Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Rob Paulsen Encore

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Starting point is 00:00:41 covers it all get on the money search on the money with Dynamic Funds and follow today. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadre, and we're once again recording at Nutmeg with our engineer, Frank Furtarosa. Our guest this week is an actor, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Danny Phantom, The Mask, Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, The Tick, Freakazoid, Robot Chicken, Freakazoid, Robot Chicken, Samurai Jack, Rick and Morty, and of course, Tiny Toons Animaniacs, and Pinky and the Brain, for which he was presented with a well-deserved Emmy Award. He's also appeared in live-action series like Cheers, St. Elsewhere, and MacGyver, and feature films such as Spaceballs, The Jetsons Movie, and The Ant Bully, as well as over 1,000 commercials and dozens of video games. 1,000 commercials, and dozens of video games. In a long and very prolific career, he's worked with and shared the screen with talents like

Starting point is 00:02:54 Steven Spielberg, Mel Blanc, June Foray, Mark Hamill, and Stan Freeberg, to name a few, as well as former Amazing Colossal Podcast guests Carl Reiner, Mickey Dolenz, Chuck McCann, Lorraine Newman, Ronnie Schell, and Billy West. He's also appeared in several cartoons with someone near and dear to my heart. Me. You want more? Okay. He's the host of his own podcast called Talking Tunes and is currently touring with the equally talented Randy Rogel in the musical comedy stage review called Animaniacs Live. Please welcome to the show a man of a thousand voices and a performer who once said,

Starting point is 00:04:06 where else could I find a job where exclamations like EGAD, NARF, SPLUNK, and ZORT are allowed. The enormously talented Rob Poulsen. Oh my God. Gilbert, Frank, I fell asleep during my own introduction. That happens. I guess you know when you have very, very kind, sweet people, or you've been around too long, if you fall asleep during your introduction,

Starting point is 00:04:39 you're about ready to punch your ticket, I think. Did we pronounce Randy's name right, by the way? It's Rogel, isn't it? It's Rogel, but, it? It's Rogel, but you know, listen. Will we record it? By my standards. It was right. I mean, there are only 26 letters

Starting point is 00:04:53 in the alphabet. How fucking hard can it be, really? But seriously, thank you. My goodness, you guys. That's really, really kind of you to say all those lovely things, and thank you for having me. It's just a joy and an honor to be here. Well, it's an honor to have you. Thank you.

Starting point is 00:05:08 Now, it is weird that we've worked together but never worked together. Well, and especially lately. I know that you're Crang, is it Crang Prime on Ninja Turtles? Crang the Sub Prime. The Sub Prime. on Ninja Turtles? Crang the subprime. The subprime. In about, I don't know, about three or four of the mutant Ninja Turtles. Yeah, well, I'll tell you,

Starting point is 00:05:31 when they told me that you were doing it, everybody was thrilled to death because it's, you know, it's great to have you aboard, but this latest iteration of Ninja Turtles has been incredibly successful. And having had an earlier ride in the turtle van about 25 years ago.

Starting point is 00:05:47 You were Raphael at the beginning, and now you're Donatello. Right. I was Raphael in the beginning, and then 25 years later, they called me to be Donnie in this show. And I'm telling you what, it is, no pun intended, it is an evergreen franchise. It's so successful. It just goes and goes and goes.

Starting point is 00:06:05 And I can tell you also, Gilbert, that when I go do conventions and public appearances and stuff, people ask if I've had the opportunity to work with you. And I say, well, not really. And they're disappointed because they just love the idea that you can work – that Donatello is working with Gilbert Gottfried. So you are beloved by the Turtle Eastie. Oh, wow. Isn't that nice? Well, now you are working together. Yeah, they've called me in a bunch of times to be playing the subprime.

Starting point is 00:06:35 And it's always so much fun. Oh, man. It's honest to God. Really. Well, you know, man, you've done a lot of animation. It is the best gig in the world. You've done a lot of animation. It is the best gig in the world.

Starting point is 00:06:52 Honestly, where else can you work with people whom are your personal friends, people you'd have over to your house? You get paid really well, and you essentially are getting paid to do what got you in trouble in high school. Pretty much. Yeah, it's the coolest gig, and nobody cares what you look like. It's great. And you're one of those people who, like, you know, nowadays and for the past few years, it's like I always say, had Aladdin been made a year later, then Matt Damon would have been Aladdin,

Starting point is 00:07:26 and, you know, Julia Roberts would have been the princess. Yep. And I know where you're going, and it's true. There is such an incredible influx of celebrity talent. But I have to say, and I'm not one of those guys that gets bent out of shape about it. You know, some of the rank-and-file folks who are journeyman actors like myself and very, very grateful to be such.

Starting point is 00:07:45 You know, make no mistake. I really feel like, very grateful to be such. Make no mistake, I really feel like with all due respect to Lou Gehrig, you guys are New York, with all due respect to Lou Gehrig, I'm the luckiest man on the face of the earth. And with the influx of celebrity talent and animated projects, I get it. I'm a capitalist. It's show biz. I know how that works. But it doesn't always translate. And I have my own empirical data. I did the movie that spawned the Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius series was a feature, Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius, the movie, right? No celebrity talent in the title characters or the main characters. Made $100 million, got nominated for an Oscar. Then I did a movie,

Starting point is 00:08:26 you mentioned The Ant Bully, which was an absolute blast to do, but it had Julia Roberts and- Meryl Streep. Alan Cumming, Meryl Streep, Nick Cage. Everybody. Half a dozen Oscar winners.

Starting point is 00:08:38 Paul Giamatti. Paul Giamatti. Yeah. Went right in a dumper. Yeah. And so- I liked it though. It doesn't- Oh no, it doesn't – I liked it, though.

Starting point is 00:08:46 Oh, no, it was a good movie. It was good. But the audience, I believe, had been sort of inundated with, you know, ants and bugs. Oh, yes. Oh, right. That's right. You know, so they kind of thought – Seinfeld did – Oh, he did the bee movie.

Starting point is 00:08:56 Oh, the bee movie, yeah. The bee. But I think part of that was they're going, well, you know, we'll wait until it comes on video because we've seen pretty much the other little squiggly creature movies. But it is not a guarantee that having wonderful Oscar-winning actors, to be sure, in the cast, but that does not necessarily translate to ticket sales, nor does it translate to a good movie. You know, it's about, like everything else, performance, story, and the way that people relate to the characters. And, you know, the folks you mentioned, Billy West. Jesus, God almighty.

Starting point is 00:09:33 Billy's from another planet. He is. Yeah. We love him. Supremely one. Yeah. No kidding. But he's supremely gifted and can do pretty much anything.

Starting point is 00:09:45 So, you know, I get it. I know what you're saying. There are these actors that if you say them to the public, no one will know who they are. Right. But in the business, particularly the voiceover business, they all know them. Oh, of course. business. They all know them. Oh, of course. And you know, what's also really interesting, you guys, is, yeah, where it's a very anonymous profession. But I got to tell you, if I'm in, and I mean any social situation or whatever, if somebody, and the same with Billy and Maurice

Starting point is 00:10:19 LaMarche and all that, Frank Welker, if anybody finds out who I am and what I do, it's the most glorious, beautiful experience because all it does is make people smile. They go, oh, my God, that's Pinky or that's Raphael or that's, you know, Carl Weiser or that's Yakko. huge gift that has been bestowed upon me and a number of other folks who do what we do, because literally all it does is bring joy to two or three generations of people. And it's not about the way you look. I don't draw them. I don't write them. But when people hear that voice, man, it just, it just nails them right in the, in the, in the heart. And it's just a beautiful experience. So I, I, I got zero complaints. You know, when people find out who I am and they make a fuss over me,

Starting point is 00:11:09 I'm like any other actor. I would be lying if I said it wasn't very gratifying. Well, we just had TV's Frank here from Mystery Science Theater, Frank Conniff. Oh, yeah, sure. He said, oh, hey, Rob Paulson. He said, yeah, I was at a Dragon Con with him and the line to see him was out the door.

Starting point is 00:11:23 Oh, well, but those are people all working for the IRS. So I didn't – I signed their autographs for free. But no, honest to God, you guys, it is a wonderful – and to get to an age now where I'm young enough to enjoy this and travel around and meet people, but old enough to have had a career that has affected a number of people, you know, like all of us, boy, what a sweet spot. If you stick around long enough and you're very fortunate to work on a couple of good things, then you can, you, it is a, almost impossible to describe what an incredibly gratifying experience this is. So. It's nice that you have so much gratitude. You're, I was telling Gilbert Gilbert, your IMD, we've done 170 of these, and I don't think anybody's had a longer IMDb page than you did.

Starting point is 00:12:10 I used to think John Carradine had the longest IMDb page, but I mean, I was counting credits for days and days, Rob. Well, you know, and the reason that happens, I think, Frank, is, I mean, look at Frank Welker's. His is probably twice as long as mine. Yeah, just a genius. Frank Welker, for people who don't know, was in Aladdin, among a million other things. He was the monkey and the tiger. Right.

Starting point is 00:12:39 That's right. Crazy. And he specializes when you see nature films. Yes, Frank. It's not, they show a lion, but it's not the lion roaring. It'll be him. That's great. Yes, Frank.

Starting point is 00:12:54 He was the voice of Cujo the dog, and he and Howie Mandel did most of the gremlins. That's right. the gremlins and that's right uh you know but uh but uh i think the reason we all have these sort of prodigious imdb pages and credits is because we can knock out two or three sessions in a day and if you're fortunate enough to sort of get in that groove uh you know in the morning i might do the tick in the afternoon i'm on animaniacs then i sing a song for disney in the afternoon and you do that tour you know every day what i found so weird of the voiceover guys that i knew is i'm well now they have it you have it in your house right and you sit in your underwear all day sure for these guys but there were these guys they would they would have a car drive them around and they'd run upstairs for like 20 minutes

Starting point is 00:13:48 record a commercial run downstairs go right to the next one and they do like 50 jobs in a day oh man well don lafontaine the the late great don lafontaine was you know mr trailer the guy that would always say in a world yes. You know, and fill that in. Precisely what you're talking about, Gilbert. He had a relatively unostentatious, you know, town car. And a guy would drive him around. He'd pull up in front of LA Studios, knock out two or three trailers, boom. Then go to Buzzy's down on Melrose, knock out a couple more and do it every day. And that is sort of the primo voiceover gig.

Starting point is 00:14:31 In my case, it's more about being with other actors. And even if I could do my gig from home with the studio, I would much prefer to go and be around those people. Because the folks we've been talking about are, and you know, because you've had Billy on and others, they are the most down to earth. Yeah. We had Larry Kenny too.

