. Yeah, what's

the Oscar Wilde saying? It's like, the only thing

worse than being talked about is not being talked

about. Yeah. My thing is, I'd rather get a no

than no answer at all. Exactly. Just to get us

started, can you give us a quick summary of your

upbringing and how you became a voice actor and

got into acting in general? I mean, I didn't

realize how much... acting you've, like, actual

on -camera acting you've actually done. I just

sought out Gil the Mechanic from the episode

of Wings that you did. No, I was primarily a

stage and TV actor for many years, although my

very first professional job that I got my...

screen actors guild union card on was uh a cartoon

i did when i was in high school the mr t cartoon

oh yeah oh wow it was a really really bad cartoon

um you know it was a scooby -doo knockoff you

know designed to capitalize on mr t's popularity

you know he had a serial he had a cartoon you

get back back then you know in the 80s you know

you merchandise across the board if you could

Yeah, we are Transformers fans. We know all about

merchandising. Oh, yes. Exactly. So, yeah, I

did that when I was in high school and then didn't

really do voiceover for many, many, many years.

I would talk with my fellow actor friends about,

we really got to get into voiceover. Okay. And

then never do it. It wasn't until after I was

on MADtv. that I started doing voiceover partially

because we were doing animation on the show.

We had a lot of claymation pieces that they used

the cast as the voices of. And just having that

bit of time behind the mic, I think, really helped

when I actually started pursuing real animation.

One of the mad TV skits I watched in prep for

this was the Thanksgiving episode. Oh, yeah.

That was, yeah. God, what was the name of that

one? More? Something like that. Yeah, I remember

it was written by a woman named Jenna Jolovitz.

That was a fun sketch. Yeah, that was really,

really funny. Since you kind of mentioned, like,

how much of a trend, I mean... How much of a

transition was it from leaving MADtv into jumping

right into voice acting? Well, they actually

sort of overlapped. The people who cast MADtv

also cast Futurama. And that's how Dave Herman

and I got brought aboard. And I think that was

actually while we were doing... Mad TV still.

I know Dave was doing King of the Hill a lot

at the same time he was doing Mad TV. And I think

I'd started to do a couple of shows before Mad

TV ended, including Futurama. And Family Guy

came out of Mad TV. I do voices on that. The

Fox executive who worked with Mad TV. had found

this young kid named Seth MacFarlane. And she

asked me and Alec Borstein as a favor to do some

voices for this presentation this guy was going

to put together to try to sell the show to Fox.

And, you know, that sale went really well. I

can't imagine it not. Well, I mean, you know,

if you look at where it is now, yeah. Yeah, all

the popularity. Yeah, one of the most successful

primetime animated shows ever. If you could still

be working on one show that you've worked on

in the past, what show would that be? Samurai

Jack. Good answer. It was just such a good show.

It's the kind of show that I could show to anybody

and know that they wouldn't... be turned off

to it, even if they didn't find it something

that they wanted to continue to watch. There

was always something to appreciate. Either it

was the artistry, the humor, the action, just

the design of it. I mean, it appealed on so many

levels to so many people, women, adults, children,

whoever. There was something there that I think

everybody could latch on to. I used to, when

I could watch it, I thought it was just amazing.

Like, not just the animation and everything,

but also the voice acting that you and the rest

of the crew had. And I do have to say that Scotsman

is one of my favorite characters. Yeah. Yeah,

those are just great episodes. On the flip side

of that, and I hate asking this question, in

general, what are some of your favorite and least

favorite shows that you've worked on? My least

favorite shows are the ones where the checks

don't clear. And fortunately, I haven't had any

of those. You know, there's always going to be

stuff that, you know, you're more into or less

into. You know, but there are some shows that

I wouldn't watch that I've worked on, but that

my kids would love. I mean, and then there's,

you know. The opposite, there's shows my kids

watch. My kids watch a show called Word Girl,

which I just love. I would kill to do a voice

on that because it's so much fun. I'm trying

to think. No, there's not really. I mean, voiceover

is such a fun job. Even if the show isn't great,

you're usually working with great people. So

it's hard to bear the kind of negativity needed

to answer that question. On the flip side of

least favorite, what about some of your favorites

that you've worked on? It was a question for

both. What about some of the ones you most enjoyed

working on? Justice League, because I grew up

as a DC Comics reader. I was not a big Green

Lantern fan as a kid. I was a Batman guy. Being

able to do that show and, I mean, the way they

used, you know, DC history and comic book continuity

and deviated from it and, in fact, in many ways

made it better was just a joy as a comic book

fan, you know, because you'd be sitting there

reading a script and go, ah, I know where they

got this storyline. How many times did I do that?

