Interviews – Tom Kenny

Hello Discerning Podcast listeners, this is Tom

Kenney and you are listening to the GeekCast

Radio Network. This is Transformation Animation

Podcast and ToonCast Beyond. This is a special

crossover interview. I am TFG1Mike and joining

me is PeaconCourtMichael. Hello. Hey, how's it

going? It's going. How are you, sir? I'm hanging

in there. Yes, and we are about to talk to, well,

the 90s version of Frank Welker to Mr. Tom Kenny.

When we both looked at his IMDb, our jaws dropped.

How are we going to ask this guy a bunch of questions

because he's been in literally everything since

1990? He's been in a lot of stuff. It's insane.

And we're looking at this and just being overwhelmed.

Yes. It was very overwhelming. So, yes, up next

you will hear the incomparable Tom Kenny. Greetings,

former Decepticons. This is Starscream, and you're

listening to Transformation Animation Podcast.

Hello, and welcome to a crossover interview between

Transformation Animation Podcast and ToonCast

Beyond. I am one of your hosts, TFG1 Mike. Joining

me is Peacock Court Michael. Hello, sir. Hey,

how's it going? It's going, and joining us here

on the GeekCast Radio Network is the one, the

only, Tom Kenny. Hi, Tom. How are you? Hi, Mike

and Michael. I'm the guy whose name is not a

variant of Michael. How are you? Very well. How

are you, sir? I'm doing fantastic. Awesome. Yeah,

it's so weird. I've told people, like, the last

week, I've told people here and there, like,

I'm talking to Tom Kenny on Thursday night. They're

like, who? SpongeBob. Are you serious? You're

talking to SpongeBob? What the? Well, I think

it's very telling that when you say a voice actor's

real name, people go, who? But when you go, Homer

Simpson, people go, oh, yeah, I like Homer Simpson.

I didn't know the other guy. And that is, for

me, the beauty of voice acting. You get to voice

these characters that are iconic and famous and

all that stuff without – without any of that

drag -down stuff that goes along with the whole

fame thing. Yes. Before we get started, can you

give us the scoop on what's going on in the world

of Tom Kenny? Any upcoming projects you care

to reveal or pimp out? Wow, what's going on in

the world of Tom Kenny? I didn't realize that

I was my own world. Most voice actors are. Let's

see. I just got home from doing SpongeBob. The

kids are just going to bed. SpongeBob continues

to barrel along. Let's see. What else is coming

out that people might not know about? I'm Dr.

Octopus in the upcoming Ultimate Spider -Man

animated series. I'm Zelias Zox, who's a bad

guy, in the upcoming Green Lantern animated series

from Bruce Timm. Probably doing more Winnie the

Pooh stuff. I do Rabbit for Winnie the Pooh that

just began this year for Disney. And continue

to be the Ice King on Adventure Time for Cartoon

Network. Awesome. And then there's some other

stuff that I'm probably not thinking of, but

when it hits me, I'll suddenly yell out and interrupt

whatever question you're asking. Oh, yeah, I

forgot. I'm also this guy. Wow, that's awesome.

There's all that stuff that you're not allowed

to say. Nondisclosure just allows it. Yeah, which

I'm not good at not saying stuff. I'm really

good at saying stuff, but not so good at not

saying stuff. Yeah, we got into trouble with

Maurice LaMarche. He revealed that he was going

to be Mr. Freeze in Arkham City, and apparently

he wasn't supposed to say that right then and

there at the time. Well, you know, it's funny.

Like, I guess, you know, I always ask the companies

because, you know, they get weird. You know,

you weren't supposed to say that until such and

such a date. But, you know, the bottom line is,

who cares? You know, it's like, you know, it's

not like the game is going to sell any more.

Maurice LaMarche is Mr. Freeze. That's it. I'm

finished with this game. Well, no, it's not even

that. It's the fact that we asked him a question,

he gave us an interesting answer, and he mentioned

Mr. Freeze. I asked him a follow -up question,

can you give us a sample of the voice? And that's

when he said, I don't think I'm allowed to do

that. As soon as we released the interview, the

internet was abuzz because of our... It's like

we broke the story that, oh my God, Mr. Freeze

is in the second Batman Arkham Asylum game. Wow.

See, now I'm frantically going back and going,

yeah, I think all the stuff I mentioned is already

in the pipeline. So I think I'm okay. Like for

a while, the Spider -Man thing was under wraps,

and now I think it's okay to talk about that.

Awesome. You know, it usually depends on if there's

been a major Comic -Con recently and how long

ago it was. That's when they announced that stuff.

Right. Very cool. So to get things started, can

you tell us where you're from and how you got

started in voice acting? I'm not allowed to talk

about any of that. No, I'm kidding. I am from

Syracuse, New York, right in the smack dab in

the center of New York State. Many hours from

show business or Manhattan or anything resembling

a career in entertainment. And yeah, that's where

I'm from. What was the other one? How I Got Started?