Starting point is 00:14:50 Larry Kenny, utterly pretentious list people yet so gifted. It's difficult to even comprehend what these people have. And they've been doing it for 30 plus years and it never stops, man. It's crazy. I, I, my favorite voiceover gig of all time, I was called in because, you know, even now, like, they'll do something with Aladdin, like a computer game or whatever.

Starting point is 00:15:18 And this was some kind of computer game or something. And they said, we just want the Yako the parrot to laugh at one point and i go into the sound booth and i go ha ha and they go oh thank you very much thank you send me home with it where do we send the check it is it's a career. I'm telling you, I have a couple of friends. Well, Michael Bell is another guy who's been around a long time. And Michael, his first huge thing that people knew him from voice-wise, when I was a kid, he was the guy that did the voice of butter. Oh, yes. Parquet margarine.

Starting point is 00:16:01 And he ultimately bought himself a place on the beach in Santa Barbara, and he called it Casa de los Residuales. Isn't that great? That's fantastic. Yeah, and it's crazy. So, yeah, it is a pretty cool gig. Pays well and all of that. But, yeah, and again, i'm not interested in retiring i love to retire i mean i love to work and so even if i could and even if i wanted to um or rather

Starting point is 00:16:33 even if i could and i or somebody said you're done it would break my heart because i want to do this till they put me in the dirt man what else would i do and and is – every day you kind of go, wow, I'm going to be hanging out with Cujo today or I'm going to be hanging out with Bart today or I'm going to be hanging out with Homer today or I'm going to be hanging out with Bender today. It's just – it's silly. I always feel like as long as there's people around stupid enough to hire me, I'm going to keep working. Well said. That's a different kind of gratitude. It's a little different than Rob's. We all have that same feeling, though, Gilbert.

Starting point is 00:17:19 And every December 31st, I think, holy shit, I fooled them again. That's great. Yes. And then every January 1st, the next day, I think, who am I kidding? I got nothing that says you're going to be working this year. Nothing. I'm not under contract to a major studio. I don't have a steady gig.

Starting point is 00:17:38 And so I think it does two things. It keeps me on my toes because I never, never, never take it for granted. That's a typical performer's fear, isn't it, though? It really is. Or anybody in show business. Me too. I'm a writer. It's the same thing. after doing Caligula. You know, he got all sorts of shit about, oh my God, Sir John Gielgud is in this sort of crazy, you know, soft porn gig. And I remember hearing this wonderful interview and the guy was being very delicate and saying,

Starting point is 00:18:14 you know, with all due respect, Sir John and blah, blah, blah. And the question, I mean, good Lord. And he was ultimately saying, how could you have done something like this? And he said, my dear, for the money. You know, I mean, I got to work. Very clear about it.

Starting point is 00:18:28 Right. And he was saying, I have to work. And not only do I need to work because of my, it's what I do, but I got to pay the rent. And I'm thinking, holy shit, it never stops. Even when you're Sir John Gielgud. I remember seeing an interview with Mel Brooks where he said when he was working on your show of shows with Sid Caesar, that his mother would call him up all the time and go, so, you still there? You still working?

Starting point is 00:19:00 How about that? It's like the Norman Lear story. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, with his mother. How about that? It's like the Norman Lear story. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. With his mother. And you guys, you know, and Rob did some voices for Aladdin. You didn't work together on that either.

Starting point is 00:19:12 And also the, what was it? The Adventures of the Hypertox Adventures of Annoying Orange. Oh, that's right. The Annoying Orange. Wasn't that crazy? And that, see, that's what I love about this business too, is here's a kid, this sweet kid that put that thing together got his degree from the university his film degree no less from the university of north dakota which is you know arguably not the it's not the you know the the um the the paley school or whatever at nyu it is a um uh it's a i'm sure a great school but not well known for its film department

Starting point is 00:19:41 nonetheless the guy comes up with this idea of a talking orange, comes out to LA, and by the time he gets a meeting with people about doing a show, he's had 500 million hits on his little YouTube thing. It's great. So any executive with a pulse is going to talk to this guy. And I love the fact that those things happen. talk to this guy. And I love the fact that those things happen. You know, there's these, all these new ways of young creative people finding their way into Hollywood completely differently than it used to be. And they come up with their own ways to do it. They build their

Starting point is 00:20:15 reputation. Then they go to talk to somebody, they get a show and then old actors like, you know, us get hired. It's just, it's's wonderful that we're we're included in these new uh and all this new technology truly is i i this happens to me a lot where i'll get called to do a job at a recording place and i'll catch like the tail end of another voiceover guy. And it is that amazing thing where you say, this is a human being that does this. Like, one of them was Norman Rose. Oh, my God. Wait a minute.

Starting point is 00:20:55 Why do I know Norman Rose? He's a big voiceover. Voice of God. Yes. Okay, he's got one of those. He's like LaFontaine, one of those big monster voice guys. Yeah, yeah. Or John Fazenda.

Starting point is 00:21:04 Yeah, you knew you were hearing something important when Norman Rose told you. Yeah. Was the other guy Alexander Scorby? Oh, my God. Remember him? Yes. I love his voice. Well, and remember, people used to watch Lou Grant and watch Mason Adams.

Starting point is 00:21:22 Oh, Mason. Yeah, Mason Adams. Right, that's right. Right. For years, for 100 years before that, he was just a wonderful voice, and he did that with a name like Smuggers. It has to be good forever.

Starting point is 00:21:32 That's right. Oh, and Lenny Maxwell. Do you know Len Maxwell? I know who he is. I've never had the pleasure. And then you run into other guys who, God rest his soul, he left a while ago,

Starting point is 00:21:44 but Lorenzo Music, I was very close to Lorenzo. This is Carlton, your doorman. We loved him. Right. And a funny writer, too. Oh, a wonderful writer. And I knew him, like Gilbert, as Carlton, the doorman. And then, you know, he gets hired as Garfield the cat, and he spoke exactly like that in real life.

Starting point is 00:22:02 He did one thing. He was like Kentucky Fried Chicken. He only spoke like this. In fact, I remember we had the same agent for years and he was just a delightful man. And I remember we were both auditioning years ago for a Knott's Berry Farm radio commercial in which one guy is the Knott's Berry Farm employee and the other guy is Dracula. So we were in the booth together and the audition. They said, OK, Rob, you be the Dracula guy and Lorenzo, you'll be the Knott's Berry Farm, which they call Knott's Scary Farm at Halloween.

Starting point is 00:22:36 OK, so he says, hi, you know, welcome to Knott's Berry, Knott's Scary Farm. How may I help you? I said, well, thank you very much. I was wondering where they're bobbing for blood or whatever it was. So they said, great. Thanks very much, guys. And then Gilbert says, hey, wait, wait, wait. Do you mind if we switch parts?

Starting point is 00:22:52 And I said, well, hell, I don't mind. Go ahead. So I say, hello, sir. Welcome to not scary farm. And, of course, Lorenzo says, I'm Dracula. Where can I go for the bobbing for blood? You know, it's just, it's Carlton the doorman slash Garfield doing a Dracula thing with,

Starting point is 00:23:13 he sounds like himself. It's crazy. I love that he had a second career as a voice star because he was a comedy writer of some note. Yeah, was it Mary Tyler Moore? Lots of stuff. Lots of comedy variety. Yeah, huge success. Lorenzo music and lots of sitcoms for, yeah, MTM, Moore? Lots of stuff. Lots of comedy variety.

Starting point is 00:23:26 Yeah, huge success. Lorenzo Music. Lots of sitcoms for, yeah, MTM. A lot of that stuff. Yeah, a lot of MTM stuff. But yeah, it's great. And you mentioned Bob Ridgely. Oh, my God. What a talented guy Bob Ridgely was.

Starting point is 00:23:37 And naughty, but oh, my goodness. Was he in that whole group? Was he in with the Pat McCormick and all the Army's Army guys? The Army's Army, yeah. Gary Owens and all those guys. Yep, all those guys. Hammy Camp. Hamilton Camp.

Starting point is 00:23:50 You remember him, Gilbert. Oh, yes. Sure. Now, I heard with Roger Ridgely. Robert Ridgely. Robert Ridgely. That Robert Ridgely, somebody told me that he was basically, you know, like in, what was the movie? Boogie

Starting point is 00:24:08 Nights? Boogie Nights. Yeah. He's the colonel. Oh, and also Philadelphia. He was also in Philadelphia. Oh, that's right. Yes, he was. And he's the hangman in Blazing Saddles. Oh, yes. That's right. Doing Karloff.

Starting point is 00:24:23 And they say, like, the way he winds up in boogie nights as an arrested child molester. Yeah. And in in prison. And somebody said the way Robert was in real life. Oh, my God. That is the way he would have wound up. Well, yes. And I can tell you, you mentioned Gary Owens, who was just one of the most delightful people I'd ever met in my life. He was just a kind, very genteel, sophisticated with incredible stories. And I recall the first time I had the pleasure of working with Bob Ridgely. It was myself and Joni Gerber and a couple of others and Bob and we were doing a session

Starting point is 00:25:06 and I don't even know what it was, but the people who came down to do the session were from San Francisco and there were three or four of them in suits on the other side of the glass. So we get done and Ridgely,

Starting point is 00:25:15 I'm maybe 25, and Ridgely looks at these folks on the other side of the glass and he says, thank you so much folks for the job. We're all very grateful. I wish I could stay and sodomize each one of you, but I unfortunately am on my way to another job.

Starting point is 00:25:31 But my young friend Rob here will be happy to oblige. And, of course, I'm like, wow, I don't even know what to say to this. And a week later, I walked into our agent's office, and Gary was a member at the same agency, an actor there, too. And I walked in and here are Gary Owens and Bob Ridgely chatting. And I walked in the door and it wasn't five seconds. Ridgely stands up and at the top of this big booming voice says, Gary, Gary, this is the young lad I was telling you about. This is Rob Paulson. Rob is hung better than any non-third worlder you'll ever meet. So he was a bad boy like Pat McCormick.

Starting point is 00:26:09 Oh, my. All the time. Well, in fact, I remember Pat, we used to all go to a place called the Voice Caster out here on Burbank Boulevard. And it was just incredible. He'd walk in and it would be Ronnie Schell and Pat McCormick and Hamilton Camp and Bob Ridgely and Kenny Mars and on and on and on. And I remember asking Pat McCormick because I'd heard these rumors about, you know, the Johnny Carson Carnac answers, you know. Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 00:26:36 And I said, can you verify and because I've heard this story, and it turns out, he said the one Carnack response that Mr. McCormick said that he wrote that he wished could have made it past the censors was, Carnack holds the envelope to his head and he says, cock robin. And I said, okay. And then he opens the envelope and the question is, what's that in my mouth, Batman? Isn't that great? He was a genius. It's just crazy. And then one day, Johnny Hamer was there, and Johnny Hamer was that guy. I know Johnny Hamer.

