Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - JIM CUMMINGS (Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and more!) Voicing Generational Cartoon Characters & Secrets to Success in Voice Acting

Episode Date: July 30, 2024

Jim Cummings (Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse Funhouse) joins us this week to give the ins and outs of what it’s like to be one of the forefathers of modern cartoon voice acting through classic recogn...izable roles in Balto, Aladdin, Winnie the Pooh, and more! Jim pulls back the curtain, sharing unique tools to the trade that helped advance his career; plus the secret to his tenured success in this industry. We also talk about the inspiration for memorable characters throughout his career, the nerves of working with Steven Spielberg on Balto, and the origins of his legacy as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. Thank you to our sponsors: 🚀 Rocket Money: https://rocketmoney.com/inside 🛍️ Shopify: https://shopify.com/inside __________________________________________________ 💖 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/insideofyou 👕 Inside Of You Merch: https://store.insideofyoupodcast.com/ __________________________________________________ Watch or listen to more episodes! 📺 https://www.insideofyoupodcast.com/show __________________________________________________ Follow us online! 📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/insideofyoupodcast/ 🤣 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@insideofyou_podcast 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/insideofyoupodcast/ 🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/insideofyoupod 🌐 Website: https://www.insideofyoupodcast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Miller Light, the light beer brewed for people who love the taste of beer and the perfect pairing for your game time. When Miller Light set out to brew a light beer, they had to choose great taste or 90 calories per can. They chose both because they knew the best part of beer is the beer. Your game time tastes like Miller Time. Learn more at millerlight.ca. Must be legal drinking age. You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. Ryan, good to have you here, as always, my man.
Starting point is 00:00:37 Hi, good to be here. Are you good? I'm good. It's good a week, a busy week. Yes. With Talkville, with inside of you, there's like five episodes. You're doing a lot this week. I mean, we were in need of some interviews and you got a bunch of good ones in.
Starting point is 00:00:50 We were. I've been traveling and doing my thing, as have you. Hey, I just want to shout out to my patrons. If you want to support the podcast and a podcast like this, really truly needs your support and without Patreon, we wouldn't be here. So if you like the show enough, consider it like a streaming, you know, that you're getting for free. So if you want to give back and support the podcast, please do at patreon, p-at-r-e-on.com. Patreon.com slash inside of you, become a member. There's a lot of perks. If you're a top tier, you get a box
Starting point is 00:01:21 from me every couple of months with a note from me. Get your name shouted out on every episode. There's YouTube lives that I have with my patrons, an occasional Zoom, and much, much more. I appreciate it. So thank you, patreon.com slash inside of you. What else can I tell you? If you go to my Instagram at the Michael Rosenbaum, my link tree has everything you need there. If you want new Rosie's puppy fresh breath for your dog, a cap full in your dog's water every day, odorless, tasteless. It's amazing.
Starting point is 00:01:52 And people are really digging and go to Amazon. And my book. my book is out on pre-order on Amazon it's called the talented farder it's hilarious it's a sound book they're actually my farts and uh you're going to love this book it's really beautiful the illustrations the story um so if you'd like to go pre-order it now pre-orders really count and they matter um for a it's it's a weird analytic sort of uh what do you call it um they see how well of books doing on pre-order and you know so publishers told me I should promote it yeah so I'm asking and ask a lot of my celebrity friends to hopefully read it online or it's not it's not a really long
Starting point is 00:02:34 book Ryan I love the quotes in the back you got some good oh yeah rain Wilson's quote was this book is disgusting I've read it over I've read it 147 times and Jennifer Love Hewitt has a quote Henry Winkler John Heater Tom welling um I love doing it I want to make others it's going to make you and the kids are going to love it and it's an adult book too um it's a lot of fun uh the cons are coming up look on my link tree for cons that are coming near you the smallville con creation con con in october is going to be amazing we always talk about but i'm trying to get uh ryan there yeah we got to figure that out we just got to figure it out even if it comes out in my pocket we got to figure it out i would love to yeah i mean i don't think they're going to fly you because
Starting point is 00:03:16 you're ryan tea's because you weren't in smallville yeah so you know we'll figure it out we'll figure it out. I don't have any travel plan for the rest of the years. I don't have much. I mean, except for a couple of cons. I'm also on Cameo. And if you want to support the band, sunspin.com, I really appreciate it. We have merch, sunspin.com. And also the inside of you online store to get Lexmus script signed by me, lunchbox small the lunchbox is signed by me, a bunch of stuff, T-shirts of the show, and all that stuff. We're working on doing more live podcasts out there. So stay tuned and thank you for all the love and support great guests today uh jim cummings now if you don't know him um you do know him the voice work he has done over the years and i've never really
Starting point is 00:04:04 had a voiceover actor on the show uh not many if i have and uh jim cummings i mean the voice of winnie the pooh and tigger and so many great and he does some of the stuff on uh the show uh it was cool hearing a story and how it all happened for him and just having somebody who's older, more seasoned than me, somebody who has seen, has been in the business a while. It was a cool perspective. And I cherish it. Did you enjoy it? I did. Yeah, yeah. No, it's good to have like, yeah, new perspectives. I'm always down for a new perspective in this room. You are. You are. You like when something's a little different. In today's interview, I felt like I connected to this one actor that we had on. That's been on a bunch of stuff. All right, without further ado, let's get into the legendary
Starting point is 00:04:48 Jim Cummings It's my point of you You're listening to inside of you With Michael Rosenbaum You're listening to Inside of you With Michael Rosenbaum And it's just as sweet as honey So, Jam coming
Starting point is 00:05:11 What have I just started in an announcer voice also And how? Yeah, hey, you kids are marvelous. Come on down You know. know for the next 10 callers. Have you ever done stuff like that for commercials, like voiceovers like that? Call 1-800-573.
Starting point is 00:05:27 Oh, yes, absolutely. Yeah, I was the WB guy for, I don't know, 10, 15 years. Wait, at the WB guy, next in the WB. Yeah, coming up next on the WB. You know, and I'm sure I've introduced you several hundred times. Wow. And, yeah, it was great. you know be the next colorant and we would do fake ones too for um you know animaniacs or or
Starting point is 00:05:53 desmania or whatever the show was we would do fake commercials and it was it was a lot of fun was that good money to do like oh yeah the announcer of like Warner Brothers yes because you think that everybody always gets you know shafted yeah well it the thing is it was um it was X amount per promo right and then you do about a thousand promos a week worked out works out wow so it wasn't just like hey we're going to do a bunch of these for a flat yeah no no no no what a treat it was all union how long did that go for oh gosh years you know maybe it doesn't and you don't do it anymore yeah no no gosh that's been 20 years since i've done it wow at least yeah everything's different over there now as you know as first of all it's not the
Starting point is 00:06:39 wb it's the cw and uh yes so i used to make the joke uh i'm on a net work with you know one day i'll be on a network with three letters yeah you know see w wb what i need i need a yeah yeah something like that uh you've been doing this i mean a long time yeah but i always like to talk about like how you got there and the adversity you faced and because you know you you grew up in youngstown ohio and i remember i had no control over that was our stopping point Youngstown, Ohio, when we were on vacation, it was like the halfway point when my dad would go to a night's in and we go to the, you know, in Youngstown. And then the next day we drive, we get to our destination. Yes, yes. But there, I don't remember a ton of stuff in Youngstown, was there?