Right, right. So how did you get from Nowhereville

to SpongeBob? Yeah, my career path has been kind

of elliptical and strange. I started out doing

stand -up comedy and playing in rock and roll

bands and things like that in Syracuse and doing

sketch comedy with my… lifelong childhood friend,

Bobcat Goldplate, who I met when we were six

years old. And we were in grammar school together

from first grade on, high school together, and

kind of had this shared interest in comedy, stand

-up comedy and sketch comedy and all that, and

being in high school in the mid to late 70s.

right when snl and fctv and all that stuff was

just getting going and we were very excited by

that and that that was a game changer for both

of us we decided that that was that was what

we wanted to do and i also had this added weird

layer of being obsessed with voice acting in

cartoons and mel blank and stan freeberg and

june foray and paul freeze and not the mr freeze

that uh maurice lamarche wasn't supposed to talk

about but paul freeze and uh that you know it

all kind of uh coalesced you know i wound up

i wound up moving to boston massachusetts and

doing stand -up and then san francisco uh for

you know i made a living as a stand -up comedian

for for many years uh tried to break into the

whole voiceover world and then finally in the

early 90s did a show called rocko's modern life

that was a nickelodeon show and an early nick

tune just just after ren and stimpy and wound

up really loving that and wanting to do more

of that and kind of straddled the world of voiceover

and on -camera stuff. I did a few seasons of

an HBO comedy series called Mr. Show with Bob

and David that had Dave Cross and Bob Odenkirk

in it. Just before that, a show called The Edge

that was a short -lived sketch show on Fox that

had Jennifer Aniston when she was still doing

Leprechaun 2. Wayne Knight, and the woman that

later became my wife, Jill Talley. And around

that time, voiceover was starting to be a little

bit of my work life, and I wanted to do whatever

I had to do to make that the lion's share of

my work life just because – well, two reasons

really. I enjoyed it more and thought that –

I was better at that than I was at on -camera

stuff. And despite, you know, having a fair amount

of work on camera, I just liked it. I just thought

the voiceover stuff was a better use of my skill

set or whatever. I just felt more comfortable

at it. And, yeah, before then, during the third

season of Mr. Show, SpongeBob became a pilot,

and then Doug Greenlit is a series. And, you

know, all this other stuff was kind of going

on at the same time, you know, different cartoon

series from different places, Powerpuff Girls

and CatDog and, you know, a lot of different

stuff. So, you know, it's kind of like being

a session musician. You just kind of show up

with your drumsticks and do whatever they tell

you to do. Yep. Yeah, I mean, voice acting is,

you know, it's the best job in the world. You

can go in there in your pajamas and just use

your voice. You don't even have to dress up.

It is. In the spirit of full disclosure, I have

to say that I have never worn my pajamas to work.

But I guess theoretically, one could wear their

pajamas. If I wanted to wear my night before

Christmas sleep cap and carry a candle on a little

plate into work, I think I could. I mentioned

the exact same thing in another interview with

Jason Marsden, and the very next day he went

into the new Thundercats series. He went into

that voice cast and took a picture. It was him

in a T -shirt and pajama pants just because I

mentioned it in an interview. Oh, my God. That

is so funny. That is so funny. Well, that's what

people – they go, wow, you can wear your pajamas.

You don't have to shave. Translation. you can

look as shitty as you want and still work. Just

as a point of pride, I try to be the best -dressed

voiceover guy out there. I actually try to be

kind of stylish. Out of all the characters you

have played over the years, what are some of

your favorites? Well, Starscream was on a show

called Transformers Animated. I don't know if

you guys have heard of that one or whatever.

I'm kidding. And, you know, it's always fun to

play bad guys. SpongeBob, of course, is right

up there with me. The first character that I

got to play was a character called Heifer on

a show called Rocco's Modern Life. And like we

talked about before, an early Nickelodeon tune.

And he was really... fun and funny, kind of the

bullwinkle, you know, the dumb bullwinkle kind

of sidekick to the main character of Rocco. And,

you know, they're all fun in their own way. I

have to say, when I think about stuff that I've

done on camera, so much of it was just kind of

like boring or unpleasant or uncomfortable or

a drag. And with voiceover, I'd be hard -pressed

to think of a gig That wasn't at least a little

bit of fun. You know what I mean? Like the worst

day you have doing voiceover, I always say, is

still better than the best day you ever had doing

some day job that you hate. When people start

complaining about voiceover, I'm like, dude,

shut up. You're making funny voices and they're

giving you money. Stop complaining. And the union

says that the sessions can only be four hours

long, so shut the F up, okay? Can't be that bad.

Yeah, exactly. How bad could it be? You're hanging

out with funny, weird, creative people making

funny voices and having a good time. So you mentioned

Transformers Animated, and we love us some Transformers

Animated. Yeah, I do too. I enjoyed that show.

Let's talk about that a little bit if we could.

What did that go? Three seasons? Three seasons,

yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's okay. So I'm not completely

senile yet. It's funny. Sometimes people look

at my resume and just go, wow. It's like we printed

out your resume and killed 25 trees. I know.

You've done a lot of stuff. We looked at it and

it was like our jaws just dropped. How are we

going to come up with questions for him that

fit 30 minutes? Wow. Especially with his tendency

to give run -on sentences that just go on and

on to every question. Transformers was really

fun because although... I'm a little bit old

to be, like, a first -generation Transformers

kid. You know what I mean? Like, I was born in

62, so Transformers was a little late for me.