Starting point is 00:27:17 He was Sergeant Zale on MASH. That's right. He did. And remember in— Annie Hall. Annie Hall. That's right. He's the comic in Annie Hall that says, you folks look wonderful from here.

Starting point is 00:27:27 Right. Yeah. Funny guy. And I had seen – and what's what I love about performers? I love this about actors. Here's the guy. Mr. Hamer was probably in his 70s at the time. And I walked in and I saw him and I walked over and said, Mr. Hamer, I'm such a fan.

Starting point is 00:27:41 And I literally had seen Annie Hall on cable the night before. And I'm such a fan. I've literally had seen Annie Hall on cable the night before. And I'm such a fan. I've always enjoyed your work. I just saw Annie. And before I got Hall out of my mouth, he stands up and he goes, hey, the room looks wonderful from here. And the crowd looks wonderful.

Starting point is 00:27:59 It was just... That's his version of My Way. That he takes requests. That is totally his vibe. And he was not going to miss an opportunity to entertain one person. And I just, it was beautiful. It was beautiful. Don't go away. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.

Starting point is 00:28:24 Planning for a summer road trip? luggage check music check snacks drinks and everything we can win in a new game at circle k check with circle k's summer road trip game you can win over a million delicious instant prizes and a grand prize of $25,000. Play at games.circlek.com or at participating Circle K stores. Wait, Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing what? Colossal podcast, like the Amazing Colossal Man. Okay. This is Richard Lewis, and you're listening to the Gilbert Gottfried Amazing Colossal Podcast. Ugh! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha podcast.

Starting point is 00:29:23 Here's someone I want to find out about. With Mel Blanc, it looked like he was trying to teach his son to take over the family business. What was his name? Noel. Noel Blanc. And so whatever became of Noel Blanc? Honestly, Gilbert, I don't know.

Starting point is 00:29:43 I believe I met Noel once or twice many years ago uh and i don't know the extent to which noel actually ended up doing stuff for warner brothers as as his dad's characters i i do know that i got a chance to work with mel blank twice before he died but since then it's taken oh my, probably six people to do what he did. Billy was Bugs in Space Jam. Right. And I think still does some Bugs stuff. There's a guy named Jeff Bergman. Yeah, Bergman. Jeff Bergman. Was Joe Alasky doing Tweety? No, Joe passed away last year. Oh, I know. But he was. He was doing Tweety and he was doing – Back then, I mean.

Starting point is 00:30:26 Oh, yeah. I think he did Tweety and Space Jam. Yeah, I worked with Joe. Yeah, and me too. Just a gob of stuff. Good guy. Very good guy and really, really – and a real technician. I mean he really studied what made those characters pop.

Starting point is 00:30:40 But I recall working with – but honestly, Gilbert, i don't know how much noel did a bunch of work i never worked with them a lot when i was doing uh shows on which those classic characters appeared it was always like joe alasky or bergman or somebody like that i mean i saw his name in the credits of a family guy okay where because this was one where they're watching a Warner Brothers cartoon where Elmer Fudd kills Bugs Bunny. And he does the voice. Well, he probably did. And I know that he was – I've seen him on TV years ago doing some of those characters. So he could clearly do them.

Starting point is 00:31:21 I just don't know how much Warner Brothers ended up using him. But I do remember working with Mr. Blank on a Jetsons project years, probably, gosh, 25, 30 years ago at Hanna-Barbera. And the director in those days was a wonderful fellow named Gordon Hunt, who was Helen Hunt's father. Oh, sure. We just lost him. Yeah, just last year. And he gave me my shot. And I remember him saying, hey, Robbie, Mel Blanc is here today. You want to sit next to him?

Starting point is 00:31:47 I said, of course. I remember, great, here's a guy with oxygen. He was about 80 at the time. Then he'd step out in the parking lot and fire up a cigarette and come back in and plug up the oxygen. And I mustered up the courage to say, Mr. Blanc, you're like everybody. I'm such a fan. If it's not too much trouble, and before I could even ask, he just looked at me and said, what's up, Doc? And it was. Oh, Mr. Blank, I like everybody. I'm such a fan. If it's not too much trouble, and before I could even ask, he just looked at me and said, what's up, Doc? And it was- Oh, man. You're getting all this. That's great.

Starting point is 00:32:12 Just incredible. So now I, and I don't mean to say that I'm in that league. What I mean to say is I now understand if people find a particular character on which I've had the good fortune of working and they hear that voice, I get that feeling because it's incredible to see that. And I heard like, I mean, Mel Blanc got into a horrible car accident. Car accident, yeah. And one of the heads of Warner Brothers called this voiceover guy and they said, you know, we need to make some more Bugs Bunny cartoons can you do uh Bugs Bunny's voice and I forget who it was but he said I I can do Bugs Bunny's voice but I'm not going to

Starting point is 00:32:56 because that smells yeah yeah and and there really is a pretty deep respect uh I recall when they were one of the first first times – they've done it several – when they were trying to recast The Simpsons. And it was all about money. It was all about the cast going – and they deserved the money. Those guys put Fox on the map. Oh, and they're brilliant. Every one of them. They're absolutely – the writers and all of them. They're all wonderful.

Starting point is 00:33:20 And I recall when the word got around town that they you know, they're looking for a new this, a new that. And, of course, the first thing I and all my friends would do is get a hold of the people whom we know. I called Nancy Cartwright or Dan Castellaneta, who's Homer. And I said, what's going on? Well, you know, it's a little money thing. And, of course, I said, not going to touch it. There's no way that I would try. There's no way that I would try – even if I could do the job as well as those people, I would never undercut one of my fellow actors because they deserve every damn dime that they get.

Starting point is 00:33:52 And it's hard enough to get an employee. Dan Castellaneta, who's the voice of Homer Simpson, when Robin Williams wasn't doing Genie anymore, he started doing the Genie. Right. And I worked with – I did a number of episodes of that animated show for TV. And I did the same thing. I was the voice of Jim Carrey in the animated Mask series. Oh, yeah. But that was – that's a totally different animal because there's no way that A, Robin or Jim has the time to do it. And even if they did, it's going to cost the production company a fortune.

Starting point is 00:34:26 So they hire, you know, Dan Castellaneta, certainly not a B-team actor. No, he's great. And he's got incredible chops. He's got incredible improvisational skills. And I was fortunate enough to be Jim Carrey for a whole lot less money. And, oh, there was another story

Starting point is 00:34:42 when Mel Blanc, after the car accident, was in a coma. I love this story. Yeah. Go ahead. And he kept, the doctor kept saying, you know, Mr. Blanc, can you speak to us, Mr. Blanc? And then finally, the doctor goes, I'd like to speak to Bugs Bunny, please. Yeah. And he immediately goes, what's up, doc?

Starting point is 00:35:10 That's a great story. I love – and I think it – that's to me not only really an entertaining and interesting, but when you think about it, it's a very endearing story. How deeply he was connected to those characters. And as they say, the proof is in the pudding. Mel's been gone for, I don't know, 20, 25 years now. But the characters that he had a hand in creating are utterly timeless. When you put your soul into something that deeply that people who haven't been born until 50 years after these characters have been performed love them as much today as they did then. And he deserves as much credit as Chuck Jones or any of them because he breathed life into them.

Starting point is 00:36:02 He inhabited them. Right. And they are completely timeless. And he did the whole shoot and match. And I'll tell you what's really interesting for those of you out there who have serious satellite radio. On the entertainment category, there's a radio classics show, a radio classics channel. And they play all of these old shows, radio shows from the 30s to the early 50s. And you hear Mel all the time. Mel, June Foray, Dawes Butler, who was Captain Crunch, Yogi Bear, and all those guys.

Starting point is 00:36:36 And they all show up on these radio shows. And especially, obviously, as you know, Mel was involved with Jack Benny for a lot. Oh, yeah. But, God, what a gift. Incredible talent. And I heard Mel Blanc, just the kind of person he was, he would just unannounced show up at children's hospitals. Sure did, Gilbert.

Starting point is 00:36:58 And start doing cartoon voices for the kids. I didn't know that. That's great. That's great. Yeah, and, uh, that I have to say is, um, the opportunities that I've had as a result of the work that I've done, boy, I'm so glad you brought that up because, um, uh, when you're fortunate to have been done something that, that has gotten a relative, uh, um, you know, large amount of publicity, uh,

Starting point is 00:37:21 that has turned out to be the, um, the, the sort of creme de la creme of my work because, and again, it's not just me. We all, when we're asked, Tom Kenny, who's SpongeBob, my God, all the time. But when you get a phone call and some, you know, mom or dad says through some child life specialist at the hospital, we got a little fella here, a little girl who's just so into Ninja Turtles, or this little boy can't get enough of Pinky and the Brain because he watches it now on Netflix. And is it possible? Of course it's possible. You call them up, and I'm telling you, man,

Starting point is 00:37:55 they buy it hook, line, and sinker. And it's just amazing. And what is even more interesting, it started for me with Ninja Turtles because it was so big at the beginning and I called a lot of kids. We all did. But often the parents of these children in these despicable circumstances keep in touch with me long after their children pass away. And you really, really get to see it's not about money. It's not about ratings. It's not about money. It's not about ratings. It's not about action figures. It is about a deep connection that this family has with this character because of the joy that it gave the child. So Mel was the guy that started the ball rolling.

Starting point is 00:38:35 And, man, it's incalculable what it means to these families. And so it puts your own problems in perspective, you know, to be sure. I mean, one thing that I was indirectly involved in, there was a documentary made called Life Animated. Oh, sure. Yeah. It was about an autistic boy who watched Disney animated films. And the way his father first started communicating with him was by imitating me in a Latin God, Gilbert. And it was one of those that gives you a chill through your whole body.

Starting point is 00:39:14 I'm so glad you said that. It gave me a chill just now to hear that. You should see the film, Rob. You'll love it. I've been hearing so much about it and that's great because look, I've been rich and I've been poor. Rich is better.

Starting point is 00:39:28 I love to make a lot of money, all of that. But, man, when you have something that is that precious to someone who would otherwise live a very difficult existence, and even the parents, you look at the parents. And, Gilbert, if you could get a chance to talk to the parent of this young man you were just referring to, his father would weep because of what you did that ultimately, even vicariously, affected his boy in that respect. He can't put a price on that, man. It's amazing. And so to be able to do that and have that in your back pocket when called upon is just an incalculable gift. And good for you, buddy. I'm so glad you told me that.

Starting point is 00:40:12 I love that. I'm going to go watch the movie. You'll like it. It's very touching. Life anime. Owen's a sweet kid. And since you bring up Pinky and the Brain, let's ask about Animaniacs. And you said that Animaniacs changed your life. Boy, that's for sure.