Yeah. And everybody, you know, the people who

worked on it were so talented. Bruce Timm and

Dwayne McDuffie and the artists. Some of the

artists they had working on Justice League were

people that I was huge fans of. As a comic, I'm

like, oh my god, he's here? I've got to take

my book and go upstairs. Justice League was definitely

one of my favorites. Samurai Jack. Clone Wars.

it's funny because the clone wars micro series

um i think that that actually killed samurai

jack um brought me back to star wars yeah you

know it was just so good um i think what other

favorites um futurama although it's funny because

at this point it feels more like just a part

of my life than than a show yeah doing it for

you know I think more than ten years. Yeah. Once

you get shows that are like that, it seems like

it's a part of everyday life, doesn't it? Yeah,

definitely. And I always find that you don't

really settle into a character until after you

see it fully realized and animated. Because the

voice is really only one part of the character.

I mean, we're part of this huge collaborative.

I mean, the backgrounds are as important as the

voice. I mean, no one of them by themselves would

really be worth watching. So we all have to work

together. And it's always so hard to do a show

at the beginning because I just can't seem to

get a solid handle on the character. The scripts

are always different, but once I see it, Like,

oh, that's the show. All right, let's go do it.

From that point on, which is usually a year in,

the process is, from my perspective, is always

so much easier. Out of all the characters that

you've either voiced or played in live action,

what are some of your absolute favorite characters

that you've done? Oh, live action? Anything,

live action, voice acting, anything. What are

some of the favorite characters of your, like,

characters that you can look back on and say,

I really, really enjoyed doing that, or I really,

you know, liked where that character went? Well,

really, honestly, the most rewarding characters,

I think, I mean, of course, you ask me tomorrow,

I might get a different answer. But Jon Stewart,

just because of the breadth. of what i got to

play as that character i mean over the four seasons

i mean that's without a doubt the best writing

and the best you know dramatic arcs that i've

as a performer ever gotten to play um you know

he was on trial for murder he was in a love triangle

you know he had to with somebody who was trying

to take over the world you know i mean there

was a lot of really good fertile stuff to, to

act there. Um, I think my favorite Jon Stewart

line is, and you can kiss my ax. Right. That's

so funny. Um, I think the, and the, the other

aspect, uh, the, uh, the UPS guy, a character

I did on mad TV is also one of my favorites.

Um, just cause that's something I started doing

on stage at the groundlings. And again, I got

to do the character. over time and let it evolve

and that's that's really rare you know um that

you get a chance to really live with a character

and you know what help help it grow you've most

of the stuff that i've seen you voice and voice

acting has mostly been like good guys and heroes

and all that good stuff but what like as far

as i know you haven't really had a chance to

do villainous characters i could be wrong in

that but like what type of characters do you

Good guys, bad guys, serious type of characters

or funny characters? I prefer well -written characters.

But you are wrong. Okay. Well, that's fine. I

played Vamp in Metal Gear Solid. Oh, that's right.

Who's pretty much a bad guy. Yeah, he's pretty

much evil incarnate. Wow, I forgot about Vamp.

But I'm trying to think. No, you're right. In

general, I think I tend to not play, I don't

play as many heavies as I do heroes. Yeah, and

when I said that I was thinking more towards

cartoons, I hadn't even thought of Vamp, and

then I had found out in doing research, I was

like, wow, Phil did Vamp? Holy, wow, that's awesome.

Yeah, no, I'm very proud of that one. Because

it certainly doesn't sound like me, and it doesn't

sound like many of the characters I've played.

I mean, there are a handful that are in the same

or a similar vein. You know, Sig in Jak and Daxter,

Jon Stewart, Chris in Mercenaries. That's another

video game. in a similar vocal range. I mean,

they're, you know, distinct sounds, but, you

know, they're both, they're all big guys, you

know, with deep voices. So what's so different

about Vamp, like, with your own voice? Did they

use effects on that, or is that you doing a voice?

It's, well, I think the main thing, no, I don't

think there were any effects. It's backwards.

On vamp, I'm mostly talking on the inhale instead

of on the exhale. Well, my queen. I'm basically

taking in air almost as I talk. Not literally,

but it's restricting the flow of air so much.

It makes it really hard to give it any volume,

but it also gives it that creepy feeling. Wow.

Yeah. Because, I mean, basically, it sounds like

he's dead. Yeah, he's not a character that has,

like, not a high -pitched tone, but he's not

a character, as you said, that has a lot of volume.

He's that dark background -type character. Right.

Almost, where his voice, when he talks, he's,

like, he's in the background from all of the

other characters in Metal Gear. right right that's

yeah it's it's it's fun to it's fun to play that

i mean it's also i'm trying to think uh like

the big loud i mean there was a show a video

game um is it dark stalkers just came out last

year or i play you know not a hero or a villain

but like the evil exposition guy you know You

know, it's like the Tales of the Crypt kind of

voice. And the best thing about that one was

he doesn't fight. So you don't have to do any

death screams. Yeah. There's always got to be

a perk when you're doing the foley and the sound

effects of being punched and kicked in comparison

to something like Jon Stewart where you always

have to make those little quips. Oh, could you

do it like you're getting hit in this area of

the body instead? Well, that's, yeah, I mean,

Justice League, we had a lot of fighting noise

and grunts and strains. Not as much as a video

game, just because you're not doing, you know,

six hours of animation, but 30 minutes. The toughest

thing about Justice League, especially at the

beginning, was the ring. You know? It's a power

ring. It's about willpower. but it's an animated

show, so there needs to be a sound when he does

something. But logically, I had a really hard

time justifying it. It's like, well, why does

he have to make a sound when he's beaming something?