I have a younger brother that's 10 years younger

than me that was kind of more that wave. Right,

yeah. Time -wise. But, you know, it was fun.

You know, it was one of those things. I mean,

pretty much every... series that you go in for,

no matter how many shows you're working on, you

still have to audition. And you go in there and

they say, we want you to read for this guy and

this guy and this guy. And for me, that was Starscream.

And I said, do you want it to sound like any

of the previous Starscreams? I know there have

been a lot of other Transformers series. Should

I woodshed with this stuff and try to voice match

this stuff? And they said, no. No, don't worry

about that. You know, just your take on the character.

Yeah, your take on the character. Okay, which

was kind of freeing for me because I suck at

impressions. And much to my surprise, I wound

up getting Starscream. And on any show like that,

they wind up kind of just, you know, just on

the fly, like auditioning you for a bunch of

other stuff as it's going on. So, you know, hey,

Jeff Bennett, take it. could you take a shot

at this guy? Okay, now Tom, could you take a

shot at this guy? Now Bumper Robinson, could

you take a shot at this guy? Okay, we like Jeffs

or we like Toms or, yeah, we think Bumper's the

best for that guy. So, you know, I wound up playing

Starscream and also Sumdack and Scrapper and

Skywarp. A lot of stuff on that one. Yeah, you

played all the clones except for the final clone.

Yes, yes, it was really fun. And my favorite

character, you know, on that show with some back,

like, like I just, I just love the idea of this

guy that just found Megatron's head laying around

and, uh, used his hand for a chair. Yes, exactly.

You did that for a chair and kind of reverse

engineered it so that he became kind of a captain

of industry. Speaking, you know, speaking of

Steve jobs and those guys, uh, you know, you,

and I always thought that made him, a really

interesting character with this empire of his

was founded on this secret that he was a little

ashamed of and didn't want anyone to find out

about. It's like as if Einstein had somebody

whispering in his ear that wasn't Einstein. You

know what I mean? That made him a very interesting

character to me. Were there any other characters

besides Starscream and Sundack that you maybe

read for that you wanted to get, other than those

two? Wow, that's a good question. And keep in

mind that this series was a few years ago. I

do remember... Like, what would a Tom Kenny version

of Optimus Prime from that show be? You know,

I knew that I probably wasn't right for those,

but you know what? I do remember wanting to be

the cop with Fanzone. Yeah, Fanzone, yeah. Yeah,

Fanzone. I remember wanting to be that guy just

because I always wanted to be a cop. You know

what I mean? I love – or play a cop, I should

say, not be a cop. I love Dragnet and Adam -12

and all those goofy old cop shows. And I just

thought it would be really fun to play the put

-upon policeman. But another one of the great

things about voiceover is that when – You know,

you're playing with guys like Billy West and

Jeff Bennett and Corey Burton and, you know,

guys like that. It's, you know, Maurice LaMarche.

You know, the bar is so high that when you lose

out to one of those guys, you don't feel that

bad. Exactly. You know what I'm saying? It's

like, yeah, okay, so, you know, what can I say?

You know. You know, Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth beat

me in a game of baseball. You know, boo -hoo.

Darn. Hey, we love to hear background, you know,

funny stories about voice actors just being goofy

behind the mic. What can you tell us about the

time you met Weird Al Yankovic on the show? Oh,

great. Yeah, Weird Al. He was on the show. Yeah,

yeah, yeah. I remember that. He played Rek...

Rekgar. Rekgar. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know...

I've known Weird Al for years. He's a friend

of mine, and I always love working with him.

He's one of the sweetest, nicest guys in show

business. That's across the board. Nobody's got

a bad story about Weird Al. It's kind of disappointing.

Anytime you get to work with Weird Al, he was

a Mr. Show fan, and my wife had done his... live

action Saturday morning series. I'm actually

on his latest album. He has a song called TMZ,

and I am the irritating TMZ announcer guy that's

kind of heard throughout the guitar break on

that song. So he's great. One thing I remember

from Weird Al being on that show is that at the

time we recorded that episode, my son, who is

now almost 14, was in the midst of an intense

Weird Al fan phase. And him and his friends were

all super, super into Weird Al because of Stuck

in the Drive -Thru and all of those things that

were, whatever that last album was before this

current one. And they thought he was a new guy.

Like they went, oh, dad, there's this really

funny song by this guy, Weird Al Yankovic. You've

got to hear it. The video is really funny. And

I said, yeah, that's Weird Al. I know Weird Al.

You know Weird Al? Yeah. Yeah. I've known him

for a long time. He's really sweet. So that's

what the story is. No, I'm sorry to interrupt

you. No, I've heard the story over the years

that. When Weird Al came in, it was you that

kind of freaked out about it, but it wasn't you.

It was your son that freaked out. No. Well, exactly.