Starting point is 00:40:26 Well, if Ninja Turtles changed my career, then Animaniacs changed my life because anytime you get to work with Steven Spielberg on anything. Oh, my God. You know, it was such a – I had already worked with him. Actually, I worked with him on E.T. I did a bunch of background voice character things on E.T. And I remember at the time the creature was blacked out on the screen and the movie, the production name of the movie was A Boy's Life.

Starting point is 00:40:50 Yeah, that's right. I went in for about four days and did a bunch of stuff. And then a few years later, I worked with him on Tiny Toon Adventures, which was in the late 80s. And then about 91, we all heard that there was this big – not music-based but in which music was a very integral part.

Starting point is 00:41:10 And I'd grown up primarily as a singer who'd become an actor. And that was one of the – you hear that phrase about luck is when preparation meets opportunity. It really is true. And that was one of those epiphanal moments where I said, you know what, if they don't hire me for this, they're making a mistake. And it was utterly not out of arrogance. It was because I knew I was ready to rock and roll. And boy, what a thrill. Because obviously when Mr. Spielberg's involved, everything is the best of the best.

Starting point is 00:41:41 when Mr. Spielberg's involved, everything is the best of the best. And it was done exactly the way, as a result of Stephen's love of Warner Brothers classic animation. Yeah, it showed through. Yep, and it was done exactly the same. We even used the same piano and the same scoring stages Carl Stalling used

Starting point is 00:41:58 on all the Warner Brothers stuff. So 40 pieces for every half hour. That show cost a half a million bucks an episode in those days. And it was special. Really something. Everybody lives on a street in a city or a village or a town for what it's worth. And they're all inside a country which is part of a continent that sits upon a planet known as Earth.

Starting point is 00:42:24 And the Earth is a ball full of oceans and some mountains, which is out there spinning silently in space. And living on that Earth are the plants and the animals, and also the entire human race. It's a great big universe, and we're all really puny. We're just tiny little specks about the size of Mickey Rooney. It's big and black and icky, and we are small and dinky. It's a big universe, and we're not.

Starting point is 00:42:51 Now, a few years ago, you went for a yearly checkup. And what happened there? Well, this was almost two years ago. I, like most guys. Unless you have a limb hanging by a thread, you don't go to a doctor. And so I have a yearly checkup, and I've been healthy as a horse my whole life. I grew up in Michigan, played hockey, and still gotten banging around with my buddies and pretty athletic my whole life.

Starting point is 00:43:19 Anyway, I had this lump in the left side of my neck, which didn't bother me, didn't affect my work. I thought, well, I don't know, maybe it's just some low-grade infection. Anyway, February of 2016, about a year, a little over a year and a half ago, I went in for my yearly physical. And I said, what do you think about this? And the doctor, five seconds, you guys. He says, not good. And I've had this doctor a long time, and I thought he was just screwing with me. And I said, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Starting point is 00:43:43 He said, no, I'm serious. I want you to get this checked out and it turned out to be – the official title was stage three squamous cell carcinoma with occult primary and what that means is the – it was stage three because the primary tumor which they ultimately found was at the base of my tongue in my throat and had spread to a lymph node. throat and had spread to a lymph node. So, you know, it was a bit of a left hand getting sort of bitch slapped, you know. It's like you say, we all make plans and God laughs.

Starting point is 00:44:14 Of course. You know. But I have to tell you, and I'm saying this not because not to be maudlin, but it goes back to what we were just talking about a bit ago is I've had these really great teachers, you guys, and many of them have been children and other people, autistic folks, whose struggles are daily and often lifetime. So I get diagnosed at 60 years old. You know, I wasn't a 30-year-old with a couple of kids. I wasn't at the beginning of my career. Even if they had said, you better go home and get your stuff together because you're on your way out. I've had an amazing run.

Starting point is 00:44:47 But along the way, I've had the incredible good fortune of meeting all these children or autistic people and their parents who get through things that I've never and will never have to deal with. So the perspective was pretty clear. And they told me right away, look, you're going to die someday, but not from this. However, the treatment's going to kick your ass. And it did. I lost 50 pounds and you couldn't eat and all that stuff, but it was no surgery. It was a couple of months of radiation and chemo and I'll be goddamned. They saved my throat. It was a remarkable experience. And so –

Starting point is 00:45:26 That's great. Thank you. How do you feel now, Rob? I feel pretty good. I still have issues with endurance sometimes because the radiation kind of beats you up. But they told me it would be another year from now until I was completely back to my old self. I was completely back to my old self. But it's – the silver lining in anything, any of us who – I didn't tell a lot of people.

Starting point is 00:45:54 I told only the people that needed to know because everybody has got their shit, you guys. Everybody has got something to deal with. And I didn't need sympathy. I didn't want it. There's a practical aspect of it. As much as I would like to think that showbiz will wait for me, we're all completely expendable in that regard. So I didn't want to give people a reason not to hire me once I got back on my feet. So I kept everything to myself. But now I'm in a great position because I have a sense of empathy

Starting point is 00:46:22 that I never would have had had I not gone through this. So when somebody, and this goes for you guys too, if you ever run into anybody at your studio or you come across anybody that's struggling with throat cancer, hit me up because I can give them chapter and verse about what's going to happen and that you can get through the other side of it. And to the extent that I can be of help, you know, you guys are kind enough to have me on your show. extent that I can be of help. You know, you guys are kind enough to have me on your show. If I've cultivated any celebrity, you never know when that is going to help somebody. Well, that's nice of you. We'll keep that in mind for sure.

Starting point is 00:46:54 It's my pleasure. You said like the doctors weren't sure. One doctor said, well, we can wait a little while before putting you in treatment because, you know, you're a voiceover guy for God's sakes. Right. Well, yeah, he said, you know, this is a relatively slow-moving cancer. It'll be fatal to be sure, but it is relatively slow-moving. It's not like pancreatic cancer, which unfortunately took Richard Stone. But I said, and I read about the treatment, and it is quite onerous. And I went back to my doctor and I said, so when you say slow moving, what does that mean? Can you guys just give me palliative care and keep me comfortable and I can work until I'm 85?

Starting point is 00:47:37 And then I punched my ticket and I said, no, no, no, no, no, no. When we say slow, we mean that two years from now you're going to be miserable and four years you'll be dead. And if we wait for a couple of years and we have to start cutting on you then you know you're going to look like roger ebert and uh that was i was a big fan of mr ebert's and mr siskels and i remember thinking my god that is probably the most courageous man i've ever seen in my life who's willing to go out and you know put himself out there and oh yeah but it was brutal to see how oh yes yes half his face was gone he couldn't speak he couldn't swallow and so i said well then you guys better pull the trigger because there's no way i'm going out like that and and i think our an interviewer said to roger ebert he, so what was the last words you spoke? And he said that when

Starting point is 00:48:29 he was going in for the operation, he had no idea those would be his last words. So he didn't remember. Yeah. Jesus Christ. I mean, can you imagine? I cannot. And it's – we know that virtually everybody is touched by cancer and or something else. But all of us living today are the beneficiaries of incredible work, incredible skill, incredible bravery. I remember having a minor breakdown in my car one day when I had just gotten out of radiation for that particular day. And I thought, you know, it really hit me that for the doctors with whom I was fortunate enough to be working came to me and said, okay, we can handle this. Do what we tell you. You're going to be fine. You're not going to like this.

Starting point is 00:49:20 You're not going to like that. You're not going to like that. But the rest of it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You're not going to like this. You're not going to like that. You're not going to like that. But the rest of it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But to get to that point, there had to be not only a lot of doctors figuring shit out, but there had to be hundreds of thousands of people brave enough to try what the doctors say,

Starting point is 00:49:35 we're not sure, but it's our best shot. And the treatment might have killed them. But here I am, and all I had to worry about was getting through it. How lucky am I? You're a lucky man. I am. I am very fortunate. But that's what I'm saying is if you just never know when you might run into somebody who says, oh my God, I've just been diagnosed with this and blah, blah, blah. I say, well, I got a guy you can talk to. We'll keep that in mind, Rob. That's generous of you. That's generous.

Starting point is 00:50:04 My pleasure. Absolutely. You guys feel like changing it up here a little bit and doing something completely silly? Sure, whatever you want. Yeah, man. Whatever you need. You got that odd couple page I sent you? I do.

Starting point is 00:50:14 And that's the one you wanted me to do is George Takei. Is that correct? Now, Rob does a great George Takei. Oh, my. And I was reading this, and I thought you could throw in some, you could do Jackie Mason. Oh, okay. What do you think? So I'll be, am I Oscar?

Starting point is 00:50:29 You'll be your Oscar. Okay. He's Felix. This is from the original Odd Couple movie, and we're going to have two great mimics here, and we're going to try something silly. Let's shoot this pig. Okay. Can't you keep it warm?

Starting point is 00:50:42 Who the hell do you think I am? The magic chef? I'm lucky I got it to come out at 8 o'clock. What am I going to do? I don't know. Keep pouring gravy on it. Oh my, for gravy? What gravy? Don't you have any gravy? Now where the hell am I going to get gravy at 8 o'clock? I don't know.

Starting point is 00:51:07 I thought it comes when you cook the meat. I'll show you some cooked meat. Oh, wait a minute. That's not even in the script. You don't know what... You don't know what you're talking about, Oscar. You just don't know because you have to make gravy. It doesn't just come.

Starting point is 00:51:26 Well, yes, my advice. Your advice? Look at me. You didn't even know where the kitchen was until I came here and showed it to you. Listen, buddy. If you're going to argue with me, then put down that spoon. Spoon? It is to laugh, you dumb ignoramus.

Starting point is 00:51:44 That is a ladle. You did not know that that's a ladle. Get a hold of yourself, will you? Oh, yes. Oh, you're so adorable. You think it's easy, don't you? Well, go ahead. Kitchen's all yours, hotshot.

Starting point is 00:51:59 You make a meatloaf for four people who come a half hour late. Go on, I'm watching. I can't believe I'm arguing with him over gravy. Oh, oh, oh my. They're here. The dinner guests. I'll get a saw and cut the meat. Bizarre.

Starting point is 00:52:20 That's not fun. Frank, that was a great idea. I love doing stuff like this. You haven't done Jackie Mason in a long time. Oh, that's fun. Frank, that was a great idea. I love doing stuff like this. You haven't done Jackie Mason in a long time. Oh, that's right. Gilbert, that was excellent. Oh, thank you. That was great.

Starting point is 00:52:31 And I love Rob's George Takei. Oh, I don't, I remember, oh, I got a great quick George Takei story. I was working. We had him on here. He's the best. Isn't he great? We love him. I met him again at Hanna-Barbera years and years ago doing – I was a haji on Johnny Quest for the second mid-'80s iteration of that show.