Starting point is 00:07:28 Well, no. And there is even less now. You know, there used to be, we were talking about it on the way in. It's funny. There used to be Youngstown Vindicator. And that was the name of the paper. And it probably, oh, yeah. And I think we topped out about 160,000 people in its heyday when the steel mills were gone, when the paper plant mill was going, when all the various industries that were there, that was it. And when those shut down, everything just went ground to a halt. And all of a sudden, so it was kind of depressed city for a while? Still. Still. Yeah. And now they don't even have a newspaper to deliver anymore by me or anyone else. I think it's a pamphlet and the pamphlet turned into an online thing. And now it's, and it's funny because we were just talking about it. And you click on it. And it's
Starting point is 00:08:20 mostly obituaries. I mean, are you serious? Yeah. That is sad. Yeah. It's just, well, you're still here. Yeah. Well, yeah. Yes. And I'm not in Youngstown. And you're not in a, do you ever visit? A little bonus. Is there any reason to visit? Oh, yeah. You know, my parents are both gone but I've got uh I still have some cousins and what have you so occasionally you'll go back occasionally you stay at the nights in no I'm sure there's a no no I don't even I don't even remember where I stay actually I stay somewhere in Bordman which is not Youngstown right but that but it's close so but you left there after high school yeah I did to New Orleans yes I found this fascinating it was like you know you design and painted Mardi Gras floats yeah and worked as a riverboat
Starting point is 00:09:05 deck hand and saying and play dr. Tell me about that experience. Did you know where you were going when you're in high school when you left to New Orleans? Did you know you did? You had a plan? Oh, yeah. Well, I always, why not? I worked in a steel mill.
Starting point is 00:09:21 I always wanted to be a deck end on a riverboat. And I blame or slash credit Mark Twain for that. I can't tell you how it's changed since the 1800s. A little different now. But I got that out of my system. And, you know, and honestly. Is that a hard job? Oh, very, yeah, very hard job.
Starting point is 00:09:38 Yeah, it's Emmanuel Le Burr. How long are you on the ship or the boat? That depends on how long you sign up for, usually at least a week. So you're there a week on the water. You're never. Yeah, yeah. Well, you go on land to tie up, you know, and we would go up and down the river, bringing these massive tons of steel or coal or fill in the blank, big barges.
Starting point is 00:10:01 And you have to tie them up and tie them together. and that was fun no it wasn't now and uh yeah but it was it was an experience i really wanted to just kind of be able to say i did it you know and and now i can say it and interestingly enough uh you know you got to make hey well the sunshines or all those cliches well i uh i learned the cajan accent i had no choice but to learn it in order to understand what the heck that's a hard accent to learn man i can tell you that you does a bad one like that yeah and i'm so sorry what did you just say you know and and i can tell you this leons leblanc god rest his soul uh he was 75 years old when i met him and he was he was a captain
Starting point is 00:10:48 of the old dutch and i was a deckhand and i was on there for maybe a week or two and um and i could not understand what he was saying for like a day and that's hard because he's telling you what to do yeah yeah you got your job there now you get on that level of out there with the with the pole side then you get that you loop that around like that then you put up getting all over there you pull it in like that then you go and i said oh christ i'm so sorry i am so sorry yeah but in english and uh and he became but you know you file these things away and he if uh if anybody's a ninja turtle fan out there he was leatherhead on the teenage mutant Ninja Turtles. He was an alligator from the swamp. That you did his voice. And I just stole his
Starting point is 00:11:41 voice. Just absolutely. Because every now and then, you know, my philosophy is this. If you do a perfect impression of somebody, nobody knows, nobody who the hell of this, it's a new character. And if you do a terrible impression of someone that everybody knows, and they can't even tell who you're doing, it's a new character. So he fell into the first category. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Wow. I do that with my, my stepdad. He doesn't, he, he, it takes everything out of him to swear, but when he does, he gives this pause like, well, your mom can't get the fucking VCR to work. You know, and I always do, people always laugh. And I'm like, I got to incorporate. I think that's sort of king of the hill, though. Yeah, yeah. Sort of. That's how he talks. He goes, I don't even talk like. that Michael yeah he gets so annoyed like he you make me sound like a hick yeah well you you kind of are by yeah yeah just because i'm from humbuck in oklahoma that doesn't mean
Starting point is 00:12:47 oh wait yeah it does never mind yeah did you did you want i mean in high school were you doing acting and thing were you yeah well i was always in place always and i was and musicals in speech yeah Oh, yeah. And a lot of, I was a speech guy, speech tournament in NFL National Forensics League. And I would go, and I was in humorous interpretation. Big shock there. And I just cleaned up. I mean, I really did without bragging. I was like, you were popular in school? To an extent. I mean, I was a bit. I was kind of like the class. I prefer to say the class wit. The class wit. Not quite. Jester. Yeah, clown.
Starting point is 00:13:33 I wasn't doing arm farts. Right. Oh, I do that. Yeah, well. I can really do that. Yeah. I have a fart book coming out in October, a sound book.
Starting point is 00:13:41 Wow. Yeah. Henry Winkler gave me a quote in the book and everything. That's great. Yeah. I am, it's a fart book. There's sounds. Anyway,
Starting point is 00:13:48 we don't have to get into that. Yeah. Okay. But. Coming to a Barnes & Noble near you. Yeah. I hope so. I hope so.
Starting point is 00:13:55 But so you were witty. You were somewhat popular. Did you know you had something that no one else. around you had did you feel like hey i've got something here well yeah but it was mostly like a subject of derision the hell's the matter with you you know it was kind of like you know i remember being slammed up against the locker by uh jim mon who was our local uh gym teacher and dunderhead he goes you think you're doing something good you think you're gonna do what are you gonna do cummings when you wait when you grow up when you wake up you're gonna you're gonna go
Starting point is 00:14:31 and do all these crazy-ass characters. Is that what you're going to do? No, you're going to be in a steel mill. You're going to work in a steel mill for 45 years. Yeah. You're going to sit there and on the weekends. You're going to lose money on the Browns. You're going to lose money on the Steelers.
Starting point is 00:14:47 You're going to sit there and you're going to be in there and you're going to drink Budweiser. Where's Jim on now? Jim. Would you get in here? Jim, come on in, buddy. Let's have it. Bring in the, bring in the crawlers now. No, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:15:02 But that drove you, didn't it? Oh, yeah. I, I, I'm one of those people that responds to negative criticism, you know, it's When someone says, oh, you can't do that. That's when I want to do it. That's, sometimes I'm like just, I'm like, I could probably do that, but I don't really want it. But when someone says, I don't think you can do that. Ooh.
Starting point is 00:15:21 That's another, I think that competitive edge has gotten me to where I am. Oh, yeah, that's a spark plug. Yeah. Yeah, that's rocket fuel. Yeah, I think couldn't agree more. I think it's important. I always said if I ever got an award, like if I ever, you know, you dream of getting an Oscar, you know, people always think, what would my speech be? I think everybody has a speech.
Starting point is 00:15:38 And I'd say, I want to thank everybody who believed in me, but I want to thank everybody, really everybody who didn't believe in me. Because that's the reason I'm here. Yeah. The folks that didn't believe in you. Were there a lot of people who didn't believe in you? Yeah, most of them. Yeah. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Really. I mean, my mom knew, you know, God. She knew you had something. Yeah, she knew, he's, yeah, this one, he's, and I didn't, and I, I kept from them that I, like I said, I did very, very well in speech tournaments and Otterbine College, down by Ohio State, they sent me, they were going to give me a scholarship, and it scared the life out of me, because the last thing I wanted to do is go to college. I just wanted to get out of high school and then I'd name then get out of Youngstown. And so I just, I hit it.
