Interview with Tom Kenny on Voice Acting, SpongeBob, and Transformers

Hello, discerning podcast listeners. This is

Tom Kenny, 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 TFG1 Mike, and joining

me is Peek on Court Michael. 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 Hello and

welcome to a crossover interview between transformation

animation podcast and tune cast beyond I am one

of your hosts TFG one Mike joining me is peak

on court Michael. Hello, sir. Hey, how's it going?

It's going and Joining us here on the geek cast

or 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 they're 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. 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 Elias Zox, who's a bad guy in the upcoming

Green Lantern animated series from Bruce Tim.

Probably doing more Winnie the Pooh stuff. I

do rabbit for Winnie the Pooh that just began

this year for Disney and Continued 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, not

disclosure. Yes, 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, 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, you know, 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 a buzz because of our internet.

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 OK.

For a while, the Spider -Man thing was under

wraps, and now I think it's OK to talk about

that. Awesome. It usually depends on if there's

been a major Comic -Con recently and how long

ago it was, because 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 I Am from Syracuse,

New York writing a smack dab in the center of

New York State You know many many hours from

show business or Manhattan or anything resembling

a career in entertainment and And yeah, that's

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

got started? Yeah, right. So how do you get from,

you know, Nowhereville to SpongeBob? Yeah, my

career path has been, you know, 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 uh...

and we we were in grammar school together from

first grade on high school together and uh...

you know kind of had this shared interest in

comedy stand -up comedy and sketch comedy and

all that and uh... you know being in high school

in the in the mid to right when SNL and SCTV

and all that stuff was just getting going and

we were very excited by that and 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 Blanc and

Stan Freeberg and June Ferre and Paul Freeze

and not the Mr. Freeze that Maurice LaMarche

wasn't supposed to talk about but Paul Freeze

and That, you know, it all kind of coalesced.

You know, I wound up moving to Boston, Massachusetts

and doing stand -up and then San Francisco for,

you know, I made a living as a stand -up comedian

for many years, 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 Nicktoon

just after Ren and Stimpy and wound up really

loving that and wanting to do more of that and

you know kind of straddled the world of voiceover

and on -camera stuff I did 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 and just before that a show called The

Edge that was a short -lived sketch show on Fox

that had Jennifer Aniston and before you know

when she was still doing leprechaun too and Wayne

Knight and the woman that later became my wife,

Jill Talley. And around that time, a 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 having a fair

amount of work on camera, 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. All this

other stuff was going on at the same time. Different

cartoon series from different places. Powerpuff

Girls and Catdog and a lot of different stuff.

It's kind of like being a session musician. You

just show up with your drumsticks and do whatever

they tell you to do. Voice acting is 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 pajama 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. 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.

uh... kidding and uh... uh... you know it's always

fun to play bad guys uh... sponge bob of course

is right up there with me uh... the the first

character that i got to play with it with a character

called heffer on a show called rocko's modern

life and like we talked about before in early

nicolodian 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 and having a good time So you mentioned

Transformers animated, you know, and we love

us some Transformers animated. Yeah, I do too.

I like I enjoyed that show Let's talk about that

a little bit, if we could. Three seasons? Three

seasons, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's OK. 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, and

I'm like, wow. We looked at it and 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. 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 way. Right, yeah. Time -wise. But, you know,

it was fun. 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 You know, do you want it to sound

like any of the previous Starscreams? I know

there's been a lot of other Transformers series

should I? Woodshed with this stuff and you know

to try to voice match this stuff and they said

no No, don't worry about that. Just Just do your

own 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 on the fly

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 Jeff, so we like Toms, or

yeah, we think Bumper's the best for that guy.

So, you know, I want to play Starscream, and

also Sumdac, and Scrapper, and Skywarp. A lot

of stuff on that one. Yeah, you played all the

clones, except for the Funko clone. Yes, yes,

it was really fun, and my favorite character...

on that show with Sumdac. I just love the idea

of this guy that just found Megatron's head laying

around. He used his hand for a chair. Yes, exactly.