You don't make a sound when you, like, turn on

a light switch. You know, that's what it is.

It's will. It's mental. It's like, no, we need

a strain. Like, all right. Pretend his arm's

really heavy. But if you think about it, like

a Green Lantern ring really should be the most

silent weapon ever. Yeah. Very true. I guess

I'd have to agree on that. You know, I mean,

there's actually even a question of would it

make a sound when it struck something? Yeah.

But I guess it's a solid light thing, so. Or

is it? I don't know. Or is it just a manifestation

of the will? Is he moving that thing with his

mind? I think it's a manifestation of a solid

hologram moved by his mind, but... That's what

I want. I want the invisible. Give me the invisible

ring. I don't think I just see a giant green

hammer. I just want to point my ring and push

him away. How about that? Awesome. Although I

love the fact, because they made a conscious

decision. um on justice league that john stewart

did not make shapes not until later he didn't

yeah you know uh it was like because because

they were you know this was a military guy this

was a no -nonsense guy he's not gonna make a

boxing glove or a bow and arrow it's like no

i'm gonna make a beam if i need to shoot at somebody

i will make a beam You want to take the next

one there, Lupus? Sure. So how did you fall into

Samurai Jack? The show won several Emmy Awards

and nominations. Did any of your other roles

have nominations to their credit? Samurai Jack,

I believe, was a simple audition. It's funny

because I do remember that I auditioned for it

at the same... recording studio where i auditioned

for samurai uh for static shock at a different

time that but uh but no they were both just things

that i went in with a bunch of other guys and

we all tried out for it and uh i got picked very

very fortunately um yes so uh futurama has uh

won a few emmys i believe um static shock won

a humanitas award for an episode we did about

uh Gun violence in a school, which is a really,

really powerful episode. I remember hearing about

that. Yeah, it's so good. That show was really

vastly underrated. That show is a really good

– it's got a lot of social commentary stuff.

I mean it hits on a lot of hard issues. Yeah,

occasionally. But mostly – it's funny because

– Dwayne McDuffie, who just passed away recently,

co -created the character. And it's funny. I

think because the character was a young black

guy, it seemed like it was taking on – or had

more of an agenda than it otherwise might have.

Because most of the episodes – were really just

about you know him dealing with his life you

know his sister who annoys him trying to keep

you know the identity a secret you know you know

trying to impress the girl but without you know

i mean the same many of those storylines could

be in a spider -man comic um and occasionally

we really did you know make specific use of you

know the character's racial uniqueness There's

one episode at the beginning of, I think, third

season or fourth season where Virgil, the character's

family, goes to Africa. And he encounters an

African superhero and an African villain. And

it's funny because, again, that could be any

character. I guess Peter Parker could have gone

to England. It's like, well, your your great

grand uncle lives here and, you know, and encountered

somebody. But I think when you when you make

it Africa, people think of it as more of a political

thing, you know, but really most of the time

it was just stories. And certainly that story

about a gun in a school could have could apply

to anybody. But I also what you're talking about,

I think, is part of the DNA of the character,

because Milestone. the line of comics that Static

came out of was rooted in a social consciousness.

You know, the creators really made an effort

to have ethnic diversity and, you know, as well

as economic diversity. I mean, they were thinking

about it consciously, whereas the vast majority

of comic books had that stuff in them, but it

was unconscious. Bruce Wayne, a wealthy millionaire.

That's not a comment on Depression -era economic

policies. Although nowadays, I guess somebody

might think it was. Okay, so what was your favorite

exclamation they had you say on Futurama? I don't

know. I don't really have a... I mean, the one

that I remember the most, I think, was the first

one. Great Lion of Zion! after that you didn't

really get invested because you knew it wasn't

coming back uh but it was really just the to

see how they were up to the challenge of creating

more you know i think in the last uh season did

we did i even have any it's it's definitely tapered

off yeah i think the well might be close to running

dry oh that that stinks It's kind of like the

pinky in the brain where, you know, what's going

to happen this week? Right. But I think that

I'm sure, you know, David Cohen and the writers

have yet to disappoint, so I bet you they've

got some packed away somewhere. What was it like

playing two radically different characters between

Static and Green Lantern, even sometimes in the

same episode? Like, I know you were... adult

static in uh oh i should know this i did a podcast

on it i should know once in future thing the

once in future thing part two where you were

adult static and you were also uh john stewart

what's it like playing those two different very

different characters in in the same same place

same episodes well oh god it was always a blast

anytime i got to have the characters crossover,

because GL came into a couple of Static episodes,

and Static went into, I think, one Justice League

episode. And although the biggest challenge was

the one you're talking about, because for me,

I always want the voices to sound distinct. Right.