Starting point is 00:16:28 I threw it away. I luckily got the mail that day first, some reason. And because there was no way, they would have been, they would have pressured me. They are going to give you a free college. Are you kidding? Are you out of your mind? You don't want the pressure. Yeah, I didn't want to go to college. I knew I was busy. No, you don't understand. I don't want to go to college for free. You know, I mean, if one of my kids said that, I would think they were nuts too. Yeah, absolutely. So, but, but it worked out. After I bought them a house, it seemed to have been fine. You bought your kids a house? No, my parents. Your parents, you bought them a house. Now, were you doing impressions and things at a young age? Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:17:11 Because I always found myself in front of my mom and dad made me watch, uh, or made me watch my brother. And I used to watch S&L. And I'd learn all the skits. And I would do, you look absolutely marvelous. Yeah. And I would do all the voices when they came home. I'd tell them all.
Starting point is 00:17:26 And I didn't know if it was any, it was just. something that came to me and I had a good ear. But what were you doing? What impressions and things are you doing? Well, I again, I did impressions of my relatives often. Give me your Aunt Connie. Well, this was actually Aunt Grace.
Starting point is 00:17:44 And she was Lieutenant Spinelli on Chippendale's Rescue Rangers. I got to hear it. Wow, you know, here's the thing there. What I got to do with you, I'm on we'd be forced to give you a ticket like that on account of because you were parking in a wrong spot you know and she didn't really sound like that but to my ears she did and then you're
Starting point is 00:18:10 throwing a little boing and it comes out that way and like I said leonce leblanc my old riverboat captain he was he was leatherhead and my uncle sam yeah how you doing there james here pull my finger get over here you like hey how you know going you know and he he was a dragon or two or a troll or over the years you put them in everything over the years i always wanted to put my aunt francis she had this voice i remember she spent the night at my grandmother's house one night and i was doing an internship and living with my grandmother for summer and she was sleeping on the couch one night because they were doing construction her place and i i wake up and she goes michael michael it's freezing downstairs and you're
Starting point is 00:18:58 you please sleep there i'm dying and that's how she told oh michael you're crazy oh wow and she had a deep manly voice yeah yeah yeah yeah she was always out of breath yeah yeah i call that the telly savallas was that the you know you know let me tell you something you this you and you know and he's just everything's with the last ounce of air in him i don't know what that is but you were watching movies in cartoons as a kid oh yeah did you do like did you do any like any any impressions off the TV and movies and actors and things like that yeah i'm sure i did uh i remember uh i'm playing around with checkie geckie gleason and uh frank fontaine he was on the i were doing a ride a raw free boy you know and you know everybody did a barney rubble and a
Starting point is 00:19:51 but he, Fred, and, uh, nobody does a good like that. But it's, uh, you know, just all those different things that popped up and, you know, like I said, they said, yeah, but what are you going to do for a living? No, I'm really. I'm actually going to do that. And they go, okay, but how are you going to get money? No, I'm going to get some from doing that.
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Starting point is 00:22:13 Download the Rocket Money app today and tell them you heard about them from my show. inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum. Rocket money. Inside of you is brought to you by Quince. I love Quince, Ryan. I've told you this before. I got this awesome $60 cashmere sweater. I wear it religiously.
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Starting point is 00:24:12 look at I go no yeah but that that it's not me you don't understand I'm the one that's going to make it i i was so it was what do you call that yeah false bravado i don't know well in my case it was naive tape i i i remember um meeting the great gordon hunt he of the hannah barbara voice director fame helen hunts dad greatest guy in the block i didn't know that and he wrote uh he wrote a book how to break into show business and oh my gosh she has to be 45 years ago he wrote this and and i read it after i had already had my first job. I was looking through it. I didn't read it, read it. But there was a chapter in there. It's called How to Break into Voiceover. Now, chapter is a strong word. It was a paragraph. It said,
Starting point is 00:25:00 don't bother. Just forget about voiceover. Voiceover is done in Hollywood, California. If you don't live there, you're not going to get a job anyway. And besides, there's about five people who do this for a living. And you're not one of them. How do you not just say I'm done? I quit. And I already had a job. I was already working. And I said, I can't tell you how pleased I am that I did not know this because ignorance was really bliss. You think if you would have read that before you had a job, you wouldn't have moved out?
Starting point is 00:25:29 Oh, no. I was already living here. But it would have been a stumbling block. But I'm sure with me, not unlike yourself, it would have been, oh, yeah. I'll show you. And, you know, knock on wood, I got the first two jobs. that I auditioned for and the first job it was for a Mattel haunted house and it was for a toy fair I think it was some international toy fair they they needed they needed someone to be spooky
Starting point is 00:26:03 and so my agent that I just had my very first agent Sandishnan she said would you like try for this and I go sure yeah I'll try for everything and I went in and I got I laid down the audition And the next day she called me, and she goes, oh, well, listen, you got the job. And I go, oh, that's great. I can go to a real live recording studio and do this. And I go, where do I go? Where do I do? She goes, oh, you're done.
Starting point is 00:26:31 They were using the audition. I went, they never do that. What? They used your audition piece? They used the audition piece. It was only for a toy fair. But still, it never happens. No, it never happens.
Starting point is 00:26:44 And I'm so naive, I'm going, well, I'm going, well, I'm going to do this. geez, they're using the audition. Hell, I can audition. Give me another audition. I like auditions. How much did I get again? 150, okay. It was some non-union, you know, a little goofy thing.
Starting point is 00:27:02 But back then it was like, and then the second job I auditioned for was for a fledgling entity called Disney Channel. And it was for Left Coast Productions, Frank Brandt, Caroline Hay. God, God bless them. And they were gearing up to do 65 episodes of Dumbo's circus. And they had done Winnie the Pooh prior to that, like two years before. I wasn't poo then. I wasn't in the business. So I didn't know anything about that.
Starting point is 00:27:35 But they were auditioning. And it was going to be people in costume walking around. Some were little people. Some were, you know, folks that were like, for instance, Dumbo was two people, two lucky. dogs one guy leaning over the back being the back half and the other being the front half and he was working the trunk and it was a very cute show very kid very kid kid like show puppets yeah and and i was lying all the lion but they they even though it was a little person in there he was
Starting point is 00:28:05 still four foot tall and he was meant to be timothy from the movie dumbo the little mouse how you know and so uh he they couldn't have a four foot mouse even And, you know, that just wasn't going to work. So they made him a lion. So I got to be a lion all the lion. And it was great because I still didn't have an agent officially. But she had gotten credit for it because I was introduced to her after I got the job. And boom, there she was.
Starting point is 00:28:35 And it was great. And it lasted, I don't know, a year and a half. I mean, this doesn't happen. So things took off for you right away. In comparison to where they were, sure. well where where were they well i was working at the video depot uh the video video video member video audio video there were there were cassette tapes right and uh you were you worked there as a cashier and you're like oh i recommend this movie yeah well i was manager but oh wow so
Starting point is 00:29:04 and where was that at anaheim hills anaheim andaheim hills and so i uh i went from working full time there for 50 hours a week making x amount and then over to Hollywood going up and doing two shows a week. And that took about eight hours tops. You were exhausted. From the whole week. I was exhausted. And I was making double what I made in the Video Depot, 50 hours, half of eight hours.