He used his head for a chair and kind of reverse

engineered it so that he became kind of a captain

of industry. Speaking of Steve Jobs and those

guys. 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 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 Sumdak 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 didn't... I knew that I probably wasn't right

for those. But you know what? I do remember wanting

to be the cop with Fanzone -y. Yeah, Fanzone,

yeah. Yeah, Fanzone. I remember wanting to be

that guy just because I always wanted to 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.

you know, you're playing with guys like Billy

West and Jeff Bennett and Cory Burton and You

know guys like that it's You know Maurice Lamar's

You know, it's the bar is so high that when you

lose out to one of those guys you don't feel

that bad 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 a wreck...

Wreck -gar. Wreck -gar. 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. And

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. I mean, 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 like,

you know, 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 they went out there this really funny somebody's

guy weirdo yankovic you got here at the video

is really funny and but i think that that's what

i i don't know you know we're now yeah yeah i

don't know what kind of you know so so that's

why the story is no i'm sorry to interrupt you

know i i've heard the story over the years that

When a 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 out now They know

at this point. I haven't yet told them that I

know weird out I'm keeping it and keeping it

under my hat, but I know that weird out I know

that weird Al is gonna come in and do an episode

of Transformers I still haven't told them that

I know him that's gonna bet comes later So I

said, hey, you guys want to go to a Transformers

recording session with me? And they're like,

yeah, sure. OK. 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. And

knowing full well that 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, you know, here's, you know,

this is Sue Blue, she's the voice director, and

this is David Kay, you know, he plays, he plays

Optimus Prime, and, you know, all these, all

these, you know, actors and engineers and animators,

and, oh, and that's, this is Weird Al, you know,

he's sitting in the back on the couch, and their

jaws just hit, they couldn't. 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.

So yeah, they wigged out. They wigged out. It

was really fun. And Al is so, him and I just

did... We did some stuff on the Batman brave

and bold a series on Cartoon Network recently

and you know I got a chance to see him again

at the rat party for that and he's just he's

just You know, there's no there's nobody like

him. He's just he's just a really really nice

and super talented guy like like You know like

like deserves everything works his butt off super

talented and You know, what can you say? Awesome

So Shortly after animated one off the air you

got involved with the transformers live -action

movies starting with the ruins of the fallen

playing wheelie and skids That was one of those

things where I went in an audition at my at Bay

films in Santa Monica, you know the auditions

happen right there and I said, you know, will

it help me should I tell them that I was on the

transformers animated 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 know 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

You know as always was rather surprised when

they called me back to do some more and Was even

more surprised when they walk me, you know, usually

when you audition for stuff You know, you're

not meeting The main guy, you know what I mean?

Like there's the layers and layers of underling

and 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. 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. It's micromanaging.

Did he actually tell you how to play that one?

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

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. Yeah,

there was there was a lot of controversy over

the urban qualities that were attributed to skids

And and the Autobot brothers, but yeah, I guess

when you say urban you have a euphemism for black,

right? Well, you know black hillbilly people

who can't read in general I and I don't want

to point any fingers but you know when you're

reading for this where you go like whoa I mean,

what did you think of this while you were while

you were? reading for skids Yeah, for skits.

You know, he said that actually happened in the

sessions where he said, he said, hey, you know,

you want to do some, you know, it was actually

like almost like a scratch thing, you know, where

myself and the other actor, Reno Wilfin, who's

an African -American, I'm a hillbilly, he's an

African -American, and, you know, he said these

are robots that have been, you know, obsessed

with that 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. And yeah, at first I thought

it was just kind of a placeholder until they

found... The real guy that was gonna be doing

that and then then it turned out that no me and

me and Reno We're we're really really doing it.

So We did it and you know, three people got upset

for five minutes and then and then Michael Jackson

died and it all went away That's true like I

remember when it for you know, I was shocked

that people were so 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. If you go into an Asian neighborhood,

there's Asian wannabe gangsters. If you go into

a white neighborhood, there's white wannabe gangsters

in Beverly Hills. 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 once too many times. To me, that was

a valid place to go. You're pretty much a tool

in the box of the guy in charge, whether that

guy is Stephen Hillenberg or Michael Bay or Craig

McCracken or Gindi Tartakovsky or whoever it

is. You're a color pencil in their box and you're

just going, okay, whatever you guys want. My

job is to facilitate what you guys are hearing.