Exactly. So what happened was my kid and all

his friends are crazy for Weird Al. Now, at this

point, I haven't yet told them that I know Weird

Al. I'm keeping it under my hat. But I know that

Weird Al is going to come in and do an episode

of Transformers. I still haven't told them that

I know him. That comes later. So I said, hey,

you guys want to go to a Transformers recording

session with me? And they're like, yeah, sure,

you know, okay. And all the way there they were

talking about Weird Al and have you heard this

song and blah, blah, blah. And I said, can you

guys imagine meeting Weird Al? And they said,

oh, my God, I don't know what I would say. I

would be so freaked out. He's so genius and blah,

blah, blah. And I said, yeah, yeah, you know.

And knowing full well that when we walk into

this recording studio, Weird Al is going to be

there. Yeah. So I brought my son and a couple

of his friends, and when they walked in, and

I just introduced them around the room. This

is Sue Blue. She's the voice director, and this

is David Kaye. He plays Optimus Prime and all

these actors and engineers and animators. Oh,

and this is Weird Al. He's sitting in the back

on the couch, and their jaws just hit. They couldn't

see. speak they started hyperventilating they

freaked out it was one of those perfect storms

because they had no idea that i knew weird al

because i was keeping it secret and they also

he was the last guy that they were expecting

to see and they talked about him the whole ride

to cartoon network like just organically they

were talking about this and that and weird al

and they you know so yeah they wigged out they

wigged out it was really fun and and alice so

you know him and i just did uh We did some stuff

on the Batman Brave and Bold series on Cartoon

Network recently, and I got a chance to see him

again at the wrap party for that, and he's just

– there's nobody like him. He's just a really,

really nice and super talented guy, like deserves

everything, works his butt off, super talented,

and what can you say? Awesome. So shortly after

Animated went off the air, you got involved with

the Transformers live -action movies, starting

with Orange of the Fallen, playing Wheelie and

Skids. We've got a few questions. That was one

of those things where I went in on an audition

at Bay Films in Santa Monica. The auditions happened

right there. And I said, will it help me? Should

I tell them that I was on the Transformers animated

series? series like maybe that would help like

if they know I'm already part of Transformers

world and my agent said no no no no don't it

doesn't no don't don't don't even go there just

go in and audition as a completely new person

you know and I don't know what their thinking

was on that but so I went in just you know the

usual thing just looked at a picture of the character

read some stuff and you know As always, I was

rather surprised when they called me back to

do some more and was even more surprised when

they walked me. Usually when you audition for

stuff, you're not meeting the main guy. You know

what I mean? There's layers and layers of underlings

and lackeys that you're dealing with before you

ever get the gig. But when I went back for the

callback… Wow, Michael Bay is actually running

the callback. That's him. There's like two people

here, and one of them is Michael Bay. That's

amazing. And he's a very hands -on guy, and that

was kind of unusual and kind of speaks to his

working method of just being very, very involved

of every aspect of it straight down the line.

Micromanaging. Did he actually tell you how to

play that one? What's that? Did he tell you how

to play that one? Again, micromanaging. Or was

that something you came up with? Oh, no. He's

waiting to hear. So much of voice acting is just

running through a whole bunch of variations.

until you finally hit on the thing that the guy

in charge is hearing in his head. And when he

hears it, he goes, yes, yes, that. And then he

directs you further. So, you know, yeah, this

may come as a surprise to you, but Michael Bay

was very, very opinionated and knew exactly what

he wanted. I can imagine. Go figure, right? So

there was a lot of controversy. No, he was great.

Yeah, there was a lot of controversy over the

urban qualities that were attributed to Skids

and the Autobot brothers. Yeah, I guess when

you say urban, you mean the euphemism for black,

right? Well, you know, black hillbilly, people

who can't read in general. I don't want to point

any fingers, but when you're reading for this,

were you like, what? I mean, what did you think

of this while you were reading for Skids? Yeah,

for skids. You know, that actually happened in

the sessions where he said, hey, you want to

do some – it was actually almost like a scratch

thing where myself and the other actor, Reno

Wilson, who's an African -American – I'm a hillbilly.

He's an African -American. And he said these

are robots that have been obsessed with – They're

picking up these signals from pop culture, and

their particular obsession is gangster rap like

Bad Boys 2. That's their thing. And I said, okay,

cool. Yeah, we can do that. And that was it.

At first I thought it was just kind of a placeholder

until they found it. the real guy that was going

to be doing that. And then, uh, then it turned

out that, uh, no, me and, uh, me and Reno were,

we're really, really doing it. So we did it.

And, uh, you know, three people got upset for

five minutes and then, uh, and then Michael Jackson

died and it all went away. That's true. Like

I remember when it, you know, I was shocked that

people were so, uh, That it was controversial

at all. I'm like, are you kidding me? This is

the most egregious thing happening today? You've

got to be kidding me. And I was like, wow. And

Reno, I remember talking to Reno, and he was

going, what? He couldn't believe it either because

his thought was that hip -hop culture long ago

transcended color lines. And if you go into an

Asian neighborhood, there's Asian wannabe gangsters.

And if you go into a white neighborhood, there's

white wannabe gangsters in Beverly Hills. And

these guys were very much wannabe gangsters.