Starting point is 00:29:31 And I went, okay, I'm going to do this. And so eventually I got an agent. But what got you out to California? I mean, you're in New Orleans. Well, yes. Well, I knew I always wanted to do. That's ballsy. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:29:45 Well, you know, I was. was young enough and naive enough to but yeah i just came out uh you know with my wife did you have we have enough money i mean were you no not really we i remember at the wedding reception my mom said to to all my relatives had a big family she goes don't you dare come up here with any toasters because these kids need gas money to get to california oh my god and so that's what she did and uh we made it and uh but you really did Did you know what you were going to do? Yeah, yeah, I always did.
Starting point is 00:30:21 I always knew I was going to. I remember, I've told this before, I hope I'm not boring it, but it's heard it. But I was sitting there watching the Jack Benny program. I was five. And Mel Blank comes out, and he's got on a sombrero, and he's got on a soroppy. And it was the bit, it was kind of a famous bit where he said, so I see you are from Mexico. see I see and well that's good and and what for the audience what would be your name sir sorry okay and well I have to say that you're looking very dapper today so and he
Starting point is 00:31:01 okay I can see where this is going and my dad at that point he nudged me he goes you see this bastard yes everybody was a bastard I said yeah he's that guy that does all that the the Bugs Bunny and the Daffy Duck and the Tasmanian devil and the quack and the Sylvester and the Twix. Anyway, that's him. He does all those voices on Saturday morning with all those cartoons. And I said, well, geez, he doesn't have to stand in the corner, does he? For being weird. And so I said, okay, I'm going to do that because I knew he was making a living. And he was making a living doing what I felt like doing. I was doing it for free. Of course, I was five. I had to wait a little while. Yes. Just a little while. A little while.
Starting point is 00:31:43 And so I grew up, apparently, made my first demo tape, and now I get to hang out with you. That's pretty, it's pretty amazing. You know, I don't think a lot of people understand what it takes to do voice acting, to be, because especially when you're auditioning, you're getting a piece, like a couple lines, and they have this idea of what they want. A lot of times they don't even know what they want. Yeah, very often. So you have to go in there.
Starting point is 00:32:13 and kind of think about what they would like. And so you're coming up with a character, the voice on the spot and hoping that that's the direction they go out of all these other people that are auditioning. Right. Do they ever, sometimes they show you pictures of what they think the character will look like? And that helps you a lot. That does, yes.
Starting point is 00:32:37 Yes. And you're able to immediately look at a picture and go, I know exactly what they want. well i don't know about that but um see a lot of times they'll want something and and i my personal approach has always been that uh whatever they ask for try to nail that you know it's a it's a cockney guy and uh a cockney guy and uh he's got a whistle something like so you well auto knows it's too hard for me to do mites it's you know and so so you first you do that and then you step back and then you do the one they really should hire then you do it right you know i i can give you an example there was a character in tailspin
Starting point is 00:33:24 chippendale's uh uh tailspin it was it was a great show was starred blue who uh blue and king louie and uh it was kind of like i remember it pirates you remember that oh yeah well i was louie and don carnaud in that show and they wanted an air pirate and they wanted well at the time every every pirate was a Cockney or some British guy and I thought
Starting point is 00:33:52 well I don't know there is pirates of the Caribbean and I thought it might be interesting to have a guy who sounded like it was from maybe Puerto Rico or Cuba you're never knowing
Starting point is 00:34:07 and I tell you this right between the face if you don't like it you know that kind of guy so you would do your own interpretation and a lot of times it wasn't at all what they were saying no no it wasn't and sometimes you get always do it always do the one they want
Starting point is 00:34:22 how many takes would you give them and would they all be different well I think so yeah I probably most I ever did was probably about five for any given character but for that I remember Don Carnage it was two it was one for the typical British
Starting point is 00:34:39 Well, get them, get them, don't let them get away. You know, British commander. Yep. And then I said, well, like I said, the pirates of the Caribbean. Can't this guy be from Cuba or some vague Dominican Republic, maybe Puerto Rico? I don't know. But, you know, they had pirates too, you know, according to history books. And so I thought it would be fun.
Starting point is 00:35:05 And he always mangled the English language. and people got a kick out of that. And so he made a pretty good splash. And for a while, he had a show at Disneyland, his own show, which was crazy. Wow. Yeah. You never know what works. I mean, that's pretty crazy.
Starting point is 00:35:23 Do you think, do you still audition? Occasionally, yeah. Really? Yeah. For what? I mean, it's very rare. But usually big things. I can't remember the last.
Starting point is 00:35:33 Really? You don't even audition anymore at all. Because a lot of big actors, they still have to read. for stuff yeah well i think people at this point they go well you know he's done every voice well they'll yeah i yeah i guess there's that but but um you know i've had a situation where you know they'll they'll like a lot of uh on camera guys because they like their on camera persona they like well i really liked him in this i really liked him in that and then uh it's a different critter i i think voice over because you can sit there go
Starting point is 00:36:08 and you can't hear a thing and then you go no and then all the the 30 seconds leading up to that everybody's looking at their watch going yeah okay right because you don't see it like as a live action you see them thinking and getting doing this oh yes you just have to hear it we don't care how you get there yeah yeah yeah yeah exactly right yeah and dead air is our enemy yeah we all know that one so uh i think that there's that immediacy do you think it's important if you do as let's say you're an upcoming you're just trying to be a voice actor this is what you want to do do you think when you're auditioning give them a lot of choices give them variety don't just do what you think is right well you know like i say give them what they want the first first time out
Starting point is 00:37:00 and then you know and they'll usually let you do another one or two more more choices you know just for variety's sake what about this what about that you know like like i used don carnage for an example he's not a typical pirate i matey you know captain whoever that was right uh and uh you know the pirate one-on-one but um you know i think just giving them things that they wouldn't think of is important yeah and what happens and i've been hired for uh you know auditioning for one role and doing doing what they said and then doing something else for that same character and they go you know that would be a good uh you know chief of the mafia guy let's you know you end up so you do something and they're like we'll use that for the other
Starting point is 00:37:51 character and now you get paid for two characters yeah yeah yeah what is the most you don't tell me how much the most money you've ever made not the most but the project where you made the most money off of. Over the years, it would definitely be Winnie the Pooh. But on one single thing, Pocahontas, Pocahontas. I played her dad, Powhatan. And I was Kakata, the medicine man. But oddly enough, I only did, I don't know, maybe three or four lines in the movie of, of, Powhatan. I had to stop and pick of his name. And Kakata was the medicine man. And what really kicked it over the top was the album, the soundtrack. So, you know, you make X amount on a movie. But if the soundtrack sells 10 million copies, that's not bad. We like that. And that's
Starting point is 00:38:55 unexpected. Yeah. Well, you never know that the, you know, Colors of the Wind was a big hit from that. I think Vanessa Williams released it as a single, too. And she was on that album. So she was selling albums. She was selling, what would it be, CDs at that point, you know, and they sold a lot of them. So thank you. Thank you, Jesus.