Starting point is 00:52:51 And he was on the show, and I remember saying – for some reason, I didn't know that it was Takei. I thought it was Takei. I don't know. So I said, Mr. Takei, I am such a fan. Thank you so much. And I shook his hand. He said, thank am such a fan. Thank you so much. And I shook his hand. He said, thank you, young man. What is your name?

Starting point is 00:53:09 And I said, it's Rob, Rob Paulson. Thank you, Rob. First of all, it's Takei. And so the guy just, he just shut me down. And of course, me being the smart ass, you know, Detroit native I am, I said, oh, you mean like DK? Like your career. But I didn't, I didn't do that. And I got to say the thing that's so impressive about Mr. DK and Bill

Starting point is 00:53:33 Shatner is don't you love the fact that those guys completely embraced sort of the caricatures of themselves. You know what I mean? So yes, absolutely yes absolutely careers that have lasted another 30 years because they got it and they didn't just say well i'm a you know this is what i they bill does the price line and george takei is who he is and very proud and all of it's just fantastic that they that they move forward man it's great great talents here's a pinky in the brain question. How did, and Gilbert knows this, of course, they did a pinky in the brain episode. Oh, yes. Based on the Orson Welles,

Starting point is 00:54:10 infamous Orson Welles recording called Yes Always, which I watched again with my wife last night. It's absolutely wonderful. Thank you. And you and Maurice are just, first of all, you guys are brilliant talents. I saw you doing Pulp Fiction in a- Wasn't that great?

Starting point is 00:54:25 Maurice came up with the idea years ago. We've done it a couple times live. We've done Who's on First as Pinky and the Brain, too. Love to see that sometime. It's really good. Well, Mo, as you know, is just such a gifted talent. I mean, the guy, you know, irrespective of that wonderful Pinky and the Brain work, he won back-to-back primetime Emmys for his work on Futurama.

Starting point is 00:54:43 Yes, yes. He's an incredibly gifted fellow. Is that voice Orson Welles, 80% Orson Welles and 20% Vincent Price? Because that's what I heard him say. Yeah, he does say that. He has that little S that kind of is a Vincent Price tweak. But, man, Mo, it was so wonderful because Mo, for every show, and not just Pinky and the Brain, I've worked with Maurice for 25 years and many, many things.

Starting point is 00:55:08 The critic I remember him on, too. Right, the critic, and he would do John Lovitz. He exactly sounds just like John. And I remember that every time that Maurice would do his mic check, he would go into that, we know Remote Farm and Lincolnshire. And, of course, I can't do it. It's perfect. Oh, it's great. Can we hear some of Pinky?

Starting point is 00:55:30 Of course you can. As a matter of fact, Gilbert, I would like you to ask me the following. Could you please say to me, Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering? Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering? Well, I think so, Gilbert. But if Anne B. Davis and Susan B. Anthony, who'd be Arthur? No.

Starting point is 00:55:53 If only you did Orson Welles. I was thinking, well, we could have Rob do Pinky, but the closest I could get for you was James Mason. See, that's a good one, too. And Maurice did James Mason. We did a show together called Cat Scratch, which was... Oh, see, that's a good one, too. And Maurice did a James Mason. We did a show together called Cat Scratch, which was Maurice LaMarche, myself, Kevin

Starting point is 00:56:11 McDonald from Kids in the Hall, and Wayne Knight. And just an absolute blast. But all of those non-sequitorial responses of, you know, are you pondering what I'm pondering, are just such a gas. And that's another one of those things that when we do a live thing or I was just in Atlanta last weekend for Dragon Con, you know, another big convention. It's just so, so incredibly beautiful. You could have a couple thousand people and somebody will ask that question.

Starting point is 00:56:40 I think so. I think so, Bob. But if Jimmy Crack's calling and nobody cares, why does he keep doing it? Oh, my God. They just explode, and it's such a blast. I'm telling you, Maurice is really, really a supremely gifted guy. So that particular episode came as a result of the producers knowing that Mo knew that whole outtake thing verbatim. Unrewarding.

Starting point is 00:57:07 Yes, unrewarding. This is a load of shit. Show me how you can pronounce in July. He says, I'll go down on you. Now, was it Maurice or on the cartoon that I popped up on a bunch of times, Duckman. Yeah, oh, that was – God, Jason Alexander I think was on Duckman. Yeah, but who was the voice that was supposed to be Jack Webb?

Starting point is 00:57:36 I don't know. We'll have to look that up. You have to look that up. It could be because Mo does – he is an impressionist. He's a wonderful actor, but Mo started as an impressionist and he used to be on the Rodney Dangerfield. He opened, he and Sam Kinison used to open for Rodney. And in fact,

Starting point is 00:57:51 Oh my God. He, it's, it's perfect. Cause someone did Jack Webb and it was an excellent Jack Webb. Dead on. It could have been Mo,

Starting point is 00:58:00 but the, the, the genesis of this particular episode that you were discussing that you saw was the West Bank. Yes, always. Yeah. yes, always. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:58:06 And it was really kind of a sweet thing the way it happened. The producers and we were all told when we got to work, don't say anything to Maurice. Just let Mo start to do his mic check. They did not send him the script in advance on purpose. So it was really kind of a gift to Maurice because of all, you know, they knew how good he would be at this, but it was pretty much a verbatim script of that outtake. But interestingly,

Starting point is 00:58:33 Maurice was very sad because he had just come from Sam Kinison's funeral. And so he went to work and he was kind of not in particularly good spirits, but it was so sweet because when he started reading the script, he almost got tearful because he said, oh my God, this is like a $500,000 in-joke. You guys are making, we're making an episode based on that whole outtake

Starting point is 00:58:56 of Orson doing the frozen peas commercial. And I got to tell you, man, it translated to the screen pretty well. I think they did a good job. We know a remote farm in Lincolnshire where Mrs. Buckley lives. And I got to tell you, man, it translated to the screen pretty well. I think they did a good job. We know a remote farm in Lincolnshire where Mrs. Buckley lives. Every July, peas grow there. Do you really mean that?

Starting point is 00:59:16 Yeah, but if you could start a half second later. Don't you think you really want to say July over the snow? Isn't that the fun of it? I think it's so nice that you see a snow-covered field and say every July peas grow there. Um. We're talking about them growing and she's picked them. Well, we want to be out of that snowy field. But I was out.

Starting point is 00:59:37 We were on to a can of peas, a big dish of peas when I said in July. Oh, sorry. Yes, always. I'm always past that. You are? Yes. Um, can you emphasize a bit in July? Why? That doesn't make any sense.

Starting point is 00:59:49 Sorry. There's no known way of saying an English sentence in which you begin a sentence within and emphasize it. Get me a jury and show me how you can say in July and I'll make cheese for you. For our listeners that don't know it, and I think listeners of this show do know it pretty much. Yes. And should.

Starting point is 01:00:07 And if they don't, find both the Orson Welles frozen peas outtakes, but also the wonderful. And now that I'm thinking of it, I remember Maurice doing Orson Welles on The Critic. Okay, yes, he did. More than once. More than once. Find, yes, always the Pinky and the Brain episode. And there was. It's wonderful.

Starting point is 01:00:26 What's the French wine? Oh, palm of jesus yes you know the one where he was bombed absolutely freaking hammered and and it's on the one hand it's heartbreaking because you're going oh my god this is the great orson welles yeah you know 400 poundsed. But the thing that's so funny to watch is you got these sweet young actors there with him. You know, the kids in the show with him. I know. You hear the director off the screen going, ready and action, Orson. And nothing happens because he's supposed to start. And so you got these kids waiting for him to deliver their line.

Starting point is 01:01:02 And he looks at the camera. Isn't he supposed to say something? It's just beautiful. If it weren't so sad, it would be the most wonderful thing I've ever seen in my life. Like you say, they ultimately get to a take where he starts and he goes, it's supposed to be, ah, the French, champagne, et cetera, et cetera. But he's so gassed that he goes, ah, the French. Priceless. etc etc but he's so gassed that he goes priceless we will return to gilbert godfrey's amazing colossal podcast after this i want to give a shout out to to our mutual friend tom minton

Starting point is 01:01:39 oh my god who is the model for the brain brain. A man who hired me when I was living in Los Angeles and looking for work and gave me some Sylvester and Tweety mystery episodes to write. And he was kind enough to invite me to a scoring session. So I got to come down and do the whole thing, the Carl Stallings thing. And it was just an absolute treat. It's really marvelous. And Tom is a great guy and you know i gotta say really he really is and i gotta say and tom if you're listening you know i mean this because because i love you but i swear to god if you see the brain and then you meet tom

Starting point is 01:02:14 you say oh my god that's the brain absolutely that's him and and the best guys since god knows Since God knows if we'll ever work together when we're working together, can I hear your teenage ninja turtle's voice? Well, I've got, yeah, I was. Only if you do Krang. Yeah. Well, it's a tough one. It is. I can't prepare. Well, I'm Donatello now, and it's pretty much my voice.

Starting point is 01:02:43 I'm just a little bit kind of nerdy because Donnie is the guy that makes all the machines. But, hey, listen, I owe you a check, Gilbert, because I stole a voice. I did a voice with a lot of your juice years ago on a show I did called Danny Phantom. And I played a character called Technus. And I played a character called Technus. And they called me and they said, we can't afford Gilbert because he needs a fucking Airstream in every show he does. So we're going to use you. We're going to use the Gentile version in Los Angeles.

Starting point is 01:03:21 So I'll tell you what, buddy. It would be an absolute joy to work with you in one of these days. And Randy Rogel and I are doing our Animaniacs live music show at Joe's Pub in New York on October 8th at the end of New York Comic Con this year. I'm getting a ticket. Oh, thanks, man. I'm going to see you guys. You're both brilliant. If you guys like that music, it's just going to be Randy and me and a piano and two hours worth of the most clever, wonderful music you've ever heard. It's fantastic. Oh, and can we hear your mask voice?

Starting point is 01:03:52 Yeah, that's – well, of course. Depending upon what happens. Like if I put on a – you know, the mask turns into a pirate, I start speaking like this. And if it's a cowboy, it's like this, and it's smoking and all that. But that was a cool gig because Tim Curry was on that show. Oh, wow. What a remarkable talent. Tim's struggling.

Starting point is 01:04:14 He had a stroke a couple years ago. Yeah, we heard. Boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy. What a talent, though. Oh, Jesus. Remarkable. Then we did another show together called Mighty Max in which I played this little kid who was taken over – who had these time portals. And the people that worked with me, the creatures that worked with me were Tony Jay, the great Tony Jay who passed away. And Tony was the voice of – just an incredible voice.