It's funny, because a lot of people say, oh,

I can always tell when it's you, which... I appreciate

the spirit of what they're saying, like, oh,

thank you. But really, in my gut, that's the

worst thing for me to hear. But I won't tell

you that, because honestly, every time I see

you do, I've seen something you've done, I'm

like, well, wait, that was Phil Lamar? No way.

See, that I love to hear. That I love, because

I really do, you know, strive to not go over

the same ground. Right. But it's difficult. I

mean, you know, the human voice only has so many,

you know, variations. So when I had to do Jon

Stewart and an adult static, I mean, Jon Stewart

and kid static, that's easy. That's cake. That's,

you know. You know, you place one down here.

That's a very low. And the other placement is

real high. I mean, even if I didn't make an effort

to separate them. Those two voices are going

to sound different. Yeah. But now you say, well,

take this voice and make them 50 years old. It's

like, oh, okay. So I've got to figure out what

that guy sounds like grown up. And not only grown

up, but aged. And make sure it doesn't sound

anything like Jon Stewart, which is really more

the challenge I put on myself. I don't think

anybody else. was saying, well, they can't sound

anything alike. But I really didn't want them

to sound alike. Right. So the trick was to give

static the texture of a 50 -year -old man, but

not the same texture that Jon Stewart has. Jon

Stewart is younger and more vital. He's got a

deep voice. And, you know, you've got a little

bit of that rumble behind it. So and also at

this point, they'd established that static was

the almost the most powerful hero on the planet.

So I got to take take his energy down to, you

know, something like almost godlike. You know,

he's not expending a lot of energy. So I made

him a little calmer and I made his speaking voice.

I pitched it in a made a higher register. You

know, because my thinking was if you talk like

this when you were 14 or 15, your voice isn't

suddenly going to go down here. You know, your

voice is you're going to grow up. You're going

to become a man. You're going to start, you know,

talking, you know, as an adult. And then you'll

slowly become older and add a little texture.

But your voice won't get lower. It'll just become

a different voice. You know. That's so cool.

That's amazing. And fortunately, I was pretty

pleased with how it turned out. We talked earlier

about your ties to Star Wars. As far as the Clone

Wars, did you try to do a Jimmy Smits impersonation

for Bail Organa? Or how did you make it your

own? No, no, no. The idea was to do Jimmy Smits.

They wanted the characters that were established

in the movies to be carried over into the animated

series. Although I think they've all shifted

over time. I mean, when James Arnold Taylor started

doing Obi -Wan, he was consciously doing a Ewan

McGregor impression. But I would venture to guess

that if you played... what he's doing as Obi

-Wan now up against Ewan's Obi -Wan, it probably

sounds fairly different. And I'm sure the same

is true of my Bail Organa. We've all basically

sort of... We started with the voices of the

movie actors, and then as you get different storylines

and they do different things, the voices change.

Well, Kit Fisto, fortunately, didn't have a voice

in the movie. He was played by a woman. And it's

funny because you look at Anakin in Clone Wars

and there's not really a disconnect. You don't

think, hey, that doesn't sound anything like

the Anakin in the prequels. Maybe it's because,

I don't know, people maybe aren't as invested

in the Anakin in the prequels vocally. Yes, I

was doing my best Jimmy Smith's impression. Captain

Antilles, these droids will go with you. And

I want the protocol droids mind wiped. That's

awesome. Oh, wow. That's so awesome. Okay, so

how do you feel about zombies since you were

on the Walking Dead motion comic? You know what's

funny? I've never been a big zombie media person.

You know, I remember playing Resident Evil, you

know, like two in the arcades, you know, being

appalled by the voice acting. But I'm not big

into zombies. But when I started reading the

Walking Dead comic, it was just hands down one

of the best comic books. of whatever kind I'd

ever read. So because of that, I was really excited

to be involved in the motion comic. Just to be

involved in Walking Dead in any way, shape, or

form was a pleasure. Cool. Very awesome. We are

both huge Transformers fans. I think that's a

little bit of an understatement. Well, considering

my screen name is TFG1Mike, yeah. Did you go

back and watch any of the Generation 1 Transformers

episodes to see what Scatman Carruthers had done

with Jazz to get your own unique style for him

in Transformers Animated? Did you watch any of

the previous incarnations of Jazz, or did you

just bring your own thing to him? Well, no, I

did not. One, because they said they didn't want...

it to sound like the old jazz okay um i and also

once you get scatman crothers in your head you

know it's stuck there yeah such a distinct voice

and he's such a good actor you know i mean you

know it's it just it would just be i think it

would have made it much harder to do what they

wanted to do which was give it a little separation

from the previous, you know, iteration, but tie

it in. I mean, they wrote the characters somewhat

differently. So it was basically just to play

the character as he was written now. Right. Yeah,

I mean, because I would have loved to have been

able to do a Scatman Crothers. That would have

been, you know. Megatron! You're going down!