Starting point is 00:39:19 Thank you, Lord. What was the first project that you actually sang on? Did that take a while before you did that? No, Dumbo Circus, the very first job I ever had, because it was a musical. so you went in on the audition and you sang no i didn't sing on the audition they didn't even bring that up but uh i got the job and they and then they said well you know we have a couple songs over here and i go oh great that's wonderful you weren't nervous no no i mean a little i i can halfway sight read i mean you're not a train singer right would you say uh no it's
Starting point is 00:39:56 just that natural doing it from five years old as you know what did you your mom like just sing to you and you would sing no no I was the only weirdo in my family they were all very normal people wow he could sing yeah well I was always in bands I mean fusion 13 third fusion was a was the biggest band that I was in but uh I was always I was always the white kid in in bands I was my first two bands I was the only white kid in him it was cool so I thought I was so freaking cool I couldn't stand it and and and I was the drummer and and I was singing. Phil Collins over here. You, yeah. But
Starting point is 00:40:34 more like Buddy Miles, but yes. And it was a lot, and I didn't know, but it was training. I was in training for what I was going to end up doing, you know, and singing. And I would always try to sound like whoever it would be. I know you want to leave me,
Starting point is 00:40:51 but I refuse to let you go. And I tried to be David Ruffin. Yeah. And so I was, like I said, accidentally training for what was to come. Are there any other bands that you could almost sound like the lead singer? You could sort of...
Starting point is 00:41:09 How about Lou Graham? I just had him on the podcast from... Oh, geez. Well, my voice is kind of... Yeah, no, probably not. Got to take you the time. Although, what was that song? We did a foreigner song.
Starting point is 00:41:24 I want to know... Feels like the first time. Wow. Feels like the very first time. Yeah, that one, that one. Wow. I would climb any mountain, tear across the stormy sea.
Starting point is 00:41:41 That's what it takes me, baby. Yeah, you know the one. Show you what you. Sing along with this, folks. Come on. Me to me. You kids sing along at home. What's the next lyric?
Starting point is 00:41:50 It's a really great line. And I know it must be the woman in you that brings out the man in me. Do, do. I know I can't help myself You're all the world There's nothing to me Durner
Starting point is 00:42:08 What a great song It was Wow you can really really sing I mean Lou Graham is in Poth He's one of the greatest voices in rock history Well I can't clone him But I'll do okay That's amazing how you just did that
Starting point is 00:42:21 I'm blown away Cool Do you still sing and stuff Do they still want you to sing? Oh yeah Yeah here and there Not a lot you know there's not a lot that's out there but every time you hear poo and tigger sing it's me
Starting point is 00:42:34 and uh we did and that's just easy for you isn't it yeah yeah well you know i take it seriously but are you serious in the booth do you get very intense or are you always just full of fun in life or are you just very focused and this is what we're doing and like to the director all right wait wait wait wait so tell me what you want exactly okay and you're very in your in your head or are you very or just depends yeah it really depends you know the only thing we're doing on an ongoing basis right now is something called the tomorrow land i'm the uh the announcer for tomorrow land it's the world's biggest rave if if no one's i'll see you there uh i've never been to her oh yeah i have i have yeah and you're the announcer yeah so what would you say well i'm only uh i'm 99% of the time on
Starting point is 00:43:29 tape. Once I did it live, it was, I think it was last year. They flew us down to, oh God, Brazil, some or something. And they're every, they're all over the planet. They, that one year, one season, they'll go to Brazil. Next was Africa. Next was France. And, um, and, and Germany. So, but I'm the people of tomorrow. I am your wizard. And now get ready. for the magic of T.S. To. I have a feeling that you don't get much direction. They just say, let Jim go. Well, that's true.
Starting point is 00:44:13 Well, most of the time they're not there. They just give me the script and I do it. And they don't ever come back and say, oh, can you try this? Well, yeah, you can pronounce it correctly. Like, it's Krellmanutli. No, it's not Krellman. It's Krellmongo, it's the Tiesto twins or something, I don't, you know, but it's a lot of that. But the only other thing I'm doing on an ongoing basis is the Mickey Mouse Club, you know, and I'm Pete.
Starting point is 00:44:43 Wow. So, well, how you doing there, buddy? The guy from Steamboat Willie. I'm tied for first place as the oldest Disney character. Wow. Because Pete and was in Steamboat Willie with Mickey. So that's incredible. Sing along with us.
Starting point is 00:45:03 Whistle along. Come on. That's amazing. Inside of you is brought to you by Rocket Money. If you want to save money, then listen to me because I use this. Ryan uses this. So many people use Rocket Money. It's a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions.
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Starting point is 00:45:47 They'll even talk to customer service. Thank God. So you don't have to. I don't know how many times we talk about this, but like, you know, you know, you got it and they helped you in so many ways and with these subscriptions that you think are like oh it's a one month subscription for free and then you pay well we forget we want to watch a show on some streamer and then we forget and now we owe $200 by the end of the year yeah they're there to make sure those things don't happen and they will save you money you know rocket rocket money's
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Starting point is 00:46:52 don't wait download the rocket money app today and tell them you heard about them from my show with amex platinum access to exclusive amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot trackside so being a fan for life turns into the trip of a lifetime that's the powerful backing of amex pre-sale tickets for future events subject to availability and vary by race terms and conditions apply learn more at mx.ca slash yanex This episode is brought to you by Defender. With its 626 horsepower twin-turbo V8 engine, the Defender Octa is taking on the Dakar Rally, the ultimate off-road challenge. Learn more at landrover.ca. It's amazing. Like, I've done a lot of voiceover work and this and that.
Starting point is 00:47:41 But, like, I don't have anything that you have. Like, you're on another level. Well, thanks, man. Well, you've been doing this for so long, but like you just can do so many different voices. Do you feel like that's important? Like you would try, would you practice? Would you say, I'm going to come up with a new voice? I'm going to come up with different things to give them, or would you, it just came to you?
Starting point is 00:48:02 Well, you know, I do have a trick that, and I've told this to folks like little seminars here and there. And I always say this, if you do a perfect impression of some very famous person, everybody seems to do Christopher Walkin. I do, I did it for years. William Shatner, you know. I don't do Shatner. But, well, you will. And, but if you can do a perfect impression, that's good. You never know.
Starting point is 00:48:28 You never know. You may be able to use it. Probably not. But, and then if you do a perfect impression of someone nobody knows, like my old tugboat captain or my Aunt Grace, God rest their souls, that's a new character. You know, because perfect, dead on us. impression of somebody nobody ever heard but it sounds really character he's sounds kind of funny you're in there's a new character wow and then one of my
Starting point is 00:48:54 favorite things to do and and it's also one of my favorite characters for uh star war's clone wars hondo hondo onaka hondo onaka clone wars yeah in hondo is let me tell you this right now sky waka i just watched it too i want you to know one thing. Hondo Unaka does not take children into battle. Okay, I'll take this one. But that's all. You know, I mean, he's a con man.
Starting point is 00:49:24 He's a complete con man. And what I did was took Eul Brenner and Charles Bronson and put him together in my head. Now, they would have probably had a really ugly child had they been able to do so. But in my head, you know, Moses, Moses, Moses, the Israelite seek to take away. And then there's Charles Brunson, you know, bad impressions. But you put him together and you get onto a knocker. He's very stentorian. He's, you know, and so that's a little trick for the gang out there.
Starting point is 00:50:03 That's amazing. Yeah. So you're saying if you like, if you could do a perfect walk-in, add something else with it. Yeah, throw in John Wayne. until Christopher Walken and John Wayne had a child. What would he sound like? Yours. Hello.
Starting point is 00:50:21 Jim. Hey, pilgrim. I have no idea. That's hard, though, yeah. But, you know, you work on that. And the thing is, no one will ever be able to bust you at. That sounds like John Wayne. Oh, I don't know, John Wayne didn't really sound like that.