They weren't real Crips and Bloods. They're gigantic

robots that have been watching Bad Boys 2 one

too many times. And to me, that was a valid place

to go. And okay, when you're a voiceover actor,

you're pretty much a tool in the box of the guy

in charge, whether that guy is Steven Hillenburg

or Michael Bay or Craig McCracken or Gendy Tartakovsky

or whoever it is, you know, you're, you're a

color in, or a, you know, a colored pencil in

their box and you're just going, okay, whatever,

whatever you guys want. That's what I'm, you

know, that's my, my job is to, my job is to facilitate

what you guys are, are hearing. And literally

the next day, Michael Jackson passed away, and

I think that kind of made this other showbiz

story about the gangsta wannabe robots seem like

the puny and unimportant thing that it truly

was all along. Yeah. A buddy of mine, Paul, who

is a huge fan of Transformers in general, he

basically told me that I have to ask you this

question. Skids was written out of the third

film. Before that happened, did you record any

lines for Dark of the Moon, the third film? As

Skids? Yes. Was Skids the guy that I was? Yeah.

Okay. You know, I don't know. I think maybe there

was like a couple of things where they were like

in a crowd scene or something. But again, this

stuff, like, you know, you just kind of, it's

kind of one stop on a day where you're going

to like six different places and doing crazy

voices. But yeah, I think there was probably,

you know, there wasn't any, I guess, you know,

if the question is, are there any big skids scenes

on the cutting room floor? No. Yeah. Well, I

think the thing was is Michael Bay had promised

that Skids and Mudflap would not appear in the

movie, although there's photographs of them on

the set. And so people were like, oh, maybe there

was something going – some shenanigans. Maybe

they were in the movie and they were cut. It

would be interesting to hear from the voice actor.

By the time the robot voices come into the movie,

all that stuff is such a done deal. You know

what I mean? The movie's been shot. Everything

is practically done. There's no lip flap on the

robot, so you're free to play around to a certain

degree. But yeah, the dumb voice actor is certainly

not privy to any of those. backroom decisions

that responsible adults are making. We're too

busy dicking around and having fun. Well, let's

talk about Wheelie. I mean, Wheelie's a fun character.

Tell us how you came into his voice. Well, again,

in that session at Bay Films with Michael, Michael

just said, you know, this guy's kind of like

a Joe Pesci kind of guy. And, okay. Well, okay.

I think I can do something akin. Joe Pesci has

a robot, so we did. So much of this stuff, whether

it's Powerpuff Girls or Foster's Home from Engineering

Friends or whatever, is a creator going, this

is what I want you to sound like, and then you

do it, and they go, great, cool, you got the

gig. Sometimes that's kids too, so it's whatever

you do. It's a bit up in the air, but did Wheelie

and Brains really die in the movie? Boy, I guess

only the editor knows for sure. Yeah. Yeah, that

was one of those things that I walked out of

the screening going, am I dead? You know, I don't

know. I guess if I get a call in a couple of

years, I'll find out. Like so much of this stuff

is out of your hands. You just do it, and then

you go, wow, Michael laughed. Okay, I guess he

liked that one. And then you get into your Prius,

and he gets into his Maserati, and you both drive

home. Nice. Well, so suffice to say, Wheelie

won't be coming back in Transformers 4. You know,

I don't know. I'm cool with it. Yeah, I've got

– I'll totally stand by anything that I've ever

done. But yeah, probably in the interest of just

not creating a shitstorm, they should – yeah,

why bother? Why bother? Well, you could do zombie

wheelie. That would be cool too. Yeah, there

you go. Would you be up for more Transformers

roles if they came along? Oh, God. The word no

is not in my vocabulary. So wait a second. You're

going to be the next season My Little Pony villain?

You know what? Anytime. Anytime, absolutely.

Of course. I would love that. I think they use

mostly Canadian actors. But a lot of that My

Little Pony show was – … formed by Lauren Faust,

who did a lot of stuff on Powerpuff and did a

lot of stuff on Foster's Home for American Friends

– or Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. So

as a parent of a kid who likes My Little Pony,

I'd be all over that. It sounds fun to me. Nice.

Well, we just talked to David Kaye not too long

ago, and he had said that he was up for a… a

role in Transformers Prime. And this is another

guy who has been in Transformers and has worked

with Frank Walker. Oh yeah, he's been a part

of the Transformers world for a long time, yeah.

Yeah, so the question becomes, is that something

that you might have in the cards for yourself?

Well, I haven't heard anything. Again, I love

doing all kinds of shows. One of the things that

I really enjoy about my job is that You know,

one day you're doing, you know, My Little Pony

type stuff, and then the next day you're doing

something really educational, and then the next

day you're doing some really straight, you know,

network promos. It's the most anticipated new

show of the season, you know, all that kind of

stuff. And then you go and do Spongebob, and

then you go and do, you know, some theme park

ride, and then, you know, it's always different.

So, you know, for somebody like me that gets

bored really fast, it's the perfect gig. Sure,

I love Transformers world and, you know, the

Spongebob connection is that Bill Fagerbakke

that does Patrick Starr on Spongebob was Bulkhead

on the Transformers animated show. Right, right.