You know, and literally, you know, the next day,

you know, Michael Jackson passed away. And I

think that was kind of, 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 get 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 mud flap would not appear in the movie

Although there, you know, there's there's photographs

of them on the set and so people were like Well,

maybe there was something going some shenanigans,

you know, maybe they were in the movie and they

were cut uh... you know the interesting you know

i said you know it's funny but by the time by

the time the robot voice is coming to the movie

like like you know all that stuff is such a done

deal you know i mean like it but the movie's

been shot you know uh... you know everything

is practically done there's no lip flap on the

robot so you're free to to to play around to

a certain degree but you know the other the dumb

voice actors certainly not uh... not privy to

any of those uh... backroom, you know, decisions

that responsible adults are making. We're too

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

talk about Wheely. I mean, Wheely is 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. to Joe Pesci

as your robot, so we did. So much of the stuff,

whether it's Powerpuff Girls or Foster's Home

for Imaginary 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

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

did wheelie and brains really die in the movie?

I guess only the editor 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 I guess if

I get a call in a couple of years. I'll find

out Like so much so much of this stuff is out

of your hands that you just you know You just

do it and then and then and then you know, you

know how Michael laughed. Okay, I guess you like

that one and then you Then then you know he you

get into your Prius and he gets into his Maserati

and and you drive home Well, so suffice to say

wheelie won't be coming back in Transformers

4 You know, I don't know, you know, I I'm cool

with it. Yeah, I've got you know, I've got You

know, I'll totally Stand behind anything that

I've ever done, you know, but but yeah, probably

Probably in the interest of just not creating

a shit storm. He they should Yeah, why bother?

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

wheelie. That would be cool, too Would you be

up for more Transformers roles if they came all

along? Oh God the word no is not in my vocabulary

So wait a second you're gonna be the next season

my little pony villain Any time Absolutely, of

course, you know, I would love that. I think

I use mostly Canadian actors, but you know a

lot of that my little pony show was you know

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 the parent of a kid

who likes My Little Pony, I'd be all over that.

It sounds fun to me. Nice. 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, you know, another guy who has been

in Transformers and has worked with Frank Walker,

Peter Cullen. 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, you know, I

love doing, you know, all kinds of shows. One

of the things that I really enjoy about my job

is that One day you're doing 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 network promos. It's

the most anticipated new show of the season,

all that kind of stuff. And then you go and do

Spongebob, and then you go and do some theme

park ride, and then it's always different. So

for somebody like me that gets bored really fast,

it's the perfect gig. sure i i love uh... transformers

world and uh... you know uh... and and you know

the spongebob connection is that that bill fager

bakke that does patrick star on spongebob was

bulkhead on uh... on the transformers animated

show yeah i i love uh... it was a great uh...

you know uh... anytime anytime they want me to

do transformers i'm there with a great cat that

korey you know korey burton is the voice or or

voice actors voice actor you know he's That's

an interview we would love to get. Yeah, Cory'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, and

he was, I believe, 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,

Cory Burton, you know, Fager Bakke, Bumper Robinson,

you know, it's like old home week. And, you know,

people like Matt with youngberg met youngberg

who i'd worked with on the batman because i was

a penguin on batman and i i did a lot of stuff

i think i didn't garrick why it was uh... you

know that did a lot of the designs for that show

and he had done that time i believe team time

as well as fosters home for imaginary friends

and it uh... you know it uh... it's it's a very

comfortable world you know if 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. Yeah, nice. Well, you're best known

for your role as SpongeBob SquarePants. Mm -hmm,

so we like to talk to you about that a little

bit sure getting all fanboy ish all of a sudden

like 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. That's like

wow the sponge flavor Now with extra spudginess

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? Yes Stephen 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, you know, everybody that worked on

that show wound up kind of going on to other

things and kind of having a fairly long, you

know, a life span in animation. And yeah, guys

that I work with every day on a number of different

shows are all guys that started out with On Rocko.

Awesome. So where did the voice for Spongebob

come from? Did it take you a while to get it

down? No, like, you know, 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.

You know, I'm we're done with spongebob now.

We need to cast these other characters You know

the spongebob hangs out with and and you know,

I I appreciate it that very much Nice 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, you know, it's like 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

Yeah, 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 You know, I you know,

I don't know why or what the science of that

is if any but it's a very unusual phenomena where

You know something something stays on me on me

on the air for for so long and and sponge Rob

You know oddly But thankfully is getting higher

ratings You know just keeps getting higher and

higher rating like it's doing better now than

it ever has in terms of numbers so it's it's

pretty crazy and I just did an episode of Futurama

last week and and David X Cohen, you know one

of the main dudes on Futurama told me that you

know 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.