Starting point is 00:50:40 Christopher Walken. not exactly so it's a new character i love that did you have you never tell no one of this information no no no one's gonna know because yeah no you don't take any break loose have you ever been fired from a voice or job no no one's ever replaced you or i don't know no one's ever replaced you or i could understand why no one's replaced you well or they put you in and they're like we're looking for something different now no No, I think, well, usually the audition process is so complete that I think, I think they know what they know by the time they know it. That didn't make sense.
Starting point is 00:51:22 But I think they got a pretty good idea. No, I don't believe. I mean, I'm sure I have. Well, in one sense, I was because when the WB became the CW, they said, you know, I will say this, they clean house. Right. It wasn't that they fired you, they just wanted something completely different. With that, well, they do. Yeah, exactly right. And I think that was pretty much the case on the Hallmark Channel. And I think they went from having an announcer, me, to not even having an announcer, having, because they had a lot of movies that they would put on that were like 10 or 15 years old. And they would use snippets from the original trailer. You know, so you can't fight that. And I think it was a budget thing. Do you ever get nervous? Have you ever been nervous in a room or it's a big job and you don't want to blow it or maybe it was back when you was first starting like where
Starting point is 00:52:15 you felt like oh i'm nervous i wonder if they could tell yeah yeah oh yeah you know when i first started out i was because you know you had one job and then you're going well geez i i wouldn't need two you know and so you get a little nervous and i i was nervous um there was a movie balto that that came out and uh kevin bacon was balto uh bridget vonda was the girlfriend and I ended up being the bad guy steel and they had gone through a couple of of name brand actors you know on camera actors you know
Starting point is 00:52:53 they're one of the uh and this actually happened with princess and the frog too this happened to me a couple times but uh they they tried this guy and that guy and I won't even get get their names out there but finally I guess Spielberg said uh well let's get this Cummings guy what's the matter with him and so I read that because he wanted he wanted to get all of it done in one day he was making Schindler's list at the same time because you know Schindler's list I think he also just
Starting point is 00:53:22 completed saving Private Ryan yeah that sounds about right yeah I almost think that he was working he went back to back on like two movies like yeah incredible yeah but did you ever meet him well yeah I well a couple times anyway but but but This time, apparently he was done going through baltoes or bad guy. I was Steele, I'm sorry, Balto was the movie. I played still. And he said, all right, I'm just, you know what? I'm just going to come in.
Starting point is 00:53:55 I'm going to do this. We're going to do this. We're going to do the whole goddamn movie. And so we did. And it was hours and hours and hours. And it was the one time that my great agent, Jeff Danez, he said, you know, Steve is going to be there, huh? you know what i think i'll go with you of course i think i yeah and how long was stephen there
Starting point is 00:54:19 uh he was there the whole time yeah did he give you any direction uh you know i don't think he did he he would occasionally read read a line before me and and then i would react to that and i'm going i'm pinching myself it's david spillberg i'm saying to the mirror and uh and and And I will tell you this, this is pretty good. He goes, what's that? Oh, all right. Yeah, yeah, we'll put him on. Put him on.
Starting point is 00:54:49 Hey, Bill, how are you? Yeah. Yeah, oh, I'm at work. Oh, you, am I at work? Yes, of course, I'm at work. How about you? You're at work too? Are you good?
Starting point is 00:55:00 He says he's at work. Oh, well, listen. So what are you going to lunch? Okay, well, I'm not me. I think I'm ordering you. What are we getting sandwich? Which is, anyway, say hello to Hillary. I got to go.
Starting point is 00:55:14 What? He's just on the phone with Bill Clinton. I said, so you're, I said, so you're on the phone with the president? And he goes, well, you know, we're. And I go, yo, what are you going to do? You know, guy calls, what the hell? Yeah, you know, I answer every time he calls me too. You know.
Starting point is 00:55:32 Did you get a picture with Stephen? Oh, yeah. You did. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And he was a sweetheart. Yeah. But he liked you, he's a great guy.
Starting point is 00:55:40 He did your job. Yeah, yeah. He was good. He was a good guy. And I met him during the Animaniacs wrap up because he was, he was executive producer, Spielberg Tiny Tunes. Stephen Spielberg's Tiny Tunes. Stephen's movie. Do you ever feel bad about replacing people?
Starting point is 00:55:59 How many people do you think you've replaced? 10? No, I don't know. I don't. It's weird. It's weird. The weirdest one was Peter and I are still friends
Starting point is 00:56:11 to this day was Peter Cullen and Rescue Rangers. He was Monterey Jack the original and we each did half. He did like 31 and a half shows and I did 31, there was 65 and it was an Australian tough guy mouse and Peter was over here like this
Starting point is 00:56:31 and so I was over there like that and it sounded saying it like they might have been brothers so and we're and we're sitting there looking at each other like because they were playing it and i think tad stones bless them uh they had a trouble a problem with peter's accent because it was like too good i think it was too thick and a lot of times i've been i'm sure you've been to australia it's sometimes it's hard to tell what they're saying and we're speaking the same language yeah you know no so they needed something that was more understandable more understandable yeah wow because we didn't really uh we
Starting point is 00:57:11 weren't that far apart locally yeah and they played his they played mine played his played mine and we're both sitting there going okay yeah this makes sense and of course he was still on the show in other capacities because he had different characters that were ongoing so he only we only switched one and i was in the show already as uh don carnage and louis king right so it was just it was an odd thing that is kind of odd it is yeah so um you told this story but i just want to hear it you could do it briefly but like the auditioning process for winnie the poo oh oh yeah well i uh you got a call from your agent literally yeah i was doing it my whole life you were doing one of the poo your whole life well just for a joke like playing
Starting point is 00:57:59 monopoly i believe i shall buy park place you know as something like you know something silly So you always were doing it, joking around, never thinking. And Tigger, of course, yeah. Well, by the time I was old enough to do it professionally, he had been gone for 20-some years because the originals were out in the mid-60s and I was in, you know, grade school. And, you know, Winnie the Poo and Tigger 2, Winnie the Poo in a day for E.R. And Winnie Poo and Luskney-E-R-2. Well, that's not me.
Starting point is 00:58:34 I know, but could you do it? Thanks for notice and me. Of course. But see, that's the funny thing. My therapist said my ex-girlfriend was E-R. He goes, you're dating E-R. You're dating in E-R. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:58:45 I've heard that. Well, they all are indications, they're all, like, Poo is ignorance and bliss, and, you know, and Tigger is boundless exuberance. Rabbit is fretting and worrying. And if you think about it, you know, and Eeyore is gloom and doom. We're all one of those characters. They're all, yeah. Right.
Starting point is 00:59:03 It's all the various. situations that we carry around with us. But no, I auditioned for Pooh. Yeah, for Pooh, Tigger, Beaver, and Eeyore. I wasn't, didn't feel good about Kanga, you know, but I came home and I went, I nailed Eeyore. I am so going to be Eeyore. You know, and I told my agent, Sandy, I said, so how to go, how to go? And Eeyore, right here. And so, by the way. week and a half later she calls me up she goes well i have good news but i do have bad news what do you want to hear first and i go oh god give me that bad news and she says well uh they came back they listened to the auditions disney did this you're not a yore i said god damn you're kidding
Starting point is 00:59:53 you're kidding me who's e yore and she says she says well it's peter cullen and i go oh of course well okay peter cullen p of course he is You lose a job to Peter Cullen. Everyone loses a job to Peter Cullen. So I said, all right. So, well, what's the good news? She goes, well, you're Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. I said, screw E.R.