But yeah, I love, it was a great, you know, anytime,

anytime they want me to do Transformers, I'm

there. It was a great cast. Corey, you know,

Corey Burton is the voice actor's voice actor.

You know, he's... That's an interview we would

love to get. Yeah, Corey's mysterious. He's a

mysterious genius. He's great. I love working

with him. He goes back all the way to the G1

Transformers. He does, yeah. I believe he was

Ratchet and Megatron in the Transformers animated

show that I was on. One of the fun things about

the voice acting world is that there's... a fairly

finite number of people that do it all the time.

So you get to know people really well. So when

you walk into a show like Transformers Animated

and you're working with Tara Strong, who played

Sari, and Jeff Bennett, Corey Burton, you know,

Fager Bakke, Bumper Robinson, you know, it's

like old home week. And, you know, people like

Matt. with youngberg matt youngberg who i'd worked

with on the batman because i was the penguin

on batman and i did a lot of stuff on teen titans

and derrick wyatt was uh you know did a lot of

the designs for that show and he had done stuff

on i believe teen titans as well as foster's

home for imaginary friends and it um you know

it uh it's it's a very comfortable world you

know if you uh got what it takes to stick around

it for a little while, you'll work with the same

nice people over and over again. And I actually

count everybody that I've met that I worked with

on that show as a friend. Nice. Well, you're

best known for your role as SpongeBob SquarePants.

So I'd like to talk to you about that a little

bit. I'm getting all fanboyish all of a sudden.

Oh, cool. Michael is married. He's got two boys.

And before we started this interview, Michael

was putting his boys to bed, and they were using

SpongeBob SquarePants toothpaste. Oh, great.

It's like, wow, sponge flavor. Now with extra

sponginess. It's like, wait, isn't SpongeBob

full of holes? I don't think you want to be using

toothpaste. It's the toothpaste that actually

causes cavities. Wow. So how did you get involved

with SpongeBob? Was it because of Rocco's Modern

Life, or how did that come about for you? Yes.

Steven Hillenburg was the creative director on

Rocco's Modern Life, my first job in animation,

his first job in animation, and really a whole

lot of... people's first job in animation it

was one of those petri dish shows that that you

know everybody that worked on that show wound

up kind of going on to to other things and kind

of having a fairly long uh you know a lifespan

in animation and um yeah guys that i work with

every day on a number of different shows are

all guys that started out with uh on rocco Awesome.

So where did the voice for SpongeBob come from?

Did it take you a while to get it down? No, like

all these guys that we're talking about, whether

it's Pendleton Ward, the creator of Adventure

Time, or Michael Bay, or any of these guys, Steve

had a very clear idea of what he wanted SpongeBob

to sound like. And once I dialed it in, he was

like, yes, that's it. Don't try anything else.

That's it. That's it. That's what I'm hearing.

Perfect. That's the guy. And we've got it. And

when it came time to do the pilot and then for

the pilot to become a series, he went to bat

for me with the brass at Nickelodeon and said,

this is the guy. I don't need to hear anybody

else. Don't audition any other actors. I don't

need to hear people that are on sitcoms or whatever

or movie stars. This guy laughs like Spongebob,

cries like Spongebob, sings like Spongebob, ad

-libs like Spongebob. We're done with Spongebob.

Now we need to cast these other characters that

Spongebob hangs out with, and I appreciated that

very much. Nice. Awesome. Now Spongebob says

some off -the -wall things. So have you ever

been surprised by a line in the script? You know,

pretty much every week. It's like there's something

when you're reading the storyboard that is so

random and so bizarre that you go, oh, okay,

that's weird. I like it. Weird is good. Let's

see. Are you surprised as far as how popular

SpongeBob has gotten? I mean, it's like a worldwide

phenomenon now. Yes, I guess the short answer

to that is that I was – first of all, I'm surprised

that it got so popular, and second of all, I'm

surprised that it's stayed so popular. I don't

know why or what the science of that is, if any,

but it's a very unusual phenomenon where – you

know, something stays on the air for so long.

And SpongeBob, you know, oddly, but thankfully,

is getting higher ratings, you know, just keeps

getting higher and higher ratings, like it's

doing better now than it ever has in terms of

numbers. So it's pretty crazy. And I just did

an episode of Futurama last week, and David X.

Cohen, you know, one of the main dudes on Futurama,

told me that I started doing guest stuff on Futurama

in 1999, which was the year SpongeBob went to

series. And he said, you realize that only three

shows that were around in 1999 are still on the

air, and it's Family Guy, Futurama, and SpongeBob.

I was like, wow, okay, cool. I work for all three

of those guys. That's good. Okay, cool. I do

stuff for the Cleveland show sometimes. It's

surprising to all involved, I would say, and

very gratifying. I was traveling around Europe

this summer with my kids, and it's It's weird

to be in some mountain village in Italy and the

waitress that's waiting on you has a SpongeBob

shirt on. It's amazing. Every voice actor that

we've ever talked to has that story of, oh, I

was in a toy store here and I did the voice here.