Starting point is 01:04:43 Frollo on – or Frodo. Frollo or Frodo on the Hunchback feature. And Richard Maul, who's the big guy from – Oh, Night Court. Yeah. Gilbert, you did Night Court. Yes, yes. Another funny guy.

Starting point is 01:04:56 And then Tim Curry was this character called Skull Master, who was the bad guy. And we did, I think, about, I don't know, 40 episodes. who is the bad guy. And we did, I think, about, I don't know, 40 episodes. But working with a guy like Tim, it's just, you really do get to see why those guys become, they're special. You know, you really get to see why somebody like that becomes who he is.

Starting point is 01:05:15 Just the nuances and all the little things they do that make a character live, it's a remarkable thing to watch. Well, speaking of talented Brits, you worked with Roddy McDowell quite a bit. See, honest to God, we played snowball the hamster. Isn't that great? On Pinky and the Brain for anybody that's wondering. We did about five or six with Mr. McDowell and we didn't know that he was struggling with terminal cancer at the time. He came to work every time with a jacket and a tie. He was 15 minutes early.

Starting point is 01:05:57 He answered every question, every stupid fanboy question I had about National Velvet or Elizabeth Taylor or Planet of the Apes or Night Gallery. He could not have been more delightful, more down to earth. That's what we hear. A guy who loved to meet his fans and loved to talk about his career. Oh my God, Frank. Utterly sweet. One of those things where you call your parents and you say,

Starting point is 01:06:10 you're not going to believe what I just did. And same with Carl Reiner. Carl hired me, he hired me to be a Filipino ventriloquist. Was this on the Alan Brady show? Yeah, it was a pilot for Nickelodeon.

Starting point is 01:06:22 Yeah, I was going to ask you about that. Rosemary was on it too. Oh, dude. I walked into the – oh, my God. I get so excited just thinking about it. I walked into the script read of the day of the record, and I thought, hell, if I never get the job, I got to audition for Carl Reiner. Yeah. So I get the job.

Starting point is 01:06:41 I walk in to read at Nickelodeon in Burbank, turn the corner. Rob, thank you very much. It's a pleasure. Well, thank you, sir. I'd like you to meet Dick Van Dyke. I'd like you to meet Rosemary. to kind of, you know, calm myself down because it was a little overwhelming, you know, to be sitting in there with those people who had such an amazing effect on millions of people and do to this day. And that was, again, one of those where I got in my car and I called my parents and I said, you are, you're going to lose your minds when you hear I got to spend the last four hours with Dick Van Dyke, Rosemary and Carl Reiner. And it was, you can't, I mean, I just don't get no way out of it. That's why we do this show.

Starting point is 01:07:28 It's really just to meet our heroes. And can I say, I mentioned this to Frank yesterday, Gilbert, and what you guys are doing is so, so great and so important. I've been a fan of, you know, yours, but in particular the show, because the fact that you talk to Ronnie Schell and you bring these guys in and you talk about Bob Ridgely and Hammy Camp and Bill Daley and all these incredible... Yeah.

Starting point is 01:07:53 And it really is important that people understand, in my view, it's not all about the stars, the movie stars. it's not all about, you know, the stars, the movie stars. It's about these really incredibly wonderful journeymen, men and women, who have just been kind of, in my view, the sort of the foundation of pop culture entertainment for the last 50 years. We think so. Thank you. But it's true, and you're paying such homage homage to them and I love that you do that. But also, as I said earlier, the proof's in the pudding because your show is doing great. And there are so many choices out there and people – how many podcasts are there?

Starting point is 01:08:37 A billion? There are a lot. Yeah. But you guys continue to rise at a real high level. Oh, yeah. Oh, it's fantastic. You guys continue to rise at a real high level. Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 01:08:44 Oh, it's fantastic. You know, growing up, you'd see shows like Love Boat and Fantasy Island where they'd be these people you swore had been dead for decades. And then you see them and you go, wow, they're still as good as they ever were. Like I said to you on the phone, Rob, we like introducing like the Barbara Feldens and the Paul Williams and the people like that to a new generation. Yeah. You know, that's a high for us. Well, and I remember working with Paul on a couple different things, and we did a series together. It was an interesting cast. It was Paul Williams, Cary Snodgrass, Leah Remini, Mark Hamill, myself, and Jeff Bennett.

Starting point is 01:09:25 Really interesting show that never went anywhere, but it was a lot of fun. And I remember Paul Williams, as you know, having spent time with him, is a delightful man. He is. He truly is. He took us to lunch. He did two things with me that I will never forget. And so now, whenever – I feel like I've had the great good fortune of working with the most talented people, arguably the most talented people in Hollywood, all of whom are utterly pretentious-less. So that when I run into somebody who kind of is full of themselves and starts to behave a certain way, I just don't have patience because Paul Williams is a prime example. The first time I met Paul, we were working on, it wasn't this particular show I mentioned, but I was a singer first and one, and my son's favorite song as a child and the song I would sing to him when he couldn't sleep was Rainbow Connection, which, which he wrote with Kenny Asher, right? So I remember being with Paul and I said, Hey, you got to tell you a big fan,

Starting point is 01:10:21 like everybody else. I mean, for, you know, the guy, he's been on your show, wrote a jillion hits. And I said, I told him how much Rainbow Connection meant to my son. And he looks at me, says, you want to sing it? And I said, well, what do you mean? He goes, it's a piano. So I looked at the engineer and I said, I don't even know what you just push. Just push record, whatever you got. I don't care.

Starting point is 01:10:40 Just push it. So I got to sing Rainbow Connection with Paul Williams as a result of his kindness. Then a couple years later, we're working on this show called Phantom 2040 that I just mentioned. And he came in. He was pretty late to work. And this is the kind of self-effacing sense of humor he has, which is one of the reasons I love him. He comes in. He says, I'm so sorry, fellow thespians.

Starting point is 01:11:04 Did I miss anything? And I said, well, gosh, Paul, from what I've read about your abuse history, you missed the 80s. And he did just that. He started laughing. He just jumped right in and played. No defense. No, you know, weirdness. Just a genuinely sweet.

Starting point is 01:11:22 He's got a great sense of humor about that. And how about, talk about giving it, paying it forward. That man is now really involved at helping people with their addiction issues. He is. He really is. Just became a grandpa, by the way. Yep. Oh, good for him.

Starting point is 01:11:37 I want to congratulate him. That's great. Paul Williams told a story that was hysterical that he was doing a TV show with Michael Caine. Oh, boy. And he went over to Michael Caine and said, I've always been such a fan of yours. It's an honor to meet you. And Michael Caine said to him,

Starting point is 01:11:59 Are you out of your fucking mind? You stayed at my house for a month. For a month. Oh, my God. Pretty good cockney, Gil. Yeah, it was quite excellent. Oh, my God. You know you're really tanked

Starting point is 01:12:20 when you don't remember a guy's house whom you stayed with for a month. Jesus. Oh, that's fantastic. Did you see that? Did he talk about that incredibly great documentary called I'm Still Here?

Starting point is 01:12:32 We both watched it. We watched it. Still alive. I'm still alive. God, was that great. We watched it. It was, there was that one particular scene where he's in like Winnipeg, and he's at like a dinner theater or something.

Starting point is 01:12:47 And he comes out and these sweet people are just going out of their minds and you could – he seemed genuinely and I believe that he was genuinely thrilled to be there. You know, he looks at the crowd and he's putting his hand over his heart saying, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It wasn't like, oh, I'm in Winnipeg. It was, I'm in Winnipeg and tomorrow I'm going to be in Saskatoon and I'm so glad I am. It was just, what a guy. He's incredible. Yeah. He offered to sing at my wedding. I guess I should actually have a wedding. Yeah. There you go. My wife and I went to the courthouse and we never had a wedding. I guess I should actually have a wedding. Yeah. There you go. My wife and I went to the courthouse and we never had a wedding. And I said to Paul, will you sing, what's the song? Won't Last a Day Without You, which I adore. And he said, absolutely. So I have to make that happen because how many opportunities do you get for anything like that in life? You got to do that,

Starting point is 01:13:42 Frank. I know. I got to follow up on that. Hey, we got a question from a guest for you. Great. From a fan, rather, for you, Rob. Sure. This is from Big Daddy. We do a thing called Grill the Guest.

Starting point is 01:13:53 I love, love, love Rob Paulson, but what are his memories of being in the movie Stewardess School? Well, I believe I'm going to add this. Sherman Hemsley and Donnie Most? Yes, Donald Most. Donald Don Most.

Starting point is 01:14:07 He referred to himself as Donald. And while I can tell you this, people ask me if the character I played in that movie was gay. And I said, no, he wasn't gay. He was ecstatic. I've never seen it. Have you ever seen Stuart of Schoolkill? Oh, please.

Starting point is 01:14:21 No, don't. No, no, no, no, no. I have to, though. Honestly, to the extent you guys are enjoying my appearance, please don't see Stuart is school because you'll— Okay. Maybe you can bang that one out fast. Well, thank you very much for Big Daddy. You did like Sherman Hemsley, I read.

Starting point is 01:14:35 And you know what? There's another guy. I have to say, Sherman was on the set. It was about a three-month shoot here in L.A., and it was a movie about a wacky airline and the hijinks ensued. Wendy Jo Sperber, rest her soul, she was in it. Funny lady. Very funny lady. Yeah, it was really cool.

Starting point is 01:14:54 Vito Scotti. Talk about a great old girl. Oh, God. We love Vito Scotti. Vito Scotti was in it. And I remember that my mother, my sweet, sainted mother was in town. This is when my son was coming along and she went down to the set with me for a few days. And Mr. Hemsley, God bless him, he took it upon himself to get to meet my mother.

Starting point is 01:15:14 So every day I would come into work on the set, Sherman would walk in, and at the top, my mother's name was Lee. He'd say, where's Lee at? Where you at, Lee? Where's my girlfriend at? And my mother never forgot that. The fact that a TV star would go out of his way to make a fuss over this sweet little lady from Flint, Michigan was great. So, yeah, it was cool, man. I got a parking space for three months and every check cleared.

Starting point is 01:15:40 What, and give up show business? It was great. Not much else to say. And you mentioned them a few times in the interview. And it is funny that Mark Hamill from Star Wars became a big name in voiceovers. He's very good and very versatile. Let me tell you. I'm so glad you brought that up too. I've had Mark on my podcast a couple of times.

Starting point is 01:16:02 And one of them, I used to do it live at the Improv here in Hollywood. And Mark was just getting ready to go start working on the new Star Wars stuff. And, of course, he said, look, I really can't talk about Star Wars. And I said, that's all right. It's a big Q&A. And I said, no problem. And do you know there were 200 people in that audience, you guys, and not one of them asked a question about Star Wars. It was all about the joker wow i wanted

Starting point is 01:16:26 to know about the i would have asked about the texas wheelers with jack i mean i said the same thing i i would done or corvette summer or corvette summer right yeah i'm in the minority with annie potts and i am but i'm the and he have you had Mark on the show? We have not. We would love, we would love to have him. He's great because he's a total geek too. Well, have you put a word in? I was in a movie with him and not in a movie with him. And the movie was called Silk Degrees. Oh my God.