Starting point is 01:00:17 E.R. Schmeyar. You know, who is he again? That stupid donkey. Both of them, though. Yeah, but yeah. You thought. Yeah, I thought I was doing well with one. And it turns out that, you know, the great Paul Winchell,
Starting point is 01:00:30 and we became friends, still friends with his daughter to this day. But he was, of all things, curing hunger in Biafra by going back and forth to Africa and docking on the Good Ship Hope, and he secured a grant to breed, well, they're called mud puppies, and they live in the banks of the Mississippi River, and they've got little bitty legs. They're like salamanders and fish put together, hideous, hideous, horrible-looking creatures. there's a technical name that is casing right now but apparently
Starting point is 01:01:07 well you can raise them in mud first of all and you throw them a leaf and they're good but apparently you can eat eat them and they're high there are nothing but nutrition so he developed a program
Starting point is 01:01:21 where he would go over to Africa and raise teach them how to do that and cure hunger I mean you know knucklehead Smith Tigger cures hunger let's see what else
Starting point is 01:01:32 Oh, by the way, he also invented a prototype for the artificial heart. Typical. Wow. Typical guy. Guy. Yeah. And he probably was a good tap dancer, too. What the hell?
Starting point is 01:01:46 Do you remember your audition for Winnie the Pooh? Do you remember any of the things you said or does it just a blur? No, I really know. What's your favorite line that people ask you to say or? Well, everybody wants, oh, bother. You know, true. It's kind of. You know, tried and true, but I always say, please pass the honey, or some such, you know, some variation on that.
Starting point is 01:02:12 And then inevitably at conventions, somebody would say, could you tell my girlfriend that I want to, no. Is that what you say? No, no, I'm not going to do it. No. I'm not going to do it. No. Pooh's not going to do that. Because I feel like I'm a caretaker, you know, of this tradition. And no, Winnie to Pooh will not talk dirty for you. They want that. You can't do that. Every few months, no, no. And you won't. No, you don't want to, you want to poop on the coffee table, do you?
Starting point is 01:02:39 Well, do you ever say anything to your wife and any of these impressions? All the time. But no, I'm just kidding. Yeah, but no, it's something about a smack roll of honey. I can't, I can't remember. What do they ask you to say as Tigger? Well, they'll all, they always want me to sing the whole damn, The Wonderful Thing about Tiggers.
Starting point is 01:02:59 It's Tigger the wonderful things. Their tops are made her the rubber. The butter the made of the springs The bounty trouncey, fluffy, founty, founty, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. But the most wonderful thing about Tigger is I'm the only one. I'm the only one. They always want me to do that, and I never do that. Okay, maybe I do it every now and then.
Starting point is 01:03:20 What's the, what's the, did you ever do any of those guys like the, the commercials for like Fruit Loops or Cookie Crisp or Count Chalkill or anything? Well, I was one of the nephews on Fruit Loops for a, about five, ten years. Really? Yeah, Maurice LaMarche. I love Maurice. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 01:03:38 Well, he was the, he was the, oh God, what's his name? The Fruit Loop guy. Two can. Two can't, San. And Townsend Coleman and I were the nephews. Gee, Uncle Tucan. You know, and past the fruit loops. I don't remember what we said.
Starting point is 01:03:57 You had to be the best dad growing up. Just always greeting books. Did you read to your kids? I sure did. I sure did. And they were, they, of course, you know, nobody, I mean, Jesus had to leave town to make it. And so what can you say? They go, oh, God, okay, you know, because their friends would come over.
Starting point is 01:04:19 And they go, and then this is my dad, you know, and my daughter's like nine or 70 years old. And this is my dad, please don't do any voices. Don't do any voices. You know, and their friends are going. they just loved they're just waiting they're just waiting for what i saw i want yeah that's that's all they want you know and i would have been the same way if i live if i knew who you know and i did know who melblank was i certainly didn't live around him that's for sure wow but you know anybody like that what was the hardest time in your life you think i mean we all because you have
Starting point is 01:04:53 such a charmed life and you've made a good living and you've had fun but i'm sure you've had hardships but what was the toughest and we talk about mental health on the podcast and how to deal with adversity and you know going to therapy and all these things but was there ever a tough time for you that you kind of had to get your shit together you know when uh when any divorce will do that to you and i've i've had that so you know because you worry about uh you worry about the future you worry about the kids yeah you know and uh whatever impact that would be but um you know knock on wood i i really i i can't i can't really complain i can't just complaining so do you do if you did you do you remember doing anything that helped you get through it was
Starting point is 01:05:37 there any kind of secret or something that somebody said hey this two shall pass or whatever it is well well prayer is good yeah prayer and uh and sobriety gratitude i've always said that that gratitude is uh you know a much underrated emotion because i don't i don't think you can have happiness and I'm stealing a bit from Dennis Prager here, who I love. But if you're ungrateful, you're unhappy. And you have to be grateful. You know, even if things are going to hell in a handbasket, at least not going to hell in a semi-truck.
Starting point is 01:06:18 Yeah, there's always something to be grateful for. Absolutely. I say it every night before I go to bed. Yeah. I just try to, you know, visualize. someone that I really love and you know whatever dead or alive see my grandpa's face and makes me smile and I get that image and I sort of say this is what I'm grateful I'm grateful for this the little things I'm grateful today that I got this I'm grateful for my dogs I'm grateful
Starting point is 01:06:41 and grateful and there's something that before you go to bed instead of worrying and thinking and thinking if you could think about those things yeah you just sleep better yeah and I wrote many many moons ago when I would be tucking the girls into bed I was one of our little prayers would be, and thank you, dear Lord, for giving us each other to love. And that there was, there's a gratitude in that, and it's an acknowledgment of your family. And that was always a good one. The serenity prayer? Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 01:07:11 You know, serenity prayer, Ryan? Yes. It's, uh, the serenity, except the things I cannot change, the courage, things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Yes. Yeah. Yes. It's easy.
Starting point is 01:07:22 And no many patria, feel it's spirit, son, too. I was an altar point. that was an alter boy back when you had to learn latin right billy west and i were both altar boys and we we trade jokes about that um sure uh that was before i get into it's it's a rap well let's just do rabbit i was going to say your podcast yes i watched one with rob paulson yes and i loved it it was great it got a lot of views people watch this it's really interesting to hear the business and and life and all these things and just candid conversations called tuned yeah it's called tuned in tuned in cummings with jim cummings 2 o n apostrophe d i n with jim cummings and it's available
Starting point is 01:08:06 on apple podcast or youtube or spotify all the usual outlets you can watch it yeah youtube it just seemed like a great outlet you know and i'm i'm not done and i'm not working as much in the studio as i was and it's great it's a lot of fun you know a lot of times i'll do it at a comic con or at a convention or or we have a little studio that we're here in uh not too far studio city uh and invite folks over that i've worked with or haven't worked with and it's not necessarily people who do voiceover i mean you know i've had ron perlman on i've had uh manu bennett on just people from stage screen you know if i could uh make a wish list i'd get some of the folks who aren't even with us anymore but uh it's just a it's just a great outlet and people seem to respond
Starting point is 01:09:03 to it really well they have a good time and that makes me happy tuned in with jim cummings tuned in with jim cummings well anything i was about to bring that up so you beat me to it so that's good of course anything on the horizon i'm sure you're doing a million things that get all our voices but there's so many the thing is you've done so much it's like i couldn't get i could interview for you for a week well the amount of work you have done it's just everywhere and it will live on yeah it's nice to know it's nice to know i uh but um anything on the horizon well we're uh tomorrow land is still percolating and there is a rumor but i can't substantiate it that uh there's a certain duck daring duck of mystery. Darkwing duck at your service. So you never know. You never know. I hope so.