You know, but... I mean, I truly, I really, really

love what you did with Jazz. I mean, I love Scatman's

version for what that was in that context of

the old cartoon, but just what you did with Jazz

was just awesome. Oh, thank you. Yeah, I mean,

they had a really cool take on it and a really

specific idea, and it was fun to just bring that

to life. I'm going to put a link in the chat

here to a website for an action figure. Do you

own any of the action figures of the characters

you've voiced or done at all? Let's see. I have

a Jon Stewart somewhere. Now, what I've linked

you to... Oh, and I have a Samurai Jack Maquette.

Oh, cool. What I linked you to was they just

announced this year at New York Toy Fair that

more Justice League Unlimited figures are coming

this year, and they're going to do an adult Static.

Oh, yes. I think I heard about that. It looks

so cool. Yeah, well, too little, too late. No,

there was always this rumor that the reason Static

was canceled was that we didn't have a toy deal.

Oh, really? Yeah, I mean, because the ratings,

I mean, we won our time slot, you know, years

running. But, you know, in network Saturday morning

cartoons, a lot of times people say that the

cartoons are a loss leader for the merchandise.

Yeah. They don't really care how the cartoon

does as long as it sells the toys. And, yeah,

and for some reason they... They never made any

static toys. I think the only static toy prior

to this one that's about to come out was a Burger

King giveaway. Yeah, I remember that. Which is

a shame. Yeah, I would have loved to have seen,

especially in the JLU style of figures that they

have for the Justice League Unlimited toy line

now. Even though that toy line is ending this

year, I would have loved to have seen like a

static and an Ebon and a gear and gear could

have backpack as an accessory. That would have

been so cool. No, absolutely. But I don't know.

I never understood that. I mean there are so

few teen heroes. Right. I would have thought

it would have been a slam dunk. Yeah. You know.

Before Michael asks his next question, I have

to – I'm a huge Phineas and Ferb fan, and I have

to give a shout -out to the street performer.

Yeah, no, that show is so fun. And the guys who

make it are so talented, Swampy and Dan Povenmire.

I mean, I've been fortunate to work with some

really, really talented people. You know, Gendy

Tartakovsky, Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, you

know, Swampy, Dan, Seth MacFarlane. You know,

these guys are, you know, Adam Burton. They're

all just really amazing writers, you know, very

funny people. You know, most of them are artists

as well, you know. And those guys also, you know,

Dan and Seth, they can write, they can draw and

do voices, you know. It's kind of crazy. Every

voice actor seems to have a method for remembering

which of their voices go with which of their

characters, especially if they're on a show where

they voice a good deal of those characters, like

Dead and King of the Hill, Futurama and other

shows. How do you keep all of your voices straight?

Usually you try to find a line. What do people

call it? A key line or... A hook. Something that

usually you say as the character early on when

you're first discovering where the voice is.

And it helps you find the placement physically

in your throat. And it helps you find the vibe

of the character. I know on Foster's Home for

Imaginary Friends, I played a character named

Wilt. And I knew whenever I went in, because

a lot of times we had big breaks between when

we would record, we would record, and then like

five weeks later we'd do the next episode, which

makes it harder to hold on to the character.

So I would just have to go, oh, hey, I'm sorry.

No, no, okay, okay. You know? And that would

help me remember where I get that voice. And

again, once... You've been doing it for a while.