Starting point is 01:17:02 There was a Boz Skaggs album called that. There was a Boz Skaggs album. degrees. Oh my God, there was a Boz Skaggs album called that. There was a Boz Skaggs album. And it was Deborah Sheldon and Mark Singer was also in it. Oh, the Beastmaster.

Starting point is 01:17:14 There's a club called Beastmaster right in West Hollywood here. I'm sure. We'd love to have Mark. I think we called him in a bad week. I think it was a Star Wars week. But we adore his body of work i'll tell you what i had kevin conroy who's the voice of batman in the same series and i've known kevin for years and i had him on my podcast um a few weeks ago which is now

Starting point is 01:17:36 a an on-camera show and um i had uh kevin conroy alan burnett who produced the show and paul dini who was one of the creators. Oh, I know Paul. Yeah, and Paul created Harley Quinn. Sure. So I had the three of them on my podcast to talk about Batman, the animated series. My show is geared primarily toward animation for obvious reasons. the little clip that Legendary Pictures, who owns Nerdist, and our show is done under the digital media wing of Legendary Pictures,

Starting point is 01:18:12 but they released this clip that Kevin and I did of The Dark Knight, where Commissioner Gordon, played by, oh God, I forgot his name, Gary Oldman, is talking about how, I'm going to go after you, and I don't want to, but I'm going to hunt you, and all of that. So Kevin reads this piece, maybe a minute long, and as they widened out, having been tight on Kevin, as they widened out, Paul Dini is wiping a tear out of his eye, because Kevin's performance still elicits that kind of response from the guy who wrote it.

Starting point is 01:18:51 Wow. And within like a week, the thing had three million views because to a large segment of the population, my son included, who's almost 33, as much as they love Chris Nolan and all the Batman iterations, to a lot of the population, the Batman is Kevin and the Joker is Mark. And when they hear those voices, it just tweaks them. I think it's an anniversary today. I believe it's 25 years today.

Starting point is 01:19:20 25 years today that the show started. That's right. When we're recording this. Next year it'll be 25 years that Animaniacs premiered next year at this time. Oh, wow. Yeah, it's, but anyway, those guys are great. And Mark is a remarkable voice talent. We did a show together called Time Squad. It was Mark, myself, and Pam Adlon, who is.

Starting point is 01:19:42 Oh, she works with Louis C.K. Right. She's Louis C.K. Right, she's Louis C.K. She does a show now called Better Things, I think, on FX, but she was also Bobby Hill on King of the Hill. And that was a blast. Mark is a huge geek fan of all... Oh, yeah. We admire him.

Starting point is 01:20:03 We know he's one of us, so we want to talk to him. Yeah, he totally is. He's the only guy... Let me tell you what, yeah. We admire him. We know he's one of us, so we want to talk to him. Yeah, he totally is. You guys want to try another one? He's the only guy. Let me tell you what. He's such a geek that he's the only guy, when I remember one day at work,

Starting point is 01:20:12 the show I was talking about, I said, you know what show I'd love to see again? My Mother the Car. Oh, yes. Oh, Jerry Van Dyke. Yeah, Jerry Van Dyke

Starting point is 01:20:20 and Ann Southern was the voice of the car. And I remember the theme song and all that. Mark said, oh, well, I have it on VHS. And I said, yeah, right. He said, no, I did. The next day he brought it in.

Starting point is 01:20:29 He's got two VHSs of all the episodes of My Mother the Car. I know he's a man after our own heart. He's a collector. He truly is. And he loves all that stuff. You want to try this other one here? Absolutely. This is craziness.

Starting point is 01:20:40 This is Raging Bull. Yeah. And now, Gil, Rob does an absolutely wonderful Pat Buttrem. Yeah, well, we're going to give it a try here. I thought you could do Pat

Starting point is 01:20:55 Buttrem as Joey, and Gil, you can show off your John MacGyver. Oh, okay. John MacGyver. Have you ever heard anyone do John MacGyver, Rob? I have not. Just John MacGyver. It's the heard anyone do John MacGyver, Rob? I have not. Just John MacGyver. It's the only guy I've heard do it. You're in for a treat.

Starting point is 01:21:08 So I'm Jake. Good. You're Jake. Yeah, you're Jake LaMotta. Okay. All right, fire when ready, Gil. I heard some things. Did Salvi fuck Vicky?

Starting point is 01:21:22 Wait a minute. What? Did Salvi fuck Vicky. Wait a minute. What? To tell me fuck Vicky. Now, Jack, don't start your shit. Joey, I asked you, didn't I?

Starting point is 01:21:37 Asked you to keep an eye on her. Yeah, and I did keep an eye on her. Yes, I did. How come on her. Yes, I did. How come you give him a beating? Well, now, I told you that. I told you what that was all about.

Starting point is 01:21:54 That had nothing to do with you. He, well, he thinks he's a wise guy now. Joey, don't lie to me. Look here, man, I ain't lying to you. What do I look like to you, huh? Hey, I'm your brother. You're supposed to believe me. Don't you trust me? No, I don't. Oh, oh, you don't. Well, that's right nice of you, Jake. I don't trust you when it comes to her. I don't trust nobody. Now tell me what happened. Goddammit, I told you exactly what happened. He got out of line. I slapped him around. Tommy straightened it all out and then it's all over. Don't give me that look, Joey.

Starting point is 01:22:49 I gotta accept your answer, you know, but I'll tell you now, if I hear anything, I swear on mother, I'm gonna kill somebody. I'm gonna kill somebody, Joey. Well, then you go on ahead and kill everybody. You're the tough guy. Go kill people. Kill Vicky. Kill Salve. Kill Tommy Como.

Starting point is 01:23:18 Hell, kill me while you're at it. What do I care? You're killing yourself the way you eat. You're a fat fuck. Look at it. What do I care? You're killing yourself the way you eat. You're a fat fuck. Look at you. You're as full of shit as a Christmas goose. That was great.

Starting point is 01:23:36 Oh, Frank. Frank, those were inspired choices, buddy. Thank you. Well, thank you. I put a lot of time and thought into it. I gotta... You guys, I think I mentioned this to Frank Gilbert. You'll love this. I met Pat Buttram, oh God, years and years ago in a waiting room of a studio. And I was working on some Disney project. He was probably in his mid eighties and I could not believe my good fortune, right? So I went up, I said, Mr. Buttram, I am, I am such a fan.

Starting point is 01:24:06 I have to tell you, sir, I've stolen your voice on more than one occasion. He said, well, that's all right, son. I ain't using it much no more. And then I wanted to keep talking with him. So I said, you look great. How are you? And, of course, he was a vaudevillian, right? Without missing a beat in his 80s, he said, man, I'm great.

Starting point is 01:24:23 I just met me a $5 hooker who validates. Isn't that great? Isn't that fantastic? There's a guy that saw and did everything. Oh, man. That's the truth. That is fantastic. Rob, give us your plugs.

Starting point is 01:24:39 We want to talk about the show again that you're doing with the great Randy Rogel, and you're going to be here in New York soon. about the show again that you're doing with the great Randy Rogel, and you're going to be here in New York soon. Yeah, I'm going to be coming for the New York Comic Con, which I think is the 4th through the 8th of October this year, and on the 8th at Joe's Pub. I think that's down in Lafayette, 425 Lafayette in Manhattan. I'm going to be at the Comic Con, so I'm going to come and meet you.

Starting point is 01:25:00 Oh, perfect. I'm looking forward to it, my friend. And our show is at 9.30 on the 8th. Tickets are available at joespub.com or at Animaniacs, I think it's animaniacslive.com. And then you can also see the other places. We've got about 10 shows coming up the next

Starting point is 01:25:18 couple of months, and a bunch of them already into 2018. People can follow me on Twitter, and my Twitter handle is at YakkoPinky, Y-A-K-K-O-P-I-N-K-Y all one word, lowercase. On Instagram, it's Rob underscore

Starting point is 01:25:33 Paulson, P-A-U-L-S-E-N And the podcast? Oh, and the podcast, yeah, thank you. It's called Talkin' Tunes, T-A-L-K-I-N apostrophe T-O-O-N-S and you can find it if you go to Yeah, thank you. It's called Talkin' Tunes, T-A-L-K-I-N apostrophe T-O-O-N-S. And you can find it if you go to Nerdist.com or you go – Nerdist is actually partnering with another website called Project Alpha. So same thing at Project Alpha. It's a new offering there, and it's really great.

Starting point is 01:26:06 If the listeners are interested in animation, you're going to hear from everybody who's still alive that you'd ever want to hear from. And in fact, coming up soon, we spoke about him yesterday. You guys should get Alan Oppenheimer. He is a blast. Oh, you remember Alan Oppenheimer? Do you know that actor? If I show him to you, you're going to know him right away.

Starting point is 01:26:14 You'll recognize him immediately. Oh, he was in everything. Yeah, just an incredible career, but also was the voice of Skeletor on He-Man. So a lot of your audience will love that. I'm going to show him to Gilbert right now while you're talking. A lot of folks. So anyway, I've had everybody on from Billy West, John DiMaggio,

Starting point is 01:26:33 God, Andrea Romano. And Andrea is retiring, or she did already retire. Yeah, I think she did her last session last week, and I've known her since 1984. Another great talent. Incredible. She's got so many Emmys, she dresses them in Barbie clothes. I can't get a signal here in the studio, in the booth, but I know that Gilbert will know

Starting point is 01:26:57 Alan Oppenheimer as soon as he sees him. Yeah, immediately. But anyway, thank you for letting me plug that stuff, but come on out and see us. I'm telling you, that music of Randy Rogel is truly remarkable. Oh, he's brilliant. Well, here you go. Here you go, Gil. There's Alan Oppenheimer.

Starting point is 01:27:12 Oh, okay. Yeah, you know that guy. He's been in a million things. He's one of those faces. We love to have those kind of guys on the show, too. He was a guy who was a contemporary of everybody about whom we've been speaking. He's a contemporary of McCormick's and Ridgely and Hammy and all those guys. He knew them all. And and great.