Starting point is 01:09:51 You never know. Darkwing duck. And if you stop and think about it, when Batman came back to the movies, I think it was which iteration. But anyway, he'd been gone for 30 years and Gotham just got so terrible that he had to come back and straighten things out. And it's not dissimilar to what, Dark wings going through. Well, I hope to see that. Yeah, and Goslin has maybe grown up. Who knows? Maybe there's someone else.
Starting point is 01:10:23 Maybe. I think you might know something that you're not saying. Maybe, maybe. There's somebody in there saying, hello there, DW. That was my bad launch pad. And that is a, you combined what's his name from Cheers with that, right? Yes. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:10:36 Oh, yeah. A little semblance to what's his name? Terry McGovern. No, from Cheers. Well, launch pad. Oh, um, no. Nammy a John what's his name from Chiris he's the mailman and Clifty Clayton I heard a little bit of that yes yeah Ratsenberger John Ratsenberger I love this this was I you're the like me too
Starting point is 01:10:59 you're the first like I mean you're a legend but I've never it's it's like an inside into your world which a lot of people don't really know they hear about oh you know live action or directors or this but you're the world that you've been so successful in is so interesting. And it's it's also like you become sort of an ambassador, but in a way, a reliable source. And that's how it almost keeps rolling because people know they can count on you. You do a certain thing so well, and you do so many things that they get Jim Cummings, get Jim Cummings. It's going to cost you. Get Jim Cummings. You know, I mean, Is that kind of exciting to be, to have been that guy, to be that guy?
Starting point is 01:11:47 Yes, it is. And I don't really think of myself quite that way, but I understand what you're saying. Because I've been, you know, I think we touched on it before, I've ended up replacing people. Geez, I guess should I use Jeremy Irons? I don't know. I ended up singing a song called Be Prepared and Lion King. And not all of it, because he did. does all the speaking up there, but all the singing of Bebri, you know, that was me.
Starting point is 01:12:18 And they literally were, I've gotten jobs from different directors taking people to say, well, watch this video, watch this video. Okay, can we hire him now? Because a lot of times people want someone on camera, and I get it. You know, why wouldn't you want Tom Cruise instead of me? I would. Or someone, you know, just a thing. famous faith. So it's gratifying to wind up in this position where, well, okay, you should
Starting point is 01:12:53 have hired me at the first time, you know, and you'd save some money going through this one or that one or this one or that one. And there's a famous story that I won't be repeating, but it was on the movie Christopher Robin. I'm poo, obviously, but I wasn't Tigger originally. And it took them going through x amount of recording uh dates to realize maybe yeah it's just that's just skit jim and uh it cost them though didn't that yeah it did but uh but it all comes out in the wash and i'm all i'm very proud of it all well and no resentment in any direction you know i'm i'm just grateful because if you're not grateful you're not happy and i'm i'm pretty happy guy well said i really enjoyed this jim thanks for being
Starting point is 01:13:39 Same here. Yeah. What a treat. Tim's new scrambled egg loaded croissant, or is it croissant? No matter how you say it. Start your day with freshly cracked scrambled eggs loaded on a buttery, flaky croissant. Try it with maple brown butter today at Tim's at participating restaurants in Canada for limited time. Hit pause on whatever you're listening to and hit play on your next adventure. This fall get double points on every qualified stay. Life's the trip. Make the most of it at best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions. Great interview. I really, I loved listening to him. I love his voice. It's no wonder he became
Starting point is 01:14:18 such a success. He just, I think you're born with a gift. I think he was born with a gift. And, and he sings, voice of an angel. A damn angel, Jim. Thanks for listening. Again, if you want to support the podcast, patreon.com slash inside of you really could use your support. So support us, if you like. And yeah, if you want anything, me at the Michael Rosenbaum on Instagram and the link tree has it all there, everything I'm doing. So whatever you want to support, support. Thank you for being here today and some great interviews coming up. I just interviewed Elvira and Heather Graham and I'm trying to get Johnny Knoxville, which
Starting point is 01:14:58 will be a lot of fun. That'd be cool. Yeah. I mean, it just doesn't it feel like the thing that I get nervous of is thinking, what haven't people asked him about like he he's told everything so he's probably like all right was oh yeah my life but i want to hear about his life i want to be here about his upbringing i want to hear how it all stem don't you yeah yeah so it's going to be great if you can come on the podcast so we'll see if we can work that out thank you for listening again uh all my love and right now
Starting point is 01:15:29 let's go to the top tier patrons these are the folks that give extra extra um and really make this podcast possible. I thank you. Thank you, Ryan, for being here. Thank you, Bryce, for all your amazing work. And Jason, our editor, who kills it all the time. Here are the top tier patrons. Patreon. Patron.com slash inside of you. Nancy D. Lee and Kristen, Little Lisa, Yukiko, Jill E. Brian, H. Nico P. Robert B. Jason W. Sophie M. Raj C. Jennifer N. Stacey L. Jammal F. Janelle B. Mike E. Eldon Supremo. 99 more. Santiago M. Lee N. Maddie S. Belinda N. Dave H. I like Dave H. Brad D. Ray H. Tab of the T. Tom and Talia M. I was just texting with Dave Hall and he's like, I like hearing, you know, you do my voice on the podcast. So thanks, Dave.
Starting point is 01:16:20 I always pause after Dave H so you can do that. Yeah. Whose name did I go talk over? Talia M was the last one. Oh, Talia Tabitha T, Tom, and yeah. Betsy D. I haven't seen Betsy D. And I love her and I hope she's doing well. She's such a great soul. Rian and C, Corey K, Dev Nexon, Michelle A, just message Deb Nexon, too. Jeremy C, Mr. M, Eugene, and Leah, the Salty Ham, Mel S, Eric H. Oracle, Amanda R, William K, J, J, J, Leanne, J, Luna, R, Mike F, Jules, M, Jessica B, Kiley J, Sharlene A, Mary, Louise L, Romeo, Rom you at the band. Frank B, Gentie. Is that Chen Tockerman? I think it is. Nikki L, April, R M, R. M. What's the RM stand for? Uh, resident, magician.
Starting point is 01:17:07 Registered Mers. Registered Mers. Retired Marine. Uh, rambunctious, marsupial. Rude Madam. Remy, the mouse. Ridiculous monotony. Uh, riotous.
Starting point is 01:17:29 Ronald McDonald. I think that's it. Randy S. D. Jen, Carolina girl, Nick W. Stephanie and Evans, Stephanie, Stefan, Stevin, Charlene A. Don Giovanni, Jenny B. 76. Jennifer R. Tina E. N. G. Tracy. Keith B. Heather and Greg. L.E.K. Elizabeth L. Ben B. Jammin. Pierre C. Sulton, Ingrid C. and Brandon C. I couldn't do this podcast without you guys. Thank you so much for putting up with me. And that's about it. So from the Hollywood Hills.
Starting point is 01:18:03 in Hollywood, California. I am Michael Rosenbaum. I'm Ryan Taylor. I'm here, too. A little wave to the camera. We love you, and thank you for listening and watching and making our show, your show, and be good to yourself. Football season is here. Oh, man. Believe has the podcast to enhance your football experience. From the pros. One of the most interesting quarterback rooms.
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