It becomes a little easier. Yeah. Although I

think sometimes the reason a voice changes, because

you'll hear, you'll listen to first season of

something and then fourth season, and there's

a slight difference. I think sometimes that is

because the voice is finding its natural place

in the actor. Because you'll start out doing

something, I'm doing this guy. And then maybe

it hurts or it's not comfortable or you're not

able to repeat it the same way as often. Or they

write something for that character to do that

this voice just can't express. So, you know,

oh, I'm sorry. And then all of a sudden the voice

drops down to here. And so like by fourth episode,

this voice becomes this voice. And then it stays

– usually you'll find that it doesn't change

after that unless you're like Mel Blanc and doing

it 30 years later. Yeah, I love listening to

like 70s Bugs Bunny versus 40s Bugs Bunny. It

always cracks me up. It's funny you answer that

as far as how you keep track of it is. You just

have to – you know, get a line piece or something

like that. Um, a funny thing that, uh, when I

talked to Jason Marsden the other day, he said,

Oh, they have this great thing at work called

an archive. And they, you know, we just asked

him to play us a line. Yes. Yes. Well, that's

the thing. I mean, you always hope that they

have reference. Yeah. And most of the time they

do. Yeah. Especially if it's something you're

doing regularly, but sometimes they don't. So

you have to have, you know, something to fall

back on. You know, that's the that's the worst

thing is that, like, you go in and it's a character

like a secondary character that you did, you

know, two seasons ago. Mm hmm. And they're like,

oh, and we brought back so and so. Great. What

does he sound like again? And then, like, I remember

I think it was a couple of Futurama episodes

where they brought back some, like, character

from second season. We were doing one of the

DVD movies and like, what does that guy sound

like? Like, I don't know. And we had to actually

send somebody to the office to get the DVDs that

had been sold and find an episode. Oh, wow. And

like, okay. All right, right, right. See, in

the thousands of recordings you've done over

your career, what are some of the funniest things,

whether it be mistakes someone made or practical

jokes that someone pulled that you've been a

party to or a witness to? And just a preface

before you answer this, you don't have to worry

about whether we're a PG -13. We're not. So if

you if it was something where it was something

gross or inappropriate, we're all about inappropriate.

Oh, God. Well, there's two things that come to

mind. I remember when we were in one sort of

just an ongoing thing when we were doing Justice

League. Susan Eisenberg, who voiced Wonder Woman,

just had such an incredibly sexy voice. that

uh george newbern and i because we had our mics

next to each other sometimes she would say a

line completely innocuous line but in that voice

it was just like hot and like she would say it

i would think oh my god that was hot and i'd

look over at george and he'd have the exact same

thought and the same look on his face like right

he's like right i know right so then you go jokes

like uh i i'm sorry can can can you play that

line back And, in fact, email it to me for my

personal archives. Oh, no. As far as, like, this

is sort of a practical joke. I worked on a show

called Evil Concarne. Maxwell Adams did it for

Cartoon Network as part of, it was Billy and

Mandy and Evil Concarne. It was the Grim Adventures

of... Billy and Mandy. No, originally it was

called Grim and Evil. Oh, you're right. And we

were evil and they were grim. And then the show

got half canceled. Our half. That was the best

part, though. I loved Evil Concarne. Although

Billy and Mandy was funnier. I mean, the character

of Billy is just so hilarious and silly. But

there was one time, because Frank Welker, I was

the disembodied brain of an evil mastermind.

that was attached to a dancing circus bear voiced

by Frank Welker. And, of course, Boskov, the

bear, didn't talk. He just made bear sounds,

which Frank is amazing at. And I remember after

one record, Frank was saying, oh, gosh, everybody

here is so funny. We should do an improv episode

where everybody just gets to, you know, really

just play. And then they did it. You know, we

came in one day and Adam said, guess what? We're

doing Frank's improv episode. And I turned to

look at Frank's like, oh, great. Yeah, it's fine

for you. All you got to do is grunt and growl.

The rest of us actually have to make up shit.

But there was one beat in the improv episode.

Because what they gave us was a sheet with basically

this is a scene where these. these three things

happen and then there's another scene where these

three things happen and then we would just make

everything up within that context and i remember

at one point uh hector concarni says something

to boscov like boscov why don't you and it was

like this long like juggle that chainsaw while

running around the base of the tree and doing

the tumbling act like some long series of things

that the bear had to do And, you know, normally,

because I'm an improviser, normally you don't

do that because that's fuck you improv. That's

labeling your partner with something that is,

if not impossible, incredibly difficult to do.

But I felt okay about it because Bear doesn't

talk. All he has to do is, like, make some grunts

and groans. But then Frank Welker proceeds to

make a series of Bear sounds. that sound exactly

like what I had laid out. He did the sound of

a bear juggling a chainsaw while running around.

I mean, everything I just laid out, he actually

made it sound like he was doing with nothing

but grunts and growls. And it was absolutely

just jaw -dropping. So would you say that jaw

-dropping explains Frank Welker and his awesomeness?

Almost. Because jaw -dropping explains his talent,

but it doesn't take into account the fact that

he's also one of the nicest, warmest, most genuine

people you will ever meet. So it's like if Einstein

was the quarterback and also the person who...

saved your life when you drove off the bridge

you know he's just like so many good things all

in one package right yeah there's usually somebody

who's that talented they make up for it in some

in lacking something else you know be it humility

or self -awareness or he's like well he's really

talented kind of a dick but you know but he's

he's all of it together and it's it's amazing

yes it is so amazing Kind of switching gears

here a little bit, you've been to some of the

various Comic -Con and fan conventions and stuff

like that. How do you feel about the conventions

themselves, and how do you feel about just fans

coming up to you and saying, oh, my God, I loved

you in this, or oh, my God, I loved you in that,

or whatever? How does that make you feel when

you're at these conventions? And do you go to

the conventions sometimes just for yourself,

or do you only go if you're asked to go? I have

a family and kids, so time is at a premium, so

I don't get to go just for fun. Although, I mean,

I would go to San Diego every year if time wasn't

a factor. And actually, I mean, I would like

to go to most of the comic book conventions because

I am a comic book guy. And, you know, getting

to meet the people whose work I've been reading

since I was a child is... Always just so much

fun. I remember a couple of years ago I got to

present at the Eisner Awards at Comic -Con and

I got to meet Jerry Robinson, the guy who co

-created the Joker. And it was just like, you

know, it was a fanboy moment. It was amazing.