And they're like, mommy, that's not SpongeBob.

Oh, yeah. I keep it very much like if I'm ever

any place and a kid has a SpongeBob shirt or

a SpongeBob toy or whatever, there's no way I'm

going to go up to that person and risk looking

like the creepy freak that's trying to talk to

your child. Do you like cartoons, Timmy? Like

Airplane. Do you like Gladiator movies, Billy?

It's kind of a quiet source of pride for me.

What types of characters do you like playing

better? Good guys, bad guys, serious characters,

funny characters? What is your favorite thing

to do for voice acting as far as character -wise?

You know, they're all fun. Like I said earlier,

there's... Very little of it feels like work.

I can count the sessions that I've done in 20

years on one hand where it actually felt kind

of laborious where you're going, Jesus. And a

lot of times that's commercials where you go,

man, I've said part of this good breakfast every

way that I know how to say it. We've done 999

takes of me saying part of this good breakfast.

I feel like I'm hitting a wall here, and I'm

really trying, and I can't – I don't know what

they want. But advertising is a little different,

but they're all fun. It's fun doing – it's really

fun doing the preschool stuff like Handy Manny

for Disney or Rabbit for Winnie the Pooh. And

it's – good guys are fun. Bad guys are – Funner.

You know, it's really fun just letting your evil

flag fly and being the bad guy. You know, I've

done, you know, Penguin for the Batman and, you

know, Zelia Zox currently for Green Lantern,

Doc Ock for Ultimate Spider -Man, like we said

earlier. And they're really, it's really fun

to just let that hang out, you know, like just.

Just go for it and be evil. I consider the Ice

King in Adventure Time to be every bit as weird

and creepy of a villain as Dr. Octopus. He's

a weird guy that kidnaps princesses and tries

to be friends with them. It's kind of cathartic.

I guess any actor that you talk to, we'll talk

about the liberating fun of just being a full

-on bad guy, and I first felt that way back in

1992 when I did the bad guy in Bobcat's film,

Shakes the Clown. Awesome. Yeah, there were a

couple times in animated where Starscream actually

screamed, and I'm like... Wow, dude. I wonder

if Tom lost his voice that day. Yeah, well, you

know, usually not. I mean, you know, I guess

there have been a couple of times where you've

got multiple sessions going on and they're all

screamers. But generally, you know, if you pace

yourself, you can, you know, most of these, you

know, adventure cartoons and... you know, are

pretty extreme. You know, there's very high highs

and very low lows. And a lot of the comedy is

like that, too. SpongeBob, you know, is very

high highs and very low lows. So, you know, I'd

be lying if I didn't say that sometimes it's

kind of nice, you know, kind of a relief to do

these, you know, to do one of these preschool

shows where there's no conflict and everybody's

really gentle and, you know, nobody ever fights

and you're just like, wow. You don't have a lot

of screaming with Rabbit, right? Well, I guess

of everyone in poo, he's probably the most likely

to scream because he's such a fuss budget. He

likes his garden a certain way and his kitchen

a certain way, and he doesn't like people dropping

in unannounced. So if anybody's going to scream

in the 100 -acre wood, it's him. But it's not

the same kind of primal. scream as Starscream.

Right. See, that would be a funny episode where

Rabbit loses it. Absolutely. And he does sometimes.

In this feature film that was out this summer,

there are a couple of scenes where Rabbit gets

pretty extreme. Let's change gears a little bit

and talk about one of my favorite subjects, toys.

Do you collect the toys from the characters that

you voice? I guess I definitely have the collector

mentality, but not toys, and definitely not toys

that I do the voice of. That's the last thing

I want in my house is stuff that sounds like

me. So yeah, I don't have anything. I collect

records. I collect rock and roll 45s and 78s

and blues and hillbilly music. Crazy stuff like

that and comic strip original art from 1920s

and 1930s comic strips. But in terms of stuff

that has a chip in it with my voice, no. Not

so much. I was going to say my boy loves Super

Hero Squad, and we have so many Iron Mans. That's

cool. Is there talking stuff with Iron Man? Well,

they don't have so much talk. Well, they do have

the helicarrier, and when you push the button,

it sings the theme song, which is awesome. Superhero

Squad. Yeah. We hear that day, and it gives me

nightmares. It really is. Oh, that's great. Well,

yeah, Superhero Squad was another one that was

really fun because, you know, as a kid that grew

up on comic books and superheroes and all that,

Stanley, Jack Kirby, you know, 60s. 70s stuff,

you know, it was starting to feel like superheroes

had been taken away from kids who really liked

superhero stuff and given to kind of, you know,

35 -year -old mouth breathers who, you know,

eat Cheetos while they type online. And it was,

you know what I mean? It was kind of like, I

remember when comic books were actually for kids

where a kid, could read a comic book, and a college

student could also read a comic book, and it

could be the same comic book, and there was something

in there for both of them. It was starting to

feel so, in the post -Dark Knight, the post -Frank

Miller world, it was starting to feel so freaking

nihilistic, and I was just so bored with nihilism.

It was kind of a great treat when they said,

hey, we're going to do a superhero sitcom. It's

like Fisher -Price versions of the Marvel superheroes.