Starting point is 01:27:31 Kenny Mars, another one. Oh, yes. Absolutely. We could go on with you. I mean, we'll do another show because we got to talk about Kenneth Mars and Jonathan Winters. And we didn't ask you about Gary Owens. No, no, listen, it was a real pleasure. Thank you so much again. Honestly, I was just thrilled to death when I found out that I was going to be on your show, and it's been a total pleasure. Tell us quickly, Rob, about June Foray, who just passed, because I know a bunch of fans,

Starting point is 01:27:59 of our fans wanted to know about her, and we didn't get her on here, unfortunately, but I did get to write for her, which was a thrill. Yeah, on Sylvester and Tweety. Sylvester and Tweety, yeah. And I met her again at Hanna-Barbera on a Smurfs project, and she was 75. And I recall at the time thinking, wow, I'm so glad I got to meet June Foray, you know,

Starting point is 01:28:20 before she passed. Well, here we are, 24 years. She made it to 99 god bless her yes and i remember when i worked with her i did the same thing i did with uh mr blank i said i'm so you know forgive me miss for but she you know she's like all of us she's an actor she wants to do it and uh so i said if i close my eyes would you just say Hokie Smoke Bullwinkle? And it was fantastic. I'll bet. Immediately I was just transported back to my, you know, sitting in front of the TV and back in Detroit eating cereal, watching Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Starting point is 01:28:57 That's great. And she ate it up. And talk about a trooper. And once the hook is set, I know you guys know because you've made your living in show business, man. Once the hook is set, it's done. It's over. You're always going to be like that, whether it's community theater or you do it for a living. And when I asked June to be on my podcast, we were doing it at that time at the John Lovitz Theater at Universal City.

Starting point is 01:29:21 And I called her and she said, well, hi, Robbie. How are you? I said, I'm great, June. Thank you for considering being on my podcast. Oh, of course. I can't wait. Great. Well, I don't live far from you. I'm going to bring my computer and a microphone and I'll come over. And she said, well, now, wait a minute. I understand that your podcast is done with a live audience. And I said, well, it's true. And of course, in my mind, I'm thinking, well, but you're 94. I was just trying to be very deferential. And I said, well, it's true. And of course, in my mind, I'm thinking, well, but you're 94, you know? I was just trying to be very deferential.

Starting point is 01:29:48 And she said, oh, no, no. I want to come and do it for the audience. And I'll be damned. You know, we got her a car, brought her out, helped her up on stage. She was big as a minute. She was a tiny little thing. And I'm telling you, Gilbert,

Starting point is 01:30:02 when that woman stepped on stage, there were, I don't know, a couple hundred people. They all stood up. They went absolutely nuts. And watching, you know, being three feet away from this 94-year-old woman soaking up this thrill of the audience loving her the same way she would have at 20 was, you know, just a really incredible thing to behold. And I'm sure in her mind she was going, you know, this is why I do this. Well, how nice that you were able to do that for her. Oh, it was an absolute pleasure to see her do that.

Starting point is 01:30:37 So, you know, it's sad that she left. But, Jesus, she was about a month from 100. We should all make it to 99, right? Wow. Would we be putting you on the spot, Rob, if we asked you to take us out with just a little bit of Yakko's World? Not at all. Not at all.

Starting point is 01:30:51 In fact, if there's anybody in your studio that wants to sing along, please do. Gil, you're going to love this. And it goes like this. It goes, By the way, this is a song you'll hear at Joe's Pub because Randy Rogel wrote this. You and Randy.

Starting point is 01:31:04 Yeah, and one real quick anecdote. When you come to Hollywood or New York and you've got big dreams of stardom, this following little anecdote will either make you want to work at Starbucks or it will inspire you. When Randy Rogel got hired to write music on Animaniacs, he had already won an Emmy for writing Batman, the animated series. And, you know, heavy drama, all of that. He hears about Mr. Spielberg doing this music show

Starting point is 01:31:30 with Animaniacs, yada, yada, yada, starts banging on the door and says, you know, I want to do this. No, no, no, no, no. You're a drama guy. You just won an Emmy.

Starting point is 01:31:36 We gave you a raise. Yeah, I know, but I'm really, it's music and I have a big musical theater background. So they say, okay, what do you got?

Starting point is 01:31:43 This, ladies and gentlemen, was Randy Rogel's audition piece. This is what he had in his back pocket and it goes like this. It goes, United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama,

Starting point is 01:31:54 Haiti, Jamaica, Peru, Republic, Dominican, Cuba, Caribbean, Greenland, El Salvador too, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras, Guyana and still, Guatemala, Bolivia,

Starting point is 01:32:04 then Argentina and Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica, Belize, Nicaragua, Bermuda, Bahamas, Toburas, Guyana, and still Guatemala, Bolivia, then Argentina, and Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica, Belize, Nicaragua, Bermuda, Bahamas, Tobago, San Juan, Paraguay, Uruguay, Suriname, and French Guiana, Barbados, and Guam, Norway, and Sweden, and Iceland, and Finland, and Germany, now on peace, Switzerland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Turkey, and Greece, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Albania, Ireland, Russia, Oman, Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, South Africa, Iraq, and Iran, there's Syria, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Albania, Ireland, Russia, Oman, Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Cyprus, Iraq, and Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, both Yemen, Kuwait, and Bahrain, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Portugal, France, and Denmark, and Spain.

Starting point is 01:32:35 Shall I keep going? Please do. Oh, my God. You have a rapt audience here. Okay. Campuchia, Malaysia, then Bangladesh Bangladesh, Asia and China, Korea, Japan Mongolia, Laos and Tibet, Indonesia

Starting point is 01:32:48 the Philippine Islands Taiwan Sri Lanka, New Guinea Sumatra, New Zealand and Borneo and Vietnam Tunisia, Morocco Uganda, Angola

Starting point is 01:32:55 Zimbabwe, Djibouti Botswana Mozambique, Zambia Swaziland, Gambia Guinea, Algeria Ghana Buranila, Soto and Malawi, Togo

Starting point is 01:33:02 the Spanish Sahara is gone Niger, Nigeria Chad and Liberia Egypt, Benin and Gabon Tanzania, Somalia Kenya and Mali Wow. Oh, my God. Thank you. Yugoslavia, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, then Pennsylvania, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Malta, and Palestine, Fiji, Australia, Sudan. Wow. Oh, my God. Thank you. Thank you. So that's his audition piece, ladies and gentlemen.

Starting point is 01:33:34 How about that? Thank you. Incredible, Rob. Thank you. This has been Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast with my co-hosthost Frank Santopadre and we've been talking to the man who

Starting point is 01:33:49 I'm proud to be the Crang the Subprime to his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Rob Paulson I'll see if you can memorize that song by next week. Oh yes. Unbelievable. How do you do it?

Starting point is 01:34:05 I mean, it's one thing to memorize it. It's another thing to memorize it and perform it in a voice, in a character voice. Look, it's not false modesty. I'm good at my job. But, you know, there are a million good singers in L.A. The trick really is the song. It's about, you know, it's writing the song. And I'll tell you what.

Starting point is 01:34:22 And I'll just give you this very quickly to finish with. In the meantime, of course, there's always somebody in an audience who says, well, that song was written 20 years ago. There are a bunch of new countries and blah, blah, blah. So Randy, when he had an extra five minutes, wrote this. He wrote, Montenegro and Bosnia, Herzegovina, the Soviet Union is gone. South Africa, Georgia, Moldovia, Latvia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Moldovia, Latvia,

Starting point is 01:34:41 Belarus, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, then there's Tajikistan too, Turkmenistan, Dagestan, Armenia,

Starting point is 01:34:49 Tonga, Peru, Lithuania, Serbia, Kosovo, U.S., Samoa, the Balkans, Brunei,

Starting point is 01:34:53 Macau and Crimea, then Eritrea, Ukraine and Estonia, here's Macedonia, New Caledonia, Eastern Slavonia, Ivory Coast and Cape Verde, Andorra,

Starting point is 01:35:01 the Solomon Islands, Dubai, goodbye. Thank you guys. Rob, this Solomon Islands, Dubai. Goodbye. Thank you, guys. Rob, this is a real treat for us. Thank you so much. Thank you, Rob. Absolutely my pleasure.

Starting point is 01:35:12 We'll see you next month. Okay, my friend. I'll hold you to it. Thank you, Gilbert. I will be there. Okay, it's a pleasure. So everybody go to Joe's Pub in October and see the great Randy and Rob. Thanks so much, folks.

Starting point is 01:35:23 Really appreciate it. You look sad, Frank. Really appreciate it. You look sad, right? Perhaps a little. Just taking in the night, Pinky. So vast are the heavens, this starry canopy. To contemplate the endless nature of the universe is to acknowledge one's own insignificance.

Starting point is 01:35:40 It's really dark, too, with little sparkly things. Narf! Sometimes it seems so burdensome, so feckless. Yes, it's completely without feck. Words have no meaning. I'm left speechless. I don't know what to say. I always know what to say, Brain.

Starting point is 01:35:58 Wah-ha-ha! Just say Narf! Just say Narf! When you aim to exclaim, just say noff When you aim to exclaim, just say noff Doesn't make a difference if you shout or sing It doesn't mean anything Just say zord, just say poi Wear a hat, kiss a fish, call Detroit Now you may be a mouse who thinks that life isn't fair

Starting point is 01:36:23 You gallop in a wheel but you don't go anywhere At least you didn't end up being married to Cher Just say noff, just say noff, just say noff Oh, yes, it's obviously been some delusion Caused by a combination of iron deficiency And a subconscious fear of nincompoops Just say noff, just say noff It isn't even a word Ow! It's right here in Roger's Just say not, just say not It isn't even a word

Starting point is 01:36:45 Ow! It's right here in Roger's, just say not So what if the numbers don't make sense on a chart? Who said you've got to be smart? Paint your nose, chill some flan And remember to pre-grease the pan A knot cannot explain a Newton's gravity laws It's absolutely useless on linoleum floors It is a day's gravity laws It's absolutely useless

Starting point is 01:37:05 Only no-lium flaws It is a day's solution But it's short at the core Just say knob, just say no, just say no Get down from there, Pinky. Only if you say no, just say North Get down from there, Pinky. Only if you say North, Brain. I am not going to utter that nonsensical syllable, Pinky. Just say North, just say North, just say Narf, just say Narf

Starting point is 01:38:07 See how simple it is, Brain? You mean how simple you are Oh, all right, Narf, there, I said it, are you happy? No, now you feel so much better now, Brain As a matter of fact, no Narf! much better now, Brian. As a matter of fact, no. Not! Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast is produced

Starting point is 01:38:32 by Dara Gottfried and Frank Santapadre, with audio production by Frank Verderosa. Our researchers are Paul Rayburn and Andrea Simmons. Web and social media is handled by Mike McPadden, Greg Pair, Nancy Chinchar, and John Bradley-Seals. Special audio

Starting point is 01:38:47 contributions by John Beach. Special thanks to John Murray, John Fodiatis, and Nutmeg Creative. Especially Sam Giovonco and Daniel Farrell for their assistance.

Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Rob Paulsen Encore

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