And it's great getting to meet, you know, writers

and artists, you know, get a drawing every now

and again. And as far as meeting the fans, too,

that's always really fun. It's funny because

I didn't realize that it actually is work until

I went to the first convention. And at the end

of the day, I almost lost my voice. I'm like,

why am I tired? I've been sitting down all day.

And then you realize, no, you've been talking

for eight hours straight over the din of a convention

floor. Yeah. See, the funny thing for me is like

you're talking about sitting somewhere and just

talking for a long amount of period of time.

Last year's San Diego, I wasn't able to go, but

a couple other podcasters and I got together.

And as the news came in from the convention,

I sat through an entire and talked through an

entire six -hour podcast. Oh, wow. Covering what

the news was that came out of San Diego Comic

-Con last year. And wasn't it taxing? Honestly,

no. No? For me, I can – I don't know. For some

strange reason, I can sit here and I can podcast

and I can – as long as I have stuff I can talk

about, I can sit here for hours on end and just

do it. And you never get – I've never lost my

voice. Great. I've been podcasting since 2008.

With GeekCast Radio Network, we produce anywhere

from 5 to 12 podcasts, sometimes weekly, and

I'm a voice on most of them. I don't know. It's

something where I've never, ever lost my voice

in the last three and a half, four years. Right.

Well, I mean, no. It takes a lot to actually

lose your voice. Right. Although, I mean, honestly,

for most people, because it's funny, because

a lot of people will talk about voiceovers like...

I can do that. I talk all the time. Because we

do. All of us talk. The vast majority of us.

And it really does take a lot before you're even

aware of your voice. If you're screaming for

20 minutes, then you feel like, wow. Yeah, then

you feel it. I feel it. Generally, I've never

had an issue. in a animation session you know

we go four hours it's not a thing yeah um but

but yeah i remember that very first convention

just a lot of hey how are you and and i realized

after a while i'm like okay i'm gonna stand up

when people come because then we're talking face

to face as opposed to me sitting up at sitting

at a table and yelling up to you over the you

know Maybe next time I'll bring a microphone

and an amp. I think it would be easier just to

talk on a microphone. Hello. Hi. Thank you very

much for coming. I have to admit it is a funny

mental image of you with a giant bullhorn just

shaking people's hands. That's so awesome. The

only bad thing about the conventions for me is

because I do animation, And, you know, some of

it is for kids and you're out there signing and,

you know, it's twenty dollars for an autograph.

And there'll be a child who actually likes one

of the cartoons. And, you know, he doesn't have

20 bucks and he's just like, oh, hi, you know,

and just like, I'm sorry, it's work. That's that's

really the only downer. Getting to talk to people

and, you know, hear how this stuff is, you know.

positively affected their lives. I had one guy

at, we were at a con in Florida, and he was talking

about how, you know, he was in the Gulf, you

know, fighting, and he got to watch these animated

stuff, and, you know, the Justice League stuff

really meant a lot to him. You know, to have

that, to remind him of home, to ground him, and

also to have that heroic image just, you know,

helped him get through what he had to get through.

And that is something that when you're in a booth

recording words on a page, it would be very hard

to conceive of. Right, yeah. I don't know. I

enjoy the conventions. I went to an anime convention

once and felt very out of place because I don't

know anime. And it's funny because it sort of

made me feel like a civilian at Comic -Con. If

people go by in these bizarre costumes, if you

know that that's Cyclops, it makes sense. If

you don't know, if somebody comes by with a giant

key or something, you're like, wow, they put

a lot of work into that, and I have no idea what

it is. In doing research, I just searched your

name on YouTube, and it came up with... I don't

know, a convention from 2009 that you were at,

and it was somebody interviewing you. And I almost

thought, wow, it's going to be like they're interviewing

him, and all of a sudden, Maurice LaMarche pops

into frame. And it's like, oh, wow, it's like

impromptu voice acting session. I thought that

was so cool. What is some advice you could give

for people that want to get into voice acting

and stuff like that? That's a tough one because...

Everybody's path is different. I have friends

who started out as stage actors. I have friends

who started out as singers. Friends who started

out as recording engineers and found their way

into voiceover. Some people have really distinctive

voices. Some people have really great performing

skills. And it's about... strengthening your

weaknesses and accentuating your strengths, whatever

they are. So it's really hard to give general

advice. My Facebook fan page, because I get this

question a lot, and I've tried to turn the discussion

board into kind of a clearinghouse of information.