Not literally Fisher -Price, but you know what

I mean? Little super deformed characters. Yeah,

little super deformed little super fetuses that

are kind of got a big head and big feet and they're

kind of squatty like those Star Wars ones. Like

those Star Wars ones that Hasbro puts out. Exactly.

Okay, great. And, you know, it was kind of fun

because I knew a lot of people with kids that

liked superheroes, but they couldn't go see the

latest Batman movie because... a pencil gets

shoved into a guy's eye socket. So it was kind

of fun to have, you know, to be a part of this

thing that kind of, you know, like I think all

these characters, you know, whether it's Transformers

or, you know, DC superheroes or Marvel superheroes

or whatever, you know, are strong enough characters

that you can do different versions of them designed

for different. Demographics, you know what I

mean? Like you can do a kid -friendly Iron Man,

and you can do a staring in the mirror while

he tries to fight off his alcoholism Iron Man.

And they're both valid, but you probably don't

want your four -year -old watching the – Going

to the AA – yeah, Tony Stark goes to the AA meeting

is probably not suitable for your five -year

-old boy who loves superheroes. So it was – that

was a really fun show, and it's always fun to

play the handsome good guy when you're a pot

-bellied late 40s dad. And it was kind of fun,

and you also got to be the guys on the other

side of the spectrum too. You got to be the evil

dudes too because I got to be MODOK and Juggernaut

and a whole bunch of other people on that show.

So you were able to be – it was great. You were

able to be the evil guys and the heroic guys

in the same script. So it was kind of scratching

both itches. We love that show. Tremble before

the might of MODOK. Yeah, I love that. That was

a really fun show. That was a really fun show,

and hopefully we'll get the opportunity to revisit

those characters again in some form somewhere.

Yes. Before we let you go, can you remind everybody

what you have coming up? Sure, and a lot of this

is stuff that I've not seen yet, but somebody

just emailed me from the Bruce Tim Green Lantern

Show and said that it's looking real good. I

play a guy called Elias Zox, who's a bad guy,

Doc Ock in the upcoming Ultimate Spider -Man,

and the Ice King in Adventure Time. And by the

way, the Adventure Time crew and cast will be

at the New York... Comic -Con in mid -October

in New York City, so hope to see a lot of you

guys there. And, yeah, continuing on doing some

rapid Winnie the Pooh stuff for Disney. And,

of course, SpongeBob is something that's never

-ending. And SpongeBob looks like it's got some

legs. You know, hopefully. I never take anything

for granted, but it looks like SpongeBob is going

to be around for a bit. It's still doing real

well. I just wrote a song that's going to be

in the 2012 Christmas holiday special for SpongeBob

called Don't Be a Jerk, It's Christmas. Keeps

on being fun. We would like to thank Mr. Kenny

for taking the time to chat with us in this special

Transformation Animation Podcast Tooncast Beyond

Crossover interview. We'll ask you to hold the

line, and we'll be back after this. Thank you,

Michael and Mike. Thank you. Ah, never before

have I seen a more impressive group of lethal

fighting machines. And pretty good -looking,

if I do say so myself. That pompous bag of bolts

Megatron won't know what hit him! He'll be crushed

in our wake! Us? Against Megatron? Are you insane?!

Huh? I think I just sprang an oil leak. Silence,

you fool. Megatron is a worthless pile of scrap

metal compared to my genius. Brilliant observation,

brilliant. But your genius pales in comparison

to the genius of our leader, the original Starscream.

I could listen to this one all day. What are

you talking about? I am the original Starscream.

Liar. I'm the original Starscream. I never said

I was the original Starscream. You just did right

now. No, I didn't. Yes, you did. No, I didn't.

Yes, you did. No, I didn't. Oh, haven't you figured

it out yet? He's a pathological liar. Each of

us clones represents one aspect of your personality.

He's a coward. He's an egomaniac. He's a suck

-up. He's a liar! I am not. So, which part of

me did you come from? Don't ask. Wow. Maybe that's

all I can say is wow at this point. Yeah, that

was a fun interview. That was very fun talking

to him. That was pretty awesome. You know, 10

years from now, you know, when Tom Kenny is the

actual Tom Kenny of the 2000s as opposed to being

the Frank Walker of the 90s. we can look back

on this and say, hey, we talked to that guy.

You know, it's going to be scary. Ten years from

now, when Spongebob is pushing its 21st, 22nd

season, and they're saying, you know, didn't

that show called The Simpsons run about this

long? don't go there don't even go there that's

all the discussion so yes uh thank you so much

to tom kenney for taking the time to talk with

us here on the transformation animation podcast

tooncast beyond crossover interview um for transformation

animation podcast we will be starting season

three soon and for tooncast beyond actually very

funny uh episode one of tooncast beyond season

one we'll start with funny enough the superhero

squad Awesome. Perfect timing for this. I've

seen the pilot, and lo, a pilot shall come. I've

seen it about five million times. Yes. So that's

it for us. We will see you next time. I am TFG1Mike,

and you are? PConCorpMichael. Goodbye, everybody.

See ya.