Yeah, you know like wow okay cool. I work for

all I work for all three of those guys. That's

good. Okay cool, so You know because I do stuff

for the Cleveland the Cleveland show sometimes

so yes, it's it's surprising to all involved

I would say and and and very gratifying You know

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 the toy store here

and I did the voice here. They're like, mommy,

that's not SpongeBob. It's like... Oh, yeah.

You know, 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

an 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?

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. I'm really trying and

I don't know what they want. Advertising is a

little different. They're all fun. It's really

fun doing the preschool stuff like Handy Manny

for Disney or Rabbit for Winnie the Pooh. 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, Zelaya

Zaks 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 Doctor 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... uh... you know we'll talk

about the uh... you know the bill the liberating

fun of just being a full -on bad guy and i first

uh... felt that way back in nineteen ninety two

when i did uh... the bad guy and in bobcat film

shake the clown and there are a couple times

in animated where star scream actually screams

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,

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 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 pre, you know to

do one of these preschools 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 Pooh, he's probably the

most likely to scream because he's such a fuss

budget. You know what I mean? 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 rabbit loses it and just Absolutely

people well, yeah, and he does sometimes like

in this in this feature film that was out this

summer, you know, there are a couple of things

where Where rabbit gets pretty extreme? Let's

change gears a little bit and talk about one

of my favorite subjects toys Do you correct the

toys the from the characters that you voice?

I collect, you know, 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. you know crazy

stuff like that and you know you know comic strip

original art from you know 1920s and 1930s comic

strips but uh you know in terms of stuff that

has a chip in it with my voice no that's so much

i was gonna say uh my boy loves superhero squad

and we have so many iron mans oh that's cool

is there is there talking stuff with iron man

Well, they don't 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 as a kid that grew up on comic

books and superheroes and all that, Stanley,

Jack Kirby, 60s and... 70s stuff, you know, I

you know, it was starting to feel like Superheroes

had been taken away from kids who really like

superhero stuff and given to kind of you know

35 year old mouth breathers who You know eat

Cheetos while they they type online and 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's

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? You know super

deformed characters. Yeah, a little super deformed

little little super fetuses that Kind of got

a big head the big feet and they're kind of squatting

like those like those Star Wars ones Like those

Star Wars ones that Hasbro puts out you know

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, you know, staring in the mirror

while he tries to fight off his alcoholism Iron

Man. And they're both valid, but, you know, you

probably don't want your four -year -old watching

the, you know, the... going to the AA. Tony Stark

goes to the AA meeting is probably not suitable

for your five -year -old boy who loves superheroes.

So it was a really fun show and it's always fun

to play the handsome good guy when you're a hot

-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 Modoc 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 Modoc! That

was a really fun show. Hopefully we'll get the

opportunity to revisit those characters again

in some form, somewhere. Before we let you go,

can you remind everybody what you have coming

up? Sure, and this is, you know, 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, and 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 uh... continuing on doing some rabbit

winnie the pooh stuff for disney and of course

spongebob is something that's never -ending and

spongebob looks like it's gonna get got some

legs uh... you know hopefully i i never take

anything for granted but it looks like uh...

it looks like spongebob is gonna be around for

a bit it's still doing real well and uh... 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. It 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 Mike. Thank you. 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?!

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.

Oh, I could listen to this one all day. What

are you talking about? I am the original Starscream.

Liar. and 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! 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 that was pretty awesome You know ten years

from now You know when Tom Kenny is the actual

Tom Kenny of the of the 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 gonna be scary. 10 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 of the discussion. So yes, thank you so much

to Tom Kenny for taking the time to talk with

us here on the Transformation Animation Podcast,

Tooncast Beyond crossover interview. For Transformation

Animation Podcast, we will be starting season

three soon. And for Tooncast Beyond, actually

very funny, episode one of Tooncast Beyond season

one will 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. I could

quote it. So that's it for us. We will see you

next time. I am TFDU and Mike and you are? T

-Concord Michael. Goodbye everybody! See ya!