I've asked my friend Tommy Smeltzer, who started

out as an engineer and got into voiceover, he

says the... First piece of advice he gives anybody

is read out loud for an hour a day every day

for three weeks. Then come back to me. Right.

Which is really good advice because one, that

gets you used to using your voice. Two, hearing

your voice and reading. And the thing is, if

you're not reading that with any sort of... and

inflection and, you know, attitude and acting,

you're going to get bored way before you finish

that hour. So you're going to have to get good

in order to finish the exercise. And he said

he's never had anybody come back. But, you know,

and there are a few things. There's links to

Steve Bloom has something on his website. Dave

Mitchell, you know, Keith Ferguson, they all

have. you know their answers to that question

and i think uh the amalgamation of that knowledge

is better than any one of us giving our take

on it you know because getting five getting five

answers you know parts of each of those will

apply to you you know whoever you are and wherever

you're coming from right yeah are there any uh

Upcoming projects that you'd like to tease us

with that you're going to be working on, like

any new stuff that's in your world, whether it

be real live action or voice acting. Let's see.

We're doing more Clone Wars, more Futurama, more

Family Guy. For people who are in L .A., I'm

doing an improv show in April and May at the

Groundlings Theater called The Black Version.

which is a group of improvisers, myself, Gary

Anthony Williams, Jordan Black, Cedric Yarbrough

from Reno 911, Daniel Gaither from MADtv. We'll

take a suggestion of a classic or iconic movie

and then do the black version of it. And it's

been selling out. It's gone really well. It's

a really funny show. Very politically incorrect,

but a lot of fun. What else is going on? I'll

be... Huh. I think that's it. I just worked on

Jason Marsden's web series, Space Guys in Space.

Not sure when that's going to be posted. But

I believe... Gosh, I don't know if there are

more Avengers episodes coming or if there are

still more to air. And there should be, I think,

a few more Young Justice episodes that haven't

aired yet. Yeah, because you play Aquaman in

that. And Double X. And Double X. Okay, cool.

You mentioned your Facebook fan page. Is that

where people can interact with you online? Yeah.

Any other avenues online that people can? I'm

also on Twitter at Phil Lamarr. One long word.

Two L's in the middle, two R's at the end. Right.

I like that. Maybe you should stop talking about

Phil Lamar in the third person and just ask him

for the interview. That was your reply. Actually,

Mike, had you contacted me in the past? I had

contacted your agents through DPN. I had contacted

the people there. And they had said, we're sorry

at this time. Mr. Lamar just doesn't have time.

And I had sent you a couple of previous emails

to the... to your website address, and I just

find it funny because I was like, well, I just

finished recording the Static Shock episode,

and I really wish we could have gotten an interview

with Phil Lamarr, and well, here we are now.

Now we've got you. I know. Yeah, and I'm sorry

that the timing didn't work out right now. Yeah,

it's all right. We would like to thank Mr. Lamar

for taking the time to chat with us here in this

special interview. We will ask you to hold the

line and we will be back after this. Actual squirrels

in her pants. So there you have it, ladies and

gentlemen. Just slightly under an hour is the

actual interview clip time for Phil Lamarr. Yeah,

you take it, dude. Yeah, it was awesome. Besides

technical difficulties, it was an amazing opportunity

to talk to this icon of animation acting. Yeah,

it was just, you know, it's like I said on the

Jason Morrison interview, which you weren't on,

but hopefully you'll go back and listen to. I

love it when I can just sit here and just kind

of, you know, listen to stories of what, you

know, the person has done. And Phil was so, so

gracious. So, so awesome to have him. Yeah, to

have him dedicate some of his time to us, very,

very cool guy to talk to. I would love to meet

him in person, but just being able to talk to

him, it's so, so well done. You have any other

thoughts other than squeeing like an emotional

fanboy? Yeah, I actually kind of want to see

him at San Diego Comic Con. Get him a bullhorn.

Ah, yeah. That would be so awesome. But, yeah,

he's so... He seemed very laid back and very

awesome. Yeah, he's very, very cool. And, yeah,

I mean, you know, right now it's just so, so

awesome to... To talk to him, and yeah. So I

think that's going to do it for this interview.

Like I said in the intro to the interview, you're

going to hear this on ToonCast's RSS feed and

on the Secret Origins RSS feed as well. And that's

it for now. I am TF2 and Mike, and you are? Lupus

Convoy. Until next time. Ah, you must be the

new mechanic. Right. Gil Cooper. No matter. So,

Gil, if you're a mechanic, I suppose you know

how to change a Loran sensor on a Cessna 402.

What's the matter, Gil? You don't know how, do

you? Well, sure. You reach behind the altimeter

and feel for the metal Y connector. Unplug the

left side, find the blue wire, thread it to the

new sensor housing, reseal the base unit, plug

in the test coordinates, and you're in business.

The blue wire? Hi, I'm Phil Lamar, voice of Green

Lantern and Justice League, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network.